Our family is going to FL this July and we plan on hitting Universal Studios in Orlando. We’ve done [del]Rat[/del] Disney World enough and want something different. We’re going to get a 5 day pass and hit the regular park and the Islands. I have a 15 YO son (coaster fan) and 6 YO daughter (medium fearlessness). Any suggestions on how to make the best of it? What are the don’t miss/definitely miss items? Thanks for your ideas!
I’ve been to IoE and Universal in one day. Both of them. I was very tired at the end but we saw everything of interest. One leisurely day at each park should be enough to see everything, except the 1 1/2+ hour coasters. Which is not to say you’ll necessarily be bored with 5 days, (I can’t say cause I’ve only been there once,) but you won’t feel like you’re missing anything.
My highlights of IoE (Universal wasn’t that memorable):
Line for the Dragons Coaster – better than the ride itself
Seusstown – it was closed when we were there for renovation but the scenery was awesome nonetheless.
Actually, it was a fairly disappointing experience vs. Disney. It would have been better if they had a FastPass or equivalent, as the Hulk ride line took about 1 1/2 hours, and the ride wasnt all that great (it went by so fast you could hardly see anything, although it did feel like I was moderately buzzed afterward, even though I could still totally keep my balance, weirdest dizziness I ever experienced.)
I agree - it only takes a day to do both parks.
Skip Twister in the old park - awful. Favorite in the old park - MIB or ET.
Islands - Dueling Dragons rocks! Keep your head back on Hulk right from the beginning…trust me. Seuss is so cool - The Cat in the Hat ride is not just for kids. And the new ride in that area is fun - High in the Sky. It takes you above Seuss Landing, and you get a good view of the park.
Favorite of the two parks is definitely Islands. I love almost all the rides there.
Susan
Hmm… once I went to Universal Orlando after having been to Disney, I saw no reason to ever go back to Disney (except to take the kids one day). We most recently went there (my wife and two elementary school aged kids) last July (2006). The Spider-Man ride is cool at Islands of Adventure. My kids loved the Jurassic Park play area and the Curious George play area (they were 5 and 8). However, my new favorite ride and my wife’s new favorite ride is The Mummy ride over in Universal Studios. I find Universal Orlando a welcome change from the spread-out, incredibly crowded DisneyWorld.
Suggestions: go early to the park when it first opens, then DO NOT stop at the first ride you see. Instead, go to the rear of the park and then work your way around. Most of the crowd will go in order as they come in and you will just follow the crowd if you do it that way. But both parks are shaped more or less like a circle around a lagoon and if you go to the rides located at the furthest points from the entrance, you will avoid the big crowds for at least a couple of hours.
Also, if you don’t mind splitting up, a lot of the popular rides have a single rider line. They try to fill in the entire car of each ride, so they will pull from the single rider line when there is an odd number or a seat left open, the single rider line moves pretty quickly. What you do is when you see a huge line, go to the line attendant and ask if there is a single-rider line. If there is, the attendant will point the way. Not all rides have single rider lines and not at all times. I think there has to be a 45 minute wait before they open up the single rider lines.
Islands of Adventure has more thrill rides, Universal Studios has more sit-down movie rides.
The miss/don’t miss list:
Universal Studios:
Terminator 3-D- Don’t miss. Great 3-D film / live-action / special effects mixed presentation.
E.T. the ride- I’d do it for nostalgia sake. Kind of like Peter Pan’s flight ride.
Back to the Future- Was cool in it’s heyday but it’s now pretty much just a bumpy jolty motion simulator while watching a bigcreen movie. Okay to skip.
MIB Alien Attack: Haven’t been on it but it sounds pretty cool. Like a better version of Buzz Lightyear ride. I wouldn’t miss it.
Jaws: A classic must do. Similar to the jungle cruise but better F/X like fire and 'splosions.
Earthquake: Kind of like MGMs Catastrophe Canyon except indoors. Aged.
The Mummy: Haven’t been on it, don’t know what it’s about. It’s new though so probably good.
Twister: Somewhat disappointing but fun. Watch a soundset with wind and rain effects and a ultra-thin twister made of smoke.
Shrek 4-D: A cross between Muppetvision and Honey I Shrunk the Audience.
Jimmy Neutron: Used to be the Hanna-Barbara ride. Another motion simulator while watching a screen.
Islands of Adventure:
Hulk: Decent coaster if you like coasters. What you see is what you get.
Spiderman: “THE” best ride experience in central Florida. Because you have the 5-day pass I would still wait the 2 hours + to go on it.
Dr.Dooms Fearfall: Skip it. Launchs you up but doesn’t drop you.
Popeye’s Bilge Rats: The best river raft type ride I’ve been on. Very long, very exciting, very wet.
Dudley Do-right Falls: Another water type flume ride kind of like Splash Mountain and just as good.
Jurassic Park: River boat ride through anamatronic dinosaurs and then a big drop at the end. Not that original or exciting.
Dueling Dragons: Great suspended roller coaster with really fun que (waiting line). The two intertwined coasters, Fire & Ice, are similar enough that you probably don’t need to ride both.
Sinbad Show: Fun pirate stunt show. Good place to rest in the shade.
Poseidons Fury: Indoor special effects multi-room stage show. Has a really cool water tunnel and twist ending. I like it but not everyone I know does.
Cat in the Hat: Book themed ride similar to the Tigger ride? Colorful & pleasant.
STUDIO WALK: The area outside the parks.
They have a nice movie theatre there which would probably be a good place to cool off mid-day when it’s really hot out and the crowds are heavy. Hard Rock Cafe probably has better quality food than the parks for a similar price and it’ll be air conditioned.
