LeakyCon Day 2: LineyCon

So, do you remember me telling you in part one that Brae and I cannot travel without there being problems and that LeakyCon was the exception? Well, that wasn't exactly true, but it has been the most trouble-free travel experience we've had to date.

You see, we woke up on Wednesday to go register and made our way over to Royal Pacific. When we entered the conference space, my jaw dropped after seeing a rather long line of people just inside the door. Surely this line wasn't for registration, right? Brae, Catherine, and I got in line without asking questions at first, then someone said something that didn't fit if this was the registration line, and we saw people with badges for the conference. So, we asked if this was the registration line and were told no; this was the conflict resolution line. I breathed a sigh of relief that we wouldn't have to wait in that line and found the correct lines around the corner. We each got in a different line since it was alphabetical. Catherine got her registration first, and we spent a while going through her bag which contained a few ads and an AWESOME program book:

Brae got his registration next, and all seemed to be going well. Then, I got to the front of my line and all went to wizard hell. I gave the girl at the desk my ID and she immediately adopted a look that didn't bode well. She asked before even checking the box behind her with badges if my registration might be under a different name. I said no, and she turned to look, but she appeared to just be doing it for my benefit. After a moment, she turned to face me and said my registration wasn't there and I'd have to get in the...dun dun dun...conflict resolution line.

Now, our original plan was to go to Royal Pacific, register, go to the WWoHP, and each lunch. Well, that didn't appear to be happening if I had to wait in the conflict resolution line, and I was starving. So, we went next door to Emeril's Tchoup Chop and had lunch. We were surprised by a themed menu just for LeakyCon! I ordered a phoenix sandwich and Amor-Colada (which I was later informed was non-alcoholic).

Then, it was back to the conference space to get in the conflict resolution line which hadn't moved an inch. Luckily, there was this awesome girl in front of me named Alex who I really bonded with that day over the course of four lines and five and a half hours.

(The line pictured above wrapped around the corner and up around the rest of the conference space.)

To make a long story short, LeakyCon's printers didn't make all the badges, and they didn't check properly since, according to the staff, 2,000 badges look a lot like 3,400 badges. We found a shorter line which we got through faster than our original line, but they didn't give us our Open at the Close tickets. So, after a brief celebration of being free from lines, Alex and I realized we had to get back in line. Another hour later, we had all our registration materials only to find out that our newly arrived other roommates (Jordan and Ashley) were in the conflict resolution line because one of them was one of the unlucky ones whose registration hadn't been printed.

Though the lines sucked royal hippogriff, I tried not to let them get me down, though I did have a few moments where awesome quotes issues from my mouth like “I give up! The dementor that is this line has sucked out my soul”. I even considered not getting back in line once I was officially registered for the con but didn't have my Open at the Close ticket and wristband and not going to Open at the Close at all. While this was probably an option since people who hadn't paid for Open at the Close weren't asked to leave when the park closed and many stayed for the entire event (it wasn't very well organized either), I'm glad I just went through it and got my wristband.

Another awesome quote from the line-waiting experience were from a group of passers-by (including Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills):

Girl: What's this line for? (referring to the conflict resolution line)

JFF: That? That's the line for...f*cked up stuff.

We ran back to the hotel to change for Open at the Close and return for the Opening Festivities at Royal Pacific. We barely made it; they had just started the ceremony when we got back from Portofino Bay (that water taxi ride takes a while since you have to switch boats at City Walk).

I must take a moment here to sing the praises of one LeakyCon staffer whose praises have not been sung, to my knowledge. There were a few that had their moments in the spotlight throughout the weekend, but one stood out for me. Her name is Stephanie, and she just plain rocks! She was my liaison for accommodations through the entire week. Every time Brae or I went to her to talk about how to work out seating for an event, she'd always start with “Well, what do you want? We'll make it happen” rather than just doing the bare minimum (naturally, that turned into endless jokes in our room about what I wanted like”I want to watch DH2 with Evanna Lynch and JKR after they pick me up in a party bus with all the rum I can drink”). Though she was always surrounded by a crowd of people demanding her attention or trying to coordinate her family's plans throughout the con and often had to escape to the quiet of her hotel room just to get a moment to relax, she always went out of her way to help me! I cannot thank her enough, even though we tried on Saturday with a small gift.

