Florida Holidays 2002 – Day 8: Universal Studios

[Guest]

. . many times!!! . .

Friday dawned – yes, you guessed – hot and sunny. Actually, this should read very hot and very sunny because when we turned the telly on at 6am, the weatherman said the max temperature today was going to be 87F!!! Tracy and I looked at each other, grinning like a pair of Cheshire cats – lovely jubbly.

We breakfasted in the Food Court and were waiting at the Mears departure point for the bus to turn up. Which he did prompt as per usual. Sorted out the tickets and off we went to Universal – another first – and arrived at the Citywalk barely twenty minutes later.

Walking down Citywalk – and those who have read Day 5 knows what is coming next, but for those of you who have not yet read this instalment please read on – the music was the same as day 5: Donna Summer and Hot Stuff.

So there was Tracy and I doing the Full Monty routine on the moving walkway all the way down towards Universal itself and in the distance we could see the Ride technicians testing the Hulk and the Fearfall and, very faintly, we could hear the whoosh and the music coming from the Marvel Island in Islands itself.

And yes, we were getting some very strange looks indeed from the other patrons of the park – obviously they are not used to people behaving this way. Still, we like to share some culture. As you do. Well, we do anyway.

I did mention the temperature being 87F. Well, it certainly felt like it – the sun was blasting down and as we entered Universal itself and took a photo of the globe and the archway – one of Tracy’s choices primarily but I have to say it is a fine photo indeed – we stopped for the first of our many liquid breaks of the day. It was scorching!!!

We decided to do the big six first and then work our way around doing the other atttractions so our first port of call was Terminator 2 3-D. Well, what can I say? This is an awesome attraction and definitely worth catching for those who are due to go there. I will not spoil it for you but the combination of live action and 3D film is truly stunning and the finale will more than likely leave you speechless. One word of warning – it may not be suitable for youngsters of a nervous disposition because there are a couple of very loud bangs and some sudden surprises which may cause a little distress but, this aside, I strongly recommend this to anyone. Very cleverly put together.

From Terminator we wandered around to Back to the Future. I loved this ride but Tracy did find it a bit too rough. Basically, you are in an 8-car DeLorean sports car – the titular Time Travel car from the film – and you chase Biff Tannen through time trying to get him back to present time. It is very rough and there are no restraints at all to speak of – there is a seatbelt but it does not give a great deal of support – and it can induce feelings of nausea but, if you go on expecting this and can handle a couple of rough jolts and bumps, it is one amazing ride.

From BTTF, we headed towards Men In Black: Alien Attack. Well, it was at this time we noticed there were hardly any queues at all for any of the attractions. We knew we wanted to pick a fairly quiet day – seeing as how we had not been there before – but it was so quiet. We waited no time at all for Terminator, about 5 minutes for the Back To The Future, and 5 minutes for Men In Black. Excellent.

We walked in and around the queueing area – again I will not spoil this part of the attraction but it basically has scenes from the film in this part – and you enter the training area and are assigned your car. The bar comes down and you go round blasting the aliens to smithereens. Simple idea very well staged and – again, not giving too much away – take care not to get hit by the other cars who can shoot at you. You will get very dizzy. Awesome. We both loved this.

From MIB we headed towards Amity and out came the camcorder. Our next stop: JAWS!

Now, when we knew we were going back and doing Universal and Islands, we both were really looking forward to doing Jaws because of what we had read and what we had heard of this particular ride. Plus we both are huge fans of the film, so this was one attraction we were really looking forward to experience. Then, when we had the camcorder as a Chrimbo pressie, this was a bonus as I was determined, if at all possible, to film this as a permanent record of the ride.

So we walked up – after me taking a photo of Tracy in the mouth of the shark – and lo and behold; a five minute wait (hah, more like a no minute wait; we walked up and went on the boat.) which was filmed and then we were on the boat and ready to set sail.

The first thing that impressed me was the size of the attraction itself – it is huge – and the second thing that impressed was the driver of the boat. A hint: if you do this ride, hope you have Shania as your driver. She really enters into the spirit of things.

Anyway, the ride starts and before long you see the destructive power inherent in these majestic beasties – I know it is only a dummy but oh boy. The thought put in by the designers is way cool. Again, I will not spoil the ride by describing exactly what happens but I had no idea there were that many attacks! And the bit in the boathouse is very effectively staged.

Anyway, the filming was – by my standards – amazing and the attacks and the final denouement is all there. I was well chuffed to see what I had captured.

We loved this ride and it is, beyond doubt, our favourite attraction in the whole park. As you can probably tell.

Anyhow, from there we went to Twister: Ride It Out. Hmmm.

