I had business meetings in Tampa that ended at 3:00 on Saturday afternoon. My flight back to Dallas wasn't until the next morning so I had Saturday afternoon and evening to kill. My wife and daughters wanted me to see if Universal / IOA was something that they would like as much as WDW. The girls are 8 and 4. So, I hopped in my rental car about 3:15 and headed to the parks. I knew that IOA had more single rider lines than Universal so that was my destination. I drove through a lot of heavy rain on the way from Tampa to Orlando. The Intersate was detoured at one point because of a fatalitly accident on the other side. We only had a detour, the other side was completely shut down with people sitting on the roofs of their cars with nothing else to do but wait it out. If the accident had been on my side I would have had to call off the trip. As it was I said a prayer of thanks and kept going.
I got to Universal at 5:00 and proceeded to the automated ticket machine. This worked really good with no wait and it was fast. I don't know if Disney also has this since we always have multi-day passes ahead of time. I proceeded through CitiWalk and headed straight to Hulk. I asked if there was a Single rider line open and was told that all outside rides were closed due to weather. It wasn't raining or lightning at the time but I had driven through enough bad weather on the way that I could see how some bad weather was on the way. It would have been nice if they had a sign out at the front gate telling that the rides were closed. It would have been bad to spend $50 for a ticket and not be able to go on rides. But that isn't the way it ended up working out so it was ok.
I headed to Spidey since it is an inside ride it was open. The single line wait was 20 minutes and it was well worth the wait. That is an incredible ride. I really enjoyed it. When I came out it was pouring down rain so I hopped back into the single line and waited and rode again. When I came out it had stopped raining but outside rides were still closed. I went and rode Cat in Hat and felt pretty creepy being a solo grown man riding a kids ride but I wanted to see if my kids would like it and it was one of the few rides open. It was pretty boring but my girls would definitely like it and they would like the Seuss area a lot.
I then went to Dueling Dragons and it was open. I kind of wish there had been a line so I could see the pre-show stuff because it seemed pretty elaborate. But I was able to walk right up and ride FIRE. That ride is intense. I felt like I was drunk for about 5 minutes afterwards because it is so disorienting. I went back in line and rode ICE. It was great too but Fire was better.
I then went and did Jurrasic Park River ride. It wasn't very crowded but had the single rider line open anyway. I walked right up and got on. I liked this ride too especially the big drop at the end. I forgot this ride had the drop and was caught by surprise when it happened.
I skipped the Bilge rats because I really didn't want to get soaked. I thought about doing Ripsaw Falls but still didn't want to get wet and the thought of me being the creepy guy by himself straddling the bench behind a stranger didn't appeal to me. So I had a gourmet dinner of a hot dog and a coke and and watched the Ripsaw drop while I ate.
I walked through the comic area. It is really well done but I couldn't help but think that my daughters don't know who any of these characters are. Seeing Beetle Bailey, or Hagar the Horrible or Betty Boop etc. stuff would mean nothing to them. And other than Spiderman they wouldn't know any of the marvel superheros either. Even though Universal does the park extremely well the characters seem to limit the effectiveness. And some of the characters that they have that are good they don't seem to use. I saw Scoopy Doo shirts in the store but nowhere else. If I had gotten my girls Scooby Doo's autograph I would be King. But, I never saw a single character except for Spidey going by on the back of a golf cart once.
Anyway, I proceeded on to Hulk since it was now running. The wait was 1 hour and there was no Single line and they said there wouldn't be for the rest of the day. It was 8 o'clock and I had to decide if it was worth 1 of my 2 remaining hours. I decided no and decided to do DR. Doom instead. It had a Single line that took about 10 minutes. The ride was pretty lame to me. The 1 or 2 seconds of weightlessnes was cool but not really enough for me to call it a "must do" ride. After Doom I went back to Hulk and they had the wait time at 35 minutes. I decided that it was worth it to wait and I was almost out of rides that I wanted to do. So, I waited exactly 35 minutes and rode Hulk. It was really good. I like the accellerated takeoff. I think it would have been more fun to ride in the daylight. It didn't seem as exciting not being able to see the rushing surroundings as much. But, overall I really liked it too. But I like Dragons better.
Now it was 9:00. The park closes at 10 and fireworks are at 9:50. So, do I wait 1 hour for fireworks or try to beat the rush home. I decided since I was there I might as well stay till close. So, I decided to go see the 9:20 show of Poseidons Fury. I really liked this show. I had read a lot of mixed reviews beforehand but I really liked the show. Especially the water tunnel thing.
It was about 9:40 when Poseidon ended so I decided to do my souveneir shopping before the fireworks. I bought the girls each a Cat In the Hat cup. The kind that are double walled with little floating glitter and stuff in it.
Then I watched the fireworks. They were not as impressive as the WDW shows but they did have a lot of unique types of fireworks that I had never seen before.
