Spring Break Universal Studios Florida/Disney World (2008)
When considering options for our Spring Break trip the unanimous refrain was “let’s go back to Disney World!” We loved our annual trips to Disney World since the mid 90’s, but in recent years we had taken advantage of other vacation opportunities. This was to be our first Disney vacation since December 2005. In addition this spring trip allowed us the opportunity to visit Universal Studios Florida/Islands of Adventure.
By Tim Larison with contributions by Anne Larison, Andrew Larison (age 14) and Josh Larison (age 14)
Would this visit to Disney World, with two teenagers, be different than the many trips we took when Andrew and Josh were younger? Yes, but we still had lots of fun in different ways. Rather than provide a day by day description of our trip in this review we will give our impressions of each park with the highlights of our vacation.
Islands of Adventure
Anne and I had visited Universal Studios Florida in the early 90’s before Andrew and Josh were born. We found the park had changed quite a bit since then, and the addition of a second theme park, Islands of Adventure, made this a fun two day experience. We discuss our favorites and not so favorites in this park below.
Tim’s favorite rides:
Jurassic Park River Adventure – This ride was like a combination of two Disney rides – Splash Mountain and Dinosaur. The dinosaur effects on this raft ride were very well done and the steep plunge at the end was a thrill.
The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman – a combination of a 3D movie and a motion ride, this was one of the most technically advanced attractions I have ever experienced. The 3D effects were very realistic.
Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges – A fun river raft ride that will get you wet!
Pteranodon Flyers – A leisurely ride above the tree tops, you get great views of the whole park from here. This is a good ride to visit early in the day as the wait times were over 60 minutes later in the afternoon. The queue for this attraction moves slowly as only two riders can be loaded at a time.
Least favorite:
Poseiden’s Fury – a walkthrough attraction with a confusing storyline and average special effects. Not worth the wait.
Anne’s favorite rides:
The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman – I love 3D movies and to combine the movie with the twists and turns of a action ride was great!
Pteranodon Flyers – I too loved the flyers, however it was way too short – 80 seconds is all you are on the ride. Twenty to 60+ minutes is an awfully long wait for such a short thrill.
The Flying Unicorn – A mild coaster ride with just enough twists and turns to keep you smiling rather than screaming.
Storm Force Accelatron – Universals version of the ‘tea cup’ ride. If you like to spin, this ride is for you.
Least favorite: Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges – This ride is not nearly as good as Kali River Rapids in Disney World’s Animal Kingdom. It was heavy on dumping water but the ride it self had very few hills or action other than going under the next downpour.
Andrew’s favorite rides:
Jurassic Park River Adventure – “This ride is just like Disney’s Splash Mountain, except the drop is much larger. You get a lot more wet on this ride than Splash Mountain. It’s supposed to be a tour of Jurassic Park where you see dinosaurs in a safari like setup. But when you get knocked off course by one of the dinos, things change! You pass through an electric fence with a guy on a radio saying ‘you are all going to die!’ The drop on this ride is massive and you will get wet and possibly soaked (I did!) I definitely thought the ride was better than I expected.”
Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges – “It’s a river rapid ride like the Kali River Rapids at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. There was no line when we stepped in the queue. Once we got going it was so intense I couldn’t see everything. I was facing forward most of the time so I could tell when the drops and falls were. It was funny to see fountains coming out of random stuff because Mom and Dad didn’t know it was coming. Mom kept screaming her face off throughout the whole ride.”
Least favorite: Poseiden’s Fury – “a cheesy tour/show”
Josh’s favorite rides:
Jurassic Park River Adventure – “It was really fun and it was my favorite ride.”
Popeye and Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges – “It is wet and everyone gets soaked!”
The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman – “I really liked this ride. It was a mix of a ride and a 3-D movie which was very cool.”
Not as good: The Cat In The Hat – “Mostly for little kids, this ride was very similar to the Winnie the Pooh ride at Disney World.”