I was full of high hopes for this attraction – after being one of the few people who quite enjoyed the film – but I came out feeling a little disappointed by it. The queueing area is impressive and the pre-show film is very well put together and after having the longest wait of any attraction (and this was only ten minutes) we were in the main arena where the action truly happens.

We managed to get in the front of the auditorium – no mean feat in itself – and, while the buildup was very well staged and the twister itself was very impressive (don’t get me wrong, it was impressive in what it represented) but – and I know how this sounds – it could have been so much more. I guess it comes down to personal tastes. It was just not as scary as it could have been.

From Twister we went towards Earthquake – now this was more like it. From the moment we walked in – and I was selected as one of the grips (ha ha; they wanted big strong men. Two out of three ain’t bad, as the song goes!&#33. – we were shown what happens when an earthquake strikes.

As already said, I will not spoil this for those who are wanting to ride this for the first time, but it is very well staged and the execution is so cool. Especially when, at the end of the ride, you can see the scene getting reset for the next tram. It is dark, and quite loud – may scare young children – but very good and well worth experiencing.

By this time the heat was at it’s peak and, contrary to the weather report, it felt a lot hotter than 87F so we decided to call a temporary halt and go for something to eat. Which is why we decided to leave either Earthquake or Jaws to as the last ride before lunch. We decided, again when we decided to do Universal, we would love to eat at Lombards Landing because of all the good reports we had read on the boards of old and from Orlando books we had bought/ read.

Boy, what a restaurant. It was perfect. From the moment we walked in – and said a prayer to the god of Air Conditioning, it was so cooling inside – to the moment we left, we felt like VIP’s. The food was faultless, the service was excellent and the décor inside was fantastic. One thing that impressed me was the waitresses were more mature – not being ageist but it was crystal clear to me was the service was so good because of the age of the servers. Just my opinion.

Tracy had Chicken Wings to start and a Combi Basket Fry entrée and I had the Jumbo Wayfarer Shrimp cocktail to start and the Grouper entrée. The portions were massive and cooked to perfection. I had Grouper last year when Tracy and I ate at the Brown Derby in MGM (which I thought was cooked to perfection then) but I have to say the dish at Lombards was better, which I honestly thought was not possible. Outstanding restaurant.
Once we were suitably fed and watered, we headed towards the Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show – and out came the camcorder again. For no particular reason other than to get in the practice. This is a very funny show and well worth taking the time out to sit in the shade and have a bloomin’ good laugh at the antics of the performers. We went from there to do Kongfrontation. Now, I had read that this was closed for refurb a couple of weeks before we were leaving and I was a little disappointed because I thought we may not get to ride this but – joy of joys – it was open for business as usual.

And am I pleased it was. This is well cool – Tracy did find it a little scary because it seems like it taking place from quite a height but the attacks are quite frightening – in the nicest possible way – and yes, his breath does smell of bananas!!!

From there, we headed towards the Animal Actors Stage – and out came the camcorder again – for an entertaining show with animals which have been rescued, then we headed towards the Funtastic World of Hanna Barbera which is quite good fun and from there to the Gory, Gruesome and Grotesque horror Make up show (not half as gory as it sounds), then to the Alfred Hitchcock presents – another good show which includes a 3D version of the Birds which is the highlight of this show.

This was the last attraction we visited and we headed towards the bus – through the CityWalk and some more disco-strutting – we cannot help ourselves!! LOL – and yes, we had some more funny looks – so once we got back to the hotel after a lovely bus journey back when we went behind Islands and had a back view of Jurassic Park River Adventure and the Hulk coaster plus the driver had the Air Conditioning up full blast – I mean at nine o’clock it was still unbelievably hot – we had a banana-split (incredibly tasty) from the Rialto food court which was eaten in double quick time so we went back to the room and I wandered back once I had the mugs for a well deserved hot chocolate once we got back to the room and collapsed into bed with aching feet and very many happy memories of an excellent day we had in what.was, in my humble opinion a much better park than we had expected.

Coming up soon – Magic Kingdom and the start of the Spring Break.

[Guest]

errm me thinks you enjoyed Universal .  .  superb Jaws innit?

Deb

[Carole]

I love Universal too. It sounds like you both had a fantastic day.
I thought the twister attraction was a bit lacking, and I'm one of the people who like the film.

T2-3D - Awesome .

[ANGEL]

Brilliant report again Pete! .

USF is one of my very fave parks... esp MiB and Terminator! .  Did you not do ET then? !!!!! .

I was really disappointed in Twister too, shame, you're right it could have been so much more! .

[Guest]

Another great report
US and IoA are my DS favoriter parks  .

[AlisonB]

Another great report Pete!

Love the Universal parks!