After completing what Universal Studios had to offer we walked across the boardwalk to Islands of Adventure.

IOA is a theme park that has a traditional feel, but with Universal Studios quality.

We rode the Incredible Hulk first. The ride is absolutely massive and has a cool laugh effect. It's actually a better ride experience than I had anticipated.

After Hulk, we rode the Spiderman dark ride.

Thing thing lives up to its reputation! I figured it would be a dark ride like any other but just more elaborate, but that was an understatement. Like any other great Universal ride, there is a tasteful display of fire and floating objects. In the climactic room, you are lead to believe that you have lost touch with gravity and your vehicle shoots up amongst the skyline. When this happened, I held on tight anticipating a big drop, but there wasn't one... the vehicle never left the ground. They moved the scenery on the walks downward to convince you that you were going up and it certainly did work! This one constituted 2 rides.

After Spiderman, we rode the Popeye and Ripsaw Falls water rides. As Todd quoted, "They're cool rides. You'll get wet and be miserable, but hey - you're on vacation." The rides were actually kind of cool. We did, however, dodge several bullets when it came to getting really soaked.

Next we rode a ride that I was particularly looking forward to -- Jurassic Park.

This ride was actually really good. I liked how not everything you saw was a dinosaur... sometimes you'd just see a tree shaking in the distance with no explanation. The end of the ride involves a near-miss with a T-Rex before splashing down into a lagoon.

We went over into their kiddy area and rode their dark ride The Cat in the Hat.

It was a typical people-mover, but the craftsmanship was over the top. It was like any other themed park ride, just with a lot of precision and thought put into it as it told you the story of the Cat in the Hat.

Next we headed over to ride what is known as Dueling Dragons (at least for now). Both rides were good, but I thought Ice was better than Fire.

Although the ride itself was good, the near-misses with the opposing side was what made the ride for me. It had some unexpected twists and turns that really got to me during the ride... overall pretty fun!

Next we rode Dr. Doom's Fear Fall.

Realistically, it's just another launch ride, but you do get to walk through Dr. Doom's layer before entering the ride - which is an element that adds a certain about of specialty and mystique to it.

After Dr. Doom, we gave Hulk another whirl and were off. IOA was definitely a cool park!

That evening we went to Downtown Disney and at at the House of Blues, which is something that I have always wanted to do...

Day 4 is going to be a big one... Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom.

BoddaH1994 Thanks for continuing the great trip reports.

Its cold here tonight, and I am eagerly waiting for the next installment

You and your adventures.....

Makes me want to pack my bags and brave the 85 degree weather.....

You and your adventures.....

Makes me want to pack my bags and brave the 85 degree weather.....

I second that. These wonderfully detailed PTRs are making me seethe with jealousy!

That's awesome! I'm totally jealous! I grew up in Florida and more or less lived at Disney parks (Mainly Magic Kingdom), Universal, and IOA. But it's been years since I have been to any of them. I'm definitely making it a point to get back to Florida either this year or early next year to go back to some of these parks.

I'm eagerly awaiting day 4 of your Trip Report. I hope you have fun at Magic Kingdom! I know I always did

I wonder since Disney now owns Marvel how long will we see marvel charactors there.

Wonderful PTR's. Never realized how extensive the theming at Universal was. Now to wait for tomorrow's adventure.

I wonder since Disney now owns Marvel how long will we see marvel charactors there.

That's really up to Uni...as it has been indicated they have rights to use those characters at Uni Florida for the life of the resort. Whether or not they choose to is a whole nother story.

I have enjoyed the updates Ryan, Thanks!

Hey Ryan, it's nice to know that someone else on here favors Ice over fire besides me and ol' Terp.