Dinner break! Today's word in the TWENTY/TWENTY meme is "closure."
Though my heart has always been with the Hard Rock Cafe when it comes to obsessive-compulsive behavior in a restaurant, I do make an effort to visit the other "theme cafes" when I run across them... places like "Planet Hollywood" and "Fashion Cafe" and "Harley Davidson Cafe" and "All-Star Cafe" and the like. It's more a habit than something I actually seek out, but it doesn't happen much anymore because most of them have closed.
With that in mind, I decided I'd go through all my old photos and make a collage of all the closed theme restaurants I've been to for today's meme.
I didn't get very far, because I came across this...
My favorite theme park ride ever, Back to the Future: The Ride, was closed in 2007 and replaced by a ride for The Simpsons.
This still upsets me to this day.
The ride was pure genius. It integrated into the Back to the Future movie trilogy flawlessly, and even expanded upon the story a bit... kind of like a sequel. If that wasn't enough, it was a lot of fun. I rode both the Florida and California locations dozens of times, and never got tired of it. When I found out the attraction was closing, I even made a final trip to Universal Studios Orlando for one last ride.
The good news is that the ride is still running at Universal Studios Japan.
I don't think I'll be able to get full closure until I've seen it.
Hopefully before it's gone too.
In other news, there is a parade going by my office window. Since most major cities are having "Gay Pride Parades" in support of Pride Month, I was a little taken back at the idea that my small redneck city was progressive enough to have such a thing... until I remembered that it's actually a "founders' festival" that happens every year.
Oh well. Back to the future... and work.
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I’m hoping to go on the 29th or 30th of August.. wanna come with? 🙂
I haven’t been – sounds sweet, though!
I’d been on the Florida one before it closed but didn’t make the LA location before it changed over to The Simpsons. Really enjoyed it. Sucks that they changed it to the Simpsons tbh.
I didn’t know they closed that ride. Sucks! I liked chasing Biff around different epochs. It was cool.
As a big Back To The Future fan, I am sad that I never got to either park to ride the ride before they were closed. Must now plan visit to Japan to make it happen.
I actually like the Simpsons ride better – the Back to the Future one, as fun as it was, always made my head hurt because it was so choppy. And I’m a huge BTTF fan.
Do you have a link to the 20/20 meme?
I like The Simpsons Ride okay… but feel that BTTF:TR was more “special” because it actually extended the story of the movies (which I too love as a huge fan, and was thrilled to see more of it!).
The 20/20 meme is something I made up three years ago. You put iTunes on random, hit play, then choose a word from the first 20 songs that pop up. You’re not supposed to skip any of them, but sometimes you get duplicates (surprising how many times “love” appears in a song!), or get a title that doesn’t really have a workable word, so you move to the next. Here’s mine…
Oh, okay! I knew it sounded familiar. I love the idea and I’m totally stealing that for myself.
I agree that the BTTF ride was cool because it was like a mini-sequel. I went on it consistently even though I did get headaches because I enjoyed that part of it.
Steal away… that’s what memes are for! 🙂
I went to Universal Studios in California back in 1998 and don’t remember if the BTTF ride was there back then. I actually only remember the Jurassic Park water thingy. Of all the theme parks in California I have to say I thought US was a bit meh to be honest. Six Flags Magic Mountain however is the best park I’ve ever been to in my entire life.