That iconic song and lyrics from the Book of Mormon: "Orlando...I love you, Orlando" inspired us to visit the home of the theme park: Orlando, Florida. Planning this trip was difficult - which theme park? How long are we willing to queue? How much are we willing to spend? All important questions when we gave ourselves just one and half days to enjoy everything on offer. In the end the big kid inside of Olie directed us to choose the Universal Orlando Resort that included the twin theme parks of Universal Studios Florida and Universal's Islands of Adventure. This blog recaps an exciting day of roller coasters and fun.
Our cruise ship docked on time (close to 8am) back at the Port of Miami. With bags packed, we joined the queue of people waiting to get onto the ramp and to the prearranged transport at the cruise terminal. With close to two thousand people trying to exit a small area, the taxi area was chaotic and some passengers were in distress as they had not left enough time before a connecting flight - particularly when their booked shuttle bus failed to arrive.
We booked 'Florida Express' shuttles as the most direct means of transport between Miami and downtown Orlando, paying extra for a hotel drop off. Tripadvisor reviews were mixed, but we had no issues with the service and the shuttle arrived not long after the allocated time slot, as they do advise potential lateness due to traffic and pick-ups from other terminals at the port.
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| Our shuttle bus to Orlando |
Best Western Orlando Gateway Hotel
Travel time was close to 4 hours and we had one rest break at a service station along the way. Our hotel was located on Universal Boulevard, meaning it was a relatively short walk (1.3 miles) to the Universal Resort and directly opposite Wet 'n Wild theme park. Distance is relative to the size of the roads or motorway and therefore it probably took close to 30 minutes before we were at the front entrance. We did part of the walk the night before to ensure we knew the route, as the key to theme parks is to get there at 'opening' unless you have pre-purchased tickets.
Hotel Ticket / Tour desk
Our hotel had a handy ticket/tour desk that assists with organizing theme park tickets and coupons for discounts at local restaurants. There are many package options available for theme park tickets. However as a rule, save money by visiting multiple-parks across a longer (eg. week) period; and it is cheaper to visit during non-holiday off peak times. However, as we were short on time (1 day) and it was peak season between Christmas and New Years; we didn't have the luxury of saving money. Note that there is an 'offer' for discounted park entry that requires you to visit a seminar about buying a holiday home before your entry to the theme park. This may work for some visitors, but since we were short on time, it wasn't an option.
In the end we bought a Universal 2-Park single day ticket and had to queue early in the morning to buy the 2-Park Express Plus pass that ensured we could skip the line at each ride. The total bill ran up to hundreds of dollars - an expensive day out so we needed to spend a full 14 hours at the park to obtain value for money.
Dinner -all you can eat crab and lobster
Olie knows that the key to Mei's heart is not expensive jewellery or handbags - but a plateful of seafood. In particular any type of crustacean (crabs, lobsters, prawns, bugs) and she will be content for a few hours as she picks all the meat away from the shell, making a complete mess. But that makes her the most happy.
Orlando has a number of 'all you can eat' seafood restaurants - Red Lobster, Lighthouse Lobster and Boston Lobster Feast. We went to the latter, enjoying three hours of gorging ourselves silly with crab legs, boiled lobsters, clam chowder and the odd side serving of carbohydrate.
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| Mussels and crab with melted butter |
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| The look of complete happiness |
Universal Resort - An early start
The next morning, we were up early and making our way to the resort for a full day of fun. We picked up souvenir lanyards to hold our ticket / express passes and even at 8am, the crowds were building.
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| Good morning Universal Resort |
In the early start, we had skipped eating breakfast at the hotel. Instead we visited the on-site Starbucks for coffee and a toasted sandwich. There was a threat of rain with the dark clouds and warm temperatures creating a humid and stuffy climate.
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| Crowds of children and parents heading straight for the popular rides |
It is recommended to start the day early and if you choose not to purchase the express pass - be prepared for a day of endless queuing. By lunchtime, the park was so packed with visitors that it was uncomfortable walking around in the crowded streets.
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| Crowds at lunch-time |
Universal Studios Theme Park
With the express pass, we didn't need a strategy of hitting specific rides early. We started in the Universal Studios park and then crossed into the Islands of Adventure during the early afternoon.
Men In Black (MIB) - Alien Attack Ride
This ride kicks off with an elevator into the 'training facility' where you board an indoor roller coaster type ride with simulated effects - your mission is to shoot aliens with laser guns and compete against each other to score the most points.
As this was our first ride, we were wowed by the special effects. Although this waned to almost indifference after the 10th roller coaster ride later in the day.
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| Inside the training facility |
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| The cars |
Transformers - The Ride
Mei grew up loving the original Transformers cartoon. With the remake, she is still a fan and ranked this ride as one of her favourites. Set inside a warehouse, this 3D ride puts you into the scene of a battle between the Autobots and Decepticons where the special effects are so realistic that you huddle in your seat when a missile is launched directly at you.
