We're Just WILD About Harry!!

A "wild" time had at Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Movie --

Here are my lovely peaches, looking attractive in their 3-D Glasses. We ventured out to Mall of GA to the IMAX Theater to see the latest Harry Potter Movie: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Seemed like a fun way to spend the cloudy day! We bought tix early and left the house with plenty of time to get there and park. We even laughed at how early we were arriving. Imagine our surprise when we picked up our tickets at the kiosk and went toward the restrooms...and saw the line of people waiting to enter the IMAX theater already filling the queue!?!?! Wow! Now, the line wasn't tightly packed and everyone was in wonderful spirits and excited to see the movie. Meanwhile the film (not in IMAX and 3-D) was showing in multiple other theaters within the same cineplex, so there were plenty of other people there to see it and other shows going on. But we were thrilled to see the special effects.

It was GREAT! Everyone piled into the theater and the IMAX screen loomed, large and eerie with just the ambient light reflecting on it. People were having excited conversations about Book 7, their theories and plot ideas...who-had-seen-what-on-the-web, etc. Everyone was an "expert". Very jovial and the girls were smiling on either side of me.

And then...the rains came! Yep! Typical Atlanta summer afternoon...we get no rain for months and then it all comes in 40 minutes along with wind, thunder and lightning. So, up in Buford, this coincided with our movie showing. About 15 minutes into the movie...BOOM! A huge crash of thunder and then the screen went dark. I think everyone thought it was part of the "effects"...or (better yet) maybe it was MAGIC?!?!? And then we just waited for the movie to come back on. But it didn't. The theater was very dark and the projection booth, too. The people at the Regal Cinemas, Mall of GA were FABULOUS and once aware of it, came in to address the situation, described the sensitivity of the computers and that IMAX is always the first to "go" in the storms. But the poor employee who had so wonderfully announced the movie and told us about the 3D effects (it's only the last 20 mins or so of the movie), etc., was himself stuck in the elevator trying to get up to the projection room to reboot, or whatever they do!

It was only about 10-15 minutes of power outage; before everything got booted up again and we were on our way, watching Harry and Mr. Weasley travel to the Ministry of Magic. But it was fun to chat with people by the lights of cell phones and to enjoy everyone's good humor from our first moments on-line, through the final credits. The move got 2 "thumbs-up" from each of us (so that's 6 thumbs, WAY up!). As Potter fans, Bean and I enjoyed it immensely; and Bess, not having really read the books also had a great time.

Of course when we left the theater; nothing but sunshine! LOL.