The Happiest Place on Earth, With an Extra Side of Magic and Joy

I apologize for the long title of this post, but after my last post (which, let's be honest, was a bit of a downer) I have a lot of happiness to speak of.

I promised I would talk about my lovely family vacation, so I will now. We went...to DISNEY WORLD!

This picture adequately expresses my feelings about going to Disney World.

We also went to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, otherwise known as Universal Studios.

This is concept art, but the Diagon Alley really looks like this. And the dragon really flames every so often.

I had a great time and, now that I'm back in the real world, wish I could go back. I may just do that, sooner or later.

 

Anyway, here's my report. The whole family was there: all seven of us. One of my sisters just came back from a mission to Peru and my brother is leaving in June for a mission...in Peru. Different missions, but that country seems to love my family. So my parents decided to have a vacation while all their children were relatively local.

We started at Universal Studios, where I proceeded to act like a total fangirl all over the Harry Potter place. I've been to the Hogsmeade half, but the Diagon Alley half is new. It's also mindblowing. As good as Hogsmeade is, I think Diagon Alley may be more impressive. When you're inside, you can't see trees peeking over. It's easy to imagine that you really have walked through a brick wall into another, magical, world. The Gringotts ride is also amazing! I won't talk about that, because I don't want to spoil things. But, know that the line itself is an experience.

Also, should you ever go there, get ice cream at Fortescue's. It's delicious, and where else could you get Earl Grey and Lavender ice cream? Also, I want to give a shout-out to the man at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes who carefully told me all the precautions I would need to take with the Fainting Fancies I bought, so as not to hurt myself, and patiently accepted my "Muggle plastic" as payment.

After a couple days in Universal, we went over to Disney. Now, as giddy as I was about being in Disney World, I felt sick to my stomach as I rode the bus to the first park on the agenda. I had a hard time eating breakfast; I thought I might throw it up. Why? Because I had promised four months in advance to ride this monster:

This is what the firing squad looks like, first thing in the morning.

I'm scared of heights, particularly falling from them. And this, right here, is a free-fall ride that my whole family loves. I was told it's a fun ride, and I had made a promise. I was going to ride it. But that didn't mean I wasn't going to hold my mom's hand through the whole thing. (I'm 24, by the way.)

Clearly, I survived to write about my experience (or did I? MWAHAHAHA!), and to go on it a second time. It was fun, despite the way my screams must have sounded to people on the first time I rode it.

But, after conquering the T of T, I wasn't afraid of other rides. I took on the Rockin' Roller Coaster and, later, Expedition: Everest. No ride at Disney World holds any fear for me anymore. Now, it's really the Happiest Place on Earth.

I had a great time. The parks were wonderful, as always, but it was really special to be able to go with my whole family and enjoy our time together. It was a magical vacation, which may be why I keep wishing I was still on it. No, it's definitely why I keep wishing I was still on it!

See? I told you there was good, after the bad in the last post. I guess it's for the best that vacations don't last forever, though. It would have lost its charm eventually, and anyway, I need to get hard at work writing.

For you see, I've signed a book deal. Under Locker and Key has been accepted for publication by Aladdin and is scheduled to come out summer of 2017. So, now I'm on deadline.

[Dramatic pause here as the news sinks in]

That's the side of Magic and Joy, by the way.