Wednesday, July 27, 2011

LeakyCon Day 6: These Days of Summer

I knew the final day of LeakyCon would be emotional for me, and I was right.


None of us wanted to wake up that morning, and it felt odd now that Catherine was gone. I hadn't even stirred when she left because of the severe exhaustion, and I felt bad that I hadn't said goodbye except for a quick “bye” as I drifted off to sleep the night before.

We each ran around doing ten different things while Brae checked us out and checked the luggage so we could go to the closing feast that we were already an hour into, and we all got in line for the water taxi. My “Suffering from Post-Potter Depression” shirt attracted a few sad smiles and comments as people stopped me for pictures.


After my idea for the flash mob was shot down by the LeakyCon staff, I wanted more than anything to start everyone singing “These Days of Summer” after the feast was over and start a mini flash mob that way because I couldn't get in trouble if I was leaving anyway, right? Lol! Luckily, I didn't have to because after we'd all eaten, Starkid got on stage and sang it for me while I sobbed at my table. Then, they finished with a special version of “Get Back to Hogwarts” that turned into “Get Back to LeakyCon” which made me start crying all over again.



Note the exhaustion that had completely taken over here.


We went back to our hotel to get our bags and call a cab to the airport, but in line for the water taxi to PB, we ran into one of my subscribers on youtube that had told me she was going. So, I chatted for a while, and she was pretty darn awesome. We'd also met a few of our readers during the con that were equally awesome. I mean, in what other situation can someone come up to you, tap you on the shoulder and declare that they stalk you online without it being super creepy and leading to the police being called and paranoia?

Since our roommates' flight was about fifteen minutes before ours and we were only two gates apart, we ate an early lunch with them at the airport after buying a few things in the Universal store. I, miraculously, didn't cry when we hugged them goodbye. I don't know if there were tears left by that point, honestly.


Then it was back to Cincinnati with me carrying my new hippogriff for emotional support (and because it wouldn't fit into my luggage). A little boy on the tram in Cincinnati pointed at it and said, “Look, Mommy, a parrot!” I cracked up for a while. Brae looked confused, and after they left, he looked at me and said, “He is an American, maybe he doesn't know that parrots don't have four legs.” I said that I had been hugging the hippogriff, so the back legs were hidden, but even with the poor American educational system, he should know what an eagle looks like...again, being an American or at least that parrots are, I don't know, colorful.


Overall, LeakyCon was even more amazing than Infinitus was! It makes me sad to think this was our last HP conference ever since we plan to do much more in our religious community in terms of travel and attending events over the next year or so. Given scheduling conflicts and monetary issues, we would not be able to do that and another HP con. It was an excellent farewell for that part of the fandom for us, and we walked away with some totally awesome friends!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

LeakyCon Day 5: The Truth About Lemon Meringue Pie

Though true exhaustion was setting in by this point, we got up pretty early on Saturday so that we'd all have time to get ready, even though I wasn't wearing a costume during the day. My Fleur costume had kind of bitten the dust the day before. Due to the poor sewing, almost every button had fallen off; in addition to the cracked shoes, it simply didn't look like something Fleur would wear anymore. So, I ditched it in favor of the “I'm tired. Can't we just be Death Eaters?” shirt in honor of the Starkid keynote that day. I had brought it with the idea that I'd get all the Starkids to sign it, but I decided I didn't want to wait in line to do that.


Two of our roommates decided to have Brae draw homemade Dark Marks on their arms, just like Malfoy's, which was hilariously awesome, especially in addition to their space helmets that made me wonder if they were going to Pigfarts or if they were hoping to be Starship Rangers. Either way, they were ready. Though, now that I think of it, Starship Rangers could totally go to Pigfarts and hang out with Rumbleroar.


Starkid was labeled as a keynote in the programming guide, but it turned into more of a concert, which was not a problem at all for me! They did end up doing a Q&A at the end when most of our throats were sore after screaming the songs at the top of our voice. My favorite moment was when a girl on the other side of the room asked Joey Richter to the ball that night, and he expressed his sorrow that he couldn't take her...because he already had a date...Evanna Lynch! How freakin' adorable is that? Someone also asked Darren Criss if there was ever going to be a Starkid reference on Glee. He said he was kind of their puppet at the moment, but he hoped there might be one. Personally, I feel with the pull that Chris Colfer has with the producers, he could make it happen, especially since he's a major HP fan to and, I think, likes Starkid. I mean, we're just wanting a little reference, like them watching it in the background of a scene or something.


