Florida 13th - 25h July (BGA, USF, IOA, SWO)

For my last ever family holiday, my parents took me and my sister to Florida, so that I could ride rollercoasters

I visited Universal Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios Florida, Sea World Orlando, Busch Gardens Africa & the Kennedy Space Center (that was for my Dad).

I took over 200 photos on the holiday, so I??????ve just selected the best of them for your enjoyment.


Hulk was a brilliant ride, I actually rode it twice within a 5 minute period whilst only queuing once. Basically my trick was to make my sister not put her bag in the lockers provided, queue up, get to the ride, my sister is told she cannot ride with the bag and has to go and put it in a locker. Me, my Mum and Dad all rode whilst my sister put it in a locker, I came back up the exit ramp after with my sister for her ride


Loop-de-loopy. The ride itself was very good, I would say a tad overrated. I really liked it because it wasn??????t typical in B&M style, but was still smooth as a baby??????s bottom, like a B&M.


This is the 2nd corkscrew, which has a much better entrance than the 1st.


Me in front of the massive hulk sign. I didn??????t know what pose to do, that??????s why my arms are doing that stupid thing where I blatantly didn??????t know what to do with them. I wanted to pose like the nerd scientist with purple trousers on behind me, but decided that copying was not the best thing to do.


Brilliant ride, I actually did all the spidery things that spiderman does. I climbed walls, used my spidey senses, swung from buildings and bridges, conquered evil?????? and of course, snogged/ ??????made out?????? with Mary Jane.


Welcome to Dudley Do-Right??????s Ripsaw Falls, which I must say, is a brilliant log flume / water coaster thing. Its not classed as a coaster according to RCDB, but there are points in the layout where it does bunny hops on a coaster track?????? so why it is not a rollercoaster is beyond me?! Anyone care to explain?


Jurassic Park River Adventure, its exactly the same ride as the one I rode in Hollywood, which is a little disappointing, because its just a boring river trail, followed by a massive drop, which I suppose is ok.


Is this part of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter?


Looking over towards the ??????Marvel Super Hero Island??????, (probably the best island).


Me and my sister, no comments this time please
Why am I always wet in these photos?!


Probably the best rides in the park, the Dueling Dragons! Now, I have mixed opinions on these coasters. Both were very very fun, however they both have odd parts in their layouts, for example, I hate the straight section after the cobra and before the loop on Ice.


You ask me which is better? Fire or Ice? I say ICEEEEEE ICEEE BABY ICEE ICE.
This picture just happens to be of Fire.


The parting moment, how sad??????.


We meet again?????? muahahahaha. Umm, Dueling Dragons were both running 3 trains, and both sides were sending up half full trains!


Favourite Dueling Dragons element: the cobra roll It has soooo much whip.


The oddest Dueling Dragons element: the immelmann on fire. If someone made this on a NL coaster, I would downrate them for not being like a B&M??????. tut tut, B&M not building like B&M??????


Welcome to Sea World, which is a very large construction site at the moment, but they hide it well with these really annoyingly high walls with Manta written on them.


Journey to Atlantis?????? If that is what the Journey to Atlantis is like, I don??????t wanna go to Atlantis itself! Lol, this ride was OK, just ok, a bit of a let down to be honest. The biggest drop is first? What is that all about? Also, the drop you get wettest on, is the tiny drop just after the big drop?????? how stupid, honestly.


Kraken, its now my favourite floorless coaster, however, I have only been on Scream! Medusa (SFGadv) and Kraken?????? So there isn??????t much competition really.


I wish this airtime hill actually had airtime??????


Through the trees, there lies a beast?????? I will say this coaster is really hard to take pictures of, its really hard to see the layout from within the park, you can get the best views of it from International Dr South, however its hard to stop there!


Kraken has the best non-steep drop in the world, because of the long predrop it features airtime!


Best Overview I could get.


All coasters are better in the dark, including this one! The only bad things I would say about Kraken is the weak ending, and the non airtime airtime hill. Also the people lie about how long the line is, they say its an hour, its not, honestly, I promise you that.
Also the ride operators are crap, they run 3 trains but on average they take 2 mins to turn a train around in the station!


