Universal's Islands of Adventure

Visiting Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure was all about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for me really, but after that I did wander around the rest of the park to take in all the other attractions. Returning from the magic of Hogsmede and Hogwarts, I walked again through Seuss Landing and back to the start of the Islands.

Starting out from the Port of Entry, I walked through the Marvel Super Hero Island, where I joined the short queue for the new 3D Amazing Adventures of Spiderman. This ride has you recruited from the Daily Bugle newspaper office, sent out in your ride capsule to get the scope of the story of the city's pending destruction (or something!!), but are then physically subjected to the mayhem going on in the city of New York City – complete with sprinkles of water from the Water Man and a burst of heat from another villain, before Superman savesw you. All while wearing funky 3D glasses, and feeling closer to the action that most rides. Was pretty good!

Back out into the real world, or the comic strip colours of Toon Lagoon, I watched the Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges for a bit before joining the line for the ride around the rapids. There is apparently a story within this ride, a quest to save Olive, but in getting totally soaked through with the water from every angle, my barge full of people were just watching for the next splash!

Walking around in the sun for a bit to dry off, I checked out all the quirky and colourful comic book references of this Island, before walking through to the next one.

Into Jurassic Park, I was checking out the Pteranodon Flyers overhead, which looked really fun. Upon getting to the start of the ride, however, I was informed that I would need a small child to be eligible to ride. Oh! I tried to borrow one from someone, cos these flying dinos looked like fun, but no luck! Ha! I guess this was the pay off for all the little ones who missed out on many of the other rides of the the enforced height restrictions.

I did ride the Jurassic Park River Adventure, which included another soaking as a massive drop on the rollercoaster was the escape from T-Rex.

This had me at the top end of the Islands, and so I walked back into Hogsmede from the other entrance, and took another turn on the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey again, because I could. A much longer line waiting through the halls of Hogwarts at this time in the afternoon, again the single rider line was a breeze.

A great day allowing myself to get caught up in the magic of much beloved books and movies, and totally feeling like a kid again.