robbalvey

I don't think you quite understood the exchange in conversation there. They asked if based on our first visit if buying the annual pass was worth it. I responded by saying that no single visit is worth the cost of the pass. Meaning, the pass was $350 for a year. We won't know if we got our $350 worth until after that year is up. Obviously we didn't spend $350 just to go to the park one time.

I think my personal favorite part of the video is the fact that there is only 21 seconds of Harry Potter land in it!

I'm not Elissa, but I don't think any "single visit" is worth a $350 pass. We will see how things go over the year of the pass and then let you know then!

Please do not create "park discussion threads." This is now the second time you have been warned about this. If you feel that a park that is not on our discussion list warrants a new topic being made, please present that park in this thread: https://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=63853

I'm honestly just not a big "donut" person. I've been to Duck Donuts and Voodoo and I thought both were just "fine" but then again, I think Dunkin and Krispy Kreme are just "fine" also. I would take any of them and not care either way. Also, this report is more about Universal Studios and the video we posted. Can we please not turn it into a donut discussion? Thank you.

I have no idea. We didn't see any mention of any virtual queue anywhere else in the park and we saw it at the three attractions listed during our visit. That being said we didn't go anywhere near Forbidden Journey because we really are not fans of Harry Potter at all and I actually cannot stand that ride. But we did walk by Fallon and Fast & Furious and both of them had it set up. There was no mention of it anywhere at Mummy or Kong, so I have no idea...

Thank you! That has always been our goal! I'll have to go back and watch that one, I honestly don't even remember it!

God I fucking hate people that say that shit!

Thank you!!! Please be sure to comment on the video itself so it will do better in YouTube's algorithm otherwise you may not see us do that style of video again!

Huh. Not that we saw. There was no signage anywhere or anything on the app that would have suggested this was even a possibility. You're dead to me. Hagrid's is trash compared to Dragons. Seriously, every time I ride that coaster is makes me wonder how so many people are coming away from it saying it's so damn good. It spends most of its time meandering around a bunch of shrubs at mediocre speeds, you barely see any of the "theming" (if you can call it that) and the BEST part of the ride is the launch after the drop-track where just as it starts to get good... it ends! The the piece of theming you get to stare at the longest is that HORRIBLE "Party City" looking unicorn at the end of the ride! OMG, that animatronic is a joke! Seriously, I don't "get it." That ride is just so "average" in every way that it hurts my brain when people keep saying how amazing it is.

You are very welcome! I have to say that we are not "vloggers" and I hate the term "vlog!" IMO, vloggers are boring as fuck people who go around and video EVERY SINGLE GOD DAMN THING they see. I honestly cannot stand them. I personally think the reason why we stopped doing this style of "music video" or "coaster expedition" format was because people just kept lumping us in with "vloggers" and that's not what we are. But I *DO* appreciate the positive comments. I just wish we would have attached a "name" to the style of theme park video we invented many many years ago!

