A SAD FAREWELL

 Sunday, April 7, 2024

After the terrific party on Saturday, Sunday took on a completely different tone.

We all got up and attended the church service. Silvia, Toshi, and Kim were warmly welcomed. Many of those in attendance had been at the party the day before and were still in a celebratory mood.

We returned a couple of hours later for a much more solemn occasion.

The time had come to celebrate the life of our Japanese daughter, and Toshi’s wife, Kae.

Unfortunately, some of the people who knew her were unable to attend, but quite a few of the church people and some of the folks who were part of our writing group came. (Kae and Toshi had sat in on our meetings several times when they were here visiting.) As always, the most important people were there.

Rev. Bob Schwenck facilitated the service since Pastor Leanne Strommen was out of town. This seemed appropriate since Bob not only knew Kae and Toshi from their frequent visits, but he conducted their wedding in the same church in 2003.

He threw Kim a curve ball by asking her to read the 23^rd Psalm. (He was supposed to read it, but he thought it would mean more if Kim read it. I had asked the family if they wished to speak several days earlier. Larry said he wouldn’t be able to get through it. So did Kim and Toshi.)

Kim got through it but with lots of emotion. Kae was her dear sister, and they were close.

I had known I wanted to tell everyone what Kae had meant to me and to our family. I’d spent many sleepless nights during the previous month trying to edit all the things I’d wanted to say about this precious member of our family. I finally decided just to speak spontaneously.

I told about how I had only given birth to one child but how we had acquired quite a few others through the years. The first foreign student in our home was with us that morning. Silvia had arrived the week after we moved into our new home in Dana Point in 1987. She was followed by Yuka, Yasuko, Yuko, Fumiko, Yoshiko, and another Fumiko. Our last one came in the spring of 1998. Kim hosted a student, Ikue, and her neighbors, the McKinneys, hosted another, Kae. Because they lived so close, the three girls spent a lot of time together—much of it at our house. (I always said we got three for the price of one with this group!)

My mother provided quite a bit of their transportation since Larry and I and Kim were all working at the time. She fell in love with all three of them. She couldn’t remember their Japanese names, so she referred to them by their characteristics. Ikue was “the little one” since she was short like Kim. Fumiko was “the funny one” since she had a great sense of humor and loved to laugh. Kae was “the pretty one.”

1998 California – Kae, Lorna, Ikue, Fumiko

Later that summer, we moved to Osaka, Japan to build the Universal Studios Japan theme park. During our stay, we saw all but one of “our kids.” We saw Kae and her then-boyfriend the most often as they visited us about once a month.

When we returned, Toshi worked for a company which required him to make trips to the US. Whenever he came, he tried to extend his trips to spend time with us. He sometimes brought Kae with him.

Even though they were legally married in Japan, they wanted their wedding in California. So in 2003, they were married in our church.

Wedding 2023

They continued to visit us whenever they could, and our home in Dana Point became their second home.

On our anniversary in 2010, the phone rang at 3:00 a.m. Toshi was calling from the hospital. Kae had collapsed and was not expected to survive. All we could do from the distance was promise to pray for her. And we asked the church prayer chain to join us. Despite the “less than 5% chance” her neurosurgeon gave her of surviving, she not only recovered by thrived. And she (and he) credited all the prayers for the miracle.

A couple of years later, she became a Cordon Bleu chef. The next time she visited, she prepared a beautiful four-course meal for us and our friends.

Chef Kae

In April of 2022, she was supposed to start a class toward completing her master’s degree. Instead, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and entered the hospital.

By June, Toshi began talking about bringing her home to California one last time. However, her doctor would not clear her to fly until October. As she entered our house, she smiled at me. “Mom, I’m home.” And for her, this was the place she considered “home” more than anywhere else.

On December 20^th, Toshi texted me that she had lost consciousness. A few hours later, he called Larry. “She’s gone.”

