Florida 2011

[alexr]

Just now I am in Florida however I am going to do an ongoing Trip report. My first report is from sea world that I visited yesterday. The parks I am visiting are
Universal Studios and IOA
Busch Gardens
Sea World
Aquatica

Not going to disney this year as we went last year. Any Advice for these parks would be good.
______________

Here is my Thoughts on the rides then there will be part 1 of the Photos
We visited Sea world today for the first time since last time and this time we spent a day at the park, last time we went it was very busy and we got a ride on Manta then left.
Today we left early for the park however there was a fire in a hotel which led to going a longer route to the park. We got there to find the park quite busy and Manta already at 35 minutes and Kraken at 20. We got one ride on Manta then went to see Shamu.
Here is a ride count for the day then I will let the pictures tell the story.

One Ocean with Shamu

Shamu Express

Didn't ride this last time so needed the credit.

The Rock and Tug

Journey to Atlantis

A good ride with good theming and I liked the coaster section.

Kraken-4.

Never rode this before and it was great, First ride was quite good then after JTA It had broke down however it reopened after we had came out of the penguin encounter which let to it being walk on so we got 3 more rides and I found the back was the best.

Manta-3

This is still a great ride, At the start of the day rode it second row then row four later on and as we were leaving rode in the back, the loop is great and quite intense and the ride is still very smooth. The queue for the ride was great. Also it makes you realize how bad Air is.

Sea Lion Show-Worst show out of all of them

Dolphin Show-
Had quite a good story line and was one of the best shows

Dog Show-was ok wouldn't do it again.

Wild Arctic
Was a good simulator ride similar to Star tours.

Photos!

The fire we saw from a distance

Closer to the fire

it wiped out a hotel.

The local news teams were there.

Seeing the Sky Tower was a good sign.

The First View you get when you enter the park is Manta

First thing we rode was Manta!

Signature Shot.

Manta on it's lift hill.

One of the coolest parts of the ride. More Manta to come later!

We Saw Shamu's one Ocean

The Stadium

The girl introduces the show.

The Staff were good at interacting with the audience.

I will see Kraken Later....

Back to Shamu!

After Shamu's Once Ocean we rode Wild Arctic Which is a good simulator ride which has vehicles similar to Star Tours.

After the ride there is a walkthrough bit, Spot the polar bear!

The lake


Part 2 to follow soon

 

[Hixee]

Manta is seriously sexy! I'd love to get back to SeaWorld and ride it soon.

Also, killer whales <3

 

[Gavin]

We visited Sea world today for the first time since last time

Thanks for clearing that up.

I really need to get to Florida at some point.

 

[alexr]

^
What I was meaning to say was last year.

Part 2 of the photos

After Wild Arctic we headed over to Shamu's Happy Harbor which is quite a well themed kids area

The Jazzy Jellies ride

Ocean Commotion Rock n Tug

Shamu Express

Kraken.

Sky Tower

I liked this area of the park

We then headed to see the Dolphin SHow at the other side of the park.

The finale to the show.

After this we went for a ride on Journey to Atlantis

It's quite the wet ride

We then did Penguin encounter

Then the shark walk through

We visited this area called the Dolphin Nursery.

We then Headed back over to Manta for another ride, Rode at the back and was much better

A real Manta ray

Went over to ride Kraken 3 times.

kraken as seen from the sea lion show.

The loop

The sea lion show

We then saw the pet Show which was quite good, didn't take many pictures

Then headed back to Manta for one last ride

This parts quite fun

We then headed for the exit.

Thanks for reading, the next update will be from Universal Studios on Friday.

 

[Ben]

Nice to see no trainers were nommed whilst you were there, that's a good change.

 

[Ian]

Is SeaWorld as crap as some people say it is?

 

[Ben]

^Yes.

 

[Joober]

Seaworld Orlando is NOT crap. It has two of the best rollercoasters in Orlando and Journey To Atlantis!!

 

[Hixee]

^Journey To Atlantis is a coaster.

 

[Ben]

^Yeah, but, it's not good!

 

[Gavin]

Think yourselves lucky you got to ride coasters at all; when I went as a kid there weren't any. We just had to amuse ourselves with the torturing of animals for the whole day.

It's a glorified circus, let's face it.

 

[nadroJ]

It's fun if you love animal shows, the coasters aren't AMAZING but I wouldn't say any of them are crap. And I like aquariums and stuff so I always have a good day there. The Shamu show sucked big time though (I went when the trainers were not allowed in the water with the whales again yet).

 

[alexr]

I don't know about Sea World, it's alright however if there wasn't any animal shows I would have only needed a morning there. JTA Is a coaster but it's a bad one. Also the trainers aren't in the water for the Shamu show probably because Shamu might get hungry.

Sorry about not updating yesterday, put it this way, it was sunny outside and we have a pool....