Anyway, Brae had stayed at Royal Pacific while three of us ran back to our room at Portofino Bay to change, and he kept calling frantically because Stephanie had found us seats in the front row for the Opening Festivities. That's how that all fit together in my mind.

The opening festivities were pretty sweet, despite some technical difficulties (the nargles seemed to plague every bit of technology that weekend). They called it a video yearbook, and it sort of was. It was basically a history of the fandom from when SS was first published to the start of wizard rock to Starkid and so on. As it got to each important part of the fandom, it cut to a live performance.

Oh, and we can't forget the cutest proposal ever that started off the opening festivities when Melissa pretended a girl had won a contest and called her to stage where her boyfriend was waiting.

After the opening festivities wrapped up, it was off to the park for Open at the Close! The majority of the conference-goers hadn't been yet since almost every group had one person that had been forced to wait in line all day. So, even though the Open at the Close tickets allowed us entrance into Islands of Adventure after 2pm, very few people I talked to got to take advantage of that which was sad because park tickets were awfully expensive and some people had only bought Open at the Close tickets and not additional days. Surprisingly, I didn't witness any riots from people who hadn't been to the park before and had to try to cram it all into five hours or so since the opening festivities had been pushed back because they wanted all the conference attendees to be present for them and had to wait until everyone had made it through the conflict resolution line.

I didn't end up taking many pictures at Open at the Close. There was a lot of confusion there that threw me off both within my group of friends and with the entire event itself. Last year, Infinitus had us leave the park at closing and re-enter after our event was set up. LeakyCon thought they could bypass this by letting us stay and having everyone wear a wristband so that those without them could be escorted out. As I said before, this didn't work out at all. Sure, there weren't any fans throwing hissy fits like at Infinitus because they missed half anh hour in the park and got to listen to the staff that worked on creating WWoHP, but we had to wait about an hour before our free food was set up and people who hadn't paid for the event got to stay because no one was really checking wristbands.

I spent the majority of the night with the other AccioLeakyCon girls at the Hog's Head which didn't appear any less crowded than usual, but that might have been because about ten billion people were trying to cram in there around our table because Starkid sat right next to us. I didn't end up getting a picture with the other AccioLeakyCon girls, though, because I had to catch up with my other friends after confusion happened there. Basically, we just tried to cram everything in because Brae and I weren't sure we'd get to return with our other day ticket (which we didn't get to). We ran to Forbidden Journey while snapping pictures of the live show with Evanna Lynch happening in front of Hogwarts, glanced at the Trwizard show on our way to Dragon Challenge (we only rode one of them because Brae said he didn't like the ride), ran back to Ollivanders because Brae wanted to go through the experience again, hoping he'd be chosen (which he wasn't), and bought a new wand for him before grabbing some free ice cream and watching them cleaning up the rest of the food that we hadn't had time to eat. Personally, I thought the peanut butter and strawberry ice cream was absolutely disgusting, but this might have been blown out of proportion by having just witnessed someone who had chugged butterbeer and then ridden Dragon Challenge hurl right next to me and having chugged pumpkin juice right before that (which I don't think tastes very good).

Then it was back to the room for more room service since we'd missed the free food at Open at the Close (Mm! Pizza!), showers, and an attempt to get four hours of sleep when no one in the room can stop giggling.

Look for our posts on days 3-6!

So...How Was LeakyCon?

I was honestly going to let this blog go before we left for LeakyCon. I figured the majority of our readership were all going to LeakyCon, but there has been a lot of interest in a few posts reliving the week that we spent in Orlando with the best bunch of HP fans in the world! So, it begins here!

Brae's friend picked us up to go to the airport on Tuesday morning. After a few rushed goodbyes with our landlady who also likes HP, we were on our way! We even, miraculously, remembered to call the bank on our way to the airport to have them mark Brae's account since he'd be out of state and spending what would probably total hundreds of dollars. We didn't want any mishaps with his card not working and being penniless or anything. We had previously decided to just pay for everything together, so I'd transferred my half to his account so we wouldn't be trying to make sure we paid equal shares the entire time.

