- Jul 30, 2018
- 82
- 190
I will start off by saying a lot of this trip was impromptu and only decided in the two weeks prior when it became clear that the parks would have extremely low crowds. I initially had only decided to go to Universal and maybe one of the Disney parks but with the crowd levels I decided to go for it and managed to go to all four Disney dry parks and the Two universal dry parks, went to the opening night of Halloween Horror Nights and happily rode almost everything I wanted to ride including Velocicoaster (twice), Flight of Passage (twice) and Rise of the Resistance. Below are my general impressions of the parks and rides:
Day 1 : Universal
A running thing about this report is gonna be just how empty the parks are with low wait times. This first day immediately after entering the park I did Velocicoaster which was just a 10 minute wait. I have to say the ride is fantastic and lived up to all the hype, I’m not really a coaster enthusiast and only really interested in going to the major theme parks versus ones with more thrilling experiences, so this was probably the most intense coaster I’ve ever been on. But despite the intensity it was an incredibly smooth experience. After that I rode JPRA which I still enjoy quite a good bit and King Kong, which is still mostly fine, not amazing but just fine, both of these were under 10 minute waits and basically walk ons.
Pretty much the only snag of the day was Hagrid’s which went down for maintenance while I was in line, even then it was likely 30 minutes total of wait. Hagrid’s is still really fantastic, in ways between Velocicoaster and Hagrid’s I still have to give it to Hagrid’s, I really like the implementation of the animatronics within the ride and it’s a good mix of thrill and themed elements. Forbidden Journey was mainly the same ole same ole, maybe getting a tad long in the tooth, not sure how to put it, it’s still good but certainly doesn’t hold a candle to the other offerings now.
Spider-Man is still a spectacular dark ride that features my favorite era/variation of Spider-man, it’s just plain good fun that never gets old. The Hulk was another walk on for me, and I think it still has a very unique feel and place in IoA even with the recent inundation of other coasters, overall it’s pretty great how IoA now has 3 coasters that all have a very distinct feel to them. I headed over to Universal Studios and had some lunch at Finnegan’s, got the fish and chips. The fish was very delicious, sadly I’m not too big into drinking so the bar was wasted on me, but maybe next time I will try something, the two folks next to me certainly got some drinks (I think a cranberry margarita and a green apple tea?) that looked quite delicious. Went on to MIB which was the second ride to have any notable snags, spent about 15 minutes waiting on maintenance but otherwise was a short wait. MIB is still a pretty fun time and the best of this type of interactive shooting ride I experienced, I will be sad to see it go whenever that time comes.
Next up I went to the Bourne Spectacular, and was very impressed with the tech and the quality of the show, but genuinely it being Bourne kinda made the show uninteresting to me, but I did leave imagining how cool the effects and tech would be used on an IP I’d like, definitely made me excited for whatever shows Universal does in Epic Universe. Afterwards I rode the Mummy, which is a very fantastic dark ride/coaster ride, this is still for me probably the best ride there is at USF. In fact to directly compare I went on Gringotts right after, and much like I felt in 2019, it is by far to me the weakest Harry Potter ride (meant for adults at least) and just isn't as thrilling an indoor coaster as something like the Mummy nor is it as compelling a “3d/Screens” ride as the others I rode. Only other things I did was hop on the Hogwarts Express and rode Velocicoaster again, it was just that good. Overall a great first day and I’m glad I got this day in, since the weather was perfect (as perfect as 90 degree weather can be at least).
Day 2 : Animal Kingdom and Epcot
This day was a double feature, I started the day by going off to Animal Kingdom. First, some general thoughts about the park, it’s still the most cohesively themed park of the ones I’ve been to, though that comes at the detriment of being one with very few rides/attractions. It makes up for it by being “part zoo” (and despite any marketing that’s the only way to describe it). Anyways once again I started off the day by bee-lining to the newest land/ride of the park. I have not been to Animal Kingdom since 2008 and outside of Avatar admittedly I can say not much has changed since then, (this will be a running theme of a lot of my Disney experience) . I mentioned Universal being practically empty, however Animal Kingdom was unbelievably so, I’ve genuinely never seen a park this empty before. I walked on to Flight of Passage, there was a 10 minute wait time, but that was genuinely approximately the time it took just to walk to the beginning of the ride and then to deal with the pre-show.
