HP and the overly high expectations

So, overall impression of HP: Universal is awesome at set building and exteriors and crap at people handling and imagination. The upper floors and towers of the castle are inaccessible. There are no moving stairways. There are no ghosts. You see dungeons, a classroom, and Dumbledore's office. No Great Hall. No Griffyndor common room. A small bit of library. The Three Broomsticks has no character. Ollivander's is awesome but an intolerable wait and then the wands for sale are cheap plastic at a high price.

On top of it all, the ride out of the castle is a thrill ride roller coaster. Why isn't it a tour of life as a Hogwarts students that fans of all age and physical condition could enjoy, a la Haunted Mansion or Pirates of the Caribbean? It would be a lot more in character with a Harry Potter experience.

There were awesome parts, including butterbeer and pumpkin juice. The shopping was stranglingly cluttered, and I recommend doing most of your shopping at the souvenir shop on the way out of the park because they have better selection on many of the items.

Topping it all off, there were supposed to be scheduled performances on the hour. There were no signs indicating that we were at the stage area; Ferrett just asked an employee After waiting in the hot sun for 15 minutes without even a sign of setup, we gave those up as a bad joke.

I'm glad I saw it, and loved things like the detail in some of the windows. But it will have to improve a lot to get me here again.

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Love and CO2 are in the air

My idea of ending a romantic dinner for two was taking the water ferry to MK and transferring to a second back to the hotel. Florida's idea of that romantic end of the evening consists of us being eaten alive by mosquitoes. I can only hope that our blood alcohol content has them wobbling to a watery death