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Florida Part Eleven: Legoland
- Thread starter Gavin
- Start date
Re: Florida Part Seven: Fun Spot and More Sea World
Day 9: Islands of Adventure
The hotel I was staying at had a free shuttle to the Universal Resort, but not leaving until 10:30 in the morning. I decided I’d rather get there around opening, so decided to just walk since it was only about 25 minutes away. I was still undecided which park to do first, but since the weather forecast said there was bit more chance of rain the following day, I decided to keep that for Universal Studios since there’s a lot more indoor stuff there. I needn’t have worried since both days were fine anyway.
To be honest, because I’ve heard so much about Islands of Adventure, I wasn’t particularly excited to go. It seems that everybody raves about it and I just didn’t think it was going to live up to it. The coasters don’t generally seem to get a lot of praise, I’d done some of the other rides at other Universal parks anyway, and I’m not that bothered by Harry Potter.
I’m happy to say that I was 100% wrong; I absolutely loved this place.
I got into the park before the actual opening time. I think they have stuff opened earlier for hotel guests. The path round to the right, which gets you to the Harry Potter area quicker, seemed to only be accessible with some kind of hotel pass. I didn’t actually check, but it was roped off with staff checking stuff and letting some people through.
Since I figured that Harry Potter would get rammed, I decided to walk the long way around to it, ignoring the other stuff on the way which was mostly open – Hulk wasn’t - and with no queues.
This walk took me past Pterenodon Flyers, which I know from other reports can be very hit or miss getting on. Since this area was empty, I thought I’d give it a go. I don’t know if they would’ve let me on by myself, but there was a Japanese woman there with two kids, so the ride op put me on with one of them while the woman went with the other one.
Onto Harry Potter then. I’d obviously seen pictures of this thing, and I know that pictures rarely do justice to the actual places when it comes to theming, but I still wasn’t prepared for the enormous scale of this thing.
I’m not even into Harry Potter – I’ve read the first couple of books and I saw the first film when it came out, but that’s it – but it really didn’t matter. At this point, the whole thing has become pretty ingrained in popular culture, so it’s hard not to feel like you know the whole thing anyway, but even without that, the whole area is absolutely stunning.
The queue was at about 40 minutes I think, so I just decided to use the single rider queue to get the ride done at first. I knew I wanted to try and do the whole queue at some point, but with so much to do at the park I decided to perhaps try that later.
The locker faff was a pain in the arse to be honest; it’s just a bit of a free-for-all and gets really congested. I worked out on later rides to bypass the closest lockers though and go for those nearer the shop as fewer people were using those.
The ride itself is amazing, with a much higher throughput than I’d imagined; it really hammers loads of people through. There’s no need to go into detail about it at this point, but the whole thing just left me a bit stunned. I went straight back around for 2 more rides, but that was enough at that point since it made me feel a bit ill after that.
I think it could also possibly be a bit better if the screens were 3D, but having said that, Universal already has waaaaaaaay too many 3D attractions as it is.
Half an hour wait for the +1:
Dragon Challenge had a 5-minute wait which seemed to stay the same the whole day. I got a couple of rides in on each side before moving on, getting another go on each side towards the end of the day.
I liked this a lot more than I was expecting to, given that it seems to be met with pretty mediocre responses by a lot of people. It’s a shame that it doesn’t duel anymore though, and the fact that it’s basically shoved over a slab of concrete after being in such an amazing area really doesn’t do it any favours. In that respect, it kind of jars with the rest of the park.
The whole Lost Kingdom area was, again, gorgeous. I hadn’t heard of Poseiden’s Fury before, or if I had I didn’t remember, but I thought it was pretty decent. The scale of it was impressive, with the guide doing a good job of keeping it light-hearted enough for it not to be scary for younger kids. I did a Chinese knock-off of this just a few weeks later (next batch of reports), but I wouldn’t have had a clue unless I’d done this first.
The Dr Seuss trolley thing was crap, but I did it since it’s one of those “almost a cred” things and I wouldn’t want to miss out if it suddenly starts getting added to various databases. I absolutely haven’t counted it at this point though.
Cat in the Hat was brilliant though; absolutely loved it and went back around for a second go since it was a walk-on.
Since I was back to where I’d come in, I started to knock off the rides I’d walked past earlier to get to Harry Potter, starting with Hulk, which had no wait thanks to single rider.
It was good, but not great. I think out of the B&M sit-down loopers (not including floorless), it was probably my least favourite of the four I’ve done. Maybe I’d put it above Wildfire since there’s a bit more to it I suppose. I got four rides in over the day, but didn’t really change my mind.
Dr Doom’s Fearfall was crap really. I left it until towards the end of the day when there was no queue, but there was single rider anyway, so it wouldn’t have really mattered. It’s just an overtly themed, small, S&S shot tower and seems a bit basic when compared to other rides at the park.
Spiderman had around a 20-minute queue, and no single rider which was annoying as I thought they had one. No big deal really since 20 minutes is well worth it and it was one of very few things I actually had to wait for. I’d done the one in Japan and loved it, but that was years ago, so I was curious as to whether it would hold up.
Absolutely yes. I’ve now done all three of the Transformers rides – which are all identical – and I still prefer Spiderman. Transformers is just ALL screens, whereas Spiderman has a good mix of screens, sets and special effects. Brilliant stuff.
Bilge Rat Barges can officially just f**k off.
It was excellent, but just stupidly wet. Not a single person on my boat came off anything less than 100% drenched to the skin. What I liked was that it actually continued after the lift hill – with the best section coming immediately after - whereas with most rapids rides that signals the end.
