Florida holidays 2002 Day 5

[Guest]

. . . . . . . coasters.

Take a deep breath and here we go.

Tuesday dawned bright and sunny – no change there, then – and according to the weather chappy, today was supposed to be in the low 80’s.  Marvellous, so after a quick brekkie and some Toon Disney (nice how things stay the same, innit?), we head for the bus to take us to the park which is – are you ready?  Another first.  I told you this is going to be a common thread for the nuts’ reports.

All I have to say is on first impressions is WOW!  To be honest with you, Disney has nothing on the first impressions we got from the coach coming in – put it this way, the first things we saw were the towers of Fearfall, the High points of the Hulk and the huge white building the coach driver told us was the River Adventure in Jurassic Park.  

Boy, were we in for a great day.  

We had been forewarned to take a change of clothes if you were going to be doing any of the water rides, and we looked at each other when packing – ooh, many moons ago (it felt like) – and thought, huh ANY indeed.  We were going to be doing them all!  We are suckers for punishment like that, we are.  Oh, yes.

So, Tracy carrying the clothes, in one rucksack (Disney one, natch) and me carrying the one we always take with us, (again, a Disney one), we went up the escalator and got our first proper look at Citywalk.

The layout is clear, which is the first thing we noticed, and the second thing we noticed was the moving walkways.  Excellent, we thought.  So on the moving walkway we went and before long, found ourselves at the entrance to Islands itself.

Oh, I almost forgot.  The music that was playing on the walkway going towards – and away from Islands was Hot Stuff by Donna Summer and a word to the wise here:  do NOT strut your funky stuff on the moving walkway to the songs, because you may get funny looks from the other people who are there.  We did. To both.  

Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, at the entrance to Islands.  After duly taking a photo of the Pharos lighthouse – my choice – we got our locker, placed our rucksacks in it, and prepared ourselves for the coming adventures.  We then caught our first proper look at the theming of Super Hero Island after walking through the Port of Entry – which is quite cool in itself, as far as shops go.  

Boy, is that impressive.  The theming for this land (and all the others) is unique in every respect, from the music to the shop fronts.   Mind you, above everything else, all we could hear was the whoosh of the hulk and the screams coming from this and Fearfall.

More of the hulk in a moment.

Our first main attraction we did was Spiderman (after Storm Force which was okay but basically the tea cups with a futuristic setting) – and boy, this has to be ridden to be believed.  I am not going to spoil it for anyone here – this would be unfair of me – but this is one amazing ride and that ending really makes you want to scream.  Quite unlike anything else you will ride.  The queueing area is unique in itself – inside a mock newspaper – and the queue when we went there was more or less non-existent which was nice, only a 10 minute wait (we did not even wait that long which was a bonus).

Verdict (in case you had not quite guessed) is WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW!!!!

From there, I left Tracy in the shade and once I had taken my cap, glasses, watch, bumbag – in fact anything that could have come loose&#33. I headed towards the Hulk.  

This is it, I thought as I entered the ride and saw the theming, no backing out you wimp, you are going on it and you will love it.  The queue seemed to stretch for miles and miles and it did not seem to be moving.  Never mind, I thought, the board only said 20 minutes, it will move quite quickly – if you leave now, you will not ride it.  So I waited and moved a little bit, waited a bit longer and moved a little bit more.  

30 minutes later, I was given the option of having a front row seat or selecting another seat.  Now, I am not a one for having front row seats – I find the best ride is normally experienced the further back you are on a coaster so I elected the other seats – good job because the front row queue was long!

I thought, excellent.  Not much longer to wait.  True, to a point.  After snaking some more – boy the queueing was an attraction in itself – I could finally see the cars!  And I could hear the screams even clearer now I was only a short distance away from my Xanadu.

Anyway, destination was there and I was shown to my seat – Row 7 on the LH edge.  Excellent, I thought nervously.  The edge seat.  Oh well.  Now, this is something I cannot understand – and something Tracy told me when I met up with her after riding it.  There are warnings over the loudspeaker as you walk towards the ride asking you to remove your caps because you will more than likely lose them.  I knew this as I had read it so that is why I took the precautions I took.  Some people did not; instead they rammed them over their ears as if this will prevent them from flying off. Yeah, right.

Tracy said to me that the number of people whose caps went flying off after the launch was unbelievable and she asked if there was a warning.  When I said yep, there was she just laughed.  She said it was so funny to watch all these caps go flying off and landing on the netting underneath was so comical.

Anyway, the car pulled in and the three people in front of me went in so I thought to myself, well Peter, no backing out now – you don’t want these people to think you are a wimp do you? And sat down and pulled the harness over my shoulders and secured the buckle and I began to relax.

Why?  Well, even if I wanted to move, I could not. The harnesses effectively wedged me in and I felt safe.  

This means a lot to me – I do like coasters but I also like to feel safe.  Plus, my rationale was this ride would not be running if it was not safe.  

So, the cars moved and went round the corner and up into the chute.  Apt term for it, huh?

