- May 26, 2010
- 5,859
- 16,459
Hey all,
Had the opportunity to revisit the Universal Orlando for the first time since 2015, for HHN25. Obviously, quite a bit has changed since then - and overall, for the better. We stayed at Cabana Bay in a Volcano Bay view room for 4 nights, with 4.5 days in the parks. In lieu of a blow by blow, I've organized my thoughts into a Good/Bad/Ugly/Misc list.
THE GOOD
Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure ride experience. This is the family-friendly coaster the resort has needed for a long time and the new generation of Big Thunder Mountain. The launches are incredible, ride experience (between sidecar and motorcycle) varied, length impressive, landscaping splendorous, and creatures encountered exciting. I'm also a big fan of this not being yet another Things Go Horribly Wrong experience, with an emphasis on incidents and rising and falling action in lieu of crisis stakes. Fluffy's left head was inoperable for each of our three rides (if this is going to be permanent - maybe just shut his eyes?), but I'm happy to report the hut Skrewt did blast fog for two of our rides! Queue faces impossible competition from Hogwarts and Gringotts bank, but it's still great.
Volcano Bay overall experience. We went on the coldest day of our trip - Saturday - which started out in the high 60s. We were among only a dozen people in the park when it opened for early entry, meaning we went long stretches without encountering anyone! Logged some 6 rides on Kraukatau (again, an impressively long experience) and multiple rides on the rest of the slides. Punga Racers was closed and boarded up, but it hardly mattered, as I'm over the 150 lb weight limit. Loved the blue whale-themed raft slide as well as Ohya/Ohno. Serpentine body slides stung - that's endemic to these sort of drop slides, but it's definitely more noticeable here. Loved little touches throughout, like the animated chimps on the walk up the volcano and the interactive Vol encounter. Everything was beautifully landscaped, and I enjoyed the architecture choices for infrastructure and food & bev buildings. Food was also quite good and a huge step above the pedestrian water park, even with the apparent reductions of offerings since opening. Location from Cabana couldn't be beat. A great addition to the Universal Orlando lineup.
Skull Island: Reign of Kong. The new mini land clicks into place naturally, and that facade is a whopper. Love the added kinetic interest of the pyro and passing transports. Queue is great, and love the animatronic shaman witch. I have some quibbles with tone and pacing of the ride, but overall, it works, delivering a strong expansion of King Kong 360 from Hollywood. The animatronic Kong is excellent and elicited hushed reactions on each ride. Also dug the multiple drivers (who looked really good in their staging?) with their own colorful commentary. I got Jinx, the descendant of Skull Island natives, and the Texan. Think I preferred the first two, but all were fun.
Revamped Hulk. Top to bottom, complete success. The queue and revised load is a huge improvement. New premise makes more sense, though I do wish Bruce Banner had at least some direct involvement. Didn't have any issues hearing the score, which was a banger - speakers wer loud and booming. Music got stuck in my head!
Spider-Man and Transformers look great. No complaints, hardly any effects inoperable, projection quality outstanding.
Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey also holds up here. I'm very used to Hollywood's iteration at this point, but I have to say, Orlando still beats it despite Hollywood's dementor hands and wall/ceiling of dementors at the end. The key is the superior lighting package; it seems Hollywood never found the right levels after nixing its 3D component. Orlando better conceals its infrastructure, highlights its animated elements (Hollywood barely lights its swinging dragon wing), and shrouds the Dementors in effective darkness before they appear.
Jimmy Fallon's Race Through New York. This one surprised me, but it really works and supports the New York-area theme. Lobby and upper floor waiting areas are opulent and enjoyable. Preshow safety video is great, and the ride itself is arguably more fun than Simpsons, Fast & Furious, and even Despicable Me. Fallon's schtick can get annoying, but the ride path works, and the simulator tech does its job. It's a fun ride and would be a home run if not for its redundancy.
Revenge of the Mummy (mostly) looking good. Love the new locker and queue entry setup. Pyro in treasure room and fake unload going full blast. New(ish?) lighting package looks solid, and coaster packs as much of a punch as I remembered. Still a crowd favorite.
Horror Make-Up Show still kills. Hasn't lost its bite or its edge, working in some great new quips about Cats. Laughing that we have to pretend the new Mummy was any good, but I suppose we had to pretend The Wolfman and Van Helsing were A+ efforts, too.
Mardi Gras. First time really experiencing this and had a blast. The parade was high-energy and infectious, the performers (and the number of them!) almost overwhelming, and the food great.
Overall food. We ate at Cowfish, Toothsome, Mythos, The Palm, and Big Fire, enjoying all. Only the latter had any issues with service, but food was great across the board.
Cabana Bay. Remains a bargain for the quality of the resort and accommodations you're getting, especially now with the extreme proximity to Volcano Bay. Shuttle service was efficient - literally never had to wait more than five minutes for a bus to depart. Was greeted with drink vouchers upon check-in. Starbucks kept big lines moving. Great service, all-around.
Line efficiency. We did have express for two days after piggybacking off a Royal Pacific reservation, but in general, lines were well managed and kept things moving, even with reduced number of vehicles or tracks in operation. With the obvious exception of Hagrid's, we never saw any ride slip beyond 45 minutes.
"The Bad," "The Ugly," and the odds and ends coming shortly...