Then there was about an hour or so to wait until the actors' keynote, so Catherine and I took turns getting wraps from the snack bar while the other saved our seats in the front row. She decided to get a picture with the Starkids, but I opted against it because I'd prefer a picture with just me and them or me and a small group of people I knew. Since they were rushing through the photo sessions, every group had about thirty people in it, so it wasn't my thing.

The actors' keynote started out with the kids and it eventually turned competitive when Melissa asked them who was the biggest HP fan. There were a few trivia questions, and it was decided that they'd need to get Evanna out there to really determine who the biggest HP fan was. So, it had to wait. One of my favorite moments from the kids, though, was when they were each asked what their boggart would be. One of the boys said his would be lemon meringue pie. It was kind of skipped over while the audience looked at each other, laughing questioningly. Then, Melissa returned to it, asking why. He said it was just too sweet. Melissa responded with “Yes, it's so sweet it's scary”, and it was dropped, leaving several people confused. Another moment that bears mentioning refers to a previous post in this blog. I doubt many of you remember that Brae dared one of you to ask me at LeakyCon to do my Barty Crouch Sr. impression, well it was in reference to the Chinese Fireball quote when he makes his odd little “Ooo!” noise in GoF. When asked what his favorite part of the Wizarding World of HP was, one of the boys said the Chinese Fireball to which the majority of the audience replied “Oooo!”. It was AMAZING!


Then the older actors came out and talked for a bit, answering a few awkward questions about crushes among the cast and discussing the Luna/Dumbledore ship some more from the day before.



(Note the awesome lightning bolt dress Evanna claimed she bought years ago but had never worn and thought we'd appreciate!)

After the Evanna, Scarlet, and Chris had talked for a while, the kids were brought back to determine who was the biggest HP fan. Audience members asked some really freakin' hard questions (and coming from the girl who wrote the questions for our LeakyCon contest, that's kind of saying something), some of which weren't fair at all like “How many pages are there in the American edition of OotP?” It only took a moment for someone to shout out “They're all British!”


We met up with Jordan, Ashley, and Brae after the actors' keynote and decided to go back to the room since there wasn't really anything we wanted to do after that (the only other workshop we wanted to go to wasn't for an hour, so we decided to skip it). Brae and Catherine wanted to take naps while Jordan and Ashley went to pool. I decided to start packing since we wouldn't want to do it in the morning or after the ball that night. They came back from the pool and started packing as well which turned into awesomeness when someone shouted out “My time turner is in my underwear” which I immediately added to the list of quotes one would only hear at an HP conference (or would only make sense/be acceptable at an the HP conference).


Around the time I was putting on my makeup, I heard a downpour outside signaling the random hurricane that descended upon us. We called the front desk to find out that the water taxis weren't running and the next shuttle to Royal Pacific wouldn't be for about half an hour. Since we were all ready and didn't want to be any later to the ball than we already were, we called a cab which turned out to be about $10. While we were waiting for it outside of Portofino Bay, however, we all had heart attacks when lightning struck right by our hotel. So, that was...erm...exciting. Apparently part of the hotel lost AC and the phones weren't working in the area after that.


We ran into Lauren Fairweather and JFF in the elevator, and I was complimented several times on my hat, which made me especially happy since I'd designed it myself. Then, we'd arrived at the ball, and it was time to do some partying! I met a few people that night, including the Black Sisters and the famous Lucius Malfoy (minus Draco who apparently decided to be Michael Jackson for some reason...?)


There was also a hilarious sign in the bathroom saying one of the toilets was out of order. Someone got a picture of it, but it hasn't been posted online yet, so I can't show you, but it had writing under it that said the Chamber of Secrets had been opened, enemies of the heir beware!


In my Infinitus posts, I mentioned the awesomeness that was “Don't Stop Believing”. Apparently someone thought we should try to recreate it which kind of failed. Since the LeakyCon staff had made a video dancing to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” before the con, they decided it would be awesome to play that, which was kind of a highlight of the ball...the first time. The second time, it was pretty dumb so we left soon after that to beat the rush to get a water taxi back (the mysterious hurricane had disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared).


