Daysleeper40
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2007
- Messages
- 526
Sunday 23rd September: Soaked does not even hint at our condition!
The alarm went off at 7.30am and we were both pretty tired… but still up in a flash as today was to be our first soiree into the world of Universal Islands of Adventure!! We were up and walking by 8.10am. Our first destination? Cinnabon of course…
Having had our sugar fix we wasted no time heading into the park - thankfully the fingerprint / ticket scan malarky was no problem and we were both in, with map in hand, by 8.45am. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I lived in constant fear on this holiday that my finger print scan would cause alarms to go off and big men with guns to jump out and tackle me to the ground. I’m not sure why as I’ve never done anything THAT bad - maybe I was the head of some international drugs cartel in a previous life…
Anyhow, the point is that we were strapped into the front row of the Big Green Scream Machine by 8.50am (park didn’t officially open until 9am!) and about 20 seconds later I had my first ever experience of a launch coaster. Now I’m going to say this slowly and clearly to make sure everyone fully understands my meaning:
IT
WAS
AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Without doubt my favourite coaster of the whole holiday - we bought the ride photo immediately to commemorate the moment. The launch was wicked and the zero G roll and drop straight after was one hell of a rush. I felt like I’d been jettisoned into space… I would have been whooping all the way round but my first scream got stuck somewhere in my throat. As a result I travelled through the cobra roll, vertical loop, corkscrew, second vertical loop, and final corkscrew with my mouth wide open but no noise coming out! It was the longest virtual scream ever!
I cannot say enough good, nay great, things about HULK. If you like coasters, buy a ticket, pack your bags, make the journey, and ride this one AS SOON AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE!
We were pretty hyped after HULK
Obviously one ride wasn’t going to be enough - we were going to have to check out riding the middle and back as well. We did however show great restraint. We were coming back to IOA so figured we would save the re-rides for another day. The next ride had a lot to live up to though. Good job we chose Spiderman
I didn’t really know what to expect from Spidy and I am going to struggle to explain why it was so good. We both thought it was great - just completely different to anything I had experienced before. The effects were something special - particularly the headfirst freefall… and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone so I’m going cut the description there!
Dr Dooms Fearfall was up next - this was an M only ride as drop towers tend to mess with my head and make me queasy. This did give me an opportunity to have a little sit in the sun and take in my surroundings - I also got to watch M ride which doesn’t happen often. He said Dr Dooms was ok but nothing particularly special.
As the sun had got his hat on we took the plunge (literally) and decided to test just how wet you get on these here IOA water rides. We stowed everything in a locker and made our way through the slightly confusing rope queue lines for Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls. On the positive side - queue lines are only confusing when empty.
We did finally locate the entrance and were bundled into our boat and heading upwards in no time. As is usually the case on these rides, it is not the drop that makes you wet but all the jets and sprays that get you on the way up. The drop was fun though and by the end the front of both of us was soaked through. Our backs had got off lightly with a slight misting. All this was about to change however as we went with the theme and got straight on the Bilge Rat Barges.
Small piece of advice - DO NOT go on this ride if you do not wish to get wet. Do not hold onto the belief that a poncho will help. It won’t. DO go on this ride if you wish to test your bodies saturation limit. Honestly - we could not have been wetter had we thrown out fully clothed selves into a swimming pool. To say we were soaked does not even hint at our condition. I had to take off my trousers and wring them out in the toilet afterwards. It was fun though! I’m just glad we did it on a sunny day.
In an attempt to dry out we headed up to Me Ship the Olive and stood in the sun taking pictures for a little while after the water rides. This didn’t work that well and in any case, our next ride was another one involving water… Jurassic Park River Adventure.
I love Jurassic Park so got really quite excitable as we walked through the big stone arches with the fire torches. We had a little conflab about whether we needed another locker but a staff member nearby said no so we just took everything on with us. Turns out he wasn’t being ENTIRELEY truthful but everything survived so it was all good.
The ride was very cool - I loved all the theming and the raptors made me laugh. After the ride we had a look round the shop and just generally took in the area, taking photos and messing about in Camp Jurassic (I don’t care that it’s for kids!) before heading into the discovery centre. Again, we were loving the theming and messed around with the attractions for a little while. Only problem was we were still wet and the aircon was chilly - we couldn’t linger too long and had to get back out into the sunshine.
Next on the agenda was the Lost Continent and some more intense roller coasters. We started with the Flying Unicorn which was pretty narly… as was the enormous rain storm that we got caught in straight afterwards. I can’t believe we didn’t see it coming! I also can’t believe that M has absolutely no concept of protecting certain things from the water. I huddled over my bag so as to save the video camera etc. M meanwhile makes no effort to protect his bumbag and is then surprised when everything is soaked. All I can say is it’s a good job that I had made him put his passport in a ziplock bag!
We were not deterred however and laid the rest of his dripping items (money mostly) out in a locker and headed for the Dragons. Rode Ice first, and then Fire. Both were walk ons and we were sat somewhere in the middle. I MUCH preferred Fire - seemed to be a smoother ride.