All I could see was green light running up inside the chute on the covering and tyres spinning like billyho on the floor of the chute.  The track went up and disappeared into total darkness, and I thought, Oh My God, this is it. Heard a message come over the hidden speakers (do not ask me what the message was, all I could hear was blood pounding behind my ears&#33. and wwwwwhhhhhooooooooossssssshhhhhhhh! Off we went and into the heartline roll after being shot up the ramp and into the bright Florida sunshine!!!

Well, I am sure I would have been heard all over the park – I screamed and laughed my head off all round that ride – what an amazing feeling that launch is.  And what a ride – especially that first roll.  

Jiminy Cricket!!!  Well, as you have probably guessed, I loved that ride!!!  The only thing is the queueing was not reflected correctly by the board but that is a small gripe.  

On emerging, and meeting up with Tracy, and collecting my thoughts, I could not wait to ride it again but this was to come later on in the holidays because we had the overwhelming desire to get wet.  So, after getting some money and buying the inevitable ride photo, we headed towards Toon Lagoon and Bilge Rat Barges.  

The sun was beating down by this time – it felt a lot hotter than 80F, more like 85-86 – we found Bilge Rat Barges and entered the queue – or no queue, as it turned out and was shown to our seats.  

The signs say on this ride you may get wet.  Well, let me tell you all that is a lie.  It should read, you will get drowned – we were drenched to the skin when we got off!  Even me undies were soaked through, I got that wet!  Still, it was well worth it – and a lot better than Kali River rapids in our opinion. So then we headed towards Dudley Do Right’s Ripsaw Falls and the second soaking we got.

This ride did have Tracy a little worried about the drop but it did not put her off it in the slightest so we entered the – non-existent – queue and before long found us seated in a log right at the back with me taking the very back seat.  A good job as it turned out.

Let me explain.  The ride for the most part is a saunter about until you come to the last drop – which you come to the inevitable climb before you do.  It is actually quite pleasant, if a little damp inducing.  Until you come to the drop itself.  The boat pushed everybody back in their seat and the poor person on the back gets pinned to the spot – me.  Hmmm, well.  That is why I chose to be at the back.  The whole ride is very well thought out and the theming again is top quality.  And, the underwater bit . . . .

. . . .well, I am not going to spoil it.  All I will say is you do get very wet indeed.  
We got off and wrung our clothes out for the second time in quick succession and headed towards Jurassic Park for our third – and last, as it turned out – watery appointment for the day: The River Adventure.  

Oh boy – the ride is so good, it almost defies description.  Almost.

Again, the queue when we got there was almost non-existent and we had it on good authority the queue is fast moving.  Well, they ain’t whistling dixie.  On the walk up to the ride, you can see where the rafts come out.  They shift a lot of water, I can tell you.  

We were in and through the storyboard (queue) in five minutes and were seated on the raft, which sets sail around the enclosure after a lift which takes us there.

Before long, yup –the raft got knocked off course and we entered the raptor enclosure then we went inside.  And we started to climb.. And climb.  And climb.  

Now, the bar which was pinning us to the seat had a lot of padding on it and this had crossed my mind – why was it so thick?  I soon found out why!

Again, I will not spoil the surprise when it comes for those who have not done it here – if anyone wants to know any more about these rides, feel free to PM me and I will give them more details gladly – but I soon found out why the padding is that thick when the drop came; it is so steep and to be honest me seat came off the seat, which amazed me.  I am not an easy guy to shift but the ride managed it.  Well, the ride plus gravity! LOL

So, after wringing our clothes out again (for the last time, mercifully (that raft displaces a lot of water, cold water)) we headed towards the locker and changed into our dry clothes and began to wander round the park again taking footage and having a mosey around the parts we had missed while doing the whistlestop we did while getting from ride to ride.

Our first port of call was heading towards Mythos to book our evening meal (regrettably, it closed at 3pm because of a block booking for the evening but it was okay – we had planned to eat at Hard Rock Café so we shuffled the restaurants about a bit and had it sorted).  So from there we wandered some more and another coaster I was determined to do was Dueling Dragons – another first – I had never ridden an inverted coaster before and was unsure what to expect but I thought well, if you don’t ride one, you will never know.

So, armed with that good advice, I left Tracy in some shade having a seat and with the money, my cap, my bumbag and the rucksack – the other one was left in the locker with our damp (soggy) clothes – and walked in to the Dragon’s lair.

My first impression of the walk down was boy is it a long way!  About 1/3 mile if memory serves and the attention to detail is second to none.  This has by far the best theming from any attraction I have seen so far and any future rides could do well by using this as a template.  Impressive.

Now, I knew I wanted to do both sides but I did not want the front seats – as you know by now – so I elected to ride Fire first and then Ice.  Why?  Heaven only knows – going through the alphabet I guess (ha ha) – so when the choice came, I went left and arrived at the entrance gates for the cars.  
Now, Tracy does not do coasters so I was a single rider and was able to use this to jump the queue so almost as soon as I got there, there was a place for me – in Row 7, left hand side again.

