HARRY POTTER THEME PARK!!!!! Day 2

We started the day with a bubble bath for the girls in the jetted tub.  Then some playtime at the awesome playground here at GKTW.  It's an actual life-size Candy Land game, which our girls love.  Then we got a picture in front of our villa as the gift fairies were coming to leave the girls a gift for the day.  This fairy comes by our villa each day to leave a little something for each of the girls - they love it!

Then it was off to Universal Orlando for HARRY POTTER THEME PARK!!!!!  (we can't just say it, gotta yell it)  Here's Maya in front of Hogsmeade.  When we saw the snow-capped buildings I again got a little teary.

Cicily, Mommy and Maya in front of Hogwarts Express.  HP theme park (as we call it, technically it's called the Wizarding World of Harry Potter) is mostly a street made to look like a village in HP, Hogsmeade.  So it has shops with various trinkets, clothes and food from the books.  There's also a restaurant, the Three Broomsticks.  And at the end, there's the actual school, Hogwarts.  We didn't go on any rides (the girls aren't real thrill seekers - who am I kidding, neither are their parents), but they do have 3 themed roller coasters and a ride inside the castle.  If you're a Potter fan, it's really sweet!  Maya's listened to each book at least 3 times and Chris and I have read them all, so we had a great time.  Cicily genuinely seemed happy to be there soaking in our excitement. 

There's a show at Olivanders wand shop where Olivander chooses a child to come up and have a wand "choose the wizard".   In our show Olivander chose Maya to be the wizard.  She was stoked!  (Although you couldn't tell from her expression.  She's "good at acting serious" she tells me.)  Her very own wand is the only souvenir she really wanted, so this was perfect.  There was a magic show, where her wand chose her and she worked some magic and then we could go into the store next door and purchase her wand.  She's been casting spells around our villa since.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry castle.  We got to go inside and see the actual talking pictures and Dumbledore's office.  We ducked out on the ride though.

Then it was sorta the day of food.  There was a lot of Harry Potter food we were excited to try.  The first one was Pumpkin juice.  It was pretty good.  Sorta spiced apple/pumpkin juice.

Then treacle fudge - just like Hagrid is famous for making.  Mmm, we loved it!

But the best was - Butterbeer!!  A carbonated beverage straight out of the books and delicious!

Cicily loved the butterbeer!  Really, she couldn't get enough.  She even got a butterbeer mustache!  She's really been respecting tasting food on this trip.  First ice on the plane, then butterbeer.

Eating lunch at the Three Broomsticks.  Fish and chips, cornish pasties, and chocolate trifle.  Just like a Hogwarts feast!

There were two cute shows.  The first one we watched was the Hogwarts quartet with singing frogs.  Then this one was the tri-wizard tournament show.  Everyone at HP was really cool to us.  We didn't have to wait in line an hour to go into Olivanders (I couldn't look the people in line in the eye, I felt bad!), and after each show they asked us to be first to get our picture taken.  It really does allow us to take care of Cis and still be able to make her wish trip packed full of fun.  We so appreciate all the kindness.  

After HP we went to Seuss Landing.  All the girls love Dr. Seuss books, especially Cicily.  We were talking about all her favorite characters.  This was a One Fish, Two Fish ride.  Cis and Sophie really liked steering it up and down!

Cis thought the Dr. Suess fake-animals sounded fun to ride on the carosuessel.  But, after it got started, she hated it.  She doesn't do well with motion, something with her brain signals.  I felt bad, I just tried to hang on to her and distract her.

Back at GKTW.  Each wish child that comes to stay here gets a special star.  They put their name on the star and the "star fairy" comes at night to magically take them up into the tower where it stays forever.  Cicily enjoyed this special experience.

Each night at GKTW they have some kind of party.  Tonight was Pirates and Princesses.  Here's Cis with the mayor of GKTW, Clayton.  

Other things to remember:

In our rental van Cicily keeps taking her toes and rolling down her window.  It's so rare that she can manipulate something and make it work all on her own.  Each time she gets that window to move she's delighted.  Chris and I get mock-annoyed and she laughs!

Cicily kept asking at various times during the day to call her Grandma and Grandpa and Michelle to share the day with them.