NEW VIDEO!!! For those of you wanting more "Coaster Expedition" style videos from TPR, here you go! If you want to see more like this, but sure to GO TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL AND COMMENT ON THE VIDEO THERE! We made a trip over to Universal Orlando! Figured we'd give them a couple of weeks to get everything together after their re-opening, and considering the HORRIFIC visit we had to SeaWorld last week, this was probably a very good idea! For the most part, we actually had a really good day! We both felt that Universal did a great job (really probably the best they could) with enforcing social distancing, wearing masks, etc. We'll get into it a bit in the photos below, but we all know the drill by now! Although I will say that Universal is still the only place where I've seen someone take off their mask, sneeze, and then put their mask back on! Oh, humanity! You just cannot fix stupid no matter how hard you try! Just in case you forgot where we were heading... Today we will start at Islands of Adventure, but we did make our way to both parks! I have to be honest, I had thought they added a few more attractions to their Virtual Queue system, but it's only Hagrid's, Fallon, and Fast & Furious. Yeesh! Is it even a contest at all??? We chose for obvious reasons Hagrid's. Which the entrance was a bit of a cluster but once we go through that, it only took us about 25 minutes to get onto the ride. Elissa had actually never been on it because of how unreliable and difficult it was to get on it before. Strange that it took a pandemic for the ride to actually work better, but whatever, we'll take it at this point! I am still of the opinion that Hagrid's is the "Most overrated coaster in the history of roller coasters." That doesn't mean I don't like the ride, I do. It is a lot of fun, but not only is it not as OMFG HOLY CRAP AMAZING like some people make it out to be, it is also nowhere near as good as the coaster it replaced. I will still never forgive Universal for taking out Dueling Dragons. Sorry, I just can't. Oh, and the fact that neither of one of us are "Potter" fans probably also factors into our "meh" thinking of the ride. But we actually had a good time on it, and it IS a good ride! At least until you get to the lockers.... OMG. Lockers at Universal have always been a mess, even though they spent a ton of money re-doing them in the past couple of years. Today we had to wait in a line to get a locker. Wait in a line to get the stuff out of our locker. The staff and both locker stations we used today (Hagrid's & Rip Ride Rockit) were the most unfriendly and confused we encountered. I honestly have stopped riding most of the roller coasters at Universal because of how bad the locker situation always is. And this is not due to the virus, this is been an issue since day one! When you look around though, not only is the park not "slow" but quite the majority of guests seem to be doing a pretty good job with wearing their mask. Not everyone, mind you, but most certainly the majority! I would put it on par with what we are seeing at Disney Springs and by far MUCH better than what we saw at SeaWorld last week. (And to be fair, we do plan on going back to SeaWorld next week to see if things got better there.) When we first heard about the "We're going to pump hand sanitizer into everyone's hand before you board an attraction" we were horrified! Like as though you are about to enter the Windjammer buffet on a cruise ship! (Anyone who has sailed Royal Caribbean knows what I mean) but this actually worked... AMAZING!!! And if anything, SeaWorld needs to stop their crap with wiping down every seat in the coaster and go to spooging everyone's hand IMMEDIATELY!!! Although, no matter how hard Universal tries, you can't fix stupid and you will always have people who will "make up" their own social distancing rules, like this group here did in the Spider-Man queue! lol There were some issues with the placement of where to stand though, so it was a little confusing. Like here we are standing RIGHT NEXT to another group on the other side of the switchback. Clearly there was some thought put into where to place the markers, but not taking into your entire surroundings. Although this one was our favorite where you are backed into a corner next to a door and a trash can! And of course, there were some places where social distancing just didn't seem to matter! This folks.... THIS IS WHY YOU WEAR A MASK!!! Oh yeah... they are building a new coaster. OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!! CONSTRUCTION UPDATE #256,479,201 - THEY ARE WELDING A PIECE OF METAL!!!! The coaster fan in me goes "That looks kick ass!" The park theming fan in me goes "Wow, they've ruined their lagoon." It was awesome to see so many of the characters out interacting with guests! I stayed until Thing 1 & Thing 2 farted on me and then I had to leave! I thought New Yorker's were banned from Orlando? Can we start with this guy? ROLLER COASTER PHOTO!!!! You can literally see Elissa's Surly smirk through the mask! ROLLER COASTER PORN! We only waited ten minutes for Rip Ride Rockit, and I know this is an UNPOPULAR OPINION, but I far FAR enjoy this coaster more than Hagrid's! ProTip: ASK FOR THE FRONT SEAT! We always do and they are always VERY accommodating! Then Google the "Secret Song List" and choose your favorite! Mine is #901 The Muppets "Moving Right Along" We literally went into Diagon Alley ONLY to say "Suck it J.K." I hate her so much and I couldn't be happier that the rest of the world does now, too! Speaking of overrated things, while I "like" Voodoo Donuts and we always bring some home, they are just "okay" and are a GOOD donut, but not as amazing and people make them out to be. OH! And we used their "mobile ordering" system which was HILARIOUS! The app tells you to "go to the mobile ordering kiosk" to pick up your order. But when you walk in... WHERE IS THAT?!?!? OH! It's over there in the corner behind a giant pole which you cannot see at all! Overall, we did have a VERY "Universal Day" and we enjoyed our visit! We will leave you with some Hello Kitty Jaws plush which they clearly stole from Universal Japan! Now please, GO WATCH THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBE AND POST YOUR COMMENTS! Thank you for reading! Mini-Rocket.nltrack Real - Hobbester - En Fuego.nlpack

