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Despite staying up as late as possible the first night in America my excitement and hunger for IHOP woke me up at 5:30am. We left for IHOP about 6, which was opposite the hotel <3 yay for convenient International Drive <3 There was no one in the restaurant except for 2 other Brits who were sat behind us. I ordered the chocolate chip pancakes with bacon and Mountain Dew (omg nom)
I have never felt so full as I did after those pancakes, I’m pretty sure that’s why I hardly ate over the 2 weeks. In fact I think I’m still full from them.
After breakfast we headed back to the hotel for a bit to wait for our 7.45 shuttle to Islands of Adventure/Universal. I didn’t realise it would be so easy to get round with public transport as it was. I don’t know how easy it would be if you weren’t on I-Drive, but with the I-Ride and free shuttles from practically every hotel to most of, if not all the parks it’s really not too bad. Disney shuttles were quite expensive, but we soon found out you could get a bus from SeaWorld for 2 dollars each way.
The shuttle took about 20 minutes to get to the park so we were there quite a bit before opening. This meant we could take the obligatory photo before entering IOA
The entrance was pretty empty when we got there, and didn’t get much busier before they opened. We headed into the park after the let’s get a kid to open the park thing, and headed straight to The Incredible Hulk (I left my camera in the locker like a mong, so I have no photos…). We got straight on the front row, which provided a good ride, and wasn’t rough as I was expecting. Not omgamazing! But re-rideable nonetheless. As the queue was empty we went straight back on, this time to ride the back row. This time we were seated behind Kirk from Coronation Street (tenuous claim to fame!) To which Mark said “Is that that guy from Corrie? You know the stupid one?!”. At the end of the ride he turned to us a smiled... The back row is a different ride, more forceful and definitely a favourite. It was a bit rougher, so we didn’t do it again.
Next up was Spiderman. I hadn’t looked at anything to do with Florida before I went, so only really knew what to expect at Disney as I have been there before. Spiderman was also walk on, but the queue line is quite well themed from what I saw. I really enjoyed the ride, despite not being a Spidey fan. The story was fun, and the effects were very good. It is definitely one of, if not my favourite dark ride.
We wandered over to the cartoony area, I dunno does it have a name? Probably… Oh well, so I had the obligatory photo with the sideways dog, then we headed to Jurassic Park as we weren’t ready to get soaked on Ripsaw Falls just yet. I had seen videos of River Adventure so was rather excited and it didn’t disappoint, I genuinely loved it, the animatronics are pretty awesome. I couldn’t be bothered with even attempting to do Pteranodon Flyers, so I decided to go and get a photo at the splash zone of Jurassic Park.
I couldn’t really say no to Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw falls now, so we headed back there next. Definitely my favourite log flume, I loved the theming both in the queue and on the ride and the drop is pretty fab too! Unfortunately we didn’t ride it again over the holiday. Just another excuse to go back!
We couldn’t do Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges as it was closed and they didn’t know when it would next be open, but we knew we’d be going back so we weren’t too upset
Obviously, the next port of call had to be Hogsmeade. I was very excited to see this area and I must say it’s very well done! I absolutely loved it! I was very glad it had lived up to the expectations I had. Forbidden Journey was walk on (barring the obvious potter mad picture takers) so we did that first. The whole queue line was AMAZING, I loved it. The ride itself was very very good, but I felt there were bits that could maybe be improved. I thought it lacked something, but I’m not sure what. The whole technical side of it was INCREDIBLE though. Absolutely amazing. Afterwards we got in the queue for Flight of the Hippogriff, which was 30 minutes long. Anything for a cred right? It was an alright ride, not bad for a kiddy cred. Not in any rush to ride it again though. Duelling Dragons/Dragon Challenge/Whatever was walk on as well so we went and did both Ice/Fire Hungarian Horntail/Chinese Fireball. I can’t remember which we did first, but I really enjoyed both of them and thought they were better than what some people have said. I would have liked to have ridden them when they duelled though. We probably re-rode each side as the queue was empty, but I can’t really remember (I’ve slept since then)
I don’t think we did anymore in Islands of Adventure on the Friday, and because we’d done pretty much everything and it was only lunch time we thought we may as well head to Universal Studios.
We had an obligatory photo with the Universal Globe and then headed into the park.
First ride in Universal had to be Despicable Me! So we headed to that as it’s near the entrance. The theming inside was amazing
The ride itself is fab! I loved it, it was everything I wanted and more. The preshow and everything were amazing personally (but I am a big Despicable Me! Fan) Plus when you leave the ride you get to dance with the minions! Always a plus!
