Universal Studios - Florida

Universal Studios was our first stop on our theme park travels. It also turned out to be one of the top two that we visited.

The park is split into six areas; Production Central, New York, San Francisco/Amity, Hollywood, Woody Woodpecker’s Kidzone and World Expo.

Production Central


This is the first section you come across after you pass the turnstiles and here we took in two of the rides. Well not rides so much as experiences, the first was Shrek 4D. As you can probably guess from the ride name it’s a 3D film with the added dimension of moving seats and water/air sprays. The film sees the return of Lord Farquaad, who kidnaps Fiona. Shrek and donkey must rescue her. The 3D animation is good, and at some points very effective, luckily there are only small squirts of water, which considering the film could have been a lot worse. Overall I’d give this attraction 7/10.

We also went straight across the road from Shrek 4D to Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast. Again this is a 3D film, but this time you sit in blocks of 8 seats which rise of the floor and move around with the film, and again you get squirted with water a couple of times. The kids enjoyed this one much more than Shrek, despite the fact initially my son had to be dragged in because he really didn’t want to see it. By the time it had finished he wanted to go again, so this ride gets a 9/10.

Also in Production Central is the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket, which looks fantastic, but as my daughter wasn’t tall enough we had to miss it out.

New York


There are two rides in this section. The first time we visited the park we missed out Twister, which is a ride based on the film of the same name, and to be honest I wished we’d missed it the second time, because it was a lot of standing around and waiting for an extremely poor experience. Only 1/10 for this one.

The Revenge of the Mummy ride was a different kettle of fish. This had to be one of my favourite rides, although the first time we went on it, it scared my daughter half to death and she screamed none stop all the way round (she was able to laugh about it later though). You can’t take bags on this ride, so you have to use a locker, luckily they are free for the first hour. 9.5/10 from me on this one (I think it would be a -9.5/10 from my daughter though).

Also in this area is the Blues Brothers show, which plays 5 times a day. But we were never around at the right time, and the kids weren’t really that bothered about watching it.

San Francisco/Amity


This is an annoying area, because there are loads of stalls like fairground stalls, all of which cost extra on top of the fortune you’ve paid to get in the park. So there were a lot of "no’s" going on there. The only ride we went on was the Jaws ride, which my son enjoyed because Jaws popped up right next to him. The operator of the boat really does make a difference to the ride. The first time we went on there was an older gentleman who just went through the motions , whereas the second time a young woman took control and she was brilliant, she really put her heart and soul into the acting and it made the ride much better. 8/10 for this one.

Hollywood


We actually just walked through Hollywood each time. There are a lot of bits and pieces relating to the old movie stars and a tribute to Lucy, who I presume was someone famous at sometime, but there was nothing there to interest the kids. And we were never around at the right time for the Terminator 2 attraction, but I never really rated the films, so I wasn’t bothered about that.

Woody Woodpecker’s Kidzone


We only went on the ET ride here, which is a very slow and sedate ride helping ET get home. It’s a bit annoying when you have to queue up for your ET passport, although I can understand why they do it to thin the queue out a bit so you virtually walk straight onto the ride. A little dull so only 4/10 from me there.

There’s also a playground in this area, but it’s mainly for very small children (under 5’s) apart from a couple of larger slides.

Barney also plays here, and there’s a show which highlights the ability of animal actors.

World Expo


The smallest section with only two attractions. The Simpsons Ride, which again is a 3D experience, but is probably the best one of the ones we went on. The kids loved it, I went on twice and the kids went racing aback round a couple more times on their own, leaving me time to rest my weary feet! So 10/10 for The Simpsons.

The other ride is the Men in Black Alien Attack. Here you have to shoot aliens and compare your score to the rest of the people in your party. Luckily I’d read the folder left in the villa with information about the area, which told you what to do to get a good score on this ride, so I won the first time around. 8/10 for MIB.

Shops


Apart from the rides there are loads of souvenir shops and plenty of places to get snacks and drinks. We purchased the souvenir cup which meant refills were only 92c each, we saved a fortune doing that, because it was so hot the drinks were disappearing as fast as the cup was filled up. Each ride had its own shop at the end, but as you’d expect the items were wildly overpriced, not that it stopped the kids buying things though.

Toilets


The toilets were all very clean, and always had plenty of loo roll. But for some reason the doors didn’t quite reach the door frames so people could see you on the toilet, which is something I didn’t like at all.

Meet and Greets


At regular times during the day it’s possible for kids to meet Spongebob, Shrek and Donkey, Hollywood characters and Madagascar stars.