Hygiene
Day 1 – I washed my hair, did makeup, wore deodorant.
Day 5 – Did none of those things. Why would I? The heat and humidity in Florida knocked out all my good works by noon.
Health
Day 1 – Fruit for breakfast, smoothie for lunch, salad for dinner.
Day 5 – Cheesecake for breakfast, cookie for lunch, gelato for dinner.
Surprisingly, I didn’t gain any weight while there, no doubt because I walked 30,000 steps a day.
Rides
Speaking of weight – Gary couldn’t fit in several of the roller-coasters. That was fine with me: I’m no longer a roller-coaster fan. Similarly, I couldn’t fit in one of the rides myself. (I didn’t want to go on the Mummy ride anyway. Nyah.) It was an indoor roller-coaster, and I don’t do roller-coasters anymore. (Stupid roller-coasters.)
I do love those new virtual roller-coaster rides, though. They are genius. You’re never more than five feet off the ground, but with the 3-D visual input and the jolting of the machine your brain is convinced you are on a roller-coaster, or being picked up by a giant ape, or plummeting to the earth. And – the best part – if you start feeling motion sickness you close your eyes. You suddenly realize you aren’t really moving that much. (For some reason I forgot that little trick when I was on the Harry Potter Forbidden Journey ride. You could as well call it Hurl Over Hogwarts. It’s a very convincing flying ride in which you play Quidditch and fly on a broomstick. I will not be doing any real or virtual Quidditch in the future.)
Future Plans
First, just like everyone who has stayed at the Universal Portofino Bay Hotel, I now want to go to Portofino Italy. I don’t use the term “everyone” loosely. I was walking on the piazza, thinking, “This makes me want to go to Portofino,” when a man passed and said to his companion, “This makes me want to go to Portofino.” Of course, there won’t be a Starbucks at the real place and I imagine the room won’t have twelve foot ceilings or a water taxi to take us around.
Second, I understand that Disney wants to compete with the Harry Potter World. There are only a few actual rides there – the attention to detail is the “ride.” To that end Disney is supposed to open Star Wars World in 2019. So, Gary’s saving up for that now.