Oh man so many memories, growing up the only child of divorced parents in southwest Florida meant a lot of my childhood was spent at the parks. I still remember when you could park right in front of Universal Studios, so seeing each step of the transformation into a resort was so exciting, the preview center, the parking garages, the hotels, the water taxi, it all seemed to happen so fast.
I still distinctly recall visiting Universal with my Dad in early 99 and seeing Hulk and Doom going and hearing riders scream, we ran up the gates and screamed "Let Us In! Let Us In!" and then an employee came out and told us that sadly this was an employee only day and the new park wasn't ready for us just yet.
And then finally getting to go that fall for my 8th birthday; we stayed at Portifino, which was the most amazing hotel ever, we rode the water taxi to the park, I remember be scared that this was a secret Jaws ride, and then finally walking into the park to that iconic music, and quickly making our way to Marvel Superhero Island.
Well what can I say, as life time Marvel Zombies this was pretty incredible, and we went straight to Spider-Man, who was already my favorite fictional character ever so I would have been excited even if they hadn't made that incredible commercial with Spidey and Doc Ock on the wing of the plane, and then of course I got so scared of the Super-Villains (they seemed so real) that I kept my eyes shut for most of it, thankfully we re-rode it and I fell in love.
I remember being blown away by Cat in The Hat, astonished by Triceratops Encounter, shocked by the O.G. Poseidon's Fury, and drenched by Popeye, it was the coolest place I had ever been, My childhood had seen plenty of time split between Disney, Universal, and Sea World, but that trip sealed the deal if I could only have one it would be Universal.
And so over the next ten years Universal took up the majority of my theme park trips and as the resort grew and so did I going on bigger scarier rides, I recall the next year when Storm and Unicorn opened, when Hard Rock Hotel came, when Poseidon changed, when they brought in a random motocross show to the Toon Lagoon theater, when my beloved Triceratops closed, finally gaining the courage to conquer Hulk, Doom , and Dragons, I recall being thrilled when I saw a construction worker up above in Suess Landing and we shouted "Are you finally finishing this ride?" and they replied with Yes, and then when the announcement came that one of my favorite properties Harry Potter was coming to my favorite park.
And then for my 19th birthday my father and I returned and for the first time did not rush to Marvel but instead to Harry Potter and were blown away by Forbidden Journey, and then it just sort of stopped, shortly thereafter my mother would take me to Bush Gardens for a day out before she moved away and I couldn't fit on a regular seat on Montu, ashamed I subconsciously backed away from theme parks for nearly a decade until last year for my 27th birthday my Father and I returned to Universal and I fell in love with it all over again, although I admit I purposely didn't ride anything with over the shoulder restraints, so yeah I have a lot of memories attached to Islands of Adventure even if most of them are a little out of date now (I still think of Royal Pacific as the new Hotel) but I'm so happy it's still there and I promise it won't be so long between visits this time.