Harry Potter and the Shut-Down Ride

If you followed my adventure blog for the years I lived in New York City, you would likely recall 2012 being The Year of Harry Potter, when I finally delved into the series and finished all the books and movies and pledging my life to the cause in less than six months. I passed on that torch to my friend Shea last year when he was going through a rough time and I thought Harry Potter would be good inspiration.

It was, and it did, and when his friend got free tickets to Universal Studios with the recently-opened Wizarding World of Harry Potter ready, he refused to go with anyone else, and we set and day and time when me and AJ and would be able to join them. That day came this past weekend!

It all started off great. It was a really warm day, we go there first thing in the morning, walked through City Walk. We ate at a creperie where AJ and I got breakfast crepes. I had a Greek-type one with feta cheese, spinach, and inexplicably some melted cheddar cheese. It tasted good at the time, but shortly afterwards, it wasn't sitting well with me.

Once in the park, the first thing we did was go to the Harry Potter section, marvel at the shops and details, and get butterbeer. I got a frozen version and it was perfectly delicious, if a little rich and sweet. We decide to go on the ride that's inside the Hogwarts castle. Shea is really nervous about it. So nervous, in fact, that he talks to the ride attendant about the details for so long, the guy tells us just to go to the very front of the line and tell them he said it was okay. When we got there, Shea couldn't do it. I saw a sign that said people with motion sickness or dizziness shouldn't ride. I told AJ that made me nervous, and he said it would be fine. They gave us 3-D goggles to wear, and I didn't like that.

Immediately as the ride begins, I feel dizzy. I try to hold on to see it if will get better. It's getting worse. I close my eyes. I'm not feeling good. I take the goggles off with my eyes shut tight, I put my hands on my forehead, on my cheeks, but I'm sweating. I take really deep breaths, but the butterbeer was really thick and sweet, and that crepe never sat well. I keep taking deep breaths and reminding myself that I'm just sitting in a chair - that's it - but the chair starts spinning and tipping backwards. My face is really hot, my stomach is churning and my head is swimming. I try to convince myself to hold on, maybe the ride will be over soon. Honestly - when you feel that sick, and that trapped, and have absolutely no idea how long it will last, it actually took some self-restraint to not start screaming for them to shut down the ride and get me the hell off. I kept taking deep breaths and telling myself I could wait, and I was just sitting in a chair. I grab AJ's knee next to me, but the butterbeer was really thick and sweet and that goddamned crepe just wouldn't sit - and I threw up. Everywhere. First it was a dry heave, then just a small amount of liquid, then 2-3 huge retches and everything came out. It was warm and chunky and went all over my legs, my knees, and seeped into the seat. But I did feel better! Unfortunately we had to disembark right where everyone got on and people were staring and I was horrified and the attendant was thoroughly grossed out and wouldn't look my direction. They had to lift the chest restraint, which had vomit all over it, and I tried to duck underneath it but it slid down and splattered on my back. They took me through a back way and I made AJ come in the bathroom with me. I had to throw away my cardigan, I had to strip down and essentially take a shower in the sink, we had to rinse of my clothes in the sink, AJ helped clean my hair, and I was sopping wet when we finally walked back out, but it was quite refreshing because it was a very hot day. It was a shame that that had to be the very first thing that happened in the day. They had to shut down the ride to clean up the mess I made. Mah bad!

Other than that (and other than 99% of everything Universal does being a cheap 3-D cop out that I hated and couldn't deal with) it was a great day! We saw the Animal Actors show where they bring out animals who had been in movies and do a lot of tricks with them - and not just dogs and cats either (which I already loved), but birds and guinea pigs and chickens and boars and rats and owls - I just loved it!

We gifted ourselves with this Academy Award

We spent the majority of our time in the Harry Potter world, which was amazing. We went to Ollivander's and all bought our wands, and I was having a massive problem deciding on which wand to get. I liked Luna Lovegood's, but also really liked Fleur Delacour's. AJ thought that Luna's wand was "so me" which made me want it, but Fleur's was just there, calling to me. I couldn't get Fleur's out of my mind. It really is just like in the books - the wand chooses the witch! - and I ended up with Fleur Delacour's wand and I just loved it and didn't regret it for a second! AJ got Sirius Black's, Shea got Voldemort's and Shea's friend Craig got Severus Snape's. We bought the interactive wands so you could go around the park at certain places and cast spells and it was shockingly fun- and hard! There actually WAS a level of skill involved in the way you move the wand and stuff, but it was soooo much fun! (Nerd alert!) Shea and I are both Ravenclaw's. And there was  Tri-Wizard Tournament performance with my girl Fleur from Beauxbatons!

We literally asked this guy to leave so we could take a picture without him and he wouldn't haha

House Ravenclaw

American Gothic

American Gothic x2

I was wearing AJ's shirt while cold until I decided to buy my own

Tri-Wizard Tournament in the background - that's Fleur!

AJ wanted a shirt so he got a Gryffindor Quidditch Team Captain shirt since Gryffindor was obviously his house,. By the end of the day it was getting cool, and I had had to throw away my cardigan because it was beyond help post-vomiting so I wanted to buy something too. There were these nice embroidered sweaters that I was in love with but I just couldn't justify the sixty frickin dollars it was priced as, so I decided to buy a Quidditch Team Captain shirt for my house Ravenclaw, so AJ and I were matchy matchy!

We were exhausteddddddd by the end of the day. We had dinner at Bubba Gump's where I still had my wand in hand (I carried that thing around ALLLL DAYYYY) and they did some Forrest Gump trivia over dinner and I was killing it! We were pissed that there was no prize cause they really interrupted my dinner and I was really going for it in the hopes we would get a free dessert or they would comp our meal or something!

By the time AJ and I got to his mom's in Hermosa Beach we were tired, sleepy, grumpy and I felt like I would die before I got inside. However, laying in bed after that shower felt on par as refreshing as getting home from Coachella after going showerless for 5 days in the sandstorming desert. We slept in a LOT on Sunday and didn't do much.

AJ sorted Anana into Gryffindor

But I'm so happy with my wand and Ravenclaw shirt! Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure!