I'm so sorry I haven't updated sooner. I'm currently on road to Orlando Florida, and I'm making use of the 13 hour ride. By the time I post this though I probably would have already been so expect a detailed review of the park at the end of this chapter Also for anyone who likes to be perfect, there wasn't that many rides in Epcot during the 90's so I'm keeping some things like they are now and I messed with some of the time lines a bit as far as anime is concerned. Anyway here's chapter.
Hermione loved the water park, she had never been one for really participating in school trips to the pool, but it had completely out shone anything she expected. The only bad thing about it was that she couldn't get her mother to come into the water. Minerva had flatly refused to get into the water, and when Albus mumbled something about cats hating water, he found himself literally up the river with no raft. Harry had dragged Hermione to all the rapids rides and Albus rode with them on most of the rides clearly loving his new younger body. They were thoroughly sun burnt by the end of the day to Minerva's dismay.
Now they headed to Epcot which Hermione was looking forward to the most out of all the parks. With its technological aspect as well as it's use of world cultures she could think of nothing better. They didn't even have to show up to the front entrance of the park. There was a ferry that took them right into the park and dropped them off in the world showcase. They opted to do this to leave the park so that Harry and Hermione could get the full experience. The park itself was visual stunning. Giant slabs of rock jutted out of the ground, where families could have their names engraved into the stone. The giant glass ball where spaceship earth is held was the forefront of the background. Hermione loved the stone's with all the names and pictures engraved.
"Look Mum, theirs someone from Canada, and California, oh! And look theirs someone from China!"
"Okay Hermione lets go, you do want to see the actual park right?" Minerva asked with a smile. They headed to Spaceship earth first because doesn't everyone, and afterwards made their own roller costar and rode in the virtual ride.
"Okay where to next." Albus asked holding out the map so they all could see.
"How about we make a circle start left and walk around the park coming back here and they before we catch the ferry we can watch illuminations." Hermione said, Albus nodded.
"Sounds like a plan." He folded up the map, "Let's go."
"Can we go to Mission Space next please?" Harry asked.
"Really Harry Mission Space?" Hermione asked as they walked to it. She hadn't heard him say he was looking forward to anything in Epcot. He blushed slightly.
"When I was younger I really wanted to be an astronaut." He said sheepishly.
"Really I use to want to be a lawyer, but I don't think I want to do that anymore." Hermione told him. Minerva interested in their conversation couldn't help asking:
"Well do you two want to be now?"
"A cop." Harry said with a grin. "I want a gun and I want to help people." Minerva had to smile at his eagerness.
"Well wizard police men are call Aurors."
"Auror?" He asked.
"Yes that's the name of the wizard police." She told him as they walked into the building. "Wait what's the orange line mean and what does the green line mean?" A cast member quickly came to their aid.
"The different colors stand for two different rides. Though they are the same ride the green version offers a more mild version, the orange version is the original thrill ride." She informed them.
"Orange." Harry and Albus stated firmly.
"No what if it makes me sick?" Hermione asked. "It says on this sign that you will experience several g's like a rocket blasting off. I don't know if I can do that." She said worried.
"How about I go on the green version with Hermione and you two go on the orange." Minerva said leading Hermione towards the green entrance. "I am so glad you said something." Minerva admitted when they got into the line.
"Why? I thought you'd like something like that."
"The force or g's you mentioned wouldn't have bothered me, but I think the rocking and turns would kill my back." The walked into the line and leaned against the rails.
"You never told me what you wanted to do when you got older."
"I don't know what I want to do when I get older. Do certain things require certain classes?"
"Yes near the end of your 5th year you'll sit down with me and we'll discuss what your want to do and what classes you would need to take." Minerva told her.
"Okay so I have a few years to figure it out."
"Yes, you have a few years." She said with a smile.
"Good." Hermione said with a sigh of relief.
"Though while we are on the subject of classes, are you still planning on taking all of the available courses next year?"
"Yes, if I can."
"Even muggle studies?" Minerva said doubtfully.
"Well it will be interesting to learn about it from a wizard's point of view."
"Well all right, I think your going to be very disappointed though." Minerva said. After riding Mission Space, they headed to test track, which was technically a giant drivers Ed course.
"Can I still get my drivers license when I turn 16?" Hermione asked.
"Yes I'll take you." Minerva said with a smile. When they got off the ride Hermione practically dragged them off towards the world showcase. They started on the left side with Mexico.
"Well this is something." Albus said as they walked into Mexico. It really was immersive. As soon as they walked in to the section, upbeat Mexican music started playing and there were venders in the street selling a little bit of everything.
"Oh look at that mum." Hermione said pointing to the giant temple. "What ancient civilization do you think that's based on?"
"No idea honey, but it looks like we can go inside how about we do that."
"Yeah!" Harry and Hermione said together.
