Tropical Wilds
The Command considers us a bunch of losers.
- Joined
- Mar 17, 2008
- Messages
- 1,478
I know its been awhile, but I figured Id share my trip report from a US trip the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. This was my third trip to Universal Studios, second for my sister and her husband, first for my husband. Universal Studios had been my second-favorite park, just after Magic Kingdom, so I was really looking forward to our return trip. 
We got to the park right at opening, and there was no crowd at all. In fact, the attendance at the park was seemingly quite low Anyway, we went straight back to Jaws and rode that twice, walking on both times. Jaws was a big hit, lots and lots of fun, just as I remembered it. We had planned on hitting Earthquake! next, but it was closed. A big disappointment, but not an unexpected disappointment since in my 3 trips to Universal and my sisters 2 trips, weve never managed to be at Universal while Earthquake was running.
From there, we walked on to The Mummy (ok, we had like a 5 minute wait), and got to sit right in the front row. Id never done Mummy before, and wasnt expecting much as I dont really like that movie franchise and was somewhat bitter that Mummy replaced King Kong. However, the Mummy was, hands down, the best roller coaster Ive *ever* done. If it we didnt need to meet up with half of our party (who opted not to ride), I could have easily done that ride another 10 times. Considering we could have walked right on again, we should have done it again. It looked like the lines for that can get pretty long Though Id have waited in a pretty long line to do that ride again. Everybody in our party agreed it was the best roller coaster ride of the trip.
Next up, we walked onto Twister after about a 10 minute wait. Twister was another new ride for us, and one that we all had high expectations for. Other than the incredibly boring pre-shows, I thought the ride/show was a ton of fun, if not too short. However, I was the only person in our group who enjoyed it. The general opinion was it was interesting, but too short and not worth the wait, plus the additional wait in the pre-shows.
We wandered over to ET after that, for the longest wait we had of the day, about 45 minutes. ET is always worth the wait though, and we had a lot of fun on it (though my husband thought it was quite stupid LOL! He doesnt like ET anyway, so what does he know). And, in keeping with the tradition we have on ET, at the end of the ride, ET didnt get our names right. LOL!
After a couple rides on the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster (my niece and nephew begged, and it was a walk-on ride), we wandered over to Men in Black, which is another new-to-us ride. After about a 10 minute wait (not including the 20 minute wait for lockers as most of them seemed to be not working, creating some massive confusion), we got on We all found that ride really disappointing. The shooting part of the ride wasnt working right, or didnt seem to be anyway. None of the carts seemed to be able to land shots on each other, and the audio was really, really wacky. Either it was out of sync, or it was too loud, but what was being said didnt match what was going on, and we couldnt hear ANYTHING. It was a too long of a wait and way too much of a hassle for a kind of boring, cheesy cheap ride.
From there, we decided to eat, so we stopped at some commissary which was, I think, the International Food and Film Festival. Ok, the food Was awful. Worse than awful. We were thinking it wouldnt be like award winning food, but we expected like McDonalds quality But it was so nasty. Yuck! We also shopped at the Kwik-E-Mart, and were pretty dissapointed that everything they sold in the way of Simpsons memorobelia was pretty much what you can get in any Spencer Gifts, comic book store, and toy store. Im assuming though it was because with the ride not open yet, they werent ready to stock some Universal Studios-specific stuff. But, since Im the biggest Simpsons fan ever (I even went to Springfield VT for the Simpsons premiere and won tickets to see the movie), I was let down that there wasnt SOMETHING unique there.
And I will mention that even though we knew Back to the Future was gone, we really felt its absence, especially with Earthquake closed too. I kind of wish theyd have left Back to the Future and put the Simpsons where MIB is. For that matter, as much as I liked Mummy, I wish theyd left Kongfrontation alone and put Mummy where MIB was.
From there, we wrapped around to the T2 3-D show. An attraction Id done, but not anybody else in our party. We also walked onto that ride with no wait, and Ill admit, I was a little disappointed. Some of the effects I remember from the show didnt seem to be working. There was no movement like I remember during parts of the show, and the movie itself looked like it was in desperate need of restoration. The colors were washed out and the center screen picture was SUPER fuzzy/grainy (yes, I was wearing glasses
). I heard several people complain to the attendants about the picture being messed up.
Off we went to try another 3-D show at the request (nagging?) of the youngsters in our group The Shrek 4-D show. Ugh. Though Id never done the show before, I SWEAR, Ive seen that movie. So that was something of a bummer As was the interactive and immersive part of the show. Those chairs just about killed me, not to mention that you couldnt hear a thing when they were going off because they were SO LOUD. I didnt feel immersed at all. I just felt like I was sitting in a movie theater with really loud moving chairs. I couldnt get out of that one quick enough. The visit to Donkey was actually more fun than the show itself.