On our way off the water taxi at PB, we heard the weirdest remarks. Ok, so you've gathered a group of nerds in one place for a week who like to dress up and generally draw attention to themselves, we'd heard some odd comments throughout the week, but this one was even more hilarious because we were just in ball attire. I mean, my “costume” could have been worn by anyone (minus the witch hat) and only one other person with us was wearing a witch hat; the rest were in normal dress. So, when we got off the boat and we heard “I guess these people all work at the Wizarding World of HP”, it was hilarious. I didn't hear that when I dressed as Fleur or Luna (though when I wore my Slytherin uniform, someone did think I worked at WWoHP), and we were obviously staying at the Portofino Bay Hotel! Why would we work at WwoHP and stay at a Universal hotel? They must pay great at the park! When you add to that the fact that there were about 3400 people at LeakyCon, Universal must have just gone on a huge hiring binge! Immediately, it turned into us creating a new series that was kind of like a mash-up of Wizards of Waverly Place and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.

I don't think we stopped laughing from that moment until we went to bed that night. Hilarious things (or things that would be hilarious if you too were sleep deprived and surrounded by other HP nerds that get the humor in these situations) kept happening. For example, we started our planning of a gay club called Dumbledore's Office including planning out what the go-go da
ncers on Dumbledore's desk would be wearing. Then, we were playing with the Keurig in our room which makes a horrible hissing noise that sounds like parselmouth. It was silent when we heard this, and we all had heart attacks! I decided, before anyone told me what the noise was, that there was a basilisk in our room and the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was in our bathroom. This went on for about twenty minutes before we switched topics back to another running joke that I've failed to mention previously. Originally we were discussing felix felicis, and my roommate couldn't remember the name of the potion. The exchange when like this:


Ashley: What's that potion called? Felix (insert word that begins with “f” which describes a certain type of favor that we're not sure we can put in our blog without a mature rating)?
Me: ...That's a certain type of luck one might have, but I think it's “felicis”.


Then, we ordered room service because we were all pretty hungry, and finally went to bed because Catherine was leaving to go home in about three hours.



Look for our post on the last day of LeakyCon!

Monday, July 25, 2011

LeakyCon Day 4: Lucius Loses Face and the Hagrid of Pottermore

Friday was one of the only days we got to sleep in. So, it was with a bit more energy that we left Portofino Bay to make the trek to Royal Pacific that morning to go to Casting Your Patronus: The Representation of Mental Processes in Harry Potter. It was pretty good, but I don't seem to remember a lot of it.


After that was Rowling's Not So Flawed Plan about the Elder Wand and its representation of the ultimate masculinity (and, thus, how no woman ever showed any interest in possessing it). Now, this was a very interesting workshop speculating on the love (not necessarily romantic love) between the masters of the Elder Wand and how it can only pass between those that love each other, hence the reason it never worked for Voldemort as it should have. We also went into a bit of a discussion about wands and their connection to masculinity in general. That lead to one of the running jokes all weekend; you see, no one seemed to be listening to what anyone else was saying in this workshop so the same point was made by about 10 people over the course of the workshop. None of them added anything to it; it was just a recap, which was as hilarious as it was annoying after the fifth person. This point was that Lucius Malfoy didn't need to die in the series because he lost what was most important to him to Voldemort―his status and his masculinity. Brae and I were cracking up about this for the entire workshop. I guess we didn't realize just how important this was to the series that 10 people needed to point it out separately. So, we had to inform everyone else we met of this crucial plot point they may have missed.


Immediately after the discussion of the elder wand was over, Siriusly Celibate started, which was a workshop we'd been looking forward to since we read it in the original list of programming. It turned into a bit of a ship competition and didn't focus too much on Sirius, in my opinion. I did love the support for the Sirius/Lupin/Tonks triangle, though!


Catherine and I ran to the snack stand in the conference space (ingenious idea, by the way, since it was lacking at Infinitus last year!) to grab a turkey wrap and some chips before Fantastic Names and Where to Find Them started since Brae and Catherine wanted to see this one. I wasn't really that interested and began inching toward the door about five minutes in when it became evident that this wasn't going to be a presentation of a paper but fifty minutes of someone reading said paper. There's a big difference, folks. Needless to say we were not the only ones out the door in the first ten minutes. Brae, who had been late to that presentation, saw that we were not there and only stayed for about ten minutes (and then only to be polite since he was waiting for a group to sneak out with). We met up in the vendor room where I was transfixed by a white ash wand from Allivans. They promised they had plenty in stock, so I vowed to return to buy one. I never did because I decided one wand was enough for me and because I was also torn between that one and the replica of Fleur's wand. I didn't get that one either.


