Disney/Universal 3-23/3-26

Hey everyone, I'm relatively new to this site, and this is my first trip report, so bear with me if its obvious. Here goes my first report, on a high school marching band trip to Disneyworld and Universal Islands of Adventure (I'm a member of the band, not a chaperone)

Early morning of Saturday the 23, me arrived in Florida after a 21 hour bus ride from northern Ohio, and we started our day at Animal Kingdom. First thing I did was made my way to Expedition Everest to get a fast pass, I really liked that system by the way. After getting the fast pass for about 2 hours later, I went over to the Dinosaur ride. Surprisingly short wait, about 30 min, for an exciting ride. After getting off Dinosaur I made my way over to see the Bugs Life show, which my friends and I all really enjoyed. After that we found some food, and made our way back to Expedition Everest. After a 10 minute wait with the fast pass, I was pleasantly surprised to be placed at the front seat. After getting off, my friends and I determined that was by far the best ride in the park (we're used to the high thrills of Cedar Point)

Not too long after getting off of Expedition Everest, it was time to depart Animal Kingdom for Epcot. Once getting into the park, we decided to start mellow, and ride Spaceship Earth. Wow, that ride was really cool. After getting off that, we decided to ride the Finding Nemo ride. I wasn't too impressed, but my friends really enjoyed it. The Turtle Talk with Crush show afterwards was hilarious. After long discussion of where to go next, we found ourselves at Mission: Space. I chose the green side and again , I didn't particularly enjoy it because I'm not a fan of simulator rides. After getting off that, and an argument later, we made our way to Test Track. I was excited since I hadn't rode it since long before the update. I personally liked it better before the update, although I really enjoyed creating my own vehicle. Once we were done on Test Track, we decided we were done riding for that day, and spent time visiting the countries. We ate dinner at La Cantina, and even though I only had loaded nachos, man were they good. Walking around the various countries, I quickly realized that has to be one of the coolest atmospheres in a theme park.

The next day Sunday the 24, was parade day at Magic Kingdom. When we got to the park, we made our way to Space Mountain to get fast passes. When we saw the line was only 35 minutes, we decided to get on before it was time for the passes. After getting off the first time, we rode the Buzz Lightyear ride, I really liked how you could control the vehicles movement. Time to go back to Space Mountain. Wow was that ride fun. Through both times we rode once on each side, but I couldn't tell you which one I enjoyed more. After Space Mountain, we crossed the park to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, even though the boats didn't have lap bars, I was expecting a bigger surprise drop. Once we were off the ride, it was time to get ready for the parade. The band met up by Splash Mountain, that would've been so nice at that point. We make our way back stage to get into uniform, and to warm up. After that, we got into parade block and rehearsed the song one final time. Then it happened. An hour and a half thunder storm accompanied by tornado warnings, canceling the parade. After the weather cleared, it turned out to be a beautiful day again. My friends and I rode Peter Pan, kinda short but well done. After that we rode It's a Small World, I was creeped out by the dolls and the singing, but other than that it was a nice relaxing ride. We made our way to Splash Mountain, only to find fast passes sold out, and the ride broken down. Luckily Thunder Mountain Railroad was nearby, and it had a short wait. I was impressed, as the usual mine train is a slow boring ride, man was I wrong. That was all for today, but we'd be back in the morning for another half day. Within the half day we re rode some things, and Splash Mountain was closed still.

After half a day at Magic Kingdom on Monday the 25, we went to Hollywood Studios. When we first arrived we went to the Tower of Terror to get fast passes, then got in line for the Rock N Rollercoaster. The sign board said an 85 minute wait. Boy was that off. After 120 minutes, I was starting to think that they weren't running all trains. Then I got inside to realize the worst management I've seen. They were letting in nearly full trains worth of fast pass holders, while only letting in about 4-6 regular line people per group into the "studio" despite my anger in the line, I really enjoyed the ride since the only other indoor coaster I'd rode before that was Space Mountain and Disaster Transport. After riding, it was time to go to the Tower of Terror. The theming for this ride was amazing, and a really enjoyable ride experience. By that point, we had enough time to get pictures by the giant hat, and go to Fantasmic. I didn't know what to expect from Fantasmic, but it completely blew me away.

The last day in Florida, Tuesday the 23, was spent at Universal's Islands of Adventure. We started the day with a 1.5 hour wait for the front seat of the Hulk, now this is more of my pace, fast and high intensity. Totally worth the wait. After that wait, we wandered around the park a bit, taking in the scenery. A chaperone told us that we should go on the Jurassic Park ride, and we'd barely get wet. Wrong. I got soaked head to waist, and was freezing for a few hours. At that time, it was lunch time. I ate at the Captain America Cafe, which was pretty good for amusement park food. After eating, my friends and I went to Poseidon's Revenge. That, I'm not sure what to call it, was really cool, and the level of host enthusiasm made it that much better. After some talking, we went to the Cat in the Hat ride, which was pretty entertaining, even though I haven't read or thought about the book in years. By that time it was dinner, at the Hard Rock Cafe, very good burger. Then the whole band took a group picture by the Universal globe, and filmed a surprise Harlem Shake. Once I got back into the park, I convinced my friend to go on the Hulk with me, not knowing it was her first upside down coaster. She was scared in the the queue and station, and loved it as we were getting off. Finally to end the day, I rode the Spider Man ride. As stated earlier, I'm not a fan of simulator rides, but I really loved this ride until the final scene, as it made me a bit nauseous. After getting off, my friends and I serpentined to the front of the park where we boarded the buses for the 21 hour journey back home.

Hope you enjoyed reading, feel free to leave comments on how to improve future logs!

I am surprised to hear such enjoyment for the Dinosaur ride. I was very disappointed with it.

Not a bad trip report, but for the future, a little more detail on operations, line lengths, ride qualities and special effects, etc are appreciated by some (I like to hear as much as detail as possible, anyway). Like...what made Hulk so worth the wait? Was it the speed? The misting you get? The ginormous cobra roll? What did you think of the T-Rex on Jurassic park?

Now this is just my preference, but many would say that my trip reports are long and overly detailed, so please take it with a grain of salt, and welcome, new Buzzer!

What? No Harry Potter? No Dragons Challenge?

I remember you, you wrote to ask us all for advice before you left.

I thought your trip report was just fine, I'm glad you had a nice trip. Sounds like you packed a lot in to a few days.

But- Two rides on Hulk and no Harry Potter? Say it ain't so.