I suggested perhaps he could bring her ashes here and spread them at Dana Point. He told me he had a note in her writing making this request.

And this was the day.

Even though Toshi had initially said he couldn’t speak, he changed his mind. His words were articulate and heartfelt as he described this beautiful soul.

Then Rev. Bob read a scripture and a poem he had written for her.

We then showed the memorial video about Kae. https://youtu.be/RJw-NYz3dBU

Following the service, we gathered at our home for a small reception. Then we proceeded to the marina to board a catamaran to take us out to sea so we could spread her ashes.

Larry had reserved the small catamaran, and fourteen of us went out beyond the breakwater just before sunset. Just as he had for my mother and my brother, Larry released her ashes into the ocean.

I had taken a basket of roses to the church for the service, and we tossed them into the water. https://youtu.be/lUBfjQ-eSYk

Larry’s brother and sister-in-love, Casey and Lucy, could not join us, but the rest of us went to dinner at the Wind and Sea in the Marina. We had kept our promise to Kae.

 

The Rest of the Week

On Monday, we spent time with all three of our kids.

Silvia, Toshi, Lorna, Larry, Kim on our front steps

We delivered Toshi to the airport for his 7:30 a.m. flight on Tuesday morning, after which, Silvia, Kim, and we went to breakfast at Mollie’s in San Juan Capistrano (Kim’s favorite breakfast pace).

Then we went down to the Outlets in San Clemente, where Kim and Silvia bought a few gifts to take home with them.

We ate an early dinner at Harpoon Henry's and then went to the point to take a photo.

Silvia, Lorna, Larry, Kim at Dana Point

Silvia was supposed to have left on Wednesday, but there was a mix-up about her flight time. She was supposed to fly to Hong Kong for a couple of days to visit a friend. However, it worked out okay since her friend was ill. Silvia’s travel agent was able to book her on a different flight leaving on Thursday afternoon.

We were able to spend a little more time with her and enjoyed it. Then, on Thursday, we drove her down to LAX with plenty of time before her flight.

Since we had all day Friday to spend with Kim, we got her a ticket to Disneyland and spent the day with her there. We all enjoyed both parks, as always.

Saturday was her day to do laundry and repack for her trip home to Texas. She had a 7:45 a.m. flight out of John Wayne, so we got her there by six. She had an uneventful trip.

The house seemed quite empty when we returned. We had thoroughly enjoyed having all three of the kids with us. After the very busy week before, we were determined to rest and relax for a couple of days.

Post Script

As Toshi requested, we made arrangements for her to have a rose bush planted in the church's memorial rose garden. We talked about getting one called Yokohama, but we discovered this Japanese hybrid can not be exported to the US. Instead, we agreed on Disneyland Floribunda since the trip to Disneyland was on her bucket list and we had made it happen for her.

Last week, the bush was planted, near the arbor where she took pictures on her last visit and right next to "Grandma" where she would have wanted to be. The marker is on order and should be in place when Toshi visits next.

Kae's rose bush

Kae will live in our hearts forever, and we will think of her each time we visit the rose garden.

THE BIG EVENT

 Saturday, April 6, 2024

The big day had arrived.

Toshi got home in time to change his clothes and help load the car with everything we needed to take to the church by ten a.m.

We had gone with a surfer theme. Our goddaughter, Tracy, had created the invitations, and her mother, Pat, created all the table decorations.

There were two cakes—one chocolate and one vanilla. Woodies and vans were in evidence.

Heather Taylor arrived shortly after we did. She created a photo booth with an ocean background that looked a lot like Doheny. She had also brought a printer, and her son, Eric, made prints for everyone who wanted them. (These were the “party favors” for our guests.)

Our caterer (Chef Freddie) arrived with his team to finish preparation of the lunch. And Pat and Bruce brought the centerpieces and helped arrange everything. (The church sexton had set up all the tables the evening before.)