Brae and I generally have issues traveling. Everything that can go wrong usually does. For example, when we went to Chicago for the HP exhibit, our train broke down and we missed the last bus to the museum. We had to stay in Chicago two extra days, stay with a relative since we couldn't afford our hotel that long, buy new bus tickets home, and get new tickets to the exhibit for another day. When we went to a friend's wedding recently, our car broke down on the way home. The list goes on. It was surprising, then, that everything went according to plan this trip. It honestly made me a little terrified that check in and security went fine at the airport that morning. Especially since it was only the second time ever I was not pulled aside for extra screening. I kept waiting for something horrible to happen while we ate breakfast in the airport, but nothing super exciting happened except us seeing a group of girls in HP-themed shirts. Brae wanted to ask them if they were going to LeakyCon, but I remembered how last year we'd seen a fewpeople in the Cincinnati airport that were in HP clothing who weren't going to Infinitus. I reminded him that not every HP fan was going to LeakyCon, but he asked anyway. Imagine my surprise that not only that group of three girls, but the next four that we saw in HP shirts were all going to LeakyCon. Around the time we started realizing that a good number of people on our plane would be going to LeakyCon, four others came up to ask if we were going to LeakyCon since I was wearing a Beauxbatons shirt and hat and Brae had a Slytherin scarf tied to his carry-on bag. The grand total of LeakyCon-goers on our Cincinnati to Orlando flight was 12; that totally beats the four on our flight to Infinitus last year!

One of the girls from Cincinnati, Ashley, was traveling alone and asked if we wanted to split a cab from the airport. She was staying at Royal Pacific, so we agreed, since it was on the way to Portofino Bay where we were staying. She turned out to be pretty darn awesome and a major help to us throughout the weekend!

There were a few misunderstandings at check-in when we got to Portofino Bay, but we worked them out and checked our bags at the desk until our room was ready before heading out to the park! Unfortunately, I left my camera in my bag and wasn't able to take pictures or film my AccioLeakyCon video in the park that day, but we still had oodles of fun after we picked up our park tickets at Royal Pacific and took the water taxi back to Islands of Adventure.

Since it had been about six hours since we'd eaten in the airport, our first stop was at Mythos for lunch...which was AMAZING! Then we hit the Poseidon's Fury, Incredible Hulk Coaster, and The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman (when Brae got a mysterious phone call from a number we didn't recognize that he couldn't hear in line and turned out to be important later).

After that, it was time to do a bit of quick shopping in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Mainly we just wanted to grab a few quick things and go back to the hotel and collapse since the park was going to close fairly soon anyway. We ran into Honeydukes first after grabbing some butterbeer (we still didn't get to try to the regular butterbeer because we were still too hot to consider consuming anything that wasn't frozen). The park had kind of cleared out after a bit of rain, so we went straight into Honeydukes and stocked up on chocolate frogs (we still didn't get Rowena and now have two Helgas, a Godric, and a Salazar), peppermint toads, ton tongue toffee, chocolate cauldrons, pink coconut ice, chocoballs, and stringmints. I was just considering buying my cauldron cake when were at checkout when it happened. Remember the phone call Brae had made that morning to his bank to have them make a note that he would be in Orlando for the next few days? Yeah, that didn't work out according to plan. After his card was declined at Honeydukes, we had them put aside our basket of stuff so he could call the bank. Though they'd said they made a note of his travel that morning, that didn't turn out to be the case (or someone didn't bother checking it). They said they'd tried to call him about an hour ago (hence the mysterious phone call when we were in line for the Spiderman ride). We got that worked out, but I forgot to get a cauldron cake (and didn't end up getting one at a later time which is devastating).

We made our way back to the hotel and retrieved our bags from the concierge so I get my camera to make my AccioLeakyCon video which involved heading off to the lobby to find free internet and wandering around to find a spot that didn't have huge families that were incapable of using indoor voices so that I could be heard on camera. Luckily I wasn't the only one talking to my computer out there or I would have been very self-conscious since this was the first time I'd vlogged outside my home.

After we uploaded the video and returned to the room, I showered and we attempted to wrap the package for the winner of the contest we held here a few months ago. I was so tired, I didn't want to deal with the fact that the paper had ripped in my suitcase, so it ended up looking like Hagrid had wrapped it, and I left out two items which we had to tie to the top.

For those that are interested, the package included some homemade ton tongue taffy (not toffee, don't ask!), a Ravenclaw bookmark, a sticker that says “Better here than Privet Drive”, a personalized Hogwarts acceptance letter, the royal blue pygmy puff I showed you guys a while ago in my video announcing the contest, some homemade U-No-Poo, a Quibbler reporter's notebook, and some HP gift tags.

