Islands of Adventure Trip Report!

BEHOLD! For I am alive. My schedule seems to be jammed pack lately. Random, silly holidays that just snuck up on me, decorating the house at the speed of fast, and then spending 3 fun filled days in Orlando visiting theme parks. Then BAM back to the real world and apparently everyone is tired of turkey and it is pizza time. Needless to say I am a little tired. XD

Almost there!

As I wish my little brother goodbye as he flies off to Japan for three years I will show you where I spent the first part of my week. XD Yay theme parks. I meant to post these earlier but sorting pictures is hard! I think I shall post Universal Studios pics first and then Islands of Adventure. Sound like a plan? Plans for everyone!

We are here...but can we get in?

Our day on Monday started off early. See our Universal Studios tickets went for a ride of their own. In the washing machine of course. Our tickets basically destroyed we set off to the ticket office on base to get the information off them to give to the ticket counter at Universal Studios. Note to all...DO NOT DO THIS! We had to wait until the office opened at 9 which meant we got to Orlando after 11 am. And then it turned out that the information they have on the tickets is not the same that the actual theme parks use. So basically this information is useless. It is best just to go to the theme park itself and throw yourself on their mercy.

Getting some noms before going into the park. Lunch seems to be much calmer than dinner time here.

Spoiler Alert: We had the nicest ticket lady ever and she managed to give us back our tickets at no cost. She was super nice. XD She said she goes out of her way to help military personal out. WOOHOO! We have our tickets! Off to explore both parks over the span of two days.

First on the map is the Port of Entry. While there are no attractions here it is a well themed area that people seem to just walk on through. Stop and smell the roses folks! Or at least take pictures. At least that is what I did. Port of Entry has some shops and a few restaurants. A nice little place to rest or get energized for the day. Almost reminds me of Busch Gardens at this point.

Churro anyone?

XO Almost all of my Seuss Landing pictures I am in. Or Duffy. Yes expect some Duffy pictures later. Seuss Landing has rides that just about anyone can go on. While I don't have any kids I THINK all the rides are kid safe. X__X So not up to date on kids and what they can do. When the husband and I went to Islands of Adventure a week or so ago with our friend there were some Christmas decorations out. Well now a week before the Christmas celebrations start (actually today) decorations were everywhere. This was the most decorated area of the park. I really enjoyed taking it all in.

See how pretty it all looks? Sparkles!

Of course the Christmas decorations look better at night. As usual. It was nice just to walk around and snap away at certain things. Areas that are usually a little lightly themed on a plain day really stand out with Christmas decorations. This part of the park has been getting some love lately with paint jobs and what not and it really shows. Some of the Grinchmas areas were visible but not really accessible. Hopefully next year we can experience all of this Grinchmas for ourselves.

Just in front of the Caro-Seuss-el.

Throughout our two day stay we rode all the rides in the Seuss Landing area. The husband is NOT a fan of the Cat in the Hat. The little ride did spin around at some points but I didn't think it was that bad. Of course I am a fan of spinning things while the husband is a fan of nearly dying on rollarcoasters. Still a nice little dark ride that is well air conditioned. We rode The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride a few times. I love going through the entire section of the park, especially the restaurant. We rode the Caro-Seuss-el and I barely fit. X___X My legs were way too long for the stirrup things. I would say it was because I am an adult buy my husband fit just fine. I must have looked dorky. We also rode the One Fish, Two Fish spinner. It was a bit cold on the day we rode it so the operators turned off the water. Thanks for that.

Snap some pictures and go next time.

We ended up eating one meal at Seuss Landing. I decided that it was so much fun to ride through Circus McGurkus cafe Stoo-pendous that we should eat there. After doing so I wish we had eaten at Three Broomsticks. While the restaurant is cute and well themed the service and food was meh. Actually the husband said he wanted to write a review for how MEH his food was. I thought the fries were pretty good and the burger was okay. I guess I was more MEH about the service. Seuss Landing is a high traffic area full of kids. Walmart Greeters have more energy than these folks. The area is cute but just go in and take pictures. I am sure there are much better places to eat than this.

Wait for us!

There were random character greet and meets all over the place. The only ones we didn't get were Thing 1 and Thing 2. These areas had handlers and there were actual lines. XD So we actually got our pictures which makes me happy. Yay for lovely pictures.

Zero things folks. XD

Up next is The Lost Continent. We did exactly zero things here. Poseidon's Fury was down the entire time we were there. Should have done that last week with the friend instead. We had planned on going to The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show. On the first day we were trying to do as many rides with my brother and sister in law so we skipped over it. On the second day we missed the show because we were taking character pictures in Seuss Landing. XD Maybe next time then? A lot of little shops and what not here. This area needs more attractions.

My sister in law nearly lost her little mind over this part of the park.

Up next on the map is....The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! The only place that matters. I kid I kid...I think. My sister in law was the most excited about this area. She was like take pictures NOOOW! So I did while everyone else rode the Dragon Challenge. Click click click. When the friend and I were here two years ago the place was new and packed to the gills. But the two days we spent here were pretty reasonable. There is an actual line for the wand experience store. The Butter Beer cart had a small line. It looked like Three Broomsticks had a little line but nothing major rarw. And you could actually take pictures by the train without it taking an hour weee!