Universal Studios. I didn??????t like this park as much as USH because this one doesn??????t have a studio tour, I guess that is because there isn??????t as much to tour!


Excellent ride show if you are a Terminator fan!

Woody the Woodpecker Nuthouse Coaster?????? yes I did ride this and for your information it beat Hulk hands down.


The Simpsons have just landed at USF and their ride is laid out exactly like the Back to the Future Ride was at USH. Many motion simulators in a row with a large curving screen. And even the layout of the preshow is the same.


A coaster that is well worth going on. In a short space of time, it launches you, you go backwards, you have airtime, your in the dark, it has amazing lighting and sound and you get sprayed with water and encounter fire!!!


This is the Kennedy Space Center??????s newest attraction, the ??????Shuttle Launch Experience??????. It is not very good, its ok, not amazing, mediocre I??????d say. Its very bumpy I??????ll tell you that!


At the space center my dad had paid for the most expensive tickets there were. We had the behind the scenes tour and got to see everything including the launch pads, Saturn 5 rocket, VAB building, International Space Station assembly, visitor center and of course, how could I forget, I had lunch with an astronaut! (that??????s true, I??????m not lying, ours was called Bob Springer)


This is the rear end of Saturn V.


Onto Busch Gardens Africa now, I spent 2 days here and both days we suffered from the ever approaching inclement weather! (that??????s a word I learnt this holiday: ??????inclement??????)


Sheikra testing after some ??????inclement?????? weather.


More Sheikra testing?????? I did actually ride it, twice in fact. I will say to all the Oblivion lovers out there, that this one is a LOT scarier than Oblivion, the drop just lasts forever.


You could really feel the kickouts on this ride, there are major ones before the final brake run and on the entrance to the water splash in this picture, but its blocked by the water, so you wont see what I mean!


What annoys me about Busch Gardens is that whenever there is inclement weather approaching, they shut every single ride in the park. So when you are in line and are waiting for a ride like Kumba, they shut it but you know that everything else is shut too, so you might as well just sit tight and not leave the queue.


Look at how grey the sky is, I tell you what, its WELL INCLEMENT!


I will just say that this element is actually a ??????0.2G roll.


I was stuck around the Kumba area for some time due to the inclement weather, so I took a lot more good photos of Kumba. You know what, I like this ride more than Hulk?????? what? Are you gonna shoot me now for saying that?


I love the little hop in the track between the ??????0.2G roll and the Cobra in this track.


My Dad actually took this one, I am envious of him.


This ride is called Cheetah Chase, but it is also known by me and my family as the ??????Ride that shuts down during light rain??????. Yes that??????s right, every ride in the park can be open, but Cheetah Chase won??????t be, due to the f**king ??????light rain???????????? oh goody.
I tried to ride this thing 4 times and they closed it on my 3 times before I got on it.


After all that wait, you ask me if it was worth it? I tell you ??????NO??????.


Also in Timbuktu, the pirate ship thing, which was better than expected, but you initially cannot breathe in the station before the ride.


Scorpion, is a crazy Schqwarzdgfdsdgfdgfdgkopf ride. Me and my sister rode without my rents. We managed to somehow get on the back row. This was the 1st coaster that I really haven??????t wanted to ride when I have reached the top of the lift, I actually though I was gonna die, we were at the top of a Schqwarzdgfdsdgfdgfdgkopf coaster, at the back! Death is certain!


Me and my sister again in the Rhino Rally jeep thing. Rhino Rally was ok, if you like animals and sh*t like that.


Gwazi, my first GCI. What a beast of a ride, I will say now that one of them is rougher than the other, but I cannot remember whether its lion or tiger. But I do know the rough one is when you turn left in the queue. I??????m pretty sure about that.


Nice one.


Evil Beast.


What annoyed me about Gwazi is that the coasters were often not sent from the station at the same time as each other.


Montu was my favourite ride of the entire holiday, it was just amazing fun, but I still haven??????t found an invert better than Nemesis, so I still have a reason to go to Alton Towers


This is a very weak loop, but its still fun.


This 0g was very fast and very fun.


