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Day 3 – 6 Oct 03 Universal’s Islands of Adventure
Again we wake early and get the kids going. I intended to make eggs
and bacon for everyone but when we returned from shopping one of
the kids put the bacon in the freezer. I guess its Eggo waffles
this morning. One thing I forgot to mention in my previous report
is that each morning we also take a Polaroid picture of the kids.
That way if one of them gets lost we can show everyone exactly what
they look like and what they are wearing for that day. So after
everyone is finally ready we say our prayer and head out the door.
We arrive early and take some pictures while waiting. Alex asks
the lady at the gate how much longer until they open and she tells
him one more minute. He tells me and is all excited. I look at my
watch and see its actually fifteen more minutes until they open.
We laugh about this all day. Any time he asks how much longer for
something I just smile at him and say “one more minute”.
It’s a little less crowded today but not by much. We head
straight for the Hulk roller coaster. I tried to get Jessie on this
one but she was about a half an inch too short. They wouldn’t
let her on. She was so upset she cried. It made me feel bad. So
we entertained her while the others went on the coaster. This is
a great ride. You start off by going up as most coasters do but
you are propelled up the hill and out of the “gamma ray”
tube instead of simply riding to the top and then going down the
drop off. You shoot out of the tube after being accelerating from
0 to 40 mph in less than 2 seconds. It has twists and turns and
loops and is just a lot of fun.
On to Dr. Doom’s Fearfall. Jessie was able to get on this
one. You are put on the ride and Dr. Doom comes over the speaker
to tell you that your fear is being used to generate power to use
against the Fantastic Four. You shoot up to the top and go up and
down a few times and get a great view of the park. The kids and
I loved it but my wife didn’t feel like going on this one.
She didn’t want to get sick so early in the day.
Next is Spiderman. We all love this ride. Great 3-D effects. We
liked it so much we went on it twice. Being in the front row of
the car is best but you get a good view no matter where you sit.
This is my wife’s favorite ride of the entire park. The waiting
lines for these rides is nicely done in the theme of the character
of the ride. They have some nice things to look at while waiting
so you won’t get too bored. After taking a few pictures by
the superhero displays we head over to Toon Lagoon and find Popeye,
Bluto and Olive Oyl, so we get a few autographs. Dudley Do Rights
Ripsaw Falls is a great ride. Just long enough and has a lot of
things to see throughout. The final hill is fun and you get real
wet. Jessie lost her hat when the water sprayed us. Since the line
was so short we ran back in for another ride. We were soaked to
the bone. We wanted to get on Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge Rat
Barges but it was closed down for rehab. Just my luck. I couldn’t
go on this one last time we were here because Jessie was too little.
Now I missed it again. One of these days I’ll make it on that
ride.
Next, on to Jurassic Park. We went on the river adventure ride.
Since the last time we were on this ride they did a little work
on it. Now the raptors actually moved. The last time they were broke.
The T-Rex and the huge fall at the end was fun. Next up was the
Pteranodon Flyers. This time only kids shorter than 56” can
get on. And if you are taller you have to be accompanied by someone
shorter than this. My wife and I took Jessie and Alex while the
other kids played in the Jurassic Park play area. The flyers we
pretty cool. A little short but an enjoyable ride. For some reason
my wife got sick on this ride. It didn’t go fast or move around
that much. I guess the fact that you don’t have anything under
your feet and the swaying back and forth threw her off. Once off
this one we went to find the kids in the caves which were pretty
cool. There is a rope bridge inside one of the caves that is over
a bubbling pool of water. It was dark and I almost fell on my face
when I stepped onto the bridge. I didn’t see that you had
to step down. Once we gathered them up we ate lunch at the Pizza
Predatoria. We each got a personal pizza and a coke. In my opinion
these should be much bigger. I was still hungry afterwards.
We then journeyed to The Lost Continent. We rode the Flying Unicorn.
A kids ride but it was ok. Not worth a long wait though. We went
to ride The Dueling Dragons and use the express pass for this. We
took turns since Jessie couldn’t and didn’t want to
go on this one. This is a cool coaster. The blue side and red side
kind of race each other with a few near misses. The coaster seats
are suspended from above so you don’t have anything under
your feet. They sort of dangle there in mid-air. If you can get
the front seats, it makes for a wild experience. The red side is
actually 15 feet longer because it has to go over the blue side
at one point. Some also say it’s a more intense ride. To tell
the truth I didn’t notice much difference. Also, I like the
Hulk better. We then went to Poseidon’s Fury. A nicely done
show with great special effects. It is a walk through show with
a “tour guide” and during part of the show you have
to walk through a tunnel that is created by jets of water. A cool
effect. The end battle is nicely done but the costumes were a little
cheesy. Still a good show.
Dr. Seuss land. When you enter this land the colors and sounds
assail the senses and you slowly feel your sanity slip away. We
rode the Caro-Seuss-el and the Cat in the Hat ride. It stopped four
times while we were on it. Imagine being stranded in the middle
of the Cat in the Hat with all the effect raging around you. At
any minute I thought the guys with the straight jacket were going
to come and take me away, which would have been sweet relief. We
made it out of Seuss Land with our sanity intact (barely) and since
we had some time left, we ran over to Marvel Superhero Island and
hit Hulk, Doom, and Spidey before they shut down.
What a day. Great fun. On the way back to the hotel we asked what
everyone’s favorite ride was and Spiderman, of course, won
out. We ate dinner and went to sleep.
Tune in next time for: SeaWorld
Day 4...
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