Had the opportunity to revisit the Universal Orlando for the first time since 2015, for HHN25. Obviously, quite a bit has changed since then - and overall, for the better. We stayed at Cabana Bay in a Volcano Bay view room for 4 nights, with 4.5 days in the parks. In lieu of a blow by blow, I've organized my thoughts into a Good/Bad/Ugly/Misc list.
THE GOOD
Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure ride experience. This is the family-friendly coaster the resort has needed for a long time and the new generation of Big Thunder Mountain. The launches are incredible, ride experience (between sidecar and motorcycle) varied, length impressive, landscaping splendorous, and creatures encountered exciting. I'm also a big fan of this not being yet another Things Go Horribly Wrong experience, with an emphasis on incidents and rising and falling action in lieu of crisis stakes. Fluffy's left head was inoperable for each of our three rides (if this is going to be permanent - maybe just shut his eyes?), but I'm happy to report the hut Skrewt did blast fog for two of our rides! Queue faces impossible competition from Hogwarts and Gringotts bank, but it's still great.
Volcano Bay overall experience. We went on the coldest day of our trip - Saturday - which started out in the high 60s. We were among only a dozen people in the park when it opened for early entry, meaning we went long stretches without encountering anyone! Logged some 6 rides on Kraukatau (again, an impressively long experience) and multiple rides on the rest of the slides. Punga Racers was closed and boarded up, but it hardly mattered, as I'm over the 150 lb weight limit. Loved the blue whale-themed raft slide as well as Ohya/Ohno. Serpentine body slides stung - that's endemic to these sort of drop slides, but it's definitely more noticeable here. Loved little touches throughout, like the animated chimps on the walk up the volcano and the interactive Vol encounter. Everything was beautifully landscaped, and I enjoyed the architecture choices for infrastructure and food & bev buildings. Food was also quite good and a huge step above the pedestrian water park, even with the apparent reductions of offerings since opening. Location from Cabana couldn't be beat. A great addition to the Universal Orlando lineup.
Skull Island: Reign of Kong. The new mini land clicks into place naturally, and that facade is a whopper. Love the added kinetic interest of the pyro and passing transports. Queue is great, and love the animatronic shaman witch. I have some quibbles with tone and pacing of the ride, but overall, it works, delivering a strong expansion of King Kong 360 from Hollywood. The animatronic Kong is excellent and elicited hushed reactions on each ride. Also dug the multiple drivers (who looked really good in their staging?) with their own colorful commentary. I got Jinx, the descendant of Skull Island natives, and the Texan. Think I preferred the first two, but all were fun.
Revamped Hulk. Top to bottom, complete success. The queue and revised load is a huge improvement. New premise makes more sense, though I do wish Bruce Banner had at least some direct involvement. Didn't have any issues hearing the score, which was a banger - speakers wer loud and booming. Music got stuck in my head!
Spider-Man and Transformers look great. No complaints, hardly any effects inoperable, projection quality outstanding.
Harry Potter & the Forbidden Journey also holds up here. I'm very used to Hollywood's iteration at this point, but I have to say, Orlando still beats it despite Hollywood's dementor hands and wall/ceiling of dementors at the end. The key is the superior lighting package; it seems Hollywood never found the right levels after nixing its 3D component. Orlando better conceals its infrastructure, highlights its animated elements (Hollywood barely lights its swinging dragon wing), and shrouds the Dementors in effective darkness before they appear.
Jimmy Fallon's Race Through New York. This one surprised me, but it really works and supports the New York-area theme. Lobby and upper floor waiting areas are opulent and enjoyable. Preshow safety video is great, and the ride itself is arguably more fun than Simpsons, Fast & Furious, and even Despicable Me. Fallon's schtick can get annoying, but the ride path works, and the simulator tech does its job. It's a fun ride and would be a home run if not for its redundancy.
Revenge of the Mummy (mostly) looking good. Love the new locker and queue entry setup. Pyro in treasure room and fake unload going full blast. New(ish?) lighting package looks solid, and coaster packs as much of a punch as I remembered. Still a crowd favorite.
Horror Make-Up Show still kills. Hasn't lost its bite or its edge, working in some great new quips about Cats. Laughing that we have to pretend the new Mummy was any good, but I suppose we had to pretend The Wolfman and Van Helsing were A+ efforts, too.
Mardi Gras. First time really experiencing this and had a blast. The parade was high-energy and infectious, the performers (and the number of them!) almost overwhelming, and the food great.
Overall food. We ate at Cowfish, Toothsome, Mythos, The Palm, and Big Fire, enjoying all. Only the latter had any issues with service, but food was great across the board.
Cabana Bay. Remains a bargain for the quality of the resort and accommodations you're getting, especially now with the extreme proximity to Volcano Bay. Shuttle service was efficient - literally never had to wait more than five minutes for a bus to depart. Was greeted with drink vouchers upon check-in. Starbucks kept big lines moving. Great service, all-around.
Line efficiency. We did have express for two days after piggybacking off a Royal Pacific reservation, but in general, lines were well managed and kept things moving, even with reduced number of vehicles or tracks in operation. With the obvious exception of Hagrid's, we never saw any ride slip beyond 45 minutes.
"The Bad," "The Ugly," and the odds and ends coming shortly...