nitrofan
11-08-2009, 11:15 PM
I went on a school trip to Orlando last March. It was my first time at all of these parks, and it was awesome! I really wasn't expecting much out of Universal, but it exceeded my expectations by far! Sorry, but there are no pictures.
3/26 Islands of Adventure
We got to the park an hour after opening. It kills me to waste time at a theme park that I paid for, but it wasn't up to me. We immediately went to Hulk, which had a 40 minute wait. This was a typical B&M, but the launch just made it that much better! It just started the ride with a rush. It actually freaked me out. It started out slow at the beginning and I didn't think it would get too fast, and although it would probably feel like nothing to you Kingda Ka fans, it gave a good bit of speed!
Next we went to Rip-Saw Falls. I wasn't too happy about getting wet, but it only had a 10 minute wait. It was pretty boring except for the big drop and its lift, where it looks like you will get soaked with a water fall, but the water stops when you approach it. The theming is okay, but Splash Mountain is much better IMO.
My group then convinced me that we would ride Popeye's River Adventure, and then immediately go to Dueling Dragons. We walked right on the ride, and the attendant told us to take our shoes off and empty our pockets and put everything in the center waterproof console. Thinking I knew more than the attendant, I (stupidly) left my shoes on, but thankfully decided to put my phone in it. I walked off looking like I just went swimming, and my shoes were like stepping in a puddle.
On our way to Dueling Dragons, which we were "going straight to and not stopping for anything," my water-loving group spotted the huge building of Jurassic Park River Adventure. The world was going to end if we didn't ride it then, so I agreed since it was walk-on. The first part is slow, but it has a great atmosphere. My only complaint about it is that a few of the anamatronic dinosouars were broken. We went into the "raptor containment area" and I was really impressed with the attention to detail, which was better than Disney IMO. The drop on this ride is the best on any water ride. It is really tall and steep, but you barely get wet at the bottom, which is the kind of ride i'm looking for. When the ride ended, they put off the dragons once again so we could do a re-ride of this. This time, I was more observant, so it wasn't as exciting when I could see how most of the stuff worked. We then rode it a 3rd time. By this point, I was fed up and getting cranky about being kept away from my B&Ms. And of course, the ride broke at the base of the main lift. We were there for a good 1/2 hour before the ride finally began to move again. We finished the ride, and I put my foot down. It was time for Dueling Dragons!
Well anyone who watches Screamscape probably knows about the Harry Potter World expansion. This whole section of the park was torn up and was using temporary paths to get to the rides. This was great because Six Flags wouldn't have cared and just closed the rides, but they went the extra mile to keep this major attraction open. We walked through the never-ending castle and chose the Ice Dragon as our fate. I rode it with a friend who was nervous, and we had a great ride! The fly-bys weren't as intense as I expected, but they were still fun.
After that, it was time for our group to check-in at the front gate and to get our meal vouchers. I thought we did pretty well for 2 1/2 hours. We got our meal vouchers and went to the restaurant in Dr. Suess Land. (I don't remember the resteraunt's name.) It came with a chicken sandwhich, fries, a soda, and a cookie. I'm not sure exactly how much we paid for the meal vouchers, but it would have cost $13 if I was paying cash!
When we finally finished lunch, it was time fore some unfinished business at the dragons. We went back through the potter mess, and waited the extra 5 minutes to ride fire. I'm really not sure which one I liked more, but the immelman (my first one) was really cool! I was impressed with how consistent the dueling was. They actually had the chain-lifts automatically adjusted so that the cars would be lining up by the time they got to the drop. They never would have raced at Six Flags!
So after 7 more runs on Dueling Dragons, and some idiot kid running out in front of the train while it was moving in the station, we went back to Hulk for 2 rides in the single-rider-line. One of my friends started bugging me to take her on the drop-ride, so I did. Dr. Dooms Fear Fall was a very heavily themed drop ride. You waited inside an air-conditioned building, and you didn't see the light of day until you had been launched. After the launch, the ride was kind of lame. It went up and down twice, which seemed really short. It was fun, but I was glad I didn't wait for it.
After that, we met back up with our group and went on Spider-man. It was only a 5 minute wait, but I don't think it would be worth more than a 15 minute wait. The theming was pretty cool, and it was kind of roller-coasterish, but not really. It was mainly switching 3-D screens.
After that, we had 45 mins until we left, so we tried to wait in Hulk's 40 minute line for 1 last ride. We got to the front and still had 20 mins to spare, so we waited for the front. It wa 100% worth it! It was so much fun seeing the view and having the breeze in my hair, but I wouldn't wait for it more than once.
That concluded our day at the theme park as they closed at 6:00. We went to NBA City Cafe and had a pretty good Burger (another meal voucher, so i'm not sure about the price.) The service was good, but we were exhausted after driving all night.