Holywood Rip Ride Rocket
This 51m tall roller coaster was one that Olie needed to convince Mei to try out. The cars are small and therefore go very fast and we had the joy of sitting in the front row. The entire ride lasts under two minutes and you get to select the music you wish to listen to during the ride.
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| The tower of the roller coaster |
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| The length of the roller coaster |
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
The most popular ride related to Harry Potter and the Express passes are not valid for this section. With the expected wait time close to two hours and not being big Harry Potter fans, we skipped the rides and walked through the village, including a market area that resembled the location filmed at London's Leadenhall Market and Kings Cross station.
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| Inside the Harry Potter section |
The Harry Potter section spans both theme parks with the Hogwarts Express train can be used to transverse the two locations.
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| The Hogwarts Express |
Candy Parade
To give ourselves a rest from the body shocks of roller coaster rides, we headed towards the more passive attractions in the park, including a candy themed parade where Mei made friends with a dancing chicken.
The Simpsons
Growing up with the Simpsons during the 1990's during primary and secondary school, we had to visit the Springfield part of the park, that had a statue of Jebediah Springfield, a Kwik-E-Mart, a ride based on the Krustyland theme. The highlight was a bar that sold Duff Beer and played Simpson's episodes. It felt like a retreat for adults that were stressed out after being dragged everywhere by kids.
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| Beer and cartoons - perfect for chillaxing |
Other rides visited included:
* Disaster!-A Major Motion Picture Ride - a role playing activity where visitors get to be actors.
* E.T Adventure - child friendly ride, but need to have watched the movie to understand it
* Twister - Ride It Out - experience the impact of a tornado
* Revenge of the Mummy - with special effects that are a bit creepy
* Terminator 2: 3-D - where the 3rd dimension blends movie effects with real actors
As we were keen to watch the Macy's Parade that was on later that night in Universal Studios, we decided to switch parks after lunch.
Lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe
The center of the Universal Resort is a lake with many restaurants, including Hard Rock Cafe lining the perimeter. We visited the Hard Rock for lunch - buffalo wings, fajitas washed down with frozen cocktails. A perfect half-way point on a very long day.
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| Hard Rock cafe |
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| Frozen cocktails |
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| Buffalo wings |
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| Fajitas |
Islands of Adventure Theme Park
There are two options for getting to the Islands of Adventure Theme Park. Option 1: By boat from the central lake. Option 2: Walk.
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| The lake with boats that take you between the two theme parks |
The Incredible Hulk Coaster
Olie's motivation for visiting this park was to get Mei onto another big scary roller coaster - the Hulk. This ride had terrifying 360 degree loops and made a loud roar every time the car went overhead.
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| The Hulk ride |
Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges
Probably the cheapest laughs of any ride were obtained on the Popeye barge ride where you sit on circular barges and proceed down a river. As you cross different bends, water cannons and waterfalls do their best to soak you. Depending on which way the barge swings, you could be the one that always gets wet or the one that stays dry. However, there is a central tower that the river meanders around. On this tower, other patrons (complete strangers) can use water pistols to soak you at their discretion. Loads of fun.
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| Barge ride |
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| View of the barges from the tower |
We visited The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride that got us slightly dizzy with the leaping between buildings and simulated falling into silk nets. And there were other rides that we decided not to venture onto involving high speed circular motions or more water.
But we always have time for dinosaurs. And the River Ride was one of those experiences that start off like a normal cruise (just like in the movie when everything at the start is just peachy), but then you know in the back of your mind that something dramatic is going to happen - like being chased by a T-Rex and going free-fall for 26m into a River. Fun times, just look forward to getting wet again.
Jurassic Park Discovery Center
Nearby, we had a chance to explore the Discovery Center, with the real-life dinosaur egg hatchery and life-sized carnivores that tried to eat Olie.
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| Entering the discovery park |
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| Dinosaur eggs ready for hatching |
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| Watch out Olie! |
Poseidon's Fury
The last ride we took in the Islands of Adventure theme park was Poseidon's Fury - set up to recreate what it would be like as explorers to visit an ancient site for the first time and anger the current residents.
Close to 8pm we returned to Universal Studios to have two final rides - the Shrek 4-D ride and the Despicable Me Minion Mayhem ride. Both rides were incredibly popular with children and had long queues in the non-Express Pass queue.
Macy's Holiday Parade
As Mei was getting neck cramps from the jolting movement from all the day's rides, it was time to watch the parade and head home.
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| Macy's Holiday Parade |
The Macy's parade used floats from the annual Thanksgiving parade. Close to the parade start time, an entire section of the park was closed off and we settled in to watch it.
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| Getting ready for the parade |
Universal Citywalk
Citywalk is a collection of retail outlets and restaurants at the entrance to Universal resort. After the parade finished, the area was crowded with people leaving the park and also trying to find somewhere to eat for dinner. We stopped off at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville for a drink and a quick meal from a fast food restaurant.
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| Completely crowded with people at close to 10pm |
Next blog post:
Dubai, UAE
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