Then we ordered room service (Mmm! Turkey burgers!) and met our first roommate to arrive, Catherine, in the lobby around midnight and pretty much all passed out since our exhaustion had caused slap-happiness and we probably completely scared Catherine!

Look for our posts on days 2-6!

My Fandom Pensieve Part 2

Have you been listening to PotterCast and MuggleCast from the beginning? If so, what are your favorite episodes?

As I said in an earlier post, I don't listen to any podcasts. Well, ok, I listen to one, but it's never really updated. It's also not an HP podcast. I simply don't have the attention span to listen to podcasts. I'm too visual for that. Plus, every time I've tried to listen to one, it seems the hosts go off on random tangents I don't care about or are forced to answer really stupid questions and respond to really stupid theories by listeners. I don't have the patience for that.

Evanna Lynch was cast for “Luna Lovegood” in the OotP film, which was later released in July 2007. Did you like the casting decision Warner Bros. made?

YES! Luna, I feel, was a casting that got us back on track. I felt like Fleur was the start of the decline in caring about how the characters should look and finding actors to fit that. Luna was an excellent way to show us that WB does care about what the characters should be like. Granted, she's not canon perfect since she has platinum hair rather than dirty blonde, I've been able to overlook that after seeing how much she really IS Luna!

Harry Potter fans and Wizrockers pushed a healthy campaign on YouTube. What is your favorite channel, and why?

I was a big fiveawesomegirls fan as well as a Black Sisters fan. There weren't many other wrockers that I watched on youtube, though I have perused Kwikspell's channel a bit too before we saw her in concert a few months ago and after we saw how awesome she was.

Where did you see the fifth Harry Potter film? What did you think of it?

I think OotP was my first midnight movie release. I honestly don't remember a lot about it, but I do remember it being around the time we made the HP door in our dorm when our non-HP roommate who didn't help with said door flaunted an early pass to see the movie in our faces. That was not a smart thing to do. I think things were thrown and curses were hurled (and we're not talking the babbling curse)!

I liked the fifth film. Yes, a lot was taken out, but it was all stuff I felt I could honestly live without, unlike the third. I think this was a good sign that WB was back on track in terms of caring about what the fans wanted and only excluding what they needed, even if they did continue to keep adding stupid stuff to the movies...which still makes no sense to me.

Where were you when you finally got your hands on the final book? What did you do during that night? Did you read the whole book?

I've talked about this as well in this post, so I shan't repeat myself.

Melissa Anelli, head webmistress at the Leaky Cauldron publishes “Harry, A History.” Where were you when you read the book?

I just finished this book, actually. I bought it around the release of the Half Blood Prince film at an HP display at Barnes and Noble, but I didn't get around to reading it until we were on our way to Infinitus. I liked it, but I found it very difficult to follow since it wasn't really in any recognizable order. I found myself having to take notes at times to figure out what points in the fandom we were discussing since she liked to jump from talking about the DH release to that time such-and-such happened before OotP. So, the majority of this book was read on a plane on the way to and from Infinitus since I was trying to finish it before Melissa came to the Cincinnati Library for a signing and wrock concert after we got back from Infinitus. Obviously that didn't happen, and I didn't end up going.

What did you think of part 1 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows film? Did you like where they left off?

I did like DH1. It was pretty good, though some of the deaths didn't get the respect they deserved, in my opinion. I liked the end a lot because it leaves so much time to deal with the other stuff in part two (though after watching only two trailers, I'm worried about them adding too much to fill up said time). But it did its job of getting me excited for DH2 (DON'T SPOIL ME!).

We went a midnight release for that one too (as we have for every film since OotP). We weren't on the news that time, like we were for HBP because Brae and I dressed up, but we did get some odd reactions. For example, I was wearing my Slytherin robes. Slytherin, right? They're all green and have a big “S” on the front with the Slytherin crest. I've got a big green tie on too and a green prefect pin, Slytherin quidditch pin, and a “Potter Stinks” pin. It's hard to even think for a moment I'm, say, a Ravenclaw. But what do about four people start shouting the moment I walked into the theatre? “Oh my God, look! It's Luna!” WTH? Is this some alternate universe where Luna is a Slytherin? Anyway, that viewing was cool. Here are some pics.

