Now off to something new Universal Studios Florida

When I visited Universal Studios Theme parks in Feburary 2012 I only had the chance to go to Islands of Adventure.  So this time I bought a three day pass to both parks.

The first day I went to the parks with my best Disney friend Rachel.  She and I conquered both parks in one day on a Sunday.  Like my last visit Sunday treated me very well.  Outside Rachel's bad luck with parking   the parks on Sunday are great.  

 My first real day in Orlando.  Ahh to be back so soon in the hot humid Florida air.  Well this day wasn't too bad.  We started our day not super early but early enough by heading down the road to Universal.  I told Rachel to get an annual pass for the parks since she was going to be visiting at least twice during the year, plus free parking!  We got the parking that we always do, at the end of the row, the furthest away from the entrance.  We walked the long distance to Universal Studios park and found that we had gotten there 10 minutes before the gates opened.  I guess I am too efficient in getting ready in the morning.  After our usual changing conversation the gates opened and off we went.

 Entering Universal Studios is a bit of a walk from the parking garage, through Universal City Walk, next the water way and finally to the entrance.  A wonderful entrance into a fun park.  

All around the entrance, and the entire park, were Halloween decorations for the Horror Nights.  They were cool looking and unobtrusive.  We passed the entrance store and went straight into the Despicable Me attraction.  It's a very simple and heartfelt motion simulator ride.  It had opened since I came in February so it was new to me.  But so was everything in the Universal Studios park since I had not visited there ever before.

We hit everything in the park.  

Shrek 4D Adventure.  I went on this many years ago in Hollywood and it is the same.  Set after the first Shrek film it is what happens after the movie ends.

Twister a movie effects show that made me keep exclaiming how young Bill Paxton was.

 The Revenge of the Mummy is a great indoor rollercoaster with a couple hot and cold surprises and a que plot that doesn't make sense unless  you are stuck in line for while. 

Disaster with Christopher Walken as a movie studio head who needs help casting extras for his new disaster pic.  Great for big groups of people when someone from their group gets selected.  Plus the actor who was Walken's assistant who selected people from our group was fantastic!  I couldn't stop talking about how awesome he was!
Men in Black is like steping back in time to the 1964 World's Fair.  But instead of going into a fair pavilion you are chosen by the MIB to train for service.  It's very similar to Buzz Lightyear but you can hit opponents vehicles and make them spin.  Or sometimes you just spin when no one is shooting at you.  

The Simpsons is in the building that formerly held the Back the Future Ride.  The vehicles were clearly Delorians in their past life but now they are cars that fly you into the world of the Simpsons.  Overall I was not impressed by the ride, mostly because it was done in computer animation rather than hand drawn.  The characters just didn't look right.

ET is a very strange ride.  You go onto a bicycle contraption that holds about 20 people and fly through the story of ET and more.  You end on ET's planet with creatures that seem like they would be comfortable in Labryth.  Don't need to do that one again.

And finally Terminator 2 3-D.  It's a very entertaining show with acting, action, 3-D film and motorcycles all combined.  

We finished all that (minus Shrek) by about 1pm after spending about 4 hours in the park.

I came back my following two days and revisited most of the park, took pictures with some characters and watching some shows.  

The Blues Brother's Show was good but I really hoped that they would come in with their car.  But alas they did not.

I was always impressed by themeing all around.  My favorite find was the cookies for Despicable Me.  Even you can buy coco nutties.

At the end of the day the lagoon in the center of the park fills with a 100th Anniversary Show.  The show is a combination of fountains, film, and fireworks.  There is a water screen in the middle of the lake that sometimes creates patterns with the water.  In the blue and red shots below the starburst and film reel were created by falling water.  Very cool.

 Again I was sad to report that I did not take enough photos.  I didn't get photos of anything on the back half the the park. We were too busy having fun and spending too much time in the Wizarding World.

Next time...

I will be coming back in 2 years or so when Diagon Alley opens.  What's not to love about more Harry Potter!