Part 8: Is it a Bird?
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's duelling dragons, the nearest thing to sitting on the wing of a plane with a drunken pilot at the controls. Brilliant coaster.
We were at Islands of Adventure. The themiest theme park of all. The theming is superb. The most in your face parts are Marvel Super Hero Island and Toon Lagoon. Port of entry is themed like a Moroccan trading post, or so they tell me. I'll have to take their word for that I was only ever in Morocco for one night and Port of Entry looks nothing like the lobby of the Rabat Hilton. There were a lot less pick pockets in Port of Entry for a start. There are no attractions per se in Port of Entry but later in the week during a rainstorm I did discover a little bar with a quite intimate atmosphere, unusual for a theme park.
Our group headed straight through to Super Hero Island. During the early part of the day the piped music helps the adrenalin flow and wakes you up and puts you in the mood. Later in the day that same music, well, it just gets on your wick. There are three, count them, three, major attractions just in this 'island' and there are another six islands. There is the Incredible Hulk Coaster, Doctor Dooms Fearfall, and the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. This last ride mixes movement, 3D and heat and water effects to bring you what must be the best 'dark ride' in the world.
Connor 8, has been having trouble with the height restrictions and was duly turfed out of the queue for Hulk but he insisted on trying to get on Fear Fall for which he was also a little short. The CMs on this ride however weren't as vigilant and we got on no problem. Although I like coasters I'm not great with heights but I will go on everything at least once. Once was enough for me on Fear Fall. There is a second of weightlessness which is truly terrifying. Connor of course was so pleased to have got on one of the hairier rides that he insisted on doing it again...and again... and again. Barbara and Daniel had completely wimped out so I had to accompany him each time. This was the only day when I would have been pleased to see longer lines. When we disembarked for the fourth time I realised that while I had been distracted someone had removed my knee bones and replaced them with ice cream. A dirty trick.
We went to Seuss Landing next so that Rachel, 5 could go on some of the more gentle rides. Dr Seuss is not so big in the UK but is part of the culture Stateside. His real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel and he died in 1991. He wrote over 50 books and invented some really weird creatures like Sneetches, the Grinch and Yertle the Turtle. He wrote that there was a wocket in his pocket. I think maybe there was a half a bottle of Jack Daniels in there too. A lot of his imaginary creatures are depicted on the Caro-seuss-el. Cat in the Hat is a gentle dark ride., and One Fish Two Fish is a Astro orbiter type ride where you control the height of your fish whilst trying to avoid water. All great fun.
There is not much chance of avoiding water in Toon Lagoon. Popeyes' Bilge Rat Barges is a superbly themed raft ride. Faster and wetter than the one (River Rapids) in Animal Kingdom and yet Rachel loved it after being terrified on River Rapids. It must have been the theming. It really is excellent. Tip #62 there are two ways not to get wet on this ride
1) Bring a scuba divers dry suit.
or
2) Don't go on the ride.
The course takes you around Popeye's 'Me Ship The Olive' where people who got wet before you, now maliciously man water cannons as you ride by. There was this one kid about 10....if I ever get my hands on him. Kid if you're reading this, I know what you look like.
Dudley Do - Rights Ripsaw Falls is a log flume ride. The drop at the end is steep, scary, fast and... oh yes, wet. It gives the impression to the spectators that the log has gone under the water.
We had lunch in Mythos. Chicken wraps. They were delicious. They do change the menu there quite often but try them if you get the chance. Yummy
Connor managed to get seated on 'Ice' one of the Duelling Dragons and it looked as though he had beaten the height thing again. But inadvertently he had sat in the seat with the two seat belts. Bad luck because there is only one such seat. The seat is for the 'differently sized' guest or as I overheard someone say, the Lard A*s. Anyway a 'differently sized' guest or Lard A*s needed this seat and so Connor was going to move along one. When he stood up to do so the CM decided to measure him and he was a fraction short so out he went. The ride is amazing. Two inverted roller coasters leave together and narrowly avoid each other. The first drop on the blue one(Ice) is particularly good.
We did look at the three other islands but as we knew we would be visiting the park again due to the wonderful Flexi Ticket we only had a brief look. Oh, we did queue for the Flying Unicorn and to be honest it's not worth the wait for anyone older than say 7 .It loads very slowly too.
We had to have another go on Spiderman so we went back to Super Hero Island. As we passed through Toon Lagoon I thought I saw the kid who squirted me. I was about to give chase but Barbara stopped me and told me to act my age. Me. Huh. What about him. Anyway it was a good thing she did because around the next corner was Spiderman and he takes a pretty dim view of adults throwing kids into lagoons. Spiderman was there for photos along with Captain America, Storm and two other heroes who we didn't recognise. I checked out their names on the quad bikes they had arrived on. One was called Kawasaki and the other Yamaha. Never heard of 'em.