My Fandom Pensieve Part 1

I didn't know how much I really wanted to be involved in the Fandom Memories project that LeakyCon is undertaking because I didn't think I had that many interesting memories and, if I did, I didn't have many or any pictures or videos to back them up. But I caved for an AccioLeakyCon video, and now I'd like to go back and answer a few of the other questions.

Do you remember what fan sites you went to you when you first came online for Potter?

I discovered Mugglenet first of the big fan sites. I honestly don't remember how I found it, but I probably just searched for “Harry Potter” when I first started my HP forays online and stumbled across it after the Warner Bros.' film sites. I didn't find Leaky Cauldron for a few years for some reason, and it never really drew me in the way Mugglenet did for some reason. So, I ended up joining Mugglespace and Mugglenet Interactive long before Leaky Lounge and all that. Now I check them both regularly, though.

Do you remember what you thought of Dan, Rupert, and Emma when they were cast originally for the films?

I watched the casting process closely on Mugglenet right off the bat. I actually had a lot of faith in WB at this point, so I knew they wouldn't let me down (this faith lasted until Prisoner of Azkaban was released with the horrendous replacement for Richard Harris and a complete deletion of the entire Marauder's story). When Emma, Rupert, and Dan were revealed to have been cast, I was fairly pleased; they all looked close to how I'd imagined the trio, but I wondered even then if they would be able to pull off these roles. I cut them some slack in Sorcerer's Stone since they were young, my patience with Rupert grew thin during CoS, I ended up giving up hope for Rupert's acting in PoA until it got a little better in OotP, and Emma's never bothered me until I noticed her eyebrow thing (seriously go turn on any HP movie and watch her eyebrows...she cannot act without moving them every five seconds. I guess that's how she thinks people express all emotion?).

When was the first time you saw a Wizard Rock show? Which bands did you discover on MySpace?

My first wizard rock show was only a little over a year ago at the YMCA about forty minutes away from where I live. We were trying to get in the mood for Infinitus, and I discovered a wrock show happening about a week beforehand, so I demanded that we go. The bands were Skyway Flyer, Witherwings, Tonks and the Aurors, and The Remus Lupins (though we left at the beginning of their set because we had to meet Brae's grandmother for lunch and neither of us cared too much about The Remus Lupins). It was pretty cool, and we met some awesome people there that were also going to Infinitus (and are going to LeakyCon this year as well)!

I discovered a few bands through MySpace, but most of them were found through searching Youtube for their songs. Of the bands I listen to regularly, I found The House of Black, Marked as His Equal, and Riddle TM on MySpace. I found the rest on Youtube.

What was your first Harry Potter conference you attended?

I kind of already covered this in my two posts on Infinitus (part one and part two), so I won't cover it again and bore you all here.

Where were you when you read OotP, and who were you with?

I read OotP at my godmother's house in Louisiana. We were staying with her over the summer, so my mother had to take me to get the book (at the same Kroger we'd return to for every subsequent HP book release after my mother moved two blocks away from my godmother a year or so later) and I spent the next few days reading, having to be torn away to eat and do things my mother and godmother wanted to do like go see movies and shop. The majority of my time, when I wasn't cramming in a chapter in the car to some store or other, was spent on my godmother's couch next to her candy jar which was empty long before Sirius' death, meaning I had to scrounge in the kitchen for comfort food and chocolate to help with the depression I felt.

Were you pleased with the new direction Alfonso Cuaron took with the Prisoner of Azkaban? Leave a few comments letting us know what you thought, and still think, of the third film.

Ha! I'm sorry, but that question is ridiculous! I have yet to find a HP fan that was “pleased” with the new direction Alfonso Cuaron took with PoA! I mean, it was devastating! The first two films were so close to the book, and then they cut so much to make time for artsy shots of withering flowers, leaves falling off the Whomping Willow, and all that! I saw it with my brother who happened to be in town, and I remember glaring at the Dan fangirls sitting next to me who squealed every time he came on the freakin' screen and laughing out loud when Sirius' soul came out of his mouth! I still think it's the second worst HP film, only because GoF came along to eclipse its badness with the new action movie tactic they took there.

Costume Parade and Contact Info

I mentioned in my previous post about costuming that I would do a costume parade video on youtube and link it when it was complete. Well, after a long, arduous wait for the alterations on our costumes to be complete, we received them yesterday, filmed the video, did the photo shoot, and now I present the completed video:

I also wanted to throw out my twitter account for all of you to follow me or let me follow you if you intend to tweet about the goings-on at LeakyCon that you find interesting. I promise I do not tweet at all so you won't be bombarded with random and completely useless tweets before or during the con. I vow to only use it to inform others about supermegafoxyawesomehot events occurring at the con that they might not have been aware of (one of which might be a party in our room, woot woot!). So, if you're interested, I'm fleur5787 over there.

