The Dragons

Oh, the story a picture tells. I love pictures. They bring back such vivid memories. Here is one of my favorites from a Universal Studios trip, an annual trip that Rexwilder and I look forward to. We are already counting the days to the next trip in July.

In this particular picture (click on the picture above to enlarge it), Diver, Rexwilder and myself have just stepped off "Dueling Dragons," an inverted steel coaster where two drains take different layouts and have "near collisions" with one another. Frankly, I believe this is one of the overlooked coasters among enthusiasts. Nevertheless, as we board the front row of the coaster, which is under a covered queue, we could see outside that it began pouring the rain. And I mean pouring. The rain was so loud and so hard and was falling at a tremendous rate just a few feet from us, where we would be taken in just a few seconds. To Universal's credit, they will only stop the coaster if it is lighting, and apparently it wasn't because we got the classic "Ice Ready?" As the coaster slowly began moving toward the downpour, a lone guy waiting in line yelled at us, "you better put on those sunglasses." Rexwilder and I looked at each other and we had the same thought immediately. "This is gonna hurt like crazy and we will be blind." Luckily, The Beast is never without my classic shades (which I have lost this particular pair you see in the picture, something I whine to Andi about everyday), so Rexwilder and I quickly throw the shades on, just in time. We casually look over to Diver who is looking at us like "you jerks." He didn't have a pair.

The climb up the lift wasn't too bad, but we were soaked by the time we made it to the top. Then, down the first hill we went. The next minute and a half were some of the craziest and most fun I have ever had on a ride. I am not exaggerating when I say it felt like someone was shooting little pins at us the entire ride. It didn't really hurt, but it didn't feel good either! But, you just couldn't keep from laughing. Diver, who closed his eyes and kept his hand over them the entire ride, never stopped laughing the full minute and a half. He was a great sport. He was getting absolutely smashed without the glasses. Even with the shades, you had to keep your eyes pretty much shut the entire ride. With all this confusion going on, it made the coaster feel like it was going 10 times faster than normal. It was chaos, soaking wet and going 60 miles an hour.

When we stepped off that coaster, we really felt like we had accomplished something great! We were soldiers of the coaster for that moment, we had defeated the dragons. We went to brag to the family who was waiting, and this classic picture was taken as we approached. In the background, you can partially see the track of the dragons we had conquered. At least for that day.