Of those, I think Universal Studios in Orlando was the most
fun. I met a Foreign Service friend and we stayed with another friend on Disney
property, so it was kind of the best of both of those worlds. I’d never been to
Universal and loved it; it’s a bit edgier than The Mouse.
My favorite was “the Mummy” roller coaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZhW1wBCA7I.
We did that one twice. Honestly, the Rock N’ Roll one was probably better, but
it kept breaking down and there was no single rider line. It took us well over
an hour to get through it. Had it taken half the time, it would have been No.
1. The start is straight up so, literally, after that first drop, it’s all
downhill after that. The fun thing is you select the song you listen to as you
ride. I went with ZZ Top’s “Sharp Dressed Man,” and it would have been fun to
try it with a few more genres. I mean, c’mon. It was a chance to hear KC and
the Sunshine Band again: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NQHNDCAF6k.
I did all the roller coasters I could, but wasn’t a fan of
The Hulk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsjdYQJc748.
Maybe it was the time of day or something, but it didn’t do it for me. The Rockin’
one and The Mummy, though, I’d go back again and again.
What is with the virtual rides? There were so many of them,
like King Kong, the Simpsons and the New York thing with Jimmy Fallon. I think
it was Jimmy Fallon. Those, more than the roller coasters, make me a little
sick. The Harry Potter ones were pretty bad, but I thought the Simpsons was worse.
However, I loved wandering down through Springfield.
Universal has thoughtfully now included stationary seating for
some of the 3-D shows and man, I just wish they’d have put a little more
thought into it. We opted for the seating for the Minions because it was a
5-minute wait vs. a 90-minute wait for the “lively” seating. Now, note: the
seating is just seats. They move, but they stay in one place. So the bounce,
lean up, down or sideways but you don’t go along a path in any way. The show is
on a movie screen, and the stationary seating is on the very first row.
This was a mistake. While it’s true you’re not moving, you
are craning your neck straight up. Honest to God, it made me more nauseous than
the roller coasters combined. Oh, man. Done in by Minions.
The purpose to the trip, as much as there was one, was to check
out Harry Potter Land. I can’t remember what it’s called, so I just referred to
it as Potterville. It was pretty amazing, I must say. My friend got chosen to
do the wand selection and played along well.
Wandering around Diagon Alley and taking the Hogwarts
express was just too fun. There were so many people; it was by far the most
crowded part of Universal. Everyone wanted a piece of Potterville. Gosh, it was
so much fun.
We stayed on Disney property, though, which was also a lot
of fun. I hadn’t been to Pop Culture before and thought it was a trip going
back through time. We were in the 80s building; the one with Rubik’s Cubes framing
the staircases.
 |
| We stayed in the 80s. Good times. |
We did two days at the park, dining at City Walk around 6:30
p.m. and then going back into the park to finish it off. The Hard Rock didn’t
have fish and chips and I wasn’t into burger so I took a chance on this spicy
chicken macaroni and cheese and holy cow, it was fabulous. I couldn’t believe
how amazing mac and cheese could be. And I got my fill of fish and chips the
next night at Margaritaville, so all was good.
On the third day, my Foreign Service friend had planned on
doing Disney but I was just going to hang out by the pools at the hotel. However,
my Foreign Service friend was a stranger to Florida humidity and by day three
was not up to yet another theme park, so after a late start she headed to
Disney Springs. I hung out by all three pools and finished my Janet Evanovich book
before meeting her at a movie (Jurassic World; it seemed appropriate) and
finishing the day at Disney Springs.
That was about halfway through home leave and I decided that
every Foreign Service person should meet up with a colleague halfway through
home leave. We live such an odd life that is hard to explain to our pre-service
friends; it’s nice to decompress halfway through with someone who gets that
part of your life.
It’s almost comforting to get back to the work routine, and that’s
where I am now. It’s still this in-between part of my world, but I’m in the “training”
phase prior to my next deployment. This means I head to DC and go to class in
one of a handful of different locations before I am shipped far, far away
again.
I only arrived on Monday but got right to it; it really is
nice to be back into a routine. It’s sort of a twilight zone. I’m working but
kind of not, because the hours are 9-4 with an hour lunch and a 15-minute break
both in the morning and in the evenings. There’s a shuttle to the worksite, so
it’s kind of this grade-schoolish thing. I’m taking a school bus and, next
week, plan on bringing my lunch. There’s a cafeteria but I ate there this week
and not only was it expensive, it was bad.
Especially compared to food in the area. DC is a smorgasbord
of good food. Today I had a three-hour brunch at a place called Farmers Fishers
Bakers, which is owned by North Dakota farmers. We left around 4 p.m.; four
hours later and I am still utterly stuffed and cannot think of ingesting
another morsel lest I explode. The night before, I ate at this wonderful place
called Nando’s; it’s a South African-based restaurant that I discovered while
in Malaysia. Before that, it was a Vietnamese joint. And I’ve eaten at “Tonic”
twice already; it seems to be the place many of my colleagues head to for
lunch, so I met two on back-to-back days there. The salmon chowder with a side
of tater tots was a smart choice!
I’ve got several more weeks in the DC area before I head off
to my next post, so I’m open to dining suggestions.
No comments:
Post a Comment