Not this time: We skipped the Incredible Hulk Coaster, perhaps on a future trip we’ll be brave enough to try this upside down roller coaster ride.
Universal Studios Florida
Tim’s favorite attractions/rides:
Shrek 4D – one of the best 3D movie attractions I have seen anywhere, with a fun story featuring favorite characters from the Shrek movies.
Disaster – an entertaining stage show with members of the audience cast in a disaster film. This attraction still had elements of the Earthquake ride we had experienced in the early 90’s, but was even better.
Revenge of the Mummy – some great special effects on this thrill ride.
Not as good – Fear Factor Live seeing audience members eat live bugs and getting nauseous on stage is not my idea of entertainment.
Anne’s favorite rides:
Men in Black – This creative ride is fun and challenging. I enjoyed shooting at the aliens and on a twist — your car competes against a rival group of tourists. Like many other major rides these days your picture is taken during the ride. Beware – both time we rode Revenge of the Mummy – a fun coaster ride, in the dark! My only complaint is that like too many of the rides at Universal, the ride is way too short in duration.
Shrek 4D and Terminator 2:3-D – Both really good 3-D movies.
Not as good –
TWISTER…Ride It Out – a short film about the movie Twister and an even shorter special effects show with a little water, fire and things on a cable flying through the air – not too impressive.
Andrew’s favorite rides:
Revenge of the Mummy – “It’s a very fast roller coaster. From Day 1 I wanted to ride this ride. The animatronics aren’t very good – the mummy looks fake. You pretty much ride through darkness and go through snakes and stuff. Still I liked it – overall grade 7 out of 10”
Disaster – “an interactive attraction, where people from the audience turn into actors on stage. Everyone watches as the actors create their own disaster movie. After this the audience is thrust into their own disaster scene. It has everything from earthquakes to flash floods. After the scene you are shown the movie you created. It was really funny. I really enjoyed this attraction overall – rating 8 out of 10
Men in Black – “This ride is similar to Buzz Lightyear at Disney except you can take the gun out of the car. There are no targets on the monsters so it is more challenging. The aliens look very real in the ride, unlike most animatronics. This attraction would appeal to mostly boys since there are lots of guns and violence. My rating: 9 out of 10”
Not as good –
Jaws – “Jaws is setup to be a normal tour on a boat, with a few surprises. The shark looks extremely fake, many people will be disappointed when they see this hunk of metal pop out at them. Your boat driver is supposed to have a grenade launcher which is just a little toy cowboy rifle. Due to lack of reality to the ride I give it a 6 out of 10”
Josh’s favorite rides:
Men in Black – “It was a very fun ride like Buzz Lightyear at Disney World. I liked this one better than Buzz because you can pick up the gun and move it around a whole lot easier.”
Shrek 4D – “It was very cool because there were 3-D effects and your seat moves with the action on the screen.”
Revenge of the Mummy – “It was a very fun roller coaster and it was mostly in the dark.”
Disaster – “We did not know what this was when we got in. They started choosing people to be actors. Then they filmed the actors doing different scenes. We got on a ride that looked like a subway. All these things started happening like fire and earthquakes and flash floods. At the end they showed us a movie of the disaster and the actors – it was really funny.”
Jaws – “It was kind of an old ride but it was still fun and the shark popped out of the water a lot.”
Not as good –
Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast – “It was a lot like Star Tours in Disney World but it was more for little kids and I didn’t enjoy it as much.”
Other comments on Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure
We thought the fast food options at these two parks were very limited and not nearly as good as Disney’s. The CityWalk entertainment district looked to have some good restaurants but we chose to eat dinner outside the parks on our two nights here.
There is another section of Universal Studios that we didn’t even enter – Woody Woodpecker’s Kidzone. So if you do have younger kids they may enjoy the themes of Barney, and E.T. and Woody Woodpecker.