Which Hallow Would You Want?

Ah, the Deathly Hallows, perhaps a few of the most tempting magical objects presented to us in JKR's wonderful works. Which of us has not fantasized about what we would do with just one, if not all, of the Hallows? They hold immense powers, and are, thus, immensely intriguing.

I am lucky enough to say that I have known very few people who have died. My grandparents on my father's side died before I was born, as did my grandfather on my mother's side. My grandmother is still living, though I did recently lose a step-grandfather that I have fond memories of but never really knew. I can only say I have been somewhat close to about four or five people who have passed on. While their deaths did impact me as a child, I have since accepted the loss. So, the resurrection stone holds little draw for me. While it does intrigue me on a philosophical level, that's about it.

But then there's the invisibility cloak. I cannot say that the ability to become invisible never intrigued me. Right now, all I can seem to think of is playing tricks on other people while invisible and getting into all sorts of hijinks like Harry and Co. used to do in Hogwarts. That would be a serious temptation for me.

But the elder wand would not. No, I'm being honest here. After thinking about the elder wand for a while, it doesn't have as much of a draw as it once did. I mean, think about it. The only extraordinary powers we know it actually exhibited was when it repaired Harry's broken wand. That's it. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it has other hidden powers, and examining it and playing with it would be fascinating (especially since I've discussed at length about how I'd love to be a wandmaker, wandlore is a bit of a soft spot for me), however actually being its master is another matter entirely. I'm too paranoid for it; too many people have died because of it for me to ever feel safe in any way, even with whatever powers is may or may not have. After all, it might not be super powerful anyway. All the Hallows have short-comings. How do we know that he elder wand's power isn't merely in the wielder's head?

So, I guess it's the invisibility cloak for me. That's it. I needn't be “Master of Death” because I quite agree with Dumbledore in that “death is the next great adventure”. While that's an adventure I'd like to postpone for a good forty to fifty years, I don't really fear death.

Packing with 39 days to go?

Ok, so we haven't started packing YET, but I have "finished" (I put it in quotes because I keep running back to add items I'd forgotten) our list of items we'll need. Because I've been asked by a few people heading off to their first cons to post a sample list of items to pack, here you go...

But first, don't forget that there's just one more week to enter our LeakyCon contest! You don't need to answer all the questions to be eligible to win either. We've only gotten a few entries because of confusion about that, I think. So, there's still an excellent chance that you'll win if you only send in a few answers/guesses.

Also, please don't forget to check out my new collab LeakyCon channel on Youtube, AccioLeakyCon! There's some serious awesomeness going on over there.

Now, on to the list!

CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES

T-shirt (worn on plane)

2-3 Pairs jeans (1 worn on plane)

3-4 Pairs socks (1 worn on plane)

Tennis shoes (worn on plane)

Purse (brought on plane)

At least 4 undergarments (1 worn on plane)

6 Pairs underwear (1 worn on plane)

Sun hat (Easily reached in suitcase/carry-on since we're going to the park right after checking in and will probably need to check our luggage at the hotel, we won't want to rifle through all our bags to find our hats, sunscreen, fan, etc.)

Costume #1 (I will be devoting an entire post and video to putting together my costumes, how they look, the pricing, the process, etc. So, look for that at the end of June when we get all the pieces back from the tailor.)

3 pairs spanks (As I said in another post, if you're planning on wearing a uniform skirt to the park and want to ride FJ, you'll need/want spanks.)

2 HP-themed t-shirts

Costume #2

Pygmy puffs

Wand

Costume #3

Costume #4

Dark Marks

Pajamas

Shoe inserts (I'd highly recommend these since there's a lot of walking during a con, especially at the park.)

Poncho(s)

Bathing suit

Flip flops

Cover-up

Jewelry

TOILETRIES

Sunscreen (within easy reach in suitcase)

Facial sunscreen (within easy reach in suitcase)

Aloe

Razor

Shaving cream

Face wash

Body wash

Shampoo

Conditioner

Skin Care Products

Comb

Q-tips

Hair care products

Flat iron

Hair ties

Bobby pins

Body lotion

Perfume

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

Mouthwash

Floss

Make-up

Nail polish

Febreeze (You might want to freshen up after going to the park, believe me. Even if you don't plan on wearing the clothes again at the con, you'll still find this handy to keep them in your room/bag.)