Harry Potter area at night. Wonder how it will look with guests traveling in between both parks?

There are some expansion areas going between this area and The Lost Continent. HMMMMM what could be going in this area folks? It is a total mystery. Well it is to many guests in the park. Things are to come folks, great things just wait.

Well I guess we got to support him since he is the main character yes?

I actually had a brave moment and rode the Flight of the Hippogriff. Because that is how much of a weenie I am. I think I work myself up and think that it is going to be worse than it is. According to the husband it is a little baby rollercoaster. I think it was rather short myself. Could have been longer and shown more movie scenes.

I don't think I could ever get bored of taking pictures of this building.

The best ride in this park is of course Happy Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Onward we go folks! People need to learn how to use the free lockers though. We were stuck waiting many times in our trip because people couldn't remember their numbers, which finger they used, which section they were in, or how to read. Wham bam thank you ma'am we store our stuff and went each time.

Make sure you take it all in!

I made sure to stop my brother and sister in law so they could watch the preshows before the ride. When the ride is under 20 minutes people just rush through all these important parts. Stop people and listen to the plot. Plus all the talking paintings are cool.

What do you mean no cameras on the ride?! XO The queue is so amazing though!

The ride itself was of course great each time we rode. At once point the ride had to stop because people are special. We stopped RIGHT before the dragon. Then zoom the ride was back on and the dragon WORKED today. I was like oh snap folks. Each time the ride was amazing. We really went in the off season because the longest wait we ever saw was 40 minutes and we simply waited a bit for it to die down. The operators on this ride are really careful to make sure things are safe. Fun rides for all.

Insert dramatic music here.

After taking some more pictures it was off to Jurassic Park. This section of the park really does need more rides. As a family we rode Jurassic Park River Adventure because I told everyone last time I rode I only got a little wet. Well I stand by that statement but I guess everyone has a different definition of a little wet. XD We had fun anyways, almost like Jaws but with more monsters!

Just slightly wet folks....

The husband and I went back to the Camp Jurassic area. We were going to take some pictures near the top but we always made it to that area of the park after dark. Silly us. Again we forgot that slides have an age limit or at least to us. Still the area was fun but needs more dinosaurs.

I think we would get more than slightly wet on this ride...

Up next was Toon Lagoon. As the name states there are a lot of water rides here. On Monday the temperature was pretty high but the members of my group didn't want to walk around all wet. I might have rode the Barges Ride but that one got me soaken wet for like 6 hours after the fact. Maybe water rides have an age threshold too. I remember the days when it was cool to spend all day wet from rides. For now we will just take pictures.

Just slightly scary...

Oh and here is a scary picture of Popeye and Olive Oil. My brother went to get some DipNDots (which are apparently sponsoring the entire park) when these two characters just popped out of nowhere. I just that about Universal Studios. Disney needs to do that more, like in Tokyo Disney. They do during the Christmas Parties but not normal. Just adds to the fun of the park.

Don't mind us, we are just here to run you over! XD

Speaking of random fun....we walled into Marvel Super Hero Island and were greeted with some super heroes on little....4 wheelers? I think that is what they are called. Just drove down the road and stopped to take pictures. I love how all these random things happen. You can go to the parks all the time and experience new things with each visit.

Just run through the line folks. RUN!

We took several rides on The Amazing Spider-Man. Again this ride has some preshow stuff that gets overlooked if there is no line. Everyone is just rushing through. But you got to look at the screens and computers. XD Spider-Man is here to save us but we got to get behind the newspaper story.

Need some water? Well we got tons on the rides!

A lot of rides at Universal Studios squirt water on you. XO Why are they trying to get spots on my glasses? Or get Duffy wet? Although I did enjoy the part where the heat was turned on. Helped dry us off from our earlier adventures. Overall we had a good time on this ride. It sorta sits back from the road though. Well not really but I can see how people could walk by it.

All the pics of the arcade I am in so... XD

My brother and I hung out in the arcade while the husband and sister in law rode the Doctor Doom's Freefall. They both stated it was nowhere near as extreme as the Tower or Terror at Hollywood Studios. It looks intense to me but I am trying what I was told.

How can the Hulk be better than our store fronts?

I didn't ride The Incredible Hulk Coaster but it looks like a lot of fun. I guess I like rides that get close to passbyers. Like wow we are part of the ride without being on it. Most roller coasters aren't themed that well but I like how it is apart of the land without taking over.

I am in this picture folks!

The last ride at Islands of Adventures is one of my favorites...as long as my brother is with me. Storm Force Accelatron. Most people would be going aren't those tea cups. HAHAHA folks. Truly you have not lived unless you have been kicked off teacups because the little kid in your cup was crying because you spun the thing so fast you were splattered against the sides of the cup. Ah my brother. Such a lovely last memory of our trip before he left. I was okay about an hour later wee!

Isn't it nice inside?

I think that is about it for Islands of Adventures! Up next is Universal Studios. Park Hoppers might cost a bit more folks but I think it is well worth it on slow days in the park. If things get too much at one section go to another. Or go back and forth if you want to eat certain things. Thanks to the parks for giving the husband and my brother free park hoppers woohoo!