Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Studios Florida, forget
Disaster!
, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Men in Black Alien
Attack, Revenge of the Mummy, The Simpsons Ride,
Terminator 2: 3-D
, Trans-
formers: The Ride 3-D, and
TWISTER … Ride It Out
. The first part of the E.T. Ad-
venture ride is a little intense for a few preschoolers, but the end is all happiness
and harmony. There are some scary visual effects on both the Hogwarts Express
train that runs between the two parks and the Gringotts dark ride-roller coaster, but
both are billed as family rides. Interestingly, very few families report problems with
Beetle-juice's Graveyard Mash-Up
or
Universal Orlando's Horror Make-Up Show
.
Anything we haven't listed is pretty tame.
At Universal's Islands of Adventure, watch out for The Amazing Adventures of
Spider-Man, Doctor Doom's Fearfall, Dragon Challenge, Harry Potter and the For-
bidden Journey, The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Jurassic Park River Adventure, and
Po-
seidon's Fury
. Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges is wet and wild, but most younger
children handle it well. Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls is a toss-up, to be considered
only if your kids like water-flume rides. The
Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show
includes some explosions and startling special effects, but again, kids generally toler-
ate it well. Nothing else should pose a problem.
CHILD SWAP
“Switching off” at Universal is similar to Disney's version. The entire
family goes through the whole line together before being split into riding and non-
riding groups near the loading platform. The nonriding parent and child(ren) wait in
a designated room, usually with some sort of entertainment (for example, Forbidden
Journey at IOA shows the first 20 minutes of
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
on a loop), a place to sit down, and sometimes restrooms with changing tables. At any
theme park, the best tip we can give is to ask the greeter in front of the attraction what
you're supposed to do.
BLUE MAN GROUP
UNIVERSAL STUDIOS FLORIDA'S
Sharp Aquos Theater, near Universal CityWalk, is
home to Blue Man Group. The theater can be accessed from inside or outside USF;
we recommend getting seats at least 15 rows back from the stage.
The three blue men are just that—blue—and bald and mute. Wearing black cloth-
ing and skullcaps slathered with bright-blue grease paint, they deliver a fast-paced
show that uses music (mostly percussion) and multimedia effects to make light of