With nothing else to do for a while, we sat in on the end of Pottercast with Evanna where we heard the famous quote about her shipping Luna and Dumbledore which I'd never considered but now love! (It involved Dumbledore going back in time or Luna going into the future, so get rid of the sick thoughts!)


Then was the moment we'd all been waiting for! Ok, not all of us were waiting for it originally. You see, I wasn't very excited about Pottermore after the announcement revealed that my theory was incorrect. It just didn't seem as exciting as what I'd concocted in my mind (although it should be noted that Jamie from the Pottermore creative team said that we'd just have to wait for an MMORPG...make that of what you will...I have). I'd planned to go to a different workshop while everyone else went to the Pottermore keynote since nothing else would be crowded, but I decided to just go to Pottermore since I'd already seen a workshop somewhat like what I'd planned to see during the keynote. So, I went into the keynote not so excited about Pottermore, and I left unable to wait until July 31st-ish.


We weren't able to take pictures of the slides in the presentation, so I don't have much to show you guys. They did reveal quite a bit, which I didn't think they would. I kind of thought it would just be a recap of what we already knew and us asking questions that they'd refuse to answer. Jamie soon turned into the Hagrid of Pottermore, though, because he'd spit something out and immediately turn around and say “I shouldn't have told you that”. It was awesome, especially when we found out that everyone who went to LeakyCon gets a special clue before the beta clue is released which might help us all become betas! Sweetness!


The keynote was awesome, despite the nargles in the computers again. It was both annoying and hilarious how exciting people were. I was afraid they'd be screaming the whole time, and I wouldn't be able to hear anything. It turned out to be quite the opposite, however, with people shushing every five minutes and yelling at Melissa to move so they could read what was on the screen. Now, that doesn't mean there wasn't screaming. Everything Jamie said elicited yelps, squees, and other noises of sheer happiness from those in attendance. It got hilarious when Jamie was talking about how interactive the different screens were and that you could turn on the light inside the closet of Privet Drive. This girl in the back started screaming! Jamie was a little taken aback and then it turned into a joke all weekend about how that was the single most exciting thing we could hope to do on Pottermore―turn on lights!


After Pottermore wrapped up, we ran to catch the end of Brae's favorite presenter's workshop on the differences in Harry and Hermione's relationship in the movies v. the books. She made some excellent points about Ron's sheer unimportance in the movies. I mean, in the books he does have relevance in that he knows about the wizarding world. In the movies, Hermione just seems to know everything (even things she'd not be able to look up in books) and Ron has nothing to contribute. We also talked a lot about the scene in DH2 when Harry tells him where he's going and what he's going to do and Ron just stands there like “Ok, whatever. Have fun.” while Hermione is in tears. It was a great workshop, even if we only caught the last twenty minutes or so.


Then we had some time to kill before meeting our contest winner (Anna) for dinner. So, we hung out for a while in the conference space. During that time, Jamie (the Pottermore guy) walked by. We were surprised he wasn't being swarmed by people demanding to have their questions answered! Brae asked him for a photo and demanded to know if PoA would be amazing since it was his favorite book. Jamie promised it would and departed, leaving us with nothing to do once again.


Then Anna arrived for dinner and we headed out to find somewhere to eat which was a feat since everyone was doing the same thing. We ended up back at the Islands Dining Room and I had another turkey burger after a half an hour wait (again with thirty or so empty tables). At least the service was better this time! We had so much fun hanging out with Anna at dinner, even if she didn't want to ruin the wrapping on her prize to open it and see what was inside!


I should mention that the previous night was when the sleep deprivation really got to me. The story came up at dinner, though, so I thought I'd put it here. I was so tired I was delirious. I was also sharing a bed with Catherine who came in late that night. I woke up in the dark, not knowing where I was and saw what I thought was a piece of luggage lying next to me on the bed. My immediate thought was that I'd push it off the bed to give myself more room. I remember sitting up and just staring at it for a really long time and reaching out to see if it really was a bag. Luckily I didn't push poor Catherine off the bed in the middle of the night, but I was terrified she was awake during all that, freaking out about the weirdo she was sharing a bed with. This also became a running joke that weekend.


