South Sea

Review of Universal Studios Orlando

First time visitor review: On Friday, October 16, ...

First time visitor review: On Friday, October 16, 2020 I took an Uber to Universal and I arrived at 9:30 am. I am so glad I did as there was a bit of a line up to enter the park (via regular vehicles) and Uber was able to by pass it all. To my surprise there was already ALOT of park goers in attendance. It took 5 minutes to pass though the temperature check line and it took over 20 minutes to weave through the walkways and dormant people movers as we were guided from one side of the parkade to the other in order to get to the security/bag check. When I finally made it into the park or City Walk as it s called I saw numerous restaurants/stores like Bubba Gump, Starbucks, Billabong, Moe s Southwest Grill, Cinnabon etc. After I passed through the initial restaurant row area I immediately turned to the right and made my way over the bridge to Universal Studios. I had bought my ticket on-line and printed it off at home thus I immediately entered the park after my ticket was scanned. I walked up and down the streets, and viewed a few of the gift shops. I stopped at Mel s Drive-In where I mobile ordered (used the Universal s App) a chocolate milkshake to help cool off (all the staff there were great). Once I left Mel s I saw a Transformer down the alley to the left, Scooby Doo and the gang were in front of Mel s and then I saw a Sponge Bob float drove by. My first ride was the E.T. Adventure and I must say that I enjoyed that very much. One of the things I noticed that Universal does well is that they provided covered waiting areas for customers as they make their way towards the front of the line. It was nice to have a break from the hot sun, as well there was fans overhead in the waiting line area and water fountains, pure genius, thank you. Once I got into the actual E.T. building I saw old prints of the original movie (talk about a flashback) and then once I got into the belly of the building I was suddenly transported into the woods and in no time at all I was riding a bike with E.T. in the basket going through the woods and then through town. It really was a very enjoyable ride and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. After the ride ended I walked through the attached gift shop and saw all the cool items available for purchase plus they had two really neat photo opportunities which brought back memories of when I was a child and I watch that movie for the first time. I meandered through the rest of that area and noticed that most of the little kiddie rides (Curious George, Barney etc.) were closed. From there I made my way over the bridge to Diagon Alley and I enjoyed the creativity that went into that. All the Harry Potter stores and restaurants were amazing and the creativity that went into all those buildings is unbelievable. I decided to take the train from Universal Studios to the Islands of Adventures; however, as neat as the train and train car were I am not sure the 80 minute wait to get on the train at noon was worth the 5 minute train ride (blaming COVID-19). Next I went on the Kong ride, Universal provided an indoors waiting area which was cool in temperature and again they had water fountains. The vehicle we rode in initially made me feel excited that an adventure awaited but mostly it was just a 3-D video that played, it wasn t my sort of thing; however, others might enjoy that.
The Cat in the Hat rides were fun, colorful and fast moving but I couldn t help but see numerous areas that needed some paint touched up and some modifications. In more than one area I saw some electrical cord sticking out, numerous scrape marks, and faded paint etc., most young children wont pick up on this and the ride is geared towards them so I can overlook this a little bit but overall I think Universal could spend a little bit of time and money refreshing this area. Overall my time at Universal was pleasant and I was glad I was able to experience it.