So Cal Wizarding Weekend 2013

The Faculty have met. We have drawn up a preliminary plan for November of 2013. Here is our itinerary, as it stands:

Friday, November 1st - Magical Dining at the Dashwood House Dinner!
Saturday, November 2nd - Quidditch with the OC Obliviators!
Sunday, November 3rd - Harry Potter Day at Disneyland!

Potter Day Lite! Sunday, April 21st!

Harry Potter Day at Disneyland, our annual November gathering, brings together witches and wizards from all over the Southland and far beyond. Potter Day Lite, however, is a smaller, more intimate affair geared towards locals, annual pass holders, etc.

If you can only make one trip to Disneyland this year, you're best off waiting until the November event. However, if you don't want to wait until then to have a rollicking good time at the Magic Kingdom, join us on Sunday, April 21st.

Unlike our November event, Potter Day Lite has no games, no scavenger hunts, no competitions, no sorting. It's just a chance to enjoy our campus the way the Muggles do, with rides and attractions, while flying your House colors. It's a chance to get together with old friends and new.

This year the Faculty will lift the protection spells placed on each House's entrance and we will, as a group, be touring all four Houses!

11am - Willowdell House (Storybookland Canal Boats)

We'll gather on the Small World Promenade just before 11am and, just around then, at the Factulty's signal, begin queueing up to enter the enchanting House named after one of the four school founders, Phoebe Jane Willowdell.

12:30pm - Grizcom's Shadow Rider Corral (King Arthur's Carousel)

Although their will be no room for gathering before queueing, we'll all begin getting in line for a group ride on Ryder Grizcom's wild horses at 12:30pm and see just how magically we can dress this rodeo.

2pm - Rickett House (via the Mark Twain Steam Boat)

Gather together in the alcove near Thunder Mountain (where the Dia De Los Muertos displays, seasonally, are displayed) and we will board the queue at the Faculty's indication in order to visit the humble and historical teepee dormitories of Rickett House.

4pm - Dashwood House (Haunted Mansion)

We'll be gathering at the fountain before joining the queue as a group and visiting the spirited halls once haunted by Franklin Dashwood's Order of Five Angels.

7pm - Transmogrifying And Restoring Disapparation Instrumental Singularity (Tower of Terror)

Meet in the courtyard for group photos before boarding this experimental vehicle designed for mass-disapparition. Patents pending.

All of this is, of course, subject to change. Please check back just before Potter Day Lite. And keep in touch by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

(And don't forget to subscribe to Professor Krum's cooking tips: @CookingWithKrum)

A Recap of Potter Day 2012

So Cal Wizarding Weekend began with the traditional Dashwood House Dinner, held at the Cellar in Fullerton. The students enjoyed participating in the Faculty's start of term bacchanalian revelry. Classes were about to resume at Yensid's School of Sorcery and Necromancy. Things were off to a rosy start.

And then something went horribly wrong.

A perimeter protection spell was triggered - someone had trespassed into Yensid's Chamber of Mysteries and made off with an unknown object. Later, a Dark Mark appeared over Yensid's personal bungalow.

Finally, an unknown dark presence bewitched all the students' course materials to convey a warning of impending doom come Sunday evening. Who this malevolent entity was or how there were accomplishing these heinous deeds remained unclear; they hinted only that one of the Faculty had become their unwitting accomplice.

The students were allowed only six hours to gather clues and decipher who was behind this chicanery - otherwise they would remain unstoppable and the school destroyed.

The students of all four Houses - Grizcom, Dashwood, Rickett and Willowdell - gathered together to present the Faculty with their findings. The school's Chancellor began by addressing the crowd...

"It's time now to find out who is behind these dark - "

"Has anyone called the French girl's parole officer?" interrupted Professor Malfoy.

"I didn't do it!" protested Professor Gabrielle Delacour, recently released from Disney Gaol for the birdslaughter of Tiki Room performer Rosita.

"I have to put it to the students," the Chancellor continued, "so, what dark wizard is responsible for all this?"

"Karkaroff!" the students answered in unity.

"Karkaroff was killed in 1996," replied the Chancellor, confused.

"Ah, but what if he is transferring soul before he is killed?" offered Professor Krum, piquing the suspicion of the rest of the Faculty.

"Well then, what form of magic is Karkaroff using to transfer his soul?" asked the Chancellor.