I was at Universal for the past 2 days and had a good time, there was quite a few breakdowns however they were very quick at resolving the problem except with Rip Ride Rockit. We stayed at Hard Rock Hotel which gave us free express passes plus which enables you to skip the queues, which helps when most rides have queues over half an hour.

Here is the ride count for the first day which was spent at Islands of Adventure however at the start of the day we went to ride Rip Ride Rockit however it broke down on us so we left

The Hulk-3

Quite a good ride, one of my favorites however seems quite rough, I rode it in row 5,2 and 8 and back row seemed to be the best ride, I think the launch is one of the best parts. It was on 3 trains and dispatching well.

Spiderman-5

It started raining heavily so we kept riding this for a bit, quite a good ride with cool effects


Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls-2

One of my favorite log flume rides, was closed for most of the day however opened up later, enjoyable ride.

Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges

Such a wet ride, got drenched on it, worse than Valhalla, has a fun drop however is to wet for a rapids ride.

Jurassic Park River Adventure-3

Fun ride, got stuck on this for 15 minutes just after the gates open after the first drop the boat started to move very slowly up to the rock bit where there was a line of boats ahead of us, we had to wait for a while there. We got express passes however we didn't need them so gave them away. Quite like the ride and wasn't to busy

WWOHP-Forbidden Journey

Good ride, waited 40 minutes for it when it had a 60 minute wait which saved us getting up at 7 in the morning to ride it. I am not that into HP However I thought it was good but I liked the Lost continent area that was there before it as well. THe queue line was well themed and so was the ride.

Dragons Challenge-3

I prefer it as Dueling Dragons and I thought the queue line was rubbish compared to what used to be. It was running on 2 trains and dispatch was good, Personally I prefer fire over ice. I rode Back row of Fire and front row of ice, I did that just after it had stopped raining and I had 2 amazing rides, I went back later that night for another ride however it wasn't as good.

Flying Hippogriff

The first time I have seen a rollerskater with a 40 minute queue, Luckily had express passes.

Poseidon's Fury

I quite liked this walk through/show, I wasn't very busy and I can't see it being at Universal much longer, reminded me of Temple de Fuego at Portaventura

The Cat in the Hat

Quite a fun little dark ride with spinning cars, only went on it due to rain.

Here's the Photos.

First attempt to ride Rip Ride Rockit.

Then Headed into IOA Instead

First ride was the Hulk

It was running quite well

We then Headed into Toon Lagoon

I like the Theming of this area.

We rode the Rapids and got soaked

Then headed for Ripsaw falls but it was closed.

So we went to Jurassic Park

Rode the River Adventure

However we got stuck on it.

Went to the WWOHP

Visited one of the wand shops, it was packed inside.

It had some nice details in it.

But I wouldn't pay that for what is basically a stick.

The buildings around the area are nice however a little compact.

We then Rode Dragons Challenge

The entrance to the ride.

Then Headed into Forbidden Journey

It had a long line but moved quickly

This scene is quite good

The ride Vehicles

We rode the rollerskater after this

Then Watched this show

Then Headed back for another ride on JPRAdv

Then Rode Rip Saw Falls twice

It then Started to rain so we went to Spiderman

Spidermans cars

we then did the Cat in The Hat

After that we left for dinner

The kitchen at the Hard Rock Hotel

The Pool

Then went to bed

Next Update will be the Studio's, Not sure when yet.

 

[alexr]

I am quite behind on the reports now as on Sunday I was at Busch Gardens and the same with Today I was at the park as well. Also I could have posted it earlier however to nice weather to write a tr.

Here's my report for the second part of universal


On Thursday we visited The Studios park of Universal for the morning then came back at night for a few more rides as well as going back to IOA For a bit.

Here's my ridecount

Rip Ride Rockit-4

First ride on this was when the park opened got a ride on when it was quiet then we went onto it again to find it was broke however we were told to come back later and say the pass word "time"I think and we got on later. then we came back at night and did the same thing for one ride then we were talking to the girl at the entrance and told her about how we missed a ride yesterday and she was nice enough to let us have another ride.
I had a very varied ride on the coaster as the first ride early in the morning was ok but not great, the second ride was ok, however I don't know what it was however the night rides I had were amazing the coaster seemed to be running great.

The Mummy-5
My favorite indoor coaster, got lots of rides on it due to express pass, very well themed and quite fun.

ET-Good darkride however had done it before

Simpsons Ride-2

Fun simulator ride, don't think it was as wild as Back to the Future

Men In Black-3

My favorite shooting ride, fun ride and well themed.

Disaster-not much to say about it, was ok the subway car was good

Jaws-2

Quite like this ride and the setting of it, the boat drivers are good

Shrek 4d-quite a good 4d film

IOA Ride Count

Dr Dooms Fear Fall-2

Great ride for a shot tower, rode twice in the dark as didn't ride yesterday

Hulk-3

It's much funner in the dark and is still very loud

Spiderman

Photo's

First Ride we went to at the Studios was Rip Ride Rockit, Again.

