Universal Studios Florida rides day
And so began a full on day of full on rides!
We again rose fairly early and got to Universal Studios at opening time. The aim of today: rides, rides, and more rides!
We headed straight into Islands of Adventure. Michael’s first aim: The Incredible Hulk Coaster. My aim for the day was to find shade, and enjoy my book, inbetween walking around the park from ride to ride.
Michael’s Rating - The Incredible Hulk Coaster
10/10 - “It’s fast and worth the wait”
We continued through Marvel Super Hero Island to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, only to find out it wasn’t working at that stage, so we resolved to go back later.
Instead, we headed through Toon Lagoon, to Michael’s first water ride, Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges.
Michael’s Rating - Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges
7/10 - “It has nothing on actual white water rafting”
Michael came out absolutely drenched - he seemed to have picked the lucky seat that got dunked the most.
He wrung out his shirt and we headed to Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls, another water ride. We decided it was a good idea to get all of the water rides out of the way early so he could dry off!
Michael’s Rating - Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls
7/10 - “Good way to cool down”
We headed (Michael a tad more soggily than me) through to the last water ride, Jurassic Park River Adventure.
Michael’s Rating - Jurassic Park River Adventure
6/10 - “Pretty sure it was the same as the one in Universal LA, so less marks as I’d seen it before”
We backtracked a bit through Jurassic Park to get to Skull Island: Reign of Kong which is a 3-D ride. Turns out it ALSO was the same as at Universal LA.
We headed back through Jurassic Park and into Hogsmeade, where Michael tried to board Dragon Challenge. He got to the front of the line, only to discover that they had had to shut the ride down as it was an outside ride and there was lightning within 5 miles, and told him to come back later.
We decided to head through to Diagon Alley via the Hogwarts Express, which was just as cool the second time around. In Diagon Alley, Michael hopped into the line for Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, and I did a bit more shop browsing/air con stealing.
Michael’s Rating - Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts
9/10 - “It’s like being in the movies, wish it was longer”
Then we hopped right back on the Hogwarts Express to go back through to Hogsmeade. The visuals on the way back were different (as we were going backwards) so we were entertained anew.
Michael hopped right back into the line for Dragon Challenge, and as he’d been booted off before, they let him in through the express line.
Michael’s Rating - Dragon Challenge
10/10 - “It was lots of fun - upside down, sideways…”
From there, we headed right back around and to The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman in the hopes that it was back up and running. It was!
Michael’s Rating - The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman
8/10 - “pretty good for a Spiderman fan”
Having done all of the rides that he wanted to do, we decided to head out of the park. Michael had to return the light up shoes he’d bought as they were slightly too small, so we returned to the outlet mall and Michael switched them for a larger size.
We then headed back to the hotel. We dropped our bags back into our room, then headed out to the local Walgreens as we needed more sunscreen (and chocolate, obviously). Luckily it was only a 5 minute walk away, so we wandered down the steamy street, got our goods and then went back to the hotel, via McDonalds.
We spent the rest of the evening resting our weary legs and watching the Lego Batman Movie, before getting an early night in preperation for day one of Disney!
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