After that We were kind of out of things we wanted to do. We sat through Beetlejuices Graveyard Review, which really hasnt changed much over the years, save for some new(ish) songs, and the baffling addition of two cheerleaders (or maybe I dont remember them from 10 years ago?). As usual, it was the guy who played Beetlejuice who made the whole show worthwhile by coming out and mingling with the very small audience.
Before calling it a day, we did some light shopping but were very disappointed by the merchandise. Most of it looked like standard stuff you could find at any mall, with very little US-specific stuff. Lots and lots and lots of SpongeBob stuff, along with a ton of Nickelodeon stuff. Some of the pins based off the rides were neat, but you had to sort through the other stuff to find them. There was, surprisingly enough, a huge amount of ride-specific merchandise still for Kongfrontation and Back to the Future, as well as a lot of stuff for IOA (which is somewhat more understandable).
We had anticipated staying until closing at Universal, but we actually left at around 6, and that includes wandering City Walk for a bit and the consumption of a couple Hurricanes.
Overall, I was really disappointed in Universal. It was a serious disappointment to have 1 major ride down (Earthquake), and another one closed for renovation/replacement (Back to the Future). I imagine thats what it would feel like to go to Disney and find Space Mountain and Splash Mountain closed at the same time. There were also no characters out and about at all We saw 3 folks from presumably The Mummy, and the Blues Brothers, and that was it. A big bummer especially considering years past where my autograph books were mostly signatures from Universal. We had anticipated seeing more characters. I felt like there was a lot of wasted space at Universal and that they were missing that something extra in the rides around the park. Most of them seem to lack that timeless quality, or universal appeal (no pun intended). A lot looked in need of updates or something new. There is a definite need for a cornerstone ride that, I hope, Simpsons fills for them, since having only The Mummy as a major thrill ride, or a unique special effects ride, wont be enough to attract most people. Even myself, with as much as I enjoy Jaws and Twister and ET and Mummy, theyre not enough to justify the time and additional expense in tickets and transportation to come back. I got the definite impression that a lot of time and money had been invested in IOA, and Universal Studios was kind of left ignored And the removal of cornerstone rides is baffling, especially when there are elements of the park that have (I think) run their course Like the Monster Effects show, Lucy Show, Animal Stage, and Beetlejuice, all of which are almost 10-20 years old, and not the draw to the park that rides like Kong and BTTF was.
Next trip to Orlando, I think (unless theyve opened something new and exciting), well skip UA and stay on-site with Disney. Which is such a shame for me, as US used to be my second favorite park.
We got to the park right at opening, and there was no crowd at all. In fact, the attendance at the park was seemingly quite low Anyway, we went straight back to Jaws and rode that twice, walking on both times. Jaws was a big hit, lots and lots of fun, just as I remembered it. We had planned on hitting Earthquake! next, but it was closed. A big disappointment, but not an unexpected disappointment since in my 3 trips to Universal and my sisters 2 trips, weve never managed to be at Universal while Earthquake was running.
From there, we walked on to The Mummy (ok, we had like a 5 minute wait), and got to sit right in the front row. Id never done Mummy before, and wasnt expecting much as I dont really like that movie franchise and was somewhat bitter that Mummy replaced King Kong. However, the Mummy was, hands down, the best roller coaster Ive *ever* done. If it we didnt need to meet up with half of our party (who opted not to ride), I could have easily done that ride another 10 times. Considering we could have walked right on again, we should have done it again. It looked like the lines for that can get pretty long Though Id have waited in a pretty long line to do that ride again. Everybody in our party agreed it was the best roller coaster ride of the trip.
Next up, we walked onto Twister after about a 10 minute wait. Twister was another new ride for us, and one that we all had high expectations for. Other than the incredibly boring pre-shows, I thought the ride/show was a ton of fun, if not too short. However, I was the only person in our group who enjoyed it. The general opinion was it was interesting, but too short and not worth the wait, plus the additional wait in the pre-shows.
We wandered over to ET after that, for the longest wait we had of the day, about 45 minutes. ET is always worth the wait though, and we had a lot of fun on it (though my husband thought it was quite stupid LOL! He doesnt like ET anyway, so what does he know). And, in keeping with the tradition we have on ET, at the end of the ride, ET didnt get our names right. LOL!
After a couple rides on the Woody Woodpecker roller coaster (my niece and nephew begged, and it was a walk-on ride), we wandered over to Men in Black, which is another new-to-us ride. After about a 10 minute wait (not including the 20 minute wait for lockers as most of them seemed to be not working, creating some massive confusion), we got on We all found that ride really disappointing. The shooting part of the ride wasnt working right, or didnt seem to be anyway. None of the carts seemed to be able to land shots on each other, and the audio was really, really wacky. Either it was out of sync, or it was too loud, but what was being said didnt match what was going on, and we couldnt hear ANYTHING. It was a too long of a wait and way too much of a hassle for a kind of boring, cheesy cheap ride.
