Day 68 - Universal Appeal

Author – Grant
Based In – Orlando, Florida
Specifically – Universal Island Adventure Theme Park
Miles Ridden On Coasters – Hundreds
Dry Heaves – Several

Today’s Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157612406560801/

If yesterday was a day of being old, today was to be the complete opposite. Fast forward to the end of the day and I had regressed enough to bring my hair clippers out of retirement and give myself a young, bald look once again.

I’ll be completely honest and admit that I had no clue that Orlando has enough theme parks to keep even the most avid thrill-seeker busy for at least two weeks. As we have given ourselves just four days here, that means we had some decisions to make. Disney has four theme parks, Universal has a couple and then there seems to be endless other independent offerings like Sea World so how to choose, how to choose? Like so many of life’s important decisions, it’s best to treat it like a game of Guess Who. First criteria, cross off any parks that look educational – we’re not hear to learn…we’re here to get legally dizzy. Secondly, cross off any theme parks that are “dry”. We went to Disneyland in Hong Kong (I know, I know…look at us…aren’t we hateably well traveled) and they didn’t sell beer. The result was a theme park was filled with stunned Englishmen wandering round in sober daze, if there is such a thing. Third, distance from my bed. Never underestimate the power of laziness (surely that’s a paradox?) and, incredibly, our $59 a night hotel is on the doorsteps of both of the Universal parks. Decision made – Universal it is.

Now I can’t imagine much is less interesting to read about than someone else’s adventure in a theme park so let’s just summarize the day as fantastic. We had multiple goes on the best rides we found and luckily never stood in line for more than 15 minutes. My favourite, for it’s sheer innovation was the Spiderman ride that was a 3D roller coaster affair that literally left me stunned with admiration. There were multiple awesome coasters including The Hulk where you spend as much time upside-down as upright and The Duelling Dragons which is a race between two coasters that you hang down from rather than sit in…if you get my drift. There are a couple of wet rides. Actually, scratch that. There are couple of drowning rides. One ride includes a near vertical 85 foot drop but it’s the log flume that does the real damage. Not only are the various splashes at the bottom of the slopes of near tidal-wave proportions but there is also the sadistic option for spectators of the ride to pay a quarter which puts them in charge of a water-jet strategically aimed at the heads of riders. We only found this feature after we had ridden but it did explain why there was a woman stood on a bridge apologizing to us as we swallowed our fourth gallon of water towards the end of the ride. Still, I got the last laugh as I found her car and cut the brakes. I may take a photo of her as she piles into a lamp-post and charge her $14.99 for it.

Quite frankly I was mucho pleased that we’d planned a night in as we were both a bit knackered from a day of such excitement in the sun. Oh dear, that’s back to being old isn’t it? Dinner was a wee bit experimental as I cooked a mixture of vegetables in a curried coconut broth and topped it with a slab of pan fried salmon and cilantro. It sounded tasty in my head but in reality the broth was a bit sweet thanks to too much coconut cream. Still, the fish was tops (if I do say so myself) with crispier skin than a leper with sun burn and super juicy flesh. Lovely.

Now I’d love to stay and chat but Bad Girls is on and Amber just nearly got bitch-slapped by Aiela. Sea World tomorrow – another damp day is in the offing.