I Almost Died Twice Today…I’m Being Dramatic

I should have said, “It felt like I almost died twice today.” My Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve, started out wonderfully. I woke up at 6 AM to get to Universal Islands of Adventure’s early admission.

The goal was simple: ride Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure and Jurassic World VelociCoaster. I had owned the Universal Pass for almost a year, and I still had not attempted either ride.

I-4 always has traffic, but I was able to get away with an hour drive. It always surprises me how the traffic is not around the parks but more so as I enter Orlando, through Davenport into Kissimmee.

I might have looked emotionless in that photo, but I put on a straight face. I was enjoying my ride in, switching the stations between Wild 94.1 (Hip Hop/Rap) and WPCV 97.5 (Country). Before moving to Florida, you would have had to pin me down to force me to listen to country.

But once I started living in such a flat state surrounded by rural land, I found country music so…relatable.

Universal

I arrived. I parked on the second level, identified by King Kong, row 207. It had been so long since I had seen a semi-empty theme park garage. I gathered my things and started walking to the park. For those who didn’t know, you have to enter Universal City Walk to reach Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. I opted out of taking the moving walkways. Why do people feel the need to stop walking on a moving walkway? The whole point is to get to your destination faster. I feel like you get there slower when you stop and treat it like an escalator. Anyway, I walked on the normal walkway, passing all the “moving walkway stoppers” with my long strides and motivation to ride the only two rides I was there for.

There she was! The entrance to City Walk—or basically the halfway point to the rides. I like to think that you start your race from the car to the City Walk entrance, then from the City Walk entrance to the theme park entrance, and finally from the theme park entrance to the ride.

Another thing that grinds my gears is when people stop in the middle of the walkway. The only places I accept people to stop are photo op areas. But when you are past the sign you are taking a photo with, you need to kindly step to the side so that people don’t have to navigate around you. I was also pretty shocked that City Walk isn’t decorated more for Christmas. I had visited Disney Springs a few days earlier, and it had been decorated to the T. But Universal looked like it had just rolled out of bed.

As I navigated my way through other guests, I checked my Universal App to see what the wait times looked like. That day, the park had opened at 8 AM for early admission. I reached the park at 8:45 AM. I was only 45 minutes late. There was no way a massive line could have accumulated. Right?

Wrong! 150-minute wait. Riders were being queued outside of the Hogwarts World. That was how long the line was. But, remember, my only purpose for being there that day was that ride and VelociCoaster. So, no matter how long that line was, I was going to wait.

The queue to get to the lockers took about 30 minutes. I put my things into a locker and then had to decide if I wanted to wait in the regular line or take the single riders line. The thing is, at Universal Studios, single rider lines move very quickly. I usually could get through 4–5 rides in a matter of an hour. So, I decided to go into the single riders line. I wanted to say it was a mistake, but it was more of a useless decision. The thing with that ride is that the coaster has a motorbike and a sidecar. Most people entering the normal line try to do so with an even number of people so that no one is left with a stranger next to them. That creates a problem for single riders in the single riders line.

The single riders line only moves when there is a group with an odd number of people. Ultimately, this means there is a chance those in the single riders line could wait longer than the regular line. I hadn’t thought about this until I was standing in the single riders line for 10 minutes. But I wasn’t a quitter, so I was willing to wait and see how long it took. Altogether, it took about 150 minutes—30 minutes in the queue to the lockers and 120 minutes in the single riders line.

I loved the ride and felt it was worth the wait. I thought it would have been better to be in the normal line because most single rider lines skip the queue theme placed in the regular queue to entertain guests while they wait. But it was a great ride! Because I was a single rider, the woman I was placed with chose the motorbike, so I sat in the sidecar. It was still tons of fun! The speed, the story, the animatronics—practically everything was thrilling! The only section I personally didn’t like, and that makes me woozy to even think about, was the part where it went backward. At some point during the ride, the cart stopped at a dead end in the tracks. The story played it off as a mistake, and Hagrid pulled us back to get us out of the situation. Personally, I can’t do rides that go backward anymore. When I was younger, I could handle everything, but now it makes me nauseous. I immediately got a headache, and whatever food was in my stomach began to rise. Luckily, I had didn’t go backward long enough for the food to make its way out. All in all, the ride was very thrilling, and I highly recommend it.

After some walking, I finally made it to the VelociCoaster! Just like the previous ride, there was a regular line and a single riders line. Me, not learning my lesson from before, I booked it to the single riders line, aaaaand… it was at capacity. If you are wondering how a SINGLE RIDERS line could be at capacity, it is because everyone knows you can get on rides faster, so full-on families pack into that queue hoping it will be quicker than the regular line. Oh well. I filed into the regular line and waited. The app said 75 minutes. Not bad. The way the line worked in the beginning was that we looped around the side of the building before entering the themed section. It took maybe 25 minutes to get through that side section. And right as I came back around to the front, want to guess what was no longer “at capacity”? Oh well. I stayed where I was. I had a feeling that if I moved, it would randomly reach capacity again, and I would lose my place in line.

After about an hour, I made it to the boarding area. Something you should know about me: I am 6’5″ and on the chubbier side. I had never felt completely safe on rollercoasters that don’t have over-the-shoulder (OTS) restraints. For some reason, I thought that coaster had an OTS restraint. It did not. It had a stomach or waist restraint. Keep in mind, that ride went upside down. I boarded the ride and did everything in my power to suck my gut in and press the restraint down tightly. The ride assistant came by, checked my restraint, looked at me, and said, “Are you comfortable with that?” I agreed. He looked at the restraint and asked, “Are you sure?” Let me tell you, I should have listened to him.

The ride took off. The speed and turns were amazing—very thrilling! Then we hit the hills and barrel rolls. For those of you who don’t know, I am an avid rollercoaster rider. I love the thrill. I love adrenaline-filled activities. I had gone skydiving and loved it! I know the point of the hills and rolls are to slightly lift you out of your seat. I get that.

Never in my life had I ever lifted out of my seat with as much space between the seat and the restraint! I was not in that photo above, but I had my hands up. The second we hit that first barrel roll, I felt my entire midsection slide out of the restraint. The restraint was past my thighs. I immediately grabbed the restraint and my seat to keep myself in. That was the only time I had ever feared for my life—and I had jumped out of a f**king plane! I could not enjoy the rest of the ride because of how scared I was to slide past the restraint again.

Here’s the thing: I was not going to blame the restraint or the ride assistant because they both did their job. The boarding process is very fast-paced, and I should have clamped the restraint down more. The restraint never released, which is its role. But I will never ride that ride again until I lose enough weight to clamp the restraint down further. The ride was fun—until I almost died.

Risking My Life Again

What does one do after they almost die? They risk their life again. When I was in the VelociCoaster line, I had noticed a helicopter fly over the park. I searched on Google for “helicopter tours in Orlando” and found International Heli-Tours. After leaving the park, I went straight there. I went to the front desk, and they walked me through the prices. But because I was a single rider, I was given the choise to either wait for others to join or pay double for whichever tour I wanted. I could never see myself paying double for my own personal tour. So, I closed my eyes and handed him my card.

We waited a little to see if any groups of three or fewer would show up to accompany me. The only group that walked in was a group of four, the max. After shooting the breeze with one of the workers, we headed outside to start the tour.

Overall, I had a wonderful day! The weather was beautiful. I was able to get done what I wanted to and more! I did not go through my 50s workout today, but we will count all the walking as cardio.

Have a wonderful day or night! God Bless you all!