"A horcrux!" answered the students.

"Then which member of the Faculty is this horcrux controlling?"

"LOCKHART!" erupted the students. Professor Lockhart stood aghast.

"Well then, what was the horcrux?" wondered Professor Tonks.

"His hat!" declared the students, indicating Lockhart's fedora.

Reanimated Professor Bartemius Crouch Junior reached into his pocket and produced a peculiar wand with a glowing tip he later described as some sort of screwdriver and scanned Lockhart's hat.

"I'm sorry," said Crouch, "I'm so, so sorry. It's a horcrux."

"Of course!" cried Professor Granger. "Karkaroff created a horcrux using R. S. Yensid's favorite hat before he was killed, which was placed in the Chamber of Mysteries. The Lockhart took it for its aesthetic value alone, not knowing it was a horcrux!"

This was too much for Professor Malfoy, who began prancing about stating "I'm Hermione Granger! I'm a mudblood who makes up for it by being an insufferable know-it-all!!"

Tonks restrained Granger from lunging at Malfoy and tried to return to the topic at hand: "So is that why he's been growing out that ridiculous moustache?"

"THERE IS NOTHING RIDICULOUS ABOUT MY MOUSTACHE!!" bellowed Lockhart in a suddenly Bulgarian accent. "It is Yensid's that is ridiculous! Yensid's is more ridiculous than Hogwarts! Everyone knows Durmstrang is best school! DURMSTRANG!"

To this Krum could not help but join in, chanting "DURMSTRANG! DURMSTRANG! DURMSTRANG!" before Professor Weasley pulled him aside and calmed him down.

Karkaroff continued using Lockhart as a meat puppet: "Yensid's is travesty of school! It is - "

But then Professor Lovegood stepped forward and removed the cursed hat from Lockhart's head. He looked around as if awoken from slumber, confused, and asked "... do you all live here?"

An all-too amused Malfoy indicated that his father would definitely hear about this.

Professor Lovegood suggested that the accursed hat belonged in a museum, but was instructed to place it back in Yensid's Chamber of Mysteries where it would never pose a threat to anyone ever again.

The crisis and threat averted, it was now time to award prizes to the cleverest of students who helped us avert disaster and bestow the coveted House Cup.

This year, the title of Magic Kingdom Champions was awarded to "The Totally Awesome Supermegafoxyawesomehot Cornish Pixies of Doom" of Grizcom House.

And the esteem of the House Cup this year went to... Dashwood House!

Here they can be seen displaying what, in Muggle parlance, is referred to as a 'gang sign.'

Happily, the students of all four Houses have formed their own social media pages - click on the names to join either Rickett, Grizcom, Dashwood or Willowdell's pages. (And be sure to get it together for this year, Rickett and Grizcom.)

Naturally, there are countless persons who contributed their time, effort and finances into pulling this year together, but one who stands out for her contributions is our Helena Ravenclaw. I would list and display all the stunning materials she assembled for us, such as the First Year students' certificates, but this website hasn't the space. I'll just display, for your envious enjoyment, the scarf she made for the Chancellor using all the Yensid's House colors. It's good to be the Chancellor.

Anyway, we can't wait to see you all at Potter Day Lite on Sunday, April 21st!

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: So what is this all about?

A: We're an unofficial collection of both Potter and Disneyland enthusiasts who have been convening in the Magic Kingdom every November for 6 years now. We generally have a scavenger hunt or game of some sort, and otherwise enjoy the spectacle of seeing the Happiest Place on Earth filled with Wizards and Witches of all ages.


Q: Do I need special admission?

A: You only need to get admission to Disneyland just like you normally would on any other day. We don't charge a fee to participate in our game and will refrain from doing so for as long as we can manage. All organizers are volunteers lending their time to putting on the event for fun's sake alone.


Q: Is this an all-ages event?

A: Yes. This year we're trying to tailor our game so that fans of all ages can play and participate.


Q: What am I allowed to wear?

A: Adult guests at Disneyland are not permitted to wear "costumes," per se, so avoid showy items like robes, cloaks, masks, dramatic makeup and the brandishing of wands. However, striped scarves and ties and vests fall well within the parameters of normal Muggle attire, and are generally considered acceptable.


Q: Where do I get all those ties and scarves and things?

A: Whimsic Alley in LA is the only place to go.

