Yet another stop on my tour of Florida's theme parks with three of my friends was Universal Studios. Universal is linked to Islands of Adventure and we did both parks in one day due to limited time, although I'll review them separately.
LOCATION:
Universal Studios is in Orlando, Florida. As with most Orlando attractions it is fairly well signposted. You just need to get onto the I4, the main road through Orlando, and it is signposted off this. There is a ridiculous amount of parking available. Make sure you remember which character and which number you are parked in otherwise you'll be searching for that rental car for hours! Each section is named after a Universal character such as Spiderman, the Cat in the Hat and ET.
PRICES:
This is a theme park in Orlando so don't be expecting a cheap day out! You can buy lots of different combinations of tickets for the park. We got a day pass which covered Universal and Islands of Adventure. These cost us about $80 each. These tickets don't seem to be available on the Universal website itself but they are on various discount sites on the net. We needed a ticket like this as we only had a limited time and wanted to see both parks. However, I wouldn't get this ticket unless you can also get the Express Plus passes. These give you queue jump rights to each ride in each park once. These passes cost between $25 and $50 depending on which day you go on. We had to pay $50 for ours but without them there was no way we would have done both parks in one day. The queues can be over an hour on a busy day so we would have only done a few rides, while getting very frustrated!
There are numerous different combinations of tickets which include Universal Studios, far too many to list them all here. Just remember to look around the net before you go as there are bargains to be had (you can always check the reputability of the site on a review site). Also remember that more days in a park will cost less overall so
plan ahead for your trip so that you can get cheaper deals. If you are planning to visit other parks linked with Universal you can get tickets which cover all the parks (flex tickets) and these can save a lot of money. The parks linked with Universal in these include Sea World and Busch Gardens in Tampa.
THE EXPERIENCE:
We had done Islands of Adventure first and thought we would be finished there in the early afternoon. However, Islands had so much in it and after food etc, we didn't finish there until about 4. We finished around the same time as the heavens decided to open so we had to take shelter under a picnic table umbrella for about an hour while the rain stopped. Once it had we headed through the City Walk (the area between the parks which is filled with restaurants and bars) to Universal. The first thing we did was have a photo outside the famous Universal sign (see picture)!
Once we had got through the gates with our passes (you scan them to get through) we headed straight for our first attraction, Shrek 4D. For those of you who may have visited Universal in the past, some of the old rides have been changed to keep up with new films. This one used to be the Alfred Hitchcock attraction 'The Birds', which I used to find quite scary! You were firstly ushered into a room where they told you a Shrek story (not one you would have seen in the films). You then move into an auditorium where you sit with your 4D glasses on. Here you watch what is basically a short Shrek film, with the characters coming out at you. As big fans of the Shrek films we all loved this. It was also great because they had effects to make you feel part of the film: the seats shook when they were in a carriage; you were sprayed with water and there were heaters for when the dragon breathed fire. The only thing I found was that the 4D wasn't that great, I didn't feel as if the characters were really leaping out at me, although that could have been a problem with my glasses. On the way out there was a shop dedicated to Shrek merchandise. They didn't have a Puss in Boots T-Shirt in my size otherwise that would have been bought! My friend did buy some Shrek ears which she insisted on sporting for the remainder of the day!
The next ride we headed for was the Mummy. I haven't seen any of the Mummy films so I'm not sure how linked the ride is to the film. You are in a carriage with about 8 people. Considering the ride is inside it's quite long and is quite scary. It is like an indoor roller coaster. We all thought this ride was absolutely brilliant! Watch out for the ride attendants, they stare at you and jump out at you to scare you - worked on me!
We next headed for Jaws. Something of a classic ride to go with a legendary Universal film. Before getting on the ride came the obligatory photo with our heads inside the shark's head outside the entrance. The ride is outside; you are sat in a boat, supposedly in the area that Jaws was set in. It is set after the initial shark attacks - when everything is supposed to be fine again. The boat is 'driven' by a 'tour guide' who has to talk you through the area and then plays up the drama of the shark attack (how boring must that job be!). The ride starts off calm but when the shark attacks it gets bumpy. The shark is very obviously plastic but could easily scare little ones. This ride is fun, although it doesn't have quite the same thrill factor as the roller coasters. I'd still say it's a must though - Jaws is a classic! Also a warning - getting wet is a serious possibility!
