King Kong Catastrophe

My mom and dad moved us to Southern California in 1983.
For the first few years we hit all the SoCal hot spots. DisneyLand, Knotts Berry Farm, beaches, museums, NBC studio tour, and one year we went to the Rose Parade!
And of course, we visited Universal Studios.
I think we went right after the King Kong part of the backlot tour was built, which was 1986.
We have a picture of my brother and I in the hand of King Kong, oh so terrified!!
Seeing all the movie magic was fun for us as kids, and it was even fun for me the last time I visited Universal which was sometime in 2002.
But now, King Kong is gone and the studio is replacing the big ape with some new attraction.
I'm sort of sad, but at least it will give me a new excuse to visit the park when the new part of the backlot tour is up and running.

I was watching the news coverage of the fire the day it happened and Elizabeth was sitting next to me looking tragic.

"King Kong is gone," she said mournfully. "Burned up."
"Yes," I replied.
"And I never even got to go see it," she said.

I tried to match her woe as I solemnly nodded my head.

"Did I?!?" she said, surprised that there was someplace in the world that she HAD NOT VISITED!

I laughed so hard, then assured her that she had not ever been to Universal Studios.

"Yeah," she said, returning to her melancholy. "I never got to go."