Day 7 27/2/03 IoA
This park was under construction on our last visit to Orlando so we were eagerly looking forward to seeing what Universal had built. We departed the resort at 8am, unsure of what the morning traffic would be like. A swift and uneventful journey along I4 and we were in the Universal car park by 8.25. We took a leisurely 20 min stroll through CityWalk and picked up our pre-reserved tickets from the Automated Ticket Booth.
We quickly headed to the Incredible Hulk Coaster a walk on. Fortunately we had not had a large breakfast as there were plenty of twists and turns on this ride that might have convinced your stomach that it no longer wanted to hold its contents. As coasters go, we thought this was pretty enjoyable, although it lacked the Oh my God, Im going to die factor, but nonetheless we decided to take a second ride before any queues started to form. 8/10.
All onto Storm Force Accelatron. This is like spinning tea cups with attitude. DW who is not great on the spinning rides was unsure about this one, but the rest of us, including DS thought it was good fun. 7/10.
A short stroll round the corner found us at the entrance to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. DM and 2Sis went on first. Meanwhile, I spotted Spiderman and rushed DS over for a pic. This was probably the best character for interaction. He was a really funny guy, and totally professional. The family in front of us had 2 boys, one was about 7 years old, the other about 13. The 7 year old had his photo with Spiderman, and the 13 year old declined. So Spiderman came over to him, grabbed his arm and said So, you think youre too cool to have your photo taken with me do you .GET OVER HERE and with that he pulled him over to take the photo. Spiderman continued When you have kids of your own, youll be proud to show them the day you had your photo taken with me. How true, I thought.
It was time for DW and myself to ride The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. I didnt really know what to expect, but boy, was I impressed. Like Dinosaur at AK, this ride is an unconventional motion ride by that I mean you really do not know which way it will go as it is not restricted to forward/back/up/down. The graphics and effects were superb, and importantly, it had that one moment that induces panic as you tumble towards certain death (OK, not certain death, you know its only a ride, but this is as near as youll come in Universal). As such, this rates the best ride in town. 9.5/10. Smiles as wide as the Atlantic when we got off this one!!
To complete our Super Hero Island experience, Dr Dooms Fearfall was next up. 10 mins in standby and we were expectantly sat in position. We shot up about 150 feet, bounced a few times, and were then gently lowered back to earth. Now, I dont know if this ride was working properly, because if it was, then it is very tame indeed. Even the initial launch was not at the kind of speed that has your stomach in your mouth, and the few bounces thereafter were a waste of time. We were highly disappointed by this ride. 3/10.
Next we headed into Toon Lagoon. DS immediately spied some water fountains and ran in that direction. As it was early in the day, I did not want him getting soaked through, so I removed all his clothes except his nappy. Unfortunately, 2 year olds being the exhibitionists they are, DS decided to remove his nappy as well and then ran off to play in the fountains. The area was pretty empty so we didnt see any harm. However, it only took about a minute for us to get told off by security The child must be clothed, Sir Oooops!
Onwards to Bilge Rat Barges 2Sis went on while the rest of us decided it wasnt quite warm enough for a total soaking, so headed over to Me Ship, the Olive so DS could play. We saw 2Sis getting a good soaking as they went round, and were glad we chickened out. Next up was Ripsaw Falls, 2Sis, DW and myself all went in unaware of the fate awaiting us perhaps we should have watched the people getting off this one first. We all got thoroughly drenched, but it was good fun anyway. At this point, our reasons for avoiding Bilge Rat Barges were no longer valid as we were already soaked, so DW and myself headed back for another wetting.
We thought we may as well get all of the water rides out of the way, so we headed into Jurassic Park and The River Adventure. A nice relaxing ride with good theming and only the slightest bit of water spray to add to our dampness. It was time for lunch, so we grabbed something to eat at the Discovery Centre and then it was off to Camp Jurassic so DS could run around. This was a great kids adventure playground, and DS would happily have spent the whole day in here, as opposed to the half hour we allowed him. Pteranodon Flyers had a 45 min standby line, so we skipped this even though it looked like it might have been fun.
DS fell asleep in his pushchair as we headed for the lost continent. Duelling Dragons had a 20 min standby, although it was more like 30 mins by the time we boarded Ice. We all thought this was a good coaster, even though Sis1 must have blinked and missed the moment when Fire and Ice almost come together. We headed towards Seuss Landing, but as DS was still asleep, 2 Sis and myself took the opportunity to run off and ride Spiderman and Hulk again.
When we got back to Seuss, DS was awake and playing in If I ran the Zoo. We rode Caro-Seuss-el, One Fish Two Fish and then Cat in the Hat. All were good fun and DS was having a blast. DW is American so has fond memories of the whole Seuss thing from her childhood so she particularly enjoyed this area and couldnt resist buying a Thing1, Thing2 t-shirt for DS. At about 5pm, we decided to call it a day and head back to the Vistana we had to pack as we were moving resorts tomorrow.
On reflection, IoA was our favourite park. It doesnt have the Disney Magic, but it has plenty of great rides for all ages, even 2 yr old DS had lots to do. Most rides had a standby queue of less than 10 mins with many walk-ons. We have made a mental note to spend 2 days here next Orlando trip.