Andrew says “the fast food at Universal isn’t that great. On every menu it has the same food! The buns on the sandwiches were hard and like plastic. The burgers were uncooked, and the service was slow. Rating: 4 out of 10”
The parking garage was well organized with many signs to direct you to your vehicle. We chose to stay in the Disney World area and found the short 15 minute drive up I-4 to Universal easy to navigate.
We thought these two parks were a fun change of pace to Disney World and we will definitely visit again on a future trip.
Disney World
We devoted four full days to Disney World – not enough time to see everything but enough to visit some of our old favorite attractions and a few new ones. Below we’ll describe the highlights of each park.
Animal Kingdom
Tim’s favorites:
Finding Nemo – The Musical – this is a new stage show replacing the old Tarzan attraction. The production was set in a large enclosed theatre – a nice refuge on a hot or rainy day. We arrived ½ hour before show time and the theatre was 3/4ths full – arrive early to insure you get a seat! The show followed the plot line of the Finding Nemo movie with actors maneuvering puppets and singing. I thought it was very well done – it reminded me of Disney’s Broadway show “Lion King”.
Kilomanjaro Safaris – still one of my favorite rides in all of Disney World. We always like to visit this attraction first thing in the morning after the park opens – the wait is less at that time. We saw a variety of animals on ride – elephants, lions, white rhinos, crocodiles, and more – every safari ride we take is different.
Not as good:
Expedition Everest is a great ride, but I am sensitive to motion sickness and I felt a little queasy during the portion where you go backwards at high speeds. Once was enough for this attraction for me.
Extra Magic Hours – We took advantage of the extra magic hours at night since we were staying in a Disney World resort. That worked very well for the parks except for Animal Kingdom. We found many of the AK attractions closed during the extra hours. The extra hours did give us an opportunity to ride Expedition Everest with a short wait.
Anne’s favorites:
Expedition Everest – I had ridden this ride during the day and was able to ride it at night this trip. It is a favorite either way. The view at night (for the few seconds before you start the fall) is spectacular. I enjoy this coaster very much.
It’s Tough to be a Bug – I am a big fan of 3-D movies and this is a good one. Sit back in your seat and enjoy the ‘inter-active’ nature of this show!
Andrew’s favorite:
Expedition Everest – “I had never been on this ride until this vacation, so it was a new experience for me. This is a great ride, full of turns, steep drops, and of course, going backwards! This happens when you hit a piece of broken track and head down backwards. The story is that you are traveling through Mt Everest avoiding the Yeti. There is a very steep hill near the end of the ride, which it takes your picture at. This is a great favorite of mine now.”
Josh’s favorites:
Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, and Dinosaur
Epcot
Tim’s favorites:
Flower Power Concert – The Guess Who
We were fortunate to attend the first “flower power” concert of the spring on our last day (march 19th) – a great performance by the rock band “The Guess Who”. The band played a few of their well known hits, including “These Eyes”, “American Woman”, “No Time”, and more. I closed my eyes during part of the concert and thought “these guys sound just like they do on their records!”
We have attended many good Flower Power concerts over the years – the Guess Who was one of the best.
Mission Space – I had always avoided this ride due to my sensitivity to motion sickness. I was so glad to see that Disney had added a “non-spinning” version of the ride for guests to enjoy. I went on the non-spinning version with Anne, while the boys did the more intense “spinning” experience. Even though the ride was toned down, you still get to experience the great special effects of a simulated mission to Mars.
Anne’s favorites:
This trip we didn’t wait in line or use a FastPass for Soarin’, normally this is a favorite ride. For this trip my favorite rides were:
Mission Space: I have done both versions. While I enjoy the wild ride of the spinning version, the milder version does provide an opportunity to enjoy the attraction when you are not up to the spin!
O Canada: Tim and I honeymooned in Canada and the updated CircleVision 360 film is amazing. The host, Canadian actor Martin Short, is funny and the scenes of Canada are memorable.
