My boyfriend and I had a really good time. I am very much obsessed with Harry Potter, so I was really excited for this party. I only have a few good friends on the DIS and they didn't go, so I didn't really talk to anyone else. But I can tell you about the great time we had anyway (hope your ready to read a lot because I'm still excited about the party!).
They let us in about 15 minutes after 9, which was a little disappointing. There was a cash bar to utilize while we waited, but I was saving up room for butterbeer so we didn't buy anything.
Once we were finally let in, it seemed like everyone ran to either the rides or the very long line to meet the podcasters. We decided to swim the other way, so we started to go in the shops to look around. I have never, ever, been the only two customers in Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. It was actually a really great time, we got to check out a lot of the details and take our time looking around at everything.
Next, we ducked into Ollivander's Wand show. It has been a dream of mine ever since I first went to Hogsmeade to get picked for the wand show, unfortunately Ollivander has always picked kids in every show I've seen. I figured I might have a good chance this night since there wouldn't be so many kids. Anyway, we saw that there were already two kids in line so we left again and moved on to more shops. I'm not sure why the creature shop doesn't have any albino dragon stuff, my boyfriend has been looking for something with that dragon on it forever.
The ice cream line wasn't too long at this early point, so we got in line and got the toffee and strawberry chocolate ice cream. The toffee was ok but the strawberry chocolate was delicious!!
Right next door to the ice cream shop was a shop that sold drinks, it was absolutely empty, even though the outdoor butterbeer station had a huge line. I don't think people had discovered this store yet. So we walked right in and got some delicious frozen butterbeer, and it came in the stein!!!! I was so excited.
We checked back at Ollivander's, this time there was no line so we eagerly waited, then some kids walked up behind us so we left. At this point all the employees knew I was trying to get picked and were encouraging me to go in anyway, but I said we'd come back.
We discovered that there were some bottled drinks for free, so we picked up a few gillywaters and lemonades. We went back outside Diagon Alley to have a short visit with Stan Shunpike at the Knight Bus. He was lots of fun as usual, and the shrunken head was hilarious. They always call me a Weasley (I have red hair). We headed back inside and back to the wand show, I was determined to just give it a go this time. There were a few other girls in line so we joined them, soon we were let in and a few more people came in behind (some of them younger, around 12-14). I was very nervous, I thought I might have a shot since I had a Gryffindor hat and tie on and was carrying Hedwig. I was third in the line up of guests. Ollivander started to inspect all of us, he started with the two girls to the left of me, looked me over and moved on
But then suddenly he turned back and picked me!!! I was so excited I didn't know what to do with myself! I walked up to the desk and set Hedwig down. We went through two wands, who did not perform well for me. Then suddenly Ollivander found my wand and the lights flickered and the wind picked up and I think I almost cried. 16 inches, vine and dragon heart string
The show was over and I was running to the register with my wand. That show is seriously the best sales pitch ever, how can you not buy the wand that chooses you?! Even better, the wand was interactive, so we could run around and perform spells for the rest of the night!
To celebrate, I got another frozen butterbeer and we headed off for the Hogwarts Express. I just love the queue here, with the little convenience shop that might really be in the underground, and they even had a guitar playing guy playing for everybody in line. We walked right up and were put into a compartment with another really nice couple that we made friends with on the ride.
I'm sorry to say I didn't pay much attention to the train ride, I was too mesmerized by my new wand. When we arrived at Hogsmeade station the doors slid open, but everyone just stayed seated and we turned around for the journey back.
Once back, we listened to Celestina Warbeck while waiting in the outdoor drink line so that we could get something other than butterbeer. I think all of the Wizarding World's drinks are amazing, they have this great orange drink, and Brian got a new peach drink that he really liked.
After our drinks were done, we got a free locker and walked onto Gringott's. So weird going on the elevator with only 5 other people, that thing is usually packed. The ride was a lot more fun than I remembered it being. Once off, we were going to go on again but realized there was only half an hour left in the party and we wanted to do some spells, so we wandered around and I got to play with my new wand. We made one more stop in the indoor drink store and I got yet another frozen butterbeer. We also asked for an empty stein and they were more than happy to give us one. There were other drinks available there, so Brian got something green to try and it was good. They were also handing out the pumpkin juices with the neat bottles there. And even better, they were serving the soft serve butterbeer ice cream, so we didn't have to wait in the huge ice cream line.
After that there were only 5 minutes left so we sat on the steps near Gringotts and finished our treats. I did not like the butterbeer soft serve near so much as I like the frozen butterbeer. We saw that the cash register in that store was near $7,000, so I think the employees were ringing up the drinks (even though no one had to pay for them, it was probably for inventory purposes).
At exactly midnight all the lights for the shops went out and we knew it was time to head out. We headed to the buses with the other Disney guests and were quickly on the way back to Pop Century.
All in all it was a great night! I did try to meet the podcast team, but the line was really long and later when the receiving line broke up most of the team was still there but it was really hard to get a turn with them because they were constantly engaged in conversation with other people.
Hope someone enjoyed my long winded reply
