TheCryptRaider Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Hey everyone. So, last night I returned from my long-awaited trip to Cocoa Beach, Florida. I spent a few days at the beach, a few days with family, and one awesome day at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. I have to say, I didn't think I'd be too impressed with the parks. I couldn't be more wrong. Universal brought hit movies, cartoons, and comics to life. As soon as I walked into the gate of Islands of Adventure I was grinning from ear-to-ear. I absolutely love these parks, and they are now my favorite parks I've been to. If you want to cut past all the entry details look for the red pluses. (+) I woke up at about 8:30 ready to ride! But nobody else but my brother and I were... Everyone else was kind of slow, and life-less. That was going to change. We got out of the door around 9:45-10, and drove to Universal! Sadly, we got stuck in construction for a little while, but that didn't bother me. My family parked in Cat in The Hat row 258, and continued on to what seemed like miles and miles of moving sidewalks. Then we got to the park! NOT! We continued on Citywalk, which was cool looking, and included a cinema! We got some cool views of different rides in both parks. I thought it would be best to start with Islands of Adventure since it had the most rides that I wanted to ride. Islands of Adventure suprisingly didn't have a long line to get in, and after getting my fingerprint scanned I walked in. The person running the turnstyle was really nice, and funny. He said to me 'Umm, sir.. Do you know your name?' 'No' I said, 'Okay No I hope you have a good day here at Islands of Adventure,' Anyways, a guy asked me to take a survey inside of the gate, so I stopped and took it. He asked general questions for marketing stuff, such as 'How did you decide on coming to Universal Orlando?' 'What other Orlando area parks are you visiting?' He also asked my race, yearly family income, and other questions. Anyways, enough with the boring stuff. By this point, I was getting very giddy! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ We walked further into the park, I have to say, even the midway that you enter is themed well. So we came to a cross-road between Seuss Landing or Marvel Superhero Island, I, of course, decided going in the direction of Marvel. We came up to the Hulk's entrance 'You wanna ride this?' I said, and everyone kept walking. We came up to Spiderman, 'Wanna ride THIS?' Everyone kept walking. Eventually we entered Toon Lagoon and came up to Popeye's Bilge-Rat Barges which is a humungous version of White Water Canyon. It seats 12! We waited probably 10 minutes to ride. The ride was sooooo much better than WWC! It was themed so well, and it had hills, and when you returned to the station everyone got off the boat dripping wet! Nobody was dry at all. Next I wanted to go straight into Jurassic Park to get a ride on Jurassic Park River Adventure. I was so excited to finally ride this ride, it wasn't even funny. We waited probably 10-20 minutes, and sat down in our boat. My brother was really scared to ride because of the dinosaurs. So scared, in fact, he almost didn't get in line, and decided to ride only if my dad rode, which he ended up doing. Back to the ride, I was really impressed! The ride was cool, the scenery was cool, the drop was cool, everything was! My brother did cry up the hill, but laughed when the T-Rex came out and said 'THAT'S IT?!' I was suprised by the hill though, it was steep! I didn't get too wet from the splash though, it seemed like all the water went outwards. This is now my favorite non-coaster ride ever. Next was my other brother's turn, he picked Dudley Do-Right Ripsaw Falls. ANOTHER WATER RIDE?! Yuuup. The wait was supposedly 90 minutes according to a sign, but it really ended up being 30. The crew was working hard! We sat into the not-so-comfortable seats, and rode the ride. It was pretty cool, but LONG! The ride seemed to take forever, but I had no problem, the ride was very entertaining and had more than one drop. The main drop is acutally the steepest log-flume drop, if I'm not mistaken. Also, it is considered a coaster! I checked on coasterfanatics.com, and it gave me a coaster credit for it! We walked back over to Marvel, and went onto the Spiderman ride. I had heard lots of good feedback on this ride, and I was excited to ride it. The ride had a 50 minute wait, and seemed to have lots and lots of switchbacks. We got onto the ride, and it suprised me, I didn't expect the ride to be like what it was. It's probably my favorite dark ride. We got into a part when you're getting lifted up to a top of a building, and then the ride stopped.. So we got a second ride, which was nice of the people to do. Next it was my brother's turn again, and he chose to ride Doctor Doom's FEARFall. I really didn't want to ride it because the sign said the line was an hour, but we got into the line and probably waited 5 minutes. I really liked this ride! Although it was short, the launch was very intense! Next up.. He's big, he's bad, oh yeah, and he's green... The Incredible Hulk!! I was really looking forward to this one. 20 minutes said the sign, but I learned not to trust those anymore. This line was probably 10 minutes, and I was put into the third row. The launch was pretty cool, and I like the inversion right out of the tunnel. The cobra roll was awesome, it was cool to look at