disney, epic universe, celebration, lobster
Orlando was the deliberate contrast to everything else on exchange. Four days with no historical site to understand, no valley to be quiet in, and no need to make the trip more serious than it was. Disney Springs on Friday, Magic Kingdom on Saturday, Epic Universe on Sunday, and a solo Monday in Celebration finished with a lobster dinner.
We opened with Disney Springs, which is the outdoor shopping and dining strip on the Disney property. It is not quite a park, more like a warm up, with food, the huge Lego store, a few shops, a lake, and lights everywhere. Low stakes, which was right for the first night.
Saturday was Magic Kingdom. You walk down Main Street and the castle is right there at the end, and it is difficult not to enjoy it even if you try to be normal about the whole thing. The rides, the parades, and the music between every land were exactly what I had seen on TV growing up, except now I was actually standing there.
Sunday was Universal's new Epic Universe, and the scale of it is hard to argue with. Stardust Racers was first, with two coasters racing side by side around a huge kinetic sculpture in Celestial Park. We rode it twice, which was the correct decision.
Then came the Ministry of Magic, the new Harry Potter land set in a 1920s Parisian wizarding street, with Sacre-Coeur on the skyline and banners hanging above the festival. Super Nintendo World was the one I did not know I needed, with Mount Beanpole, question blocks, warp pipes, and Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge, which I took much more seriously than necessary.
Monday I went solo to Celebration, the master planned town Disney built just south of the parks. It is almost too tidy, with picket fences, pastel storefronts, and families doing ordinary things in a place that does not feel entirely ordinary. I walked around, had coffee, and enjoyed how strange it was.
I ended the trip at Boston Lobster Feast, with all you can eat lobster, crab legs, mussels, and clams. No queue to optimise, no route to finish, no real reason to be restrained. I ate a lot and flew back to North Carolina very satisfied.
Every other exchange trip had some weight to it, like a city to read, a trail to finish, or a view to sit with. Orlando was different. It was theme parks, coasters, cartoons made physical, and a table full of lobster, which was exactly what I wanted from it.