During dinner, an absolutely adorable French girl came over to ask if she could take a picture with me. She didn't speak much English which made her even cuter, and I was happy to have apparently made her day since she was so excited! Her mother thanked me, and they returned to their table.


We noticed that the wizard rock concert that night was scheduled to be starting about the time we got the check, so we ran back to the conference space and caught The Parselmouths onstage. It was awesome! They played pretty much all of my favorite songs, including the oh-so-appropriate “This is Never Gonna End”! Gred and Forge were supposed to go on next, so I thought we'd run to the craft fair before it closed really fast, but Hank Green came on. I wanted to stay because I love his wrock, but Brae insisted that I'd want something from the craft fair. So, we went. We didn't find anything to buy right then (though I do want a bracelet custom made from one seller), but I did realize how amazing etsy crafty people are! I got so many compliments on my costume and shoes (even though the sealer had failed miserably and they were cracking)! After a quick picture with a Tonks, we were back in time to see Hank sing all my favorite songs.


After Hank, we wanted to stay for Tonks and the Aurors, so we found seats with Anna to get through Gred and Forge (who I don't really care for). During their set, though, they did play “Bill's Hot Girlfriend”, so I danced a bit for that, and Brae decided he must buy “Brotherly Love” which we heard for the first time that night. Then Tonks was up, and she played pretty much all my favorites except “The Radio”. It was fairly awesome!


Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for bed to be well rested for the Starkid panel the next day!



Look for our posts on days 5 and 6!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

LeakyCon Day 3: The Tears Start Falling

Thursday morning was a little rocky waking up at 7:00am to get ready and head over to Royal Pacific for our first workshop. As much as my body protested that four hours of sleep was insufficient, I knew that if I missed the Dear Mr. Potter panel, I would be very angry with myself later in the day. So, Catherine, Brae, and I arrived early enough to get good seats and watch the technical difficulties unfold. Apparently the technology at RP doesn't like Macs (or old PCs...or people in general). Once they gave up on trying to make it work, they discussed the idea behind the book, the proceeds they'd already made for charity, and read a few passages. It was a very moving workshop.


Then, it was off to a workshop called simply Why Fred? We discussed how he was doomed from the moment that he first appeared in SS, how his death was handled, the future that JKR had painted for George, and various other topics there. After that was the first viewing of Finding Hogwarts which was ok. It could have definitely been better had it not been for more technical difficulties and a somewhat blah ending. I felt if it had been wrapped up better, it could have been a much better film. This critic gives it a B.


By this point, we were starving and heard that the Islands Dining Room had a cheap buffet, supposedly just for LC attendees. It was fairly packed (and by that I mean there were about 30 empty tables but there was a twenty minute wait, probably due to being understaffed). The food was mediocre and the service horrible (Brae had to go get us refills after we waited fifteen minutes for them). We joked about how the LC buffet should have been themed and came up with names for our food likeHippogriff pizza (which made more sense than a phoenix sandwich the day before because it's pretty impossible to get meat from a phoenix...trust me, we discussed it at length and found very few scenarios in which it would work) and grindylow tenders.


When we got back to the conference space, we ran to catch the end of Books v. Movies which was interesting. They discussed a bit of why certain scenes were cut (most of the panel worked in the film industry or have degrees in film study) and examined the technique behind several shots and scenes. It was fairly fascinating and well done. Brae took a liking to one of the presenters and insisted that we go to every single presentation she was doing that weekend. During the workshop, he received a text from Catherine saying that Oliver Boyd was at the live podcast and was about to play. As you might recall, OBatR was one of the main reasons I wanted to go to LeakyCon so badly. I scoured the wrock schedule to see when he'd be playing, but I couldn't find him. I knew he had to be playing, but I assumed it had to be a surprise. Because of my disinterest in the podcasts, I didn't even look in the descriptions of them to see his name there. I wanted to leave right then and hear him, but Brae refused. We didn't head over until we realized that the next workshop he wanted to go to was going to be horribly boring (a writing workshop). We arrived in time to catch Train to Nowhere, Lupin's Tale, and (of course) End of an Era. When he started playing End of an Era, we ran up closer and found seats next to a girl I'd never met. She immediately thrust a tissue into my hand and grabbed my other in hers so we could comfort each other since we'd both started tearing up at the first note of the song.