Since I was soaked, I decided to do Ripsaw Falls, which I thought had a single rider queue and either actually doesn’t, or they weren’t using it on that day. It must’ve broken down at some point as well since the queue just completely stopped moving for about 20 minutes, turning the total waiting time into around an hour.
The queue line is horrible as well. It’s really cramped and claustrophobic, with a soundtrack that’s beyond annoying. The ride itself is excellent, but I wouldn’t put myself through a queue like that again for it. I was almost dry by the time I got on, and then just got drenched again.
It’s also a bit of a piss-take that you have to pay for the lockers here, when the ones at Hulk, Harry Potter and Dragon Challenge are free. I get that it’s because of the “no loose articles” rules on the others, but it felt a bit stingy to then charge people for these ones.
Back around to Jurassic Park then, where I was looking forward to River Adventure as it’s one of my favourite water rides.
I couldn’t find the thing at first, but then realised it was because the entrance was all boarded off. Closed for annual maintenance.
I could have found this out if I’d checked beforehand, but I was still a bit gutted as I love this ride and only needed this one to complete the set. Ah well, at least it wasn’t a cred.
I had a quick look around the Discovery Centre which was pretty cool and different to any of the other Jurassic Park areas in the other parks.
The Discovery Centre in Singapore is just a food court from what I remember, and the other two parks don’t have one at all. Japan and Singapore both have pretty immersive Jurassic Park areas, though not as good as this one, with the crappy California park basically just having the ride and f**k all else.
It was back into the Harry Potter area for more of a mooch around and another go on Forbidden Journey, this time joining the normal queue, which was down to around 20 minutes, to get the WHOLE EXPERIENCE!!!!! I’m glad I did the whole thing once, and it was worth it with a twenty minute queue, but I don’t think you’re missing too much by using the single rider queue, especially if the line is longer.
I didn’t get to try Hogwarts Express since I didn’t have a park hopper ticket, only really wanting and needing a day in each park. Adding a “hopper” option onto my two-day ticket would’ve cost about $25 from what I remember, and I wasn't about to do that for just one ride – if it was a cred, then yeah, obviously.
I’ll just throw in a bunch of Hogsmeade/Hogwarts pictures to finish up. I hung around this area as it was getting dark to see what it looked like.
The park was closing at 7, and there was a shuttle back to my hotel at 7:15 (with a second one at 10PM), so I kind of rushed out right as the park closed to get to the bus on time, not really being in the mood to walk back or hang around Citywalk.
So, despite going into the place expecting to find it overrated, Islands of Adventure quickly became one of my all-time favourite parks. It (mostly) looks stunning, has a fantastic atmosphere and an amazing ride collection, including two of the best dark rides I’ve ridden, three of the best water rides (even if I didn’t enjoy the soaking and the pain in the arse queue on Ripsaw Falls and assuming that Jurassic Park is basically the same as the others), and a decent – if not overwhelming - coaster line-up.
Day 9: Islands of Adventure
The hotel I was staying at had a free shuttle to the Universal Resort, but not leaving until 10:30 in the morning. I decided I’d rather get there around opening, so decided to just walk since it was only about 25 minutes away. I was still undecided which park to do first, but since the weather forecast said there was bit more chance of rain the following day, I decided to keep that for Universal Studios since there’s a lot more indoor stuff there. I needn’t have worried since both days were fine anyway.
To be honest, because I’ve heard so much about Islands of Adventure, I wasn’t particularly excited to go. It seems that everybody raves about it and I just didn’t think it was going to live up to it. The coasters don’t generally seem to get a lot of praise, I’d done some of the other rides at other Universal parks anyway, and I’m not that bothered by Harry Potter.
I’m happy to say that I was 100% wrong; I absolutely loved this place.
I got into the park before the actual opening time. I think they have stuff opened earlier for hotel guests. The path round to the right, which gets you to the Harry Potter area quicker, seemed to only be accessible with some kind of hotel pass. I didn’t actually check, but it was roped off with staff checking stuff and letting some people through.
Since I figured that Harry Potter would get rammed, I decided to walk the long way around to it, ignoring the other stuff on the way which was mostly open – Hulk wasn’t - and with no queues.
This walk took me past Pterenodon Flyers, which I know from other reports can be very hit or miss getting on. Since this area was empty, I thought I’d give it a go. I don’t know if they would’ve let me on by myself, but there was a Japanese woman there with two kids, so the ride op put me on with one of them while the woman went with the other one.
Onto Harry Potter then. I’d obviously seen pictures of this thing, and I know that pictures rarely do justice to the actual places when it comes to theming, but I still wasn’t prepared for the enormous scale of this thing.
I’m not even into Harry Potter – I’ve read the first couple of books and I saw the first film when it came out, but that’s it – but it really didn’t matter. At this point, the whole thing has become pretty ingrained in popular culture, so it’s hard not to feel like you know the whole thing anyway, but even without that, the whole area is absolutely stunning.
The queue was at about 40 minutes I think, so I just decided to use the single rider queue to get the ride done at first. I knew I wanted to try and do the whole queue at some point, but with so much to do at the park I decided to perhaps try that later.
The locker faff was a pain in the arse to be honest; it’s just a bit of a free-for-all and gets really congested. I worked out on later rides to bypass the closest lockers though and go for those nearer the shop as fewer people were using those.
The ride itself is amazing, with a much higher throughput than I’d imagined; it really hammers loads of people through. There’s no need to go into detail about it at this point, but the whole thing just left me a bit stunned. I went straight back around for 2 more rides, but that was enough at that point since it made me feel a bit ill after that.