Tide pen/Shout Wipes

Water bottle

Travel tissues (You'll need them for DH2)

Ibuprofen

Headache medicine

Cold medicine

Allergy medicine

Vitamins

Stomach medicine

Prescription medicines

Band-aids

Other first aid essentials

ENTERTAINMENT

Book (For the plane ride)

Phone

Phone Charger

Laptop

Laptop Charger

Laptop sleeve

Camera

Extra camera batteries

Camera battery charger

Camera Case

OTHER

Fan

Umbrella

Extra duffle bag folded in carry-on for return

Snacks

Wallet with cash, ID, and bank card

Pens (To take notes in panels and talks as well as for autographs)

Small notebook

Sharpie (For all those autograph moments)

Knee/back braces or ace bandage, if necessary

We are staying an extra day, so keep that in mind. Also, think about how much you'll NOT want to wear anything you wear to the park again while at the con, unless you want to pay to have it dry cleaned at the hotel or something.

I'd recommend laying out costumes/outfits before packing them to make sure you have absolutely everything that goes with them (including undergarments, styling products, make-up, jewelry, accessories, props, etc.) as well as going through these ensembles laid out and figuring out if you have everything you'll need day-by-day. But I'm also obsessive about things like this.

Yes, our list is really freakin' long, and we realize that (it's actually a lot longer than what you see above since I list every costume item on it so we don't forget something important). We are going to *try* to cram it all into 2 carry-ons and 2 hanging bags, but it might not happen (since we have a different pair of shoes with each costume and hats to boot), which will mean we'll be paying about $125-$175 in baggage fees. : (

I hope this helped a few of you figure out the basics that you'll need to bring with you. And don't worry about forgetting the small stuff. There should be places to buy toiletries and such nearby (in the hotel, at the airport, etc.)

Infinitus Part 2

Before we get back into the re-telling of Infinitus, I'd like to let you guys know that I am working on a LeakyCon collab channel which can be found here: AccioLeakyCon

We ran off to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in our Slytherin robes, knowing that Infinitus had worked it out so we could be in costume all day after 2pm when our Night of a Thousand Wizards (the after-hours park event for conference attendees) tickets went into effect.

There was some mild confusion finding the actual Wizarding World since neither of us knew where the heck we were going, but we finally found it after about twenty minutes of aimlessly wandering around, pretending we were able to read the map they'd given us.

When I laid eyes on Hogwarts castle on our way across the bridge to the park, I almost died. We obviously had our picture taken by one of the park workers before sprinting into the park to explore (and eat lunch). We ran into a few people who knew about Infinitus, and, after spotting our badges, came up to chat and ask us how we were enjoying the conference they couldn't afford to go to.

I don't want to go too much into the park experience since I know that there's a lot of people who are still doing their best to avoid spoilers, so we'll just say it was absolutely AMAZING! I think I squealed about every five seconds and cried for a good five minutes.

We ran back to the hotel to freshen up a bit after being out in the Florida heat all day before NoaTW started. The lines for the water taxis were atrocious on the way back, though. So, we decided then that we'd walk back that night after NoaTW was over.

We made it to the stadium event, which we'd heard about earlier that day before we went to the park the first time, on time and listened patiently to the presentation. There was major embarrassment when people started yelling at the Universal people and berating them with questions about the park, especially those that they had no authority to answer. One example was one girl yelling about weight restrictions on the rides, which had been covered extensively online. Every single amusement park has to enforce weight restrictions for safety. It went downhill from there so that it was just a list of complaints like someone complaining that they didn't have any authentic dishes from the books that were healthy. Um...when did JKR list any healthy foods in the books? I missed it. Anyway, a lot of people walked out, some while making loud remarks about how upset they were at being detained before getting into the park when it was obvious, if you thought about it, that they needed to set up the event for us. In the end, most of them missed out on the ride with Chris Rankin and Christian Coulson; there was a sticker or something under the benches of the stadium, and if you found it, you rode Forbidden Journey with them. The fifty of us or so left at the end had to scour the stadium for it. Less competition, I guess. Lol!