Excellent!!  Went through the rigmarole with the harness and the seatbelt – again, I felt safe so I was happy – and then the fun started.

Bear in mind I had not been on an inverted coaster before so when the floor fell away and the car began to move, I thought to myself, Peter, what are you doing?  Are you Mad?  Well, I knew the answer to that question so I didn’t bother answering myself.  

The climb was a traditional one – no whoosh! this time and from the top, there actually is quite a nice view and once the first drop comes there is another lovely view – except this one is of the ground which rushes to meet you at a very high speed indeed and it is only then that the screams come!  

Excellent ride and that first drop is so steep!

Anyway, my plan was to ride both sides and I thought I would have had to leave the ride and go through the queue again – but oh, no. There is a little sign which invites you to ride the other side- if you dare.  Well, I dare so off I toddle and before long – the joys of being a single rider! – I am seated on the ice side in would you believe it, the same seat!  Again!! after not a long wait at all.

Well, the Fire side I have to say is the better side as it flings you upside down more often and the ride seemed to me to be a lot faster – but I put this down to the novelty factor.  Ice is good with a lot more cornering but the overriding impression I had when I was leaving the ride is boy those near misses are very near indeed!  

From there, we mosied around some more and decided to head over towards CityWalk as we had not eaten since breakfast – apart from snacks as were walking around – and I was feeling mightily hungry.

Hard Rock Café stood high and proud and as we walked towards it, we heard the music and found it very hard to resist the urge to strut again – did not want any more funny looks, thank you very much.

We walked in and asked for a table.  Ten minute wait?  That will do for us, thank you very much.  So we sat down outside and very quickly the waitress came and greeted us and took us inside.  Once inside, we were shown to our table and after perusing the menu we opted for the Jumbo Combo – definitely one to share, according to the description – and I decided on the 20oz Texan steak and Tracy opted for the Chicken fajitas and I have to say at this stage – after having a fair few – I can definitely get used to those free refills.

Well, for those reading this (and you will be glad to hear I am near the end of me ramblings for today) I cannot recommend this enough for a number of things; 1) the food is of an exceptional quality, 2) the service is top notch – they must have the timing down to a fine art because we had just the right amount of time to wait before each course came out, 3) the atmosphere inside is nicely balanced between kitsch and a “proper” eaterie and 4) the music is excellent – a cross between old and new like John Lennon, Springsteen, Nickelback (one of my new favourite groups) and Nirvana.

All in all, an excellent meal was had and I had the option of buying a 23oz Hurricane Glass if I had one of their thick chocolate malt shake.  Well, I had no choice but to imbibe in one.  It came out and boy, it was THICK!!!

I worked it out later but it was a 3 pint glass filled to the top with ice cold milk and a thick, chocolatey shake and it was lovely with a capital L.  Once it was finished and I had the glass in a box in a Hard Rock Café bag – clean one, natch – we headed for the bus and back to the hotel, where we got our hot choc and turned telly on just to catch the beginning of Pepper Ann (One in a mill-YON!!&#33. and as we lay in bed after making me notes for the trip reports we consulted our itinerary –Seaworld with a couple of additions.

Lights out and we very soon drifted off to sleep with me dreaming of the Hulk.  Strange, I know but there you have it.

Tomorrow, Seaworld with a lovely lady and her mad daughter

[BevS97]

sounds like another great day, Pete.  Not sure if I could cope with all those coasters though.

Bev

[ANGEL]

Pete,
what a great day! what a fantastic report...thanks! .

Ive never done Hulk or DD (chickened out last year) but Im determined to one day! Take it you enjoyed them then? .

I love the theming of IoA, as you say it knocks spots off Disney when you first see it...and we were lucky enough to see it all from our hotel every day last Xmas! .

Isnt HR brilliant too..and such good value I think... lol at you strutting your stuff...i always get the glare from Becky when I do that! .  .

[Carole]

Wow, great report Pete. You are brave going on those coasters .

I love those water rides at IOA, and as you say, you do get seriously wet.

[AlisonB]

Brilliant descriptions Pete - made me feel like I was back there!

Those coasters are really something else aren't they?

[Guest]

Pete I would have liked to have seen you STRUTTING your funky stuff on the walkways,I bet that was a sight!!
You must have nerves of steel doing all the large coasters,I couldn't do them, but then I'm a coward.

 .    .    .

[Tartan Tigger]

Great report, I love the water rides at IOA too .

[Anne]

Great report

Never got to Universal...saving it for next time .

Don't know if I'll pluck up the courage for the coasters though .

[CarolynU]

Another fantastic day. Was HRC expensive? Carolyn .

[BONZO]

Great stuff!

We are MASSIVE coaster fans and always ride front row for everything - nothing quite like it!

IOA is truly awesome and well themed with many lessons learnt from Disney I'm sure.

10 min wait for Hard Rock? - unheard of!