Trip Report: July 10-18, 2010. Day 4
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From: Paul Lalli on 5 Aug 2010 07:54 Keane wrote: > On Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:21:02 -0400, Paul Lalli <mritty(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > >> Keane wrote: >>> On Tue, 03 Aug 2010 19:34:25 -0400, Paul Lalli <mritty(a)gmail.com> >>> wrote: >>> > >> Epcot isn't as bad, partly because the lagoon isn't as big as IoA's, >> partly because it makes sense to do a circular tour of the World >> Showcase. It doesn't quite make sense to do a circular tour of IoA. > > Uh, WSL is four to five times the size of IoA's lagoon. IoA is a > pretty small park, and it doesn't make sense to do a circular tour of > IoA? Really? At World Showcase, there are no headliner attractions that will build lines while you're making your way around. Maelstrom isn't going to develop a 90 minute wait while you're at O Canada. At IoA, if you start at Hulk, by the time you get to Jurassic Park or Harry Potter, you will be waiting 2 hours. A decent touring plan requires you go hit the headliners first, for any theme park you go to. For IoA, that means crossing the lagoon three or four times. >>> Before they put in potterland, the test seats were in more >>> inconspicuous places. >> So they moved all the seats at both parks when they put in HP? I find >> that difficult to believe. We saw the same thing at Rip Ride Rocket, >> Incredible Hulk, etc. The test seats are right at the queue entrances. > > They were all by the queue entrances, but I think I see your problem. > The queue entrances on most attractions are pretty much empty. You > don't have 500 people waiting in line *outside* the queue entrance, > they're in the queue. HP is an oddity that has a line that overflows > the queue. No, that's not the problem. Everyone still has to walk past them. I don't want anyone to be watching me humiliate myself by being told I'm too fat to ride. Do you know where the test vehicle is for Everest? Around the corner of the back of the gift shop. I bet you've never even seen it, have you? > I personally don't think it's a problem they put the test seats at the > entrances, most might not even think to try if the test seats weren't > in an obvious place. People who are of a large body size/shape would think to ask for them, especially after the first tight fit on another attraction. Something tells me you don't fit in that category, that *you* wouldn't think to ask for them. I assure you, the overweight folks would. > Technical question about FJ. I've read the most violent seats are > the two in the middle. That doesn't compute. The tilt axis is in the > middle, isn't it? Aren't the most violent seats the outboard seats? No idea. I rode on the outside each of my three times, by pure coincidence. > If you noticed at MiB, Mummy and others, the lockers are in plain site > of the attraction, and the signs and CM's were very clear that you > had to use the lockers. I take it they hid the lockers at FJ so you > didn't know you were in line for the lockers? Yes. You go into a cavern, and to the right is the locker area, to the left is the actual queue. But the crowd was so massive, that the line to get to the lockers in that cavern extended outside of the cavern. > When Universal Orlando's site calls it a "Training flight" and a > "Enchanting Family Coaster", do you really think you'll be on a > major thrill ride? <shrug> <shrug> Must not have read the descriptions on Universal's website. >> You're right that I'm not a dino-obsessed 10-year-old boy, but I'm >> failing to see how that's true. I don't remember more than 2 actual >> dino animatronics on the ride. The one that's in the water that diverts >> your boat, and the raptor in the processing center or warehouse or >> whatever. I don't doubt that there might be more, but they certainly >> didn't strike me as more "real" than the ones on Dinosaur or even >> Ellen's Energy Adventure. > > Really? You should have seen some 6-8 dinosaur types, I don't know > how many all together. Maybe 10-12. All animatronic. All very > visible, and they look pretty good. I don't know what to tell you. I'm going by memory here, and I just don't remember it being particularly exciting. Neither does my 15-year old half sister. <shrug> >>> Didn't even go through Lost Continent or Seussland? That's a third >>> of the park you missed. >> We went through Lost Continent on the way to HP'land. There were no >> other attractions we missed there, were there? There was a show, >> something about Sinbad, that Amanda said she didn't care to wait for. > > Yes there were, but there you are. Sinbad is a pretty decent stunt > show. Poseidon's Fury is a walk through special effects show. The > Mystic Fountain is pretty amusing if you stick around and watch it > interact with the guests. Mythos is the best restaurant in IoA. Some > of the shops (and I don't know if they're still there) are unique. Okay, so shows and food. No actual "ride" attractions. Honestly, if I was by myself, I might have sampled them. Amanda, however, showed very little interest in any shows, the entire time we were there. We also skipped Beauty & The Beast, Indiana Jones, and Lights Motors Action at DHS, and Flights of Wonder at AK, and Country Bear Jamboree in the MK, and all live entertainment save the WS Players at