Andrew and Josh’s favorites:
Test Track and Mission Space
Hollywood Studios
Tim’s favorite:
Muppet Vision 3D – an oldie but a goodie – this attraction hasn’t change for over 15 years but I still enjoy it. The 3D effects continue to be among the best I have seen (especially where one character says “all these people think I’m talking to them, but I’m really talking just to YOU!” as his nose extends right to your face in 3D). The show has nice touches of humor throughout.
Not as good –
Studio Back Lot Tour – this ride still had some good elements, like Catastrophe Canyon, but I think it could use some new features. The Universal Studios “Disaster” ride was much better in introducing new twists to an old attraction – Disney could take a lesson from that.
Anne’s favorites:
The Magic of Disney Animation – This attraction has been updated since we last visited Disney World. Gone is the Walter Cronkite/Robin Williams short film. The new film introduction for this attraction involves a Disney animator interacting with the Mulan character, Mushu. After this part of the tour there are a number of interactive activities for you and your kids.
Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster – I tried this coaster for the first time and loved it. It is exciting and don’t let the first few seconds scare you away. We heard from another family who had ridden the ride several times that they regularly use the Single Rider Line. Their experience is that you can cut the wait time to minutes by using this option.
Andrew’s favorite:
Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster – “The first upside down roller coaster that I have been on. Any you can tell I really enjoyed it. There is a countdown at the beginning of the ride until it blasts you off. The speed goes from zero to sixty in like 2 seconds – talk about intense! After this you go through a loop and some corkscrews. I’d have to say this is my new favorite ride at Disney World. The premise is that you are going to a concert with Aerosmith and you have to get there fast. I suggest anyone who likes fast, intense, and insane roller coasters to ride this attraction”
Josh’s favorite:
Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster – “I first went on this with Mom because Andrew was too scared to go on. It was really fun and it goes fast. The second time a few days later I went on the ride with Andrew – the line was long but the wait was worth it!”
Magic Kingdom
Tim’s favorites:
SpectroMagic And Wishes Fireworks –
We found a great spot right in front of the castle to enjoy first the nighttime SpectroMagic parade and then the Wishes fireworks show. SpectroMagic was the first parade I saw at Disney World years ago and it is still one of my favorites. Wishes is the best fireworks show Disney presents (I like it better than Illuminations).
Extra Magic Hours –
We found the evening Extra Magic Hours for guests staying at Disney World resorts the most beneficial at Magic Kingdom. With the extra magic hours park was open until 3 a.m. on the Sunday of our visit! We didn’t stay that long, but we found the wait times virtually non-existent after 11 p.m on that Sunday. Quite a contrast to the 60 minute or longer waits for the same attractions in the daytime on this Spring Break week.
Anne’s favorites:
Mickey’s PhilharMagic – I could see this 3-D movie more than once per trip. The 3-D effects are excellent, as are the special effects that involve all of your senses — such as the yummy smell of food during the ‘Be Our Guest’ scene!
Pirates of the Caribbean and The Haunted Mansion – Both of these rides had been renovated and updated since our last visit. I enjoyed seeing the changes and yet they hadn’t changed so much that they weren’t the old familiar attraction.
Andrew’s favorites:
Splash Mountain – “This ride at the Magic Kingdom is a classic favorite for me. This ride may get you wet but it is pretty much guaranteed you will get a little water on you. It’s all about Brer Rabbit and how Brer Fox and Bear are trying to catch him. Throughout the ride you plunge through various drops, the last being the biggest.”
Space Mountain – “Yes, another mountain, but this one is a high speed roller coaster. You are plunged into darkness as you travel through sharp turns, sudden drops, and darkness. In my opinion this is the funnest and wildest mountain in the park. This attraction really has no premise to it, but it’s still enjoyable”
Josh’s favorites – ” I enjoyed Splash Mountain and Space Mountain like Andrew – they were fun and we went on them more than once. I also liked Buzz Lightyear and Big Thunder Mountain.”
