After returning to the room to shower and get ready for the day we decided that we would start our theme parks fun at Universal Studios. The ride to the park from our resort was about 20 minutes. The highways were all clearly marked and easy to follow. When we arrived we paid our $17.00 and parked in the Cat in the Hat garage. After making our way past the huge rotating universal globe to the main gate and collecting our tickets from will call we passed through the turnstiles’ and found ourselves ready for the fun.
Despicable Me Minion Mayhem was our first stop. It was described as joining Gru, his daughters, and the mischievous minions on a 3D ride. In reality we were converted to minions by Gru and during our training by the girls things went awry. We helped the girls rescue Gru's present and at the end when our training finished we were accidentally converted back into humans. As our first ride it was a great way to start the fun. This 3D ride brought us into the animated world of Gru and his three girl’s. It was fun to feel like part of the movie.
Next we took it to the next level with Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. Costing 45million to construct this roller coaster starts it's 1m 37 second ride with a 167ft accent to the top height of the coaster before “letting it rip” at a top speed of 65mph sending its riders hurdling back down its 3,800 ft of track to music personalized by the rider from a music selector located on the harness.
This is how the ride is described online: “Following the big drop, the train goes through a non-inverting loop (meaning that the train doesn't go through an inversion), which is nicknamed "The Double Tale". Then the train makes an upward right turn into one of the several mid-course brakes. It then drops back down going through a hole in a wall before entering a left upward helix. This section of the coaster is nicknamed "The Treble Clef". Next the train enters a quick element nicknamed, "The Jump Cut" which is similar to a non-inverting corkscrew. The train then drops back down before climbing back up into the second mid-course brakes. Following a small drop to the left, it travels straight before making a right turn, followed by a left, and then another right leading into the third set of mid-course brakes. Another drop is followed by the brakes leading into an s-bend/turn. The train then travels into an inclined loop, then the train enters the fourth set of brakes after going back up. Finally, the train drops back down, and goes over a small hill before entering the final brake run where the train enters the station and the riders song ends.”
Across the street from Despicable Me was Shrek 4-D is a continuation of Shrek’s story and is based in the kingdom of Dulac where the movie left off. While heading on their honey moon Queen Fiona is kidnapped by the ghost of Lord Farquaad and we join Shrek and Donkey in the race to save her from certain death if she plunges over the waterfall. In the course of the rescue they all find themselves trapped on the raft but are saved by Donkey's dragon girlfriend who finishes off lord Farquaad in a fireball. With order returned to the kingdom and lord Farquaad no more they resume with their honeymoon surrounded by friends.
Twister "Ride it Out" was our next stop and this interactive attraction puts you right in the middle of it all as they simulate an F5 Tornado. This ride was a bit of a disappointment. They did simulate a small tornado and I’m sure with safety concerns anything more powerful would have been impossible. I would have done something different to showcase the power of a tornado. I would have made a 3-D style ride with screens all around the passengers of a vehicle and simulate it getting sucked up into the vortex of a tornado. As the attraction is now you stand on a platform and watch a few flashes in the sky and a little tornado in the middle of a big room. This ride could have been much more amazing.
Here is how it’s described online: “The guests line up on a tiered observation platform under a corrugated metal roof, overlooking a simulated outdoor scene featuring a view of a rural drive-in theater and a diner at dusk as dark clouds roll overhead. Suddenly, a tree gets struck by lightning, scenes from The People Under the Stairs appear on the movie screen, sirens sound briefly, and winds in the room get stronger. A small light can be seen inside a house in the distance, as well as voices of a family getting into their storm cellar. A simulated tornado drops from the sky, and rain begins to fall. Guests are squirted with water from above. The tornado wrecks the drive-in screen, the diner, and a car, which causes a fireball to erupt. The roof of the observation platform also threatens to tear off. A cow, lifted by the wind, flies past the spectators. As the "storm" dies, the floor of the standing area lurches with a sudden drop, giving guests a final scare.”
After twister we went to Finnegan’s for lunch. We all had the chicken sandwich and each picked a milkshake. I had a banana split milkshake, Dan had chocolate and Chris an orange slush. The sandwiches were delicious and the meal was great until we had a visitor scurry past us on the wall. It was not a palmetto bug as the waitress explained without seeing it. It was clearly a cockroach and another 4 tables also saw it. The manager came over and took 10% off the bill and ushered us out the door as quickly as possible. The food was good but we won’t return after seeing the bugs. An exterminator once told me for each one you see there at 50 you don’t
When we left Finnegan’s John Belushi look alike was performing in the street. While the crowd formed we took the opportunity to get into The Mummy as quickly as possible. We left all our belonging in one of the many complimentary lockers and entered the line. The exterior of the building was the Museum of Antiquities with a film marquee showing a sequel called Revenge of the Mummy. With everyone watching the show outside we barely waited in line before we boarded the ride. We sat in mine cars and it moved along its track into Imhotep’s tomb where a film crew person partially wrapped like a mummy warns us to leave. "Are you insane?! Get out of here! The curse is real; this whole place is a trap! He is after your souls! Look for the medjai symbol. It's your only hope!" Before he could finish Imhotep silences him and tells us that with our souls he will rule for eternity.
