Universal Studios

Universal Studios Orlando was a fun park to visit.  There are several rides to ride and shows to see. We also learned a lot about the making of different movies while we were there too.   Our favorites included the Blues Brothers show, Back to the Future Ride, Terminator 2 3-D, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. City Walk, with several cool cafes and shops is attached to Universal and their other theme park, Islands of Adventure.

The park is divided into cities, each containing rides and attractions that may pertain to that area.  For instance, the Earthquake ride was in San Francisco and Kongfrontation was in New York.  

Rides we rode included:

• Back to the Future - Stacie's favorite, this is a motion sensory ride
• Men in Black - you get to shoot aliens.
• Twister - you see a real tornado!
• Earthquake - experienced in a subway
• T2-3D - Bob's favorite, very cool 3D
• Jaws - Stacie was the one person on our boat to get soaked.  She wasn't honored by that. 
• Kongfrontation - see King Kong up close!

Shows we saw included:

• Alfred Hitchcock Presents - very informative look at Hitchcock.  He was a master.   
• Blues Brothers - fun show, great tunes.
• Wild West Stunt Show - funny with lots of wild stunts
• Beetle Juice Rock and Roll Revue - good music and fun at the same time.  

City Walk

When you first enter the Universal area, you walk through City Walk to get to your theme park.  City Walk includes several interesting shops, restaurants and clubs.  

Traffic isn't nearly so bad by the time you leave if you hang out at City Walk for a little while.

Recommendations

• Like any park with a large number of rides, it is good to go off season.  Most of our ride wait times were 10-15 minutes and none were longer than 20 minutes.  
• If you go in season, take advantage of their Express ticket system.  You go to the ride, get an express ticket, then come back at the time printed on the ticket and you won't stay in line more than 15 minutes.  You are limited by how many of these you can hold at a time and they require more planning on your part, but if ride times are 45 minutes it may be worth it.
• Get there early.  There is a ton of stuff to do.  The longer you are there, the more you can try to pace yourself and yet see everything you want to.   

Did you know most of Nickelodeon's original programming is filmed on site at Universal Orlando.  

For more information, visit the Universal Studios web site by clicking here.