Fun Times At Universal Orlando

If you’ve ever seen a picture of Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure Theme Park, you’ve seen The Incredible Hulk Coaster. It’s Big. It’s Tall. It’s…. Green. Very Green. Incredibly Green. Course, what do you expect from The Incredible Hulk Coaster? I used to love The Incredible Hulk… I may have only been a child when it was on, but that transformation from a regular guy to this huge green dude was Cool! Besides, I’m a girl and he was built. Anyway… I digress.

The Incredible Hulk Coaster is for serious coaster fans. (more…)

Universal Orlando, like all other amusement parks, has some attractions where you have to be a certain height to ride.  It’s a safety thing, and even though it may be a pain sometimes… it’s completely unavoidable.  So, for your planning pleasure, here’s a list of height requirements for Universal Orlando. (more…)

At any other amusement park, Dr. Doom’s Fearfall would be just another ride.  Fun… check.  Thrilling… check.  Special… not so much.  But at Universal Studios, the theming of the ride gives your garden variety attraction a little extra punch.

Dr. Doom (archenemy of the Fantastic Four, for those of you who didn’t know) has created a device to drain the fear out of all visitors.  Why would he want to do that?  World domination, of course.  Why else? 

The Tower stretches 200 feet into the sky.  (more…)

Where else but Jurassic Park would you find a dinosaur petting zoo?  Well… sorta.  In Triceratops Discovery Trail, guests (that would be you and me) enter a… well… trail, for lack of a better word.  The path winds around for a bit, supposedly taking you through a safari camp, until you end up at a stable where doctors are housing a sick Triceratops.  The Triceratops is actually pretty convincing.  She’s 24 feet long and 10 feet high, and interacts with her doctor and with the guests, to a limited extent.  Poor thing has a cold (watch out for sneezes!)  (more…)

Get set for the most technologically advanced, and yes:  the coolest, roller coaster ever!  Admittedly, I haven’t ridden every roller coaster in the world.  I saw a picture of the tallest… but I digress.  Dueling Dragons at Universal Orlando gives you twice the riding experience:  Dual coaster, one named fire and the other named ice.

“A stroll through this forest can be a dangerous proposition,” says Merlin.  “Living within it are two fierce dragons.  One breathes fire; the other breathes ice.  In order to escape, you must prove your bravery by mounting the back of one of the creatures and riding it to freedom.”  Hence the legend behind the fire and ice coasters:  (more…)

Everyone seen Jurassic Park? Yep? Okay, then you pretty much know the premise of this ride.

Instead of entering Jeeps to view the dinos, you climb into boats. The idea is to float peacefully along the river, passing by nice, tame, plant eating dinosaurs. And for a while, that’s what happens. But where’s the fun in that? Something has to go wrong, right? (more…)

Theme parks and carousels go hand in hand… children love the process of choosing an animal and riding around in circles while moving up and down. Where I live, even shopping malls have carousels. Anyway, in true theme park style, Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventures has not only built a carousel… they’ve built a sensory adventure.

In the midst of Seuss landing lies the Caro-Seuss-El… the carousel with a Dr. Seuss Twist. (more…)

Men In Black has to be among my top five favorite rides of all time… not only at Universal Orlando but in comparison to any theme park ride anywhere. Hmm…. kinda sounds like I was impressed. And I was, very much so. Men In Black was fun, interactive, clever… It kept us coming back.

Part of the fun of Men In Black: Alien Attack lies in knowing what happened in the movie. So if you haven’t yet seen Men In Black, take a couple of hours and watch it before your vacation. You enter an office building and board an elevator, and when you get off you’re in the heart of Men In Black territory, where Zeb is recruiting new agents. As you set off for your training mission, something goes wrong: A spacecraft that was deporting some extraordinarily nasty aliens crash lands in New York City. Suddenly, armed aliens are everywhere, and it’s your job to find them and zap them. (more…)

In the grand tradition of The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show comes Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls, a punny and very wet adventure filled with Nell, Snidely Whiplash, exploding dynamite shacks, and of course…. very bad jokes.

The line for Dudley Do-Right is almost as fun as the ride itself. It winds around inside and out, and for those of us who remember the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, it’s utterly hilarious. (more…)

I grew up with the whimsical, nonsensical world of Dr. Seuss. Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hears a Who, How the Grinch Stole Christmas…. all were part of my growing up years. Now they have become part of the growing up years of my children. No one can write nonsense like Dr. Seuss, and the fantasy world he created and that lives on in our minds and imaginations has taken physical form at Seuss Landing.

You would think that it wouldn’t be possible to create a place without any straight lines, but somehow Univesal Orlando has done it. (more…)