Harry Potter and Mickey Mouse

I LOVE Harry Potter! I've read the books and watched the movies countless times, plus I was sorted into Gryffindor and know that my patronus is a horse. All terribly important information, don't you think?

So, earlier this year, when my guy invited me to a wedding in Disney, the only acceptable response was, "Only if we can go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter"!

I had been there before with my family, but back then Universal hadn't opened Diagon Alley.

Look at Hogwarts!!!

The ride in there is so much fun! And, while you wait in line, you get to tour the castle and enjoy the talking portraits.

The first thing we did in Hogsmead was grab some butterbeer. It was absolutely delicious!

We then took the Hogwarts Express (!!!!!!) to Diagon Alley and had lunch at  The Leaky Cauldron. The food was nothing special but who cares?? We were at the Leaky Cauldron!!!

(I'm sorry for the overload of exclamation points in this post. I really was excited)

We then took a stroll down Diagon Alley and tried not to get burned to a crisp by the dragon hanging out at Gringotts.

I had to get myself a Ravenclaw scarf to add to my collection (last time was Gryffindor). I immediately felt so much smarter!

Then this guy started talking to me. He gave me permission to take his picture, and left me very confused as to how he knew what I was doing. I guess the sorting hat was right, I don't belong in Ravenclaw.

We walked through both Hogsmead and Diagon Alley, rode all of the rides, and finally decided it might be a good idea to see the rest of the park. 

Before heading out to Emeril's for an amazing dinner!

And having the WORST margaritas ever at Margaritaville! I was very sad and disappointed since they look so pretty.

But, in the immortal words of the Grateful Dead, "Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile."

After two days at Universal, we finally made it over to Epcot Center to meet up with the wedding party and do a little around-the-world drinking.

We started in Germany. 

With a delicious grapefruit Schofferhofer , which is apparently pronounced chauffeur + ah + hoff + ah, and was bigger than my head.

We then moved on to England.

And Japan.

And Morrocon and Mexico and ...

Before making it over to Downtown Disney and staying out until just before sunrise.

The morning of the wedding, we checked into our new hotel at Disney Port Orleans.

It was beautiful!

We quickly got dressed and made it to the chapel.

It was a lot more elegant and a lot less cheesy than I imagined. For some reason, I thought a Disney wedding would be a lot more cartoon-y. 

The only way you could tell it wasn't a regular wedding was that this guy showed up with the rings in a shoe:

Although we were starstruck when a certain famous couple showed up at the reception!

We had an amazing vacation! I didn't get my wand though. Guess I'll have to go back and get it.