Christian of OBatR was doing a few signings and photos after his set, so we ran over, drying our tears as we went to try to get a picture with him to help me on my way to completing my wizard rock picture collection (I wanted pictures with all the bands I listened to regularly). We only had to wait a little while for it, and we didn't look too horrible, even after crying. I had my first fangirl moment of the con after that picture. There was dancing and squeeing involved. (There were only two of these moments.)


Then we found Stephanie who said they were having trouble getting in touch with the theatre for accommodations for me. They offered to pay for a cab to get us over there faster to work it out since it started in about an hour. We refused this offer and walked over there right away. It turned out not to be a problem since we were the first people in our theatre and got to choose our seats right away. I saved us seats while Jordan and Ashley (our other roommates) changed and Catherine and Brae got snacks. I met a cool girl from Australia who sat next to me for a while as well. Then it was time to steel our nerves for the final movie.


I have never had a viewing experience quite like this one. It was amazing! I think the crying started right at the beginning, but the all-out sobbing started for most people when the twins came on the screen and didn't stop until we were on our way back to Royal Pacific. I, personally, didn't start sobbing until the Prince's Tale, but there were sporadic tears throughout the beginning. It was amazing to know we were all in this together and no one would make fun of us even if we were hyperventilating (which most of us were) and went through an entire box of tissues.


As for the movie itself, I'm still on the fence. I want to go see it again before I make any posts about it, but there were major things I loved and hated which I was forced to go into detail on all weekend. I'm afraid that when I go see it again, though, I'll still be hyperventilating and not surrounded by Potterheads which might lead to awkward stares in the theatre and that I won't like it even as much as I did the first time because that amazing atmosphere will be gone. We shall see.


We hurried back to the conference space after the screening to make it to wizard rock. I wasn't worried about missing the first few acts because I cannot stand MC Kreacher, and House of Black hardly ever plays the songs I like by her in concert. Since they were first, it wasn't a big deal. However, they'd postponed the start of the concert so that everyone could get back to RP (or because of technical difficulties, I'm not sure). So, we sat through MC Kreacher and even go to hear both I Think My Boyfriend is a Death Eater and The LeakyCon Theme Song by House of Black before Lauren Fairweather went on! Then we sat through JFF (who I also don't really care for) before Ministry of Magic came on. Now here's where the magic happened! I'd never really considered what it must be like to go from being a major fan of HP to an HP star, especially trying to go to a conference after being in a few of the movies. I kept seeing Evanna all over swarmed by people who refused to let her just enjoy a moment of the con. It was honestly kind of sad. Yes, it was absolutely awesome that she was there, and she seems like an amazing person, but she couldn't go anywhere without being bothered. So, when I turned around in the mosh pit for Ministry of Magic and saw her with a bunch of Starkids, I knew trouble was coming. Luckily, it was just a bunch of pictures being taken and nothing else. But it was awesome to dance right next to her for a while (she disappeared quickly), and, no, I didn't get a picture because I didn't want to be one of “those people”.



On our way out to catch a water taxi while everyone else stayed for The Remus Lupins' last show ever which we also didn't care about, we ran into Lauren Lopez who I took a picture with and is very nice! This was my second fangirl moment which involved us walking away after the picture, me jumping and squeeing while flailing my arms about and accidentally hitting a girl in the face who should have known not to sneak up on people who have just taken pictures with Lauren Lopez!


We made it back to our hotel pretty quickly because we caught a water taxi easily due to a lack of a crowd. It took us a while to get to our room, though, because Portofino Bay is like a giant (and I mean GIANT) labyrinth! It was almost impossible to find your room. I'm not even joking. Every time we left or came back, it seemed like we took a different way or made a wrong turn every time. You literally might want to take some bread crumbs if you ever stay there. This, naturally, led to us deciding that Loews (who owns Portofino Bay) should build a Hogwarts hotel since they've got the confusing layout down. It was also themed to perfection, much like Royal Pacific. So, I'm all on board with this, Loews! Let me know if you need help with accuracy!


Then it was time for sleep since we were all fairly exhausted after planning our day for Friday.



Look for our posts on days 3-6!