Thank goodness Toshi was with us. We had brought a video of Larry through the years to show. There was a TV, but we didn’t know how to set it up. Thankfully, Toshi figured it out.

Silvia and Kim helped me pass out the colorful leis we had brought for everyone.

Chef Freddie set out a lovely salad bar, and at noon, everyone who had arrived was encouraged to help themselves. Freddie had assured us there would be plenty of food with some left over afterward. He was right!

Our guests entered, were greeted with leis,  and found seats.

Meanwhile, we plugged in the PA system, so we could make announcements.

By about twelve-thirty, most of the guests had arrived. Chef Freddie announced the menu, and his servers brought the food to the tables.  Lunch consisted of chicken breast (stuffed and non-), roasted vegetables, rice pilaf, mushroom gravy, and delicious fresh rolls and whipped butter. Yummy!

A few more people showed up during food service, and we had more than enough food for everyone plus large containers to take home. (We are still finishing off some of the chicken we had frozen.)

Next, we showed the video we had prepared. https://youtu.be/4cop9YkI8nE

Everyone enjoyed looking at all the old photos and Larry narrated part of it.

His oldest friend, Scott Campbell, had planned to surprise him by attending. However, a business trip interfered. He sent a letter, and Lorna read it. His account of a couple of incidents was slightly different than Larry’s recollection, so he had to clarify.

Several times during the party, we requested that people have their photos taken, and most did. Everyone seemed to have fun with the idea, and Eric made lots of prints for our guests to take home with them. (IF you were a guest and did not get yours, please let us know.)

I put some of the photos on a video for you to see: https://youtu.be/MHG-wE44mBU

I had asked Larry’s brother, Casey and his best friend, Bob Schwenck, to speak about Larry, and they both did a wonderful job. https://youtu.be/oFXkolkDCKQ

Cake was served, followed by a toast (with sparkling apple juice).

Most everyone had a picture taken with Larry. All our kids took great pictures with him and each other. These will provide great memories of a terrific event.

Too soon, it was time to call it a day, and we bid our guests goodbye.

The whole day was a fitting tribute to a wonderful man, husband, father, and friend.

BUSY DAYS

 

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

We woke early on Tuesday after not sleeping well the night before, despite being exhausted. This was our only day to finish the laundry, put the clothes away, empty the luggage and store it, straighten the house, open a week’s worth of mail, pay bills, visit the bank and post office, shop for food, and prepare for the following week.

We managed to get most everything done, but by early evening, we were worn out. To bed early.

Wednesday, April 3, 2024 – Larry’s Birthday

We would be celebrating Larry’s birthday with a party on Saturday, but his actual birthday on Wednesday was spent on trips to the airport.

Kim had not been able to visit during the holidays, so we flew her out for this occasion. She would be staying for two weeks. It sounded like a long time when we made her reservations, but we had a lot planned.

She arrived at noon at John Wayne (Orange County). Since it was lunch time, we stopped at a restaurant to eat.

We’d just placed our orders, and Kim asked, “What time will Silvia arrive?”

OOPS!

Our Spanish daughter, Silvia, was arriving in the afternoon to surprise Larry. She was our first foreign student, who had come to us right after we moved into our house in Dana Point 1987. She was fourteen years old. She arrived with a Spanish high school group, although she was actually from Tenerife in the Canary Islands. We had stayed in contact with her through snail mail, email, and Facebook.

Lorna, Silvia, Kim, Larry 1987

She had gone on to a career as a model, completed her university degree in Public Relations, was named Miss International in 1990, and worked in Spain.

A few years later, she arrived to spend the summer with us.

Lorna, Larry, Silvia in San Francisco

She had worked as an actress in Miami for a few years before the pandemic. During that time, she had talked about coming to California for a visit, but her work schedule never allowed for a trip. It had been nearly twenty years since she had last been in California. However, she had some physical problems and returned to Tenerife, just in time to be quarantined. So, she still had not returned to Miami, although she expects to do so soon.