Yensid's Founders

Ryder Grizcom was born to Scottish immigrant parents in 1838. He became a hippogryph rancher in Oklahoma until his family was killed in a raid by W'nahawka Warriors in 1859.

Grizcom lived in isolation for a time, wandering the wilderness for years until eventually joining the Shadow Riders First Battalion. It was with the Shadow Riders that he fought in the legendary Unicorn Wars (1867 - 1871) against the infamous N'ahtaehalla tribe, otherwise known as The Mounted Phantoms. Grizcom sustained so many injurious curses during the Unicorn Wars that he was forced to retire from the military, and utilized his notoriety and wartime valor to launch a career in local governance.

It was on a tour of the Golden State that Grizcom met R. S. Yensid, who proposed to him the prospect of a school of magical learning that would fill the void of formal magical education in the United States.

The agrarian prosperity of the Southland owes its efflorescence to Grizcom's contribution: the orange. Shortly after Yensid altered the topography and climate of California, Grizcom was quoted as having said "Professor Yensid has said to me that a new land carries with it new dreams, new hopes, and must flower in a new color. I have therefore bestowed upon this newly hallowed ground the gift of citrus, that this golden state may flower with golden fields forever more." Grizcom thereby fostered the state's first orange groves in a veritable forest surrounding Yensid's campus.

Grizcom remained an instructor at Yensid's until his death in 1913.

Phoebe Jane Willowdell (ca. 1860 - 1920) was born in North Star, Ohio. Her family was killed when her village was plagued by an outbreak of malignalitaloptereosis. Phoebe survived by taking any work she could find until finally becoming a scout for the Third Battalion Shadow Riders Brigade. During this time she became the ward of Lieutenant Colonel Dartolomus Darke, who fostered her magical education and taught her the art of precision wand marksmanship. Willowdell petitioned to join but was denied enlistment in the Shadow Riders, and never fought during the Unicorn Wars.

Willowdell began working as a magician's assistant to a Muggle by the name of "Professor" Emelius Browne. Willowdell used her magical abilities to simulate the effects that performance conjurors created by illusion, such as levitation and vanishing. Browne in fact had neither magical ability nor slight of hand skills, and belabored under the inebriated impression that he was a talented conjuror. This ended when Browne, a notorious sot, accepted a barroom challenge to demonstrate his ability to catch a bullet with his teeth. Willowdell was not present; Browne was killed.

Willowdell joined the traveling caravan of a snake oil salesman named Tobias Pirelli, using her modest talent with Potions to improve the quality of Pirelli's elixirs, which had previously consisted mostly of waste water and ink. She also used her marksmanship skills on stage after joining Pachyderm Perry's Magnificent Exhibition. It was during a tour in San Francisco that she was approached by R. S. Yensid, who offered her a teaching position at his still-developing school. She taught Potions and Defensive Arts for 28 years.

Takeri Rickett is the anglicized form of a name lost to a dialect not known to have been spoken in nearly a century, and had no written codification.

Less is known about Rickett than any other Yensid's founder.

Franklin Dashwood is known to have been Headmaster Pro Tem from 1892 to 1894, at which time Yensid's movements are unknown but likely include visitation to New Mexico, where the magical tribe of the W'nakeh Etamosa (They Who Walk Between Winds) were held on a reservation, and from whose tribe Rickett belonged.

When Yensid returned in 1894 he brought with him the fourth and final House Founder. Rickett held a long-standing animosity towards Ryder Grizcom, whose Shadow Riders were responsible for slaughtering half of her tribe and displacing the survivors. Grizcom maintained personal innocence as neither his battalion nor he was involved in any campain against They Who Walk Between Winds. It fell repeatedly to Phoebe Jane Willowdell to foster reconciliation between the two founders and convince Rickett to remain at Yensid's

Takeri Rickett was the first founder to leave the school in 1908.

Sir Franklin Dashwood (May 1708 - ca. 1993) was an English aristocrat, rake, alchemist, and one-time Grand Master of the Order of Five Angels.

Dashwood joined the Order in 1735. It was within the ranks of the order that he met Nicholas Flamel, creator of the Philosopher's Stone and pioneer of the Elixir of Life; Flamel was already 405 years old when he accepted Dashwood as an apprentice. It was under Flamel's tutelage that Dashwood learned the secrets of abnormally long life and vitality, and their continued collaboration and correspondence allowed the two to remain alive until (circa) 1993, shortly after the Philosopher's Stone had been destroyed.