The inside of the temple looked amazing. It looked like on giant market place inside. Many different little tents set up selling different things.
"Hermione look at this drum." Harry said pounding on it with no sense of rhythm. Hermione picked up maracas and played along to his beat. Minerva and Albus shared a look, and just pulled the percussion instruments out of their hands.
"Aaww."
"This is why Hogwarts has no band."
"I resent that, I can play piano." Hermione said frowning. "It's just Harry who can't keep a beat."
"Now I resent that." He said putting down blanket he had picked up.
"You can play piano?" Minerva asked, shocked that she didn't know that.
"Forced to for about 5 years, only stopped to come to Hogwarts. I really enjoyed it, especially whenever I ran out of books." She said picking up a scarf. Albus and Minerva shared a look in shock.
"Can I try a taco?" Harry asked bringing them out of shock. Minerva nodded and handed them the money as the two kids ran out. She wheeled around to Albus.
"Did you know that?" Minerva asked drawing him to a wall where less people were.
"No I didn't know that."
"What else don't we know about her Albus. Now that I think of it I never asked her about before Hogwarts. She only mentioned her parents with hate, what if at one time she did really love them. What if she ends up missing them, and she wants to go back to them. Or what if she finds someone from before Hogwarts that she really likes and she would rather stay with them."
"Dear, you just nervous, she loves you. If you want I can take Harry to do something, so that you can talk with Hermione today."
"No it's alright, the point is so that we all spend time together, as a family. I can talk to Hermione later." She said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Her husband wasn't fooled, but knew how stubborn she was so he didn't press the matter. They found the two kids sitting on a low wall outside, Harry holding a taco and Hermione a burrito. They each took a bite and switched.
"Why?" Minerva asked coming over to them.
"Well we wanted to try both so we decided to share." Harry told them.
"Have you seen everything here?" They nodded. "Well let's move on." Next they headed to Norway, where they rode Maelstorm a boat ride that took you back to the age of Vikings. Harry bought a Viking helmet, with his money so Minerva couldn't say anything about it. Next they headed towards China.
"This is pretty." Hermione said, walking down the way into the section. Harry looked around.
"Can we go back to Norway." He said and dodged Hermione's swipe at him. "What did I do Norway is manly, like Vikings! This is pretty, with fans and umbrellas." He said. Hermione looked insulted.
"Their parasols Harry, and I like them." She said.
"Look Hermione, you get your name written on it in the Chinese characters." Minerva said.
"Oh!" Hermione said amazed.
"By the time we leave this park I'll be a broke man." Albus whispered to Harry, who stiffed a laugh.
"Really?" He asked.
"Oh no, working at Hogwarts pays well."
"Really how much?" Harry whispered. Albus whispered in his ear, Harry's eyes got wide.
"Wow!"
"And that was been building interest for quite a few years."
"Awesome."
"Come on Dad were going into the big store now." Hermione said pulling Albus towards the big store her new parasol in her hands. They walked into the store and looked around. There was a bunch of silk clothes every where. "Mum look at these pajamas." Hermione said looking at pajamas.
"Ah, look at this silk robe." Minerva said fingering it. "This would set me up quite nicely." Minerva told her with a smile. They walked away, and Albus bought both to Harry's amusement.
"First thing to know about women Harry, always make sure you give them presents, but never to much." Albus lectured.
"Good to know sir."
"Harry come here I think I found something you would like." Hermione called from about 30 feet away. She was holding up a black Kung Fu uniform. Harry stared at it in shock.
"This is awesome." He said taking it from her and trying it on. "This is wicked. It's just like in the movies." He started punching and kicking the air in front of them.
"What was that about China being pretty and boring, Harry?" Hermione said with a smile. He frowned.
"Okay you win." He said smiling again. "I have to buy this." He took off to the register. Hermione beat him to it and gave the woman her money. "Hermione what are you doing?" Harry asked shocked.
"Well it's your birthday present Harry, it's just a couple weeks early." She said with a smile. He stared at her in shock and without warning wrapped her up in a hug.
"Harry wha?" She mumbled.
"Thank you Mione." He said happily.
"Well your welcome. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal."
"This is only the second real present I've ever gotten for my birthday." He told her. "The first was Hedwig."
"I'm sorry Harry." She said returning the hug. A sob broke them apart. The cashier was staring at them with tears in her eyes.
"That's so sad." They just stared at the lady. "You're both so sweet."
"Um, sorry we made you cry." Harry said awkwardly.
"It's okay it's just normally I see bratty kids in here demanding this and that from their parents, and then when they get it they don't even care anymore. And you used your own money on your friend for his birthday, and then your story. It's just so sweet. Oh here," she ran to a nearby table picked something up and came back. "Here you're going to need this to learn." She handed Harry a Kung Fu book.
"Wow this will be great, thanks how much is it." Harry asked with a smile.
