8 Parks in 5 days...

[w00dland]

So last month I had a bit of a business trip to Florida, and took the opportunity to hit all the Florida parks that I haven't seen since I was about 9 years old. Having lived in So Cal for the past year and a half I've become a big Disneyland fan, so I was pretty excited about seeing WDW for the first time as an adult, but I was even more excited to see the parks that I visited first...

Universal Studios Florida

The last time I was at USF I was in high school and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was likely only in the imaginations of officials at the park, that being said Islands of Adventure has generally been my favorite theme park, and considering I only had around 8 hours to do both parks, I had to get a move on fast. Decided to head to USF first and close the day at Islands of Adventure.



This ride was certainly NOT there the last time I visited the park, and it really changes the landscape of the whole park. That, and the fact that Jaws is completely gone and replaced by a giant fence.







For not hearing a whole lot from the coaster community about this ride, I really enjoyed it. The seats were comfy, the ride wasn't too rough and I'm a huge fan of onboard audio, so being able to pick my own tracks made the ride twice as good. Not really a top 10 coaster, but a different type of experience that not many other coasters out there will be able to replicate.

Other than Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket, the park really hadn't changed much other than Simpsons replacing Back to the Future, both of which I really enjoyed. Thought the theming on Simpsons was really well done. Men in Black is still one of my favorite shooter rides out there, and The Mummy is probably still my favorite ride in the park.





It's starting to show its age, but The Mummy is just a lot of fun.



The evening was quickly approaching, and Islands of Adventure Awaits!



Islands of Adventure is just a really well designed park. It's got clearly themed areas, and each one is considerably more diverse than the other. It's also got another thing practically no other theme parks have: Each area of the park is themed around a different IP (Intellectual Property) instead of a general area such as a Harbor, or "Tomorrowland" I believe that can be a double edged sword, it's a good thing because the public can easily relate to your theming, and thus can be entertained by the queues or even just the Midway. The negative is that some IPs last longer than others, and without updates to some of those IPs, the theme can become stale, and less entertaining as we no longer reference the theme.



Suess Landing is great for Kids.



Hulk, Spiderman and Dr. Doom are all fantastic.

Anyway, Islands is great because I associate all of the themes, and Universal does theme brilliantly. That rang especially true for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.



It's pretty impressive. Probably the best themed area in any theme park. The problem (which is well documented at this point) with the area is that it isn't designed to take all the people that it does on a daily basis, which is why Universal is expanding into USF in the near future.



Every view was designed to look amazing.



Inside the Wizarding World one will find Ollivander's Wand Shop, the Three Broomsticks (which wasn't so tasty), and many other shops and things you'll recognize from the movies. The ride itself in the castle was very cool, and honestly I spent almost my entire 2nd ride just trying to figure out how it all worked, which I think was even more impressive than the ride itself.

And of course there is this...



I liked it frozen much better than regular.

The thing about IOA, is that its filled with a bunch of little gems that I didn't want to miss, so I left Potterverse and headed for one of my favorite attractions.



For those of you who haven't been, this walk through attraction takes you into an old archeological site thats being dug up, and ends with a huge water and fire show where Poseidon takes on an evil Lord for control of the waters. Very cool.



That's a big Trident.

Being a 25 minute ride, when I came out I had around an hour left in the day, so I stopped taking photos and rode Dragon's Challenge, Jurassic Park, and Hulk in the front row which was particularly fun. Finished up the evening taking some photos of the park (why to Florida parks close so early?) before getting ready for some Disney Adventures the following day.









Next update likely posted later tonight about Disney World adventures. For those wondering I also visited BGT and LEGOLAND Florida during my visit, however I have much fewer photos of those parks.

[w00dland]

So, after hitting Universal Studios Orlando Resort it was time to buckle up and knock out the entire Walt Disney World Resort in two days. This was to be no easy task as it was the first week of Spring Break for half the country, and Disney world is a hell of a lot bigger than the Disneyland Resort.

I'm not going to lie, I didn't fit everything I wanted to in, in fact I could have used another week to really sit back and experience most of the things the parks had to offer. That being said, I had a great time and really enjoyed the parks, especially Epcot.



