When I was in third grade, Ms. Porter started reading a new book to my class. I liked it so much my mom ordered it when the next book flyer came around. (You remember those? It was like the book fair but you just ordered what you wanted and it came to the school.) As soon as it was in my hands, I started reading it and finished it weeks ahead of the rest of my class.
That book was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
I remember reading Chamber of Secrets on top of my bunk bed with my stuffed animals. I remember looking at the chapter art in Prisoner of Azkaban and having to stop reading for a week because I was concerned something happened to Hedwig when I saw the Monster Book of Monsters chapter art. I remember my Mom ordering Goblet of Fire so it would arrive just before a trip to Connecticut to keep me occupied in the car, only for the trip to be rescheduled due to a softball tournament and her having to tell me to stop reading and socialize with my team. I remember my best friend’s mom getting mad at me because I accidentally spoiled something for her because I was reading in the car next to her. I remember finishing Half Blood Prince in six hours and a friend called to tell me he was half way through, only for him to hang up on me when I said I was done. I remember my mom pulling me out of writer’s camp a day early so I could be home for the midnight release of Deathly Hallows. I remember sitting in the basement until I finished it, in the same chair my grandmother used to read to me in when I was little.
According to the un-official timeline of the series, based around the deathdate of Nearly Headless Nick, the nineteen years later of the epilogue is today, September 1, 2017. I was eight years old when I started reading Harry Potter, and I’m twenty-six now, so for me it’s not quite nineteen years later, but it’s certainly a journey I didn’t expect. I don’t plan on having kids, but I can’t wait to tell Audrey’s how I dragged their mother to the midnight releases for these movies. Well, two of them. We saw four out of the eight movies together and for the first two we were too young for midnight showings.
When I was thirteen, Amazon ran a contest to find a “Harry Potter Review Panel” for Half Blood Prince comprised of ten to seventeen year olds. I packed up all my books and Legos, and headed to my friend Amy’s house, the only person I knew with a video camera. We went through the five questions one by one as we filmed in her tree house. I’d give anything to still have that video. Oddly enough I was chosen, and was interviewed by USA Today and the Knoxville News Sentinel. Supposedly a clip of my video was on Dateline NBC but I never saw it, only heard it from the parent of someone on my soccer team. When it was all said and done, Amazon sent me a copy of the book and a Gryffindor robe. That’s why when you look at pictures of my robe it is different from the Universal ones. It’s heavier and better made, but lacks the hood and wand pocket. I had to sew on a new patch, as the original one was lost long ago.
See, the patch is crooked.
Fifteen year old Chelsea had to pick a controversial topic for a research paper. Naturally I found all the suggested ones boring and begged my teacher to let me choose an alternative: if Harry Potter should be allowed in schools. This was back when that crazy lady was trying to get them banned and the Washington Post dubbed her the idiot of the year. There was a surprising amount of source material to pull from and I had no problem rounding out my bibliography with actual books written on the subject. Then I had to deliver a speech on the subject and I was the class’s favorite because I played the “Yer a wizard, Harry,” scene for my visual.
When I came to Orlando in 2010, I looked at ticket options for Universal’s Island of Adventure where the Wizarding World had just opened. I wanted to go so badly, but I decided it wasn’t worth the money for just one day with my mom, who had been exposed to books through me, but had never read them and only seen about half the movies.
At nineteen, I bought two tickets for the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 midnight showing, only to win two more and have to convince the Pinnacle, Regal’s big theater in Knoxville, to swap them for the same theater. We wound up in the background on the news as we watched Part 1 on DVD in the line outside the theater.
My favorite book is Order of the Phoenix because I love Dumbledore’s Army and the rebellion against Umbridge. My favorite scene is when the Weasley Twins flee the school and Peeves accepts the only order he has ever taken. The Weasley Twins are by far my favorite character, and yes I said character because I can’t think of them as separate. I am still furious over the outcome of Deathly Hallows, but Part 1 is my favorite of the movies.
The Black Friday before my college program, I bought a Gryffindor shirt at Hot Topic so I would have something to wear when I finally made it to the Wizarding World.
In 2013, four months into life in Orlando, I finally scraped together the money for a Universal Annual Pass. I cried as I looked up at Hogwarts. I got my first frozen Butterbeer and headed into the forty-five minute queue for Forbidden Journey. To this day, it is the greatest theme park ride I have ever ridden in my life and the most technologically ground breaking attraction I have ever experienced. It is the crown jewel of Universal.
I made my mom take the Sorting Hat quiz before I took her to Universal so I could buy her a shirt in advance.
July 2014 found me paying to upgrade my annual pass to the version with no blockouts so I could enter Universal Studios for the soft opening of Diagon Alley, the night before the grand opening. It had rained all afternoon and the area was glistening, the storms having driven away the crowds. It is the single greatest theme park theming I have ever seen. I hopped on the Hogwarts Express with a ten minute wait and took it in both directions. Escape from Gringotts would open the next day with a nine hour wait, and I would wait until September to try it.
