Final Two Days at Universal Studio's and IOA....
I am going to combine the two days because they were pretty uneventful (for a change). On Thursday we started at Universal Studio's. We went the Shrek, thought about Despicable, but the line was to long and we had seen it all before. So we meandered down the street and got right on Jimmy Fallons Race Through New York, headed back toward the Transformers stopping briefly to see if we could figure out what type of sick mind would ride Rip Ride Rocket, then rode Transformers. Wandered over to the Simpsons area and looked around before riding The Simpson Ride. Then we headed back over to the San Francisco area and had lunch at Richter's Burger Co. (Actually a very good burger, but a cluster system for ordering) Then as the afternoon sun beat down we decided to take the Hogwarts Express over to the other part of Harry Potters empire. We took in the sights and made a mental note about what we wanted to see the next day and slowly made our way out, took the bus back to the Resort. I am fairly tuned into bus Drivers and we only had one that seemed a bit put out because she had to let me enter with the scooter. I was a driver and supervisor long enough to recognize the "Damn, now I have to get out of my seat and make sure that machine is secure" look. Otherwise I was very happy with the way we were treated by the drivers. We got back to the hotel and left off the scooter and got the car to explore my old stomping grounds on Rte. 192 just to reminisce and see what had changed as well as hit the Publix store the we went to quite often in the past to refill our bottled water supply before returning to International Drive and dined in elegance at the KFC across from the hotel.
Friday morning, we slept in a little and then boarded the bus back to IOA. There wasn't much there that we really wanted to see except Spiderman (one of my personal favorites), then up to Kong (very well done combination of screens and animatronics) Then walked through the Jurassic Park area stopping to explore a little and then walking through Harry Potter down to Poseidon's Fury (another of my favorites). Somewhere along the way I know we stopped to eat, but for the life of me I don't remember where. Anyway after Poseidon we headed back up to the Wizarding World and took the Hogwarts Express back to Diagon Alley to watch the dragon show us what actual heartburn looks like.
If I might digress a bit, I really like Universal and I think that most of the attractions are done better then Disney has done the newer ones, but they are also much less accommodating to someone with some excess weight. There are a number of rides were not real open to those of us in the chunky mode. It's too bad, because that is one place were Disney excels. When it came to disabilities Disney is extremely accommodating for those with mobility problems, be it weight or a mobility device, Disney wins hands down. They are super accommodating and will to do whatever is necessary to let us experience whatever was available and nothing was off limits. Almost all allowed a scooter in the queue which was really handy. Universal had barriers everywhere and a number of the more interesting attractions were either not able to handle a larger person and almost none allowed a scooter in the queue.
Back to the train ride back. I love that train and never fail to be amazed and enjoy the trip both ways. After our brief visit to Diagon Alley we wandered over to Men In Black and rode that one. Just as a point of information, on Buzz, my sister wiped the floor with me in points, At Toy Story I beat her unmercifully by over 20K points, and at MIB she beat me by less then 200 points. I guess that makes her the champion.
Anyway, by that time the fact that I was 71 and she was 63 started to show up in the form of fatigue so we decided to call it a day at about 3pm and rode ET just for the nostalgia of it all and headed to the bus and back to the hotel. I took the down time opportunity to return the scooter while my sister dined on some junk she purchased at Publix and I went on down to the snack bar/restaurant in the hotel and bought something that was so overpriced and memorable that I forgot what it was and then went back up and basically packed up for the early morning departure on Saturday.
Summary: I was really concerned about this trip because, well, let's face it I'm old. Also I had some really serious illnesses this past year and still have not regained all my strength and stamina. However, I did manage to drive 1400 miles from Monday through Saturday along with going two days to WDW and two days to Universal. (at least most of the day and it was warm, but did have a breeze so it wasn't all that uncomfortable). I dealt with the missing scooter with amazing patience and the lost sister with superhuman patience. and still survived it all. The choice of getting the scooter was the right one and I know I would never have been able to make it work without it. I didn't feel self conscious about it. I did feel frustrated that I can no longer do what used to be so easy just a couple of years ago. I dislike this aging process, but completely hate the alternative. I appreciate the encouragement that you kind folk offered while I tried to understand just how this would all go. It went well. As for the hotel, I was really disappointed in the way it was run, the lack of organization and especially the lack of information made available to the guest. The physical building and theme is well done, the staff, for the most part, was polite and helpful, but also seemed to be aware of the fact that the place made no effort to communicate the details to the guests. I really overheard other guests expressing the same upset that I was experiencing. I will never go back there, that much I know. I didn't take pictures because, I was to lazy to take my phone out of my pocket and taking pictures while using the scooter would probably have been dangerous. Besides I was never much for taking pictures to begin with, I like to be looking at the real thing not via a screen on my phone. I did have a good time and felt really good about how much I was able to do and still have some left over energy.
O.k. I've finally replaced the Princess Phone. But still kept the landline, of course!
