Return from Universal
Included below are a few excerpts from my personal journal on my trip to Universal:
I’m writing this entry from 30,000 feet aboard Airtran flight 109 heading from Orlando to Atlanta. Today marks the final day of my brief vacation at Universal Studios Orlando with my mom, brother, Tom, Harry, Mari, and Alicia. Due to a complicated set of circumstances I was only on vacation for two days while the rest of the group won’t be departing for home until Tuesday.
Not that I’m sorry to be going after only two days. Taking English 444 back at Ball State means that I have to be up bright and early tomorrow morning. That’s fine with me though, as it turns out there really isn’t that much to do at Universal Orlando. I have a feeling that the trip would have been more fun back when I was younger, perhaps ten years ago when the movies that they featured were new. There weren’t any movie rides in the park based on something newer than a decade old.
Going on the rides that I’ve heard about for so many years was nice, don’t get me wrong. The problem is that you can do everything worthwhile in the parks in two days. I don’t know what everyone is going to do over the next few days. Aaron in particular wasn’t looking forward to spending the next two days in the parks since there would be no one in the family interested in going on the roller coaster rides, and also the face that there were only three rollercoasters in both parks, four if you count the Mummy ride.
Back to the Future was a cool ride, if a bit dated. The Terminator 2 3D ride was also a good one, though the 3D effects were better at the Muppet Theatre ride in Disney/MGM studios. I was disappointed that the Ghostbusters Stunt Spooktacular is no longer at the park . I knew that they stopped doing it back at the turn of the century, but it was still a disappointment. Getting to see that show would have really made my day. I found the place in the New York portion of the park that held the public library with Dana Barret’s apartment building in the background, and there was even the old Ghostbusters firehouse where they used to bring the Ecto-1 lookalike out and perform a show with Beetlejuice, but the Ghostbusters sign had been taken off of the firehouse facade. I was disappointed that this last remnant of the show was gone, but I suppose it’s only natural since Sony owns the rights to the Ghostbusters name now and hasn’t been doing jack shit with it ever since acquiring Columbia.
Our hotel accommodations were nice enough. We stayed at the Portofino Bay Hotel, which was located at the end of a lake/canal system that led to the Universal Parks and an area called City Walk. The entire time we were at the parks we couldn’t help but snicker whenever City Walk was mentioned, as it had an unfortunate resemblance to the City Wok of South Park fame which, when pronounced by the owner of the store, became “shitty wok.”
I was surprised at some of the amenities that weren’t offered by the hotel. We had to pay for extra Internet access and there was no breakfast supplied in the morning. That’s usually par for the course at the hotels that Emilie and I have stayed at, and I was surprised at the lack of those services at a more expensive hotel. My mom pointed out that some of the other chains might not offer those services as well in a tourist hub such as Orlando, but I was still unimpressed on that part of the bill.
Incidentally, at the moment we seem to be flying through a rough weather patch of some sort. Up until a few moments ago I was able to see out of the window, but now there’s nothing but cloud cover and the blinking of the wing. I’m seated near the front of the wing, and can’t help but be reminded of that old Twilight Zone episode starring William Shatner where a man dressed in a funny fur suit was ripping apart the wing. There don’t appear to be any gremlins on our wing, but the clouds outside are so thick that it would be difficult to see either way.
(Note: skip a bit to being stuck in a four hour layover at the Atlanta airport)
I called my dad and he should be there when I arrive. I didn’t check my main suitcase so chances are I will be getting out as soon as I arrive. It will be nice to get home. Now I only hope that the new motherboard for the computer I’ve been trying to put together will arrive in time for me to enjoy it this weekend. Over the weekend I’ll be heading out of town once again to spend the four day weekend with Emilie out in the land that time forgot, otherwise known as Illinois.
After talking with her today in the Orlando airport I get the distinct feeling that she isn’t happy with the work that she’s doing over there. Evidently her supervisor gave her an average rating on her mid-term performance evaluation, but the reason he did that was because the asshole hasn’t bothered to stop and talk with her or see what she’s doing. He had the nerve to tell her that she was getting an average evaluation because he honestly didn’t know what she had been doing. I suppose that would have been a good thing if she’d been slacking off the entire time, but I’m sure she’s been conducting herself with her usual dedication to whatever work she’s being given.
She’s also been stuck doing research which is definitely not her cup of tea. She prefers the raw mathematics that are the bread and butter of the actuarial sciences, and instead they have her researching insurance rates for other companies. I’m sure that’s the kind of thing that you have to do when you’re the low person on the totem pole, but at the same time it’s annoying for her since she would rather be doing calculations.
I may start posting from my journal in here the parts that are capable of being published. Much easier than writing different entries for both.
