Trip Report MILESTONE TRIP! First Orlando Visit, Final Disney Park!

THE TIME HAS COME!

In just about a week, I will be starting my very first ever trip to Orlando…and all therein that may be explored.

As the title suggests, among other milestones, this trip will see me visiting my 12th and final Disney Park – Magic Kingdom itself! I have traveled extensively, with all the other Disney Destinations worldwide under my belt, yet somehow I have so far resisted the allures of the Vacation Kingdom. In this week days leading up to my departure, I’ll be going over “why not yet,” “why now,” my itinerary, maybe even soliciting some travel advice.

But for now…Who’s going?

Me after a hike at Bryce Canyon (the real Big Thunder). My beard is much calmer now.​

Just me. Doug. Typically I’m a regular of the Imagineering forums, but I'm just a dilettante on these Trip Report boards. Traveling solo, as is my wont.

Where? Universal’s Endless Summer Resort for three nights, then the Walt Disney World Swan for like a week.

When? September 21st – October 1st.

The broadest plan is to see as much of Orlando as I can (both Disney and beyond) in the week+ prior to Magic Kingdom’s 50th. That means plans to see Walt Disney World, Universal, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, even the Fun Spots.

Over ambitious, perhaps? Sure it is, but I’ve done my research, and I know my travel style and what I'm capable of! Let’s do this!

 

[Wicked Sisters]

We enjoy Thunder Mountain but haven’t been on the ones you said as we haven’t been to WDW for the past 14 years. I have seen Hagrid ride on YouTube but cannot decide yet. May have to decide on the day.

 

[D Hulk]

We enjoy Thunder Mountain but haven’t been on the ones you said as we haven’t been to WDW for the past 14 years. I have seen Hagrid ride on YouTube but cannot decide yet. May have to decide on the day.

If you can, try to work your way up to Hagrid's. Start with Big Thunder again, try Slinky Dog Dash to feel a launch, try Expedition Everest to experience traveling backwards, then do Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios to experience these things combined. Hagrid's goes one step further. Don't try it if these other rides disorient you.

---

Welcome back to Universal Studios! I had two things on my agenda in the hour and change which was available before the Studios shut down for Halloween Horror Nights: One, scope out the Horror Nights early entry situation, in order to game plan the following night. Two, grab another coaster credit. This was especially crucial because Floridian thunderstorms were once again projected, possibly for all night and into the next day. The faintest wisps of grey were already appearing in the gathering clouds. It was now or never for kiddie coasters!

As featured in Sharknado 3!

Though there was still enough time to continue the day's lollygagging pace and enjoy the waterfront scenery along the way.

There was also time to snag another go-around on Transformers. It was right there, and a walk-on.

I found my preferred Stay & Scream entrance across from Mel's Drive-In near the Central Park area. This is an in-park corral for Horror Nights guests who want to get "Extra Tragic Hours" before the event officially begins. I would use this the following night, to great success.

For now, though, I proudly marched past the gathered horror fans, charging directly through KidZone to my inexplicable current Holy Grail: Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster! Coaster #214. This is an earlier generation model of Vekoma's Junior Skater, the same as Flight of the Hippogriff, with an even stronger focus on child riders. It's out-of-the-way, lightly themed, brief, and old school. Hey, it’s a credit!

E.T. Adventure was posting a 10 minute wait along the escape route from KidZone, so I decided to ride again. The actual wait was closer to 45 minutes! There were tons of teens and twenty-somethings in the queue - not the typical audience for a mild "Fantasyland dark ride" - most of them wearing gothic outfits or T-shirts celebrating axe murderers. "Oooooh," I realize, "this is the Horror Nights crowd!" Indeed, I checked the Uni app, and wait times throughout the Studios were quickly ballooning. I stuck it out and rerode E.T. anyway - when will I get another chance to do this? - with the amped-up horror fanatics ecstatically cheering every moment of their old childhood favorite. The energy was palpable! A memorable ride experience to be sure!

Leaving KidZone for good took me past the next stage of the Stay & Scream holding pens. These good folks will the the first to experience the night's mazes. I'll be among them the following day.

Half an hour remained before the Studios' otherworldly transformation into Horror Nights. Ride wait times continued to climb. I made a desperate dash through Springfield back towards Men in Black, hoping beyond hope that perhaps Single Rider would be my friend. It wouldn't. Dozens of guests filled the Single Rider queue out to the promenade. (I never did get a second ride on MIB. ) If I were to wait here, I'd miss out on the Islands' remaining hour of operation.

So that was that for the Studios. I got what I needed from them, now I needed to get back to IOA.​

 

[D Hulk]

Being a brief photo essay of my uneventful journey from Universal Studios back into Islands of Adventure by way of the Hogwarts Express...

 

[D Hulk]

Upon returning to Islands of Adventure, now with under an hour remaining for the day's theme park frivolities, I had only one agenda...

MARATHONING VELOCICOASTER!

As my photo attests, the ride was operating (with empty trains - a bad sign) as I made my way back through the Jurassic Park gates, even though I could feel large raindrops starting to fall from above. My timing was most unfortunate. Less than a minute later, striding through the Discovery Center plaza, team members at the queue entrance announced that Velocicoaster would be ceasing operations until the storm passed.

NOOOOOOOOO!

