So me and the gf went to Orlando for 4 days and went to the 3 Universal parks and picked Epcot for our 4th day and only Disney park on the trip. My gf used to work at USH so she had free tickets to the parks in FL and we wanted to use them before they expire, and we went with Epcot for the Disney Park because we live in LA and have access to a lot of the stuff MK and DHS has to offer and it was between AK and Epcot and since AK hasnt had anything new added since last time we were there 5 years ago...Epcot it is! The Universal Parks were so empty it was fantastic, Velocicoaster wait was 35 minutes!
Day 1 USF: This park is meh, its kinda like USF is the CA and IOA is the DL with these parks imo. The best area (Harry Potter Land) looks fantastic, really really great with tons to explore, but I thought Gringotts was not that great for it being the anchor attraction for the land. The que and preshow was cool but the ride...5/10. Fast and Furious is so bad its crazy, it makes WebSlingers look like Rise. I cannot believe that got built and its so insane to me that the FnF franchise, which is seemigly perfect for a theme park ride, instead of building a FnF coaster like West Coast Racers or something like Radiator Springs Racers they build a lets get on a party bus and watch a horrible CGI movie....Insanely terrible. Mummy is fun, really short but its good I like it more than the Hollywood version and god bless Brendan Frasier. MIB is meh and that buildig is massive, that entire northern quadrant of the park is dead. I feel like it will be redeveloped probably after Epic Universe opens cause that park will then clearly be the worst of them and its such a massive space with the surrounding buildings....tons of space to redevelop....anyways.... yeah overall USF is a park I have no desire to ever go back to.
also we took the harry potter train between parks and that is a really a neat idea and execution to link to lands in 2 parks I could see Disney doing something like this between DL and CA but I wont get into that right now
Day 2 Islands of Adventure: This park is great, the theming is top notch. The Dr Suess and Classic Toons land is great and colorful and vibrant. the Popeye Raft ride is fantastic imo but the flume was closed
Jurassic World is amazing all over, the Jurassic river ride has such an amazing drop, way better than the USH version, the coaster is great and so smooth and shout out to the amazing playground area....more parks need stuff like this. Me and the gf were climbing all over those nets its great. The potter land is more or less a copy of the USH version but with Hagrids coaster and the train station. Hagrids is amazing, Disney needs something like this. The forbidden Journey makes me sick feeling but i respect the engineering and know people love it. The Marvel land is cool, but dated and probably the weakest themed land in the park, but Spiderman is great. AND lastly and most annoyingly is the lost continent....goshdarnit the theming is amazing, my fave of the entire park but nothing to do, (except the great restaraunt) the theater is closed and the attraction....Poseidons Fury....thats the Fast and Furious of IOA. Terrible boring experience, no fault of the guy doing the tour, but geez what a waste of space everyone walking out was talking trash about the "attraction" sucks so much imo I mean maybe it was cool when it opened I dunno but anyways that lands theming is so top notch and if they maybe got rid of Poseidons and the theater and just gave that land an amazing E ticket... (i know they used to have that cool dueling coaster but that was replaced for Hagrids) I still feel like that land could be saved, I just really love the theming but god damn its terrible right now. Overall though thats the only low point of the park and IOA is a fantastic park.
Day 3 Volcano Bay: Amazing park, so much fun all rides are great, wish LA had a waterpark like this.