I think it could also possibly be a bit better if the screens were 3D, but having said that, Universal already has waaaaaaaay too many 3D attractions as it is.
Half an hour wait for the +1:
Dragon Challenge had a 5-minute wait which seemed to stay the same the whole day. I got a couple of rides in on each side before moving on, getting another go on each side towards the end of the day.
I liked this a lot more than I was expecting to, given that it seems to be met with pretty mediocre responses by a lot of people. It’s a shame that it doesn’t duel anymore though, and the fact that it’s basically shoved over a slab of concrete after being in such an amazing area really doesn’t do it any favours. In that respect, it kind of jars with the rest of the park.
The whole Lost Kingdom area was, again, gorgeous. I hadn’t heard of Poseiden’s Fury before, or if I had I didn’t remember, but I thought it was pretty decent. The scale of it was impressive, with the guide doing a good job of keeping it light-hearted enough for it not to be scary for younger kids. I did a Chinese knock-off of this just a few weeks later (next batch of reports), but I wouldn’t have had a clue unless I’d done this first.
The Dr Seuss trolley thing was crap, but I did it since it’s one of those “almost a cred” things and I wouldn’t want to miss out if it suddenly starts getting added to various databases. I absolutely haven’t counted it at this point though.
Cat in the Hat was brilliant though; absolutely loved it and went back around for a second go since it was a walk-on.
Since I was back to where I’d come in, I started to knock off the rides I’d walked past earlier to get to Harry Potter, starting with Hulk, which had no wait thanks to single rider.
It was good, but not great. I think out of the B&M sit-down loopers (not including floorless), it was probably my least favourite of the four I’ve done. Maybe I’d put it above Wildfire since there’s a bit more to it I suppose. I got four rides in over the day, but didn’t really change my mind.
Dr Doom’s Fearfall was crap really. I left it until towards the end of the day when there was no queue, but there was single rider anyway, so it wouldn’t have really mattered. It’s just an overtly themed, small, S&S shot tower and seems a bit basic when compared to other rides at the park.
Spiderman had around a 20-minute queue, and no single rider which was annoying as I thought they had one. No big deal really since 20 minutes is well worth it and it was one of very few things I actually had to wait for. I’d done the one in Japan and loved it, but that was years ago, so I was curious as to whether it would hold up.
Absolutely yes. I’ve now done all three of the Transformers rides – which are all identical – and I still prefer Spiderman. Transformers is just ALL screens, whereas Spiderman has a good mix of screens, sets and special effects. Brilliant stuff.
Bilge Rat Barges can officially just f**k off.
It was excellent, but just stupidly wet. Not a single person on my boat came off anything less than 100% drenched to the skin. What I liked was that it actually continued after the lift hill – with the best section coming immediately after - whereas with most rapids rides that signals the end.
Since I was soaked, I decided to do Ripsaw Falls, which I thought had a single rider queue and either actually doesn’t, or they weren’t using it on that day. It must’ve broken down at some point as well since the queue just completely stopped moving for about 20 minutes, turning the total waiting time into around an hour.
The queue line is horrible as well. It’s really cramped and claustrophobic, with a soundtrack that’s beyond annoying. The ride itself is excellent, but I wouldn’t put myself through a queue like that again for it. I was almost dry by the time I got on, and then just got drenched again.
It’s also a bit of a piss-take that you have to pay for the lockers here, when the ones at Hulk, Harry Potter and Dragon Challenge are free. I get that it’s because of the “no loose articles” rules on the others, but it felt a bit stingy to then charge people for these ones.
Back around to Jurassic Park then, where I was looking forward to River Adventure as it’s one of my favourite water rides.
I couldn’t find the thing at first, but then realised it was because the entrance was all boarded off. Closed for annual maintenance.
I could have found this out if I’d checked beforehand, but I was still a bit gutted as I love this ride and only needed this one to complete the set. Ah well, at least it wasn’t a cred.
I had a quick look around the Discovery Centre which was pretty cool and different to any of the other Jurassic Park areas in the other parks.
The Discovery Centre in Singapore is just a food court from what I remember, and the other two parks don’t have one at all. Japan and Singapore both have pretty immersive Jurassic Park areas, though not as good as this one, with the crappy California park basically just having the ride and f**k all else.
It was back into the Harry Potter area for more of a mooch around and another go on Forbidden Journey, this time joining the normal queue, which was down to around 20 minutes, to get the WHOLE EXPERIENCE!!!!! I’m glad I did the whole thing once, and it was worth it with a twenty minute queue, but I don’t think you’re missing too much by using the single rider queue, especially if the line is longer.
I didn’t get to try Hogwarts Express since I didn’t have a park hopper ticket, only really wanting and needing a day in each park. Adding a “hopper” option onto my two-day ticket would’ve cost about $25 from what I remember, and I wasn't about to do that for just one ride – if it was a cred, then yeah, obviously.
I’ll just throw in a bunch of Hogsmeade/Hogwarts pictures to finish up. I hung around this area as it was getting dark to see what it looked like.
The park was closing at 7, and there was a shuttle back to my hotel at 7:15 (with a second one at 10PM), so I kind of rushed out right as the park closed to get to the bus on time, not really being in the mood to walk back or hang around Citywalk.
So, despite going into the place expecting to find it overrated, Islands of Adventure quickly became one of my all-time favourite parks. It (mostly) looks stunning, has a fantastic atmosphere and an amazing ride collection, including two of the best dark rides I’ve ridden, three of the best water rides (even if I didn’t enjoy the soaking and the pain in the arse queue on Ripsaw Falls and assuming that Jurassic Park is basically the same as the others), and a decent – if not overwhelming - coaster line-up.
