My Universal Orlando / Islands of Adventure Updates

[Swimace]

Holy crap IOA looked terrible that day! I haven't seen Spiderman use its outside queue since opening year. Why do I have to live in Florida during the busy parts of the year?!?!?

[live2tell75]

Damn Erik, you worked fast getting these photos up!!! Thanks for posting. I had a great time. There was such an insane amount of people for the LL concert, but it shouldn't be a surprise - LL Cool J rocks! It was an awesome trip down memory middle school & high school lane! Mama Said Knock You Out!!!

[televisedconfession]

krusty's eye was creepy. looked lazy.

 

other than that... awesome to see some progress on Harry Potter. Thanks!

[nay]

Nice photos!

 

I have a dumb question: Where is the side entrance to the Studios from IOA?

[Erik Johnson]

It is now in between the Blue Man Group theatre and the Jimmy ride. The entrance does not link IOA to Universal itself. You still have to leave IOA to get to Universal.

[dandaman]

 

Best start to an update in history.

 

Especially awesome coverage of the Simpsons Ride (TSR? Are we making more stupid acronyms yet?).

[thrillrideseeker]

WOW! Great update! I loved the IOA photos! But 60 minutes for Dragons? HA no way in the world! I would never wait more than 10 minutes for that ride. But I did like the "Moving Walkway" photo! Those things annoy the he!! out of me. "The moving walkway exit is approaching please watch your step... The moving walkway exit is approaching please watch your step." OH and what sucks is when there is one like 2 seconds of from the other one so they go "The...The...Moving...Moving...Walkway...Walkway...is...is...approaching..approaching...please...please...watch...watch...your...your...step...step." Oh and when people get on there and stop? Whats the deal with that? Anyways... great TR!

~Matthew

[ebl]

^ You'd be surprised as to how many people ride those moving sidewalks facing backwards, and when the end comes, *PLOT* right on their tails! To me, it's quite funny, but to a park, it could mean a lawsuit. Hence the spiel.

 

What a great update---thanks, Erik! I want to go back to IoA/Universal so badly. Diana would enjoy the heck out of that place---especially the Dr. Seuss area.

 

Eric

[crazydaveh]

Man,

 

We were going to head over to Uni yesterday to see LL Cool J, looking at your pics, I'm glad we stayed up here in Maitland!

 

As always, quality update, only one complaint... Too many Gator pics! GO DAWGS!

[stingrock23]

Those are some nice looking floats, especially the multi-car ones. Are the parades strictly floats, or are there there any bands/characters/other things in between?

[sfmmrules!]

I sure can't wait to go to Universal Orlando this year. I haven't been since 06 & I didn't get on the Dragons since I rode the Mummy too many times. Staying at the Portofino gets you the express lines all day. Thats the best!

[Erik Johnson]

Man,

 

We were going to head over to Uni yesterday to see LL Cool J, looking at your pics, I'm glad we stayed up here in Maitland!

 

As always, quality update, only one complaint... Too many Gator pics! GO DAWGS!

 

Heh, you can see stuffed Uga dolls underneath the gators.

[Erik Johnson]

Those are some nice looking floats, especially the multi-car ones. Are the parades strictly floats, or are there there any bands/characters/other things in between?

 

Mostly floats. They have a few random people in costume walking in between the floats. No bands though.

[SharkTums]

I think that 'Wall' photos are the new "Dirt" photos! I expect many more in the coming months!

 

As for the floats and beads...OMG!!! I remember when I got to do one of the Halloween Horror Nights Floats and throw beads, people were insane. We had to go through this whole safety thing about how we need to throw the beads as far as possible because if they fall right near the float people will run to get them and get run over!!!

[doom1001]

It looks like LL Cool J brought in a lot of people,I have no clue how many times I've gone to the parks, and I've never seen the outside queue being used for Spider-Man or the line for Dueling Dragons outside.

[mxman005]

I was at IOA on Friday night for a special event and it was pretty busy then but it was a special event so I was expecting the long lines, luckily I happen to know the right people to not have to wait in lines. Anyways, I'm surprised to see how busy Universal was on Saturday. I went over to Hollywood Studios (ahem MGM Studios) and it didn't seem all that busy to me. That just goes to show you how much crowds Mardi Gras brings in and that is especially true when you have a somewhat big name like LL Cool J coming in. In your pics I saw that one team member rolling around in the electric wheel chair. If he is the same guy that I have met over at Beetljuices Graveyard Revue he is awesome. Really entertaining.

 

I'm thinking that this might have been our last "bad" weekend, hopefully we'll start getting down to a bit slower time.

[Erik Johnson]

^^ I honestly expected it to be really crowded since I knew it was the end of Spring Break. You are right in that things should start calming down over the next couple of weeks until the end of May. After saying that, not having the single rider lines open at IOA was truly unacceptable.

[ETapley0687]

I really like this TR of Universal Orlando!!!

 

#1. I didn't realize there was a Jurassic Park Discover Center either lol. It looks nice. Is there two routes in the Lost Continent area or something that I'm missing?!

 

#2 Nice shot of the Hulk from that different view! Also I cant forget the DD pic takin from the other side of the statues lol.

 

#3 Wow, those lines were ridiculous! I never seen the line come out of the DD. Jurassic River Adventure line was pretty bad last time I went but half way through we went into the single rider line and by passed a lot of waiting time! lol Popeye was pretty bad last time too but it didn't come out of the building either. Now Spiderman's line was like that last summer when I went and that was the longest wait! lol I was not too happy bout that, but the scenery inside the building made up for it lol. The Hulk line was bad last summer too and it soooo hot in there!!!