After the show I walked through the upstairs part of CitiWalk to see what it was like. Looked like it would be fun for my wife and I to go to by ourselves sometime. The exit from the parking garage was easy but it took my a while to get back to I-4 I think I may have missed a road somewhere but eventually I made it. I was back in Tampa before midnight and very gald that I made the trip. It would have been a lot more fun if I had been with my family or someone else but even solo it was fun. I was able to get a lot more done in a short amount of time because I was alone.
I think the park has more to offer families with teen agers than younger kids. I would say in 5 years when the girls are 13 and 9 it would be about right.
I got to Universal at 5:00 and proceeded to the automated ticket machine. This worked really good with no wait and it was fast. I don't know if Disney also has this since we always have multi-day passes ahead of time. I proceeded through CitiWalk and headed straight to Hulk. I asked if there was a Single rider line open and was told that all outside rides were closed due to weather. It wasn't raining or lightning at the time but I had driven through enough bad weather on the way that I could see how some bad weather was on the way. It would have been nice if they had a sign out at the front gate telling that the rides were closed. It would have been bad to spend $50 for a ticket and not be able to go on rides. But that isn't the way it ended up working out so it was ok.
I headed to Spidey since it is an inside ride it was open. The single line wait was 20 minutes and it was well worth the wait. That is an incredible ride. I really enjoyed it. When I came out it was pouring down rain so I hopped back into the single line and waited and rode again. When I came out it had stopped raining but outside rides were still closed. I went and rode Cat in Hat and felt pretty creepy being a solo grown man riding a kids ride but I wanted to see if my kids would like it and it was one of the few rides open. It was pretty boring but my girls would definitely like it and they would like the Seuss area a lot.
I then went to Dueling Dragons and it was open. I kind of wish there had been a line so I could see the pre-show stuff because it seemed pretty elaborate. But I was able to walk right up and ride FIRE. That ride is intense. I felt like I was drunk for about 5 minutes afterwards because it is so disorienting. I went back in line and rode ICE. It was great too but Fire was better.
I then went and did Jurrasic Park River ride. It wasn't very crowded but had the single rider line open anyway. I walked right up and got on. I liked this ride too especially the big drop at the end. I forgot this ride had the drop and was caught by surprise when it happened.
I skipped the Bilge rats because I really didn't want to get soaked. I thought about doing Ripsaw Falls but still didn't want to get wet and the thought of me being the creepy guy by himself straddling the bench behind a stranger didn't appeal to me. So I had a gourmet dinner of a hot dog and a coke and and watched the Ripsaw drop while I ate.
I walked through the comic area. It is really well done but I couldn't help but think that my daughters don't know who any of these characters are. Seeing Beetle Bailey, or Hagar the Horrible or Betty Boop etc. stuff would mean nothing to them. And other than Spiderman they wouldn't know any of the marvel superheros either. Even though Universal does the park extremely well the characters seem to limit the effectiveness. And some of the characters that they have that are good they don't seem to use. I saw Scoopy Doo shirts in the store but nowhere else. If I had gotten my girls Scooby Doo's autograph I would be King. But, I never saw a single character except for Spidey going by on the back of a golf cart once.
Anyway, I proceeded on to Hulk since it was now running. The wait was 1 hour and there was no Single line and they said there wouldn't be for the rest of the day. It was 8 o'clock and I had to decide if it was worth 1 of my 2 remaining hours. I decided no and decided to do DR. Doom instead. It had a Single line that took about 10 minutes. The ride was pretty lame to me. The 1 or 2 seconds of weightlessnes was cool but not really enough for me to call it a "must do" ride. After Doom I went back to Hulk and they had the wait time at 35 minutes. I decided that it was worth it to wait and I was almost out of rides that I wanted to do. So, I waited exactly 35 minutes and rode Hulk. It was really good. I like the accellerated takeoff. I think it would have been more fun to ride in the daylight. It didn't seem as exciting not being able to see the rushing surroundings as much. But, overall I really liked it too. But I like Dragons better.
Now it was 9:00. The park closes at 10 and fireworks are at 9:50. So, do I wait 1 hour for fireworks or try to beat the rush home. I decided since I was there I might as well stay till close. So, I decided to go see the 9:20 show of Poseidons Fury. I really liked this show. I had read a lot of mixed reviews beforehand but I really liked the show. Especially the water tunnel thing.
It was about 9:40 when Poseidon ended so I decided to do my souveneir shopping before the fireworks. I bought the girls each a Cat In the Hat cup. The kind that are double walled with little floating glitter and stuff in it.
Then I watched the fireworks. They were not as impressive as the WDW shows but they did have a lot of unique types of fireworks that I had never seen before.
After the show I walked through the upstairs part of CitiWalk to see what it was like. Looked like it would be fun for my wife and I to go to by ourselves sometime. The exit from the parking garage was easy but it took my a while to get back to I-4 I think I may have missed a road somewhere but eventually I made it. I was back in Tampa before midnight and very gald that I made the trip. It would have been a lot more fun if I had been with my family or someone else but even solo it was fun. I was able to get a lot more done in a short amount of time because I was alone.
I think the park has more to offer families with teen agers than younger kids. I would say in 5 years when the girls are 13 and 9 it would be about right.