"Oh no I'm giving that to you." The lady said.
"What but I can't accept that. Can't you get in trouble for doing that?" Harry asked wide eyed.
"Well I am the manager of the store. I've been here since the theme park opened when you were only a little baby. I've rarely seen two friends as close as you two are and with such pure honesty. You can get something too sweetie."
"No thank you ma'am sorry but my Mum and Dad would never let me accept that." Hermione said.
"Well where are they we'll ask." Hermione flagged her parents down, and as it came to be Harry left with the Kung Fu book and Hermione with a book on Chinese history. Minerva and Albus had not been able to change the woman's mind. After that minor incident they left China and headed to Germany. Minerva sped them through Germany though, saying that they had spent too much time in China and if they wanted to see the real Germany they could go. Then they headed to Italy, where they sat down for lunch at Tutto Italia. After a brief shopping trip there, Hermione bought a Venetian mask. Next they went to the American Adventure which went though the key points in American history. By 3 in the afternoon they were in Japan.
"We should have eaten here." Hermione said looking up at the steak house. "Look it says they cook it in front of you, that's so cool."
"We can come back later when we get hungry again." Albus said, "Let's go see this store." This was the biggest store they had seen so far. One section was more common items like chopsticks, kimono's, and bonsai trees. The other side was wall to wall anime and pop art.
"Power rangers!" Harry yelled with a laugh. Running to wall he grabbed a power ranger's mask and pulled it on.
"Wow I didn't know most of these cartoons were Japanese." Hermione said watching Harry run around.
"I wouldn't know sweetie."
"Hermione look at this guy he's got spiky black hair like me." Harry said with a smile. Hermione walked over to him.
"Yes except you can't shoot what appears to be a blue beam from your hands."
"Wouldn't that be cool though?" He said with a smile. Hermione wasn't paying attention though.
"Oh Harry look at this, isn't it adorable." She said grabbing a yellow plush toy with pointy ears and a lighting bolt tail. "its tail is like your scar."
"Hey it is." He said looking at it. "I like this one better." He said pointing to a blue turtle.
"These are called Pocket Monsters." The man said coming up to them. "They're based off a video game in Japan, that's coming into the States near the end of the year. That's called a Pikachu an electric mouse" he said pointing to the one Hermione was holding. "That's called Squirtle." He said pointing to the one Harry was holding. "They are only 10 dollars each because they are not well known in the States yet."
"Oh Harry you should get that one and I can get this one." Hermione said with a smile.
"It's a stuffed toy Hermione."
"You bought a Viking helmet but won't buy a stuffed animal." She said with a smile.
"Hermione don't pressure the poor boy into buying something he doesn't want." Her mother said. "I'll buy this for you, if you want it." She said taking it from Hermione and handing it to the man.
"I don't want you to buy me anything else; you already have bought me so much including the trip." Hermione said looking at Minerva looking nervous. "And that doesn't include everything like clothes, and food."
"Sweetie," She started noticing Albus had the good grace to take Harry away. "I know it's different for you at times, but I am you mother," Minerva said pushing a lock of Hermione's hair behind her ear. "And i've wanted to be a mother for as long I can remember. I had given up on that dream until you came, so I have 12 years to make up on. So just be a kid and let me buy you some things okay."
"Okay, it's just weird; I'm not use to it." Hermione said leaning into Minerva's hug.
"Neither is Harry by the looks of it. That was very nice of you to do that for him."
"Well of course he's my best friend and I didn't think he had gotten a lot of presents either."
"That's still sweet honey." She said as the boys came back over. They left Japan and headed to Morocco where they had to drag Harry once again away from the drums. The rest of the day pasted as a blur for Hermione. She didn't pay much attention to France and the UK showcase mostly because she had been to one and lived in the other. She enjoyed Soarin' and Honey I shrunk the audience but by the time they had made it back to the entrance Hermione had a headache.
They made their way towards the beginning of the park, Hermione pulled Minerva away.
"Mum I don't feel well." Hermione told her.
"Have you drunk any water today?" Hermione shook her head. "Here sweetie." She said handing Hermione the bottle. "Think you'll be okay at the other park tomorrow."
"Yes I think so."
"If you feel bad just tell me, there is only one more thing I want to do." Minerva told her with a smile. "This heat and those 3D rides must not have helped it either."
"Yeah I guess, wait what's the other thing we're going to do?"
"It's a surprise." She said with a secret smile as they walked back towards the entrance. Albus walked towards a man with a camera.
"Hello good sir, are you the man we go to, to get our picture on the rocks?"
"Yes, I am would you like to add a picture of your family?"
"Yes we would." Albus said to Hermione joy.
"Really Dad! This is so exciting now if we ever come back we'll always be on the stones." She said excitedly running over to where the man had signaled. Minerva smiled at her excited ness and walked over. Harry hung back behind the camera man, Minerva noticed this.
