As you know the first day of our vacation we went strait to the Wizarding World. Although we spent most of our day there we still saw all the best attractions that the Islands of Adventure park has to offer. Our first stop after finishing up was Jurassic Park. In this section the world of Jurassic Park and Prehistoric Dinosaurs come to life. The idea behind whats going on is that you are actually visiting the real Jurassic Park that has been built in Orlando. Although there is a Kiddie play area (which is very well detailed) and a small kid coaster the main attraction is the Jurassic Park river adventure. This ride takes you on a boat ride and brings you up close to many dinosaurs before dinos break loose and you make a 85 foot drop escaping the jaws of a T-Rex. My opinion still stands that this is the best water flume type ride out there. I love it. Ironically in all the times i've rode this thing between the Hollywood and Orlando parks i've never gotten very wet. That changed on this ride where we got soaked. Also in Jurassic Park is the Discovery Center where we got lunch for the day. It also has many demonstrations for the kids.
The next Island would be Toon Lagoon. This area of the park being themed to the comic strips found in the sunday newspaper and old cartoon shows. Also the 2 rides in this area are designed to get you as wet as possible. Kiera and I learned this last year when on the Duddley Do Right log flume and the Popeye River Rapids got us soaked. Both are very good rides so if your willing to get wet go for it. Kiera and I decided not to ride ether ride this trip as we wanted to stay dry. However Kyle, Valisa, Mike, and Emily all decided to go on the Log Flume the 2nd day we were in the park and all of them were soaked. Kiera and I found a very scenic area of the park here where we watched many people get drenched on the Popeye Rapids. There are alot of cute features in this area like the bubble signs and other easter eggs linked to the Sunday Funnies.
The next section is the Marvel Superhero Island. This futuristicish city is home to all the famous Superheros (and Villans) of the Marvel Universe and has two of the best rides in the entire Universal Resort. The first was the Spiderman Ride which is still very amazing. Its still so good that it gives the new Forbidden Journey Ride in the Wizarding World a run for its money. Kiera actually still thinks Spiderman was better then the Forbidden Journey. This ride is amazing. The only thing that dissapointed me was that we didn't get a chance to ride it again once the weekend crowds decended. The other ride thats a do not miss is the Incredible Hulk Coaster. Especially if you love coasters. This thing is still a rush to ride and is probably the most extreme coaster i've been on. Although it is looking pretty sad and is getting kinda rough. Hopefully Universal fixes this soon. There are 2 more rides in the Marvel Island. One a launch tower type ride and one similar to the tea cups. Both we weren't interested in doing this trip. Also keep your eyes open for photo ops with the Marvel Superheroes such as Spiderman or the X-Men.
Although we didn't get to them the first day in the park there are 2 more sections in Islands of Adventure (excluding the Port of Entry). The next one we finally got to on the 3rd day is Suess Landing. This wimsical section is mostly designed to appeal to young kids. But having grown up with Dr. Suess books you can't help but be drawn into this amazingly detailed area that makes the books come to life. The main ride here is the Cat in the Hat which brings the book to life before your eyes. I don't know what it is but I love this ride. Although it doesn't spin as much as it did last year. THe spinning was Something that that really made the ride. But its still great. Other rides in the area are a marry-go-round themed to Suess characters, a dumbo type spin ride, and a trolly that takes you on and over head tour of Suess Landing. Due to how packed the area was though (since we finally got to the area on a Saturday) we didn't ride anything else. Keep your eyes open though as the Grinch, Cat in the Hat, and other Suess characters are out and about.
The last Island is the Lost Contenant. Its really sad to see whats happening to this area because the detail is great. Its themed to anciant methology. However since Harry Potter moved in next door it took with it over half of the original Lost Contenant with it. Now all thats left is a walk thru attraction call Posidens Fury and the Sinbad show. We didn't make to Posidens fury due to once again huge lines on a Saturday but we did go to the Sinbad show which I was actually suprised turned out to be pretty decent. Not the greatest thing in the world but something good enough to watch if you need a break from standing in lines or walking. Rumor has it that phase 2 of the Wizarding World will take over the rest of the Lost Contanant so it will be interesting to see what happens.
Our first day at the resort was concluded with once again attending Universals Halloween Horror Nights event. We went to this last year and I loved it. This years event turned out to be much better then last year as Kiera enjoyed it much more. They also seemed to have better Haunted Houses as they were all based on original themes (instead of movie franchise themes like last year) and it was the 20th year that the event has taken place. This years event once again had 8 haunted houses, 6 scare zones, and 2 shows. Although we had plans to try and go to all the Haunted Houses that plan was ended quickly when the park got very, very crowded (even more crowded then it was last year) and the fatigue of being in the Parks all day were finally catching up to us. We ended up going to only 5 of the haunted houses which were all much better then last years. We actually got scared in mulitpule houses this year and they were so well themed and detailed. Last year the scarezones were pretty lame where it seemed no one was doing anything. This year although the themes weren't great they were out to scare you and that they did. In addition to grabbing dinner at the Irish pub Finnagans we also rode the Jaws ride before leaving the park. This ride was just so-so last year. But I heard so many good things about riding it at night. Plus the 5 minute wait sure beat the 1 hour plus waits that all the houses were posting at the time. This ride was indeed much better at night then it was during the day. In addition to it feeling much more errie they turn additional effects on that make the ride much more enjoyable. After catching a glimpse of the Ghosthunters (TAPS) that were signing autographs and seeing that the park crowds were not letting up we called it a night. I loved Halloween Horror Nights once again and still recommend checking it out.
