Universal Parks
Today was a very lazy start after a very late night.
We headed into the parks mid morning. From the outside, no evidence of HHN exists anymore. All signage gone and the Universal arches bare again.
Plus all the crowds had disappeared
Surprisingly, much of the scare zone furniture and decorations is still here. Guess it will take a few days to clear out. Christmas season is starting to appear. I think the parks officially start the Xmas celebrations on the 12 November.
The Mummy ride has been closed for month for refurb. It is currently in soft opening..ie, sometimes it’s open, sometimes it isn’t. This morning it was open. I took the single rider line and was on the ride within 5 minutes.
It was an improvement over the old ride and worthy of a short queue. it’s still a coaster crossed with projections, but the coaster element is more obvious now and it’s smoother with less sudden movements.
We strolled around the Studios park – no significant changes since our last trip. Forgot to do the new Bourne Experience show…
Decided to head over to IoA (Islands of Adventure) park via the Hogwarts Express.
This was probably the busiest area of the park. Indeed, it put us into a very busy Hogsmeade/Hogwarts already in Christmas decor… snow on roofs and 85+ degree heat!
We escaped Harry Potters fanatics and headed down to the new VelociCoaster.
Unsurprisingly, Jus wasn’t keen on doing this! So, I hopped into the Single Rider line, through the metal detectors and put my stuff into a locker. The lockers here are very good – a really simple idea, they are double sided – put your stuff in from the queue and collect from the opposite side on exit. So you can easily collect you stuff on the way out. No need to double back to the locker area.
The ride was something else. Very smooth, seriously fast with two launch stages. The loops and g-forces are fairly high, but without throwing you around – not at all jerky or jarring. Best ride I have been on in years.
We stopped for drinks and wandered around the park some more. Decided against the River Adventure ride. Last couple of times we have ridden this we have been soaked to the skin – we have also broken down. Being stuck on a ride for 30 minutes, wet and in blazing sunshine isn’t great!
I rode, via single rider line, The Hulk. In and on in 5 minutes flat. It’s a ride I have never done before. I would have been impressed if I hadn’t ridden VelociCoaster an hour beforehand!
We left and walked through a very quiet CityWalk and caught a boat back to our resort.
We have booked a table at Margaritaville for dinner.
Realised I have never been, despite it being around for years. This will be our last meal on property before heading down to the Keys.