This park was under construction on our last visit to Orlando so we were eagerly looking forward to seeing what Universal had built. We departed the resort at 8am, unsure of what the morning traffic would be like. A swift and uneventful journey along I4 and we were in the Universal car park by 8.25. We took a leisurely 20 min stroll through CityWalk and picked up our pre-reserved tickets from the Automated Ticket Booth.
We quickly headed to the Incredible Hulk Coaster a walk on. Fortunately we had not had a large breakfast as there were plenty of twists and turns on this ride that might have convinced your stomach that it no longer wanted to hold its contents. As coasters go, we thought this was pretty enjoyable, although it lacked the Oh my God, Im going to die factor, but nonetheless we decided to take a second ride before any queues started to form. 8/10.
All onto Storm Force Accelatron. This is like spinning tea cups with attitude. DW who is not great on the spinning rides was unsure about this one, but the rest of us, including DS thought it was good fun. 7/10.
A short stroll round the corner found us at the entrance to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. DM and 2Sis went on first. Meanwhile, I spotted Spiderman and rushed DS over for a pic. This was probably the best character for interaction. He was a really funny guy, and totally professional. The family in front of us had 2 boys, one was about 7 years old, the other about 13. The 7 year old had his photo with Spiderman, and the 13 year old declined. So Spiderman came over to him, grabbed his arm and said So, you think youre too cool to have your photo taken with me do you .GET OVER HERE and with that he pulled him over to take the photo. Spiderman continued When you have kids of your own, youll be proud to show them the day you had your photo taken with me. How true, I thought.
It was time for DW and myself to ride The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. I didnt really know what to expect, but boy, was I impressed. Like Dinosaur at AK, this ride is an unconventional motion ride by that I mean you really do not know which way it will go as it is not restricted to forward/back/up/down. The graphics and effects were superb, and importantly, it had that one moment that induces panic as you tumble towards certain death (OK, not certain death, you know its only a ride, but this is as near as youll come in Universal). As such, this rates the best ride in town. 9.5/10. Smiles as wide as the Atlantic when we got off this one!!
To complete our Super Hero Island experience, Dr Dooms Fearfall was next up. 10 mins in standby and we were expectantly sat in position. We shot up about 150 feet, bounced a few times, and were then gently lowered back to earth. Now, I dont know if this ride was working properly, because if it was, then it is very tame indeed. Even the initial launch was not at the kind of speed that has your stomach in your mouth, and the few bounces thereafter were a waste of time. We were highly disappointed by this ride. 3/10.
Next we headed into Toon Lagoon. DS immediately spied some water fountains and ran in that direction. As it was early in the day, I did not want him getting soaked through, so I removed all his clothes except his nappy. Unfortunately, 2 year olds being the exhibitionists they are, DS decided to remove his nappy as well and then ran off to play in the fountains. The area was pretty empty so we didnt see any harm. However, it only took about a minute for us to get told off by security The child must be clothed, Sir Oooops!
Onwards to Bilge Rat Barges 2Sis went on while the rest of us decided it wasnt quite warm enough for a total soaking, so headed over to Me Ship, the Olive so DS could play. We saw 2Sis getting a good soaking as they went round, and were glad we chickened out. Next up was Ripsaw Falls, 2Sis, DW and myself all went in unaware of the fate awaiting us perhaps we should have watched the people getting off this one first. We all got thoroughly drenched, but it was good fun anyway. At this point, our reasons for avoiding Bilge Rat Barges were no longer valid as we were already soaked, so DW and myself headed back for another wetting.
We thought we may as well get all of the water rides out of the way, so we headed into Jurassic Park and The River Adventure. A nice relaxing ride with good theming and only the slightest bit of water spray to add to our dampness. It was time for lunch, so we grabbed something to eat at the Discovery Centre and then it was off to Camp Jurassic so DS could run around. This was a great kids adventure playground, and DS would happily have spent the whole day in here, as opposed to the half hour we allowed him. Pteranodon Flyers had a 45 min standby line, so we skipped this even though it looked like it might have been fun.
DS fell asleep in his pushchair as we headed for the lost continent. Duelling Dragons had a 20 min standby, although it was more like 30 mins by the time we boarded Ice. We all thought this was a good coaster, even though Sis1 must have blinked and missed the moment when Fire and Ice almost come together. We headed towards Seuss Landing, but as DS was still asleep, 2 Sis and myself took the opportunity to run off and ride Spiderman and Hulk again.
When we got back to Seuss, DS was awake and playing in If I ran the Zoo. We rode Caro-Seuss-el, One Fish Two Fish and then Cat in the Hat. All were good fun and DS was having a blast. DW is American so has fond memories of the whole Seuss thing from her childhood so she particularly enjoyed this area and couldnt resist buying a Thing1, Thing2 t-shirt for DS. At about 5pm, we decided to call it a day and head back to the Vistana we had to pack as we were moving resorts tomorrow.
On reflection, IoA was our favourite park. It doesnt have the Disney Magic, but it has plenty of great rides for all ages, even 2 yr old DS had lots to do. Most rides had a standby queue of less than 10 mins with many walk-ons. We have made a mental note to spend 2 days here next Orlando trip.
You really do get wet here don't you!