Next on our circuit was Men in Black. This ride wasn't there the last time I was in Universal and I loved the film so I was really looking forward to this one. For the ride you become special agents and you have to use your 'guns' to shoot any aliens you see. The ride registers your score (I got the highest - woohoo!! - make sure you listen when it tells you to press the red button near the end and you get loads of points!). You can also shoot at the other cars on the way round. We all loved this ride and we all enjoyed being competitive. We liked the ride so much that I decided to buy the photo at the end. This wasn't cheap but we didn't buy any of the others throughout the holiday and it was hilarious. You could have some of the alien characters put into the photo with you which was cool. What did annoy me was that they printed two of our photos
Pictures of
Have to take this photo!
by mistake but they wouldn't just give me the second one, they insisted I pay for it, even though it was just headed for the bin otherwise! Grrrr!!
Next came the Simpsons ride. This is new this year and used to be the Back to the Future ride. The ride is almost exactly the same as it was when it was Back to the Future, it has just been repainted and plays a different film. For this ride you are in a carriage which doesn't go anywhere but moves on the spot. You are watching a short movie about the Simpsons, which, with the movements, makes it feel like you a in the film. Although I really enjoyed this ride and I do think the Simpsons is very funny, the ride did make me feel more queasy than any other ride we went on the whole time we were in Florida!
The last ride we went on was my personal favourite, ET. ET is one of my favourite films - it still makes me cry - and I had really been looking forward to this one. It's not fast, it's not for thrill seekers but if you love the film this is a definite must. On the way into this ride you give them your name and then get a card to hand in once on the ride. For the ride itself you sit on what are supposed to be bicycles (if you've seen the film it's obvious why), I was like a kid in a sweetshop for this ride and insisted on sitting at the front with ET in my basket! The ride is basically the end of the film - ET and the gang being chased by the police cars. You eventually fly through the magic of ET and see the city laid out below you. You then reach ET's home planet (not in the film) where ET's friends and family greet you. At the very end ET says goodbye to you individually (hence giving your name at the start), although I was seriously annoyed as the women clearly didn't understand my accent and my name wasn't said - and I was the one who wanted to hear it most!! I did have to visit the shop after to buy my very own ET - only $6.99 for a cuddly ET with a magnet in his back to stick on my fridge, which I thought was quite reasonable. This fulfilled a childhood dream (my Dad wouldn't buy me one last time I went, sob sob!!).
OTHER RIDES:
There were a few other rides at Universal which we didn't have time to go on. These included Terminator 2: 3D, which we weren't too interested in. There was a ride based on Jimmy Neutron (a Nickelodeon character) which wasn't really suitable for us either. Disaster and Twister are both rides that some of us had been on before and they weren't top of our list to revisit. However, they are quite good if you haven't been before and have the time. The Animal Actors attraction was another one that I have seen before and liked but I think it's more for kids. If you are visiting with kids there is also Woody Woodpecker Kidszone.
FOOD:
There are lots of places to eat around the park. We weren't looking for anything very much but we did stop for hot dogs at a stand near the Jaws ride. There are proper restaurants and bars as well. The food is mostly grill-type food of burgers etc. The prices are pretty much average for food in a theme park (i.e. more expensive than elsewhere!).
SHOPS:
There are lots of shops in the park. All the main rides have their own shop selling merchandise with the ride's brand all over them. There is a big main Universal shop near to the entrance.
ANYTHING ELSE:
A couple of extra points. There are fun fair stalls dotted around the park where you can play to win various cuddly toys. I really enjoy playing on these sort of stalls but they were quite pricey so I didn't do it this time. Also, at the end of the night there is a show around the centre of the park. This is worth watching but it does mean that you get a mad rush to the car park when it's finished. We only saw parts of the show on our way out of the park but because we left late we queued for 45 minutes just to get out of the car park. I'm sure there must be a way they could get this better organised (there were members of the public getting out and directing the traffic as there were no staff doing it).
RECOMMENDED:
I think Universal (combined with Islands of Adventure) is one of the best theme parks in Orlando. Disney is fantastic but very geared towards children and for us this wasn't a factor so we loved Universal with its more grown up rides. It is expensive but you don't visit Orlando on a budget, you really need to expect an expensive time. You can make it cheaper - shop around for tickets and take your own food. A must see if you are in Orlando!
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