Author: Jamie

In a candy store. Literally.

There’s a great looking coaster at Universal called the Rock-It. Looks like a very smooth ride with good loops and twists. Yesterday, everyone said they wanted to ride it. Today we found the the height requirement limited the ride to Diana, Mara and I. And as soon as Mara saw the extent of the coaster, which you can’t see from the front of the park where we were yesterday, she decided against it. Booo.
This is part of it in the background.

We spent today in the non-Harry Potter park and had a delightful time. The rides were less intense but still very fun for all. The Despicable Me ride stood out though. I’m a big fan of the movie and can’t wait for the sequel. The ride took nothing away from my enjoyment of the franchise. They used the same voice actors so there wasn’t anything jarringly out of place. Through several stages, they funneled us into a theatre with little piston-mounted carts and 3D glasses. Then for 5 minutes or so we were projected into the world of the minions, being thrown around, and blown up, and taunted with bananas. Banana?

We started yesterday, the first day in the parks, with a rush to Harry Potter land and the Hogwarts Castle ride. It was fantastic. And absolutely terrifying. So much so that we actually broke down and paid the $29.95 for a printed 8×10 and digital download of the mid-ride snapshot. We pulled it up in the booth after the ride and the lady behind us guffawed.
You get a card and a URL and a pass code. You create a new account (with an email intake form that doesn’t let you use gmail’s anti-spam modifiers) and then are presented with the image below. Why do companies like this farm their web applications out to monkeys?
So I can’t download and post the photo until we get home. Instead you get a screenshot of the website on an iPad.
And a description.
Mara with her eyes closed looking like she wants the seat to absorb her.
Diana and I both facing Cameron (me looking like I’m slightly deformed from high-Gs) trying to calm him.
Cameron, head back, eyes closed, mouth open, shrieking at the top of his lungs.
We’re up for parents of the year again.

We’re too busy having fun. 🙂

Turns out the hotel charges $10 per device per day for wi-fi at the Hard Rock hotel. Which, even to the most hardcore nerd family around, is a rip-off. They do, however, provide free wi-fi in the lobby. We just haven’t found time between the park and pool to come and sit in the lobby. 🙂
We’re having a great time. More details probably tonight.

Like a villain.

Massive line-ups for check-in and customs puts us at the gate with 10 minutes to boarding. Kids are entertaining themselves.