We took a few pictures of the area and watched the Mystic Fountain for a while but having received our third soaking of the day we were defiantly winding things up at this point. We couldn’t leave without visiting all of the Islands though so we carried on round for a brief visit to Seuss Landing. I confess that I am not a huge Seuss fan but I still really enjoyed the theming in this area and had fun on the trolly ride taking everything in. We also met the Grinch and the Cat in the Hat which was obviously a big thrill for both of us!
So, with our stomachs indicating that lunch was overdue we headed towards the exit and were lucky enough to stumble upon some super-heroes riding quad bikes. M got quite excited when he saw Spidy and we managed to get a few pictures. The sky was looking a bit ominous and we wanted to tryout another CityWalk eatery so opted for the Nascar Grill for lunch.
M had a chilli dog and I had pulled pork. We then shared a Flaming Tyre (oozy chocolaty thing) for dessert. We were both more than happy with our food and it was even more gratifying when the heavens opens and another huge rain storm ensued. We were obviously getting better at this Florida thing having seen this one coming.
We waited for the rain to stop and then walked over to the Sharpe Aquos Theatre to try to change M’s Blue Man T-shirt for a different size. The booth wasn’t open though so we did a little bit of shopping at CityWalk instead. M got a Hard Rock T and we picked up our Bubba Gump glasses that we got free for having a speciality drink when we ate there way back on our first evening. We then caught a cab back to the hotel, changed and were on the Trolly to Festival Bay Mall by 4pm with the intention of more shopping and to take in a movie.
The shopping was successful - got a few things from Ron Jons, an American Football jersey for M, and I got a couple of pairs of jeans. We chose to see The Brave One at the Cinimark Theatre for no other reason than it happened to be on. Filled up on a large popcorn and two HUGE sodas for $13. The popcorn was free refill as well - the overpriced British cinemas we frequent could learn a lot from American Movie theatres methinks!
The film was good and we walked back to the hotel afterwards. Grabbed a wrap, Dr Pepper, cookies and sweets from the 7/11 as it is always best to have a good nutritious dinner after a long days theme parking. Booked the Disney shuttle for the morning and fell into bed where M watched some American Football and I focused on eating all of the food as it doesn’t matter how many times he tells me - I am never ever going to understand what a first, second, third, or fourth “down” is!
Edit to add my IOA video montage - this includes all of our visits so you'll see some stuff that isn't in the above report. Photobucket is being a bit dodgy so I hope it works!:
The alarm went off at 7.30am and we were both pretty tired… but still up in a flash as today was to be our first soiree into the world of Universal Islands of Adventure!! We were up and walking by 8.10am. Our first destination? Cinnabon of course…
Having had our sugar fix we wasted no time heading into the park - thankfully the fingerprint / ticket scan malarky was no problem and we were both in, with map in hand, by 8.45am. I don’t know if it’s just me, but I lived in constant fear on this holiday that my finger print scan would cause alarms to go off and big men with guns to jump out and tackle me to the ground. I’m not sure why as I’ve never done anything THAT bad - maybe I was the head of some international drugs cartel in a previous life…
Anyhow, the point is that we were strapped into the front row of the Big Green Scream Machine by 8.50am (park didn’t officially open until 9am!) and about 20 seconds later I had my first ever experience of a launch coaster. Now I’m going to say this slowly and clearly to make sure everyone fully understands my meaning:
IT
WAS
AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!
Without doubt my favourite coaster of the whole holiday - we bought the ride photo immediately to commemorate the moment. The launch was wicked and the zero G roll and drop straight after was one hell of a rush. I felt like I’d been jettisoned into space… I would have been whooping all the way round but my first scream got stuck somewhere in my throat. As a result I travelled through the cobra roll, vertical loop, corkscrew, second vertical loop, and final corkscrew with my mouth wide open but no noise coming out! It was the longest virtual scream ever!
I cannot say enough good, nay great, things about HULK. If you like coasters, buy a ticket, pack your bags, make the journey, and ride this one AS SOON AS HUMANLY POSSIBLE!
We were pretty hyped after HULK
Obviously one ride wasn’t going to be enough - we were going to have to check out riding the middle and back as well. We did however show great restraint. We were coming back to IOA so figured we would save the re-rides for another day. The next ride had a lot to live up to though. Good job we chose Spiderman
I didn’t really know what to expect from Spidy and I am going to struggle to explain why it was so good. We both thought it was great - just completely different to anything I had experienced before. The effects were something special - particularly the headfirst freefall… and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone so I’m going cut the description there!
Dr Dooms Fearfall was up next - this was an M only ride as drop towers tend to mess with my head and make me queasy. This did give me an opportunity to have a little sit in the sun and take in my surroundings - I also got to watch M ride which doesn’t happen often. He said Dr Dooms was ok but nothing particularly special.