Day 4 Epcot: Havent been since Rat, new Commuicore, Harmonious, Space220, and of course GotG. SSE sounded terrible, lots of squeaks and cranky sounds coming from track and ride is obviously needing a major overhaul and update but still a fun experience. I like new Communicore aesthetic its really bright and open with those massive glass walls...i dig it. GotG was great, loved the preshow, didnt make me queazy at all, so smooth. Fun ride you must experience in person for sure, vidoes dont capture it at all and xmas music was a nice touch. Frozen is fun, I like it even though I know its a retheme of an old ride but its still fun and the gf loves it. RAT and the whole expansion is pretty great, theming looks wonderful and ride is fun and cute....i didnt find the way the screen projections meet the floor to be distracting unless i was looking for them and I enjoyed the smells and heat under the stove scene....I like it and gf loved it but damn I wish it exited back into the main france pavilion instead of using that very skinny pathway that was and probably always is clogged. Def a worthy addition to an area of the park that had no rides. There was a food festival and all the food was great, we also ate at the Chefs de France restaurant it was wonderful food all around. Land and seas pavilion are what they are. Harmonious barges look just as bad in person as in pics but the show was pretty good i thought. SSE lighting looks amazing, great addition as does entrance area and fountain. Massive construction walls are what they are, it will be so much nicer when those walls come down and Im personally looking forward to JoW, New Plaza building and core area. Still a lot of room for improvement but I think Epcot is a good park and cant wait for the next major announcement, crossing fingers for SSE and Play Pavilion news soon
Day 1 USF: This park is meh, its kinda like USF is the CA and IOA is the DL with these parks imo. The best area (Harry Potter Land) looks fantastic, really really great with tons to explore, but I thought Gringotts was not that great for it being the anchor attraction for the land. The que and preshow was cool but the ride...5/10. Fast and Furious is so bad its crazy, it makes WebSlingers look like Rise. I cannot believe that got built and its so insane to me that the FnF franchise, which is seemigly perfect for a theme park ride, instead of building a FnF coaster like West Coast Racers or something like Radiator Springs Racers they build a lets get on a party bus and watch a horrible CGI movie....Insanely terrible. Mummy is fun, really short but its good I like it more than the Hollywood version and god bless Brendan Frasier. MIB is meh and that buildig is massive, that entire northern quadrant of the park is dead. I feel like it will be redeveloped probably after Epic Universe opens cause that park will then clearly be the worst of them and its such a massive space with the surrounding buildings....tons of space to redevelop....anyways.... yeah overall USF is a park I have no desire to ever go back to.
also we took the harry potter train between parks and that is a really a neat idea and execution to link to lands in 2 parks I could see Disney doing something like this between DL and CA but I wont get into that right now
Day 2 Islands of Adventure: This park is great, the theming is top notch. The Dr Suess and Classic Toons land is great and colorful and vibrant. the Popeye Raft ride is fantastic imo but the flume was closed
Jurassic World is amazing all over, the Jurassic river ride has such an amazing drop, way better than the USH version, the coaster is great and so smooth and shout out to the amazing playground area....more parks need stuff like this. Me and the gf were climbing all over those nets its great. The potter land is more or less a copy of the USH version but with Hagrids coaster and the train station. Hagrids is amazing, Disney needs something like this. The forbidden Journey makes me sick feeling but i respect the engineering and know people love it. The Marvel land is cool, but dated and probably the weakest themed land in the park, but Spiderman is great. AND lastly and most annoyingly is the lost continent....goshdarnit the theming is amazing, my fave of the entire park but nothing to do, (except the great restaraunt) the theater is closed and the attraction....Poseidons Fury....thats the Fast and Furious of IOA. Terrible boring experience, no fault of the guy doing the tour, but geez what a waste of space everyone walking out was talking trash about the "attraction" sucks so much imo I mean maybe it was cool when it opened I dunno but anyways that lands theming is so top notch and if they maybe got rid of Poseidons and the theater and just gave that land an amazing E ticket... (i know they used to have that cool dueling coaster but that was replaced for Hagrids) I still feel like that land could be saved, I just really love the theming but god damn its terrible right now. Overall though thats the only low point of the park and IOA is a fantastic park.Day 3 Volcano Bay: Amazing park, so much fun all rides are great, wish LA had a waterpark like this.
Day 4 Epcot: Havent been since Rat, new Commuicore, Harmonious, Space220, and of course GotG. SSE sounded terrible, lots of squeaks and cranky sounds coming from track and ride is obviously needing a major overhaul and update but still a fun experience. I like new Communicore aesthetic its really bright and open with those massive glass walls...i dig it. GotG was great, loved the preshow, didnt make me queazy at all, so smooth. Fun ride you must experience in person for sure, vidoes dont capture it at all and xmas music was a nice touch. Frozen is fun, I like it even though I know its a retheme of an old ride but its still fun and the gf loves it. RAT and the whole expansion is pretty great, theming looks wonderful and ride is fun and cute....i didnt find the way the screen projections meet the floor to be distracting unless i was looking for them and I enjoyed the smells and heat under the stove scene....I like it and gf loved it but damn I wish it exited back into the main france pavilion instead of using that very skinny pathway that was and probably always is clogged. Def a worthy addition to an area of the park that had no rides. There was a food festival and all the food was great, we also ate at the Chefs de France restaurant it was wonderful food all around. Land and seas pavilion are what they are. Harmonious barges look just as bad in person as in pics but the show was pretty good i thought. SSE lighting looks amazing, great addition as does entrance area and fountain. Massive construction walls are what they are, it will be so much nicer when those walls come down and Im personally looking forward to JoW, New Plaza building and core area. Still a lot of room for improvement but I think Epcot is a good park and cant wait for the next major announcement, crossing fingers for SSE and Play Pavilion news soon
