Universally Accepted
Jim is a contest hound as well as a lucky devil. He won tickets to Universal Studios from the local FOX station when they were promoting the new Simpsons ride. Being native Floridians, we knew way better than to even attempt going down there during the summer; November’s climate and crowds were more suitable for us.
Our plan was to hit the Simpsons ride quickly, then hop on over to Islands of Adventure, which I hadn’t been to yet. We ended up taking a more leisurely pace and just stayed at Universal the whole day, which was fine by me.
The Simpsons ride was delightful. I can’t think of any franchise more suited for a theme park ride. There’s years and years of tv shows to draw on, fully developed characters and themes with a simple and fun visual appeal. The level of detail and humor in the wait area and the ride itself is unmatched. I enjoyed the previous “Back to the Future” ride on mostly a technical level, amazed at how easy it is to get lost in the illusion…but as The Simpsons the ride pleases all around.
We also rode The Mummy three times – including the last run of the night, which we felt made us pretty special. The ride came highly recommend to us and I certainly do continue the recommendation. I think i’d have pooped my pants if I’d ridden that as a kid (Fire! Demons!) but it kicks the butt of all the other rides in the park.
Of course Universal was already decked out in holiday decorations, it not even being Thanksgiving yet. If I had been forward thinking I would have used this opportunity to get pictures for our Christmas cards…perhaps something with the Madagascar penguins…?
As it was, we spent lots of time looking for clear ornaments to take pictures of our reflections.
I have been recently preoccupied with how to decorate the new house for Christmas, and I was struck by how much can be done with simple round ornaments, artfully arranged in different colors, sizes and textures. This arrangement of blues is similar to what I’ve picked out for the living room (minus the snowflake motif, because there’s no snow in Florida!)
This picture really doesn’t do justice to the fun and funky contrast of the lime and purple inside the Men in Black store. I had already planned to add cherry red to the lime in our kitchen, but maybe I’ll throw some purple in as well.
Speaking of MIB, the sixties retro-repro was a bit sterile and cheesy to me now that I spend so much time researching the real deal…but I still had fun there.
You can see the rest of my photos and Jim’s photos as well on Flickr!