Universal Studios

One of the strangest things that has happened on this trip is listening to radio on the way in to and out off Cape Canaveral. There is quite a sizeable town down the road called Melbourne. It even has its own international airport. Anyway many of the ads are for businesses located in Melbourne. It has been doing my head in listening to them talk about Melbourne and the ridiculous things they advertise here (think ambulance chasing lawyers and pointless medication and medical procedures). 

Where I have been staying is a holding hotel for people heading out on cruise ships, mainly to the Caribbean. These people park their cars for the week and stay at the hotel for a day either side of their cruise. It is so intense. I went for breakfast on the first morning (many of you may be aware I am not really a morning person) and it was like America was learning to play rugby in the breakfast room. Once I understood what was happening I realised I needed to prepare myself to play full contact breakfast, whoever pushes the most people out of the way and gets the most food wins. I had to channel my inner boarding school student and take myself back 30 years to have a suitable mindset to participate. The second morning I was ready and by 8.30am I finished breakfast, jumped in the car for my visit to Universal Studios.

Now I am not much of a theme park goer but I am a nerd and Universal in Orlando has the only Harry Potter themed place in the world. With my inner geek channelled I sallied forth to participate. At this point I need to offer up apologies to Graceland and The Kennedy Space Centre. They were mere amateurs when it come to ensuring that you hemorrhage money. Parking $17, one day ticket to both theme parks (you see they have Hogwarts in one and Hogsmeade in the other and you ride the Hogwarts Express between the two) $156, crappy meals and drinks $40, obligatory souvenir t-shirt $25. That's a total of $238. Add another 40% for the exchange rate and without setting foot outside of Universal I have propped up the local economy by $320. Lucky it was good.

It has been years since I have been to a theme park and I have never visited one solo before. At first is was a little weird but then I realised how much blood I had spilled and just went for it. I rode the Jurassic Park ride, the Men in Black ride, the Revenge of the Mummy ride, the 2D & 3D Adventures Across Time Terminator Ride, the Twister ride, the Simpson's ride, the Spiderman ride, the E.T. ride, the Flight of the Hippogriff ride, the Escape from Gringotts Bank ride, the Hogwarts Express and the 3D Transformers ride. I also watched the Blues Brothers Show and the Street Parade. So if I happen to come across a questionable copy of a movie made by Universal ever in my life I will console myself by knowing that I gave until it hurt.