There was a statue of a Lion with open jaws so wide one could put one’s head into it. So many people got themselves photographed. The scare was—what if it had been programmed to sound like shutting and snapping its jaws for sake of fun? In and out was very fast. We are very creative people. Whatever we cannot achieve in real life, we manage to ‘live’ it in ‘reel’ life. Our curiosities fulfilled, our ego satisfied, our craving totally fed, we come out with a sense of accomplishment. I think we saw Tarzan’s ‘nest’ too among the trees. For a moment, my tiny self-took ‘viswa roopa’ to a Tarzan as I moved through it.

One rollicking adventure—please remember it was rollicking for me that I scraped through with a real and not a plastic smile—was the Jurassic Park Ride. A group of people sit in a dinghy, suitably belted for safety—why you will come to know later—and it moves through caverns in water with a lot of characters playing out on the sides. Had the ‘permanently evading’ courage been pumped into me by one of those ‘unseen’ ghosts? I don’t think so, as later events in my life will keep proving. One interesting part of the ride was when the dinghy moves through outside after coming out of the caverns; people walking on the roads on the side can press a lever to jet-splash water into those on the dinghy. A fun activity. Dinosaurs keep popping in and out of the water on and off. Not so scary, though. The real adventure is at the end. A few seconds before the actual event, we are warned there is going to be a 70-foot fall! As we brace ourselves, the dinghy plunges 70 feet and with a thud stops. Just a jerk on the back, but I totally enjoyed this.

I don’t readily recollect others, and that means they did not make any impression on me. So, I skip.

The greatest part of the visit is, of course, the world-famous Bus Ride. I think it was the last ride or something near it that we managed to catch. The bus with its trailer has open windows and doors for us to view and see. It moves slowly, and on both sides, we can see the placards of names of movies made by Universal Studios.

There were small dwelling places where some directors worked. We saw the one Hitchcock worked in. The house where the horror movie ‘Psycho’ was shot was also shown to us. And thus began the ride. One of the most unforgettable experiences.

Continued in 257. May Believe Make Believe - Part 4