Sorry, Disney, I loved your Park's and all, but for me, Universal's Islands of Adventure was the best Park of all. It's hard to explain IOA - I had researched it all beforehand, but it's hard to tie in the map of the Park with what it actually is. On the map it looks like a number of islands joined together, but in reality, it just all runs in to one. If you have been to Venice then you may have some understanding - you don't really understand the layout of Venice until you go there - IOA is the same.
Unlike the other parks, I did not have a planned day at IOA as the main attraction, for me, was Harry Potter World - which is where we headed first. Oh my gosh darn! To walk through the gates, see the Hogwarts Express steaming away on the right, and looking down the length of Hogsmeade Village was just ... incredible. The authenticity and attention to detail was astounding - you really felt like Harry would pop out from a shop at any moment. We went straight into the Castle for the 4D motiin ride as it appeared there was no queue. Ha! There was a hidden queue - it took us about 45 minutes all up, but half of that was walking through the Castle. Hogwarts IAO was a little darker than in reality, but the paintings were exactly like in the movies (moving and talking), and there were brilliant holographic images of Dumbledore and Harry, Ron, and Hermione chatting to you along the way.
The ride itself was like no other - an insane ride behind Harry on a broomstick, diving 200 feet down to the Lake, up to the top spires of the Castle, through the Forbidden Forest, and more. Tip for first time players - The Hogwarts ride has a Child Swap Room. This is where, after queuing for however long for the ride, Mum goes off on the ride while Dad stays with the kids who don't meet the height restriction or don't want to do the ride, then when Mum comes off she swaps and Dad goes - without having to queue for another two hours. It is really dark in the Hogwarts dungeon - really dark - and it's not clear where to exit after the ride. We accidentally went into the Child Swap Room, out the other end, and an attendant said "How many in your party?" I said "Two", and we went straight back on the ride again! By this time the queue was about three hours long, so this was a real bonus. Orlando Attractions Magazine has uploaded a pretty cool video of the Castle on YouTube.
Although I was only really interested in Harry Potter World, the rest of IAO is great too. In particular, we enjoyed the Jurassic Park ride, a mostly slow boat ride through dinosaur contry - with one very long drop at the end, and the fun-filled, and very wetting, Popeye's ride. We came out with wet pants but only moderately damp tops - the people across from us looked like they had been chucked in a swimming pool. It depends where you sit. Fun on a hot day - wouldn't be much fun right now with Orlando currently sitting on 0C/32F!
Warning - do not eat at the Comic Strip Cafe. The food was D-I-G-U-S-T-I-N-G!!! The fries were almost cold, and about two hours old - I asked for them to be changed and received hour old fries that were luke warm. Totally gross.
More photos from Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios.
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