Dashwood ascended to the rank of Grand Master of the Order in 1745. Former Grand Masters have included Pythagoras of Samos, Galileo Galilei, and Aleister Crowley. Many of the Order's studies included mathematics, philosophy, alchemy and haberdashery, but the secret society remains most notoriously associated with their revelries, which ranged in degree from bacchanalian to heretical. Much of the Order's infamous reputation is owed to allegations laid by the clergy, such as demonology, which was patently untrue and absent even from the most aberrant of the Order's practices; nevertheless, some of the Order's notorious reputation is founded in fact and practices which are unsuitable for printing in scholastic materials.

The headquarters of the Order of Five Angels in West Wycombe was purged and burned in 1762 by the Knights of Walpurgis at the order of King George IV. The Order went underground, its members scattered, splintered into factions, and Dashwood fled to the Americas, assuming the pseudonym Phinneus Pogue.

Dashwood became an author and printer, continually changing identities, residences and association so as to not bring attention to his abnormally long lifespan and conspicuous lack of decrepitude.

His association with R.S. Yensid began in 1860, which eventually lead to the creation of Yensid's School of Sorcery and Necromancy, at which he taught arithmancy and alchemy for the better part of the next century.

Much of R. S. Yensid's past is either elusive or now considered apocryphal, and some elements of his past cannot actually be conveyed or recorded; everlasting spells cast by the legendary wizard are still known to render certain sections of his past into recipes for hors d'oevres and physical depictions of his appearance into images of his favorite foods. Magical scholars do agree, however, on the plausibility of many elements of his reputed history.

Yensid, along with the nobility and clergy of England, was summoned to court by Henry I in 1110 to discuss the appearance of John Uskglass and his fairy host northwest of Newcastle. Yensid and the King's army were defeated by the Daoine Sidhe during the short battle that occurred at Newark on the Trent River. King Henry was suffered to retain rule over the southern half of England. Yensid was banished from the realm, but whether by the northern or southern King is unclear.

Several centuries of ambiguous activity later, in which time it is speculated Yensid may have been residing on the dwarf planet of Pluto, he reappears in Ireland, believed to have been his country of origin. Yensid was the most favored subject of King Brian of Knocknasheega up until the King's ongoing tete-a-tete with a Muggle by the name of Darby O'Gill, the only mortal known to have ridden the Cóiste Bodhar twice. Yensid openly criticized Brian for divesting so much time in an amicable feud, which lead to their well-documented quarrel, which lead to Yensid departing Knocknasheega in 1845, casting a blighting curse on King Brian's favorite vegetable, the potato.

Yensid appeared in California three years later seeking resources by which to test his theories of reverse alchemy, in which gold is transformed into baser materials, such as lead. Gold was, of course, in much shorter supply than popularly reputed, leading to a period where Yensid, despondent, wandered the Southland until his contemporary Ratavericus the Terrible introduced him to émigré and fellow alchemist Franklin Dashwood, former Grand Master of the Order of Five Angels.

In 1890, Yensid and Dashwood minced four ounces of salmon fillet combined with olive oil, lemon oil, chives, shallots and kosher salt. Sprinkle black sesame seeds over the rounds of batter and bake on a Silpat for four to six minutes. Shape the batter around the 4 1/2 inch cornet mold, arrange seam side down, and bake for three to four minutes. Fill the top 1/2 inch with red onion crème fraiche. Spoon 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salmon tartare over the onion cream and lay a chive tip against one side to garnish.

R.S. Yensid is still considered the Headmaster of said eponymous institution, and although it is not known whether the span of his absence will be counted in decades or centuries, he is expected to return.

Whimsic Alley

As Harry Potter Day approaches the question on many a Witch or Wizard's mind is how to be properly attired for the occasion - where can I get a tie or scarf so I can fly my House colors with pride?

There is only one answer: Whimsic Alley.

Whimsic Alley is the one spot for all your Wizarding World needs. Your ties, scarves, vests, pullovers, cloaks, capes, hats, and most importantly, wands, are all here waiting for you.

Stepping into Whimsic Alley immediately transports you into the secret corners of a market existing only in the shared imagination of yourself and Jo Rowling. Apparate there today.

And tell them we sent you!

~Z.N.