Re: Florida Part Eight: Islands of Adventure
Other people have it, don't they? Pretty sure I've read reports where other people managed it.
There was literally nobody there apart from me and the woman with two young kids. I'd written it off, but was walking past in an empty area, so thought I had to at least try.
Other people have it, don't they? Pretty sure I've read reports where other people managed it.
There was literally nobody there apart from me and the woman with two young kids. I'd written it off, but was walking past in an empty area, so thought I had to at least try.
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
Re: Florida Part Eight: Islands of Adventure
I don't think very many people have that cred, lucky bastard!
I went to Islands of Adventure with the exact same attitude as you. I had like, no expectations and really didn't think it would ever live up to my expectations. I left thinking it's one of my favourite parks. I'm glad the queues were pretty good for you, except the Ripsaw Falls one, which I agree, is GROSS. The water rides were amazing but I think they need to be left for the end of the day, especially if you're a female with copious amounts of makeup on like myself. Shame that Jurassic was closed for you
I'm also not a huge fan of Harry Potter, but the area blew me away, as did the ride. I can't agree about Poseidon though. I was so annoyed with it because it was super crowded and it just felt like a bunch of cattle being rounded into a bunch of different, uninteresting pens. Better than Templo, though.
I don't think very many people have that cred, lucky bastard!
I went to Islands of Adventure with the exact same attitude as you. I had like, no expectations and really didn't think it would ever live up to my expectations. I left thinking it's one of my favourite parks. I'm glad the queues were pretty good for you, except the Ripsaw Falls one, which I agree, is GROSS. The water rides were amazing but I think they need to be left for the end of the day, especially if you're a female with copious amounts of makeup on like myself. Shame that Jurassic was closed for you
I'm also not a huge fan of Harry Potter, but the area blew me away, as did the ride. I can't agree about Poseidon though. I was so annoyed with it because it was super crowded and it just felt like a bunch of cattle being rounded into a bunch of different, uninteresting pens. Better than Templo, though.
CookieCoasters
Giga Poster
Re: Florida Part Eight: Islands of Adventure
I'm still wondering whether I got that cred when I first went when I was 5. My dad said he thought we had done it, but for some reason I have a memory of it having a really long queue or something and not bothering. Therefore, in my right mind I can't count it
These Florida reports really make me want to go back. It is just such an amazing trip.
I'm still wondering whether I got that cred when I first went when I was 5. My dad said he thought we had done it, but for some reason I have a memory of it having a really long queue or something and not bothering. Therefore, in my right mind I can't count it
These Florida reports really make me want to go back. It is just such an amazing trip.
ATTACKHAMMER
Strata Poster
Re: Florida Part Eight: Islands of Adventure
Great report! You are exceptionally lucky to get Pteranodon Flyers! I tried hard to get it, to no avail.
Great report! You are exceptionally lucky to get Pteranodon Flyers! I tried hard to get it, to no avail.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Florida Part Seven: Fun Spot and More Sea World
**** ****.
I love it when people who aren't interested in Harry Potter realise how amazing it is. I'm a huuuuuge Harry Potter fan so obviously I loved it but it's great to see others who aren't bothered by Harry Potter as a thing loving it.
Great report as ever. **** you for getting Pteranodon Flyers though
gavin said:
**** ****.
gavin said:
I love it when people who aren't interested in Harry Potter realise how amazing it is. I'm a huuuuuge Harry Potter fan so obviously I loved it but it's great to see others who aren't bothered by Harry Potter as a thing loving it.
Great report as ever. **** you for getting Pteranodon Flyers though
Re: Florida Part Eight: Islands of Adventure
I honestly didn't realise Pteranodon Flyers was such a thing, so just had a quick look on Coaster-Count and a little under 270 active users on there have ridden it, compared to around 800 for Dragon Challenge and Hulk, so it seems that it's clearly quite hit-and-miss, but not that rare to have it really.
Anyway, needless to say it's the best coaster at the park, and probably the best invert/suspended I've ever ridden, so it's such a shame that more of you didn't get a chance to ride it.
I honestly didn't realise Pteranodon Flyers was such a thing, so just had a quick look on Coaster-Count and a little under 270 active users on there have ridden it, compared to around 800 for Dragon Challenge and Hulk, so it seems that it's clearly quite hit-and-miss, but not that rare to have it really.
Anyway, needless to say it's the best coaster at the park, and probably the best invert/suspended I've ever ridden, so it's such a shame that more of you didn't get a chance to ride it.
Re: Florida Part Eight: Islands of Adventure
I got Pteranadon back in 06 and then rode it in 13 just out of spite <3
Just go there first, it's not hard people!
I love the water rides at this park - just think about how nice that soaking is in the Summer when it's 1000 degrees and 1000% humidity.
Oh and Seuss is definitely a cred! It's actually a Mack Powered Coaster, that's the actual ride type. There even used to be a photo of it in the Mack brochure for that ride type! I don't get why just because it has new trains and is poo it means it's not a cred <//3
I got Pteranadon back in 06 and then rode it in 13 just out of spite <3
Just go there first, it's not hard people!
I love the water rides at this park - just think about how nice that soaking is in the Summer when it's 1000 degrees and 1000% humidity.
