Harry Potter Land

Last week, we went on vacation, and our destination was the brand-new Harry Potter land at Universal Studios Florida. My family had to literally pull me out of there at the end of our visit as I cried, "Noooooooo....I don't wanna leeeeeeave!" Small children were looking at me askance, clearly shocked by my bad behavior. I didn't care: it was a spectacular place, quite literally looking and feeling as if we were in the Harry Potter movie world. (Just much hotter and more humid than I imagine Hogwarts' rumored Scottish location to be...)

We've got hundreds of photos to sort through still, but here's a few quick shots to start with:

Hogwarts Castle, with a signpost pointing the way to Hogsmeade. The castle was enormous, and the ride inside (not to mention the queue area for the ride, which winds through the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Gryffindor Tower, and Dumbledore's office) was breathtaking.

Inside the castle, this was the main portrait gallery. It stretched for several floors overhead, and the paintings talked, moved, and conversed with each other just like in the films. It was amazing.

Outside the cauldron shop in the adjoining village of Hogsmeade.

The sign for Olivander's wand shop, with Hogsmeade buildings in the background. We waited an hour to get in the wand shop, where I gleefully bought a ridiculously overpriced souvenir wand (more on my souvenir haul in a bit), but it was still a fabulous experience.

Inside Olivander's wand shop: towering shelves jam-packed with teetering boxes.

Behind the bar at the Boar's Head, with Butterbeer on tap.  The boar periodically came to "life." Note the shrunken heads in the top left corner!

Naturally, I had to buy a lot of souvenirs at Harry Potter land. I need them for my job, of course. We throw huge HP parties at my library. Hmmm...maybe I can write off my purchases on my taxes???

What I Bought on My Vacation at Harry Potter Land:

a Monster Book of Monsters (it really works: snaps and bites and rolls around and growls!)

a wand (it doesn't really work, unfortunately...)

a Sneakoscope (lights up!)

Extendable Ears (they really work! they have a tiny microphone inside!)

a Fanged Flyer (came with a "handler's glove")

an edition of the Quibbler, complete with SpectreSpecs

a deluxe Chocolate Frog

a box of Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans (unopened)

a tiny bottle of Skelegro (empty)

two bars of Honeydukes chocolate

5 postcards

a sheet of actual Owl Post postage stamps

a stuffed Pygmy Puff (doesn't do anything; it's just cute)

a bottle of Pumpkin Juice

a box of Honeydukes salt water taffy (for everyone back at work)

We had to use an extra suitcase to get it all home.

More pictures to come: Honeydukes shop windows and interiors, more inside-the-castle views, and the Hogwarts Express train!

1950s Halloween Photograph

Here's hoping you have a Halloween as happily exhausting 

as this little boy's!

Original b&w photo, 1958: found at an antique yard sale.

Vintage Jack O' Lantern Decoration

One of my favorite vintage Halloween die-cut decorations is this jack o' lantern, made of embossed cardboard circa the 1940s by H. E. Luhrs. 12 inches wide, it sports a fantastic, toothy grin.

Hi! I'm Jack!

Vintage Halloween Cupcake Picks

Circa the 1940s-50s, these pulp paper cupcake picks, 2 3/4 inches tall, include two jack 'o lanterns, a black cat, and a grinning skull. It always amazes me to find such fragile, tiny pieces of ephemera have survived for so long...

Oddfellow the Teddy Bear

Presenting one of the quirkiest antique teddy bears in my collection: Oddfellow, a circa 1915 British bruin measuring 20 inches tall. At some point during his long life, Oddfellow had eye replacements, but apparently his surgeon was all out of matching shoe buttons:

I thought about calling him "popeye", but that seemed sort of mean.

Oddfellow came dressed in an antique child's coat festooned with vintage buttons, including a Prefect's badge and a sporting medal. I added an 1890s Independent Order of Oddfellows badge, which just seemed to suit him.

I love old Oddfellows, Shriners, and other quasi-secret society paraphenalia, and have a small collection of badges, fezzes, and whatnot, but that's a topic for another day...