Trip to the magic Day 4 Universal Studios
Sorry for the delay in the trip report. Busy time before Xmas. Anyway today we are up early and have breakfeast in the hotel. There is a good spread here and the quality is very good (as good as Golden Corral). Watch out for when you get your bill. Sometimes they add on the tip of 15%. Watch out you dont tip again. We catch the I4 and head to Universal. 10-15 minutes later we arrive. I thought it was much further away and was pleasantly surprised. The parking areas here are huge multi storey structures. Each area is named after one of the Universal Characters like King Kong, ET and Jaws. Check which one you have parked in to save time finding it later. You then have to walk a long way to the theme park entrance. There are moving walkways you can use to make the journey quicker. We arrived just after opening at around 09:20pm. Note always grab a park map and a times guide that tells you what times the attractions open and what time the shows are. The park maps also show you where to eat and what type of food is available in the park and other useful information. Again as you head in you will save time by having your park ticket pre purchased. There were quite a few people queuing up to pay on the gate. Finally we enter and check the times guide to see what is open. We head first to Twister and find there is no queue. However there is a bit of a wait to actually enter the building. Then you have a long pre show movie before entering the set itself. The attraction I thought was quite well done ( I liked the flying cow). However I still felt a bit disappointed by it. The twister itself wasnt particularly convincing or scary. I think this needs to be revamped or changed to another attraction. It does have great potential but just isnt implemented well enough. Now time to ride some other major attractions before the crowds build up. Ten minutes later we are at Men in Black and walk straight on. I do like this ride. Really great fun! You can get dizzy though if your not very good at shooting the Aliens. As its next door, time to try Back to the Future. Wow Wow Wow. Definitely the best motion simulator I have been on. The start when you fly through the town is really good (I was holding on at this stage). Oh nearly forgot I also just walked onto the ride. Although you do have a short pre show before the ride itself. Have to gather my senses after this ride and decide to take it easy on Jaws across the bridge in the Amityville area of the park. The theming in this area is great. Very well done. Look for the photo opportunity with the Giant Shark. Now to the ride itself. Basically your boat is attacked by a shark. This again is very cleverly done. The boat captains amusing commentary is also good. Nearly forgot there was no queue again although the ride had just opened at ten o clock. Next big attraction here we come!! Earthquake!!. Even though the queue wasnt that big the wait to actually Enter was tortuous. We waited 15 minutes to actually enter the building. Then another 5-10 minutes to enter the first part. Then you watch a short film. Then you sit in like a theatre and watch an amusing effect show for about ten minutes. Then finally you get onto the main part of the ride. Regardless of the long wait, the main ride was excellent. Try and sit on the side where you enter the train carriages (You will see why). I wont spoil it by telling you what happens. Well thats five main attractions out of the way! Notice I havent used any Universal Express passes yet! Time for the new Shrek 4D show. The queue was fairly long but was moving quite quickly. Again you have a pre show before the actual film but this pre show is actually quite good. Notice how many pre shows there are in this park!! Anyway back to the ride. I thought this was the best 3D ride in all of the parks (along with Mickeys Philharmagic). Anyone scared of Spiders? Ill say no more. Where to next? ET! ET! We get a fast pass for this as the queue was actually quite long. A few things to notice for the Universal Express passes. 1. The return times can be quite quick if the ride is quiet. Sometimes the return times were like 5 minutes away. 2. You can choose from two options of when you want the return time to be. This could be like from 1pm to 2pm or from 2pm to 3pm. Very handy and allows a bit more flexibility. 