Animal Kingdom - November 2010

Animal Kingdom

-Kilimarjaro Safaris – once. Once again watching animals 'in the wild'. Very enjoyable. I think this is one of the main reasons to attend this park.

-Kali River Rapids – once. You ride in a great tube (with seats) down a river with rapids and drops. It's a ride where you WILL get wet. You might get soaked. I got soaked. Cold water. I enjoyed the ride but don't look forward to riding it again.

-Everest – three times. Nothing new to report. Love it. Can't deal with the strobe effect near the end.

-Finding Nemo the Musical – once. Delightful. Had an angle on the stage that let me see backstage a bit. Loved that.

-Primeval Whirl – once. You ride through 'time' to the extinction of the dinosaurs. It's a 'kid ride' but it knocks you around rather roughly. Enjoyable but a bit mean.

-Dinosaur – twice. Mind the Carnotaurus!

-It's Tough to be a Bug – once. Fun show that I still feel I should catch more. Lots going on. Recommended.

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.

Universal Studios - November 2010

Finally I reflect on my trip to theme parks in Florida from this past November.

Universal Studios

Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast – once. Niko and I rode this by ourselves while the others did, well, other things. The ride is what it is; simple fun, nothing too wild apart from the chicken dance. What was interesting was the people sitting next to us in the row: a trainee and trainer ride operator. I heard quiet commentary on what were physical effects, what the current ride operator was doing right and wrong, etc. Loved that. Made me glad I left my camera in my pocket as Universal tend to be very serious about recording and pictures on the rides.

JAWS – once. We sat in the front row of the boat. I had the very left side of the boat so when JAWS went belly up it did so right in front of me. Out-standing.

Men in Black : Alien Attack – twice. We got different endings based on our average score. At least I think that's what did it. I'm not sure I ever noticed that before. We did earn our suit one time through. They still wiped our memory at the end. I think.

The Simpsons Ride – three times. It appears they've added a mark to the wall in the 'safety video' area to easily identify tall people and direct them to the front row so as to prevent them from being injured by the design of the ride vehicle. That's how we met the Tallest Irishman and found it was his first time on the ride. He laughed at all the right spots and got off the ride grinning madly. Good stuff.

ET Adventure – twice. They seem to have been having some issues with Botanicus in the entry queue as he wasn't active every day. We rode this almost as it opened one day and the fog sequences were delightfully thick.

Revenge of the Mummy – twice. The two trips through were nearly back-to-back as there was a child swap involved. We rode it, tagged in a different adult, and hopped back on almost immediately. Enjoyable ride but it feels shorter and shorter as I ride it.

Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster – four times. I think that four times was in about 15 minutes. We rode it, Kara giggled madly, and we ran to get back on. Remembered/Found the bells in the queue that play a tune if you hit them all in sequence.

Terminator 2:3D – once. Entertaining show. Long as well; depending on how you queue for this it'll take 45mins to an hour to go through this. Wait until it's raining or you want to sit down for awhile before visiting this. Its good but the length is such that this isn't an everytime show for me.