Hulks,Cats,Dragons And Plenty of Fun! (Universal Studios Islands of Adventure (Orlando))

Member Name: jo1l

Product:	Universal Studios Islands of Adventure (Orlando)
Date:	27/04/07 (412 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great Park, Rides for all ages

Disadvantages: None

Orlando has much to offer the theme park/attraction visitor at one end you have Disney and it's parks, at the other end, at the top of International Drive you have The Universal Studios Resort with Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and linking them both City Walk. The Universal Studios Resort may be the poor relation when it comes to attraction visitors but having spent two days at Island of Adventure I can definitely recommend you spend a day there be you a thrill seeker, a scared parent, a tweenie or a tiny tot it has something to offer everyone. With it's compact nature it is also extremely easy to do in a day and queues allowing get on every ride you want to go on.


Location:

Islands of Adventure is located at the northern end of International Drive, once you've either parked up, jumped out of your taxi or hopped off one of the frequent Lynx buses that goes there it is only a short stroll via the City walk area which links both Islands of adventure and Universal Studios. This to me was a plus point having spent a week "doing" Disney where it meant queuing for buses, jumping on monorails or taking a boat to the various parks. When I arrive some place I want to just be able to walk into the place not join a queue to actually join another queue at the front gate of the park.


Prices:

One thing Universal do is periodically have special offers on their web site I paid $104.95 for an adult ticket which at the time was the price for a two day ticket. The offer I got included an extra 3 days admission to both parks plus a free child's ticket. So it is worth checking out their web site on a regular basis. My tickets were actually mailed to me but they do also do a pick up on arrival scheme. My one gripe about Universal would be the fact you have to pay for their Express ticket, this allows you one express admission per attraction that is listed as an Express attraction. In June 2006 when I visited this was $18 per person. Universal have now changed the prices and depending on the date of your visit you could pay from $15 to $40 per person for an express ticket Disney allow everyone to get a Fast pass for free ok you might not be allowed to hold more than one fast pass at a time but you can if you work it properly get passes for all the rides you need during a vist. Given that I was unsure if the thrill seeker in my party would actually be tall enough for some of the rides listed as Express Pass rides I gave it a miss . When I was there in early June the longest we queued was 40 minutes, some of the bigger faster rides we unfortunately where able to go on, off and on again with in minutes!


Marvel Superhero Island

Should you start your tour of the park in a clockwise fashion then this is the first island you will come to. It's hard to miss with the gigantic green loops of the Hulk Roller coaster and the looming tower of Dr Doom's Fearfall. With it's comic book themeing in places it does transport you back to the 50's look you get while reading old Marvel comic books as you walk further into the area. You'll find a plentiful supply of kiosks and shops within the Superhero Island.

Hulk, with it's bright green paint work, this gigantic roller coaster dominates the entrance to Superhero island. With a height of 110 feet, drops of 105 feet, loops that will inflict a fear of terror in you just by looking at them and speeds of up to 67 mph this is one ride that confirmed roller coaster junkies will be sprinting to get to on admission to the park. Hulk has a height restriction of 54" or the magical 1.4m. Unfortunately the thrill seeker Niamh was less then a fingers width under the height restriction in her sandals which meant we were unable to ride Hulk. This led to a few tears on our first day - as I realised finally the man up stairs did exist and Niamh had to stand and watch others ride. A former friend on being told the news did offer to Fed Ex Next Day delivery a pair of platform soled shoes. This former friend has been erased from Christmas/birthday lists. In order to appease the now fed up Niamh who wanted to ride Hulk we made our way to the an updated tea cup ride, with a space themed twist, given it's situation in the shadows of Hulk then I doubt this ride has much in the way of queue at any time. On our second visit Niamh decided that her Mum might be a bit too scared to ride Hulk, so thankfully I can't tell you what it's like to be tossed around on the giant green loops whilst praying you'll see the ground again with your feet firmly on it.

Niamh took one look at Dr Doom's Fearfall and announced We didn't have to go on this evil looking ride that hurled you 150 feet in the air then ever so casually dropped you down again, then hurled you three quarters of the way back up, dropped you down again, you've got the picture I'm sure -a vomiting inducing ride just to look from the ground.

One of the popular rides in this Island has to be the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, expect to queue for this ride at any time of the year. But one thing Universal do well is themeing the waiting areas and Spiderman is pretty good when it comes to a good themed waiting area, taking you back to the 50's. The ride it's self is brilliant and well worth the wait. Clamped firmly into your car, wearing your 3D glasses you're taking on a tour of the dimly lit city, swinging as Spiderman does from building to building and expect a few surprises with your 3D glasses. Even on our 3rd go we still jumped at some of the objects flying towards us! Height restriction for this ride is 40"


Toon Lagoon

Home to the parks water rides, one thing about Islands of Adventure is you do get wet on their water rides, not just wet but soaking wet, but remember you'll soon get dry due to the heat. Popeye's Blige Rat Barge is perhaps one of the best water raft rides I've ever been on, we came off soaking wet, giggling and ran round to queue up again. It's not a slow slope around the course in one of these rafts but neither would a smaller child feel unsafe. One word of advice if you should ever go on this ride, you'll see a place in the middle to put your bag in do put it in unless you want a very wet bag!

