Orlando Vacation: Day 4 - Universal Studios Islands of Adventure

After visiting the Happiest Place on Earth we returned for our second day at Universal Studios Orlando’s Islands of Adventure. This is the park I was most eager to visit. It has many attractions based on several of my favorite movies.

After entering the park turnstiles and walking by the themed Port of Entry we made our way to the first big ride in Marvel’s Super Hero Island. Based on the popular comic book superhero The Incredible Hulk lived up to its name.  Its first impressive feature is the 110 foot lift hill. We were launched at an advertised 40mph in 2 seconds before speeding through seven inversions. While racing around the 3,700ft track we reached top speeds of about 67 mph and you could feel the g-forces keeping you firmly in your restrained seat. The biggest drop was 105 ft and the ride dips below ground level a few times and spends most of its 2 minutes and 15 seconds high over the parks lagoon. It was a blast and if the line wasn’t so long I would have immediately gotten back in for a second time. Instead we opted to move on to the next attraction.

Doctor Doom’s Fear Fall is Universal’s answer to the Tower of Terror. We jumped in line and were moving pretty quickly until about half way through. Then we just stood in line for what felt like an hour before the ride started talking passengers again. My biggest annoyance is that at no time was there ever an announcement that the ride was down. Instead we were all left trapped in line by those behind us. When we finally got to the ride we boarded and strapped ourselves into one of the two towers. Then we were launched into the air where we experienced 4G’s before dropping 150ft at 50 mph. The ride was over before you knew it. I would learn later from one of the park employees that it’s the tallest ride in Orlando because there is a 200ft maximum height restriction.

After a quick bite to eat Marvel Super Hero Dining where we grabbed a burger fries and a milkshake we were off to enjoy more of the park. We decided to enjoy The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man next. After winding through the offices of the Daily Bugle were we catch the reports that five Super-Villains led by Doctor Octopus have attached the city and are using an anti-gravity gun to steal notable landmarks like the Statue of Liberty.

After grabbing a pair of 3-D glasses we board the ride and leave the loading docks where we encounter Spider-Man. As we progress we enter a warehouse where the syndicate is holding the Statue of Liberty hostage. Once we are spotted Electro, Scream and Doctor Octopus attack and Spider-Man intervenes. He manages to fend off Hydro-Man and Doctor Octopus before we manage to escape only to be attacked again by the Hobgoblin who throws exploding pumpkins at us.

In the final stretch Doctor Octopus lifts our ride well up into the sky to the top of the skyscrapers using his anti-gravity gun. Spider-Man again comes to the rescue but not before Doctor Octopus releases the vehicle sending us hurdling to the ground. Thankfully Spider-Man manages to create a web for us to land in. We then returned to the loading dock safely where Spider-Man thanks us for our help.

After leaving Super Hero Island we made our way through the gates of Jurassic Park. They were just like the movie and it was amazing how quickly the environment changes from each section of the park. There aren’t too many rides for adults in this section of the park but the one big ride they do have is awesome. It’s called Jurassic Park River Adventure and like the name suggests it’s a water ride.


The premise of the rise is that John Hammond was allowed to open a new park and you view the animals from the safety of the raft. Suddenly however we are bumped off course and into a restricted area of the park known as the Raptor Containment area where its power fences are down and the raptors are loose. Being hunted by the raptors we find ourselves looking at the terrifying jaws of a T-Rex and our only escape is the 85ft water fall. It’s known for the 1.5 million gallons of water that are used and when built its 85ft plunge was the largest theme park water decent ever constructed.

Interesting side note, during our trip to Hawaii we visited the filming location for Jurassic Park at Kualoa Ranch. No remnants of the film exist today other than one dinosaur footprint deep in the ranch.

Next we grabbed our Nimbus 2000’s and flew over to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Here we visited the village of Hogsmead where we enjoyed a nice cold refreshing Butter Beer before heading over to Hogwarts for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride. Before even getting in line we used the free lockers in the dungeon to store our loose items and then made our way through the green house before entering the castle. Once inside we winded our way through the Hall of Talking Portraits, the Defense Against the Dark Arts class and even meet the sorting hat before taking our spots on the enchanted benches.

After a quick pep talk by Hermione we flew out of the castle from the Observatory and shot down to a quiditch match with Ron and Harry before being interrupted by dementors where we rush to get away following Harry. We escape only to meet Hagrid who has lost his pet Dragon.

Before you know it we are being chased by Hagrids Hungarian Horntail. We narrowly escape by ducking into the Forbidden Forest where we encounter an Aragog. Hermione tried to help us escape and we just make it past a whomping Willow before being knocked into the Quiditch Pitch. As we try to get back to the castle our bench falls into the Chamber of Secrets through a hole and we are again chased by dementors.

As we try to escape down the tunnels we pass by the skeleton of a long dead Basilisk.  Again the dementors try to suck our souls but Harry saves us again and leads us over the Black lake to Hogwarts where we are thanked for our bravery. It was a great ride with mixed media that helped bring all the characters and all the details from the movie for each and every rider.

While we might have made it through the Forbidden Journey we weren’t done in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Next we headed over to the Dueling Dragons at the Dragon Challenge.  We first rode the Red Draggon called the Chinese Fireball. After enjoying the Red side fully inverted ride we went back for round two on the Hungarian Horntail.

Needing a break from the fast paced rides we took a break to enjoy The Eight Voyage of Sinbad Stunt Show in the Lost Continent. It’s an action themed stunt show performed in an open air theatre. It’s the story of the beautiful Princess Amoura and the evil witch Miseria. We watch as Sinbad and his goofy sidekick Kabob attempt to rescue the princess from the evil witch. Sinbad battles her goons and her magic including a fiery plunge into the water below before triumphing and defeating the witch. It was a fun distraction and a chance to take a break from all the walking we had been doing.

We continued on through the park into Toon Land where we decided to take a ride on Dudley Do-Rights Rip Saw Falls. Another water ride but it appeared that people didn’t get too wet or so we thought. Set in the Canadian North Woods we stick with Dudley Do-Right and his faithful house to help save the fair Nell Fenwick who was kidnapped by Snidely Whiplash. Trapped in the saw mill it’s up to us to rescue her. We board a flume log and make our way to the mill before the conclusion sending us over the 75ft RipSaw Falls where we are blasted by water and soaked to the bone. 

I clearly underestimated how wet we would get from Dudley Do Rights Ripsaw Falls and decided I would go all in for the next ride. It’s another ride where everyone looked to have gone swimming fully clothed. Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges is a fun ride down the white water rapids in an oversized 14ft octopus barge  I thought I was going to make it through largely unscathed until one final spin and a plunge down one more rapid where the water seemed to have gone right through the barge and saturated us all completely. It was a fun way to end our day and it was nice to be ready to leave after getting soaked so we weren’t walking around wet all day.