the lake underneath you. I have to agree with Jackson (Beast 1979) on this one though, it was short.. Like most B&M's. Next up to ride was Deuling Dragons, and like pretty much every other ride in the whole entire resort, I WAS SUPER PSYCHED TO RIDE THEM. Blah blah blah, through Toon Lagoon, Jurassic Park , and then we get to construction and then to a DELICIOUS CASTLE. Guess what was inside the delicious castle? A DELICIOUS QUEUE LINE. Guess what was all around the delicious queue line? DELICIOUS SCENERY. And at the end of that delicious queue line with delicious scenery were two DELICIOUS RIDES. The scenery for the queue line was awesome. I would literally walk through the queue just to see all the theming. I picked ice first, because I've heard that fire was better. I rode ice and LOVED IT!! The close encounters, cobra roll, zero-g roll, and everything were just awesome! Next up was fire! I got on it, and at first I didn't see the ice train. I was like 'Aww, we're not deuling?' The our chain sped up, and caught up with the ice train which was almost to the top of the lift. I thought that was a cool feature. So. How was fire? It was AWESOME! I just liked ice better.. Much better... I hope I don't get bashed for that. By this time it was starting to sprinkle, so my family ran to Seuss Landing to ride Cat in The Hat, so we could do something while it rained. Cat in The Hat was a cool ride, and my whole family rode it. I thought the ride was a little bit intense for a kid's ride. It spun with so much force, it made me hit my head! Islands of Adventure was a really cool park, and I really enjoyed the many many different experiences it provided. The queue lines for each ride were so cool, and entertaining. The rides were themed so well, and made so well. They rode as good as they looked. This is now currently tied with KI for my new favorite park.. Why doesn't beat KI you ask? KI just has a home-y feel to it, and it makes me feel at home when I'm there. I will definately opt for this park next time I visit Florida, and I highly reccomend it over Disney. Stay tuned for the Universal Studios part! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Thanks for the great trip report, fellow ICE lover...you are not alone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gad198 Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Agreed! I think DD: Ice packs more action into the layout, and you can never go wrong with the zero-g roll. I'm curious as to whether there will be a Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit review! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI Kevin Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 If you would have gone on the 15th you could have ridden Rip Ride Rock It. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HTCO Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Great trip report Josh. I would be mad if I were you! Only a few days shy of riding HRRR! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KI Kevin Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 Actually from what I heard if it weren't for the soundtrack it wouldn't be very good. I've heard it's rough in the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoeter Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 I'm curious as to whether there will be a Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit review! Gad198, check out this thread and specifically check out Post #5. Delirium_Guy, one of our members living down in Orlando has already had the pleasure of experiencing this new attraction and lists some pros and cons about the ride. Moving right along....I was down at Universal in April/May and visited Islands of Adventure for the first time. I got the pleasure of riding The Incredible Hulk and Dueling Dragons: Fire and they were absolutely amazing. Then again, they're B&M's so what can you expect? Thanks Josh for sharing your experience with us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeLorean Rider Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 No Disney? I really wish they would keep the Jurassic park ride up better. Such a wonderful trilogy. The effects have degraded quite a bit over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 ...Moving right along....I was down at Universal in April/May and visited Islands of Adventure for the first time. I got the pleasure of riding The Incredible Hulk and Dueling Dragons: Fire and they were absolutely amazing. Then again, they're B&M's so what can you expect?... Having ridden the almost never talked about Batman: The Dark Knight at Six Flags New England, Hydra at Dorney Park and Scream at Magic Mountain, I can say that one needn't necessarily expect giddy wonderfulness from B & M. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveStroem Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 I agree Terpy, While I have only ridden Hydra from you list, I was completely underwhelmed. What is it with a slow barrel right out of the station? I almost felt like they put some track in the wrong spot. Talon was down with a broken lift chain so we did not get to ride it. Dorney was the most disappointing park we have been to this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Interpreter Posted August 22, 2009 Share Posted August 22, 2009 Conversely, Talon is one of my favorite B&M's. I'm very sorry you didn't get to ride it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.