Kim, Silvia, and I had made plans for Kim to pick her up at LAX at four o’clock in the afternoon while Larry and I would be picking up our Japanese son, Toshi, at John Wayne at three. We had intended to surprise Larry when Silvia arrived at the house.

However, the surprise came a little earlier than planned. At least, he was surprised—and delighted

Toshi’s flight from Tokyo was on time, and we collected him.

Kim and Silvia arrived a little before six. They had picked up food on their way home, so we all sat down and ate dinner together.

This was the first time Silvia and Toshi had met, and they hit it off well. (They both knew about each other, as do most of our kids.)

While we had been out, the cleaners arrived. They had finished by the time everyone arrived home.

We were all tired. Silvia and Toshi both had a bit of jetlag, and Kim had been up early to catch her plane out of Plano, TX. We were all in agreement to go to bed early. I think most of us went to sleep early, although as he usually does, Toshi remained on Japanese time in order to conduct some business meetings on Zoom while he was here. (I have no idea when—or if—he sleeps.)

Having all three of them in our house was a terrific birthday gift for Larry.

Thursday, April 4, 2024

Silvia spent the morning enjoying the rock garden. She found it a restful and peaceful place to unwind.

Silvia relaxing

Kim got up early and started the coffee, but she went back to her bedroom to rest for a while longer. Toshi slept in a bit.

Once everyone emerged, Toshi suggested brunch at Bonjour Café, one of our favorite restaurants.

Toshi, Kim, Larry, Lorna, Silvia

In the afternoon, Larry’s niece, Carrie, and her family from Utah, along with his brother and sister-in-love, and their great-granddaughter all came to visit. Shaun’s son, Tyler, arrived with them. Shaun arrived a bit later.

Carrie and Loren and their family had to be back in Utah by the weekend, so they would be unable to stay for the party. They brought pie and ice cream to celebrate Larry’s birthday. Shaun’s birthday was that day, so we celebrated his, too. Larry was delighted!

Years ago, I had given Carrie’s older son, Eli, my electronic keyboard. Last year, I sent him my melodeon. He has become quite a musician, as he demonstrated for us.

The younger son, Asher, recently has been playing his dad’s guitar.

Larry had two Ovation guitars of his own. One had not been played for years. (He doesn’t really play either of them anymore, but he has a favorite.)

He brought down the one he had stopped playing for the boys to see.

Asher opened the case, removed the guitar, and started strumming. Then he took it into another room before his brother could get it. He never came back.

I started to laugh. It clearly was meant to be his. I told his mom, “Well, Eli got the keyboard and melodeon, so it’s only fair that Asher get the guitar.”

We really enjoyed seeing all of them. Larry especially enjoyed the pie and ice cream.

During their visit, Silvia went to the backyard near the waterfall to record her Thursday podcast. She interviewed Larry and me at the end of her broadcast.

The afternoon went quickly, and we had another busy day ahead on Friday with the party on Saturday.

Silvia and Toshi left for a short while to go to the beach to see the sunset. Kim took our other car to run some errands of her own.

Silvia at the beach at sunset (San Clemente)

We all agreed on another early night, and Toshi had more meetings scheduled.

Friday, April 5, 2024

Friday was the day to get all the pieces in place for the party on Saturday.

Toshi borrowed our car to meet friends in San Diego. When he is here, he tries to get together with his So. Cal. friends. Since they planned on a late night, he said he would stay in San Diego until Saturday morning, but he promised to be back in time.

Silvia’s friend, Stephanie, came down to pick her up, and they spent the day in Los Angeles. They had a great time.

We loaded some of the party items in the car. Then we went to Costco to pick up the cakes (one chocolate, and one white) for the party and flowers for Sunday.

We enjoyed spending the day with Kim and looked forward to the Big Event the next day!

FAREWELL TO JAPAN

 April 1, 2024 – Part 1

I didn’t sleep very well. I was concerned about our transport to the airport arriving on time to give us some breathing space before our flight. Now that the celebration was over, my mind was going a mile a minute thinking about everything I had to get done as soon as we got home.

