Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

In last week's travel post, I shared all about our adventure to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida.  The Harry Potter attraction was the only reason we went to  Islands of Adventure.  But after we saw everything there, we did still have time to check out the rest of the park.

Aside from all the Harry Potter attractions, the next ride we wanted to see the most was the Jurassic Park River Adventure.  It's billed as a "thrilling river raft adventure. You’ll ride through the jungle and see dinosaurs in their natural habitats."  But guess what?  It wasn't open, it was closed for maintenance.  To say we were disappointed was an understatement.  I was downright angry.  This is a major attraction in the park.  If it wasn't available, tickets should have been discounted.

After we got over the shock of realizing we wouldn't be able to go on the ride, we walked around the Jurassic Park a bit.  It was designed very much to look like scenes from the movie.  

There was a jungle gym type play area for children (and adventurous adults like us) to explore.  It was called Camp Jurassic.  I loved how much this steel structure looked like it came right off the movie set.

We climbed all the nets and went down all the slides and through all the crawl spaces.  It was a lot of fun.  There was a pterodactyl ride called "Pteranodon Flyers" in this part of Jurassic Park too, but guess what?  We couldn't ride it.  It was only for children...though they did allow adults on it if they were with a child.  It looked like so much fun!  We were so disappointed....again.

Other than the two rides we couldn't go on, and a dinosaur attraction where a velociraptor pretends to eat you, the only other thing is this section of the park was the Jurassic Park Discovery Center.  This building contained informative exhibits and displays.

This building did look like it came straight off the movie set.  We loved the dinosaurs inside...you could move their heads!

The Dinosaur Nursery was a lot of fun to explore.  A lot of care and detail was taken to make it as reminiscent of the movie as possible.

Aren't these large doors amazing?   Just like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, there was so much attention given to recreating details from the original movie.

Next, we visited The Lost Continent.  Here all the architecture had a Moroccan, Old World feel.  We first went to the Poseidon's Fury attraction.  It is a live action show described as follows:  "You'll soon find yourself trapped far beneath the sea with no hope of escape, caught in the middle of a colossal battle between ancient titans Poseidon and the evil Lord Darkenon. Massive fireballs, lasers, and huge explosions of water erupt all around you as you witness the power of this special effects spectacular. Will you make it back to the surface before the temple crashes down around you? 

This show was O.K.  You walk  and stand through all of it, and I think you would enjoy it more depending on where you get to stand.  I seemed to always get stuck in back and couldn't see a thing.  I did enjoy walking through the tunnel of water though...you actually feel the mist as you walk through.  That was fun and interesting, and I felt a bit like the Israelites must have when they crossed the Dead Sea.

We enjoyed meeting these attractive and talented stilt walkers after the show!

There was a major theatre show in this section of the park called "The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show".  This was a fairly decent show.  I enjoyed being able to see it for one...because I was sitting down, in an actual theatre, with elevated seating.

The show involved stunts, comedy, romance, and pyrotechnics along with a silly storyline.

The set was quite impressive.  It is very large, and extremely detailed.

After watching two shows, by now we were ready for some rides.  Since we were unable to go onto the Jurassic Park water ride, we headed for Toon Town to get on the Popeye's and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges.  And guess what?  I was closed due to technical difficulties.  So off we went to explore Toon Town till the ride was available again.

Thankfully they got the ride up and running again.  And even though by now it was late in the day, and the sun was not as strong,  we decided to go on the ride anyway, and boy did we get wet!   Never in my life had I gotten as soaked on any amusement park ride before!  But it sure was fun!  And lesson learned....never wear denim to an amusement park.  It does not dry out fast enough.  I was wet for the rest of the day!

This section of the park was really cute, but there wasn't much to do here.  Mostly just shops and eateries.  There was another water ride, Dudly Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls, but it had too much of a drop for the "girls" comfort zone...though Jason would have loved it!

I really did enjoy looking at all the nostalgic decor of this park.  These were the cartoons from my childhood!

One of the cutest areas of the park, especially if you have small children, is Suess's Landing.  Everything is this section, is meant for kids...but we loved it and even went on the kiddie rides.

There is this cute little train that takes you for a ride above this adorable Dr. Seuss village.  And yes, we rode on it and enjoyed ourselves immensely!

My favorite ride in this section of the park was the The Cat in the Hat.  It is so adorable!  You sit on a couch and it moves through the storybook....oh, talk about re-living your childhood!  I loved it!