Oh and Seuss is definitely a cred! It's actually a Mack Powered Coaster, that's the actual ride type. There even used to be a photo of it in the Mack brochure for that ride type! I don't get why just because it has new trains and is poo it means it's not a cred <//3
PeskyTrimBrake
Hyper Poster
Re: Florida Part Eight: Islands of Adventure
I lost it at the baby being fed to the t-rex with pure fear in his/her face. :lol:
Only once have I ever ridden Pteranadon flyers long ago. The lines are always extremely long and most of the time, the ride was closed due to mechanical problems. But its a good ride I guess, nothing too special.
Interesting update, Gavin. Interesting to see how things have changed since the last time I was there.
I lost it at the baby being fed to the t-rex with pure fear in his/her face. :lol:
Only once have I ever ridden Pteranadon flyers long ago. The lines are always extremely long and most of the time, the ride was closed due to mechanical problems. But its a good ride I guess, nothing too special.
Interesting update, Gavin. Interesting to see how things have changed since the last time I was there.
Re: Florida Part Eight: Islands of Adventure
I'll definitely echo that. I was there first thing accidentally since I was rushing through to Harry Potter first, but the quickest route - going right at the entrance - was reserved for hotel guests and/or fastpass holders, meaning that I had to walk all the way around, which took me right past an empty Pterenodon Flyers.
Day 10: Universal Studios
Onto Universal Studios then. As on the previous day, I walked to the park since it really wasn’t far and the free shuttle from the hotel stupidly didn’t leave until 10:30.
I’d been here back in 1991, before it had any coasters and with very few things left now from back then, but it still felt quite familiar because the whole “streets” thing doesn’t have appeared to have changed all that much.
As with IOA the day before, I thought it best to get to the Harry Potter area first to avoid any potential crowd problems. I took a few pictures on the way to and through the Simpsons area, which I thought was pretty well done and pissed all over California’s – that park really is crap.
The entrance to Diagon Alley – an approximation of London – is really impressive and very recognisable, if not quite geographically accurate.
The best thing about it though is that you can see nothing of Diagon Alley – I’m pretty sure from anywhere else in the park – until you go down the little alleyway into the area, when you’re then confronted by an absolutely amazing “other” England. For me, it took the whole Hogsmeade thing from IOA and made it even more immersive.
Now for the annoying part. I used the single rider queue for Gringott’s – you still get to see the main hall of the bank – and got to the dispatching area pretty quickly. It broke down though, and after waiting for about half an hour, they cleared everyone out. They gave everyone a fastpass for any attraction though, which turned out to be very useful later.
Disaster. I didn’t know that this was basically the old Earthquake attraction which I’d done, and loved, as a kid. It’s **** now though. I can understand that the old attraction is now quite dated, but adding 3 hours of f**king preshows to it is NOT an improvement. The train/subway bit is still ok, but it’s time this thing got replaced.
Onto the first of many 3D glasses attractions then.
Transformers had a single rider, so I got a few goes in at various points during the day. I’d already done the identical rides in Singapore and California about 5 times each, so it’s kind of lost a lot of its appeal now. I guess that could be seen as a disadvantage of single rider in some ways: you can end up almost spoiling a ride but riding it too much within a short space of time. If I’d only got to ride it once or twice at each park, I’d probably think more of it.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s an AMAZING ride, but I still think Spiderman is better. I’d always thought that after riding Transformers in Singapore, but it had been years since I’d done Spiderman. Riding both the day after each other really confirmed my original thoughts though.
Mummy had single rider as well, which was great because I really like these rides, and being a coaster makes it a lot more rerideable than many other attractions. Out of the three, I’d say this was the best as the whole fire-ceiling effect and the section immediately after it was better done, but there’s not much in it between this one and Singapore’s, with California’s (shockingly) being the weakest of the three. I like that Singapore’s is “darker” though, especially with regards to the ending of the ride. I HATED the stupid, comedy video clip at the end of this one.
Twister was f**ing s**t. Nothing else to say about that really.
Rip, Ride, Rockit was closed until later in the day because they were filming Sharknado 3 around various areas of the park that day and using the area directly around the coaster in the morning. I’m not even f**king kidding.
My photos are uploaded in the order I took them, which isn’t necessarily the order I rode stuff, but it’s easier to keep track by just shoving them in as I go. I did Shrek 4D much later in the day when I’d already done everything else. I wish I hadn’t bothered; I’ve never liked it, but it only had a five-minute wait for most of the day. 3D glasses time again.
Despicable Me had a really long queue all day though. I never saw it drop below and hour, with it usually seeming to hover around the 90 minute mark. Even though I’d done it in California just a few months earlier, at some point later in the afternoon I ended up using the fastpass I’d got from Gringott’s earlier. The ride op forgot to take the pass off me, so I used it again later for Rip, Ride Rockit.
This is ok as a retheme of an existing ride – pretty sure it used to be a simulator based on Hanna Barbera cartoons from what I remember – but that’s as far as it goes. It’s not worth a long wait. More 3D glasses.
I don’t seem to have taken any pictures, but I needed some more 3D glasses in my life, so did Terminator 2: 3D at some point during the day. Japan’s was slightly better as there was a huge smoke effect near the end which this one either didn’t have, or it wasn’t working. Either way, this is way overdue for a replacement now.
I’d forgotten there was a kiddy cred here and almost missed it. +1.
I did end up missing ET though unfortunately. When I was in the area the first time, it had a shortish queue, but broke down right as I was joining it. The queue seemed really long any time after that, so I didn’t bother, having done it before anyway both in this park and Osaka’s. It’s a shame though since I actually really like it.
