Tag Archives: 2018

Universal Studios Florida 2018

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Universal Orlando Resort | Photos | Videos

December 21, 2018
Orlando FL

On Monday morning I woke up, showered, packed up, and headed north, back to the Universal  Orlando Resort. Today, though, I’d been spending a few hours at the Studios. Although I’ve been to both parks on a couple of other occasions, this trip was the first time I spent a day at each park, though to say I spent a ‘day’ there is stretching it quite a bit for both parks. I arrived around 11:15 am, parked, and walked over to the Studios. I could tell that the crowd wasn’t terrible, and at only the 60 degrees, I figured it wouldn’t be a very crowded day. As I walked in I headed past Minions, which I rode in Japan, and Shrek, which I don’t like 4D theaters, and headed to the right, looking for what was new. And new I saw, forgetting all about Transformers.

Transformers The Ride 3D-I knew this ride was there, but totally forgot about it, so it ended up being a nice surprise. Another nice surprise was the single rider line, a theme throughout the day I would later discover. I knew it was the same ride system as Spider-Man, and I think I’d read it was the same, or at least very similar, layout, and if there were any changes to the layout, I didn’t notice. It was just as well done as Spider-Man, though my right lens was a little wonky. The physical sets were cool, and overall it was a fun ride with cool effects, just like the Spider-men I’ve ridden, and DarKastle.

Thirty minutes in and I’d already gotten one of the new attractions out of the way. I hadn’t had breakfast so I decided to grab a bit to eat at Mel’s Drive-in. As I left the restaurant, there was a Dora the Explorer float coming around the bend for a kids dance party. I took a gander for a second then made my way around. My next destination was MIB, via Springfield.

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Islands of Adventure 2018

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Islands of Adventure | Photos | Videos

December 20, 2018
Orlando FL

After arriving in Orlando I picked up my minivan I headed to the resort, checked into my suite, got cleaned up, and headed to Universal Studios Orlando Resort. I picked up some food at Wawa on the way and after about 30 minutes I was heading into the parking garage. I took a photo of the parking row information and walked towards CityWalk.

Although they’re highly manufactured and I’m not exactly into that anymore, CityWalk does have a lot to offer. I quickly headed towards Islands of Adventure. It wasn’t raining at the moment, but it had been. The skies were still cloudy. I didn’t see much of a crowd being at the parks today and I’d never been to a Universal park that wasn’t pretty packed. I went over to the self service kiosk to redeem my ticket. I wish more parks had these, though I understand why not all parks outside of Orlando don’t invest.

It had been nearly a decade since I’d been to Islands of Adventure. I’ve always really liked the park. The last time I was here they were busy constructing The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The old HULK coaster was still running, as were the Dragons. I miss the Dragons. They gave an awesome ride and were visually stunning. But change is constant and Islands of Adventure has changed a lot in the last 9 years. My first stop was to the left of the Port of Entry. It’s a new credit for me because they replaced nearly all of the coaster as well as the trains. I liked the original, and I was excited to try the new one out.

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Kings Island 2018

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KIBannerKings Island | Photos | Videos

May 27, 2018
Cincinnati OH

We woke up and were out just before nine on Sunday morning. Breakfast was had from Duncan Donuts, and because we were in an AirBnB south of Cedar Point, our drive to Kings Island was only around 3 hours. After getting close to the park we stopped at Burger King for Blake and Isaac to get some food. We were all hungry, but I had a meal plan so was planning on getting lunch in the park. I did cheat a bit and get a small hamburger though.

Pulling up to the park I immediately noticed that the parking lot wasn’t really full. This would be my first visit to Kings Island on a holiday weekend and I didn’t know how it would be. This was a good sign. We arrived just around 1pm and headed to the front gate. After getting thru the front gate I suggested we head straight back to Mystic Timbers in case the line was long, so we went straight back. To my delight and surprise, the line was short, maybe about 15 minutes, so after putting our stuff in a locker we got in line.

Mystic Timbers–I have to admit, when it was being built, I wasn’t impressed with the ride, but as people started to ride it last year it became clear that Mystic Timbers was a hit. I started to get excited about finding out for myself. And it definitely is a hit. The first drop reminds me of Thunderhead. There is airtime on the hill over the lift. Then the ride really hits its stride as you head out in to the woods with massive amounts of GCI airtime. It isn’t severe ejector air, but it is really good. Then you have the turnaround and tunnel which is also a lot of fun. The return trip is just as insane, and then of course you hit the shed. Now, I knew what was in the shed, obviously, and had heard mostly negative comments about how it just wasn’t what people expected. I honestly thought it was a clever trick for stopping on the brakes at the end of the ride, and wish more rides would do something like that.  Overall, though Mystic Timbers is an amazing creation by GCI.

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Cedar Point 2018

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CP18Banner.pngCedar Point | Photos | Videos

May 25 & 26, 2018
Sandusky OH

If you can’t find a way to go to Cedar Point during dead week, Memorial Day Weekend has proven to be a great time to head to Cedar Point and find moderate attendance and lighter lines. In the past four years I’ve spent 3 Memorial Day weekends at the park, and have had a great time on each visit. Even with the long drive from North Carolina to Sandusky, the trip is worth it to visit America’s Roller Coast, and having followed the transformation of Mean Streak into Steel Vengeance over the last 2 years, I was determined to get to the park this year to ride. My friends Isaac and Blake joined in, and on Friday morning we headed north.

Isaac found a nice AirBnB about 30 minutes south of the park and, after stopping off there to drop off our stuff and freshen up, we made our way onto the peninsula. We parked in the Cedar Point Shores parking lot since the Magnum lot was closed, and headed in to meet up with Bryan Bird. After introductions and salutations, we walked towards Dragster, which was testing after being closed. The line opened as we walked by, so we quickly got into the queue as the wait wouldn’t be this short all weekend most likely.

Dragster is always a great experience, even if it isn’t a great coaster. We waited about 35 minutes or so to ride near the back of the train. Dragster always makes me anxious because of that launch. This was Blake’s first time at the park and first time on anything like this. As always, the launch was super fast and intense and I really still like Dragster as a ride. This was our only ride all weekend because it was being cranky both days.

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