Dream Journal - 02/07/05

I had an odd non-Disney Disney Dream (tm). Call it the anti-Disney Dream.

My family and are vacationing in Orlando, and purposefully decided not to visit any of the Disney parks. Instead, we decided to visit Universal Studios.

We're wandering around Universal, and I decide to wander off by myself. I ride a Batman ride (which isn't actually at Universal), and it's very intense. At one point a human actor in a Batman costume comes out of the shadows and is running after our little ride vehicle. I believe Joker was nearby.

I get my son to ride it with me, but I'm concerned it might be too intense for him. Some of the details of the ride had changed - now it was The Riddler as the bad guy. Same view of Batman coming out to chase the ride vehicle.

Then we visit various other attractions in the park. A walk-through of various animatronic dinosaurs - at one point, they're all thundering across a valley while we watch behind a long set of glass windows. I also wanted to ride the Jurassic Park ride, and could see it in the distance, but it was closed for repair.

We also see giraffes in a pit-type pen, where their heads reach over the top and we can pet them. The kids love this.

I try to get everyone on the Batman ride, but realize as we board we've boarded the wrong ride - it's some kind of kiddie ride, and we're all disappointed and a bit miffed, as if we'd been misled.

I also recall opening a map of the park, to find our way back to where the Batman ride was, and the park map was very confusing. It was three separate sheets you had to place side by side, and the park layout was very disjointed and strange.

One interesting thing about this map: There were several areas that definitely wouldn't be at Universal: basically a frontier village, and the map of the area was incredibly detailed. I don't recall what the buildings were, or the captions and labels, but I just remember seeing individual names and attractions.

We were again disappointed at the day we were having.

UPDATE: (2/9/05)I see now that a very common thread in my Disney Dreams, indeed as well as some other dreams, is one of great anticipation followed by disappointment. Rides that don't turn out the way I expect them. Shows that don't live up to the hype. Even dream sex that isn't fulfilling. Somehow I'm anticipating something great out of life, and I feel I'm being disappointed.

This is something I have to explore, and any assistance would be appreciated...