To be continued...
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's duelling dragons, the nearest thing to sitting on the wing of a plane with a drunken pilot at the controls. Brilliant coaster.
We were at Islands of Adventure. The themiest theme park of all. The theming is superb. The most in your face parts are Marvel Super Hero Island and Toon Lagoon. Port of entry is themed like a Moroccan trading post, or so they tell me. I'll have to take their word for that I was only ever in Morocco for one night and Port of Entry looks nothing like the lobby of the Rabat Hilton. There were a lot less pick pockets in Port of Entry for a start. There are no attractions per se in Port of Entry but later in the week during a rainstorm I did discover a little bar with a quite intimate atmosphere, unusual for a theme park.
Our group headed straight through to Super Hero Island. During the early part of the day the piped music helps the adrenalin flow and wakes you up and puts you in the mood. Later in the day that same music, well, it just gets on your wick. There are three, count them, three, major attractions just in this 'island' and there are another six islands. There is the Incredible Hulk Coaster, Doctor Dooms Fearfall, and the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. This last ride mixes movement, 3D and heat and water effects to bring you what must be the best 'dark ride' in the world.
Connor 8, has been having trouble with the height restrictions and was duly turfed out of the queue for Hulk but he insisted on trying to get on Fear Fall for which he was also a little short. The CMs on this ride however weren't as vigilant and we got on no problem. Although I like coasters I'm not great with heights but I will go on everything at least once. Once was enough for me on Fear Fall. There is a second of weightlessness which is truly terrifying. Connor of course was so pleased to have got on one of the hairier rides that he insisted on doing it again...and again... and again. Barbara and Daniel had completely wimped out so I had to accompany him each time. This was the only day when I would have been pleased to see longer lines. When we disembarked for the fourth time I realised that while I had been distracted someone had removed my knee bones and replaced them with ice cream. A dirty trick.
We went to Seuss Landing next so that Rachel, 5 could go on some of the more gentle rides. Dr Seuss is not so big in the UK but is part of the culture Stateside. His real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel and he died in 1991. He wrote over 50 books and invented some really weird creatures like Sneetches, the Grinch and Yertle the Turtle. He wrote that there was a wocket in his pocket. I think maybe there was a half a bottle of Jack Daniels in there too. A lot of his imaginary creatures are depicted on the Caro-seuss-el. Cat in the Hat is a gentle dark ride., and One Fish Two Fish is a Astro orbiter type ride where you control the height of your fish whilst trying to avoid water. All great fun.
There is not much chance of avoiding water in Toon Lagoon. Popeyes' Bilge Rat Barges is a superbly themed raft ride. Faster and wetter than the one (River Rapids) in Animal Kingdom and yet Rachel loved it after being terrified on River Rapids. It must have been the theming. It really is excellent. Tip #62 there are two ways not to get wet on this ride
1) Bring a scuba divers dry suit.
or
2) Don't go on the ride.
The course takes you around Popeye's 'Me Ship The Olive' where people who got wet before you, now maliciously man water cannons as you ride by. There was this one kid about 10....if I ever get my hands on him. Kid if you're reading this, I know what you look like.
Dudley Do - Rights Ripsaw Falls is a log flume ride. The drop at the end is steep, scary, fast and... oh yes, wet. It gives the impression to the spectators that the log has gone under the water.
We had lunch in Mythos. Chicken wraps. They were delicious. They do change the menu there quite often but try them if you get the chance. Yummy
Connor managed to get seated on 'Ice' one of the Duelling Dragons and it looked as though he had beaten the height thing again. But inadvertently he had sat in the seat with the two seat belts. Bad luck because there is only one such seat. The seat is for the 'differently sized' guest or as I overheard someone say, the Lard A*s. Anyway a 'differently sized' guest or Lard A*s needed this seat and so Connor was going to move along one. When he stood up to do so the CM decided to measure him and he was a fraction short so out he went. The ride is amazing. Two inverted roller coasters leave together and narrowly avoid each other. The first drop on the blue one(Ice) is particularly good.
We did look at the three other islands but as we knew we would be visiting the park again due to the wonderful Flexi Ticket we only had a brief look. Oh, we did queue for the Flying Unicorn and to be honest it's not worth the wait for anyone older than say 7 .It loads very slowly too.
We had to have another go on Spiderman so we went back to Super Hero Island. As we passed through Toon Lagoon I thought I saw the kid who squirted me. I was about to give chase but Barbara stopped me and told me to act my age. Me. Huh. What about him. Anyway it was a good thing she did because around the next corner was Spiderman and he takes a pretty dim view of adults throwing kids into lagoons. Spiderman was there for photos along with Captain America, Storm and two other heroes who we didn't recognise. I checked out their names on the quad bikes they had arrived on. One was called Kawasaki and the other Yamaha. Never heard of 'em.
To be continued...