We got up and went down to breakfast. Then, I worked on my blog and Larry read until it was time to check out.

We left the bags with the bellman and headed out for a last walk at CityWalk.

But first, we said goodbye to the minions. The whole hotel has been re-themed with them, and the employees’ costumes are also minion-themed.

With the minions at the Universal Port Hotel

We enjoyed being in the area one last time. People were headed toward the park, and others were exploring the shops and restaurants at CityWalk.

Since it was close to noon, and since our plane wouldn’t leave for several hours, we decided to get a light lunch. McDonalds was right there, so we went in. A lovely young man was talking orders—and he spoke perfect English.

I ordered a six-piece McNugget “set-o” (the same as our combo). He informed me I could only get the six-piece as a Happy Meal.

“Sounds perfect to me.”

Larry ordered the same.

After getting our drink orders, he asked what toy we wanted. We both declined.

We found a two-person table and took our time enjoying our lunch.

We still had about an hour before our airport transport was scheduled to arrive, and it was cold out, so we stopped by Starbucks for coffee. We sipped our drinks while we people-watched. It was still a thrill to see people emerge from the train station excited about going to the park. This reaction was what we had hoped for when we were working there. And, here it still was twenty-three years later.

With about twenty minutes left until our ride was to arrive, we returned to the hotel and reclaimed our bags. We waited inside until Larry received a text that our ride was on the way.

After a short wait in front of the hotel, our van arrived.

The ride to the airport was without issue as was check-in. We checked our large bag and got our boarding passes. Then we headed to the departure gate.

Larry rushed through the airport. I had a hard time keeping up with him. Of course, our gate was a LONG way from the entrance. We had to walk through all the Duty-Free shops and food areas to get to another section. Then we had to take a train to yet another area to find our gate. (Kansai is now about twice the size it used to be.)

We finally arrived—and there was no one there. I finally asked Larry why he had been in such a hurry. He said he thought we were too late to make the plane. Times for all transportation in Japan are on 24-hour clocks, but we had entered the time on our calendar in 12-hour time. Larry had misread the departure time. We arrived at the gate well over an hour before boarding.

I found a seat, and Larry took our empty water bottles to refill them.

Little-by-little others began to arrive. Then the crew drifted in. As each group appeared, they turned to the waiting passengers and bowed. Gotta love the Japanese.

Finally, it was time for our group to board.

Everything went smoothly. We got settled in and blew up our travel pillows. I remained optimistic that I might get some sleep during the flight, even though I almost never do.

After we were airborne, we were served beverages. Then they served dinner: either chicken or pork bowls. I chose pork, and Larry had the chicken. They were accompanied by the usual assortment of small side dishes. The food was okay, but it didn’t begin to compare with the meal we received on the trip to Japan. I ate some, and Larry finished the rest.

I closed my eyes and tried to rest, but I couldn’t sleep. I decided to watch a couple of movies. I saw Wish. It was disappointing, and I could understand why it wasn’t considered one of Disney’s best. Then I watched Anyone But You. Kind of a dud as well.

I turned off the entertainment and closed my eyes. I still didn’t sleep, but rested a bit.

 April 1, 2024 – Part 2

Even though we left Japan in the evening of April 1, we arrived in LA about noon--on April 1. We had recovered the day we had lost on the way over.

Fortunately, this flight was much shorter than the one to Japan. (The flight to Japan was about thirteen hours. The one back was about nine-and-a-half.) About an hour before we landed, lunch was served: a kind of taco salad with several small dish accompaniments. As usual, I ate the entrée and left most of the rest. Larry ate his and then picked at the things he wanted from my tray.

We left the plane and went through customs. The process was much more streamlined than it was the last time we arrived at LAX. Everything went pretty quickly.