The decor and shops in this village are all absolutely adorable.  And Jason, a school teacher and book lover, loved every minute of it...if you can't tell by the picture below!  Who says Dr. Seuss is only for small children anyway?

The last section of the park, and the part we spent the least amount of time in, was Marvel Super Hero Island.  Again, the place was decorated amazingly well.  We just didn't do much here because most of the rides are more adventurous than Ashley and I like.  

They did have a lot of the Super Heroes out and about making sure the streets were safe...like Captain America!

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man 3-D ride was our second favorite ride in Island's of Adventure (Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey was our Favorite!).  But would you believe the first time we showed up to take this ride it was closed due to technical difficulties?  I couldn't.  I was ready to head straight for the customer service booth and demand my money back at this point.  But we came back later and it was working again.  We ended up loving it so much, we rode this ride twice!

I screamed so much during the Spider-Man ride Ashley remarked "Wow Mom, that ride really scares you!".  I said "Yes, it does, because you not only see scary stuff happening, you feel it too!".

It is a moving, high-definition, 3-D ride.  You sit in a moving vehicle and follow right along side Spider Man "careening and crashing through the streets, scaling skyscrapers and plummeting to the pavement below in a simulated 400-foot free fall."   

The scary part for me was "feeling" what you see.  For example, if glass crashes and breaks in front of your eyes, you feel tiny pin pricks on your skin...I think it was just water sprays, but it felt like pin pricks.  It was so freaky, but fun!



This section of the park was so cool to walk through at night when everything was all lit up.

We were at the park from the time it opened to the time it closed.  We got on every ride we wanted to that was open.  They were in the process of building new rides while we there.  The King Kong attraction looked amazing.  I would love to go back someday and experience that ride, but probably never will.  There are so many other theme parks in Orlando that I have yet to visit...if I ever get back to Orlando again.

So what about you?  Have you ever been to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure?  What did you think of it?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE and Travel Tuesday!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida

During my two week vacation in Florida we went to one theme park:  Islands of Adventure.  We picked this theme park because my daughter and son-in-law are HUGE Harry Potter fans and we wanted to see the Hogwarts Castle.  Now we did enjoy the rest of the park as well, but I have so much to share on the Harry Potter section of the park, that I decided to split this week's travel post into two posts.  This week I'll cover Harry Potter and next week I'll share what else we did at the Islands of Adventure.

Now although my daughter and son-in-law have read all the Harry Potter books and seen every movie multiple times,  I have not.  I only read the first book, and saw just the first three movies.  So to prepare for our visit to the park, we did a Harry Potter movie binge first!  Yes, I watched every single Harry Potter movie!  I wanted to make the most of my experience at the park, and thought I would appreciate everything more if I was more familiar with all things Harry Potter.  And it worked!

If your a Harry Potter fan or know someone who is, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios in Orlando is not to be missed.  Everything and anything went into building this spectacular attraction.  Not a single detail went unnoticed...as you will see further on into this post.

But first, let me explain a few things.  There are two parks in Orlando that are owned and operated by Universal Studios:  Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.  Now here is the catch:  The Harry Potter attractions are located in BOTH parks.  The castle and Hogsmeade Village are in the Islands of Adventure park, and Diagon Alley is in the Universal Studios Park.  You can ride the Hogwarts Express to go from one park to another, but it costs an additional $50.00.  Since the tickets already cost $100, we decided to just go to the Islands of Adventure since that was where the main attraction - the castle- was.

Here is the entrance to Hogsmeade Village in the Island of Adventure.

To say we were beyond excited to be here would be an understatement.  The village of Hogsmeade looked like it came right out of the movie.  The attention to detail was amazing.  If it weren't for the crowds of people wearing shorts and tank tops (and we went on a slow day, during the off season), one would have thought we actually were in the actual world of Harry Potter.

The castle exterior was mind-blowing!  Just the sheer size of it was phenomenal, not to even mention all the intricate details of the windows, spires, and rock formations.

Inside this castle is the ride "Forbidden Journey".  This ride was so fun we rode it THREE times!!!!  While waiting in line for this ride, you walk through the castle and trust me...you will not be bored because while you are 'waiting', your touring the inside of the castle.  You get to see holograms of Harry Potter and his best friends, you see framed photographs  that move and speak, and you see many other exciting rooms and objects that are in the movies.  