Ft Wilderness Cabins
We have stayed in over 18 different Disney World resorts throughout the years; this was to be our first stay at a Ft Wilderness Cabin. We liked it! The cabin had a living room area with a pull down Murphy bed, a kitchen, and a separate bedroom. Anne and I slept on the Murphy Bed and the boys slept in the bedroom. While not as spacious as the Disney Vacation Club resorts we have stayed in, the cabin had more room than the average hotel room. It is an especially good choice for families (it can hold up to 6 guests).
The wilderness setting of the cabins is not for everyone (if you like hotels you may not care for the rustic feel of the cabins), but we liked it. The kitchen allowed us to eat a quick breakfast and saved us time and dollars from dining out in the mornings.
We used our rental car to drive to Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and for offsite ventures (dining out and grocery shopping). We parked our rental car right outside the cabin which was very convenient. We used Disney transportation to get to the Magic Kingdom; we found the boat service timely and we never had to wait too long for a bus to get to and from the boat dock.
I couldn’t get the high speed internet connection to work in the cabin. After several calls and a visit by a Disney tech support person the connection still wasn’t working. So I used a dialup connection to stay in touch with our email.
Anne says:
Fort Wilderness, including the cabins and campground, is like a small community in and among itself. You don’t really feel like you are on Disney World property, as you would in any of the other Disney World resorts. But it has its own special charms. Many of the campers string lights from their tents. It was a beautiful sight to see on the nights we returned to our cabin after dark.
I was amazed at the many amenities Ft. Wilderness offers; such as the horse stables and the nightly Campfire Program. In addition to the usual fun times at the swimming pool and tennis courts, Ft. Wilderness offers many water options from the beach and boat dock. These water activities include renting all sorts of watercraft—canoes, Sea Raycer, pontoon boats. On the beach guests were enjoying the sand, volleyball, tetherball and lounge chairs.
Andrew can’t wait until he’s 16 and able to drive one of the golf carts you can rent at Ft. Wilderness – watch out, is all I can say!
Andrew says:
It was a new thing to try, not staying in a normal hotel like we usually do. Our cabin was right outside the theme parks, so we could get to all of them pretty easily. It was a very spacious cabin, we even got our own room. There was a dock in the northern most part of the campsite that runs a boat that takes you to Magic Kingdom. Overall the cabin was relaxing and it was nice to have your own bed and not having to share one.
Josh says:
Our cabin was a nice place to stay while we were at Disney World. There was a lot of room inside so we could spread out and relax. There were also many beds so I didn’t have to share a bed with anyone. The boat to Magic Kingdom was nice too because it was a very fast way to get there and it was fun to sit in the front of the boat.
Lake Buena Vista Holiday Inn Express
The first few nights of our vacation, before our time at Ft Wilderness, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on Palm Parkway near Downtown Disney. We found this to be a good low cost place to stay near the parks. We chose to stay outside of Disney World on these nights as we spent our first two days at Universal Studios – access to Interstate 4 from the Holiday Inn was easy which made our drive to Universal only 15 to 20 minutes in length.
We liked the free breakfast buffet included in our room rate. The free wireless internet access was also a nice amenity. There were many offsite dining options close to the Holiday Inn (see the offsite dining section below for the ones we liked)
Anne says:
The Holiday Inn Express also had a very nice pool for guests. Josh and I enjoyed swimming one afternoon. Although the pool is neither too large nor too deep, it has a fun slide and waterfall. The pool is heated and nearby is the hot tub.
Andrew says: The Holiday Inn Express was a great hotel to stay at and was much better than I expected it to be. The room was a lot bigger then I expected and we even got a balcony with a great view of the area surrounding the hotel. I didn’t swim because I was too tired from a full day at Universal Studios, but the pool looked decent even though it is meant more for little kids. They also had a full buffet breakfast which was really good. They had cinnamon rolls, eggs, sausage, cereal and much more.
