We bought a three day pass and headed to IOA on day one, USO on day two, and back to IOA on day three. Rather than give you a daily trip report, I am going to sum it up into topics (Food, Park, and Rides).
For context, this is my fourth visit to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure (2000, 2005, and 2007).
FOOD
The first day we ate lunch at Burger Digs and the burgers were decent. Nothing to complain about but nothing spectacular. I have to admit I often really enjoy a burger at Disney's counter service so I was a little disappointed. For dinner we had the family platter at the three broomsticks and it was delicious. The ribs and chicken were perfectly cooked. It was a great value as it came with salad, two sides, and the two meats and fed four for only $49.99. Definitely recommend it. Great for being just a counter service option.
On day's two and three we elected for the meal deal ($20/person). This was a great value to us as we could eat however often we liked and could stop to get a cookie or fruit as a snack without any additional cost. However we quickly realized it was the same food options at almost every restaurant and fresh fruit or a good salad was only an option at a few places. The quality of this "meal deal only" food was sub par. Definitely won't purchase it again.
Aside from Three Broomsticks, the food was barely above Amusement park fare. I remember Mythos being very good but we didn't get to eat there this time.
PARK
Overall the park was in pretty good shape except for the bathrooms. They were usually messy and smelled pretty bad. I was really shocked. The crowds weren't very big so I don't see why they were in such bad shape. I only saw one attendant the entire three days so maybe they are understaffed at the moment. On several occasions, there were very strong smells of garbage. It was very heavy in the Jurassic Park area and a few others. We smelt is several times on both visits to IOA. It was unfortunate and hopefully something they can fix.
Speaking of understaffed. That seemed to be a recurring theme though out our visit. Several times we were in lines that were longer than they needed to be because they were only loading on one side of a ride instead of using both loading zones. We saw more cast members show up eventually and then they opened up the other sides.
This was our first time visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Hogwarts and the surrounding area is quite brilliant. The theming is amazing. Even better than I imagined or had seen in any pictures prior to the visit. Kudos to Universal for handling it all so well. My only critique would be the size of the shops. They were far too small to accomodate decent crowds. I think this was short sighted of them. There are shops in Seuss landing that are far larger to sell goods for a far less popular brand.
RIDES
FORBIDDEN JOURNEY - The ride was great and was an experience like nothing I had seen before. I enjoyed it and rode it 3-4 times while we were there. I still found Hulk and Spiderman to be just a bit more enjoyable but give HPFJ a definite thumbs up. My kids loved it and the queue is amazing. The only critiques I have are one, the video wasn't very bright therefore not as clear as I would have hoped and two, there was very little build up to the story. It went straight to flying. Spider-man's opening scenes in the alley with Jameson talking and then Spiderman warning you are great opportunities for you to get used to the ride mechanics and such. The FJ could have benefited from this IMO. Definitely a strong 9/10 regardless.
HULK - Love this coaster. It has aged really well. I expected it to be more jerky and not as smooth but no complaints here. Broke down once while we were there but was running most of the time. Still a 9/10 for me.
SPIDER-MAN - Spider man's new video is brilliant and very vivid. Definitely a nice upgrade. Unfortunately the ride had issues all four times I road it. Got stopped in the ride after the car in front of us had issues. They unloaded those people and took the car to maintenance. The next two had audio issues and then blank screens with audio. The cast members offered for us to cut the line and ride again which we did a few times but eventually it was just frustrating to not have a complete ride without problems. A great ride when it works and still one of my favorites. 9.5/10 when it works.
DRAGON CHALLENGE - Still a great smooth coaster. Rode both sides. Orange was my favorite. Front row is the way to go for sure. I was excited for my 11 and 13 year old. They rode this, Hulk, Mummy, and Rip, Ride, Rocket. Added some big coasters to their list. Hasn't changed other than the re-branding. 8/10
RIP, RIDE, ROCKET - First time riding this coaster. It had problems while we waited inline. A 25 minute wait turned into closer to an hour. We hung tough only to have it break down on us. We were stuck for about 20 minutes in the sun on one of the second to last break/release area before you come into the station. They unloaded us and shut down the ride for a while. I didn't really care for the coaster all that much and it breaking down only made it worse. It broke down several times throughout the day on each day of our visit. The one maintenance guy I saw said they have a lot of problems with the sensors. Who knows if that's true or not but they are definitely having some issues. Only a 6/10 for me.
OTHERS - Dudley Doo-Right Falls was broke down 1/2 days we were at IOA. They emptied the water and were working behind the scenes. We enjoyed Men in Black, Simpsons, Mummy, Seuss Landing, Jurassic Park, Shek and others. All were in good working order.
SUMMARY
Overall we had a good time but for the money, I didn't feel like we got our money's worth. To charge the same amount as Disney but not offer the same level of quality of food, cleanliness, number of rides, and consistency of the ride experience, I felt like Universal needs to do a lot more than just bring in newer technology and thrills to really compete. Sure there are some unique thrills, technology, and rides there but the other things mean just as much, especially keeping their rides operational. I used to love Universal and preferred it over Disney but for my money and enjoyment I have to give the edge to Disney at the moment when I look across all categories.
