Universal's Islands of Adventure, Orlando
We are back in our hotel room after a long day in the second of Universal's parks. This was an amazing day and we enjoyed it immensely, as you can probably tell from our photographs. The Hulk roller coaster towered terrifyingly above us as we entered the park. The noise was rather imposing also. I plucked up all my courage and showed real leadership (although at the time I wondered if it was stupidity!). The worst part of the ride was getting into the carriages. Once you were past the point of no return, it was truly an invigorating experience. There is a sudden launch up the opening hill (no slow climb here!) and I think I screamed the whole away round the coaster, but I did come back later in the day for a second dose.
The Fear Fall was more of a fearfully powerful take off. Spiderman was a nice mix of 3-D video and ride. Then there were a couple of incredibly wet rides. They were like diving into a swimming pool fully clothed!
The Jurassic Park section was nicely implemented, and sadly we missed it's aerial ride as it had the longest queue in the park (over an hour even on a day when the rest of the park was fairly empty!) and no express pass access. If you want to do that ride, get to the park early and head straight there! The dinosaur river ride was not as wet as the ones in Toon Town, but was full of great special effects and surprises.
Flying Unicorn is near Jurassic Park and makes a good introduction to roller coasters if you want to work your way up more gradually to The Hulk or its neighbors, the Dueling Dragons. The Dragons made The Hulk look like child's play. But even they look far worse to watch than they actually feel to ride on. Apparently you pull over 4G on the ride!
The Sinbad Stunt Show has to be the best live-action show I have ever seen. It had everything—fire, water, explosions, wire tricks, and fights. We failed to catch Poseidon's Fury today, so will probably pop back into the park later in the week to catch that and perhaps one or two of those roller coasters!
This is the stuff of which memories are made!