"Harry come on, hurry up so the man can take a picture." He looked at her shocked.
"Really?" He asked beaming.
"Yes your part of the family right." He nodded and ran and stood next to Hermione, grinning. Hermione looked up at Minerva with a grin before the picture was taken.
"I think I know what I want to be when I'm older Mum." Hermione said smiling. Nothing could have made Minerva smile more.
Wow this chapter was long for me to write. I don't normally write this long, but I admit I probably got a little to into the experience. Also spoiler warning alert if you do not want to know anything about the Harry Potter theme park, then I ask you to stop reading this here.
Now this is the only story I am doing this for, call it my review of the theme park. So I guess I'll just start. Now please keep in mind that I went on Sunday july 10th and Tuesday the 12th so it may not have been as busy as on a Friday or Saturday.
First off the park itself is amazing. I have never felt the way I did in that park, in any other park before not even Disney. It was simply amazing to walk through the rest of islands of adventure and see popcorn stands and coke cola machines, then walk into Hogsmeade and see nothing like that. The only vendors were selling pumpkin juice and butterbeer, both of which are delicious. On the matter of the park itself, they truly thought everything though in my opinion. The castle was breath taking, it didn't matter if you were right next to it or away, it towered over everything in the area. The music also set the tone greatly. You're walking down Hogsmeade and you hear Harry's Wondrous world in the background is simply amazing.
Secondly the rides, First and foremost the Forbidden Journey, is simply amazing. I won't say much about the ride itself so not to ruin it. But do not always take the wait time on the outside as a mark at how long it will take to ride. One time I rode it with my mom and it was a 70 minute wait. It only took up 30 minutes to get in and out. Also with my saying that, you will want to have a long wait on this ride the first time though, because the wait line takes you through Hogwarts. You see Dumbledore's office, the Herbology court yards, the hallways and portraits, and even the Gryffindor common room and yes you even see the trio. However during the ride itself, you can not have bags with you, you must rent a locker. So when you take things in, make sure your camera is small. They have a compartment in the seat to put your camera but you have to do it quickly because the seats never stop. Also if you are not a fan of imax screens I don't think you should ride it. It truly is an amazing ride I rode I believe 11 times. Though two of times it was because the ride stopped with us on it. It was freaky to be suspended in front of a frozen screen, but then since that was suppose to be our last ride we asked the man if we could ride again because it had stopped, and he let us right in front of the line. And he was so cute! A handsome 18 or 19 year old in a Gryffindor school uniform yea! My mom teased me that the only reason he let us in again after that was because he thought I was cute, oh I wish . Course then we tried to find him to thank him for being so nice and his shift ended. ANYWAY sorry bout that. Dragon Challenge was the next ride, and all the times I went it wasn't a really long wait. However it takes a long time to walk there. You go through a tent and then you go underground and around and around. It's worth it though there's a Chinese fireball lane and the Hungarian horntail lane, or red and blue. I might be imagining it but to me the blue(or horntail) was more of a thrill then the red(fireball). The last ride is flight of the hippogriff, which is a nice family fun rollarcostar. I was normally about a 30 minutes wait, but unlike the other two rides, their wasn't a really anything interesting to look at while you wait, except Hagrid's hut.
Okay I'll try to wrap this up, Butterbeer, they have a giant vendor selling it in the street and it takes a long time. Skip that line and go into Hogs Head, the line is normally only about 5 people much less then the outside line is. Also Three Broomsticks, if you don't have a breakfast reservation, they start serving lunch at 10, their will be a line to form outside. The food is great though, I had the roast chicken with corn on the cob.
Also shops, you need to get early park admission, Dervish and Banges will be very crowded. Get in their early. There's a lot of Quidditch stuff and house robes to buy, also that's where you can buy the wands which are 28 dollars, be prepared. Also there is a shop after the Forbidden Journey, which I think is better then Dervish and Banges personially. They have a lot of Harry's Quidditch stuff. You can even buy the sorting hat, Minerva's hat and Albus's hat at the check out as well as training brooms.
Okay overall, Sunday is a good day to go to the park, I went and there was no line for any shops other then Dervish, If you go on a weekday or Saturday I highly suggest you get early park admission, they start letting people in a 7 or 730. Then when the park gets busy leave to visit the rest of the park or leave and go back to your hotel room or enjoy citywalk. The park ticket will let you get in at anytime that day even if you leave and come back. Also on Forbidden Journey there is a single rider lane, which after you have rode it a couple times is great. But only in the morning by the afternoon the single rider lane is so long that you might as well just use the regular line.
Okay it's late and I want to post this, so if you really want to know anything else about the park please feel free to private message me, I will have pictures up on photo bucket soon and I'll post the link, I'm sorry again for the wait. And spoiler you'll love the next chapter