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Universal Orlando October 4-8 trip report (short)

Universal Orlando: Universal Orlando October 4-8 trip report (short)

From Orrin Carstarphen
Posted October 9, 2012 at 9:43 PM
Just returned from Universal trip with my 2 grown boys and my nieces first trip to Halloween Horror Nights. We arrived Thursday late afterrnoon due to flat tire before even getting out of the driveway(tht is the kind of luck I have been having lately. Got to parking deck about 5:30 and before we even made it to City Walk it starting storming with some very close and frequent lightning so Thursday turned out to be a wash. Friday morning went to IOA about 9:30-10:00 and went straight to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Posted waiting time was 30 min but actual wait was closer to 15. Next was Dragon Challenge (No wait) and it has really lost some of it's appeal since they no longer "Duel". Jurrasic Park (My personal favorite) was next and we walked right on this ride as well. It looks as though the ending has been modified slightly which is an improvement. Finally made to Marvel Superhero Island and Spiderman was the longest wait I have seen in quite awhile with the que all the way back in the room with all the desks, about a 30 minutes wait. I took a break while the rest of my party rode the Hulk. That was basically our IOA trip for the weekend other than a couple hours on Sunday while waiting to get in Halloween Horror Nights. I did notice that Universal was putting more effort into keeping the park clean as I noticed several employees walking around sweeping up any loose trash and most of the ride operators were a little frindlier than my last trip. I will detail my Halloween Horror Night experiences in another thread.


Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond.

From Kelly Muggleton
Posted October 10, 2012 at 1:18 AM
Thanks for the report Orrin.
I feel the same way about the Dragons, my ride on it this year was marred by the thought 'I wish that Fire Dragon was still hurtling towards me'.
It no mlonger makes me want to run back around and ride the other one right away.

(I know its not called fire dragon officially but they will always be Fire and Ice to me)

From Mike Gallagher
Posted October 10, 2012 at 3:36 AM
Orrin, you mentioned HPFJ but said nothing about the ride/experience other than the wait time. Was it your or your kids' first time? What did you think of it?

From Orrin Carstarphen
Posted October 10, 2012 at 3:33 PM
Well my "kids" are 26 and 23 and neither of them really care much about Harry Potter, as for me I have read all the books but still haven't seen all the movies even though I own them all on DVD. My niece is a huge fan however so that is why we rode it this trip. I think the ride technology is very cool and the themeing is excellent and I would love to see Disney come up with some rides based on a similiar technology other than that JP is still my favorite ride at IOA especially at night. BTW, this was not my first time riding Harry Potter.

From Andrew Dougherty
Posted October 11, 2012 at 2:09 PM
So when are you posting HHN reports

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