Orlando 2012

Jarvis Cocker, Black Magic

Jarvis (2006)

Last week we took off for Orlando, Florida to visit Harry Potter Land and Disney World.  The Hogwarts ride (a.k.a. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey or something like that) was super cool and Hogwarts was also super cool, as you can see by this picture.

There was also a Dragon Challenge roller coaster, which is one of those roller coasters where your feet hang off.  In the line for that is the car from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.  Here are my family members standing next to said car.

Here is a picture of all of us in front of Hogwarts.  Some dudes from Ravenclaw took it for us.  Ravenclaw is kind of a lame house, of course, but it was really nice of them to take this picture.

Seriously though, it was really amazing.  Harry Potter Land is in Universal Islands of Adventure, which is a whole separate theme park from Universal Studios, but both were way cooler than I even expected.  In addition to Harry Potter, there was a whole Marvel Comics "Island" with a neat Spider Man ride.  There was also a Jurassic Park land that was really cool with lots of dinosaur stuff, and it had an amazing boat ride that I would have enjoyed more if I weren't so worried about my camera getting wet.  I liked Islands of Adventure a lot.  Universal Studios was really cool, too.  There was a really good roller coaster called the Rip Ride Rocket or something that literally made me cry.  And The Simpsons ride was hilarious.

Disney World blew my mind with how big it was.  It's essentially four almost-Disneyland sized parks, all separate from one another.  The first land we went to was Animal Kingdom where they had more dinosaurs.  I found a Hidden Mickey on this one, which is the first and only Hidden Mickey I've ever found.

Here is the big tree in the middle of Animal Kingdom with the whole family out front.  That's a really big tree.  There is a cool ride in Animal Kingdom called Everest where you go backwards on a roller coaster.  The line to that ride was really good.  Maybe it is because I am becoming an old geezer, but I almost enjoy the lines as much as I do the rides (speaking of lines, the Harry Potter lines were incredible) but it was a really, really good roller coaster--probably Disney's best, if you ask me.

Animal Kingdom also had this cool safari ride with lots of real animals.  Here is a big elephant with what must be a very short, very skinny elephant standing behind it--er, um, wait.  I guess that is a boy elephant.  How's it hanging, Elephanty?

Honestly, I didn't notice that until I uploaded this picture.

The next day was Hollywood Studios, which was my favorite land and my favorite day.  I knew that they had updated the Star Tours ride since our last trip to Disneyland (finally) so I was really excited to ride it.  We turned the corner toward the ride and I saw that the Disney World Star Tours exterior is way cooler than the Disneyland one.  As you can see, there's a gigantic AT-AT and Ewok Village.  That was so cool.  Then the ride itself is awesome.  It's 3-D and changes every time you ride it.

But the best part was, it started up, and then Darth Vader zoomed in and said, "I know you're hiding a Rebel Spy" or something like that, and this picture popped up on the screen and I was like, "What...who...wait a second...THAT'S ME!"  There was a picture of ME and I WAS THE REBEL SPY, which about gave me an aneurysm of joy.  And then we took off and went into hyperspace and went to Tatooine and got in a podrace and then a hologram of Princess Leia came on and talked about how important it was that the Rebel Spy (i.e., me) be safely delivered.  That was the best day ever.  I rode it six times, including the very last ride of the day, and on that very last ride, I WAS THE REBEL SPY AGAIN.

Here is Zack in an R2-D2 hat.

They don't have an Indiana Jones ride, but they do have an Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, and Zack and Lily had read about it and wanted me to volunteer to be Indiana Jones.  There were over 2000 people in the audience, but I stood up and waved anyway, and sure enough, I got picked.  But I didn't get to be Indiana Jones, since he was a highly trained stunt man that did many flips and a lot of rope climbing.  Instead I got to be a camel jockey (unless that is racist, in which case I was simply a Cairo Citizen).

Here you can see me in my authentic camel jockey/Cairo Citizen wardrobe.  That was fun and exciting, although Zack was disappointed that I didn't get to be Indiana Jones.

Like I said, I kept making everyone go back to Star Tours, and one of the times Kelly and I reenacted the entire Endor Speeder Bike sequence from Return of the Jedi.

Here is me on Star Tours for probably the third or fourth time.  I effing loved that ride.

This picture isn't from our vacation, but I accidentally uploaded it and it is super cute so I am leaving it.

Speaking of super cute, here is Kelly at the Magic Kingdom, which is the Disneylandiest of the Disney World lands.  Specifically, this is Kelly on the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, which for some reason she used to like at Disneyland.  The one at Disneyland has been turned into Tarzan's Treehouse, and it's kind of neat, but she missed. the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.  I thought it was kind of meh at first, but if she likes it enough to make this adorable expression, then I guess I like it too.

This is the whole clan at the Pirates of the Caribbean.  The line for this is way cooler in Disney World than in Disneyland, although it cuts out a lot of the actual ride.  Lily is a big Pirates fan, so it was neat for her to go on this one.  She also liked the Haunted Mansion ride, which is quite a bit better in Disney World than in Disneyland.

All in all, it was a really, really fun trip.  I am so glad we went.  I think I will always like Disneyland the best, but Universal made me a fan of its parks, and the experience of Disney World was totally awesome.

Especially Star Tours.  Which I rode six times.  And was the Rebel Spy twice.