Universal Studios

    What's this? A second blog post within the space of a few days? You may think a ghost writer has been hired or you've accidentally clicked on an old blog post. On the contrary, I can confirm it is just the same old me and this is a new blog post.

     Our day at Universal Studios began with an early wake up. It was time to prepare for our first performance. I can't tell you how early I got up, but as a night person any time before midday seems early to me. The next task for the morning was figuring out how much of my costume I could wear underneath my studio tracksuit. To be honest, I can't even remember what I decided, but I do know I spent at least a day thinking about it. I should've spent more time thinking about all of my costumes. I forgot the shorts of one of my costumes. Forgetting pants or even completely neglecting to wear pants happens a little too often with me. Luckily I was not sans pants that performance as another dancer generously lent me a pair. I had to compete with my hair that morning too. My hair is always challenging (I have been compared to Hagrid). The braid at the front of my hair went quite well... if you looked at it from a distance with your eyes closed. Up close, you would notice a part more crooked than a criminal with an attractive mugshot and more bobby pins than the bottom of my dance bag. After the hair and make-up had been done it was time for all the excitement of sitting on a bus.

    There isn't much worth saying about the performance. We performed at CityWalk at 10am. The shops at CityWalk opened at 11am. Our audience consisted of the family members that had travelled to Orlando with the dancers. In their completely unbiased opinion, we were all amazing. Our spectacular performance was in spite of the stage we were on. It was like those bumpy Maseur sandals. Yes, it was a bumpy stage... for dancing. I can only assume they forgot to put the top layer of the stage on. The stage had also forgotten to have its Red Bull. There were no wings. In place of wings were some stairs. We were informed we were the first people to use that stage. And what a privilege it was not. Despite the stage, it was still ridiculously fun because dancing always is. And apparently it's always worth writing about because I managed to pump out an entire paragraph.

    Following the performance I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I'd spent most of the previous day by myself. Would I be forever alone? I'd been to Universal Studios in California a few years ago and didn't think too much of it. Would the rides here be as disappointing as the stage? I'd never been to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter before. Would I have a chance encounter with my kindred hair spirit, Hagrid?

    I could not accompany all my photos from that day with #foreveralone. I spent the day with Ashlea, Gemma and Jess and part of the day with Anni and Brooke. Our first task was to conquer The Hulk. Jess courageously conquered the bag minding task. Gemma, Brooke, Anni and I stayed in one line while Ashlea went into the line for "single riders". We heard later that the line was not Universal's answer to matchmaking.

    The Hulk was a great introduction to the rides. It certainly was not as disappointing as the stage. There was one ride I could've done without. Doctor Doom's Fearfall was nowhere near as exciting as I was led to believe. It sounded like Doctor Doom had all the qualifications to really freak me out. That ride was like working myself up for a tertiary level physics exam only to open the paper and find a kindergarten maths exam.

    We visited Harry Potter World a couple of times. I still haven't come to terms with the epic Diagon Alley expansion that will be opening at the beginning of next month. We had a bit of a chat with the train driver.

    We came across some younger friends in Seuss Landing. Rides on both the carousel and one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish saw me waving, blowing kisses and fist pumping to the audience crowd.

    Ash blended in with the Jurassic Park locals. 

    Ashlea, Gem, Jess and I ventured back to Harry Potter World. It took some convincing, but Ashlea managed to get me to go on one of the Dragon Challenges. There were two choices. The red or the blue. We'd heard some reviews from other people we'd seen in the park. We opted to meet the most difficult challenge. I can't remember which colour we chose, but it wasn't until we reached the front of the line when we realised it was the wrong choice. Not only because people were now saying that was the easier one, but also because we kept seeing carriages file past with empty seats. I had encountered another ride malfunction. Eventually we got on the challenge and I was definitely glad I had spent most of the walk to the ride awkwardly bending over and tightening my shoe laces. The real challenge came when we got off the ride. They don't tell you the exit of the ride is in a different location to the entrance. If only it had been easy to go back around (that is indeed a reference to a previous blog post. 10 points to Gryffindor if you can find which one). Our inability to apparate left us wandering aimlessly for a little while until we decided to ask a staff member for directions to the entrance of the Dragon Challenge as if we wanted to ride it for the first time.

    Ash, Gem, Jess and I stayed in the pub with our delicious butterbeer until close. I was finally able to replace my sister's mug that I had previously stolen claimed ownership of.

    I left Harry Potter World without swapping hair care strategies with Hagrid, but I was still scheduled for another visit to Universal Studios. Perhaps there was still a chance I would meet my kindred hair spirit.