3. When we were there (Im not sure the rest of the year) the express passes are not issued anymore from 3pm onwards. Whilst waiting for ET we watch the Blues brothers show in the New York Area. This area I think was the best themed area in all the parks in Orlando. It looked brilliant. Very realistic (apart from the rubbish). The show was good but short. Still waiting for ET so we go in the Horror Make Up show. Im not a big fan of these types of shows but I did enjoy this one. Very funny show. ET! ET! here we come. I was looking forward to this ride. Bypassed the long queues with our express passes and proceed to the desk to tell our Names and get our passports. As you enter the queuing area make sure you take the right path if you have a Express pass. Sadly we missed all the detail in the queue area but we did see it all next time we came. Onto the bikes we go. Well all I can say is well done Universal. Superb. The music, the detail, the animatronics, everything about it. Listen carefully at the end of the ride (there was a reason for telling your names earlier in the queue!!). I do wish the theme parks would do more of these types of rides. What next? Lunch I think! We had a disappointing sandwich in the deli place near Terminator ride. Time to grab an express pass for Terminator. Im sure it will have a pre show and I cant face queuing up and then having to watch a pre show. We have a wonder in the shops and then return to Terminator. As I guessed we queued for 10 minutes to enter the pre show room. Then another 10-15 minutes in the pre show before entering the actual theatre. As for the show itself? I liked the 3D movie part. Did not like the live action parts. The hole show didnt really hang together well. I would have preferred just having the D film especially as the 3D was very good. Think thats it then! No more rides left!! Another thing to watch out for here is the priority Express Pass. This is a pass that allows you to jump the queues using the Express pass queue. You pay a fee upfront for it and you don't have to use the express pass machines. I'm not sure what other restrictions there are for it but its worth checking out on busy days. Overall we really enjoyed the park. It was up there with MK and EPCOT in our favourites. Most of the rides were very good with only a few average ones. I wished the Kong ride was still there but I think the new Mummy ride will be pretty good. Just hope its going to be an indoor coaster with special effects etc. The crowds were quite bust during the middle part of the day but were bearable. Its just all the pre shows for most of the rides that are a bit off putting. Time to leave. You pass through the City Walk Entertainment complex when you arrive and depart. This area looks very quite spectacular in the evening. More on City Walk in a future report. Head back to the hotel and freshen up for evening meal at Pizza Hut. Nothing to mention about the meal really. Pizza Hut is Pizza Hut. No different wherever you go for one.
Tomorrow Day 5 Sea World
Sorry for the delay in the trip report. Busy time before Xmas. Anyway today we are up early and have breakfeast in the hotel. There is a good spread here and the quality is very good (as good as Golden Corral). Watch out for when you get your bill. Sometimes they add on the tip of 15%. Watch out you dont tip again. We catch the I4 and head to Universal. 10-15 minutes later we arrive. I thought it was much further away and was pleasantly surprised. The parking areas here are huge multi storey structures. Each area is named after one of the Universal Characters like King Kong, ET and Jaws. Check which one you have parked in to save time finding it later. You then have to walk a long way to the theme park entrance. There are moving walkways you can use to make the journey quicker. We arrived just after opening at around 09:20pm. Note always grab a park map and a times guide that tells you what times the attractions open and what time the shows are. The park maps also show you where to eat and what type of food is available in the park and other useful information. Again as you head in you will save time by having your park ticket pre purchased. There were quite a few people queuing up to pay on the gate. Finally we enter and check the times guide to see what is open. We head first to Twister and find there is no queue. However there is a bit of a wait to actually enter the building. Then you have a long pre show movie before entering the set itself. The attraction I thought was quite well done ( I liked the flying cow). However I still felt a bit disappointed by it. The twister itself wasnt particularly convincing or scary. I think this needs to be revamped or changed to another attraction. It does have great potential but just isnt implemented well enough. Now time to ride some other major attractions before the crowds build up. Ten minutes later we are at Men in Black and walk straight on. I do like this ride. Really great fun! You can get dizzy though if your not very good at shooting the Aliens. As its next door, time to try Back to the Future. Wow Wow Wow. Definitely the best motion simulator I have been on. The start when you fly through the town is really good (I was holding on at this stage). Oh nearly forgot I also just walked onto the ride. Although you do have a short pre show before the ride itself. Have to gather my senses after this ride and decide to take it easy on Jaws across the bridge in