I’m writing this entry from 30,000 feet aboard Airtran flight 109 heading from Orlando to Atlanta. Today marks the final day of my brief vacation at Universal Studios Orlando with my mom, brother, Tom, Harry, Mari, and Alicia. Due to a complicated set of circumstances I was only on vacation for two days while the rest of the group won’t be departing for home until Tuesday.
Not that I’m sorry to be going after only two days. Taking English 444 back at Ball State means that I have to be up bright and early tomorrow morning. That’s fine with me though, as it turns out there really isn’t that much to do at Universal Orlando. I have a feeling that the trip would have been more fun back when I was younger, perhaps ten years ago when the movies that they featured were new. There weren’t any movie rides in the park based on something newer than a decade old.
Going on the rides that I’ve heard about for so many years was nice, don’t get me wrong. The problem is that you can do everything worthwhile in the parks in two days. I don’t know what everyone is going to do over the next few days. Aaron in particular wasn’t looking forward to spending the next two days in the parks since there would be no one in the family interested in going on the roller coaster rides, and also the face that there were only three rollercoasters in both parks, four if you count the Mummy ride.
Back to the Future was a cool ride, if a bit dated. The Terminator 2 3D ride was also a good one, though the 3D effects were better at the Muppet Theatre ride in Disney/MGM studios. I was disappointed that the Ghostbusters Stunt Spooktacular is no longer at the park . I knew that they stopped doing it back at the turn of the century, but it was still a disappointment. Getting to see that show would have really made my day. I found the place in the New York portion of the park that held the public library with Dana Barret’s apartment building in the background, and there was even the old Ghostbusters firehouse where they used to bring the Ecto-1 lookalike out and perform a show with Beetlejuice, but the Ghostbusters sign had been taken off of the firehouse facade. I was disappointed that this last remnant of the show was gone, but I suppose it’s only natural since Sony owns the rights to the Ghostbusters name now and hasn’t been doing jack shit with it ever since acquiring Columbia.
Our hotel accommodations were nice enough. We stayed at the Portofino Bay Hotel, which was located at the end of a lake/canal system that led to the Universal Parks and an area called City Walk. The entire time we were at the parks we couldn’t help but snicker whenever City Walk was mentioned, as it had an unfortunate resemblance to the City Wok of South Park fame which, when pronounced by the owner of the store, became “shitty wok.”
I was surprised at some of the amenities that weren’t offered by the hotel. We had to pay for extra Internet access and there was no breakfast supplied in the morning. That’s usually par for the course at the hotels that Emilie and I have stayed at, and I was surprised at the lack of those services at a more expensive hotel. My mom pointed out that some of the other chains might not offer those services as well in a tourist hub such as Orlando, but I was still unimpressed on that part of the bill.
Incidentally, at the moment we seem to be flying through a rough weather patch of some sort. Up until a few moments ago I was able to see out of the window, but now there’s nothing but cloud cover and the blinking of the wing. I’m seated near the front of the wing, and can’t help but be reminded of that old Twilight Zone episode starring William Shatner where a man dressed in a funny fur suit was ripping apart the wing. There don’t appear to be any gremlins on our wing, but the clouds outside are so thick that it would be difficult to see either way.
(Note: skip a bit to being stuck in a four hour layover at the Atlanta airport)
I called my dad and he should be there when I arrive. I didn’t check my main suitcase so chances are I will be getting out as soon as I arrive. It will be nice to get home. Now I only hope that the new motherboard for the computer I’ve been trying to put together will arrive in time for me to enjoy it this weekend. Over the weekend I’ll be heading out of town once again to spend the four day weekend with Emilie out in the land that time forgot, otherwise known as Illinois.
After talking with her today in the Orlando airport I get the distinct feeling that she isn’t happy with the work that she’s doing over there. Evidently her supervisor gave her an average rating on her mid-term performance evaluation, but the reason he did that was because the asshole hasn’t bothered to stop and talk with her or see what she’s doing. He had the nerve to tell her that she was getting an average evaluation because he honestly didn’t know what she had been doing. I suppose that would have been a good thing if she’d been slacking off the entire time, but I’m sure she’s been conducting herself with her usual dedication to whatever work she’s being given.
She’s also been stuck doing research which is definitely not her cup of tea. She prefers the raw mathematics that are the bread and butter of the actuarial sciences, and instead they have her researching insurance rates for other companies. I’m sure that’s the kind of thing that you have to do when you’re the low person on the totem pole, but at the same time it’s annoying for her since she would rather be doing calculations.
I may start posting from my journal in here the parts that are capable of being published. Much easier than writing different entries for both.