Strap in...we're in for a bumpy ride!

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No matter how grown up you are, everyone should still get to feel like a kid sometimes. So in the spirit of awesome fun (as if there is any other kind) we targeted a couple of central Florida theme parks for our next stops. The monumentally cheesy yet undeniably irresistible magic of Walt Disney World has always managed to win out when even contemplating other theme parks. But with the opening of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, the pull of new thrill rides, chocolate frogs and pumpkin juice was too great to resist. T had been to Universal years before in the pre-Harry days, but me, never, so all of it was new.

My folks (therefore T’s aunt and uncle – see how that works?) were not far off snowbirding in Clearwater and came to join us for the stint at Universal. We opted to stay at an on-site hotel, Royal Pacific, for the unlimited front of the line ride advantage they give to hotel guests, and were pleasantly surprised at how nice the hotel was. Couldn’t quite rank it as swankity swank, but not that far off either (it’s borderline swank, like the diet coke of swank, or the middle-class suburb of swank). Plus – man oh man is this part awesome – the hotel was less than a 10 minute walk to the entrances of both parks (technically Universal has two parks: Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios). Oh, and one more hotel perk…early admission to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Hells to the ya. Let the muggle stampede begin!





We hit the original Universal Studios first. We laughed riotously on the Simpson’s ride (good one Universal) and made the rounds on some other fairly tame rides until we got to the "Revenge of the Mummy". Mwaaa haaa haaa! Now, Ma is not a big ride goer and would probably avoid anything that would be classified as "thrill". I’m sure the giant flaming skull advertising this ride raised a few red flags that maybe this might fall a little too much on the "thrill" side for her. And me, never having been on the ride in my life so obviously fully confident that I knew what I was talking about, managed to lure her on with the soothing hum of such classics as: "It’s not a roller coater, it should be fine", "Look there are kids going on, how bad can it be?" and the ever popular it’s inside, inside rides are never scary". I confess it did actually turn out to be a little…how do I explain this…"vigorous". I should have guessed that spirited times were ahead when they made us lock up our bags outside the ride and wouldn’t permit any loose articles. It was thrilling – scary – fast, all the components that make up a great ride. But mama? She did not like it. Boy, did she ever not like it. I’m sure there are still dents in the safety bar from her death-grip, but we all survived so all is well, right? Um, maybe not. My mother is a kind and gentle human being utterly incapable of harming anyone, but I must admit there was a moment there when I got a decidedly "I’d like to punch you in the neck for dragging me on that ride" vibe from her. Oops, sorry Mama.





Next: "A Study of Hogwarts' Prefects and Their Later Careers." That sounds fascinating.

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