The ride itself was pretty good imo, basically Soarin’ 2.0 with a much more exciting simulation involved. However much like when Soarin came, I just can’t feel for it as a “flagship” theme park ride if you will, I especially just can’t imagine spending more than 30-40 mins waiting to ride it let alone the 60-90 minute waits I’ve seen mentioned in the years following its opening. Na’vi River Journey was just okay, I can always appreciate a boat ride but there just isnt anything particularly special or interesting about it. Ultimately I feel the entirety of Avatar Land spends a lot of time trying to justify being in Animal Kingdom and it still didn’t really sell me on that matter. I also tried some of the food, there wasn’t anything I found super amazing, I had the non alcoholic drink and it was sickly sweet, a pongu lumpia which was nice, the “cheeseburger pods” were fine but nothing to write home about.
The rest of Animal Kingdom was more or less how I remember it, I can say I very much enjoy the “zoo” part of Animal Kingdom so I’m less hard on it, but at the end of the day there really are just about 9ish “rides” and then a few “nature walks” etc give or take. That said I still enjoy it as a park due to its general thematic cohesion and rides more than any other Orlando park besides IoA. In the afternoon I hopped over to Epcot and boy , what a mess of a park to be honest. Not much to truly say about it , some of the rides are kitschy in a way I can enjoy , but the park is still very lacking. Though I already knew that , Soarin’ is still Soarin’ , it’s easy to enjoy it but I didn’t truly get the hype for it when I rode it in 2006~ and it's been surpassed now with better takes on the concept .
Anyways I mostly went to Epcot for the Food and Wine festival and it didn’t disappoint there , there was tons of stuff to enjoy eating and probably some of the better food I had on this trip . How it basically further confirmed an issue I always thought about Epcot , which is when it’s solely getting by as a “Food and Events” Park it’s only really as fun as it takes for you to get full (and also for you to break the bank ). I wasn’t even half way through the world showcase before I had too much to really be interested in trying more . Obviously the intent is for you to come back to try more and more stuff you missed , but for me I don’t have the time and money for that especially as a non-local .
Day 1 : Universal
A running thing about this report is gonna be just how empty the parks are with low wait times. This first day immediately after entering the park I did Velocicoaster which was just a 10 minute wait. I have to say the ride is fantastic and lived up to all the hype, I’m not really a coaster enthusiast and only really interested in going to the major theme parks versus ones with more thrilling experiences, so this was probably the most intense coaster I’ve ever been on. But despite the intensity it was an incredibly smooth experience. After that I rode JPRA which I still enjoy quite a good bit and King Kong, which is still mostly fine, not amazing but just fine, both of these were under 10 minute waits and basically walk ons.
Pretty much the only snag of the day was Hagrid’s which went down for maintenance while I was in line, even then it was likely 30 minutes total of wait. Hagrid’s is still really fantastic, in ways between Velocicoaster and Hagrid’s I still have to give it to Hagrid’s, I really like the implementation of the animatronics within the ride and it’s a good mix of thrill and themed elements. Forbidden Journey was mainly the same ole same ole, maybe getting a tad long in the tooth, not sure how to put it, it’s still good but certainly doesn’t hold a candle to the other offerings now.
Spider-Man is still a spectacular dark ride that features my favorite era/variation of Spider-man, it’s just plain good fun that never gets old. The Hulk was another walk on for me, and I think it still has a very unique feel and place in IoA even with the recent inundation of other coasters, overall it’s pretty great how IoA now has 3 coasters that all have a very distinct feel to them. I headed over to Universal Studios and had some lunch at Finnegan’s, got the fish and chips. The fish was very delicious, sadly I’m not too big into drinking so the bar was wasted on me, but maybe next time I will try something, the two folks next to me certainly got some drinks (I think a cranberry margarita and a green apple tea?) that looked quite delicious. Went on to MIB which was the second ride to have any notable snags, spent about 15 minutes waiting on maintenance but otherwise was a short wait. MIB is still a pretty fun time and the best of this type of interactive shooting ride I experienced, I will be sad to see it go whenever that time comes.