We finally got out of the airport and called our driver, Danny. We told him where we were waiting, and he arrived before long. We are so blessed to have found him!

After an uneventful drive, we arrived home in the afternoon.

We took all the dirty clothes to the laundry room and started the washer. Then we began to unpack.

We weren’t hungry, so we skipped dinner. Good thing since we had no food in the house.

Since we were tired, we decided to get to bed early. We still had a lot to do for the week!

AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER

 

March 31, 2024 – Part 2

We walked the two or three blocks back to our hotel following a great reunion party. We had to stop at a signal before crossing the street, and two American guys on bicycles crossed the other direction and passed us. The signal changed, and we crossed.

As we reached the opposite corner, the bicyclists came back and stopped next to us.

One of the fellows looked at Larry. “I noticed your name on your jacket and wondered if you are the Larry Collins who wrote the book 31 Months in Japan.” (We were wearing our USJ team jackets with our names both in English and Japanese.)

This was curious because 1) I couldn’t figure out how he could have made out Larry’s name on his jacket as they rode by and 2) Obviously, he knew the name of the book. (People often get it incorrect. They get the number wrong or they change “months” to “weeks” or “days.”)

Of course, we confessed to being the authors.

“We really loved your book. We’re working on the project now, and all the challenges you wrote about, we’re still dealing with.”

“Yeah, the book has been a real help,” the second guy added. “We even gave a copy to our boss, Molly Murphy.” (I didn’t recognize the name, but I looked her up and discovered she is the president of Universal Creative out of Orlando, Florida.)

Turns out, they were returning to the park after a meal just at the same time we were headed back to the hotel. Two minutes earlier or later, and we would have missed them altogether.

They asked us about some of the people in the book, correctly identifying “Jurassic Mark,” with whom they had worked, and guessing at a few others. We asked if they were working with our friend, Tommy. We had just seen him at the reunion party. They were all on the current project.

We spent a couple of minutes answering questions and sharing some items not included in the book.

They had to get back to work, and it was getting cold outside. We shook hands and thanked them for stopping. The first guy said his name was Tom. I didn’t catch the name of the other one. As they rode off, I thought of all the times we had ridden our bikes around the park during construction, including on this same street. Of course, it wasn’t actually a paved road then.

To me, it felt like an echo from twenty-three years before. We still felt connected to this place where we had spent so much time.

This conversation emphasized the need to publish the Japanese translation. Our book was still relevant, if only to those still updating the park. From time to time, we’ve heard from those who are visiting Japan or who have gone there to teach English how valuable the book had been for them.

We first published it in 2005, and every year we still sell some. It is on Amazon, Walmart, Barnes & Noble and other online retailers. We also sell them on our website: http://www.lornalarry.com.

The next day, we confirmed the names of the both fellows with Tommy (Tom Fitz and Josh McMurray). I hope we can contact them again.

Once back in the hotel, we decided to stop at the little snack shop on the ground floor for dessert. By the time we had stopped socializing long enough to eat, the desserts were gone. This little shop had several ice cream choices. So we each got one and enjoyed our sweets.

Then we returned to our room to finish re-packing for the next day.

We went to bed, hoping we would get a good night’s sleep.

EASTER IN JAPAN

 March 31, 2024    

Easter Sunday started very early. We heard a noise at 2:45 a.m. It took a minute to figure out it had come from our phones and another minute to get to them across the room. We finally realized the sound came from our Ring doorbell. Larry tried to use the talk feature, but it was already too late.

We looked at the video and realized it was our postal clerk delivering mail to our front door. She wore her rain outfit. (She had brought it to our door because it was raining pretty hard.)

Once we were awake, we had a hard time getting back to sleep. We were still overtired from the day before and excited about the afternoon.

We eventually got up, showered, and got ready.

Today was the reunion party for the USJ Construction Team. We’d have liked to have gone to our church in Kobe, but we didn’t have enough time before the party. We were excited to see everyone again.

