We stayed on-site at the Royal Pacific Resort, which allowed us an hour’s early entry into the park every day, and Express Passes (or as Kate put it “cut to the front of the line passes”).  We stayed at the parks from opening at 8 a.m. to closing at 7 p.m. and enjoyed every minute of it.  We ate at the Three Broomsticks, drank butterbeer, took a separate tour of Hogwarts Castle (twice).  Kate rode Forbidden Journey 13 (!) times — three with me, and 10 on her own using the single rider line.

We also went through Ollivander’s shop 6 times, and Kate was chosen the second time around.  Video of that is below.  It’s a little dim, but you can get the gist.

I’ve also got pictures below.

Pretending to wave to an adoring crowd:

Posing with their workbooks:

And just a normal picture:

I’ll post details later but here’s a picture from tonight’s party. Just a small one, and they are eating dinner at a Mexican restaurant before heading to a movie.

Update: they went to coldstone after the movie.

Now these don’t look very much like chocolate, but in the dry season, the grass turns brown and they really do look like chocolate drops. There are over 1,200 of these geological formations on the island of Bohol, and they are actually grass-covered limestone formations. Local legend claims that they are formed from a giant’s tears. The vista from the viewing point is quite beautiful, with these hills all around, and the occasional rice paddy or two.

Next stop, a local butterfly preserve. We learned about the various butterflies on the island, and held some caterpillars and butterflies. It was a short stop – maybe 20 minutes total, but pleasant. We also saw some specimens of giant moths. I don’t have a picture, but one moth was probably 8 inches tall, and 5 inches wide.

After the butterfly preserve, we headed to a tarsier preserve. Tarsiers are nocturnal primates (not monkeys). Their most prominent characteristics are their very large eyes, which are apparently bigger than their brains, and very long fingers. The poor things are endangered, and don’t breed well in captivity. The preserve we toured, however, is having some success. Unlike other places on the island, this preserve does not allow you to touch the tarsiers or take flash photography, and they are in a semi-wild environment. If you visit Bohol, do not patronize any “preserve” that allows you to touch the tarsiers! It distresses them and they can become suicidal. Don’t they look a bit like Yoda?