After a late night with the Fantasmic show and watching the box until midnight I was up at 7.15am getting ready for the day ahead. The kids were so tired we had to wake them both up - but we had a job to do. We had to go to Universal, and our ticket was for two parks in one day - Universal Islands Of Adventure and Universal Studios.
This may all sound like a lot of work but it's not like we get to come here very often so wanted to make the most of it....
We arrived at the park about 8.20am and decided to splash out on the valet parking ($20 vs the day parking fee of $11) and I'm pleased we did it. It saved us the walk from the biggest car park on planet earth (another bigism I know but I kid thee not) and it was collllld today. We wrapped up in sweaters etc but it was windy too just to make sure we were well chilled.
Starting at the Islands Of Adventure they opened the gate at 8.45am and as we pre-planned (got to pre-plan to get the best out of the day) Gabby took the children to Suess landing where they arrived to the 'rope drop' and went on everything about 5 times. I, however, hot footed it to Marvel Superhero Island and rode The Hulk. This was the most adrenaline fuelled ride I have ever been on with it's multiple looping and corkscrewing green tracks. The guidebook said that once ridden (it begins with a 50mph boost into the unknown) you will not be able to walk straight - and I couldn't!
After this I went straight onto Spider-Man which was a sort of coaster come 3D all enveloping ride and very impressive it was too. If the baddy was an ice man then cold water got sprayed at you, real fire blazed and 3D arms grabbed at you - very good indeed. My final romp before catching up with the rest of my family again was Duelling Dragons - a beast of a looping, corkscrewing rollercoaster ride where you almost 'bump into' another coaster (the other 'dragon) whilst hanging down from your seat as there is no floor. Awesome stuff and again I couldn't quite walk straight for a few minutes.
Was the Hulk better, or Duelling Dragons? I'm not quite sure but together they were the best rides I think I have ever been on, closely followed by Everest at Animal Kingdom. I still say though, that as an overall experience, Epcot is the best park by far. End of.
The Roses were reunited in Suess landing and then the wife and daughter went on Spider-Man themselves. The lad isn't such a fan of fast rides but then again I was terrified of everything when I was 7! We then moved into the Studios park and made a beeline for the new Simpsons Ride which was a very clever simulator that immerses you in a Krustyland fairground ride gone wrong. This ride replaces the classis Back To The Future ride and is really quite similar - and even has a Simpsons cartoon whilst you queue to explain how things changed - all very amusing. The ride was good fun and enjoyed by all although the missus felt a bit sick(!).
We then did Men In Black: Alien Attack, a shooting spinning ride which left me a bit giddy (see below picture of us all - Gabby almost hidden by gun - and me looking traumatised, maybe because of the stranger we picked up). The queues were getting bad and this 45min line was beaten by the 70min E.T. line. We hadn't encountered queues like this in any Disney park and Universal don't have a free fastpass system to help bypass queues.
The tattoo / chav count was definitely higher in this park and you could also buy beer in glass bottles to swig which people were doing over their buggy riding babies. Nice.
Fear Factor Live was a fun show based on a US show where members of the public sign themselves up to mad stunts and insect eposure contests similar to those found in I'm a Celebrity. This was very good as some Estonian nutcase won the challenges hands down. Ending with having to retrieve flags from a car dangling at 30 feet and ending by firing a 'rocket launcher' from the car to hit a target.
We didn't have the time, or the inclination to do all things in both parks but this, to us, was an excellent 'best of' and we left around 5pm as our valet returned the car to us - great stuff.
We ate a great meal at the Olive Garden (again) and wifey and I had salad followed by some very good pasta with meaty sauce.
Finally we had to pop again to the supermarket (Publix) for final supplies. I have to mention this visit as yet again the customer service received, compared to ole blighty, is simply outstanding. ?They can't do enough for you helping you find what you need and not just giving you blank looks and shrugging which happens all too often at home. Oh home, sweet home, we are not quite ready to return to thee just yet.
Sadly 'Man V Food' isn't on tonight but tomorrow, our final full day, will be more chilled and maybe without theme park visit at all! We may have to pop to The Magic Kingdom though to meet some friends!
I am now getting worried our Sky box has failed and that we will have missed all the 24's, Losts, Desperates and Apprentices. We didn't even bother recording Corrie - shock horror.
Such worry!
A reminder again of today's GENUINE (well, almost) sponsor and all round super excellent person is my pal Mark and his site is http://www.jazzivories.co.uk/index.html . Check it out if you need a jazz pianist for any occasion!
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