I almost like this loop better, because its tighter and slightly more exciting because it is unexpected after the MCBR. Also I will mention that the MCBR drop out is amazing.


Sheikra overview.


Kumba overview.


The last ride of the entire holiday was Montu in the dark. We rode at the back and it was much better, more extreme and unpredictable the best bit is the entrance to the batwing.


Holiday Overview:
Best Park: BGA
Best Coaster: Montu
Biggest Dissappointment: Journey to Atlantis
Best Non Coaster Ride: Spiderman

Ride Count:
Hulk - 2
Doctor Dooms Fearfall ?????? 1
Spiderman ?????? 1
Dudley Do Rights Ripsaw Falls ?????? 1
Popeye??????s Barges ?????? 1
Jurassic Park River Adventure ?????? 1
Poseidons Fury ?????? 1
Dueling Dragons ?????? 3
Shrek 4D ?????? 1
Revenge of the Mummy ?????? 1
Terminator 2 3D ?????? 1
Woody Woodpeckers Nuthouse Coaster ?????? 1
Simpsons Ride ?????? 1
Kraken ?????? 3
Journey to Atlantis ?????? 1
Gwazi ?????? 3
Stanley Falls Flume ?????? 1
Tidal Wave ?????? 1
Sheikra ?????? 2
BGA train ?????? 2!
BGA Skyride ?????? 1
Kumba ?????? 2
Scorpion ?????? 1
Cheetah Chase ?????? 1
Phoenix ?????? 1
Rhino Rally ?????? 1
Montu ?????? 3


Again I wish the ride counts were a bit higher, but what can do you when there is inclement weather?!

Nice trip report Ben. I wish you would stop saying inclement weather though. Just say the weathers I Love You!e, true British style [:D] I cant believe coasters closed for light rain?! Thats so weird cos here you pretty much always HAVE TO ride in the rain. haha. I've ridden Air in the pouring rain, and when you are laid on your back it all goes in your mouth. ha. Not fun. Anyway im rambling, glad you had fun!

Great pictures again.

Sorry about being so late on this, not sure what happened to Jakizle.

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!! florida is the best state ever (for roller coasters). I went to IOA, US, and all the disney parks, and by far, my favorite disney park is the animal kingdom. You'd think that its going to be really boring, but you can spend a full day there, especially with EXPEDITION EVEREST!!!!! but back to your pictures, the hulk was one of my fave rides of all time, spiderman was the f*****g s**t, and the mummy was off the wall. I loved my trip there, i will have a photo TR of all of the parks and an onride of EE next year, possibly even this year.

You were actually surprised to have Kumba at higher than Hulk? I've actually never heard of anyone having Hulk higher. haha.

Anyway, I did the same trip a couple years ago. It was great and I'm sure you had a great time!

awesome pics. love IOA, Hulk and Dragons are the s**t! Hope to go to Busch Gardens someday, but yeah, great pics

Thanks for all the cool pictures!

[gouldy]

Can I just ask, do you mind; What camera do you have?

Bloody lovely photo's btw, especially the ones with your sister in [;)][lol] joking mate. I'm jealous, I wanna go over to America so bad! [V]

Thanks for the comments people

Gouldy, my camera is a digital Sony Cybershot with model number DSC-W90.
Its ok, not amazing, it didnt perform very well at night. Its also about a year old now, so mehhhhhhh. lol

[gouldy]

It looks ok from here! My camera was bought basically because it was the smallest video camera I could find, the pictures it takes are good, don't get me wrong, but they never turn out, in terms of the colours and such, quite like the pictures above.

absolutely lovely photos!!! thanks for sharing, glad you had fun!!! [:D]

Great report, loved reading it. Some nice pictures you got there. I mostly like your dad's pic

haha, I just went for 5 days and there was only 30 mins or so of inclement weather...we got lucky! The week before it stormed every day lol. I got 16 or 17 rides on Dueling Dragons, 7 on Hulk, 2 Mummy, 4 or 5 on Rock n Roller Coaster, and 2 on Expedition Everest, the last two of which were relatively weak I thought. Expedition Everest I think, outside of seemingly having a real short ride time, pretty much nailed its job at being a somewhat thrilling yet family friendly ride, but I thought RnRC wasn't that good, with it's mediocre layout and flat signs throughout. Plus, the music wasn't that loud-I didn't even remember it after the first ride, and I knew it was there.

