ORLANDO+TAMPA BAY

I flew to Orlando International on the 26th of December 2005 for a 2 week vacation in Florida's busiest resort Orlando.

My mother purchased 4 Orlando Flextickets which provided us with unlimited access for 14 days to Floridas best 5 theme parks including:- Universal Studios
Islands of Adventure
Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
Sea World
Wen 'n' Wild (water park)

Flexticket Prices:- 114 english pounds from attractionstickets.co.uk

Here is a list of theme parks in which rides i rode thoughout the most action packed 2 weeks of my life to date.

Sea World Orlando
A very well presented theme park on the outskirts of Orlando's International Drive. The park was full of animal exibits and fantastic shows (shamu being the worst of them). But the park could only meen 1 thing to me....
Kraken\ Ride count: 7 (once in front, rest near to back)
A 150' foot floorless mega coaster containg 7 inversions and a variety of fantastic exiting elements. The 1st thing that came to my mind when i entered the Que was how efficient the staff working the ride was. They were so quick and extremly entertaining, no matter how busy the park there was there was always 3 trains on the track so the que time was never below 20 mins.
This ride was extremly exiting in the front seat, nothing at all around you apart from 4180 feet of twisted steel track below your feet. The airtime on the zero-g-roll was absolutely extreme and the finall corkscrew was extremly forcefull. This ride was unbelievably smooth, just about the smoothest ride of my life i think.
The best tme to ride is at sunset, dropping down by the lake at 65 mph watching the sun drop below the horizon is fantastic.
A must ride!!!
9/10!

Journey To Atlantis Ride count: 1
Typical water ride, effects wernt that special , and the coaster part of the ride didn't make me even spill a nice "wahoo", fun but nothing special.
5/10

Universal Studios
Just being at the park was great, although some of the rides wasnt extreme (excluding 'the mummy' but ill get to that later)the park contained more simulations and shows that extreme rides but there was 1 i enjoyed to a huge extent.

Revenge of the Mummy 'The Ride' Ride Count: 6 times
What a coaster this baby is, i never thought this ride wold be as good at it is, but trust me! The ride starts as more of a dark ride going through ancient eygyptian ruins etc. until you hit a wall in which thousands of realistic scarab beetles run at you forcing the train to launch backwards at quite a high speed down a drop and into some brakes. As i knew the ride was a launched coaster i was looking for a straight piece of track throughout the ride, and there it was. After the backwards drop we hit a roundabout in which it turned us 180 degrees, and there was the straight track, but it wasnt entirly straight, It was pivoted about 60 degrees verticle pointing towards the roof. We slowly entered the launch and before you could say "Holy Crap" we was off. 2.0 seconds later we was at around 40mph rocketing over the crest of the hill of which a huge negative g-force hits your stomach as you dive towards the floor into a high speed rollercoaster. Diving, tilting, dropping all over the place but very, very smooth.
I could go on for every with the surprises the ride throws at you throughout the coaster but i may spoil it for anyone who is heading there. But get there and ride it!!!!!
8/10 (points deducted for a breakdown on new years eve which forced me not to go on it!)

Islands of Adenture
Being right next to Universal Studios it was great for jumping between parks throughout the day.
And believe me, this park is something else. The sheer work and effort gone in to this park it absolutly breath taking and being in it throughout day or night is like being on a different planet.
With 5 extremly themed islands its quite tireing walking between rides but then again its increadable.

