Universal Islands of Adventure - November 2010

Islands of Adventure

Hulk – 3 times. I finally cracked the Hulk banner! I was very nervous the first time through, standing in the queue, sitting in the car waiting for launch, and then when the car began to move? Wow! Three things helped me get to this step: riding Rock n Roller Coaster again to get used to Inversions (upside down), comparing the ride vehicle to other rides I'd survived so that I saw how much more secure you were in this ride, and then riding it for the first time at night so I didn't see the sky so much. Loved the ride. Generally after riding something like that for the first time, I exit somewhat shaken by the experience. Not this time; I exited exhilarated, loving it. I also exited a but wobbly. What I later figured out was that I tended to pull my head up off the headrest so that it got jostled in the turns. Yeah, don't do that.

Spider-Man – 3 times. I love this ride. I dunno that I have anything else to say.

Harry Potter – 4 times. The new ride in the new 'land'. I know very little about Potter but this ride was fascinating. There's a bench of four seats, all facing in the same direction so as to direct the 'camera' of the ride. You fly through set and video screens through a quick moving story. Props feel like they're directly atop you. The goal of the ride and the area was to step up Universal's cred, to make them more 'Disney' in their presentation. I think they succeeded.

One Fish, Two Fish – twice. You climb into a fish that goes in circles and has controls to steer the fish up and down. There's a song that plays, telling you how to dodge the water that occasionally squirts from the fish surrounding the area. It's fun, especially if you have a kid with you and it's warm outside so getting blasted with a bit of water doesn't sound like such a bad thing.

The Cat in the Hat – twice. Action packed trip through the delightful Dr Seuss book. Still great fun.

Flight of the Hippogriff – once. The former 'The Last Unicorn' ride is repackaged as a Harry Potter ride. It's a fun coaster, sort of the Nuthouse Coaster/Barnstormer for the park. Enjoyable but not really worth the wait it has now for being Potterized.

Poseidon's Fury – once. A show that takes you deeper and deeper into a set of ruins while the show occurs around you. Long show but lots of fun. It's not every day you get to walk through a tunnel of water.

Seuss Trolley – once. Still simple fun on a 'railroad' in the sky while a story is told.