The Simpsons was walk-on, which was good since I’d waited an hour for it in California and, although I actually quite like it, I wouldn’t have waited for it again. As a ride, it’s outdated, but the content is decent. It needs 3D glasses though; I was disappointed.
Men in Black was pretty good. Another single rider line meant no waiting, so I gave it a second go later. I’m not a massive fan of shooters unless the sets and scenery are decent, and they are here.
Back to Diagon Alley then. I used the single rider again and got on the coaster really quickly, with no more breakdowns.
I really liked it. Overall, I think Forbidden Journey is the stronger ride, but this thing is also done on an immense scale. I guess it could be the 3D glasses creating an illusion of size, but some of the rooms seemed pretty huge, especially at the start with the tilt track.
I didn’t take my camera inside (lockers again), but took a few pictures on my phone, which I seem to have since deleted. There are a couple on Facebook though:
At some point I did the full queue, which was at about 20 minutes towards the end of the day. Like Forbidden Journey, I’m glad I did it once, but would stick to single rider now that I’ve seen it. Forbidden Journey is constantly moving, whereas this one has a bit more stopping and starting thanks to a fake lift preshow thing.
I hadn’t noticed Nocturn Alley on my first look around the area, but it’s done really well. Like the area as a whole, it’s kind of hidden, and feels very authentically “night time” if that makes sense.
More pictures just because:
As with the area at IOA, it really needs to be seen to be believed. Taking the Howarts castle out of the equation, it makes Hosgmeade look cheap by comparison, which clearly it isn’t. Across the two parks, I honestly think they’ve probably got the world’s two best-themed areas.
The single rider queue for Rip, Ride, Rockit wasn’t showing much less of a waiting time than the regular queue, so I just used the fastpass I’d got earlier and managed to keep despite using it already.
I liked this a lot more than I was expecting to since it was longer than I’d thought and actually had some decent airtime in places. The loading/dispatching is awful though. I can see what they were thinking by having trains continually moving through the station, but thanks to a combination of ride-ops not really pushing it hard enough and dumb-as-f**k guests who just dawdle and can’t follow instructions, trains were constantly being sent with multiple empty seats.
I rode again using the single rider queue later in the day, but this is one of few instances where I don’t think it’s in any way helpful since it’s hard enough filling the trains in a normal way anyway. The fact that the single rider queue was consistently only 10 minutes shorter than the regular queue, when for every other ride they were walk-on, shows that.
Animal show = s**t. Another remnant from the early ‘90s.
Beetlejuice show = s**t. Cheap, cheap, cheap.
Parade = f**king diabolical. Seriously the worst parade I’ve ever seen. Embarrassingly bad.
Towards the end of the day I just headed back to Diagon Alley for some rerides on Gringott’s and to see the whole place at night. As with most areas, it looked even better and was even more atmospheric, which, as most people know, tends not to really come through in pictures.
The London area also looks great at night.
Since there was no way I’d make it back in time for the shuttle bus, I stuck around to watch the fireworks show. Despite the mist screen things being quite impressive, the show as a whole was pretty poor really.
On the whole, I really liked this park, despite there being some very outdated attractions and some other things – shows and parade – being piss-poor. The sheer number of 3D attractions is also a bit silly - they might as well give out the glasses at the park entrance – but I guess there’s enough variety between the attractions that use them to almost warrant it.
The obvious comparison to make here would be Disney Hollywood Studios, since both parks are built on the same premise. Universal does it A LOT better though, having a lot more to do, higher quality attractions for the most part and better theming - the whole “American Street” thing is done soooooooo much better here.
I was going into this trip not particularly expecting much from Universal since I felt that I’d “done” it all before with the other three parks and, with regards to IOA especially, I didn’t think the hype could be matched. However, I came away thinking that it’s an absolutely amazing resort, better than Orlando’s Disney at any rate and comparable only to Tokyo Disney really when it comes down to overall atmosphere and quality across a multi-park resort.
Gazza said:
Ben said:
I'll definitely echo that. I was there first thing accidentally since I was rushing through to Harry Potter first, but the quickest route - going right at the entrance - was reserved for hotel guests and/or fastpass holders, meaning that I had to walk all the way around, which took me right past an empty Pterenodon Flyers.
Day 10: Universal Studios
Onto Universal Studios then. As on the previous day, I walked to the park since it really wasn’t far and the free shuttle from the hotel stupidly didn’t leave until 10:30.
I’d been here back in 1991, before it had any coasters and with very few things left now from back then, but it still felt quite familiar because the whole “streets” thing doesn’t have appeared to have changed all that much.
As with IOA the day before, I thought it best to get to the Harry Potter area first to avoid any potential crowd problems. I took a few pictures on the way to and through the Simpsons area, which I thought was pretty well done and pissed all over California’s – that park really is crap.
The entrance to Diagon Alley – an approximation of London – is really impressive and very recognisable, if not quite geographically accurate.
The best thing about it though is that you can see nothing of Diagon Alley – I’m pretty sure from anywhere else in the park – until you go down the little alleyway into the area, when you’re then confronted by an absolutely amazing “other” England. For me, it took the whole Hogsmeade thing from IOA and made it even more immersive.
Now for the annoying part. I used the single rider queue for Gringott’s – you still get to see the main hall of the bank – and got to the dispatching area pretty quickly. It broke down though, and after waiting for about half an hour, they cleared everyone out. They gave everyone a fastpass for any attraction though, which turned out to be very useful later.
Disaster. I didn’t know that this was basically the old Earthquake attraction which I’d done, and loved, as a kid. It’s **** now though. I can understand that the old attraction is now quite dated, but adding 3 hours of f**king preshows to it is NOT an improvement. The train/subway bit is still ok, but it’s time this thing got replaced.