the Amityville area of the park. The theming in this area is great. Very well done. Look for the photo opportunity with the Giant Shark. Now to the ride itself. Basically your boat is attacked by a shark. This again is very cleverly done. The boat captains amusing commentary is also good. Nearly forgot there was no queue again although the ride had just opened at ten o clock. Next big attraction here we come!! Earthquake!!. Even though the queue wasnt that big the wait to actually Enter was tortuous. We waited 15 minutes to actually enter the building. Then another 5-10 minutes to enter the first part. Then you watch a short film. Then you sit in like a theatre and watch an amusing effect show for about ten minutes. Then finally you get onto the main part of the ride. Regardless of the long wait, the main ride was excellent. Try and sit on the side where you enter the train carriages (You will see why). I wont spoil it by telling you what happens. Well thats five main attractions out of the way! Notice I havent used any Universal Express passes yet! Time for the new Shrek 4D show. The queue was fairly long but was moving quite quickly. Again you have a pre show before the actual film but this pre show is actually quite good. Notice how many pre shows there are in this park!! Anyway back to the ride. I thought this was the best 3D ride in all of the parks (along with Mickeys Philharmagic). Anyone scared of Spiders? Ill say no more. Where to next? ET! ET! We get a fast pass for this as the queue was actually quite long. A few things to notice for the Universal Express passes. 1. The return times can be quite quick if the ride is quiet. Sometimes the return times were like 5 minutes away. 2. You can choose from two options of when you want the return time to be. This could be like from 1pm to 2pm or from 2pm to 3pm. Very handy and allows a bit more flexibility. 3. When we were there (Im not sure the rest of the year) the express passes are not issued anymore from 3pm onwards. Whilst waiting for ET we watch the Blues brothers show in the New York Area. This area I think was the best themed area in all the parks in Orlando. It looked brilliant. Very realistic (apart from the rubbish). The show was good but short. Still waiting for ET so we go in the Horror Make Up show. Im not a big fan of these types of shows but I did enjoy this one. Very funny show. ET! ET! here we come. I was looking forward to this ride. Bypassed the long queues with our express passes and proceed to the desk to tell our Names and get our passports. As you enter the queuing area make sure you take the right path if you have a Express pass. Sadly we missed all the detail in the queue area but we did see it all next time we came. Onto the bikes we go. Well all I can say is well done Universal. Superb. The music, the detail, the animatronics, everything about it. Listen carefully at the end of the ride (there was a reason for telling your names earlier in the queue!!). I do wish the theme parks would do more of these types of rides. What next? Lunch I think! We had a disappointing sandwich in the deli place near Terminator ride. Time to grab an express pass for Terminator. Im sure it will have a pre show and I cant face queuing up and then having to watch a pre show. We have a wonder in the shops and then return to Terminator. As I guessed we queued for 10 minutes to enter the pre show room. Then another 10-15 minutes in the pre show before entering the actual theatre. As for the show itself? I liked the 3D movie part. Did not like the live action parts. The hole show didnt really hang together well. I would have preferred just having the D film especially as the 3D was very good. Think thats it then! No more rides left!! Another thing to watch out for here is the priority Express Pass. This is a pass that allows you to jump the queues using the Express pass queue. You pay a fee upfront for it and you don't have to use the express pass machines. I'm not sure what other restrictions there are for it but its worth checking out on busy days. Overall we really enjoyed the park. It was up there with MK and EPCOT in our favourites. Most of the rides were very good with only a few average ones. I wished the Kong ride was still there but I think the new Mummy ride will be pretty good. Just hope its going to be an indoor coaster with special effects etc. The crowds were quite bust during the middle part of the day but were bearable. Its just all the pre shows for most of the rides that are a bit off putting. Time to leave. You pass through the City Walk Entertainment complex when you arrive and depart. This area looks very quite spectacular in the evening. More on City Walk in a future report. Head back to the hotel and freshen up for evening meal at Pizza Hut. Nothing to mention about the meal really. Pizza Hut is Pizza Hut. No different wherever you go for one.
Tomorrow Day 5 Sea World
