Just last night, Universal Studios in Florida announced the grand opening date for the fabulous new Wizarding World of Harry Potter section of the theme park. June 18th! Melissa Anelli, that luckiest of HP fans on the planet and author of "Harry, A History", got to go to the park for a preview. She posted an article, pics and even short videos from her visit on her website (and the greatest HP fandom in the universe), The Leaky Cauldron. I cried. Then I got busy finding red-eye flights nonstop to Orlando to get me there for the grand opening, spend the day, sleep a bit in the airport and hop the first early morning flight the next day to go home. No luggage, no muss, no fuss. Less than 48 hours roundtrip, less than $600. And I could be there. This year. When it's shiny and new and wonderful.
Reality, in the form of my bank statement and my husband's incredulous face ("Are you CRYING???"), shattered that dream tout-de-suite, but the good news is that I will be there. Not 'til 2011, true, but what an event that will be! LeakyCon 2011, the theme park, the midnight release of part 2 of Deathly Hallows (the very last film! *sob*), and an in-person meet up of all my favorite castle people, many for the first time ever, since our friendships sprouted online out of a mutual love for all things HP and then grew into something even deeper.
I'm not a patient person. It's going to be hard to wait. I really love Harry Potter. But in the meantime, there will be plenty of planning to do, group t-shirts to make, the first Deathly Hallows movie this November, not to mention several awesome writing conferences/events. And the writing. Oh, yeah, the writing! In the midst of all this fun stuff, I'm also supposed to be completing my own novel.
Luckily, that's fun, too.