Onto the first of many 3D glasses attractions then.
Transformers had a single rider, so I got a few goes in at various points during the day. I’d already done the identical rides in Singapore and California about 5 times each, so it’s kind of lost a lot of its appeal now. I guess that could be seen as a disadvantage of single rider in some ways: you can end up almost spoiling a ride but riding it too much within a short space of time. If I’d only got to ride it once or twice at each park, I’d probably think more of it.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s an AMAZING ride, but I still think Spiderman is better. I’d always thought that after riding Transformers in Singapore, but it had been years since I’d done Spiderman. Riding both the day after each other really confirmed my original thoughts though.
Mummy had single rider as well, which was great because I really like these rides, and being a coaster makes it a lot more rerideable than many other attractions. Out of the three, I’d say this was the best as the whole fire-ceiling effect and the section immediately after it was better done, but there’s not much in it between this one and Singapore’s, with California’s (shockingly) being the weakest of the three. I like that Singapore’s is “darker” though, especially with regards to the ending of the ride. I HATED the stupid, comedy video clip at the end of this one.
Twister was f**ing s**t. Nothing else to say about that really.
Rip, Ride, Rockit was closed until later in the day because they were filming Sharknado 3 around various areas of the park that day and using the area directly around the coaster in the morning. I’m not even f**king kidding.
My photos are uploaded in the order I took them, which isn’t necessarily the order I rode stuff, but it’s easier to keep track by just shoving them in as I go. I did Shrek 4D much later in the day when I’d already done everything else. I wish I hadn’t bothered; I’ve never liked it, but it only had a five-minute wait for most of the day. 3D glasses time again.
Despicable Me had a really long queue all day though. I never saw it drop below and hour, with it usually seeming to hover around the 90 minute mark. Even though I’d done it in California just a few months earlier, at some point later in the afternoon I ended up using the fastpass I’d got from Gringott’s earlier. The ride op forgot to take the pass off me, so I used it again later for Rip, Ride Rockit.
This is ok as a retheme of an existing ride – pretty sure it used to be a simulator based on Hanna Barbera cartoons from what I remember – but that’s as far as it goes. It’s not worth a long wait. More 3D glasses.
I don’t seem to have taken any pictures, but I needed some more 3D glasses in my life, so did Terminator 2: 3D at some point during the day. Japan’s was slightly better as there was a huge smoke effect near the end which this one either didn’t have, or it wasn’t working. Either way, this is way overdue for a replacement now.
I’d forgotten there was a kiddy cred here and almost missed it. +1.
I did end up missing ET though unfortunately. When I was in the area the first time, it had a shortish queue, but broke down right as I was joining it. The queue seemed really long any time after that, so I didn’t bother, having done it before anyway both in this park and Osaka’s. It’s a shame though since I actually really like it.
The Simpsons was walk-on, which was good since I’d waited an hour for it in California and, although I actually quite like it, I wouldn’t have waited for it again. As a ride, it’s outdated, but the content is decent. It needs 3D glasses though; I was disappointed.
Men in Black was pretty good. Another single rider line meant no waiting, so I gave it a second go later. I’m not a massive fan of shooters unless the sets and scenery are decent, and they are here.
Back to Diagon Alley then. I used the single rider again and got on the coaster really quickly, with no more breakdowns.
I really liked it. Overall, I think Forbidden Journey is the stronger ride, but this thing is also done on an immense scale. I guess it could be the 3D glasses creating an illusion of size, but some of the rooms seemed pretty huge, especially at the start with the tilt track.
I didn’t take my camera inside (lockers again), but took a few pictures on my phone, which I seem to have since deleted. There are a couple on Facebook though:
At some point I did the full queue, which was at about 20 minutes towards the end of the day. Like Forbidden Journey, I’m glad I did it once, but would stick to single rider now that I’ve seen it. Forbidden Journey is constantly moving, whereas this one has a bit more stopping and starting thanks to a fake lift preshow thing.
I hadn’t noticed Nocturn Alley on my first look around the area, but it’s done really well. Like the area as a whole, it’s kind of hidden, and feels very authentically “night time” if that makes sense.
More pictures just because:
As with the area at IOA, it really needs to be seen to be believed. Taking the Howarts castle out of the equation, it makes Hosgmeade look cheap by comparison, which clearly it isn’t. Across the two parks, I honestly think they’ve probably got the world’s two best-themed areas.
The single rider queue for Rip, Ride, Rockit wasn’t showing much less of a waiting time than the regular queue, so I just used the fastpass I’d got earlier and managed to keep despite using it already.
I liked this a lot more than I was expecting to since it was longer than I’d thought and actually had some decent airtime in places. The loading/dispatching is awful though. I can see what they were thinking by having trains continually moving through the station, but thanks to a combination of ride-ops not really pushing it hard enough and dumb-as-f**k guests who just dawdle and can’t follow instructions, trains were constantly being sent with multiple empty seats.
I rode again using the single rider queue later in the day, but this is one of few instances where I don’t think it’s in any way helpful since it’s hard enough filling the trains in a normal way anyway. The fact that the single rider queue was consistently only 10 minutes shorter than the regular queue, when for every other ride they were walk-on, shows that.
Animal show = s**t. Another remnant from the early ‘90s.
Beetlejuice show = s**t. Cheap, cheap, cheap.
Parade = f**king diabolical. Seriously the worst parade I’ve ever seen. Embarrassingly bad.
