Hey everyone!
First off, I apologize for the "spam" and if I were able to post all the pics here, I would, but we have just gotten back from a *MAD DASH* four-day trip through Florida which could very well have been one of our best visits, EVER!
Aside from the fact that this was now the 2nd in a row "disappointing" visit to IOA (more on that later) this was some of the most fun we've had during one of our crazy long weekend trips.
We managed to get quite a few rides on Expedition Everest, which I will say was "really good" but not "blow you away" great. We all enjoyed our rides on it very much, but we found ourselves rushing back to rides like Test Track and Tower of Terror, not EE. I'd give it a solid "B+"
Over at Universal/IOA, while we had a good day there, this is the 2nd time that we found "disappointing operations" like only running one train for each Dragon on a day where they were selling $50 express plus passes (it was busy) and not having Spider-Man open with the park. And the fact that Mythos' menu has gone from, in our opinion, the BEST restaurant in any theme park, to slightly above mediocre now is also a real bummer for us.
The highlight of the day is that Elissa got picked to do the Fear Factor stunt show and actually WON the first round!!! She outlasted the other three men in the stunt that challenged "upper body strength!" It was quite a lot of fun to watch her, and luckily in the Florida version the contestants don't have to eat anything.
We also had an AWESOME time at BGT, where we saw better operations than Universal/IOA (4 trains on Shakira, 3 on Montu, 2 on Kumba, both sides of Gwazi running both trains, etc). And remember this is the park that two years ago was running "Knott's style" and now it seems like IOA and BGT have swapped.
Weird, yes. And I hope it's just been a fluke for us, because I still think that IOA is one of the nicest parks in the world.
Anyway, I'll post a couple of photos below, but the full update (and it still being updated as more of the people who were on that trip are still posting photos) can be found here:
http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23415
I highly recommend having a look through all the update pages and there's some really funny stuff! Anyway, here's a few pics:
The Disneyland castles fits nicely inside the window of the Magic Kingdom's castle. Heh.
Expedition Everest was pretty awesome.
Robb does the Hula at O'Hanas.
"Good Tower"
We went to IOA, had an "ok" time, but it could have been better. *sigh*
Elissa gets picked for Fear Factor Live!
Check out how she handles the "Rancid Octopus!" Yuk!
New Intamin-looking track on the Driving Machines. About time IOA got this open!
The new StarFlyer at Magic Midway. Fun? Oh, yeah! Freaky? HELL YES!!!
Our day at Epcot rocked!
Test Track
Mission: Space
Hot Italian chicks! What could be better?
Other than FIRE!!! Yes!!! The fire barge is BACK at Illuminations!!!
Ok, enough photos, like I said, click the link above if you want to see all the insanity!
Oh, yes, and if you would like to see our Mission: Space postcard video, click here:
http://bsc.cards.go.com/cards/dynamic/missionspace/retrieve?card_id=49530495A115027C084FE5D1EB868777
Thanks for reading!
--Robb
First off, I apologize for the "spam" and if I were able to post all the pics here, I would, but we have just gotten back from a *MAD DASH* four-day trip through Florida which could very well have been one of our best visits, EVER!
Aside from the fact that this was now the 2nd in a row "disappointing" visit to IOA (more on that later) this was some of the most fun we've had during one of our crazy long weekend trips.
We managed to get quite a few rides on Expedition Everest, which I will say was "really good" but not "blow you away" great. We all enjoyed our rides on it very much, but we found ourselves rushing back to rides like Test Track and Tower of Terror, not EE. I'd give it a solid "B+"
Over at Universal/IOA, while we had a good day there, this is the 2nd time that we found "disappointing operations" like only running one train for each Dragon on a day where they were selling $50 express plus passes (it was busy) and not having Spider-Man open with the park. And the fact that Mythos' menu has gone from, in our opinion, the BEST restaurant in any theme park, to slightly above mediocre now is also a real bummer for us.
The highlight of the day is that Elissa got picked to do the Fear Factor stunt show and actually WON the first round!!! She outlasted the other three men in the stunt that challenged "upper body strength!" It was quite a lot of fun to watch her, and luckily in the Florida version the contestants don't have to eat anything.
We also had an AWESOME time at BGT, where we saw better operations than Universal/IOA (4 trains on Shakira, 3 on Montu, 2 on Kumba, both sides of Gwazi running both trains, etc). And remember this is the park that two years ago was running "Knott's style" and now it seems like IOA and BGT have swapped.
Weird, yes. And I hope it's just been a fluke for us, because I still think that IOA is one of the nicest parks in the world.
Anyway, I'll post a couple of photos below, but the full update (and it still being updated as more of the people who were on that trip are still posting photos) can be found here:
http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23415
I highly recommend having a look through all the update pages and there's some really funny stuff! Anyway, here's a few pics:
The Disneyland castles fits nicely inside the window of the Magic Kingdom's castle. Heh.
Expedition Everest was pretty awesome.
Robb does the Hula at O'Hanas.
"Good Tower"
We went to IOA, had an "ok" time, but it could have been better. *sigh*
Elissa gets picked for Fear Factor Live!
Check out how she handles the "Rancid Octopus!" Yuk!
New Intamin-looking track on the Driving Machines. About time IOA got this open!
The new StarFlyer at Magic Midway. Fun? Oh, yeah! Freaky? HELL YES!!!
Our day at Epcot rocked!
Test Track
Mission: Space
Hot Italian chicks! What could be better?
Other than FIRE!!! Yes!!! The fire barge is BACK at Illuminations!!!
Ok, enough photos, like I said, click the link above if you want to see all the insanity!
Oh, yes, and if you would like to see our Mission: Space postcard video, click here:
http://bsc.cards.go.com/cards/dynamic/missionspace/retrieve?card_id=49530495A115027C084FE5D1EB868777
Thanks for reading!
--Robb