The Incredible Hulk Ride count:7 (5 in front, 2 in back)
This ride dominates the park as being the most popular coaster throughout the world. But its not all it seems to be.
The ride in the front was fantastic. Entering the launch tube(gamma ray accelerator) and looking up seeing the zero-g-roll curl over and dissapear was great. As you enter the launch tube and find that Dr.Bruce Banners plans could work this time you hear a big "WARNING" enter in the background, at this point Dr Bruce starts to shout go!go!go! at thius point you rocket out the top and enter the zero-g-roll. The launch doesnt look fast on paper (40mph) but as you are facing the sky it feels alot more. The Train then enters the cobra roll at the bottom of the 1st drop at 68 mph, the cobra roll was fun and quite forcefull in the back but nothing special in the front, After the cobra roll you enter a verticle loop diving under a steam filled tunnel following it. After the tunnel you rise up into an over-banked turn above the launch tube and into a corkscrew dropping into a 2nd verticle loop. After this the ride dies down and its quite dissapointing finally of a corkscrew and a few turns which wasnt that exiting at all!
A fantastic ride experiance!
7/10 (points deducted for a bad finish)

Duelling Dragons Ride count: 2-fire 2-ice
Both coasters were exellent, very exiting and extremly forcefull, The theming in the station is wonderful and again staff are very efficiant. The near misses in this ride are extremly intense and imo quite dangerouse through the loops but it all adds to the fun of it.
The inline twist on the ice dragon was extremly fast and im sure my feet clipped some-one elses on the fire dragon above but oh well.
Two very extreme rides here.
7/10 (Fire is a better ride if you like it through a more expance layoun as ice is a little more twisty and forcefull.

I didnt ride 'the flying unicorn' due to an immence que time throughout my stay.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

The best of the 4 theme parks i visited by a long shot, i had to visit twice even tho its a 2 hour drive from Orlando. The second time of visiting the que times were 0 mins haha yey re-ride time!

ShiekraRide count:9 (4 front row, 1 middle 4 back)
A very extreme ride. I never knew this ride would actually be as high as it it, i thought the 200ft lift was just a gimmik but i hadnt done my reasearch[lol].
Such a smooth, fast,exhilerating,record breaking coaster. Its one of the coasters you ride once after the other and after the other and you dont stop till youre sick. Ride was best on the front but there was more air in the back, not alot more but yo could tell a difference. A little shorter than expected but what the ride contained was outstanding.
9/10!

Montu Ride count:4 (once in front, once in back,2 mid train)
Great ride here but even on the busiest days they only had 1 train on in the morning but luckilly in the afternoon they may put 2 on if there i a good mood. My fav. element on this coaster was the batwing, very forcefull and i loved the dive through the trench in the middle. The rides first drop was nice and smooth and seemed to go forevery.
Very good duration on this ride even tho the que was annoying with the 1 train on.
But still, a great coaster
7.5/10 (points off for being un-efficiant in the train situation)

Kumba Ride count:4 (3 back row, 1 mid train)
It was nice to get on this ride after years of anticipation as this ride has been round for ages. Unfortunately this gave some head-banging and absolutely noro air on the zero-g-roll but the loop over the lift was nice and the interlocking corkscrews were well themed.
It wasnt as good as i expected but i enjoyed it
6.5/10 (headbanging is big no-no!)

Scorpion Ride count 1 (back seat)
Fun for little kids who are seeking a small thrill but it didnt please me but it was a little fun.
5/5

PythonRide count:1 (dunno which seat cnt remember)
Such an awful ride, pathetic excuse for making your ears bleed!!![:O]
2/10

Gwazi Ride count:5 (all at the back)

Gwazi tiger wasnt operating on either of the two days unfortunately but gwazi lion was fantastic, loads of air down the drop And some very forcefull turns and twists wich were extremly fun, nothiong over special just a standar wooden coaster.Would have been better with The Tiger running but i wasnt very lucky.
7/10


Conclusion:- I had a fantastic holiday and the location of my hotel was great(2 minutes away from Universal Resort and im gratefull to my parents for them taking me.

I would be extremly greatfull if people would give some feedback or ask some questions. Thank-you for your time!!!

Ecg

Great report ... I am guessing there are some pics coming?????

^^^ When i find the time i will upload some!!!!!

Looking forward to it man!

Awesome TR, cant wait to see the pics!