Next up I went to the Bourne Spectacular, and was very impressed with the tech and the quality of the show, but genuinely it being Bourne kinda made the show uninteresting to me, but I did leave imagining how cool the effects and tech would be used on an IP I’d like, definitely made me excited for whatever shows Universal does in Epic Universe. Afterwards I rode the Mummy, which is a very fantastic dark ride/coaster ride, this is still for me probably the best ride there is at USF. In fact to directly compare I went on Gringotts right after, and much like I felt in 2019, it is by far to me the weakest Harry Potter ride (meant for adults at least) and just isn't as thrilling an indoor coaster as something like the Mummy nor is it as compelling a “3d/Screens” ride as the others I rode. Only other things I did was hop on the Hogwarts Express and rode Velocicoaster again, it was just that good. Overall a great first day and I’m glad I got this day in, since the weather was perfect (as perfect as 90 degree weather can be at least).
Day 2 : Animal Kingdom and Epcot
This day was a double feature, I started the day by going off to Animal Kingdom. First, some general thoughts about the park, it’s still the most cohesively themed park of the ones I’ve been to, though that comes at the detriment of being one with very few rides/attractions. It makes up for it by being “part zoo” (and despite any marketing that’s the only way to describe it). Anyways once again I started off the day by bee-lining to the newest land/ride of the park. I have not been to Animal Kingdom since 2008 and outside of Avatar admittedly I can say not much has changed since then, (this will be a running theme of a lot of my Disney experience) . I mentioned Universal being practically empty, however Animal Kingdom was unbelievably so, I’ve genuinely never seen a park this empty before. I walked on to Flight of Passage, there was a 10 minute wait time, but that was genuinely approximately the time it took just to walk to the beginning of the ride and then to deal with the pre-show.
The ride itself was pretty good imo, basically Soarin’ 2.0 with a much more exciting simulation involved. However much like when Soarin came, I just can’t feel for it as a “flagship” theme park ride if you will, I especially just can’t imagine spending more than 30-40 mins waiting to ride it let alone the 60-90 minute waits I’ve seen mentioned in the years following its opening. Na’vi River Journey was just okay, I can always appreciate a boat ride but there just isnt anything particularly special or interesting about it. Ultimately I feel the entirety of Avatar Land spends a lot of time trying to justify being in Animal Kingdom and it still didn’t really sell me on that matter. I also tried some of the food, there wasn’t anything I found super amazing, I had the non alcoholic drink and it was sickly sweet, a pongu lumpia which was nice, the “cheeseburger pods” were fine but nothing to write home about.
The rest of Animal Kingdom was more or less how I remember it, I can say I very much enjoy the “zoo” part of Animal Kingdom so I’m less hard on it, but at the end of the day there really are just about 9ish “rides” and then a few “nature walks” etc give or take. That said I still enjoy it as a park due to its general thematic cohesion and rides more than any other Orlando park besides IoA. In the afternoon I hopped over to Epcot and boy , what a mess of a park to be honest. Not much to truly say about it , some of the rides are kitschy in a way I can enjoy , but the park is still very lacking. Though I already knew that , Soarin’ is still Soarin’ , it’s easy to enjoy it but I didn’t truly get the hype for it when I rode it in 2006~ and it's been surpassed now with better takes on the concept .
Anyways I mostly went to Epcot for the Food and Wine festival and it didn’t disappoint there , there was tons of stuff to enjoy eating and probably some of the better food I had on this trip . How it basically further confirmed an issue I always thought about Epcot , which is when it’s solely getting by as a “Food and Events” Park it’s only really as fun as it takes for you to get full (and also for you to break the bank ). I wasn’t even half way through the world showcase before I had too much to really be interested in trying more . Obviously the intent is for you to come back to try more and more stuff you missed , but for me I don’t have the time and money for that especially as a non-local .