The Non inverted loops quite fun

We headed over to do ET

Then Simpson's

I like the theming of the Simpson's Area

We then headed over to ride Men in Black

From the Lake area we could see Rip Ride Rockit had started to test again, so we headed in that direction.

We rode Jaws on the way there

After Jaws we rode Disaster

Rip Ride Rockit was running again

However we rode the Mummy Twice 1st, Bad photo as I put my good camera in a locker

We were getting nearer to the ride

They were shooting an Advert that day

They were filming here as well.

We finally got back to the ride

We then did Shrek

Then Left the Studios for a bit to get lunch and swim at the Hotel

Hard Rock Hotel's Pool

We ate at the beach club.

It Started to get Dark

So we left the Hard Rock to go back to the park

First we went to the studios as it closed at 9

Good thing Rip Ride rockit was running.

Of course we rode it.

The Monster Cafe.

We rode the Mummy 3 times as it was walk on.

The park looks cool at night

We left the studios to go to IOA

The entrance to the park

We Rode Fearfall twice which was good at night

Then Spiderman

Then rode the hulk 3 times

The Hulk as seen on the way out

The exit to the park

The Universal Globe at night

One Last Photo of the studios.

Thanks for reading, Busch Gardens TR Will be posted soon, Please Comment!

 

[peep]

Sounds like you had a good time and you got a decent amount of rides in. I look forward to reading the next part of your report.

 

[Lofty]

I love this PTR. I'm FINALLY returning back to Florida next year <3

Looking forward to your next batch!

 

[nadroJ]

This makes me SO jealous! I went in December/January this year but it was just SO packed that I don't even feel like we went! And the weather was rubbish! Gah, need to go back ASAP <///3

 

[alexr]

I have been away for a bit as it has been sunny for the past few days. I have been to Busch Gardens Twice since my last report. Here is my report from the first day of Busch Gardens on Sunday the 3rd.
Here is my ridecount for the day, I let the pictures tell the story of the day

1st ride was Cheetah Hunt-2

A very good ride, not to intense however my favorite launch coaster. The first wait was 60 minutes when I got to the park however it only worked out to be 40 minutes after I got off It was up to 90 minutes. I got a second ride in which I waited 75 minutes for. It was worth it, quite good airtime and the Launch Upwards was great.

Montu-3 Was walk on when Cheetah had a 90 minute wait. Very Intense at the back row, rode it front row and in the 4th row, preferred the back, One of my favorite inverts. Great Ride.

Gwazi Lion & tiger-3

Rode Lion once and Tiger twice. The new trains don't make much of a difference to the ride, it's still very rough and not a very good ride, reminds me of Stampida. It was walk on as we went after Montu.

Sheikra-4 Was also walk on and was quite quiet rode 3 times in the morning and once later in the afternoon with a 15 minute wait. Great drop and inversion , The 2nd drop and splashdown was good however you didn't get wet.

Stanley Falls Flume-2

Rode once in the morning then once at night. Quite a fun flume and it moves very quickly, not a very big splash and on the first drop you don't get wet. The Final drop was good.

Tidal Wave-3

Great way to cool down, had never done this ride before, must have missed it, didn't know about the bit before the drop. The drop was good and very wet.

Sky Ride

Kubma-3

Great ride, a little rough and loud however one of the best coasters in Florida and was walk on until a big group of Brazilian school Kids came by to ride

Congo Rapids-2

Ok rapids rides do good drops, you mainly get wet by the fountains and the waterfall near the end of the ride.

Sand Serpent

Wild Mouse ride with a few drops, nothing more to say.

SandStorm 2

Fun little ride which spun quite fast.

Scorpion-3

Great coaster, better than twist and Shout. Quite intense and only having Lapbars is great. Shame it only seems to run on one train as it got quite busy during the day.

Rhino Rally

Was worse than the last time I rode. Was very short and un interesting

The Train

Sesame street coaster(Can't remember name)

Photo's

The first thing we saw when arriving was Montu Testing

This was a good sign!

Cheetah Hunt was open so we rode that.

After I rode it the queue got busier

Cheetah Hunt's 2nd Launch

We headed over to Montu next!

We then left Montu to ride Gwazi

Gwazi!

I wonder how the ride would ride with this on it?

We went by sesame street

We went to Sheikra

We then did the Log Flume

Then we went to do Kumba

After Kumba we then did the rapids

After that we went to Timbuktu

Then we went over to ride Sand Serpent

The Phoenix was closed.

I rode the Sandstorm which was fun

Then went over to ride Scorpion

Which was running Great!

We passed these Elephants on the way to Rhino Rally

Rhino Rally

We saw that Phoenix had started testing

We rode Scorpion Again

The 2nd train wasn't running

We then rode Sandstorm

Then went back to ride Tidal Wave


Part 2 to come soon....

 

[Hixee]

I wanna go back to Florida...

 

[scotchland]

been four times and maybe going back next year.