HARRY POTTER WORLD (ORLANDO, FLORIDA)

MY WEEK IN PHOTOS: JANUARY 7–13, 2019! (PART 1)

I move desks at work, see old Getty friends, and then fly to Orlando, Florida to escape for a carefree theme park vacation. We spend day one at Universal Studios Orlando exploring Harry Pottery world before ending the night at Epcot.

Enjoy!

Hello! I am 5 weeks behind sharing my weekly photos, believe me I have been *thinking* about how much I’ve been slacking on updates every day. SO sorry about this—I’ve had a chaotic start to the year at work (not in a bad way, but just in a busy way) plus some freelance jobs and some traveling that took a bit of my focus away from getting photos up.

But I am back, and ready to play a bit of catch up. I hope you’ve been having a great start to 2019, and somehow it is already halfway through February.

Here we go! What really set me back was this amazing and weird trip to Disneyworld that you’ll see in this post. Zach has been training for the Disneyworld marathon for months, and finally, it was time for us to fly to Orlando!

I’d never been to Disneyworld before, and it was such a fun silly way to start the New Year, with a childhood dream trip to Disneyworld. There’s a lot of photos…so hang in there.

Thanks in advance for sticking around and reading, and get ready for some catch-up!

A fine rainy morning, I hopped in the car and headed across town to a dermatology appointment.

That’s my face, still covered in adult acne, checks out!

Monday night we had a big celebratory going away drinks for our department boss. We’ll miss you, Jack! (And yes, this is a tiny bronze portrait of him)

The final walk to our basement office, a bit sad today! We had spent a few years down here, the team had changed and we’d changed departments (twice).

Final morning coffee and trek down the hall.

Everything is mostly packed

Farewell office, it has been real

Off to move the final things upstairs before I head out for the week.

Very important item gets very center shelf

Down the tram, Tristan finding his light.

Miranda is in town!

Ramen dinner with former Getty friends

❤

Went home and spent the evening with Mandy’s face finishing up her headshots

Early sunrise flight into Orlando

Got to the hotel, immediately darted over to the convention area to pick up Zeen’s marathon registration.

We got there like 15 minutes before closing, so had to rush through the entire expo hall. But of course, had to check out the marathon merch.

Lychee cocktail and some sushi rolls, the perfect fuel for days at the Disney parks.

Magical lights at the hotel

I brought this little Lush pack from San Luis Obispo, hoping to use it if there’s time. But look how cute the little candy candy and bear are…I just want to destroy them in the bath.

Goodnight! Tomorrow is a day at Universal Studios Orlando.

Bundle up! It’s pretty cold.

Dolphin lobby is pretty over the top

We made it! Universal Studios. It’s so much bigger than the Hollywood park, in fact, it is two parks attached by the Hogwarts Express.

No studio tour at this Universal Studios, but they do have some New York city streets.

We approached King’s Cross station, and walked down this fake London street and noticed the night bus…only to realize that this truly was the entrance to Diagon Alley…SO HAPPY. It’s subtle, no big sign, I noticed families walking past it and having to turn around and look for it. It’s real!

Diagon Alley, mid-dragon attack. Everybody pretty casual about it.

Escape from Gringotts—a ride where you are in a mine cart through the vaults of Gringotts.

Mr. Goblin, sir

More Diagon Alley atmosphere

Fred and George’s Joke Shop—they had “no poo” which tells me that wizards DO POOP so what is the truth JK Rowling?!

Eggs and puke

Can a Ravenclaw and a Hufflepuff get along

Butterbeers

Three cheers for bone healing potion!

A quick turn down a dark alley and we were in Knockturn Alley

Soaking in the last of Diagon Alley by the brick wall entrance

Went back out through King’s Cross to wait for the Hogwarts Express!

Platform 9 3/4

Hogsmeade

Three Broomsticks (the Diagon Alley side had Leaky Cauldron!)

Fish and chips and a shepherd’s pie

Lonely Hufflepuff

After like three hours of wandering around the two Harry Potter lands, we decided we should probably see what was at the rest of Universal.

Walking through Seussland and decided to get on the Cat in the Hat storybook ride. That was some horrifying stuff—the charm of Dr. Seuss illustrations don’t really translate to 3D…and Thing 1 and Thing 2 were like little demon monsters ahah.

In the gift shop they were really leaning into Thing 1 and Thing 2 merch

Spiderman ride

Hulk rollercoaster, truly a blast.

Kathy, a sandwich, and PURINNNN!!!!!

The King Kong ride was totally fine, but the worst part was the line…with actors in costumes doing jump scares. At one point, I was the only person who noticed the actor, and screamed alone. Like a haunted house line…my nightmare.

He can’t see me…hold still…

It’s the same as in the mooovie!!

Back through Jurassic Park and through Hogsmeade

Back out through the exterior of London streets

Sadly, the Men in Black ride broke down

😦

Through Simpsons land, stopped for a brief taco break

Living large with Spongebob

Guggenheim at dusk

Universal closed earlier than we expected, and so we didn’t get everything done that we wanted. But pleased to say that I did get to ride ET and it is the weirdest and best ride.

We decided to head over to Epcot and spend a few hours while it was open.

Managed to ride Spaceship Earth and the Nemo ride before heading over to the world showcase.

Inside of the Mexico pavilion

Norway to Germany

Sausage and chips

A bellini and a free slice of pizza (thank you nice Italian pavilion man)

Stayed for a very windy and cold fireworks show over the lake

Walked back through Epcot to some boats that took us back to the hotel docks.

And that’s the end of our first full day in Orlando. I have like 700 photos from this week, so I’ll split the bulk of these into another post, hope that’s okay…

Want to read part 2? Our day at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. Here!

Thank you for reading!

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Some questions that you may or may not feel inclined to answer? So! Let’s do it. I invite you to answer in the comments:

1. How has your 2019 been!
2. What’s the best theme park you’ve been to anywhere in the world?
3. What are you watching?

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1. How has your 2019 been!
   Bussssyyyyyy, and truly confused that it is February already.
2. What’s the best theme park you’ve been to anywhere in the world?
   Animal Kingdom! We visit this week (but you’ll see it in a post or two)
3. What are you watching these days?
   Rewatching Sex in the City, starting Sharp Objects, and searching for older seasons of Ru Paul’s Drag Race.

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Much love friends. I’ll be back soon, promise!