Started each day at Animal Kingdom, even though I spent a grand total of one hour in the park both days. I tell ya, after being in the "business" now for a little over three years, it sure does help to know people in other parts of the business. This young man was nice enough to get me into Disney, and other people at Universal and Busch Gardens helped me into their parks.



One word advice to the younger ones on here, if you're planning to get involved into this industry professionally, don't lose contacts with the ones you meet on here when you're 14.

I'm going to try to stay in chronological order for this, but certain parts might just not make sense. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the Tequila factory at Epcot though.



The happiest place on earth is also the hardest place to get to. Literally took one hour to go from Animal Kingdom to Magic Kingdom, but I understand that Walt designed it that way to remove people away from the outside world, which I can appreciate as its one of the things I desire most about a theme park. It just didn't help when I had so many things to accomplish in a short amount of time!







Don't mind if I do!



Considering I had around 30 trips to Disneyland in the last year, Magic Kingdom seemed absolutely enormous in size. Disneyland is a fabulous place, but it wasn't designed for the tens of millions that walk through its turnstiles each year.



I love the Peoplemover. Love it. Along with the Carousel of Progress, which I think is a Disney gem that I have no problem sitting through and enjoying more than once.



This restaurant was really, really well done. And was also mobbed with people at 11AM for lunch - 30 minutes to get through the door for counter service. Dinner booked out for the next 6 months, incredible especially considering how huge it is inside.



I mean, the restaurant has its own castle.



And its own hidden Mickeys.



We ate in the West Wing, which had this nifty device in it.



Got to the haunted mansion, definitely fun and one of my favorites. Think I enjoy the elevator ride down as much as the rest of the ride, especially when the whole elevator knows the story.







To summarize: Pirates was decent, Dole Whip was tasty, and Space Mountain wasn't nearly as good as I remember. Disneyland's onboard audio and comfy trains just put this one to shame.





Grabbed a ride on Jungle Cruise which was a lot of fun. Nice to hear some new jokes from Skippers on this ride compared to the ones back in Anaheim.



Decided that it was time to venture our way to Epcot after 4 hours or so at the Magic Kingdom.



I really love Epcot. Easily had the most fun at this park in the whole Disney property. The two sections of the park are both done wonderfully, and allows for this combination of culture, learning, entertainment, thrill and showmanship that Disney does best. Its so unique and I loved it so much I probably spent a solid 10 hours there over the two days.



Spaceship Earth was great, rode it twice.



What a difference between Mission: Space when I was at Epcot as a kid, and what it is now. There had to be no less than 5 warnings between the entrance of the attraction to boarding telling people not to ride if they aren't sure if they can handle the high intensity side of the ride. Goes to show what Disney does after a few unfortunate accidents on the ride previously. That said, I loved the attraction, rode it a few times even though it grossed out a few others in my group.



All 40-whatever-minutes of this attraction were fabulous. Ellen and Bill Nye are some of my favorite celebrities, and this attraction hasn't lost a beat since it was first created. I was bummed to see how low of attendance the attraction was getting during my time, they even close the attraction a few hours before the park. If you make it to Epcot, don't miss this one.







There was a garden festival going on with about 100 of these sculptures.



Once things got dark, we headed over to the World Showcase for dinner, drinks and entertainment. Really enjoyed Mexico and Germany.





Watched the Illuminations show that night which was pretty spectacular, and went back to the hotel for day two.

[Director_Guy]

Great stuff so far, my friend.

Literally took one hour to go from Animal Kingdom to Magic Kingdom

Besides Indiana Jones, this is probably the best part about Disneyland compared to Walt Disney World. The size is a curse and a blessing. I love being able to walk from The Haunted Mansion to Tower of Terror in a matter of minutes. Or grab a drink at Trader Sam's* and take a monorail into Tomorrowland to ride on Space Mountain.

WDW really is designed to FORCE you to take it at a leisurely pace, which is both good and bad. Good on a week long vacay, bad on a two day marathon.

Anyway, looking forward to more.


* = Okay, so Trader Sam's might be the best part about Disneyland, but you get what I'm saying.