Towards the end of the day I just headed back to Diagon Alley for some rerides on Gringott’s and to see the whole place at night. As with most areas, it looked even better and was even more atmospheric, which, as most people know, tends not to really come through in pictures.
The London area also looks great at night.
Since there was no way I’d make it back in time for the shuttle bus, I stuck around to watch the fireworks show. Despite the mist screen things being quite impressive, the show as a whole was pretty poor really.
On the whole, I really liked this park, despite there being some very outdated attractions and some other things – shows and parade – being piss-poor. The sheer number of 3D attractions is also a bit silly - they might as well give out the glasses at the park entrance – but I guess there’s enough variety between the attractions that use them to almost warrant it.
The obvious comparison to make here would be Disney Hollywood Studios, since both parks are built on the same premise. Universal does it A LOT better though, having a lot more to do, higher quality attractions for the most part and better theming - the whole “American Street” thing is done soooooooo much better here.
I was going into this trip not particularly expecting much from Universal since I felt that I’d “done” it all before with the other three parks and, with regards to IOA especially, I didn’t think the hype could be matched. However, I came away thinking that it’s an absolutely amazing resort, better than Orlando’s Disney at any rate and comparable only to Tokyo Disney really when it comes down to overall atmosphere and quality across a multi-park resort.
Pink Cadillac
Giga Poster
Re: Florida Part Nine: Universal Studios
Enjoyed this. The pics I've seen of Diagon Alley are fantastic, looks like they've outdone Hogsmede with their disneysea-esque immersion.
It's kinda tragique that 3 of the disney parks only have ~10 or less attractions and I doubt that there is much of a difference between the overall number of attractions between both resorts. However, I'm still not sure which resort would be my favourite if I (ever) return.
Enjoyed this. The pics I've seen of Diagon Alley are fantastic, looks like they've outdone Hogsmede with their disneysea-esque immersion.
It's kinda tragique that 3 of the disney parks only have ~10 or less attractions and I doubt that there is much of a difference between the overall number of attractions between both resorts. However, I'm still not sure which resort would be my favourite if I (ever) return.
ThomVD
Giga Poster
Re: Florida Part Nine: Universal Studios
Great report as always! The Harry Potter areas and Revenge of the Mummy look absolutely stunning and are the major reasons why I wanted to visit the Universal parks (I'm a huge HP fan), but aside from that the parks never appealed to me much. I'm not a big fan of the majority of IPs (Spiderman, Transformers, etc.) and simulator/3D rides.
Great report as always! The Harry Potter areas and Revenge of the Mummy look absolutely stunning and are the major reasons why I wanted to visit the Universal parks (I'm a huge HP fan), but aside from that the parks never appealed to me much. I'm not a big fan of the majority of IPs (Spiderman, Transformers, etc.) and simulator/3D rides.
LiveForTheLaunch
CF Legend
Re: Florida Part Nine: Universal Studios
So upset that Diagon Alley and Gringott's didn't open until a few months after I visited! Even based on seeing the construction alone, I knew it would be an insanely immersive area. Glad to hear you enjoyed the area though, as well as the park. I am a big fan of 3D and dark rides so Universal did appeal to me, but I agree, a lot of stuff is outdated, ESPECIALLY Disaster </3
So upset that Diagon Alley and Gringott's didn't open until a few months after I visited! Even based on seeing the construction alone, I knew it would be an insanely immersive area. Glad to hear you enjoyed the area though, as well as the park. I am a big fan of 3D and dark rides so Universal did appeal to me, but I agree, a lot of stuff is outdated, ESPECIALLY Disaster </3
Re: Florida Part Nine: Universal Studios
The Universal Resort for me is by far the best part of Orlando, love it. It perhaps wouldn't have been a few years ago but with the recent additions of the Potter areas and Transformers, it definitely is.
It doesn't really feel like Disney has added anything even remotely competitive with those in the last few year, so it's just fallen behind for me.
Although bits of Universal are tragically outdated, I think that goes for Orlando in general.
Transformers is so fab <3
The Universal Resort for me is by far the best part of Orlando, love it. It perhaps wouldn't have been a few years ago but with the recent additions of the Potter areas and Transformers, it definitely is.
It doesn't really feel like Disney has added anything even remotely competitive with those in the last few year, so it's just fallen behind for me.
Although bits of Universal are tragically outdated, I think that goes for Orlando in general.
Transformers is so fab <3
TilenB
Strata Poster
Re: Florida Part Nine: Universal Studios
Fantastic report, Gavin! I also echo what everybody else has already said, the Diagon Alley and everything about HP over both of the parks does look quite stunning (that being said, I've never been a huge Harry Potter fan myself). And I just can't wait to ride one of these awesome looking simulators (Superman, Transformers,...) myself
Wait, the Cali one actually has a Simpsons themed area? When I visited it seemed the ride was just plonked there in the middle of 'nothing', next to Shrek and that shark from Jaws you can take pictures with. Basically, it was a mess of a place...
Also, which song did you choose for your ride on H:RRR?
Fantastic report, Gavin! I also echo what everybody else has already said, the Diagon Alley and everything about HP over both of the parks does look quite stunning (that being said, I've never been a huge Harry Potter fan myself). And I just can't wait to ride one of these awesome looking simulators (Superman, Transformers,...) myself
gavin said:
Wait, the Cali one actually has a Simpsons themed area? When I visited it seemed the ride was just plonked there in the middle of 'nothing', next to Shrek and that shark from Jaws you can take pictures with. Basically, it was a mess of a place...
Also, which song did you choose for your ride on H:RRR?