A little Irish (day 13)

Today was our last day in Universal Studios, and it was a hot one. We had a quick breakfast at the hotel, and we planned what rides we still wanted to see.

When we drove up a little before nine, there was already a line to the parking lot. And when we finally made it to the parks, I felt my heart sink a little. Normally the early mornings are the best time to catch the rides… but the lines were already huge.

First was the escape from Gringots ride, because I just had to do that again. Elora decided she wanted to try it again too. The first line was already 45 minutes long (at least) and that was right at the opening time. It’s a good ride, though the Forbidden Journey is still the best.

It’s such a shame they got rid of some of the old rides like ‘Jaws’ and ‘Back to the future’. They really gave the park some variety. We totally forgot to go to the Terminator 4D experience thing, which is very cool, and I’m sad we missed it. The new rides are great, but a lot of them are very much alike. Most of them are simulators of some kind, and though the themes are great… after a while I get a little bored of them. The Transformers is really cool… but it’s almost identical to Spiderman, but with different characters.

Me… I like the dark rides the best. Especially those that tell a bit of a story.

We only did three rides before the heat and the crowds ‘chased’ us away. First the Harry Potter one, then Elora and I went on the Mummy. This one is pretty damn cool, though I was worrying it was a bit too intense for Elora. It’s a roller coaster, but with a lot of amazing special effects. I really enjoyed it, and Elora said she did too (though she was terrified when we were in the line). I think it gave her a few nightmares too.

The last ride was the Jurassic Park one, which soaked us down to our underwear. Elora loved it, though the big T-Rex still freaks her out a little.

At the end of the morning we were so tired. It was about 12:30 pm when we decided to back to the hotel. (Yup, it took us 3 ½ hours to ride 3 rides, that’s how long the lines were)

Elora and I were getting on each other’s nerves a bit by this time, and we knew it was a good idea if we all had a bit of a nap. I was up way too early in the morning, and she had been up way too late the night before.

It was a bit of a battle to get her to sleep, then it was a battle to get her up, but we managed. That night we had dining reservations at Raglan Road, a wonderful Irish restaurant in Downtown Disney. The night was filled with great Irish and some decent American music, and really awesome river dancers. There was a little girl from the audience who really blew everyone away with her dancing, when the performers invited her onto the stage.

The food was so gorgeous, I actually over ate, and felt a little sick afterwards. We had taken the boat to Downtown again, so I was hoping I would keep it all in. Thankfully I managed, and I had learned my lesson. The portions here are just so big, it’s easy to eat more than you should. And the bread and butter pudding was ridiculously tasty, so I had taken a few bites too many.

By the time we got home, it was bedtime for Elora, but because she slept in the afternoon (and we had been feeding her sugar all day) she was pretty hyper.

All of us have been getting a lot more sugar than we’re used to. I’m dreading getting on the scales when I get home. We’ve been sharing a lot of portions, but still… everything is just stuffed with calories. I’ll probably need to starve myself for a few months to compensate *gulp*

It’s worth it though!