Forbidden Journey is the better ride of the two. I actually don’t care much for Escape from Gringotts. Forbidden Journey has always felt like a chapter of the book I didn’t read, a story that was left out. Escape from Gringotts changes the plot of the seventh book, and it distracts me from enjoying the ride. I think a Gringotts ride would have been much better set in the first book when Harry visits the bank for the first time. I’m eager to see what the replacement for Dragon Challenge turns out to be.
In 2015 I found myself applying to Universal attractions in an attempt to make ends meet. I found myself in every fan’s dream: a job interview with Harry Potter trivia questions! I had to name the full names of the three main characters, easy. I had to name four out of seven Horcruxes, I named all seven. I had to name two out of four Quidditch positions, I named all four. The interviewer seemed mildly annoyed I kept naming so many, but I had to make sure I could say them all. However I apparently shot myself in the foot and they didn’t have any attractions positions open in the Wizarding World at the time so I found myself working in admissions on the Hogwarts Express. Still, I can say I’ve worked on the Hogwarts Express which is pretty darn cool. I also got to work both Hogsmeade Station and King’s Cross in both Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios.
King’s Cross uniform. My old room mate Kirsten came to see me on my last day at the train.
Interesting thing about working in King’s Cross: you’re a Muggle. You are outside of the Wizarding World and aren’t supposed to know who Harry Potter is, or where to find Diagon Alley, or that this train is called the Hogwarts Express. So when guests ask you, you are not supposed to know the answer. Makes for a strange balance of trying to maintain theming and not make guests who can’t find Diagon Alley angry. (RED BUILDING! JUST GO IN THE RED BUILDING!) Sometimes it’s fantastic and you can have a lot of fun with people who play along. Sometimes you just get your head bitten off because they spent a lot of money to see Harry Potter and they can’t find it. Oh, and heaven forbid someone has a base ticket (access to one park per day) with “Not Valid on the Hogwarts Express” printed on it. That was always a fun explanation.
In order to work in the Wizarding World, one must be “Potter trained”. There is a mandatory eight hour class that covers the base plot of all eight movies. Universal does this thing called rescuing where if your attraction is over-staffed you can fill in as a non-safety critical role at an under-staffed attraction. You cannot rescue at a Potter attraction if you are not Potter trained however. The joke was that in eight hours I only learned two things I didn’t already know: 1) In Britain, the bathrooms are called “public conveniences” and 2) Butterbeer is a mixture of butterscotch and shortbread. Not cream soda.
Oh, and there’s no Coco Cola products in the Wizarding World. So I guess that’s three things but I learned that in training before the Potter class.
Hogsmeade red uniform.
Well, I also learned rules I didn’t know. Unless you work inside the castle at Forbidden Journey, you are not allowed to say you went to Hogwarts. You cannot claim a house, you can’t say you know any of the characters, and you cannot make yourself part of the story. Some of this makes sense to me; we don’t need random self-inserted OCs (original characters) running around! However, it always bugged me that we couldn’t say we went to Hogwarts. This was back before the other schools were announced on Pottermore, before Ilverymorny was a thing, so how were all these people working in the Wizarding World with no education? I’ve heard different things on how Pottermore and Fantastic Beasts canon are handled, but I left Potter to open Kong before any of that was announced.
Eight year old Chelsea had no idea there would come a day when she would stand in front of the actual Hogwarts Castle. Thirteen year old Chelsea had no idea she was going to work in the Wizarding World. Even nineteen year old Chelsea had no idea Gryffin-Korra would become a cosplay staple and that combat boots are great for carrying wands. Twenty-three year old Chelsea didn’t know she’d meet one of her best friends working at the Hogwarts Express.
Gryffin-Korra.
Mugglenet is hosting a private event in Diagon Alley tonight at Universal Studios. I’d love to go but I have a problem dropping that kind of coin on a place I used to work. It’s still so crazy to think the amount of people whose lives have been so drastically changed for the better because of one book series. The best friend I met at the train moved to Orlando to work for the Wizarding World the same way I did for Disney, except she came from across the country.
I don’t even consider myself that much of a Harry Potter fan anymore, just because my life is defined by Disney, Duffy, and Avatar. I still judge people by their Hogwarts House however, and am a diehard Gryffindor. The iPad I got in college is even engraved with “I solemnly swear I am up to no good.” I still find myself arguing fan theories and points of contention with my friends. I had to pull up J.K. Rowling’s Twitter on Thanksgiving to prove myself right last year.
One of my favorite quotes is, “Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” Despite my best efforts to pretend that I’m not that into Potter compared to my friends, I’ve realized I have two castles I consider home.
I don’t care what the Patronus quiz says, mine is Duffy.
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