We went to breakfast a little later than usual, and we took our time eating.

As we passed through the hotel lobby, we stopped by the minions to take pictures.

Then we returned to our room and repacked most of our stuff since we were leaving the next day. Our dirty clothes went into the checked bag, and the clean ones went into our carry-on bags. We had received quite a few gifts from friends, and they had to be fitted in.

Terri had asked us to bring copies of our book, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park, because some of the contractors wanted them. So, we put them in a bag along with the other items we needed to take with us to the banquet (omiage, etc,).

Then we headed to the hotel where the banquet would be held.

One of the first people I saw was Dote-san. We were really happy to see each other!

Dote-san and me

We spent quite a while catching up with friends.

Miho, Dote-san, Yuki, Lorna, Chie, Larry, Richard (Chie’s husband)

Hatanaka-san and Bob Murphy

Hunvey Chen, Christiane Sentianin, Tommy Garcia, Mark Adams

Noriko and Maki

USI Team: Back: Bob Murphy, Mark Adams, Larry Collins, Tommy Garcia, Setsuko
Front: Hunvey Chen, Terri Igarashi, Christiane Sentianin, Lorna, Tomoko, Chie

Opening the sake barrel: Ritzuko, Terri, Tomoko

These were the sake cups we were each given as mementos of the event.

Hunvey, Christiane, Tomoko, Terri

USI Team: Christiane, Mark Adams, Hunvey, Bob Murphy, Lorna, Larry, Yuki

Terri and Larry

We were served a terrific buffet meal with lots of choices to please everyone. Sake, beer, and other beverages were available. Non-alcoholic choices were also offered.

And there were games…

Lots of socializing.

Lorna, Chie, Christiane, Larry

While we were all there, we took a “class photo” of everyone.

What a great event! And we sold six books. We could have sold more if we’d had them.

We received a wonderful gift. Yuko Yamashita, the wife of one of the contractor employees, gave us a CD with our book, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park, translated into Japanese! I have always wanted to have it available in that language so all our friends could read it. Now I have to figure out how to format it.

BACK TO THE PARK

 March 30, 2024

Although we were still tired after our big adventure the day before, we were excited about seeing “our” park again. We had already noticed from our room how much bigger USJ had grown since it was built. We also knew ET, Back to the Future, Backdraft, Terminator-2, Western Stunt Show, Animal Actors, and other original attractions were long gone. ET was replaced by Spiderman, and it, too, closed the week before we arrived.

We had been in touch with Christiane Sentianin, the Area 3 admin in Hollywood, prior to our trip. She and Hunvey Chen had planned to visit the park on the 30^th. They told us what tickets to get. Yuki Nakamura and Mark Adams and his wife also planned on going the same day. We had bought our tickets and express passes for the same date and time as they had before we left home.

We went down to breakfast early, but not quite as early as the day before. Everything seemed to be back to normal. Regular length lines. No overflow restaurant. A full selection of items.

We knew the park would open at eight a.m. I had texted Christiane to see when they would get to the park. She said they planned to arrive about nine.

We returned to our room and got ready to go. We decided to go early in case there were any issues with our tickets. Fortunately, there were none. We carried our express passes for the most popular attractions. Our first scheduled ride was Mario Cart at 11:30, so we had lots of time.

We entered the park about eight-fifteen and found a table outside Boulangère on Hollywood Boulevard. From there, we could look down the street toward the entrance.

Christiane texted a couple of times to let us know where they were. Before long, I looked up and saw her running around the corner with her arms outstretched. Hunvey and Yuki were not far behind her. We hadn’t seen her in person since our last morning at USJ 2001 when we ate breakfast with her. (We have stayed in touch through email and Facebook.)

Christiane, Larry, Yuki, Lorna, Hunvey

Our next objective was to find our names on the windows in the park. With the replacement of some of the areas and attractions, several of our friends lost theirs, but all of ours are still there.

