As I write this paragraph, it is 7:30 in the morning, January 20, 2021. I’ve been in Orlando for about 44 hours. The sun has come up and it is a bright, nearly cloudless day. There will be a slight breeze today with a high temperature of 75°. The traffic is doing its thing.
Here in the room, breakfast is complete and I’m doing some reading. The book I have with me on this trip is At Home: A Short History Of Private Life by Bill Bryson, one of my favorite writers. In the book, he takes us on a tour of the the modern house—using his own as the model—and gives us a history of how the items most identified with each room came to be, along with the room itself. For example, in the chapter about the dining room, half the pages are devoted to how salt and pepper (shakers) came to be staples of the dinner table. I’m only about half done the book, and so far it is really interesting.
As for the plan today, it is my last day of the two day pass at the parks. My concern is the Island of Adventure, which doesn’t open until 10, so it will be a later start than usual. In the meantime, thanks to the excellent Universal Orlando app, I already know where I’m having lunch and what I’m having. As I was reminded yesterday, amusement park food is expensive, but that’s OK, I’m on vacation! I have enough food in the room to take care of the other meals.
II.
As soon as I arrive at CityWalk, I take a left and head to the Islands of Adventure entrance gates. It’s just after 10:00 and I join a short line to scan tickets and start the day. On the other side of the gates, a few hundred other visitors have entered already. Several thousand will be coming in behind us.
Through the gate, and I head to the left towards the Comic Book area, featuring Spiderman and related characters, with a restaurant based on the Fantastic 4 (we’ll get back to that later). My first order of business requires my presence in Jurassic Park. When I come on the scene, however, I find the ride I wanted to go on—Jurassic Park River Adventure—is closed for maintenance. Disappointing, but there is a previously unknown option, the Velociraptor Encounter. This area, with the assistance of a trainer allows visitors to take a selfie with a velociraptor named Blue. When it’s my turn, the trainer asks me to get Blue’s attention.
“Blue. Blue. Look up here.” I say, snapping my fingers.
Blue looks, and the trainer says, “Good, now take your picture, because you should not be snapping your fingers like that.”
I click the shutter on my phone’s camera. “Ok, got it.”
“Good, now run!” says the trainer, as Blue comes after me.
Fortunately, I made it out alive.
III.
After my experience in Jurassic Park, I decided to do something a little less dangerous, so I got on a tour bus on Skull Island which was promptly attacked by Kong. This ride uses a combination of animatronics, 3D video and other effects to tour the island. It is a very sophisticated ride, and is actually one of my favorites.
Leaving Skull Island behind, I wandered into the land of Dr. Seuss, which brings the writer’s characters to life using very vivid colors. After a couple of rides here, I circle back to the start. It’s already been 2 hours, and it’s time for lunch. I head into my chosen eatery for the day, the Cafe 4. As in the Fantastic Four. Because I had the app all set up and ready, ordering lunch—a slice of cheese pizza, caesars salad, and water—was much less complicated. The salad was bigger than I thought it would be (never a bad thing) and the staff, actually all the staff I’ve encountered here, is friendly and helpful.
After lunch I hopped on to the Spiderman ride (It was OK, not a big comic book guy anyway, although the technology of the ride is excellent). Turning the next corner, I see that I’ve entered the world of what I’ll call Old Comic Strips. We’re talking things like Blondie (who has a restaurant), Cathy, Heathcliff, and even a mention of Prince Valiant. One ride that does look interesting is called Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges. This water ride features circular, 8-seat rafts.
I like water rides, so I get in line and am quickly seated, soon joined by two other passengers: a Dad and his young son.
And off we go down the river. Now, here’s the thing about this ride, and I can’t emphasize this enough, so I will break a rule here and type in all caps: YOU WILL GET WET! YOU WILL GET VERY WET! The reason for this is there are several waterfalls and other situations where water will come right at you, ie. hoses, broken pipes, etc. After I took the first shot, Son laughed at me. I replied that he was next. In the end we all got ours.
I enjoyed this ride, but will be better prepared next time by being armed with a hooded poncho, as several people already in the know had. I noticed afterward that one can buy ponchos, and several folks brought their own.
In any case, I next took use, for a cost of $5.00, of one of the nearby people driers. Given that I was completely soaked and chilled to the bone, it didn’t dry me off entirely, but it did do enough to make me more comfortable. If you are poncho-free, it’s definitely worth the money.
And with that, I’m pretty much done here at Islands of Adventure. I take a last look around to be sure, including a stop in Hogsmeade, and then, after purchasing a donut at Voodoo Doughnut along the CityWalk, I leave the property all together.
IV.
I’m still a little wet when I get back to the hotel. I change clothes and head down to the pool to hang out and do some reading. It’s a little after 2 o’clock, so still too early to stay in the room. Just before 5,
I do head back upstairs, grab something to eat from room food, and start packing up.
And now, 11 1/2 hours after writing the opening paragraph of this entry, I write the closing paragraph. Tomorrow is a travel day. These two days at Universal Orlando has been fun, relaxing, and a much needed break. it’s been great!
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