Dudley Do_Rights Ripshaw falls is your typical water chute ride with a Canadian theme to it. I'll admit this ride looked run down in places. As with most water chute rides it takes you slowly around the course, in places it'll surprise you with a mini dip to go down but then suddenly you're waiting to be cranked up the top. The wait is nail biting if like me you hate rides that just chuck you down a steep slope into water, especially when your child is sat in front screeching with excitement and you're wondering if the force of the fall downwards is going to tip the little treasure out…..But I was brave and didn't join the woman in the car in front who got out just before we were cranked up to the top. It might have only been a second before we hit the water at the bottom of the chute but it was a life time for me. I'd add I was brave 4 times! Height restriction for this ride is 44"


Jurassic Park

Home to all things dinosaurs here you'll find the sedate Pteranodon Flyers which takes you on the equivalent of a ski life chair around the park not one for the thrill seekers but a welcome break if your nerves have been jangled a bit by the other rides. Camp Jurassic -a children's playground. The Jurassic Park Discovery centre with it's hands on exhibitions was interesting but the thrill seeker needed her fix so we didn't stay too long there! The Jurassic Park River Adventure ride is another of those wonderful rides that cranks you round a themed course then drops you down a 85 feet drop into complete darkness. The themeing before the drop is actually very good and does make you jump in places.


The Lost Continent

It was here in The Lost Continent that Niamh finally got to ride "a fast ride" kitted out with her trainers she made the magical 1.4m or 54" in order to ride Duelling Dragons. One thing I will say is every time Niamh went to get on Duelling Dragons she was measured some might find this a bind but to me it reassured me that they took basic safety seriously. Apparently this ride is the world only inverted duelling roller coaster, basically this means there are two rides Fire and Ice and at three point in the rides there are "near miss moments" where both rides come within a foot of each other. The queue for Ice was by far the shorter mainly due to the fact Ice is supposedly the less never jangling of the two rides. We chose Ice for the 5 times we rode it. Ice has a top speed of 55mph compared with Fires 60mph, the initial drop was only 95 feet whereby Fire drops you some 115 feet. If you compare the different types of loops and inversions then they are two totally different rides so the harden thrill seeker is going to want to queue up at least twice to ride the different rides. I'll admit after the second go I rather liked this ride, by the 5th ride I was even considering risking it on Hulk, thankfully the queues for Hulk were long when we went back to ride it! Duelling Dragons if your nerves can take it is one of those must ride it rides. In places you'll be screaming in terror others you'll just scream because everyone else is. Honestly it's fun and you should try it!

Duelling Dragons may well dominate The Lost Continent, but you will find rides and attractions for all ages here. We happily spent an hour cooling down by The Mystic Fountain a very naughty talking fountain which happily squirts cheeky children with a grand finale where by it drenches them! Niamh and the dozen or so other children who were playing there had a ball! You'll also find the rather rickety Flying unicorns roller coaster for little tots, Sinbad's stunt show which unfortunately we missed plus Poseidon's Fury. Poseidon's fury is one of those walk around rides/show where you are taken from area to area. Should you have a child who's scared off the dark or loud bangs and voices then it is best to avoid!


Seuss Landings

This is the final Island you'll come to should you start your tour from the main entrance in a clock wise fashion. Should you have small tots then I'd suggest you went here first as it is aimed for tots. As the name suggests this Island is all about the Cat in the Hat and other Seuss characters, if you time it right you'll even be able to meet the Cat in the Hat. With a variety of merry-go-round type rides younger children will love this Island. Hardened thrill seekers and older children will want to get out of this twee place as soon as possible.


Food and Drink:

This is in plentiful supply from kiosks selling ice creams, soda, giant pretzels and pop corn to fast food type outlets and proper sit down restaurants. Comparing prices I would say it was marginally cheaper then the Mouse Trap down the road. Universal currently do a meal deal where by you can get meals at certain outlets, if I was not a veggie I would have probably paid the $18 for an adult and $9 for a child as it works out at excellent value. This year you'll find you'll pay $24.99 per adult and $12.99 per child. Where Islands of Adventure gets the thumbs up from me food wise is the fact as a veggie after studying a couple of menus I found that both Niamh and I wouldn't have to have yet another round of cheese pizza and fries from the self service cafes. Even Niamh after nearly 10 days of Pizza wanted something different and my body was screaming out for something that was slightly more nutritionally healthy then yet more fries! My huge Greek salad that would have feed a family of 4 very happily was greeted ecstatically by me. Now before you think that you'll not get a big Mac type burger and an extra large fries to go you will. Should you find the need for a stiff drink after some of the more nerve jangling rides you will find that alcohol is sold in some of the restaurants and no I didn't run screaming to the bar after my 2nd go on Duelling Dragons but it was rather comforting to know I could have! Throw out the Park you'll find numerous sit down restaurants and kiosks, you'll not go hungry or thirsty here! Restrooms were in plentiful supply and on the whole very clean.


Islands of Adventures might well have to compete with all that Disney can offer down the road but it does a pretty good job. It's not aiming to ape the parks down the road Universal has stamped it's name firmly on the park and come up with it's own park and not a second class Disney. On any future visits to Florida if I was ever in the situation where we could only visit the one park then I'd go to Island of Adventures again without hesitation.

Summary: A great park for all ages.