OTHER ACTIVITIES
While in Orlando we also visited the Rock Springs at Kelly Park and Wekiwa Springs up in Apopka. Both are state parks with natural springs you can explore. Beautiful parks that you can swim, fish, hike, canoe, camp, float in tubes, and dive. Great value and a lot of fun.
We also visited Cocoa Beach and had dinner at our favorite restaurant, Grill's Seafood Deck & Tiki Bar. Great place to relax after a day at the beach. Great food, service, and drinks. Pretty busy so be sure to call ahead an hour before you get there.
I went to Gatorland as a kid and hadn't been back since so I took my kids and we had a blast. It's only a 3-4 hour attraction but really cool. We love zoos, especially lizards, reptiles, turtles, snakes, etc so it was a good match for us. Great way to kill half a day before heading to the airport and home.
Your comments about the subpar food are interesting. Did you eat at any of the CityWalk establishments? I've enjoyed NBA City in the past, and with the NBA Finals in full swing that would seem to be the place to go!
Did you get to experience the new Despicable Me attraction? Also, you mentioned that you enjoyed the Mummy...what did the rest of the family think about it? My wife and oldest son like it better than even Spider-Man, which is blasphemy at my house!
Universal is clean in the mornings. But it doesn't stay that way as the day goes on.
There are top notch rides. But they often have problems. All the other rides are underwhelming. I can't spend nearly as much time in one of the USFR parks than I can a Disney park.
Overall, it's just not worth the prices. For many years I've bought many annual passes and would go. But now I have trouble justifying the cost. It's not that I don't like what's there, it's just not worth the price yet.
On another note, I shouldn't have to leave a park and eat at CityWalk to get a decent meal. It's a fact, even with quick service, Universal's culinary abilities (with the *one* exception of Mythos) isn't as sharp and wide as Disney's.
@ David: we had problems on Spiderman three times, once at the beginning with no audio where Jameson talks, second part was at the end where the audio and video were out of sync and then the video stopped where Spidey takes your pic. Third time the ride vehicle stopped as they moved a broken "Scoop" off the tracks.
@Skipper: my observation and sentiments exactly.
It turned into an unplanned behind the scenes tour of the MIB streets and the two cast members were ponting out all sorts of hidden gems on the ride....
I am going to write a full trip report on Friday.
I agree - why should you have to leave a park to go back to Citywalk for good food? (depending on which park and where you want to eat - that can be a long walk too)
Good trip report though, I love the Hulk too, it definitely has maintained its edge as its got older.
Having written that comment, however, CityWalk is not THAT far from the parks, and you can definitely get some decent grub there if you are willing to pony up the cash.
Troy, I suggest you look up Via Napoli, it's hand tossed pizza.
Theme parks do a massive amount of their own surveys and polling that are a scientifically better sample of the general guest populations that any theme park fan site can represent.
@ Kelly: Thanks for the response. :)
@ Rob: That's great to hear that you had such a great time with few problems. It makes me feel better to know that what we experienced wasn't the norm. I hope you weren't under the impression that my report exaggerated the problems as I was only reporting factual events that I observed or personally experienced. They are what they are. Regardless, I am again glad to hear that someone had a better experience than we did.
Re: Your second post. I have been to Disney and Universal each four times. This was by the far the worst case of breakdowns I have seen to date at either. I understand technology doesn't work right 100% of the time and that certain abnormalities are to be expected from time to time. It was just shocking to see them all happening at the same time in just a few short days.
@ Troy: I did enjoy the pizza and salad at Louie's in USO. However the pizza we had at Seuss Landing was terrible. Perhaps they are different but if not then something is not consistent in the preparation process.
As for Disney we really enjoy Pinnochio House Pizza (not great, but ok), Cosmic Ray's, Backlot Express, Electric Umbrella, and Flame Tree BBQ and have not had any issues with food quality or service at those Counter Service locations just to name a few.
Also Rob, a lot of my criticism at Universal was more critical in nature due to their directly competing with Disney but at the same cost. It was our experience that the food was less desirable, the park wasn't as clean, the rides were experiencing frequent issues, and overall there are less rides therefore less to do. If Universal wants to charge the same as Disney, they need to provide the same if not more value. In my past three visits to Universal Orlando, ticket prices were significantly less and therefore I may have not been as critical in my observations.
Regardless, we did have a good time and I did not intend to make Universal look like a local poorly run carnival. Just trying to provide an objective and balanced trip report. I did point out the good things as well.
@ Doug: Hope you have fun on your trop. I look forward to reading your trip report. Hopefully things are well and you have a simliar experience to Rob.
@ James & Mark: I have experienced the bathroom issue before at USO but this was definitely worse than before. But the garbage smells throughout the park were really what topped it off.
To summarize: We had fun. Food was ok. Rides were good when working. Not enough rides. Not an all day park. Not as clean as it could be. Not the same value as Disney considering Universal charges as much. :)
I never thought of visiting a state park in Orlando area – thanks for the info..
I love Orlando and go almost every year. Nothing will change that. Not the traffic, the wierd tasting water, the crowds, the weather, or anything...not even the garbage smell. :)