The mine car quickly exits his tomb into a room filled with treasures. Here Imhotep appears in the sand and tempts us to serve him and be rewarded with riches or refuse and die. The mine car races out of this room at 45 MPH as he screams “your souls are mine” into an anti-chamber where scarab beetles pout out of the wall. The mine car shoots backwards to get away but Imhotep again appears and warns the riders that even the Medjai can’t save us.
Next we enter another chamber where the ceiling is engulfed in flames before finding ourselves rocketed into another room where a film crew member is in a control room. The lights flash on and off and the glass window shatters revealing Imhotep. He tells us to "Prepare to forfeit your souls! Death is only the beginning!" before the mine car plunges 39ft down and races through a Medjai symbol before traveling through a tunnel of flikering lights. Then we see a famous star of the film series Rick O’Connel played by Brendan saying "Hey, welcome back! hope you enjoyed yourself, I would have enjoyed this interview a lot better if I HAD MY CUP OF COFFEE!!!" Suddenly, a cape passes over the screen and Imhotep's arm offers Fraser a cup of coffee. As Fraser screams and falls back in his chair, the screen fades to black, while riders hear Imhotep roaring over Fraser's screams. Riders are then directed to exit through an actual unload station. At the exit of the ride, riders see a missing persons poster with a picture of Reggie on it.
The ride was so much fun we immediately went back in line and took a second turn enjoying Imhotep’s hospitality.
Next we moved along and saw Beetlejuice posing for pictures. Loving that movie as a kid I couldn’t resist getting my picture taken with him. While waiting to take my picture I realized that he was plugging his Monster Rock & Roll Revue that was about to start. We took out pictures and entered the areana. The Beetlejuice rock review was a great opportunity to sit back and relax as many of our favorite horror movie characters sang monster themed versions of popular songs
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After relaxing and taking a seat at the Rock & Roll revue we moved on to Disaster. In disaster you participate (well select audience members) in the making of a motion picture action movie. I got recruited to participate as one of the three evil people. Once we were in the production set each of those people selected took their turn and had their portion taped. Next we moved down into a subway car where each and every person got to watch those selected and themselves integrated into the trailer for the move called Disaster.
Next we moved onto the live set of one of my favorite shows. Fear Factor Live was like a mild version of the original show and it was a lot of fun to watch. It started with four contestants who hung from a bar and the longest to hold on got an advantage and the option to select their partner. Next they competed as a pair to pick up and move some nasty thing into buckets. They again competed as a pair throwing rotten squid while suspended from the ceiling.
Next we went to MIB Alien Attack which was a disappointment as we road along through an alien infested area and attempted to shot and kill as many as we could. It was more of a kids ride then anything else. As you ride along in the glow in the dark attraction you are tasked with using the included laser gun to shoot as many aliens as possible and for each one you receive points.
Krustyland Simpsons Ride was another 3D style motion ride. Before getting on the ride the pre-show explains that villain Side Show Bob wants to kill Krusty and the Simpsons during the launch of the new ride. The Simpsons are forced on the ride and we road along with them. The theme park ride goes awry when Side Show Bob destroys the track with a wrecking ball and a super-sized Maggie destroys Springfield. Maggie appears again and in a chain reaction we find ourselves bounced into the stands of some show and we crash through and nearly fall to hell only to be saved by Prof Frink. As we surface Maggie thinking the ride is a pacifier sucks on our vehicle repeatedly before spitting us out sending us hurling towards the Simpson’s house much like the start of every Simpson’s episode.
After an exciting Simpson’s ride we went to a classic ride I remember as a kid. ET was just how I remembered it. We needed to help ET get back to his home to save his planet and it's people with his healing touch but had to avoid the white hazard suits of the NASA workers who wanted to capture and evaluate him. We all board our bicycles and are lead by ET on a while ride through the forest avoiding all the troubles along the way before being transported in a portal to the Green Planet. Once there we watch as ET’s healing touch returns the planet to its glory.
Next we moved onto another favorite childhood toy turned modern attraction. Transformers brought us right into the action as we road along and helped keep the allspark from Decepticon. In the end we used it to finish him off and save the planet. This ride was full of high action fun and Horror makeup show brought guest makeup artist mark James to Orlando to show us some of the ways universal has been using makeup and props to scare people. It included some terrible humor but was entertaining anyhow
Terminator2 3-D Battle Across Time was my least favorite attraction. We visited Cyberdyne to see them unvail the t-70 Terminators only to be interrupted by John and Sarah Connor who warned us about the consequences of Skynet. They were followed by a t-1000 from the future and it was only with the help of the original Terminator played by Arnold Schwarzenegger are is John teleported to the furture where they infiltrate and destroy Skynet. And the T-1000000.
After a dismal Terminator attraction we got sucked into the Magic Shop Theatre. It was there we watched a very talented magician teach some cool tricks while trying to sell some magic kits. Everything from the red balls to levitation objects to the rigged deck of cards. I picked up the levitating kit. We will have to see how hard/easy it is to replicate.
We were all getting tired at this point and a bit hungry so we decided to hit up the three rides we likes most one last time before giving it up for the day. The three rides we returned to were Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Despicable Me: Minion Meyhem, and The Mummy. After enjoying the day in the park we opted to head to Miller’s Orlando for a cold drink and a nice meal before crashing for the day back at the resort.
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