Now I didn't take any photographs or videos while in the castle, but I did find this one on Youtube if your interested in seeing more:

The Forbidden Journey ride was so fun!  It is an actual ride that moves like a coaster and you experience the World of Harry Potter by becoming a part of it yourself!  Your watching scenes take place, but because you are moving too...it feels like you are really experiencing it.  You soar above the castle, as if you were part of the Quidditch game...you meet magical creatures like fire breathing dragons and other mystical creatures.  It is such a blast!

There are two other Harry Potter rides to be enjoyed at the Islands of Adventure:  The Dragon Challenge and The Flight of the Hippogriff.  Ashley and I did not dare to go onto the Dragon Challenge as it was a high speed roller coaster too intense for us, but Jason, a roller coaster lover, went on it not once, but twice!

We did go on The Flight of the Hippogriff because it was described as a family-friendly roller coaster.  It was mild, for a roller coaster, but my arm kept bumping on the side of the car and just look at the bruise I had the next day!

Now, other than rides and the castle, visiting the village of Hogsmeade was the next best thing.  As I stated earlier, the attention to detail in the construction of this village is mind-blowing.  Every nook and cranny of this place was made to look authentic.  They covered all the building tops with snow...and it certainly looked real to a Wisconsinite like me!

Many of the stores and hang outs in the movies are in the village too.  Remember Honeydukes candy from the train rides in the movie?  Well, they made an actual Honeydukes candy shop where you can buy the fun candy in the movie like "Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans".

The train station that takes you from Hogsmeade Village to Diagon Alley was so realistic.  Here is the outside of the station:

And just look at this train!

I love how they piled a bunch of old suitcases and trunks right next to the train.

This is Zonko's Joke Shop, which was a favorite place for the Hogwarts Students to stop and buy prankster items to play jokes on their friends.

 I loved the rooftops of this village.  Look at the crooked chimney on the right.  Isn't that fun?

 Even though there is so much else to do in the Islands of Adventure park, the Harry Potter part of the park was definitely the most crowded...I would say three or four more times crowded than any other part of the park.  If you get the chance to go, either head straight there when you get inside the gate, or go later in the day when the crowds thin out and scatter elsewhere in the park.

In a previous post, "What I Ate While Vacationing in Florida", I talked about the amazing meal I had at the Three Broomsticks Cafe.  The food and ambiance were absolutely fabulous.  Every where you looked, there were props from the Harry Potter movies.  I loved the peaked roof and the spiral staircase.

We got to sit right in front of the fireplace on the far wall.

They serve both Butterbeer and Pumpkin Juice at the cafe.  I got the Butterbeer and Jason had the Pumpkin Juice.  Both were delicious, but I preferred the Butterbeer.  They were expensive, at $6.00 a piece, but they were all so worth it!  And no, the Butterbeer is not real beer.  It is a delicious cream soda type beverage.

They also sold these drinks at several Butterbeer wagons outside.  The lines were long and non-stop all day!

To walk through the Village of Hogsmeade is a feast for the eyes.  There is just so much to look at.  Every single window has a display from the movies inside of it.

A music shop window display.

A cauldron display.

Owls in cages display.  I should mention that these displays are interactive as well.  Some of the items in the windows move on their own, but others can be made to move by a wand.  You purchase the wand for about $40.00 and then stand on a certain spot in front of the window display and say a 'spell' and wave your wand.  Then something in the window happens.  Now we didn't do that as $40.00 for a wand was a little too rich for our blood, but it seemed like every child in the village did purchase a wand so we just watched them have all the fun.

Many of the stores in Hogsmeade Village are open for business and decorated with as much attention to the detail as the outside.  Everything is made to look just like it does in the movies:  dust, dirt, and even water stains on the ceiling included!

These are all the wands in boxes on the shelves.  They are for all for sale too!

We had so much fun at Hogsmeade Village that after we toured the rest of the Islands of Adventure, we came back at night to see the village lit up.  It was so beautiful!

And as you tell by the photos, the crowds have definitely thinned out.

You can actually see the window displays better at night because there is no glare from the sun.

So what about you?  Have you ever been to the Islands of Adventure and saw the Wizarding World of Harry Potter?  Would you like to go?  Or are you not a Harry Potter fan?  I have to admit, I really was not a Harry Potter fan until after I watched the entire movie series...but now I am.  This was such a magical, wonderful place to visit!  We were thrilled with being able to see this in person.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE and Travel Tuesday!