Happy Birthday, Helen!!! (Oct 22)

[fruitbat]

Happy Birthday, Helen!!!



(Trying out some new birthday smilies, here, Helen. You are the first. Too many "Happy Birthdays" in one post?)

[thunder]

Happy birthday, Helen!

[Hilary the Touched]

You can never have too many "Happy Birthday"s in one post!
Very best wishes to one of the stalwart originals! Thanks for enriching my fandom immeasurably!

[Marie]

I'm late.......

Happy Birthday Helen - I hope it was fantastic!

[Helen8]

Thanks, Ladies!! fruitbat, like Hilary said . . . can't have too many HBs. And such festive ones at that!

Had a great 4-day weekend birthday. On Thursday, DH took me to Universal Hollywood to see the Harry Potter exhibit. It was exactly the same, except there were no Dueling Dragons coaster rides. DH was disappointed, not me tho.

One thing they did add was the Forbidden Journey ride had 3-D glasses. I shouldn't have put them on. I was queasy at the end of the ride. The line wasn't as long as we remembered it being in Orlando—maybe a half-hour till we boarded. Had lunch and butterbeer, tasted as good as we'd remembered. SLURP. Alas, it was 97° that day. Luckily, every so often, they had these Mist Centers: two-foot diameter fans with mist coming out of them. You stood in front of it, as many people did, and it really cooled you off . . . for a few seconds.

The only downside were the costs. The $25 move-to-the-front-of-the-line tickets(that Char so graciously bought all of us last time) were now $100/person. We passed. The entrance fee for Friday + the weekend was $115/day/person. Tuesday thru Thursday was $85. Thus we went Thursday. The crowds were not crazy, but there weren't long waits. Lunch went pretty fast. The other real shocker was the price of the merchandise. Flimsy T-shirts were $37. A wool Slytherin pullover was $150! I wanted something Slytherin, but I couldn't justify it. I ended up with a $11 deck of Fantastic Beasts playing cards.

We also took the 1-hour tram ride through Universal Studios. It was interactive. Got bounced around a lot during the Fast & Furious segment. Gt wet during another disaster movie sequence. Was nice to be off our feet for an hour.

Friday night Rob took me to Roy's Restaurant for a lovely dinner. Saturday, we saw October Sky (the musical version of the 1999 movie) at The Old Globe Theatre. And, finally, Sunday we saw The Girl on the Train. Emily Blunt does a great job.

Well, that was a wonderful whirlwind weekend. Too bad I turned 60-something.

[Chari910]

I'm late too, sorry Your BD weekend sounds fabulous. Rob knows how to treat you right. He is a keeper

Brought back fond memories of our Wizard World Orlando trip!

[Helen8]

Thanks, Char. I agree. The whole time I was there, I compared everything to Orlando. That trip was that much better because we shared it with you and Marie and her DH. Say, maybe in 4 years, we can have a 10-year anniversary trip.

[Marie]

Count me in!!!

[Helen8]

Mr. K, too, Marie? Even though he left halfway through, he's still part of the group.

[Marie]

Depends what we do on the trip. If we go to Universal he might go. But shopping - not a chance. Hey I can't change him now!

[Helen8]

Got it. Were it not for the "Husband Chairs" in Chico's, he would sit in the car. Hazardous thing to do in 90-degree temperatures here.

[Marie]

Ken usually does sit in the car - with the car running and A/C on. Which always makes me feel a tad rushed. I think he fears he will get shopping cooties!

[Helen8]

How much is gas in FL.?

[Marie]

$2.15 but we buy it at Cumberland Farms and get a $.10 a gallon discount. I put about $18 in the Prius every 2-3 weeks.

[Helen8]

I'm jealous. The avg. in San Diego is $2.60. We buy our gasoline at the Morongo Indian Casino gas station for (lately) $2.39.The 4-hour roundtrips we make twice a month to the desert really add up. The Corolla's 39 mpg helps but nowhere near as good as a Prius.