Orlando 40th Birthday Trip 2025 - PART 3
Staying at Universal, visiting Orlando's Theme Parks,
relaxing in the Water Parks and animal sightseeing!
Universal's Velocicoaster and other marvels
Stepping into Universal Studios is like stepping onto a film set, with a central road allowing for classic vehicles, parades and even at times a West Side Story-Esque dance number. The buildings all around serve as a showcase for rides based on a vast array of Universal’s movies, including most notably Spiderman, Revenge of the Mummy, Men in Black, Fast and Furious, The Simpsons and Minions.
These feature the full, immersive, cinematic experience universal is renowned for. You appear to drop 400ft off a skyscraper in the Spiderman ride through clever visual techniques and set design, experience a nightmarish dark ride in The Revenge of the Mummy, hurtle through Springfield on The Simpsons Ride and eliminate the alien enemies in Men and Black by shooting at targets on a rotating ride. It marks it out from the usual theme park and the whole family can enjoy an enriching and memorable experience.
The atmosphere is constantly buzzing, the whole time feels like a beating production you don’t want to end.
There is also an unmissable stunt show based around the Jason Bourne franchise, viewed like a live theatre show featuring the actors falling from buildings, evading the line of fire when windows are shattered, a car chase when it really appears that he’s ended up in a burning car and a helicopter sequence. Really blurs the boundaries between the real and visual arts so seamlessly, you often can’t believe what you are seeing!
There are of course more rollercoasters, one where you can select your mood music during the ride (I chose Waterloo), and the other, in Islands of Adventure, is one of the best rides in the world - the legendary Velocicoaster in the Jurassic World section of the park.
Words cannot really do justice to this ride, featuring two forceful launches, near-misses with the velociraptor enclosure environment, a massive 155ft ‘top hat’ element giving ejector airtime over Hogwarts, and finishing with an epic inversion over the central lake, with the illusion you can touch it. It certainly has you going back round for another go, and if you’re in the back row with just that lapbar, you’re barely in your seat. Just honestly, worth the plane ticket alone and I miss it already.
If you want to get soaked and cool down from the searing heat, which was often welcome when it felt like 38 at its peak, there’s much fun to be had with the long-standing Ripsaw Falls ride, or the particularly unforgiving Popeye ride, with all the water features on full power and not turned down when you approach them.
What a great experience the Universal parks had given me, innovative in style and execution. There would also be Volcano Bay water park for a much-needed relax in the wave pool, along the lazy river and experiencing the elaborate slides.
It had more than met my expectations, now time to see what Disney would offer!
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