 

#4 Where were those DD shirts at? I like those and I completely forgot to get me a DD shirt last time I was there.

 

#5 What's up with the big ballon things in Universal Studios? lol

 

#6 Those Krusty eyes happen to look pretty creepy lol

[mxman005]

^^ I honestly expected it to be really crowded since I knew it was the end of Spring Break. You are right in that things should start calming down over the next couple of weeks until the end of May. After saying that, not having the single rider lines open at IOA was truly unacceptable.

 

I work at an attraction where we have no single riders line so I can't answer this for myself but I talked to a few people that I know were working at IOA on that day and it really all depend on the express line. The point I was given was that if there is a long express line, the singles add to more of a back up and since universal pretty much guarantees 10-15 minute waits at most they have to try and stick with that. Disney just says "Minimal wait time" which i think is better than telling guest a time and trying to have to stick with that.

[freestylenut]

^ This man speaks the truth. I was there about 3 weekends ago & Hulk's single rider line was closed (to our disapointment)...we went & rode Doom's Fearfall, by chance, walked back to Hulk & the single rider's line was RE-opened. The guy working the front DID mention its because they can't have too much of a backup between express & single riders (which are only divided by a rope on the same queue).

[sfmmrules!]

Will the Dueling Dragons be open for all of this year? I sure hope they will be since I'm deffinately going to Universal Orlando this year but I'm just not sure when.

[Erik Johnson]

Yes it has been a while since I have updated this thread. Guess what? I just did. I have not back down since last May, (Which you can find that link here: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43601) so there is a lot of new things to post.

 

This is a rather large update as it does contain the following:

 

Lots of newish The Worlds of Harry Potter construction at IOA.

Lots of newish Rock-It construction zone photos from Universal.

Halloween Horror Nights construction.

And more....

 

As a bonus I also have included some photos of the Manta construction over at Sea World as well as pictures of the brand new coaster in Orlando.

 

So enjoy!

 

NOTE: Feel free to add comments.

It is an exclusive head on a stick photo in the HHN Disaster queue maze.

We see you Bryan.

Some people wanted to go ride this, since it is newish attraction.

It looks like the Jaws queue is going to be used again for HHN.

I always look forward to Bill and Ted.

A 5 minute wait for Men In Black? I guess we could.

I see you Nambu.....or was it Lambu?

I never noticed the Krustyland map before.

Did I tell you that I LOVE the off-season?

Andrew needed to get his Simpsons credit.

Pumpkins are always cool.

Just a swinging.

On the other side is a small playground.

Chalkboards alone are simply evil enough.

It is an old-style school desk.

It is some sort of creepy schoolhouse.

This area was already open to the public during the daytime, let us go inside.

This building looks cool. Let us take a closer look.

Some random school bus.

Here is a close up of a dead flamingos.

Dancer boxes??

She is not your ordinary Queen of Hearts.

This must be some twisted take on Alice in Wonderland around here.

Who......Are........U?

We are greeted by some HHN scare zone construction.

I LOVE the off season.

There was a rather large project going on at City Walk.

Some random banner.

These are the current movies playing at the theatre. I am not sure if Hitchcock is considered current though.

I am glad they are going back to an original Universal idea instead of using licensed characters.

Let us commit our parking space to memory. As in memory card.

It is only a couple more weeks until HHN starts up again.

These are the current parking prices.

[Erik Johnson]

Here are some more!

Blue Man Group will not be lonely much longer.

Yep

Another view of the future station area.

That is All I am standing on today.

Piece of Dirt.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Yes, it is true, Universal is getting a new coaster for 2009.

Ok, let us check out another construction zone.

We did not need these.....do you know why?

New Orlando credit for Andrew...way to go!

Some cool looking pumpkin head guy.

Random signage.

We mourn for Astroland.

Another 10 minute queue.

The Mummy ride is good, the new Mummy movie is not.

The 360 spheres look really strange today.

[Erik Johnson]

Over to IOA!

I love the off-season!

There is some large building shed over there.

Ok, I guess we can go ride now.

Walls have cut us off from the super extended DD queue line.

It really looks like an abandoned coaster now.

We see you Flying Unicorn. Or is it the former Flying Unicorn?

More magical construction.

Here is the old bridge across to Jurassic Park.

Yes, we see you new huge building in the background.

Anyone else spot the word, "Anger" for some reason?

Not any more.

This is what the Enchanted Oak used to look like.

As you walk into the DD queue you can really see how much they have cleared out of the old Enchanted Oak area.

DD exit.

Yep, all gone! Well, almost.

Poor old DD store.

Ok, maybe this is too close.

Here is a closer look.

This is the new Dueling Dragons store.

More walls.

Walls.

Lots of new magical walls.

No, those still look the same.

The area around Dueling Dragons has been drastically changed.

Which has been ordered by this guy.

This is in case you had no idea what is going on in the back part of the park.

From a slightly different angle.

It is the brand new bridge.

I post this because its tradition.

The map looks different now.

You can see Harry Potter construction from over here now.

5 minute wait for Hulk? Yes please!

[Erik Johnson]

Yes, even more.

That is it for the Universal update, Sea World is coming soon.

Here is a closer look.

The new castle type building is simply huge.

One of the Jurassic Park gates has been closed off to the public.

Yep.

This was the old way to get to Flying Unicorn and DD.

Some old queue/walkway.

You never used to get a DD shot from here before.

The old Enchanted Oak from its backside.

Let us cross over the new bridge.

More Harry Potter you say?