Larry is on the 2^nd floor, second from right (Bail Bondsman). I am diagonally above him (Tailor).

Christiane is on the yellow sign.

Yuki’s window is the one on the left.

Hunvey is on the window.

We then walked around the lagoon past Mel’s Drive-in. The vintage cars are still there, but we weren’t sure they were the same ones Cathy arranged for in 2001.

Next, we went on the JAWS ride. Since we had the express passes, we bypassed the long regular lines and got on the ride in just a few minutes. We checked to be sure Larry’s footprints were still on the beach. They are.

The sharks seemed to be missing their skins. They now look like painted metal. Not quite the same effect as the original, but they all were working.

We stopped at the restrooms opposite the ride and SURPRISE! When we built the park. 75% of the toilets were Japanese style (squat type) even though originally they were supposed to be 75% American. (Many discussions occurred about the type, but the Japanese ones took up less room and were cheaper.) Today, ALL of the toilets are American-style! In fact, every one we saw in the park was.

We went to Jurassic Park, but the ride was closed for refurbishment. However, there is a new rollercoaster next to it called The Flying Dragon. You hang on this one with your legs dangling, and it carries riders upside down, sideways, and facing the ground. Larry and I decided we didn’t really want to try it, but the other three did. I guess they enjoyed it, but as we watched it, I was glad we had passed.

It was getting close to the time for our scheduled ride on Mario Cart, so we headed in that direction. There, we met Mark Adams and his wife.

Lorna, Larry, Christiane, Yuki, Hunvey, Mark. Jessica

It was getting hot, and the access to the Mario ride was insane! We all agreed that it never would have been allowed in the US. To get to the start of the ride, we had to climb up and down about nine flights of stairs. By the time we reached the final queue, my knees were hurting. They handed each of us a headpiece—a heavy one. It was adjustable, but it slipped on my hair, sliding forward over my eyes or falling backward. (I never did get it to fit correctly.) When we finally reached the ride vehicles, they handed each of us a viewer glass that hooked onto the head piece, making it even heavier and more inclined to slip around.

Since I had absolutely no idea how the game was supposed to be played, I couldn’t figure out what to do, and I couldn’t see correctly through the view screen anyway.

I hated every minute. (The day before, we had been told by a kid that it was his favorite ride, and I could understand how it might be if the headset fit and worked and you knew how to play. But nothing worked for me.)

When we got out, Larry spotted an elevator, so we took it to get back down to the exit, where we met the rest of the gang.

We decided to go on Yoshi’s Adventure while we were there. It reminded me of the beginning of the Alice in Wonderland at Disneyland. Halfway through, I said to Larry, “What if they created a ride that did absolutely nothing?” By the end of the ride, we discovered that they had! It might have been fun for a child under four-years-old, but for anyone older than five, it was truly boring.

By this time (after 1:00 p.m.) we were hungry. We still had a wait before we could go on the Harry Potter ride, so we went back to the Discovery Restaurant in the JP area for lunch. Jessica and I held down a large table while the others got food. It was surprisingly good, and we enjoyed it very much.

We went back over to Harry Potter. We still had about half an hour to wait, so we found some shade and sat down.

Finally, our scheduled time arrived, and we entered the queue. This one was fine, and we got on the ride vehicle. I loved it! We had gone on the one in Hollywood once, but it had stopped soon after we got on. They started it again after about an hour, but they ran the ride with the work lights on, so we couldn’t see the film and missed all the effects. However, Larry enjoyed seeing how all the mechanical devices worked. This time, we got the full story and enjoyed the ride.

After our very long day the day before, we were getting tired. We decided to go back to the hotel since it was late afternoon. The rest of our group decided to stay for a while longer.

We were still impressed with how terrific “our” park was, and we remained proud of our part in creating it.

When we got back to the hotel, we rested. We didn’t want to go anywhere for dinner, so we ate granola bars and had tea. Just what we needed.

We went to bed early anticipating a busy day on Sunday.