Josh says:
I really liked the Holiday Inn Express that we stayed at. The breakfast buffet was very good and we had a nice view from the balcony in our room. The pool was also great, but the water was a little too shallow.
Dining
We watched our $$$ this trip by eating breakfast in our cabin or the free breakfast at the Holiday Inn, fast food in the theme parks for lunch, and offsite restaurants near Disney for most dinners.
We did splurge for one meal at a table service Disney restaurant – Tony’s Town Square. We liked the atmosphere, service, and location of this restaurant (close to the opening gate of the Magic Kingdom). We had mixed opinions on the food – Tim thought his chicken parmesan dish was just average. Anne really liked the same dish and thought the portion size was large. Andrew didn’t like his baked ziti. Josh liked his dining experience at Tony’s (“it was fun with very good food”).
We ate dinners at four different offsite restaurants near Crossroads Shopping Center:
Macaroni Grill – this Italian restaurant chain is a favorite of ours. We received much more food at lower prices when compared to Tony’s. I especially enjoyed my Chicken Marsala dish here, and Josh loved the bread. Anne didn’t think the quality of the food was as good as in past visits to Macaroni Grill.
CiCi’s Pizza – right next to the Holiday Inn Express on Palm Parkway, this national chain is a good low cost buffet option ($5.50 per person as of March 2008 for a buffet featuring different pizzas, pasta, salad, and dessert)
Orlando Ale House – Our best “value” meal of the whole trip. The portions were HUGE – especially the chicken nachos which could have fed a family of 8. I liked my shrimp dish here. The boys really liked this place:
Andrew says
My favorite meal is when we went to Ale House. I had the Cajun Chicken Pasta which was amazing. I would have never guessed a sports bar place would have good pasta.
Josh says
My favorite meal was when we went to a restaurant called Ale House. I had a very good cheeseburger and I tried some shrimp which was good too. Everything was cooked very well and I definitely want to go there again some time.
Steak N Shake – we always try to eat one meal here on our Disney World visits as this national chain does not have restaurants in our home state of Colorado. We especially like the hamburgers. Steak N Shake is another good low cost dining option outside the Disney property.
We drove to have dinner in nearby Celebration Florida one night to dine at: Market Street Cafe – located in the heart of downtown Celebration. We loved the atmosphere of the downtown area, with shops to browse through and situated by a lake.
The Market Street Café had excellent hamburgers and good shakes. We found the fast food options at Disney to be better than ever this trip. We enjoyed lunches at these counter service spots:
Pinochio’s in the Magic Kingdom (good Caesar salads!), food court at Epcot’s Land Pavillion (lots of choices), Flametree Barbeque at Animal Kingdom (yummy pork sandwiches) and the ABC Commissary at the Hollywood Studios (not crowded even during the lunch hour on a busy Sunday)
Southwest Airlines
This was our first experience with Southwest Airlines, as they have started to serve the Denver, Colorado market just recently. We were expecting a no frills experience but we were surprised! We received more free snacks on Southwest than we have on other carriers (like United), more drinks, and the stewards/stewardesses kept things fun. We liked not having assigned seats. We were sure to check in for our flights 24 hours in advance which enabled us to get in the first group to board. We picked seats near the front of the plan on both the arrival and return trip.
Trip Summary
Our Spring 2008 trip was like visiting an old friend. We enjoyed our time at Disney World, visiting many of our favorite attractions once again and seeing the recent additions. Our two days at Universal Studios Florida/Islands of Adventure added an exciting element to the trip, as many of the attractions there were new to us.
We found traveling with teenagers quite a bit different than the many trips we took with Andrew and Josh in elementary school. The boys shied away from character appearances and some “little kid” rides that we had enjoyed on earlier trips. But we found Disney World an excellent venue to allow the boys to explore on their own (something they had not done on previous trips). A trip to Disney World is still one of the Larison family’s favorites!