Next up it was cred time! Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit was one of those rides that I didn’t hold high hopes for but was looking forward to experiencing it. The queue was 10 minutes, and rarely got higher than that on any of the days we went, except at Halloween Horror Nights when we queued about 30 mins for it. We got the back seat, and both chose Harder Better Faster Stronger. The ride was quite good, not great, but not terrible and not as rough as I had expected. I don’t think it would as good without the
music, it was really immersive and quite cool.
Universal is a pretty cool park in my opinion, I liked the buildings and the sets and thought the whole park was well themed, even with the construction that is happening in the middle of the park. It’s also a nice sized park in my opinion, not too spread out but not all clumped together either.
After HRRR, we headed over to The Mummy. I thought it was just another simulator, so I was surprised when I found out it was another cred <3 (this is how much I looked into Florida…). Just as we were about to cross the road we saw the staff blocking off the road for the parade, so we ran across so we wouldn’t get stuck, but then I ended up watching the parade anyway, because I saw Gru <3 So have a photo spam of the parade <3
Stupid Vector </3
Next up came Spongebob
Due to my recent costume success I had to stay and watch Spongebob come past <3 Plus, Squidward punched Mark in the nose so it was so worth it
Fish rollerblade at Universal
It’s me <3
Aerial silks <3 (I don’t remember them in Spongebob, but I obviously wasn’t paying proper attention…)
Squidward, as he was about to punch Mark <3
After the Mummy (which I would have enjoyed more if I had GOTTEN MY CUP OF COFFEE) we went on Men in Black: Alien Attack. I didn’t even know this ride existed before we walked up to it but hey ho. This was also walk on barring the whole “universe and you” spiel but the guy who was doing it was funny so… Again, the queue line was fab and the ride was pretty awesome too, despite the targets not being obvious… (I think it was the eyes you had to shoot? I dunno) Anyway, I won because I pressed the red button, so I was happy <3
Another ride I had been looking forward to was The Simpsons (<3) so we did that next, we queued about 20 minutes which was a bit of a ballache, but the woman in front had shoes that said “doggers” on so I got a few laughs from that.
I enjoyed the pre ride batching area with the different stalls. The video they showed as well was amusing
Hahah Haunted Condo <3
The ride itself was great, I really liked it but I don’t know if that’s just because I’m a massive Simpsons fan.
By this point we were hungry so we got a bite to eat and something to drink. I looked at some of the
merchandise and then we just wandered round the park taking some pics as it was about 4.30. Due to Halloween Horror Nights the park closed at 5pm and if you had tickets you could wait in the holding pen til 6/6.30pm, so we did that. Here have some park spam.
Obligatory Jaws photo <3
Spongebob <3
Next up: Halloween Horror Nights first night
I have never felt so full as I did after those pancakes, I’m pretty sure that’s why I hardly ate over the 2 weeks. In fact I think I’m still full from them.
After breakfast we headed back to the hotel for a bit to wait for our 7.45 shuttle to Islands of Adventure/Universal. I didn’t realise it would be so easy to get round with public transport as it was. I don’t know how easy it would be if you weren’t on I-Drive, but with the I-Ride and free shuttles from practically every hotel to most of, if not all the parks it’s really not too bad. Disney shuttles were quite expensive, but we soon found out you could get a bus from SeaWorld for 2 dollars each way.
The shuttle took about 20 minutes to get to the park so we were there quite a bit before opening. This meant we could take the obligatory photo before entering IOA
The entrance was pretty empty when we got there, and didn’t get much busier before they opened. We headed into the park after the let’s get a kid to open the park thing, and headed straight to The Incredible Hulk (I left my camera in the locker like a mong, so I have no photos…). We got straight on the front row, which provided a good ride, and wasn’t rough as I was expecting. Not omgamazing! But re-rideable nonetheless. As the queue was empty we went straight back on, this time to ride the back row. This time we were seated behind Kirk from Coronation Street (tenuous claim to fame!) To which Mark said “Is that that guy from Corrie? You know the stupid one?!”. At the end of the ride he turned to us a smiled... The back row is a different ride, more forceful and definitely a favourite. It was a bit rougher, so we didn’t do it again.
Next up was Spiderman. I hadn’t looked at anything to do with Florida before I went, so only really knew what to expect at Disney as I have been there before. Spiderman was also walk on, but the queue line is quite well themed from what I saw. I really enjoyed the ride, despite not being a Spidey fan. The story was fun, and the effects were very good. It is definitely one of, if not my favourite dark ride.
We wandered over to the cartoony area, I dunno does it have a name? Probably… Oh well, so I had the obligatory photo with the sideways dog, then we headed to Jurassic Park as we weren’t ready to get soaked on Ripsaw Falls just yet. I had seen videos of River Adventure so was rather excited and it didn’t disappoint, I genuinely loved it, the animatronics are pretty awesome. I couldn’t be bothered with even attempting to do Pteranodon Flyers, so I decided to go and get a photo at the splash zone of Jurassic Park.