Over the next two days we spent most of our time in Universal Studios Florida. This was mainly in part to Valisa getting very sick and needing to go see a doctor. By the time they returned the park was very crowded so we went back to Islands of Adventure (which was also crowded) and the Wizarding World. Without Kyle and Valisa we hit all the major attractions. So since they missed them we ended up going back the third day and did them all again. Unlike last year though were we saw pretty much everything the Studio park had to offer we only focused on the major stuff this time around due to heavier crowds and longer waits.
The first section of Universal Studios Florida that you come to is called "Production Central". This area is themed like a movie studio back lot with many soundstages and such. Here are the attractions of Jimmy Newtron, Shrek 4D, and the Roller Coaster Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rocket. The only thing we did here though was the Shrek 4D show while Kyle and Valisa were at the doctor. The show is still very good and full of laughs and worth the visit. We decided to skip Jimmy Neutron and to our sadness we weren't allowed to ride the Rockit. Thats because the Coaster was having some problems and was closed for a 6 week rehab. Pretty sad coinsidering the coaster was only a year old. Also the coaster was one of the highlights of our trip last year. It was pretty sad to see it towering over the soundstages and sitting motionless.
The next section is New York. This area is themed to an outdoor set that looks like the streets of New York. There are two attractions here. Twister and Revenge of the Mummy. We decided to skip out on Twister this trip and went to Revenge of the Mummy. I raved about how good this ride was last year but this year it was even better. So much so that it was the ride that we rode the 2nd most next to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The ride is very unique as it combines a dark ride with a roller coaster. What made it so much better this year though was there were many fire and water effects working that were not working last year when we went. These effects completly change the intenseness of the ride. This thing is a must ride.
After New York you come to the San Fransisco/Amity section. This area is 2 outdoor "Sets" in one with half being themed to the Warf area of San Fransisco and the other themed to Amity Island in New England. Location of the movie Jaws. For being so far apart is amazing how well the two areas blend so perfectly together. Here there are two more rides. Disaster which was a lot of fun last year but due to constant long lines we skipped this time, and Jaws which we rode at night during Halloween Horror nights. So because of that this are turned out to be a rest and photo op area only pretty much. Both attractions though are worth checking out and Disaster gives you a look into movie making that no other attraction gives.
Next up is the World Expo area of the park. I guess its suppose to be themed to like a world fair but this area really doesn't have much of a theme. But that can be forgiven since this area has 2 of the best rides in the park. The Simpsons Ride and Men in Black. Both rides are not to be missed and we rode each one twice on this trip. The Simpsons is a motion simulator and in my opinion its the best one out there. Be warned though this ride can make you very sick as it did with a couple people in our group. Also avoid sitting in the back row if your tall. You don't have to be a Simpsons fan to enjoy the ride ether. Just sit back and enjoy the ride while having some good laughs. Men in Black is a dark ride where the MIB recruit you as an agent. I still thing the whole ride from the moment you walk into the building until you get off the ride is one of the best our there. Instead of just going thru different scenes you also have a gun and shot at aliens as you travel thru the ride. I love it.
The next area was one that we didn't really venture into on our trip last year. This area being the Kids Zone. Although we didn't do anything in the Kidzone we did venture in to check out what all it had to offer for the little ones. The main ride here is one of the most beloved rides of my childhood. E.T. We rode this last year and it brought back many great memories. However due to constant long lines we skipped it this time. I just hope it will still be around for one last ride whenever we make it back to Universal. The kidzone is kind of a mash up of many child icons. From Barney to Woody Woodpecker to Curious George to Fivel (really do kids even know of An American Tail). Each as there own play areas or rides that could entertain childeren for hours. It was a cute area with little to do for adults (other then E.T.)
The final area is Hollywood. This area resembles what Hollywood would have looked like back in its day and even has a walk of fame. The area is very beautifully detailed and its in this area where you will find most of the characters out and about. It also has 2 attractions. The Terminator 3d show (which we missed) and the Horror Picture Make Up show. Now last year we didn't do the horror make up show. However after doing some research many clamed this show to be the hidden gem of Universal Studios. And they were right. This show was excellent. It is very very very funny and well worth the wait. It was one of the highlights of the trip and I don't think I laughed harder at anything else. Go to this show if you make it to Universal Orlando.
We had a great time again at the Universal Orlando Resort. However the Wizarding World diffenitly changed things up. Last year we were in the parks the exact same weekend and almost everything had less then a 10 minute wait. This year everything was at 25 minute plus waits the whole time. With that peaking even higher on Saturday. Islands of Adventure was already a good park on its own but with the additon of the Wizarding World it has become a Great park. One that I enjoyed as much as I enjoy Disneyland. However with how great Islands of Adventure has become it really seems like the Studios Park is lacking. Especially with the Rockit being closed it really seemed like there wasn't much else to do. Something that was different last year as it seemed the studios had more to offer. So now with the Wizarding World complete i'd really hope to see Universal drop another major attraction into the Studios to even things out a big as each day we continued to find our way back over to Islands of Adventure. If you have the chance go check out the Universal Orlando Resort. The Wizarding World is worth it alone. Everything else just completes the package as Universal truely does have some remarkable attractions.
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