Islands of Adventure is filled with outdoor rides. This makes the park delightfully kinetic, but also very susceptible to Florida's notorious bad weather. There doesn't seem to be very much that remains open in the rain, making IOA's relative dearth of dark rides and indoor experiences suddenly come into stark relief.

At the very least, for whatever reason River Adventure was still operating. I figured, hey, if I'm gonna be outside and getting wet anyway (far be it from me to do something sensible like seek shelter under an awning for 30 minutes), I might as well do a water ride and get wet on my own terms. You’re not the boss of me!

To call River Adventure a walk-on would be an overstatement. I never even broke stride as I passed straight through the wholly empty switchback queue and directly onto a waiting boat. Raindrops were falling even harder now, lending a definite tropical rainforest aura to River Adventure's river adventure.

At some point during the enclosed segment before the final drop, the storm progressed from soothing to torrential. The ride's splashdown effect had nothing on the rainfall from overhead. Most of my fellow riders chose to remain in the post-ride gift shop upon exiting, wet though we already were. Me? I get obstinate sometimes, so I just continued off into the Jurassic Park walkways After all, I was still wearing those quick-dry clothes I'd selected for Popeye & Dudley.

But even still, the rains got heavier and heavier, beyond my Californian desert-dwelling ability to describe them. I did eventually cave in, pausing under a covered souvenir stand to wait out the worst of the storm. A scant few park guests continued to brave the inclement weather, some of them rushing for shelter, others protected under ponchos and umbrellas.

I stuck close to Velocicoaster for a while - within eyesight of her paddock spaghetti bowl, in fact - keeping an ever-watchful eye in case she reopened in the final waning half hour of daily operations. 5:25...5:30...5:35...5:40. Though the downpour was easing off, there was no evidence of life from her. So at last I resigned myself to my cruel, Velocicoaster-less fate, heading away defeated through Toon Lagoon.

There was one excellent consolation prize awaiting in this direction, at least: Spider-Man! With nobody at all waiting in the line - the rains so close to closing has pretty well cleared out the entire park - this was an easy choice.

I lingered for a little bit in a Comic Book Shop afterwards. I marveled at Marvel's many marvelous magazine merchandises, tempted oh so briefly to do what I never do and buy a souvenir. If they'd been carrying something more substantial, like an omnibus comics collection, I would've bought it. Or if it hadn't still been sprinkling outside, I might've considered a few current run issues. (The collectors item figurines in display cases were too rich for my tastes.)

I left this great little comic book shop, thinking that another ride or two on Spidey would be in order, only to be greeted by a heartwarming ferocious roar blasting from overhead. It might not be Velocicoaster, but another world class roller coaster was anxiously beckoning me forward...

HUUUULK!!! ​

 

[D Hulk]

Five more minutes remained before IOA's closing. Enough time to get two final rides in on the Incredible Hulk Coaster, an Incredible Hulk coaster. In fact, two rides might be the most my body can reasonably do at any one time nowadays. Hulk's high Gs mean it cannot be marathoned as easily as an airtime machine like Velocicoaster.

I envy the youths who could continue enjoying this big green monstrosity back-to-back-to-back, et cetera, like I used to do at Magic Mountain way back in the day. My photo timestamps show that Uni isn't especially concerned with official closure hours; Hulk kept on operating for at least another quarter hour.

So did Velocicoaster, which I watched from the distant lagoon shores over by Port of Entry. I didn't have the energy by now to attempt a walk way back there, nor was I sure Velicocoaster would still be running once I got there. Instead, I simply enjoyed a peaceful, private respite on a particular park promenade. This tucked-away rocky area - sure to be transmogrified into amphitheater seating if they ever give IOA a nighttime lagoon show - is among my favorite places in a Florida theme park.

My agenda by now, with IOA officially shuttered, was killing time. I had a Cowfish dinner reservation two hours away, and no desire to spend that time watching a movie like I did the night before. So I dillydallied on my way out through Port of Entry, spending a full half hour along the way simply peoplewatching, observing the details, and relaxing on rockwork benches just taking it all in.

Coming up next: The thrilling conclusion to Day 2!​

 

[D Hulk]

First up, here are a few more pics from the Islands of Adventure exit sequence. The transition from here into CityWalk is smooth and enjoyable. I love the convenient compactness of this resort.

To eat up the 90 minutes before dinner, I didn't want to eat (obviously), and this early, CityWalk's nightclubs and karaoke spots and all those more elaborate entertainment options weren't yet options, so ultimately I chose the path of least resistance...

I went to a bar.

Pat O'Brien's, a pretty typical Irish pub. There was already a nearly hourlong wait to get inside for parties seeking table seating. A stool at the actual bar, though, that was readily available. I enjoyed my first lager in here without getting carded, which it turns out will be important. I engaged an Orlando local and a flirtatious bartender in conversations now forgotten.

I took my second pint of lager into the adjoining piano bar, where a pair of dueling pianists were hard at work. Along the way, I caught a glimpse outside, where the rains had returned with a wrathful vengeance, pounding the pavement as aggressively as I ever did see on this trip, with patrons outside fleeing for safety as visible lightning flashes lit up the nighttime. Days later, I'd still hear people talking about this particular horrific torrent. Happily, I was safe and "dry" inside. Happily, too, this was the last rain for the entire trip.

And now let's move on to the evening's dinner reservation at The Cowfish, a American-Japanese fusion restaurant which enjoys a prominent position in CityWalk's sightlines and reviews.

At this place I did get carded! And hey, guess what ID I neglected to bring? Wanting to travel light on Popeye 'n Dudley Day, I left behind my wallet and only brought my hotel keycard and my Visa. So I got to take in Cowfish's kooky postmodernist décor and clientele over a flavorless glass of ice water, watching as twenty-something convention center professional types peacocked at each other and generally Chadded it up and tried too hard. Not my vibe! I prefer it more low-key.

My dinner was a sushi and steak fusion. This was one of Cowfish's signature "burgushi" rolls, the so-called Prime Time Fillet & Lobster Roll, with thinly sliced filet mignon where you might typically enjoy fatty raw tuna. I actually might have preferred ordering a more traditional sushi roll OR a normal hamburger - both were definite options - but I felt compelled to sample one of their more unique, one-of-a-kind offerings.

It wasn't really my thing. Fusion always runs that risk, that the flavor combinations might not be as carefully balanced as a more classic, established dish. This kind of culinary combo struck me as being trendy for trendy's sake - the whole of Cowfish came across that way to me, actually - more a social media bragging rights food item than something enjoyable in and of itself. Oh well! We travel to try different things. Sometimes those things are grand slam winners, and sometimes they're bunts. It's the journey that counts.

I returned to the Surfside Hotel immediately after my meal. CityWalk was fairly dead, with most of the remaining resort crowds inside the Studios for Horror Nights. The following day would be a big one - the biggest of the trip, in fact - and I had pre-dawn plans. Time to get some rest...for now.​

 

[D Hulk]

September 23rd
Day 3

Now begins the longest day of the trip! Up before dawn, out past midnight, with the most steps, the most Velocicoaster rides, and every Halloween Horror Nights maze. Let’s dive in!

Universal opens up Universal Studios one hour early to all on-site hotel guests, even at the value hotels like Surfside. For my final day, I decided to take advantage of this. I was getting pretty used to Florida's time zone by now, might as well wake up at 6 AM.

That was surprisingly easy! I slowly became more awake as the morning hours progressed, even beating the alarm I'd set. I get excitable during travel, so I often beat the sun up...In the past I'd attributed this to Asian time zones, so I was surprised to feel like this when traveling due east from home as well.

I made it to the Studios gates around 6:30. Following typical theme park SOP, Uni opened up the turnstiles a good quarter hour before the official "early entry" time, granting their hardiest guests extra time to mingle and make it to the scant available offerings.

Only Diagon Alley and Minions Mayhem are offered during this first hour, which is fine. (I never attempted Minions.) It was nice to see Diagon Alley with lower crowds, in the liminal early pre-dawn morning hours, where there's a different sort of magic in the air in addition to the Rowling type.

Naturally, the first order of business was getting the day's very first train on Escape from Gringotts. I actually managed to enter the queue a little before 7 AM, which must be when they officially start operating the rides. (Six Flags could learn from Disney & Uni's rope drop efficiency!) Got the complete Gringotts experience this time, no Single Rider shortcuts, so got to enjoy the "terravator" pre-show sequence (adds a whole lot of immersive atmosphere), the blandly expository Musion pre-show (could do without these story-driven pre-shows as a rule), and of course enjoyed the ride again. Except for Hippogriff, which isn't pitched on the same level, Gringotts is the least effective Potter ride on property. It's still pleasant enough, and a good overall fit for the Studios.

Diagon Alley itself is the real standout, naturally. Simply exploring this area - this would be like my third time roaming through here - is the highlight experience. Each time through offers up new discoveries, especially with smaller crowds to contend with. (After exiting from Gringotts around 7:20, its line had already swollen to around 40 minutes.)

Here are a few more Diagon Alley pics to commemorate the start of the day.​

 

[D Hulk]

With Escape from Gringotts accomplished with the utmost efficiency, with true rope drop crowds not scheduled to arrive for at least another 40 minutes, this meant there was time for something I don't often get to do inside a theme park:

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast.

The big frantic rush of the day wasn't there yet, so this was a golden opportunity. I dined in The Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley's sister eatery to Hogsmeade's Three Broomsticks. I believe they share the same menu.

In every Universal resort, these are among the better overall theme park restaurants. Well-themed, following the gold standard of all Wizarding World additions. Plus interesting menus in addition, which isn't something you take for granted in settings which are sometimes known for their cafeteria-quality tater tots and chicken fingers above all else. It can be challenging providing interesting food at large scale to such a wide variety of guests, many of them sure to be unadventurous or picky eaters. Leaky Cauldron does well on that front. They specialize in full plates of relatively authentic British cuisine, while also offering safe American fallback options. Everybody wins!

I enjoyed the Traditional English Breakfast: Bangers, neeps, tatties, ham, beans, eggs, and blood sausage (the secret ingredient is blood). Also a coffee. This is Leaky Cauldron's more adventurous option, familiar from my time in the UK as well as from my local English pub which does breakfasts on weekends. The meal was savory and warming, which isn't ideal in Florida's climate, but it suits the Harry Potter setting.

With even a bit more time to spare with 8 AM slowly approaching, I continued to poke around in the Alley's small little storefronts, each of them intimately scaled and literally packed to the rafters with visual detail. This is good stuff!

Eventually I headed out to the modern London section overlooking the lagoon. While by its "Muggle" nature, this area cannot hold a candle to the Alley's sensory overload - it's a restful negative space in contrast - there is still lots of love in how Universal achieved these lakefront facades. The area does convince as contemporary London, with well-observed building textures throughout.

The Knights Bus was a highlight. On previous days I'd seen guests queueing up in front of it, so this morning with hardly anybody else present, I checked it out. That shrunken voodoo head - don't know his name, sorry - spoke to me! We engaged in a brief dialogue, full of gloriously terrible Jungle Cruise quality head jokes. The head lambasted me for choosing coffee over Butterbeer (I still had my cup on me). Clearly, a live team member was behind this spontaneous interaction...something which most guests will never notice. This isn't unprecedented in a theme park - Knott's Ghost Town has one or two spots like this - but it always speaks to the utmost quality and attention-to-detail when these sorts of minor niceties are included...especially during Early Entry hours. This too is good stuff!​

 

[amjt660]

If you can, try to work your way up to Hagrid's. Start with Big Thunder again, try Slinky Dog Dash to feel a launch, try Expedition Everest to experience traveling backwards, then do Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios to experience these things combined. Hagrid's goes one step further. Don't try it if these other rides disorient you.

This is an excellent tutorial on how progress through the stages of roller coasters in Orlando!

I might as well do a water ride and get wet on my own terms. You’re not the boss of me!

Max

 

[D Hulk]

The Studios' 8 AM official opening was fast approaching, so I redirected my sights towards the park's other-than-Potter rides, the ones which would be opening up in 10 minutes. The question was what most warranted a reride. Perhaps in retrospect I should've aimed for Men in Black, which always lost out due to its obscure back-of-the-park location. I selected Revenge of the Mummy instead, and compared to the rest of the Studios' lineup I stand by that.

There was a line already forming out into the streets of...New York I think is what this section is themed towards? That's rarely 100% clear here. The queue looks gnarlier than it is. They were holding guests at the ride's marquee. Once 8 AM rolled around, they opened things up and everyone headed inside, winding down every single labyrinthine aisle of the massive, meandering standby queue. I wanted to see that; did Single Rider last time. There's a good assemblage of fake Egyptian artifacts, and a slow mounting of dread somewhat like Indiana Jones Adventure, though most of the newer gen queues top this one.

Mummy was fun again. Compared directly against Gringotts, since both fuse dark ride and coaster elements with a sort of stop-start pacing, ultimately I'll side with the older Mummy ride. It's more interesting as a ride, as a purely physical experience stripped of its theming, which I appreciate. It’s a good theming experience as well, in its distinctly hyperactive sort of way.

With Mummy completed...I headed towards the exit! Not in any sort of rush, but I also wanted to do Island of Adventure's rope drop at 9 AM. Gonna be doing Horror Nights' rope drop this evening as well. Just burning the candle on all its ends! Speaking of, the HHN signage on the way out was lovely, bone-chilling foreshadowing.

Also on my way out, I did Transformers again. It was there, and a walk-on. By no stretch is this my favorite ride, good though it is (especially on reride when the chaos starts to become sensible), but it's oh so easy to snag in its central Studio location. Why couldn’t MIB be here?!

Again did the incredibly easy 5-minute park hop across the esplanade to California Islands of Adventure. Looking back over these images now, boy was it overcast! That apocalyptic rainstorm from yesterday must've continued throughout the night.

Crowds weren't terribly huge at the IOA gates with 20 minutes or so to spare. I probably didn't need to prioritize this like I did.

As usual, the entry gates opened up a good 10 minutes before the official start time, granting guests a chance to casually (or not-so-casually) reach their first ride before the zaniness begins. Yet again I took things slowly enough to admire the Port of Entry details which I appreciate oh so much, without losing sight of my goal.

Basically everyone turned right at the lagoon, heading through Seuss Landing's beachfront shortcut. (Nice chance to see it!) Roughly 70% turned right at the upcoming fork in Lost Continent, looking for a head start on Hagrid's. I joined the 30% heading left into Jurassic Park, because I had only one plan of attack for my final visit to Islands of Adventure...

RIDING VELOCICOASTER UNTIL MY BODY COLLAPSED!​

 

[D Hulk]

I might have a Velocicoaster fixation.

Within one summer of operations, she's already become a regular fixture on enthusiasts' Top Ten lists. Hagrid's clearly remains the larger draw with the general public, which makes perfect sense since it's an excellent four quadrant crowd-pleaser while Velocicoaster aims to wholly satisfy a fairly niche audience. Both are wonderful additions to their park. They complement each other so well, providing a lovely balance of thrill levels to satisfy all adventurers.

Velocicoaster at 9 AM was an immediate walk-on! The only possible delaying factor was however long it takes to secure your valuables in a locker, and by now (Ride #4) I was getting pretty efficient at that. With crowds at their lowest, I chose this time to wait a couple of cycles in the station to get a front row ride. The tracks weren't warmed up yet, and the front row is the least "whippy" seat as a general rule, so it was notably tamer than previous rides. Got a stupendous drawn-out moment dangling over that mid-course top hat waiting for the rear train to clear the hill.

I instantaneously collected my stuff from a locker, got right back in line, put my stuff back in a locker, and enjoyed Ride #5. The standby wait this time was but 5 minutes at most, barely even extending to that Chris Pratt video which precedes the station. I got a middle seat this time.

Time now to do yet another U-turn in the raptor plaza for Ride #6. By now, the posted wait time had risen to 20 minutes, so I entered Single Rider. This meant yet another near walk-on, since no one was ahead of me in the station. I simply had to wait one cycle for an odd-numbered party. Got another middle seat.

I did the same thing for Ride #7, again waiting just one load cycle and again getting a middle seat. The time was a little past 9:30 when I completed the day's fourth and final Velocicoaster rampage.

In the famous words of Stu Macher from Scream, "I'm feelin' woozy here, man!" I'd pushed my body to the extent of what it wanted to do for the day. Coaster enthusiasts are known for doing that; high-intensity beasts like Velocicoaster are genuinely taxing on the muscles, the equilibrium, the overall sense of composure. I still wasn't getting genuine REM sleep in between park days, to say nothing of the red eye flight getting in, so here after a raucous start to Day 3 I was running on pure adrenaline. I needed rest, badly. To catch my immediate breath, I found a secluded, shaded balcony on Discovery Center's upper level, where I simply put my feet up for 20 minutes while admiring the unique Velocicoaster views.

Then I proceeded counterclockwise through Islands of Adventure to leave. For now, I was giving up! Retreating to the hotel! Horror Nights later in the night would require all my strength.

Please enjoy a few more pics from my early morning "walk of shame." And rest assured in the knowledge that I did at least snag one final ride on Spider-Man on the way out - I wasn't that physically obliterated! This might be an anticlimactic pause in the day's shenanigans, retiring to the nearest hotel - a move I would become fairly familiar with as the trip continued - but it's a necessary step to endure the night’s horrors to come.

The adventure lives on…​

 

[D Hulk]

This batch of photos commemorates my final exit sequence leaving Islands of Adventure, on my way back to Universal's Endless Summer Resort for an insanely early 10 AM "mid-day" break from the mayhem & mishegas & madness. We're coming up on the Halloween Horror Nights leg of this trip - still only Day 3 of 11 - so I would need total energy.

Farewell, Islands of Adventure. You were a fantastic park.

Returning to my hotel room a little past 10, I promptly fell asleep. In my clothes, even, if memory serves. This was not something I had to force. Endless Summer's Surfside area starts to wake up around this time, with the sound of stirring families coming through the not-especially-thick walls. None of that bothered me. I got straight-up, genuine sleep, not a furtive nap, not closed eyes while laying around awake, but full on "dreaming about Velocicoaster" genuine SLEEP. Over two straight hours of shuteye, thank the maker!

I didn't have to force myself awake either. Just letting the body do as it wanted, driven by an energized touring style but not beholden to it.

This Universal bus arrived on the hotel grounds around 12:40. While Horror Nights wouldn't start until 6, of course there was a whole lot I still felt like doing in Universal Studios leading up to that. Getting prepared, getting fed, getting the most of my theme park admission.

From the bus hotel pick-up to the Studios' entry gate took a full half hour, which was about the slowest transit I experienced at Universal. We stopped along the way at Endless Summer's Dockside hotel to collect more guests, we hit every red light along the public non-resort streets in between (crossing I-4), and even the resort's security checkpoint was overwhelmed and sluggish an hour past noontime. My upcoming experiences at Disney World would teach me to value Universal transportation's relative efficiency...besides, I intentionally picked a "value hotel" knowing this was the tradeoff.

It did mean, though, that I wasn't able to get back to Men in Black before my lunch reservation, however - the running gag of the Studios. Oh well!​

 

[erstwo]

Pat O'Brien's, a pretty typical Irish pub.​

You need to get to New Orleans - stat. Evidently, this Pat O'Brien's has lost it's way...... Typical Irish pub???

 

[D Hulk]

I was back inside Universal Studios Florida for the final time, a little past 1 PM. I would remain here for over 11 hours, where - with the predicable exception of a Transformers ride randomly thrown in somewhere along the way - I would otherwise not do a single ride. Let's see how that played out, shall we?

Between wait times, distances, and a fast-approaching 1:30 lunch reservation, there was no way to squeeze in Men in Black...not casually, at least. So instead I took my time progressing deeper into the park, lazily meandering along the Beverly Hills section to the right of the entrance. There was a certain amount of streetmosphere to be enjoyed along the way - more than Disney World offered, due to the twin disasters of COVID-19 and Bob Chapek - reminding me of Universal Studios Japan's go-for-broke, all-franchises-in-one-place insanity.

Would you like to meet the Scooby Gang? Marilyn Monroe? Homer Simpson? All were available as meet 'n' greet opportunities. Like at Disneyland, these characters were just casually out along the regular guest walkways (in their own designated vehicles, but still), enlivening the general park atmosphere. No waiting in lines needed if you want to meet anyone...which I didn't.

Just a whole lotta photos, but not much to say. The Studios were looking lovely now that the storm clouds had cleared, making the journey back into the San Francisco area quite enjoyable.

I had a lengthy, leisurely sit-down lunch at Lombard's Seafood Grille, set on the docks overlooking Universal's lagoon with pleasant panoramic views. A month or two earlier, when planning this leg of the trip (and all the other legs), I focused on creating plenty of casual, slow dining moments throughout my park visits. This day’s somewhat later lunch was especially crucial as a "calm before the storm" leading into Horror Nights.

Lombard's was a pleasant atmosphere. Not overtly themed like some of the more noteworthy in-park table service options throughout the world, but still with higher caliber décor and ambience than you'd otherwise find in the park. Comparing value to cost, I'd much rather dine here than back at Mel's Dine-In. Full air conditioning, soothing ambiance, satisfying food, loud nearby patrons with horrible tattoos (okay, that was a negative), this was overall nice.

I opted for a lighter lunch option, going with the Bahi Mahi Tacos over the heavier steak or burger selections. This was definitely Californian cuisine...a comfort food option for this unabashed California native. The chips on the side were clearly made from freshly sliced Russets, tasting almost exactly like my own efforts at homemade potato chips.

What little flagging stamina I hadn't yet recovered from my late-morning sleep, I regained with this meal. I was chilled, fed, relaxed, with a couple of hours to use up before starting my Horror Nights agenda. Time for some shows!​

 

[MickeyWaffleCo.]

View attachment 594472
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This image vaguely reminds me of New Orleans Square.

 

[D Hulk]

It's showtime in Universal!

Live shows are a rare category where Islands of Adventure largely whiffs it, but the Studios entirely make up for that. Studio parks often excel at shows. These aren't something that are often a priority for me - I gather that it's almost a stereotype about Disneyland locals that we value shows less than most theme park guests (I’ve overheard Imagineers kvetching about us!) - but when on vacation shows are so much more interesting. Just harder to enjoy on repeat, I guess, compared to a ride. Harder to schedule around. But good when a park visit is winding down.

The first entertainment to come my way was Universal's Superstar Parade, making its path through that Beverly Hills area. This wasn't a show-stopping spectacle like the best Disney parades, but I cannot tell if that's simply Universal's style or if it was cut back during the pandemic. Merely some smaller floats for Gru, for SpongeBob, spaced far apart and sparsely attended. It was a fun distraction, at least, especially since I was already passing by.

My assigned mission was The Bourne Stuntacular, the latest addition to the Studios, replacing T2:3D. This is a lengthy performance, clocking in at close to half an hour, and that's not even counting the dang pre-show. Show times occur maybe only once every couple of hours, and that's one of the biggest difficulties with these theme park shows: They're sometimes tricky to plan around. The timing worked out here; I was lucky.

That pre-show is basically a massive holding pen for the show's large crowds. Standing room only, minimal details to look at initially. It's a necessary evil to funnel guests into the upcoming theater, but it's less enjoyable than similar time spent waiting in a pulsing queue. Eventually they use large screen walls to bring guests up to speed on the Jason Bourne backstory - superspy with amnesia, it's not complex - which mostly feels like stalling for time.

Then there's the main show, which is a technical marvel! Like Terminator before it, Bourne makes extensive use of state-of-the-art screen projections to expand the stage’s limits, to seamlessly integrate live stunt performers with purely digital environments. How you feel about this attraction overall might depend on how you feel about Universal's screen addiction. I thought this was among the best use of the tech to-date. Stage set pieces (like cars, or a minaret tower) rotate in synch with screen footage, creating a sort of "in camera" panning effect. There are even slow motion "bullet time" stunts, which are stunning even if not exactly "Bourne” in tone. The overall premise about live-rendered digital environs formed from satellite data, that's all a lot of technobabble hogwash which would fit better in the goofier James Bond movies than in Bourne's grounded world.

So I liked the Stuntacular OK. Ultimately though I'll take the practical thrills of the Waterworld stunt show at the other Studios.

I even somewhat prefer the simpler pleasures of these small "streetmosphere" performances. Marilyn was just starting up her little burlesque dance show as Bourne let out, so this was a nice brief distraction.

But my big next goal was Universal's Horror Make-Up Show. This is a rare holdover from opening day Universal Studios Florida, and it retains all that old-school wonky charm. The pre-show lobby is small scale but glorious. It's a little museum to Universal's extensive horror movie history, with a special focus on their wonderful 1930s Universal Monsters lineup. For guests who know nothing about Chaney’s Wolf Man or Lugosi's Dracula, there's enough here to get them up-to-speed. There's enough too for a more passionate horror fan to geek out over. I didn't mind at all spending 10 minutes in here awaiting the show.

That show, of course, I intentionally selected to be the day's final attraction before shifting over into Halloween Horror Nights mode. It was meant to be a thematic transition. It served that role perfectly!

The Make-Up Show is cheesy as all get out! It's Jungle Cruise levels of corny, like an old vaudeville routine between a pair of hosts stumbling their way through a presentation of classic practical make-up effects. The script was appropriately topical, touching on lots of recent in-the-news topics...especially the pandemic. There was a running gag about cleaning surfaces, which through repetition turned a simple spray bottle into comedy gold. Good audience interaction, nice clips from a wide array of film eras, just a class act all around!

Somewhat to my surprise, I fully enjoyed the totally unassuming Make-Up Show far more than the Bourne Stuntacular. It's an underrated gem in Universal's attraction lineup, a charming throwback to the old "studios" conceit which still holds up. I'd recommend this even to the squeamish. The vibe is playful, goofy, never horrific even when they're demonstrating a cutaway blade with blood spurt mechanism. Very fun!

And that more or less concludes my regular time in Universal Studios. It was time to go seek out the Horror Nights Stay 'n' Scream area, and prepare for an evening of shocks, shrieks and freaks!​

 

[D Hulk]

Stay 'n' Scream is a waiting area (several of them, actually) set up inside of Universal Studios Florida. It's a corral for daytime park guests who also have tickets to the evening's Halloween Horror Nights. Using this effectively means eating into some regular attraction time, but it also means a substantial head start on HHN mazes, potentially saving several hours in line if you're not investing in an R.I.P. Pass line cutter.

It was early yet when I first reached the Central Park Stay 'n' Scream gates, so I briefly needed something else to do. That wound up being another ride on Transformers nearby, why not. Here's proof of that:

Well that took all of 10 minutes, so I went right on back to the Stay 'n' Scream. Seemed to arrive just ahead of a small crowd surge. I'm usually pretty good at riding these crowd waves. Even in daily life, places like the local burrito shop always get long lines the minute after I get there.

Almost immediately, Stay 'n' Scream has you choose between The Haunting of Hill House and Beetlejuice as your first maze of the night. I chose to haunt Hill House. They split crowds up into two sections, divided by the locomotive from Back to the Future III of all things, located all along shaded park space overlooking the lagoon. Mind you, HHN wouldn't officially begin until 6 PM, and it was now 4 o'clock, on the dot.

Everyone was keeping to single file, for now, perched right along the lagoon railings. Guaranteed, though, that as soon as anyone would sit down, the team members would open up new space ahead and everyone would have to stand up, move down 10 feet, then pause and sit for another few minutes. They maintained this odd stop-start process for a good longish while, which weirdly made this initial Stay 'n' Scream segment less tiresome than it might've otherwise been.

Eventually, team members temporarily roped off the main park pathways to allow a huge swatch of us horror aficionados cross over into the Animal Actors plaza. This is the section I'd witnessed on the previous day. And lucky me, there I was only 20 people back from the front of the crowd! A wonderful starting point for horrific shenanigans!

Crowd patterns shifted over time, as eventually that orderly single file arrangement collapsed into a blob of people all jockeying for the front. Still I remained near the lead, within arm's reach of the event ropes, with eyesight of SpongeBob StorePants, in the full baking Orlando sun.

The hour or so which we all spent standing around in the direct, merciless sunlight, with the occasional cloud sometimes teasing us all by coming thiiiis close to blotting out that sun ever so briefly, but never actually doing so...This was the most miserable moment of the entire Orlando vacation. But I knew it would be going in! I willingly chose to do this, knowing the tradeoff would be worth it for a superior HHN experience, and I'd do it again. Maybe I'd bring a parasol next time, like some folks did?

...Nah, that'd look goofy! Better to just stand there taking it, sweating profusely, all while chatting up the other gorehounds about our various favorite horror movies. (Classicists, the lot of us: Dawn of the Dead, The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, and of course the original Halloween by my idol John Carpenter. Didn't care much at all for Halloween Kills, for what it's worth.)

It apparently varies wildly, night to night, when exactly they release the Stay 'n' Scream area and let the insanity commence. We completely lucked out there! Even with HHN not scheduled until 6, even with Universal Studios still clearing out day guests now that it'd officially closed, even so they released us mercifully early, at 5:20. Team members led the way, ceremoniously walking us all back through the KidZone area (terrifying!), through forgotten sections like Destination Dreamworks and a Curious George playground.

Then back further and further still, seemingly a good half mile deep into Universal Studios' extensive backstage. Past soundstages, past maintenance sheds, past all the stuff you don't usually know sits just behind the themed facades and the tree lines. The excitement was palpable! We zigzagged through a seemingly endless cattle pen of barricades, covering many massive acres of temporary queue space which would - less than an hour from now - be totally filled up with maniacal patrons.

Even now, around 5:35ish, the queue behind me was starting to look mighty unappealing. Boy was I glad to be still within 30 folks of the front. We could see a temporary Haunting of Hill House mural on a distant shed. A bouncer-looking guy was halting the lead lunatics near the entrance. We all ultimately found our eventual waiting spots in that relentless switchback. Only twenty never-ending minutes from now, the real terror would begin! ​

 

[D Hulk]

Universal's Halloween Horror Nights 30. “Don’t go alone,” the advertisements say. I went alone.

This is the big one! Orlando's 30th Halloween event. Both a little delayed and a little restricted – thanks, COVID-19! – but still a milestone anniversary and a love letter to longtime fans. The entire event included countless homages to Horror Nights past, which largely went over my head as a first timer. It’s a top-notch fright event no matter what, with available budget, space and creativity that other haunts would commit bloody axe murder to have.

Photography is strictly prohibited in the scare mazes. They straight up evict you for trying, I saw it happen. So pics will be a little limited for this stretch.

Immediately at 6, at the starting pistol, I began with Netflix’s The Haunting of Hill House. Maze #1 of 10, and I aimed to do ‘em all. This was a strong one, among the event’s best, with exceptional decoration inside on par with a permanent dark ride or a movie set…and scare mazes in my mind are a hybrid of those influences. They’re a unique storytelling medium which combine scareactors, set dressing, unexpected sensory effects (eg the rotten stench of decayed human flesh ), and more, adding up to something one-of-a-kind.

Nobody’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness yet so early in the afternoon, rendering much of Hill House shrouded in pitch black. This made it the scariest maze of the night! It helps too that at the very outset, you aren’t accustomed to incessant jump scares or gruesome gory guts. There was one section in particular which was so unrelentingly dark, guests as a group formed a human conga line just to navigate it. I briefly confused a fellow guest for an incredibly lifelike corpse effect – “Ooh, that body warmth is a nice touch!” – but so did the gal behind me. Horror Nights brought us all together, blindly groping each other for comfort!

Note Hill House in the distance

The Hill House maze exited right at the entrance to Beetlejuice. The line for that extended all the way back into KidZone, so we all had to walk the solid distance out through E.T. Adventure’s overflow queue to reach the entrance.

By now, regular HHN guests would still be outside the entry gates getting inside, except for a few slowly spilling in. Here we all were, deep inside the park, with only fellow Stay ‘n’ Screamers ahead of us for the 2nd maze. Which was a good maze, too, the most lighthearted of the night, as Universal has made it a custom to do one sillier property each year for balance. Like Ghostbusters, or Killer Klowns. (Fingers crossed for Monster Squad!) Beetlejuice had some impressive sets, some neat funhouse tricks (spinning tunnel), yet it still relied oh so heavily on scareactor jump scares. That’s the HHN bread & butter.

In that Beetlejuice line, I befriended a couple of retirees from North Carolina who’d relocated to Orlando. Completionists! They had plans on doing every single HHN night of the season! Since I was a solo first timer, I became their evening’s project. They guided me through many mazes to come, following the same itinerary I’d plotted out, in fact, but I was nonetheless grateful for the company and the insight into HHN history.

So next we did The Wicked Growth: Realm of the Pumpkin. Unlike Hollywood, which does almost exclusively film properties, Florida offers 50% IP and 50% original maze content. It must be hard to create and communicate an original horror concept entirely through a maze. This was a good one. Some kind of evil, murderous pumpkin patch, with a nice progression of scenes, from the initial gazebo garden into the horribly haunted corn maze, and finally into the disgusting interior of an overgrown mutant jack-o-lantern.

Following that, directly next door (we were back towards the Men in Black area now, still well ahead of the entry crowds) was Puppet Theater: Captive Audience. Telling the tale, apparently, of a Parisian Grand Guignol theater which uses real human pieces to create their lifesized marionettes. Another good sequence of settings, from the theater entry all the way through the creepy backstage. The highlight of this maze occurred in the queue outside, when a “changing of the ghouls” granted everyone a front row view as scareactors changed shifts.

Wait times were only up into the 20-minute range by now. Next was Welcome to Scary: Horror in the Heartland, an original maze which trades heavily on established HHN lore. I didn’t get a lot of it. This was largely a horror-tinged spin on classic smalltown Americana, with ghastly reimaginings of familiar scenes like the 1950s nuclear family or the corner diner. Had a Twin Peaks vibe to it.

Well, that’s 5 of 10 mazes down, and only an hour into the event! We were making fantastic time! Five houses remained towards the front of the park. These were guaranteed to be the gnarlier wait times. We progressed forward, accepting that the pace was about to slow down. The route took us through two Scare Zones – outdoors areas populated by terrorizing scareactor monsters, which you cannot avoid.

First up was Crypt TV. This was neat, seeing some top tier YouTube content get honored like this. The Scare Zones got more effective as the night crept in, as lighting got gloomier and mists thicker, but the photography and scareactor interactions were easy to come by in the late afternoon. I had fun antagonizing the Look-See, the Mordeo, the Birch, all those beloved bloodthirsty beasties.

An overnight pause for now, to retain our sanity. There will be more nightmares to come!​

 

[D Hulk]

Here come a few more pics from the Crypt TV Scare Zone, to ease us back into a nighttime of sheer, unadulterated terror…

Spoiler: Image hidden because it might be offensive

Past Fast & Furious: Supercharged – which wasn’t operating and thus couldn’t tempt us – we next found the Seek and Destroy Scare Zone in the New York area. This was some sort of Daft Punkish futuristic dystopian nightmare where white-clad automatons come at you with gardening tools. You know, that old story!

Spoiler: Images hidden because they might be offensive

It was pretty dang entertaining, watching Purge-like foot soldiers chase snotty teenagers with chainsaws! With genuine chainsaws, mind you, their teeth removed but otherwise functional, belching off great exaggerated heaps of smoke.

Our first “front 5” maze was Revenge of the Tooth Fairy. Lines were definitely swelling by now, and this took around 35 minutes to reach. The queue again went backstage, beneath the Rip Ride Rockit pedestals alongside the old “we were once an actual movie studio” soundstages, along the exposed, elevated Hogwarts Express route. This would be my final shared experience with the Carolina couple, as they were growing exhausted with the wait times by now, while I wanted to tough it out.

Revenge of the Tooth Fairy was an admirable misfire, for me. It was extremely stylized, like a black & white pop-up children’s book rendered in real life. The horrific content was growing predictable by now: simply monstrous variations on familiar imagery. Oh, and the plexiglass social distancing dividers for the scareactors? Kinda made it super easy to predict jump scares. I’m a hard mark, anyway. I’m thinking I might be desensitized!

You can get a sense of how vibrant the event becomes as darkness falls. The dusk light which greeted us after our latest maze put the whole horrific carnival in a new perspective.​

 

[Suchomimus]

Oh, and the plexiglass social distancing dividers for the scareactors? Kinda made it super easy to predict jump scares.

Was that the only house with plexi?