Day 61 - Universal Studios vs. Sportodimondo

12.01.17

After not as long of a night as desired, it's already morning again. Since we want to go to Universal Studios today and we certainly won't be the only ones, we get up early. Marco is a bit faster and prepares breakfast. We're not really hungry yet, but it's never a bad idea to eat something before a long day.

15 minutes later than planned, we head towards Universal Studios Adventure Island. There is some traffic on the way despite having 3-4 lanes. The navigation system takes us right to the parking garage and reluctantly we pay the $20 parking fee, as we couldn't find a free parking spot nearby.

In the security check, Yves' pocket knife gets caught, so it has to go back to the car, as he wants to keep it. We wait in line at the ticket counter for a good 20 minutes to pay the $117.15 admission fee for Universal Studios Adventure Island, including taxes - per person, of course. There is also a second, original park called 'Universal Studio'.

In the park, we head straight towards Marvel Studios (action comic heroes) and want to go on the Hulk roller coaster as the first ride, since there aren't many people yet. However, it's a bit challenging to store our backpack. At the (free) lockers near the roller coaster, we first see only the small lockers that our backpacks don't fit into. Afterwards, we can't open the larger lockers with our ticket. A bit frustrated, we give up on the roller coaster and continue. Soon we realize that the whole park is more or less like an amusement park similar to Europa-Park, and not a movie studio with backgrounds, etc. for the Hollywood films.

Nevertheless, we're excited and go on several rides in the different theme parks like (Jurassic Park, Marvel, Harry Potter, Lost Continent, King Kong, or Toon Lagoon). While Yves enjoys the rides, Marco's body doesn't quite appreciate all of them, so he opts out from time to time.

We particularly like the scenery around Harry Potter (Hogwarts and Hogsmead) as well as the simulation ride, the 3D Spider-Man ride, and the guided tour and stunt show in the Lost Continent.

At 6:00 pm, and with many impressions, we leave the park and search for our car. We all agree that it was a cool day, but it wasn't worth $120.

Back at the apartment, we cook risotto. Our host comes home from work a bit later and we invite him to join us for dinner. He praises our risotto and tells us a lot...

Tired, we fall into bed, which still sways a little. Spider-Man and Harry Potter will accompany us in our dreams tonight.

Photo of the day: Sun water play during Jurassic Park ride