Universal Studios - Islands of Adventure

Universal Studios - Islands of Adventure (Day 5)

This is our last day in Orlando and we are spending the day away from Disney World at Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure amusement park.  There are two Universal parks (technically three - one's a water park), but two with rides.  Islands of Adventure is home to five sub "islands" - Marvel Island, Toon Lagoon, Skull Island, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, The Lost Continent, and Seuss Landing.

Arrival

We took three Ubers to get all seven (7) of us there due to Covid protocols.  We got there at various times around 8:00 am and the number of people there was absolutely INSANE.  I don't think we got a picture of how many people were there, but the only thing I can equate it to was a major football game or concert letting out.  There were tens of thousands of people arriving.  

They were very efficient at moving people through the metal detectors and into the park area, where some people split off to one park and some to another.  But there were still gate barriers and some people could not get into the Islands of Adventure (our ticket allowed us in).

Spiderman was already at 150 minutes (at 8:00am!), so the kids rode on Dr. Doom while we went looking for Fast Passes (which were sold out).  My itinerary was already broken badly, so for the rest of the day we just had to monitor ride times and go where lines were 90 min or less.

Crammed into the "People Dryer"

We were able to next ride The Hulk - an awesome roller coaster and Shellie waited with our stuff.  After that, Spiderman was still over 150 min, so we headed to Toon Lagoon and went on the Bilge Rat barges.  This is a raft ride.  Unlike most raft rides that say "You may get wet", this one says "You will get wet."  Shellie and Kim bought ponchos for $12 each and the rest of us thought that was a waste of money.  One minute into the ride, we were all soaked, especially Brooke.  Luckily they had huge "People Dryers" for us.

After a quick, early lunch and shooting water at the people on the other water ride, we got in line for King Kong which is the only ride in Skull Island.  It was a really long, slow moving line, and finally after we rode it, honestly did not feel like it was worth the wait.  It was OK, but you ride in these big safari vehicles and watch some 3D action on either side which is hard if you are on the wrong side.

 

So then we headed to Jurassic Park to do the River ride, but the line was long, so we just continued on to the Harry Potter land after grabbing drinks and a snack.  This was what Brooke was waiting for the whole trip - get a wand and ride the Harry Potter rides.  There's a big roller coaster that looks like it is under construction, so we could not ride that or the Hogwart's Express (which goes between parks).  So that left, the main attraction, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure - which had a virtual queue (aka Lottery) to get on it.  We missed the first attempt, but this time got all of us on there.  After a delay when the ride broke down, we were able to get in line.  It broke down again, but after about and hour and a half we were able to ride it.  I think that was the family's favorite ride of the trip.  I won't give it away, other than it is a roller coaster, and it's better if you ride the motorcycle, not the side car.

Then we headed to Seuss Land.  We went there on the other Universal Park before our Disney Cruise when the kids were about three years old.  See the resemblance?

Caro-Seuss-el Kids in 2020

Caro-Seuss-el Kids in 2008

Bix in Seuss Land

Boys shooting baskets

Now we were back at the front of the park - so we tried to do Spiderman again - still over two hours to wait, so we continued around.   First we stopped at the midway games and played some games of skill:

Then we did the Jurassic Jungle cruise which was a pretty fun and unique water ride.

Finally it was 90 in for Spiderman so we bit the bullet and got in line.  Orin, Bix, Brooke, and I ditched the line to ride the nearby Dr. Doom with a 15 min wait and got back in line at Spiderman before anyone missed us.  Spiderman was really good, but not sure it would be 210 minutes wait time good, ever.

We rode the Hulk again, this time with Shellie, and after almost 12 hours in the park, we left, grabbed a quick dinner in the City Center, and Ubered back to the Hotel.  Kim and the boys had to leave for the airport at 3:30am; we got to leave at 8:30. 

We really enjoyed our five days in Orlando - hope you get to go soon!