Coaster Count:
Hulk x4
Dr. Doom x1
Ripsaw Walls x1
Popeye x1
Jurassic Park x3
Dueling Dragons x9
Spiderman x1
3/26 Islands of Adventure
We got to the park an hour after opening. It kills me to waste time at a theme park that I paid for, but it wasn't up to me. We immediately went to Hulk, which had a 40 minute wait. This was a typical B&M, but the launch just made it that much better! It just started the ride with a rush. It actually freaked me out. It started out slow at the beginning and I didn't think it would get too fast, and although it would probably feel like nothing to you Kingda Ka fans, it gave a good bit of speed!
Next we went to Rip-Saw Falls. I wasn't too happy about getting wet, but it only had a 10 minute wait. It was pretty boring except for the big drop and its lift, where it looks like you will get soaked with a water fall, but the water stops when you approach it. The theming is okay, but Splash Mountain is much better IMO.
My group then convinced me that we would ride Popeye's River Adventure, and then immediately go to Dueling Dragons. We walked right on the ride, and the attendant told us to take our shoes off and empty our pockets and put everything in the center waterproof console. Thinking I knew more than the attendant, I (stupidly) left my shoes on, but thankfully decided to put my phone in it. I walked off looking like I just went swimming, and my shoes were like stepping in a puddle.
On our way to Dueling Dragons, which we were "going straight to and not stopping for anything," my water-loving group spotted the huge building of Jurassic Park River Adventure. The world was going to end if we didn't ride it then, so I agreed since it was walk-on. The first part is slow, but it has a great atmosphere. My only complaint about it is that a few of the anamatronic dinosouars were broken. We went into the "raptor containment area" and I was really impressed with the attention to detail, which was better than Disney IMO. The drop on this ride is the best on any water ride. It is really tall and steep, but you barely get wet at the bottom, which is the kind of ride i'm looking for. When the ride ended, they put off the dragons once again so we could do a re-ride of this. This time, I was more observant, so it wasn't as exciting when I could see how most of the stuff worked. We then rode it a 3rd time. By this point, I was fed up and getting cranky about being kept away from my B&Ms. And of course, the ride broke at the base of the main lift. We were there for a good 1/2 hour before the ride finally began to move again. We finished the ride, and I put my foot down. It was time for Dueling Dragons!
Well anyone who watches Screamscape probably knows about the Harry Potter World expansion. This whole section of the park was torn up and was using temporary paths to get to the rides. This was great because Six Flags wouldn't have cared and just closed the rides, but they went the extra mile to keep this major attraction open. We walked through the never-ending castle and chose the Ice Dragon as our fate. I rode it with a friend who was nervous, and we had a great ride! The fly-bys weren't as intense as I expected, but they were still fun.
After that, it was time for our group to check-in at the front gate and to get our meal vouchers. I thought we did pretty well for 2 1/2 hours. We got our meal vouchers and went to the restaurant in Dr. Suess Land. (I don't remember the resteraunt's name.) It came with a chicken sandwhich, fries, a soda, and a cookie. I'm not sure exactly how much we paid for the meal vouchers, but it would have cost $13 if I was paying cash!
When we finally finished lunch, it was time fore some unfinished business at the dragons. We went back through the potter mess, and waited the extra 5 minutes to ride fire. I'm really not sure which one I liked more, but the immelman (my first one) was really cool! I was impressed with how consistent the dueling was. They actually had the chain-lifts automatically adjusted so that the cars would be lining up by the time they got to the drop. They never would have raced at Six Flags!
So after 7 more runs on Dueling Dragons, and some idiot kid running out in front of the train while it was moving in the station, we went back to Hulk for 2 rides in the single-rider-line. One of my friends started bugging me to take her on the drop-ride, so I did. Dr. Dooms Fear Fall was a very heavily themed drop ride. You waited inside an air-conditioned building, and you didn't see the light of day until you had been launched. After the launch, the ride was kind of lame. It went up and down twice, which seemed really short. It was fun, but I was glad I didn't wait for it.
After that, we met back up with our group and went on Spider-man. It was only a 5 minute wait, but I don't think it would be worth more than a 15 minute wait. The theming was pretty cool, and it was kind of roller-coasterish, but not really. It was mainly switching 3-D screens.
After that, we had 45 mins until we left, so we tried to wait in Hulk's 40 minute line for 1 last ride. We got to the front and still had 20 mins to spare, so we waited for the front. It wa 100% worth it! It was so much fun seeing the view and having the breeze in my hair, but I wouldn't wait for it more than once.
That concluded our day at the theme park as they closed at 6:00. We went to NBA City Cafe and had a pretty good Burger (another meal voucher, so i'm not sure about the price.) The service was good, but we were exhausted after driving all night.
Coaster Count:
Hulk x4
Dr. Doom x1
Ripsaw Walls x1
Popeye x1
Jurassic Park x3
Dueling Dragons x9
Spiderman x1