Universal
Sunday, June 4, 2023
I have a love/hate relationship with theme parks.
My company’s family day was at Universal Studios today… yeah, rough life, I know. Anyway, because we had to pay for our own hotel and transportation, I used it as my kiddo and my annual “Mother-Daughter trip.” Since we’ve never been and my kiddo is an adrenaline junkie, I knew she’d go for it.
The first ride we rode was Despicable Me, where I quickly discovered that most rides are 4D, which is no bueno for yours truly. Why? Because I get severe nausea with any 3D or shaking camera visuals. That meant, I rode most things with my eyes closed. Oh, what fun.
We had our lunch scheduled for 12:45-2:15. It was only 12:10 when we got off of Despicable Me, and Secret Life of Pets, which was right across from us, had a wait time of 35 minutes. Perfect… or not. By the time we got on, it had turned out to be 90 minute wait… for a two minute ride that was, quite frankly, dumb.
Considering that both my kiddo and I have hyper anxiety when it comes to time, we were both frazzled by the time we got off. We had to book it to get to the picnic site. Add up being late, not knowing the park layout, hanger, oh, and did I mention the park was sold out?, and you have a recipe for a complete breakdown. We were practically running, just to get there just to learn that OUR picnic site was on the other side of the park. We had 10 minutes left and I had a panic attack as we’re rushing back. It took everything I had not to cry. I pushed past people in the way, I lost it on my kiddo, and all I wanted to do was go home. It was BAD.
When we finally reached the picnic site, there was only a couple minutes left and I was practically in tears as I told the front person what happened. Thankfully, they let us in. We got our food and sat there, both of us trying to calm down.
After eating, and some deep breaths, I finally reached a mental place to go back into the park. The rest of the day was okay. We rode all the roses, most of them with my eyes closed. Went to the Harry Potter land, and tried to figure out what was going on. It’s here that I will admit to not having watched or read anything Harry Potter. Nor do I plan on it. Ironically, the ride turned out to be my favorite… at least, the parts that I could have my eyes open. My kiddos favorite was Jurassic World. It was there that I learned she’s more into paleontology that astronomy now… go figure.
We basically limped back to the parking garage as both of our feet were in absolute agony. And both of our people meters were passed the red.
I’d enjoy parks more if we were the only ones there.