This is extremely good advice, especially on a private forum where someone had to "opt in" to be here, but sadly as seen at so many at theme parks every day where many people also feel that they are "above the rules" and can do whatever the hell they want to, his behavior does not surprise me. Thank you for your support.

I seriously hope so! That park should NOT have been allowed to open or continue to operate if they are not going to do the things they said they were going to do in order to be allowed to re-open. We plan on going back next week. We'll see what it is like then.

Man I love it when the garbage takes itself out.

Seriously, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?! Now "Christmas" is a political thing??!?! Can you please just stop posting to our forums? I'm not joking.

I'm sorry but wearing a mask should not be a "political" thing. That's so insanely stupid. I wear a mask because it helps the good of everyone. I don't give a fuck if they are "left" or right" and anyone that thinks that way really has other issues that I'm not sure how could be addressed. It's honestly a shame that asking people in this country to do something simple for the good of everyone was way too much to ask. We were just talking tonight how Japan, after the 2011 earthquake, all got together and voluntarily shut off lights and other electronics for "power saving" and it worked. We can't even come anywhere close to that level of respect for others. I mean, this sums up my feelings exactly:

Linnanmaki's BIZARRE "E-Motion" Roller Coaster!

It's a very different ride. Lighting Rod is a true "woodie" and this one is a steel conversion from a woodie. Lightning Rod has no inversions and this one has four, I think? I mean, I like them both quite a bit. I'm not even sure I can choose over the other, but the fact that one of them is in Japan most certainly plays a huge factor!

It's hard to say because without most of our "tourists" in the area, the clientele is mostly locals which is a VERY different group of people than we are used to. But to give you an idea, a SeaWorld pass with no blockout dates is $96 for the year and a Universal Pass with no blockout dates is $359. My feeling is that the local clientele at both parks most certainly reflects in their pricing. Hope that answers your question.

THIS! ALSO THIS!!! Someone responded to our report on Facebook saying they waited 40 minutes for one of the SeaWorld coasters WITH QUICK QUEUE! So I can't even imagine how long the actual line really was. Wearing the mask has been the LEAST intrusive out of all the restrictions put into place. We are sitting right now on two different WDW Resort Reservations, but not knowing if we will actually be able to get a date to visit the parks based on uncertainties. And then if we DO get to visit, we don't know how long those lines are going to be either. All of those things... IMO... more annoying than wearing a mask, which I am so used to at this point because I've been wearing it every day for the past 3 months now, that I sometimes go to take a drink forgetting that I have it on!

What if...? Backwards Hakugei....

I had never heard of it before one opened up here in Orlando. We went. It was good. Would gladly go back. I actually have not heard a single person mention Smashburger again until I just read this thread. I had no idea it was "overrated" or even "rated" at all. For the record, I think In N Out is stupid and the people who claim In N Out is the best thing ever are stupid. Now THAT is a place that is overrated. I literally had never even heard of Smashburger before!

This was so perfectly said. Thank you for that.

Note: We are currently at Disney Springs. This one photo has more social distancing and guests following the mask rules than we saw all day at SeaWorld! Seriously, SeaWorld, get it together! There’s a perfectly good example right down the street!