Did you like the photos? You can click on any of them to see the full size. The Lost Continent is in Islands of Adventure and the Kwik-E-Mart is in Universal Studios next to the new Simpson’s Ride (more about that later).
Tuesday we went off to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. Remember we have an annual pass special ticket (valid for 2 years) so we try to take advantage of this by visiting these parks at least once per trip. The ticket includes free parking or reduced rate Valet parking (which we generally opt for now as you park right next to the City Walk entrance).
We arrived just after 1pm and went straight into Islands of Adventure. We only wanted to do 2 rides; Poseidon’s Adventure and the Unicorn Coaster. Poseidon’s Adventure had a 45 minute wait – Ridiculous! – so we moved onto Unicorn which had a 25 minute wait, so we skipped that also and just wandered around the park taking a few photos and some video. Near one of the rides, a water flume, there is an area you can watch the riders just as they finish their ride, generally wiping the water from their faces from the ride they think they have just finished, but as the flumes round the last corner you can fire a water cannon at them. Great fun, it costs 25c per shot and Cindy and I took a few shots whilst we were passing. Even the riders see the funny side, that’s if they can spot you up high pressing the button that soaks them again. Anyway I took consolation in this for not being able to rider the rides I wanted to.
Then it was over to Universal. Because we had seen long queues at Islands of Adventure I enquired about the Express Pass Plus; Universal’s answer to the Fast Pass but you can use it over and over on all rides, jumping the queue. Universal sell this ticket and it is now prices at $20 per person for one park or $26 per person for 2. No wonder Universal are almost giving away tickets as they now charge for anything and everything. When we arrived at the Valet we were offered a $126 car wash! What do they do for $126? Gold plate the stearing wheel? Anyway, if you havn’t been for a while you will notice this next time you visit. I didn’t bother with either the Car Wash nor the Express Pass Plus.
We wandered around the park and went on Twister. There wasn’t much of a queue for twister and infact, other than the Simpson’s 25 minute wait, nothing was particularly a long wait. After twister we walked by the Mummy ride which has 2 white eyed pharoh’s on tall stilts stationed outside. We skipped past Disaster (this used to be Earthquake but has been changed) and went on Jaws. This had been updated with another 1 or 2 instances of the shark attacking the boat, this time from the right hand side, and some additional effects. I thought these were good additions and you should go on this next time you visit.
We then came onto the new Simpson’s ride. This is in the building that was previously occupied by the Back to the Future ride and most of it, apart from new decor and a paint job, is exactly the same. The line is the same, even the ride vehicles are the same (with new decor). The ride is a motion simulator taking you through ‘Krusty Land’ (A kind of mix between Disney and Busch Gardens with really bad management) with Sideshow Bob wreaking havok through the ride. I found the ride, as it often the case with these types of ride, to aggresive, bumping and jolting far too much. There was part of the ride car above my head and every bump made me bang me head into it. It was a good ride and worthwhile doing (as it hasn’t even officially openned yet) but I won’t be riding it again. A good part of the ride was watching Simpson’s clips in the queue.
We then went onto ride ET which had a bigger queue that I ever remember. Mind you I am sure we have skipped this ride a few times due to queue lengths. I guess it took about 10-15 minutes from entering the queue to getting on the ride but it was then I realised that Universal queues are very good. Most Disney queues you get into and they keep moving, albeit some of them very slowely, but ALL of the Universal Queues place you in large groups in holding areas for up to 10 minutes at a time and then open doors for a mass of people to surge into.
Once we had finished with ET we walked back around to Disaster which this time had a much shorter queue, although we suffered from the holding area mentioned above for what seemed like an eternity. This ride was recently changed from Earthquake to Disaster. Whilst a lot of the ride is similar, they have added some really, REALLY, nice additions. Firstly Christopher Walken, in the guise of Frank Kincaid, features in this heavily as a director of a new disaster movie. We had a live host who firstly picks out about 8 people from the audience to ‘star’ in the movie and then we go into the first area where Frank comes to speak to us. Frank appears on stage LIVE! but this is actually a very advanced hologram. He is able to interact with the stage knocking things over and walking in FRONT and behind the table. It was all very clever. Anyway after this area we are moved into the old Earthquake set that has been changed slightly. It is here the audience participate (similar to the way Mum did a few year ago acting on the escalator!). The live director tell people how to act, most against green screen and this is captured on video for later use. Then we move through to the train section and this is EXACTLY the same as it has been other than again audience reaction is out on video. Once this portion of the ride is complete, whilst the train is moving back to the starting station, all the video is hashed together to show a trailer of the forthcoming film ‘Mutha Nature’ (Starring ‘The Rock’) and the audience get to see their participation. I really liked this ‘updated’ ride.
Once we had completed that ride we decided to call it a day and left the park around 6:30 and headed over to Applebees for something to eat. Later we decided we would jump in the spa but the water was a little cold so we decided to turn the pool heat back on.
Wednesday we had planned to go over to Market Place cafe for some brunch but decided that neither of us were really keen on the menu so decided to try somewhere else. We wanted to have something light to eat (as we planned to go to Longhorn that evening) and outdoors. Since we were planning to go to the Cinema we went over to Downtown Disney and took a look at the options. It is worth noting that almost ALL of the eateries there have outdoor seating, but in the end we opted for the ‘Earl of Sandwich’ which is kind of like Subway. We ordered a Ham and Swiss and a Tuna Melt. They are made freshly whilst you wait and are hot. I thought the Ham and Swiss was really good (it was served with Honey Mustard) and Cindy enjoyed here Tuna melt, although she thought there was a little too much. We also shared a bag of ‘Miss Vickies’ BBQ kettle chips.
We had a quick wander around Downtown Disney before going to see 21 at the Cinema. 21 is the film about MIT students who used card counting to make hundreds of thousands of dollars and apparently based on a true story. Film was good and after another quick walk around Downtown Disney we came home, got changed and went to Longhorn. I was going to order a steak (as usual) but they had a special on of battered garlic and chilli shrimp with ranch dipping sauce so I had this (which was great, although WAY too much).
After the meal we went back over to Disney to see the Fireworks again, this time with the iPod. Instead of the Grand Floridian we went to the Polynesian. The view from there was almost perfect and it is obviously popular. There is a beach you can sit on to watch the fireworks and there were a LOT of people there with the same idea. I tried to syncronise the fireworks to the music but I was out by about 10 seconds (there isn’t really a cue to start) but if we do it again I would give it another go. I thought the music was better than watching it without.
So we are back over to the Disney Parks again today. Epcot and Miagic Kingdom. I think we will spend most of the day at Magic Kingdom (I say day but we won’t get there until around 1pm). We have dinner reservations at the Japanese Steakhouse at Epcot’s Japan pavilion at 8pm after which the plan is to head back to Magic Kingdom to see the fireworks (again) but this time close up and with the music!.
When I got up this morning it was pretty cloudy, but since I have been typing this it has cleared up nicely and is set to be another hot one.
We fly back on Sunday evening so only another 4 days including today and Sunday left.
I will post again in a day or two.
Paul