Then it was off to the park once more.

On the way back, we walked behind Joey Richter and a few other Starkids. At one point, Joey dropped his hat, I accidentally stepped on it, and Brae picked it up to give back to him. So, both my foot and Brae's hand have come in contact with Joey Richter. Lol! No, I'm seriously only joking. We had our mock fangirl moment when we got back to the room, and I told a few people who thought I was being serious and made fun of me a bit. It was mildly entertaining. Then, we ordered some room service since we hadn't had time to eat at NoaTW, which consisted of the single best turkey burger I've EVER had in my life, showered, and went to bed.

The next day was the premiere of A Very Potter Sequel, and I've mentioned before that the line had formed about an hour before we got to the conference space. Brae went off to a program, but I can't remember which one. I, mistakenly, went to see “Living the Magical Life: Wizarding Society of Harry Potter as an Emerging Subculture”. I say “mistakenly” because I was expecting something different. I'm not sure what, but I didn't get anything close to what I was expecting. They had us start by lining up according to what sub-sect of the HP community we fell under (i.e. Death Eater, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Dumbledore's Army, Order of the Phoenix, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, etc.) and talked about why we're drawn to those for about five seconds. Then, we moved on to discussing how to become your HP personality, whether it was an actual character from the book like Bellatrix (who was leading the workshop) or a new one. This wasn't cosplay or role play we were talking about here. These people wanted to be their characters. Bella only wanted to be called Bellatrix, bought clothes Bella would wear, ate what Bella would, decorated her house like Bella would, could have only married a pureblood wizard, had to find a job that Bella would work, etc. It was...uncomfortable to say the least and I generally have a high tolerance for unconventional things like that. A lot of people ended up walking out, but since the workshop was led by Death Eaters, they had placed the Slytherin section in the second row, where I was sitting. I didn't think I could leave without being rude and attracting attention to myself. So, I stayed through the entire workshop feeling uncomfortably sane the entire time.

Then, I joined the line for Starkid because it was wrapping the first time around the space when I got out of that program at 11am; I was also unsure how they would work my accommodations for vision for this program and I didn't want to risk not being in line. I made some friends nearby who were re-watching AVPM on their iphone and behind me with a family who turned out to be awesome! Brae joined me when his program got out, and then he disappeared to go back to the room and didn't return for hours. I eventually gave up on waiting for Brae to return and talked to one of the organizers at the door, stating my need for front row seats because of my vision and that I'd need my companion to sit next to me for the things that I still couldn't see. They said they'd come get me when I could go in. By that time, I didn't know what to do but to return to the line and wait where Brae could find me since there weren't any workshops that I could go to that would be over in time for me to make AVPS. They came to get me before Brae returned, so I asked the family to tell them where I'd gone and was escorted to sit with the Merlin's Circle registrants in the second row. Brae returned a few minutes later and joined me. When the event started, I literally could have reached out and touched the cast, and we were dying! At the end of the Sequel, everyone burst out into the reprise of Get Back to Hogwarts, and it was purely magical!

After that, Brae and I ran back to the room to get ready for the ball. By the time we'd returned, it had already started, but not many people had arrived. We got drinks (in an ungodly long line) and found some HP Ohio people in the crowd. There were some amazing costumes (which I posted pictures of in my Show and Tell post), but the most amazing moment of all was the “Don't Stop Believing” sing-along as documented on youtube:

By the end of the ball, Brae and I were so tired, we knew we weren't going to make it through the Midnight Comedy Slam wrock show, though I was disappointed at missing The Parselmouths. We went back to the room to pack to leave the next day and turn in early.

We arrived at the leaving feast after a lot of HP Ohio had gone to see two members renew their vows in a recreation of Fleur and Bill's wedding. The costumes were beautiful (again, there are pictures in my Show and Tell post), and the feast itself was amazing. I was very pleased to see that something had happened with the hotel not allowing The Parselmouths to perform the night before, I think because it was too late, and they performed at the leaving feast in their pajamas. I ran up and got pictures with them before we set off for the airport.

Overall, Infinitus was absolutely amazing! It was an experience I couldn't possibly have imagined and wouldn't change a thing about! Re-telling it has only made me that much more excited for LeakyCon, which I expect to be even more epic!

I talk a bit about Infinitus a bit more in this video, but I also discuss a program I would have liked to do but didn't have time with my thesis for seminary to put it together: