Next on the agenda was
Jimmy Fallon: Race Through New York. What a daft idea, a Fallon-themed motion simulator! This is Universal in one of their sillier moods, simply combining things seemingly at random to create a fun experience without any particular larger vision. It's a weird one. One I totally enjoyed in the moment, but it didn't stick with me and I never tried it again.
The pre-ride segment - calling it a "queue" is misleading - was a highlight, as I'd been led to expect. The Tonight Show lobby space, where guests are allowed to simply mingle without the limitations of cattle pen switchbacks, is delightful. Also delightful is Universal's air conditioning! True talk, folks, Universal does air conditioning SO MUCH BETTER than Disney does. This is
at least as important for a Florida theme park vacation as theming or rides or food.
What a shame that entertainment and streetmosphere was nearly nonexistent in all parks throughout the trip. I hear the Tonight Show lobby has some great acapella singers at peak times. This was a tradeoff I consciously made, knowing that entertainment would be lacking but that wait times (and lack of FastPass/Lightning Lane at Disney) would make up for it. It's still missed, though. And with crowds so light, we really didn't have much time to enjoy this delightful lobby before the ride began...the weird, weird, weird ride.
Next up was
Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride, a Universal classic. There was a great big to-do about the pre-queue lockers, and so - conditioned by my experience with Rip Ride Rockit - I dutifully stuffed my phone & external batter & wallet into a locker in advance. This was totally unnecessary. I should've known better, the other Mummies aren't that intense. This was really only meant for larger backpack items, so I added extra steps for no reason.
Anyway, Mummy. It's one of the great indoors roller coasters. Florida has a larger building to work with than at Hollywood, so the ride is better - it's longer overall, with more extended coaster segments and a better dark ride section. The storytelling is vintage Universal, from the era when they were still nominally pretending that guests were extras on a movie set. So we enter into a "real" fake soundstage, of a "real" fake Egyptian tomb, only the set dressing was apparently "really" purloined from an actual Egyptian ruin, which is actually cursed, and Brendan Frasier is there in the queue videos doing a sort of DVD extra routine, one which ties back into the ride, and the ride itself at times breaks the fourth wall to admit mid-ride that it's a ride, and...My head hurts!
No complaints, though, this ride just oozes with personality. There's a bit of a stop-start-stop pacing as the roller coaster pauses to go backwards, or to pretend that it's momentarily over. This hybrid approach isn't my thing, but it works. Though Singapore still has the slightly better Mummy coaster.
Following, I began a beeline towards Woody Woodpecker's KidZone. Why the priority?! There's a kiddie coaster credit out there, Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster, which was calling my name. In this past summer I've become needlessly focused on my coaster count, and so I've begun seeking out minor coaster I might not otherwise do.
Anyway, since
Transformers was right on the way, and since it was a 5 minute wait, I rode Transformers. This is the same ride at Hollywood & Singapore. It's a good one, but it's obviously no Spider-Man. The Michael Bay aesthetic makes for a more cluttered, confusing visual ride experience. Even so, this is the best thing to come out of the whole Bayformers franchise, by a humongous margin. It's fun, the set and screen integration is top notch, it doesn't overstay it's welcome, what's not to love? Thanks to its convenient mid-park location, I found myself often reriding Transformers in the coming days.
The continued trek towards Woody Woodpecker took me past some enjoyable park sights. Where the city grids give way to the central lagoon, this is a good moment. Though overall I'd say Disney's Hollywood Studios does the Hollywood concept better, this stretch is where Universal comes the closest. There is a pleasant Beverly Hills boulevard in one direction, a park-like boulevard in the other, and some Spanish revival stucco architecture off to the side. The smattering of Horror Nights props throughout was perhaps a little distracting.
Florida weather likes to turn on a dime. In the time it took to simply cross from New York to KidZone, grey clouds took over the skies. There was even a fantastic clap of ominous thunder which accompanied my first glimpse of KidZone, like a scene straight out of a 1930s Universal monster movie! "Nice!" I audibly commented. I grew worried that they might shut down the kiddie coaster for the storm, so I quickly trotted in its direction...
...to be greeted by cast members explaining that they'd shut down the kiddie coaster for the storm. (Do we call Universal employees "cast members?")
Deterred from my coaster credit - for now - I regarded the rest of KidZone. This must be the most dated section of Universal. It's just a concrete city park with random, discrete child-friendly attractions based on seemingly random franchises. A SpongeBob StorePants shop. Woody Woodpecker. Curious George playground. Unrelated American Tail playground. (Jeepers that's a vintage property!) Another area apparently concerning Dreamworks Animation, but it's closed for Horror Nights. Barney the Purple Dinosaur, of all things, is in here someplace too.
Oh, and
E.T. Adventure! The shining jewel which keeps KidZone afloat! A rare flashback to opening day Universal. Delightfully dated in the best possible way, and a flashback to the one time I rode it in Hollywood (the wait time then was atrocious, which is why I only did it once before). With nobody in the queue today, this was an easy call. Let’s help save E.T.! This is a good, practical "Fantasyland" dark ride, reminiscent of Peter Pan's Flight. It relies a bit on nostalgia for
E.T., but most movie-based attractions rely on built-in emotions. The surreal acid trip finale on E.T.'s home planet remained just as I remembered it from 30 years ago, so strange and left field and memorable. Let’s hope this ride survives a while longer.
Next up: Men in Black, Harry Potter, rain
), long enough to recharge my phone for the parks. I didn't even bother showering yet; plane travel is grubby, but not sticky like a day outdoors in Florida. (In general, while the temperatures were familiar from what I left behind in Los Angeles, the severe humidity was a shock to this desert rat, and I never fully got used to it.)
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