From there, we decided to eat, so we stopped at some commissary which was, I think, the International Food and Film Festival. Ok, the food Was awful. Worse than awful. We were thinking it wouldnt be like award winning food, but we expected like McDonalds quality But it was so nasty. Yuck! We also shopped at the Kwik-E-Mart, and were pretty dissapointed that everything they sold in the way of Simpsons memorobelia was pretty much what you can get in any Spencer Gifts, comic book store, and toy store. Im assuming though it was because with the ride not open yet, they werent ready to stock some Universal Studios-specific stuff. But, since Im the biggest Simpsons fan ever (I even went to Springfield VT for the Simpsons premiere and won tickets to see the movie), I was let down that there wasnt SOMETHING unique there.
And I will mention that even though we knew Back to the Future was gone, we really felt its absence, especially with Earthquake closed too. I kind of wish theyd have left Back to the Future and put the Simpsons where MIB is. For that matter, as much as I liked Mummy, I wish theyd left Kongfrontation alone and put Mummy where MIB was.
From there, we wrapped around to the T2 3-D show. An attraction Id done, but not anybody else in our party. We also walked onto that ride with no wait, and Ill admit, I was a little disappointed. Some of the effects I remember from the show didnt seem to be working. There was no movement like I remember during parts of the show, and the movie itself looked like it was in desperate need of restoration. The colors were washed out and the center screen picture was SUPER fuzzy/grainy (yes, I was wearing glasses
). I heard several people complain to the attendants about the picture being messed up.Off we went to try another 3-D show at the request (nagging?) of the youngsters in our group The Shrek 4-D show. Ugh. Though Id never done the show before, I SWEAR, Ive seen that movie. So that was something of a bummer As was the interactive and immersive part of the show. Those chairs just about killed me, not to mention that you couldnt hear a thing when they were going off because they were SO LOUD. I didnt feel immersed at all. I just felt like I was sitting in a movie theater with really loud moving chairs. I couldnt get out of that one quick enough. The visit to Donkey was actually more fun than the show itself.
After that We were kind of out of things we wanted to do. We sat through Beetlejuices Graveyard Review, which really hasnt changed much over the years, save for some new(ish) songs, and the baffling addition of two cheerleaders (or maybe I dont remember them from 10 years ago?). As usual, it was the guy who played Beetlejuice who made the whole show worthwhile by coming out and mingling with the very small audience.
Before calling it a day, we did some light shopping but were very disappointed by the merchandise. Most of it looked like standard stuff you could find at any mall, with very little US-specific stuff. Lots and lots and lots of SpongeBob stuff, along with a ton of Nickelodeon stuff. Some of the pins based off the rides were neat, but you had to sort through the other stuff to find them. There was, surprisingly enough, a huge amount of ride-specific merchandise still for Kongfrontation and Back to the Future, as well as a lot of stuff for IOA (which is somewhat more understandable).
We had anticipated staying until closing at Universal, but we actually left at around 6, and that includes wandering City Walk for a bit and the consumption of a couple Hurricanes.
Overall, I was really disappointed in Universal. It was a serious disappointment to have 1 major ride down (Earthquake), and another one closed for renovation/replacement (Back to the Future). I imagine thats what it would feel like to go to Disney and find Space Mountain and Splash Mountain closed at the same time. There were also no characters out and about at all We saw 3 folks from presumably The Mummy, and the Blues Brothers, and that was it. A big bummer especially considering years past where my autograph books were mostly signatures from Universal. We had anticipated seeing more characters. I felt like there was a lot of wasted space at Universal and that they were missing that something extra in the rides around the park. Most of them seem to lack that timeless quality, or universal appeal (no pun intended). A lot looked in need of updates or something new. There is a definite need for a cornerstone ride that, I hope, Simpsons fills for them, since having only The Mummy as a major thrill ride, or a unique special effects ride, wont be enough to attract most people. Even myself, with as much as I enjoy Jaws and Twister and ET and Mummy, theyre not enough to justify the time and additional expense in tickets and transportation to come back. I got the definite impression that a lot of time and money had been invested in IOA, and Universal Studios was kind of left ignored And the removal of cornerstone rides is baffling, especially when there are elements of the park that have (I think) run their course Like the Monster Effects show, Lucy Show, Animal Stage, and Beetlejuice, all of which are almost 10-20 years old, and not the draw to the park that rides like Kong and BTTF was.
Next trip to Orlando, I think (unless theyve opened something new and exciting), well skip UA and stay on-site with Disney. Which is such a shame for me, as US used to be my second favorite park.
I'm sorry too hear that you had a bad time.But give US alittle time.I've heard of alot of changes coming soon.
