The Cast:
Me: 30 y/o Male, compulsive planner
DW: 31 y/o Female, likes to sleep in
Joe: My best buddy from high school. A theme park commando who's motto is "It's not a vacation, it's a competition!"
Lisa: Joe's wife and Queen of the Timeshares. She owns or co-owns 5 weeks at various Central Florida resorts.
Day 3: Universal's Islands of Adventure
The Weather: Hot, humid, sunny, low 90s.
DW and I are not big on thrill rides, so we skipped IOA on our last trip. Not this time. Joe is a big coaster nut, so we all had to go and ride The Incredible Hulk.
Mistake #1 - NEVER eat a bowl of Cheerios before riding Hulk. In my defense, we had not decided on IOA until after breakfast, so I had no idea the Cheerios would come back to haunt me.
We arrived at IOA around 11 and immediately headed for the big green monstrosity that is the Incredible Hulk. What an intimidating beast that coaster is! Seven inversions? That should be illegal! The wait was only 20 minutes, so we got in line. I was very nervous, but it's such a popular ride I had to experience it at least once. Well, I did it. Never again! I'm glad I can say I did it, but once is more than enough. I felt sick for an hour after that ride. My breakfast stayed in my stomach where it belonged, but it was touch & go for a while. Lisa, who rode Hulk last year, wisely skipped the attraction. Next time I'll stay with her.
Mistake #2 - If Hulk throws you for a loop, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT ride Spider Man immediately afterwards!
We waited 20 minutes to ride Spidey, but my stomach contents had not yet settled by the time we got in the vehicle. Spider Man is an incredible attraction, very high-tech and extremely well produced. Unfortunatley I could not get the full enjoyment out of that ride because I was still feeling sick from Hulk. I closed my eyes several times just to keep my equilibrium.
Mistake #3 - Bad posture.
I don't know how I did it, but I must have been leaning the wrong way because I hurt my butt on Dudley Do Right! When the ride was over I felt like I had been sitting on a broomstick handle
For the rest of my vacation I had to lean forward on all the rides because my tailbone hurt. It is now nine days later as I write this trip report and it still hurts when I sit. Dudley Do-Wrong did me in. I'm thinking of suing 
Following Dudley's bum-busting adventure it was time to really get wet. I should have known what I was in for when I saw all the people taking their shoes off on Popeye's Bilge-Rat barges. It was a great ride which left us all completely soaked! We were still wet when we got back to our villa several hours later!
It's hard not to draw a comparison between those two rides and Disney's Splash Mountain and Kail River Rapids. While the IOA versions are way more thrilling and intense, Disney's theming blows Universal out of the water so to speak.
After Popeye it was time for Jurassic Park River Adventure. I think we got wet again, but at that point it was really hard to tell. Next It was finally time to dry off - at "Poseidon's Fury"! The rushing water tunnel and the effects at the end were pretty incredible, but in my opinion the payoff is not really worth all the standing around. We also missed the beginning of the show because we were too far back and the audio/visual system did not reach where we were standing. IOA really needs to install more video screens and speakers in the waiting area. Then there was the issue of my glasses fogging up in the dark, but that's a whole other story...
We capped off the afternoon with the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad. Frankly, he should have retired after seven voyages because this was a bad, bad show. The jokes were lame ("Shush, kabob!"), the stunts were tame, the acting was third rate and it was just poor overall. We thought about riding Dueling Dragons, but we were all hot, tired and still soaked from Popeye. We stopped for a late lunch and hobbled over to Motown Cafe to use our 2-for-1 drink coupons before heading back to the Vistana.
Next up: Day 4 - MK, Spectro and the Peter Pan windsprint!
Me: 30 y/o Male, compulsive planner
DW: 31 y/o Female, likes to sleep in
Joe: My best buddy from high school. A theme park commando who's motto is "It's not a vacation, it's a competition!"
Lisa: Joe's wife and Queen of the Timeshares. She owns or co-owns 5 weeks at various Central Florida resorts.
Day 3: Universal's Islands of Adventure
The Weather: Hot, humid, sunny, low 90s.
DW and I are not big on thrill rides, so we skipped IOA on our last trip. Not this time. Joe is a big coaster nut, so we all had to go and ride The Incredible Hulk.
Mistake #1 - NEVER eat a bowl of Cheerios before riding Hulk. In my defense, we had not decided on IOA until after breakfast, so I had no idea the Cheerios would come back to haunt me.
We arrived at IOA around 11 and immediately headed for the big green monstrosity that is the Incredible Hulk. What an intimidating beast that coaster is! Seven inversions? That should be illegal! The wait was only 20 minutes, so we got in line. I was very nervous, but it's such a popular ride I had to experience it at least once. Well, I did it. Never again! I'm glad I can say I did it, but once is more than enough. I felt sick for an hour after that ride. My breakfast stayed in my stomach where it belonged, but it was touch & go for a while. Lisa, who rode Hulk last year, wisely skipped the attraction. Next time I'll stay with her.
Mistake #2 - If Hulk throws you for a loop, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT ride Spider Man immediately afterwards!
We waited 20 minutes to ride Spidey, but my stomach contents had not yet settled by the time we got in the vehicle. Spider Man is an incredible attraction, very high-tech and extremely well produced. Unfortunatley I could not get the full enjoyment out of that ride because I was still feeling sick from Hulk. I closed my eyes several times just to keep my equilibrium.
Mistake #3 - Bad posture.
I don't know how I did it, but I must have been leaning the wrong way because I hurt my butt on Dudley Do Right! When the ride was over I felt like I had been sitting on a broomstick handle
For the rest of my vacation I had to lean forward on all the rides because my tailbone hurt. It is now nine days later as I write this trip report and it still hurts when I sit. Dudley Do-Wrong did me in. I'm thinking of suing Following Dudley's bum-busting adventure it was time to really get wet. I should have known what I was in for when I saw all the people taking their shoes off on Popeye's Bilge-Rat barges. It was a great ride which left us all completely soaked! We were still wet when we got back to our villa several hours later!
It's hard not to draw a comparison between those two rides and Disney's Splash Mountain and Kail River Rapids. While the IOA versions are way more thrilling and intense, Disney's theming blows Universal out of the water so to speak.
After Popeye it was time for Jurassic Park River Adventure. I think we got wet again, but at that point it was really hard to tell. Next It was finally time to dry off - at "Poseidon's Fury"! The rushing water tunnel and the effects at the end were pretty incredible, but in my opinion the payoff is not really worth all the standing around. We also missed the beginning of the show because we were too far back and the audio/visual system did not reach where we were standing. IOA really needs to install more video screens and speakers in the waiting area. Then there was the issue of my glasses fogging up in the dark, but that's a whole other story...
We capped off the afternoon with the Eighth Voyage of Sinbad. Frankly, he should have retired after seven voyages because this was a bad, bad show. The jokes were lame ("Shush, kabob!"), the stunts were tame, the acting was third rate and it was just poor overall. We thought about riding Dueling Dragons, but we were all hot, tired and still soaked from Popeye. We stopped for a late lunch and hobbled over to Motown Cafe to use our 2-for-1 drink coupons before heading back to the Vistana.
Next up: Day 4 - MK, Spectro and the Peter Pan windsprint!