As the sun had got his hat on we took the plunge (literally) and decided to test just how wet you get on these here IOA water rides. We stowed everything in a locker and made our way through the slightly confusing rope queue lines for Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls. On the positive side - queue lines are only confusing when empty.
We did finally locate the entrance and were bundled into our boat and heading upwards in no time. As is usually the case on these rides, it is not the drop that makes you wet but all the jets and sprays that get you on the way up. The drop was fun though and by the end the front of both of us was soaked through. Our backs had got off lightly with a slight misting. All this was about to change however as we went with the theme and got straight on the Bilge Rat Barges.
Small piece of advice - DO NOT go on this ride if you do not wish to get wet. Do not hold onto the belief that a poncho will help. It won’t. DO go on this ride if you wish to test your bodies saturation limit. Honestly - we could not have been wetter had we thrown out fully clothed selves into a swimming pool. To say we were soaked does not even hint at our condition. I had to take off my trousers and wring them out in the toilet afterwards. It was fun though! I’m just glad we did it on a sunny day.
In an attempt to dry out we headed up to Me Ship the Olive and stood in the sun taking pictures for a little while after the water rides. This didn’t work that well and in any case, our next ride was another one involving water… Jurassic Park River Adventure.
I love Jurassic Park so got really quite excitable as we walked through the big stone arches with the fire torches. We had a little conflab about whether we needed another locker but a staff member nearby said no so we just took everything on with us. Turns out he wasn’t being ENTIRELEY truthful but everything survived so it was all good.
The ride was very cool - I loved all the theming and the raptors made me laugh. After the ride we had a look round the shop and just generally took in the area, taking photos and messing about in Camp Jurassic (I don’t care that it’s for kids!) before heading into the discovery centre. Again, we were loving the theming and messed around with the attractions for a little while. Only problem was we were still wet and the aircon was chilly - we couldn’t linger too long and had to get back out into the sunshine.
Next on the agenda was the Lost Continent and some more intense roller coasters. We started with the Flying Unicorn which was pretty narly… as was the enormous rain storm that we got caught in straight afterwards. I can’t believe we didn’t see it coming! I also can’t believe that M has absolutely no concept of protecting certain things from the water. I huddled over my bag so as to save the video camera etc. M meanwhile makes no effort to protect his bumbag and is then surprised when everything is soaked. All I can say is it’s a good job that I had made him put his passport in a ziplock bag!
We were not deterred however and laid the rest of his dripping items (money mostly) out in a locker and headed for the Dragons. Rode Ice first, and then Fire. Both were walk ons and we were sat somewhere in the middle. I MUCH preferred Fire - seemed to be a smoother ride.
We took a few pictures of the area and watched the Mystic Fountain for a while but having received our third soaking of the day we were defiantly winding things up at this point. We couldn’t leave without visiting all of the Islands though so we carried on round for a brief visit to Seuss Landing. I confess that I am not a huge Seuss fan but I still really enjoyed the theming in this area and had fun on the trolly ride taking everything in. We also met the Grinch and the Cat in the Hat which was obviously a big thrill for both of us!
So, with our stomachs indicating that lunch was overdue we headed towards the exit and were lucky enough to stumble upon some super-heroes riding quad bikes. M got quite excited when he saw Spidy and we managed to get a few pictures. The sky was looking a bit ominous and we wanted to tryout another CityWalk eatery so opted for the Nascar Grill for lunch.
M had a chilli dog and I had pulled pork. We then shared a Flaming Tyre (oozy chocolaty thing) for dessert. We were both more than happy with our food and it was even more gratifying when the heavens opens and another huge rain storm ensued. We were obviously getting better at this Florida thing having seen this one coming.
We waited for the rain to stop and then walked over to the Sharpe Aquos Theatre to try to change M’s Blue Man T-shirt for a different size. The booth wasn’t open though so we did a little bit of shopping at CityWalk instead. M got a Hard Rock T and we picked up our Bubba Gump glasses that we got free for having a speciality drink when we ate there way back on our first evening. We then caught a cab back to the hotel, changed and were on the Trolly to Festival Bay Mall by 4pm with the intention of more shopping and to take in a movie.
The shopping was successful - got a few things from Ron Jons, an American Football jersey for M, and I got a couple of pairs of jeans. We chose to see The Brave One at the Cinimark Theatre for no other reason than it happened to be on. Filled up on a large popcorn and two HUGE sodas for $13. The popcorn was free refill as well - the overpriced British cinemas we frequent could learn a lot from American Movie theatres methinks!
The film was good and we walked back to the hotel afterwards. Grabbed a wrap, Dr Pepper, cookies and sweets from the 7/11 as it is always best to have a good nutritious dinner after a long days theme parking. Booked the Disney shuttle for the morning and fell into bed where M watched some American Football and I focused on eating all of the food as it doesn’t matter how many times he tells me - I am never ever going to understand what a first, second, third, or fourth “down” is!
Edit to add my IOA video montage - this includes all of our visits so you'll see some stuff that isn't in the above report. Photobucket is being a bit dodgy so I hope it works!:
