Now I know something’s up.

But what can it be?

There has to be something going on at the park today that, once again, I knew nothing about.

Later when I asked TommyPix about this, hopeful that he took some pictures for this article to supplement my own, he said he knew about it, but had forgotten it was this day. Riiight…

I suspect that I, the lazy, lucky-if-I-visit-the-park-three-times-in-a-month DisGeek, scooped the once-a-week-in-the-park DisGeek.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. 😉

Anyway, as the day moved on there were more, and more, and more of them filling the park. Wizards and Witches were everywhere I looked.

At the time my theory was that there was some kind of Harry Potter event happening—something you had to be part of some inner-circle or blog community to know (like us DisGeeks).  I credit this to the fact that the threat of rain and the cold temperature (and football) kept most pass holders at home.

But these Harry Potter guys? Nothing was going to keep them from having their day in the park, so Wizards were starting to outnumber Muggles at some point.

And the outfits got crazier and crazier.

I never expected something like this, and this kept me in the park much longer than I usually stay, just to see all of the different costumes. and while I must say most of them were pretty much the same deal—robe, tie, scarf—some with wands, some without—there were some outfits that were over-the-top and others that were simply insane.

I’m loving this so much, that I stopped getting on rides! My wife and two sisters in-law were leaving me outside to have their fun— but my bottom line is I’ve been on all of these rides a zillion times.

This Harry Potter business, I’ve never seen before and I have to people-watch. Not just how the Hogwart’s kids and the Death Eaters were dressed, but how Muggles were reacting to their presence.

Most of us were delighted, some mildly amused but, believe it or not, jerks come to Disneyland too.

On one occasion, a group of these Potter players walked past me and my party, and some bald, goateed, cretin said, loud enough to be heard by everybody including the wizards, that the Harry Potter fans were nerds, losers, pathetic. They don’t have lives and they shouldn’t have been let in the park.

Whatever.

That guy should have gone to Six Flags. Disneyland is for dreamers, not haters.

From what I observed, I can say with great confidence that they all have lives, and life is good.

It became my mission to get to the bottom of this. I must figure out what’s going on.

But I’m shy, and wizards are secretive to say the least (or so I thought). I listen in on conversations, I ask other Muggles, I even asked a Cast Member. No one knew.

I really am not the type to approach people at random. I usually look for a reason to talk to someone I don’t know (unless it’s a CM).

So I step to a group of witches (that’s what female Hogwart’s students are called in the Wizarding World, so take it easy), wanting to know what the situation here is. My reason was, I had to get their pictures for this Disney blog. Pretty clever, don’t you think?

So I ask to take their picture. They all enthusiastically agree, on the condition that I take all of their pictures, with all of their cameras.

Now, any one who listens to the Podcast knows how much I hate being approached by people to take pictures. Unless you’re a giant-sized jerk you must say yes. It’s the only thing to do, and with all of the photo equipment I carry around with me, I am often the guy to ask .

But I’m asking them and I’m no hypocrite. I was also starving for info about what was going on here, right? And it’s probably not a good idea to get on the wrong side of a bunch of witches. So I did as they commanded with great pleasure. I took two shots with my camera and two shots with each of theirs.

Look at how many of them are there and do the math. Yeah, I was there awhile, but it was worth it! My wife had to poke me on the shoulder, rather hard, to get me to stop talking to them as I remember it. 🙂

And can you imagine that all I had to do to find out the deal here was to walk up to them and ask, “what’s going on here?”

These lovely Hogwart’s kids, each of them very gracious and energetic, laid out the whole deal for me:

They told me that today was “The 5th annual (unofficial) Harry Potter Day” (http://potteratthepark.blogspot.com/).

This event draws Harry Potter fans from all over the place.

Now I was receiving a lot of information in a flood of words, so if I got some details wrong, I hope they forgive me, and better yet, correct me.

Along with the Hogwarts cosplay, there is a scavenger hunt, where the winning team wins “The House Cup” (which these ladies insisted they were going to win).

There are other activities, which I have no idea what they are, as I think they are announced at some meeting which I didn’t attend, seeing as I’m a Muggle.

But mostly it’s a place to meet up, make friends and share their love of Harry Potter. What’s cooler than that?

Anyway, once I got these girls to strike a pose for me, and experienced how nice they all are, I had no trouble approching other groups.

People reading this blog… some of us don’t have ready and easy access to the DLR. A lot of us go all the time. Some of us go once a week, and more.

Events like this, especially when it sneaks up on us like it did to me, takes a rather ordinary, average, and I daresay humdrum visit to the park, and makes it far more delightful and interesting than it would have been otherwise.

Had I known about this event, I would have marked it on my calendar. I LOVE stumbling across something like this at the resort. I love to see people embrace their fandom for a movie, or series of books, T.V. shows and show their love for it.

If anybody has a problem with people in costumes at Disneyland…<shrug> I don’t know. Whatever.

To see them, disregarding the temperature, unintimidated by the threat of a rainstorm, having their day, by hook or by crook, warmed my heart on a cold day.

You can get more information about Harry Potter day at: http://potteratthepark.blogspot.com/, like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter @HarryPotterDay.

I’ll be keeping an eye on them, and maybe next year, I’ll bust out a wand and join the fun. What would you say about a six-foot-two, 200 pound House Elf wearing nothing but a pillow case?

~Paul