My fiancee and I did Disney + Islands of Adventure last August. IoA has a “quickpass” type system, but:
- It’s an additional cost (I’m thinking ~$15 or $20 per person but definitely don’t quote me)
- (this was something that came as a bit of a surprise) the pass is only good once on each ride that supports the system. So you could use it to go through the “quick” line at Hulk and then the quick line at Spiderman, but you can’t use it twice for Hulk; the second time through you have to use the regular line. Depending on your park plans, this may or may not matter.
- The “quickpass” line still had more of a wait than we saw using Disney’s fastpass.
Even with the above, I found it to be a good deal. We spent an entire day at Islands, hitting every ride on the pass, so overall it probably saved a couple of hours of line waiting.
My favorites were Hulk (I’m a pretty big fan of thrill rides, and I still needed a minute to get my balance / stomach back afterward), the Popeye water ride and Jurassic Park. But all the coasters were fun (and kind of made the Disney rides a bit less exciting in comparison).
About food on City Walk. If you are a person that enjoys great food, make a reservation at Emril’s and while you are waiting walk next door to Margaritaville for drinks while you wait.
Do not eat at Margaritaville, the food is vile. We had dinner there on Monday. I had one of the worst cheeseburgers I have ever eaten, I think it had sat on a steam table for an hour or more. My wife’s meal was not much better.
The Mummy Ride (at Universal Studios, used to be the Kongfrontation): Definitely one of my new favorite rides. It starts off as a “dark ride” type and then goes into a indoor roller coaster type (a la Space Mountain).
According to the Universal Orlando website, the Back to the Future attraction was closed on March 30th, 2007.
:eek:
Aww… I enjoyed Back to the Future… I heard rumors of a new King Kong-themed ride at Universal, perhaps this is where they will put it anyone heard anything official?
As for the OP, my daughter was 5 when we went last year and she was pretty much able to go on all the rides we wanted her to try. If my 9 year old son gets to be about 2 inches taller, I think he could ride everything in both parks.
As for 5 to 6 year olds, my daughter went on:
Jurrasic Park River Adventure: movie themed version of Splash Mountain with a scarier premise–my daughter freaked.
Jaws: mild boat ride, but scary to little kids who might think things are really happening.
Back to the Future
Spider-Man
Popeye’s Bilge Rat barges
everything in Seuss Landing
Earthquake
Men in Black
Jimmy Neutron
Shrek 4-D
I can’t think of any more offhand…
I will agree that Spider-Man is an extremely cool ride. It’s amazing… (no pun intended).
I can confirm Back to the Future closed recently, but a Simpsons ride is planned, and a Harry Potter ride of some kind is also in the works.
Here’s what you MUST do:
Spider-Man (Islands) – THE BEST. It’s a mind-blowing experience, and well worth the wait.
Hulk (Islands) – amazing hardcore roller coaster.
Dueling Dragons (Islands) – another fantastic roller coaster, where your feet hang down. This one typically clears out much later in the day, so you might be able to get through the admittedly-cool line maze quickly and ride it a few times.
The Mummy (Universal) – a real treat that is more fun the less you know going into it. Like Spider-Man, you become part of a story as you weave through the line maze, and it’s actually a great concept for the ride. I was very impressed with it.
The Jurassic Park, Dudley Do-Right, and Cat in the Hat rides at Islands are also fun, but I agree with whoever warned you to skip Dr. Doom’s Fear Fall. At Universal, the Shrek show is entertaining the first time (especially if your kids like Shrek), but Twister and E.T. are really cheesy. Your young daughter may like E.T., though. Men In Black is kinda cool (my friends like it a lot more than I do), but it may be a bit too intense for her.
Emeril’s restaurant is VERY expensive, and I’m not sure if your kids would appreciate it enough to get your money’s worth. It’s great, don’t get me wrong, but I wouldn’t recommend it for a family with a 6-year-old. I’m not fond of any of the other CitiWalk restaurants (I call it “ShittiWalk”), as they are all overpriced, generic food you could get anywhere. I HATE Hard Rock Cafe. Stupidly expensive for the T.G.I. McScratchy’s fare they serve, very loud, and I’ve always had horrible service whenever groups have dragged me there. If you plan to eat inside the parks, they have pretty mediocre burgers, chicken fingers, fries, and stuff like that at most places, but there is a meal plan available that might work well for your teenage son. The Mythos restaurant in Islands is supposedly fantastic, but more expensive than the CitiWalk places (and probably just a bit less expensive than Emeril’s).
If your son is a big coaster fan, you might want to take one day and drive out to Busch Gardens in Tampa. I’d also do a day or two at the beach (both coasts have their advantages).
I assume you already have a hotel lined up, but if not, consider staying at one of their three ‘on-site’ hotels. The reviews for them have been outstanding for the most part (better than most of Disney’s hotels), you are walking distance to the parks and Citywalk, AND you get front-of-the-line privelege for most/all of the rides at both parks, which will certainly be a boon during the busy time of year.
I’ve not been to IOA yet, but one day at each is plenty. Consider popping over to Sea World for a day. The water ride is kind of ass, but the roller coaster makes up for it, not to mention the animals. Seeing my 4 year old feed a dolphin as well as skates was really cool and brought a tear to my eye. The other shows are not to be missed either (except maybe the fakey Cirque de Soleil).
Oh, by the time you go to Universal in July, OP, the Blue Man Group will have started doing shows there too, and everyone says they put on amazing, unique performances. Should be entertaining enough to not bore the kids, but it will cost more – tickets aren’t included in theme park admission.