Epcot. >> We went through Seussland on the way out of HP'land. It looked like >> kiddie-ride-land. I didn't see anything there that looked like it was >> designed for teens or adults. (Though we did go to Cat in the Hat on >> our second Universal day). > > And Fantasyland is....? Toontown? > > And I don't understand why something has to be designed for teens > or adults to be interesting. Didn't grow up with Dr. Seuss? Is that > it? The architecture itself within Seussland didn't even hit you as > interesting? It was interesting to look at. And we looked at it. We just didn't go into any of the attractions' queue areas. And I wouldn't say I "grew up with" Dr. Seuss. I read Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs in Ham, but when I was like 4 or 5. > Oh well, maybe I just look at things differently. Seussland is > probably the most colorful and whimsical 'land' in Orlando. (Haven't > had the green eggs and ham, yet...) Honestly, this might go back to my point about the layout. We walked through Seussland on our way from Harry Potter to Incredible Hulk. Maybe if the layout of the park didn't require walking around the Lagoon from where we ended our touring at Jurassic Park, maybe we would have headed back over there to check it out a bit. I don't know, but it's at least possible. Paul Lalli
From: Alpha on 5 Aug 2010 17:27 Paul says: > Thanks for reading. (Especially, in this case, if you actually managed > to read the whole thing. Great TR so far, Paul! If the report is fun to read, you always wish there was more of it. :-) -- Alpha
From: jt august on 5 Aug 2010 19:39 In article <i3d79t$sad$2(a)news.eternal-september.org>, Paul Lalli <mritty(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Remember, this is Universal Studios, and like a real movie studio, they > > only decorate that parts they want you to look at. Theming the back > > side is pointless. Not sure how things are now at DHS, but back when I > > went to D-MGM, I remember similar in the NYC/Muppets area. As the tour > > guide said on the back lot tour, "It's an old Hollywood trick aclled > > saving money." > > The Muppets building is themed all the way around - the Muppets were > basically in charge of it and applied their own creative style. > > The Streets of America area is suppose to be a movie set, so it makes > sense for the backs to not be themed. Wizarding World of Harry Potter > is supposed to be Hogsmeade village. It does not make sense to not be > themed. > > By the way, even the back of Tower of Terror is themed and painted > appropriately, because it can be seen from certain points at Epcot. First off, I was trying to be sarcastic AGAINST Universal. This is a flaw I have have read about before in years past, and for that matter, I recall similar such flaws at USH. Going down the giant escalator, you saw similar incompleteness on the JPark ride. Secondly, Universal is not known for attention to detail the way Disney is. And finally, Universal is no Disney. jt
From: Bashful on 6 Aug 2010 19:25 Keane wrote: >> We went through Seussland on the way out of HP'land. It looked like >> kiddie-ride-land. I didn't see anything there that looked like it was >> designed for teens or adults. (Though we did go to Cat in the Hat on >> our second Universal day). > > And Fantasyland is....? Toontown? > > And I don't understand why something has to be designed for teens > or adults to be interesting. Didn't grow up with Dr. Seuss? Is that > it? The architecture itself within Seussland didn't even hit you as > interesting? > > Oh well, maybe I just look at things differently. Seussland is > probably the most colorful and whimsical 'land' in Orlando. (Haven't > had the green eggs and ham, yet...) > > Keane Do they *really* have green eggs and ham? (adding notes to possible Universal trip... "Check out Seussland - sounds cute - but definitely avoid the restaurants") -- Kitty (TDC Bashful, who did grow up with Dr. Seuss, and really does want to see Seussland) remove "whiskers" to e-mail
From: Keane on 7 Aug 2010 07:10
On Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:25:09 -0400, Bashful <wdwkittywhiskers(a)yahoo.com> wrote: >Keane wrote: > >>> We went through Seussland on the way out of HP'land. It looked like >>> kiddie-ride-land. I didn't see anything there that looked like it was >>> designed for teens or adults. (Though we did go to Cat in the Hat on >>> our second Universal day). >> >> And Fantasyland is....? Toontown? >> >> And I don't understand why something has to be designed for teens >> or adults to be interesting. Didn't grow up with Dr. Seuss? Is that >> it? The architecture itself within Seussland didn't even hit you as >> interesting? >> >> Oh well, maybe I just look at things differently. Seussland is >> probably the most colorful and whimsical 'land' in Orlando. (Haven't >> had the green eggs and ham, yet...) >> >> Keane > >Do they *really* have green eggs and ham? They used to. I'm not sure you can still find it in the parks. (They use basil for coloring, I think.) >(adding notes to possible Universal trip... "Check out Seussland - >sounds cute - but definitely avoid the restaurants") Avoid the Palm at the Hard Rock Hotel, too. :-) Keane -- When stars are born, They possess a gift or two, One of them is this, They have the power to make a wish come true... -- Wishes Visit my site: http://keanespics.com |