Dueling Dragons Ice was my favorite there too...front row left seat was by far the best, especially with a little space between you and the lapbar. That 0-g was amazingly disorienting with the fast rotation and negative g's, and of course the cobra was great too, like Raptor and Alpengeist's. I really loved the quick twists throughout both rides. More notable spots, as I'm sure you noticed, were the unbanking before Fire's second immelman, and the top of said immelman, along with the Cobra Roll of course, and to a lesser extent the unbanking after Fire's corkscrew.

I was impressed with the first 2/3 of Hulk, as expected, but the ending was really weak. I, unlike you, preferred the entrance to the first cork because it was so unusual and unexpected, and I also like how there was slightly less than the normal g's you'd expect on the descent from that cork. The twist on the first banked turn after the second loop was pretty sweet too.

Mummy I think is my favorite small coaster of all by far...the launch into that excellent sustained airtime hill, with the banking and turning before riders hit the seat was ridiculous, and I loved that there was another great airhill somewhere in the middle of the layout. The rest of the ride was pretty cool, though shorter than I expected, but Premier did a great job with the coaster section.

Did you feel at all like Disney, with its intentions of having really efficient rides, lost some of it's potential charm with each ride by rushing riders on and having short ride times? I liked almost everything I rode, but felt like nearly each ride was missing something. Tower of Terror was probably the biggest culprit, as I expected more than a 30 second forward section through some weird stuff. I was definately hoping for another floor or two, at least. Did like the random program though, despite drops that only had pops of airtime rather than sustained air.

Sounds like you had a good time too Dan, I didnt actually go to Disney at all, my parents and sister didnt want to go and didnt want to pay for it, so no EE and RnRC.

Oh ok...we generally felt like we should've done 2 days at Disney and 3 at Universal (our vacation house was near both those parks) afterwards, since we preferred Universal. I'd say your choice wasn't a bad one. The only thing with which I was kinda disappointed at Universal was Jurassic Park, and it looked like we shared that opinion. Could've been so much better...Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom was overall amazing. Why would they show the T-Rex before you get there, unmoving near the drop? Even the raptors weren't real surprising or exciting, as I expected them to be. It seemed like this ride was showing it's age, and it's not even that old. Spiderman, MIB, Dudley, and Popeye's were all great, but that ride was just decent.

But yeah we had an awesome time... I was with a bunch of friends for the trip so we definately had a ton of fun. Glad you did too...they're some nice parks. Never really get to go on rides like those, with Six Flags, Hershey, and Dorney near me.

i haven't been to those parks in ages, i remember popeye as being the best rapids i have ever been on. same with ripsaw falls as a log flume, and i think you are right with the whole bunny hops alton, but all flumes have that kind of thing. ripsaw simply utilizes them better, i mean look on things like storm force ten and loggers leap, they have side rails to keep the boat splashing but so it doesn't stop too fast, because it would be dangerous if the boat simply went straight in to the water, at high speeds water is alot like a non-utonian liquid you know and the Gs would be too high. ripsaw falls simply takes those side rails and makes the car bunny hop before splashing, giving a safe and very fun stop. oh yeah, i know stuff.[:D]

I have no clue what you're talking about Adrenaguy lol. All log flumes have bunny hops? Gonna have to say you're incorrect on that one, as very few do. The rest of that post was a jumble of stuff that generally doesn't make sense. Just sayin'.

Originally posted by dcs221

Never really get to go on rides like those, with Six Flags, Hershey, and Dorney near me.

But, of course, that's nothing to be deterred about.

Originally posted by dcs221

I have no clue what you're talking about Adrenaguy lol. All log flumes have bunny hops? Gonna have to say you're incorrect on that one, as very few do. The rest of that post was a jumble of stuff that generally doesn't make sense. Just sayin'.

i didn't say that! i said that they have rails so that the boat doesn't just crash into the water, read betwixt the lines biznatch.