I couldn’t really say no to Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw falls now, so we headed back there next. Definitely my favourite log flume, I loved the theming both in the queue and on the ride and the drop is pretty fab too! Unfortunately we didn’t ride it again over the holiday. Just another excuse to go back!
We couldn’t do Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges as it was closed and they didn’t know when it would next be open, but we knew we’d be going back so we weren’t too upset Obviously, the next port of call had to be Hogsmeade. I was very excited to see this area and I must say it’s very well done! I absolutely loved it! I was very glad it had lived up to the expectations I had. Forbidden Journey was walk on (barring the obvious potter mad picture takers) so we did that first. The whole queue line was AMAZING, I loved it. The ride itself was very very good, but I felt there were bits that could maybe be improved. I thought it lacked something, but I’m not sure what. The whole technical side of it was INCREDIBLE though. Absolutely amazing. Afterwards we got in the queue for Flight of the Hippogriff, which was 30 minutes long. Anything for a cred right? It was an alright ride, not bad for a kiddy cred. Not in any rush to ride it again though. Duelling Dragons/Dragon Challenge/Whatever was walk on as well so we went and did both Ice/Fire Hungarian Horntail/Chinese Fireball. I can’t remember which we did first, but I really enjoyed both of them and thought they were better than what some people have said. I would have liked to have ridden them when they duelled though. We probably re-rode each side as the queue was empty, but I can’t really remember (I’ve slept since then)
I don’t think we did anymore in Islands of Adventure on the Friday, and because we’d done pretty much everything and it was only lunch time we thought we may as well head to Universal Studios.
We had an obligatory photo with the Universal Globe and then headed into the park.
First ride in Universal had to be Despicable Me! So we headed to that as it’s near the entrance. The theming inside was amazing
The ride itself is fab! I loved it, it was everything I wanted and more. The preshow and everything were amazing personally (but I am a big Despicable Me! Fan) Plus when you leave the ride you get to dance with the minions! Always a plus!
Next up it was cred time! Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit was one of those rides that I didn’t hold high hopes for but was looking forward to experiencing it. The queue was 10 minutes, and rarely got higher than that on any of the days we went, except at Halloween Horror Nights when we queued about 30 mins for it. We got the back seat, and both chose Harder Better Faster Stronger. The ride was quite good, not great, but not terrible and not as rough as I had expected. I don’t think it would as good without the
music, it was really immersive and quite cool.
Universal is a pretty cool park in my opinion, I liked the buildings and the sets and thought the whole park was well themed, even with the construction that is happening in the middle of the park. It’s also a nice sized park in my opinion, not too spread out but not all clumped together either.
After HRRR, we headed over to The Mummy. I thought it was just another simulator, so I was surprised when I found out it was another cred <3 (this is how much I looked into Florida…). Just as we were about to cross the road we saw the staff blocking off the road for the parade, so we ran across so we wouldn’t get stuck, but then I ended up watching the parade anyway, because I saw Gru <3 So have a photo spam of the parade <3
Stupid Vector </3
Next up came Spongebob
Due to my recent costume success I had to stay and watch Spongebob come past <3 Plus, Squidward punched Mark in the nose so it was so worth it
Fish rollerblade at Universal
It’s me <3
Aerial silks <3 (I don’t remember them in Spongebob, but I obviously wasn’t paying proper attention…)
Squidward, as he was about to punch Mark <3
After the Mummy (which I would have enjoyed more if I had GOTTEN MY CUP OF COFFEE) we went on Men in Black: Alien Attack. I didn’t even know this ride existed before we walked up to it but hey ho. This was also walk on barring the whole “universe and you” spiel but the guy who was doing it was funny so… Again, the queue line was fab and the ride was pretty awesome too, despite the targets not being obvious… (I think it was the eyes you had to shoot? I dunno) Anyway, I won because I pressed the red button, so I was happy <3
Another ride I had been looking forward to was The Simpsons (<3) so we did that next, we queued about 20 minutes which was a bit of a ballache, but the woman in front had shoes that said “doggers” on so I got a few laughs from that.
I enjoyed the pre ride batching area with the different stalls. The video they showed as well was amusing
Hahah Haunted Condo <3
The ride itself was great, I really liked it but I don’t know if that’s just because I’m a massive Simpsons fan.
By this point we were hungry so we got a bite to eat and something to drink. I looked at some of the
merchandise and then we just wandered round the park taking some pics as it was about 4.30. Due to Halloween Horror Nights the park closed at 5pm and if you had tickets you could wait in the holding pen til 6/6.30pm, so we did that. Here have some park spam.
Obligatory Jaws photo <3
Spongebob <3
Next up: Halloween Horror Nights first night
