Monday, October 5, 2015

Universal Studios in Grand Parent Mode

In the early years of amusement park hopping, this ole dawg and his spousal unit could run with the best of them.  These days, we are having to slow it down a bit.  These bodies don't cooperate like they used to.

The knees are the first thing to go.  Some rides have multiple stair cases and they are a killer on these bodies that we once considered bionic.   And my stomach,  once considered cast iron, now can only handle the simplest of rides.

The new fangled twister coasters have been off the radar screen for quite some time.  The biggest disappointment was not being able to fit in the Harry Potter ride a few years ago.

But, fear not.  I've been able to entertain myself in other ways.   Bobbing and weaving thru security check lines is a new past time of mine. Even with my size, I'm getting pretty good at it!

We made our way to the back of the park to the Harry Potter section.  Along the way, we saw Scoobie Doo, and Shaggy.  The dog costume was tall, but the guy playing Shaggy looked seven feet tall!  Next up, was Marilyn Monroe and her escort.  That gal looked awful good for being 85 years old!

It was now time to check out the new Harry Potter experiences.  It cracks me up to know people will pay $150 for admission to stand in line for an hour, anticipating a five minute ride!  After a good look around, it was time to board the Hogwarts Express!

The train ride requires a "park to park" ticket for the journey to the other Univeral park.  If you didn't purchase this kind of ticket, there is a booth for you to purchase an upgrade.  Each ticket is tied to a finger scan to insure that multi-day tickets aren't being shared among several individuals.

There are lots of stairs to master to reach the loading stations, but there is also a service elevator for your convenience.  We made it to our loading corral, along with several otheer families,  including this English family.

The train conductor assigns you to your cabin.  We took our seats, with only two remaining.  The English family walks in, needing three seats, and announces in their serious English tongues "well, one of you fine families are in the wrong cabin.  The conductor told us cabin B, and you are in cabin B, so one of you must leave!"  We all looked up at this "witch" like, really???

The conductor arrives to save the day, "sorry ma'm, this happens all the time, please just step into the next cabin,  as there is plenty of room.  In a huff, she and her husband made their way to the next cabin.  Their little boy, about age 5 lingered, then pointed his finger at us, and shamed us with "you know, this was to be our cabin, and like my mum said, one of you must leave!"  We all chuckled and agreed that he was a definite mini-me!

After visiting the other side, and a ride or two, we headed back to the train station for the trip back to the other side.  The station attendant reminded us to have our park tickets and finger ready for the scanner.  At this point I asked "do we need a Visa"?  The attendant replied "no, but we do take American Express!"  Everybody got a good laugh out of that one.

We once again reached our boarding station with two other families.  One included an older special needs son.  The son was sitting in a wheel chair, trying to get his Dad's attention.  He was not being successful.  All of a sudden, he reached over to his Dad, and literally grabbed him by his balls!  The Dad quickly recovered.  I'm  about to die!, looking at the spousal unit,  wondering, surely she.saw it too!  Yep!  And we are about to board the train with this guy??

The ride was uneventful til the end.  Then the "special" adult announced "don't  want to get.off, ride again".  He repeated this several times.  Once the doors opened, we were out of there lickity split!

The spousal unit got to feed her roller coaster habit, and I got to do my people watching thing.   I thought for a moment that I must be on a Star Wars set, with all the different hair colors, strange clothing, and body piercing and tattoos! Then, very quickly.i was brought back to the wizard world by the sight of all the.kids and adults in wizard robes and each of them waving their newly acquired $60 wand!  These were special wands that interacted with magic stations found throughout the park!

To me, the best treat in the park is the "butterbeer " a butterscotch flavored icee.  I get an immediate brain freeze every time!

For you coaster fans, the incredible Hulk coaster was down for repairs. It was literally down.  Sections were being replaced.

Another noteworthy item, the Beetlejuice show is scheduled to be replaced next year by "fast and furious".  The survey guy that told me this, would not disclose what type of attraction that would.be.

We have been here countless times over the years, and it never gets old.  We get excited to see the new stuff, and are saddened to learn what has been replaced, like Jaws!    But one thing that is certain is there will alsways be change, so we deal with it.

Can't wait for the next trip.  Bring it on!

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