Latest / Mom Street USA / 91. Is Universal Right For Me? Pt. 4 - Attractions

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91. Is Universal Right For Me? Pt. 4 - Attractions · Mom Street USA

• 0:05
  Welcome everybody to Mom St. USA.
• 0:07
  My name is Jackie AKA Wishes. Mama and I am joined for this
• 0:11
  hub episode by our good friends Duck and Jess AKA Beanie Duck.
• 0:15
  And you have found episode 4 of our Universal series that we
• 0:20
  have been making our way through with our hub episodes with Duck
• 0:23
  and Jess. And for this episode, we are
• 0:25
  going to be focusing primarily on the attractions and rides at
• 0:29
  all three of the Universal Parks.
• 0:31
  So we gave you an overview in Episode 1, and then episode 2
• 0:36
  was resorts and tickets. And Episode 3 we talked about
• 0:39
  special events in Volcano Bay. So if you missed any of that,
• 0:42
  hop on back to those. They are available on our feed
• 0:45
  wherever you may be listening. But today we're talking about
• 0:48
  the attractions and the rides. And I'm excited to hear what
• 0:52
  Duck and Jess have brought for us this episode.
• 0:56
  How are you guys doing today? Doing good.
• 0:58
  Yeah, very excited to talk about everything.
• 1:01
  Universal attraction. I'm so excited.
• 1:05
  We have been talking about it like in the lead up to it.
• 1:07
  I'm thrilled. This is like my favorite topic
• 1:09
  of discussion. So again, like I said last
• 1:13
  episode with Halloween Horror Nights, I will try my best to be
• 1:15
  normal about it. I really, really will.
• 1:18
  Thorough, a little, maybe too thorough.
• 1:21
  You know, that's just that's just how we roll over here, so.
• 1:24
  I want everybody to know as long as this episode is going to be,
• 1:27
  I cut so much out of these notes, it is unbelievable.
• 1:31
  Could have been hours longer. I believe it.
• 1:34
  I totally believe it. So that being said, if there's
• 1:37
  more information that you're looking for that we don't cover
• 1:40
  in this episode on the attractions, please reach out to
• 1:43
  us and Duck will be happy to info dump everything on you
• 1:47
  please. Reach out so you want someone to
• 1:49
  talk to? You can find
• 1:51
  usmomstusa@gmail.com or at Mom St.
• 1:54
  USA on several social media platforms.
• 1:55
  So reach out to us if we don't cover something that you're
• 1:58
  waiting to hear on this episode because we are going to do our
• 2:02
  best to highlight one to two attractions per area.
• 2:06
  So we're not going to go in depth on every single thing they
• 2:08
  have to offer, but our goal is to try to give you a feel for
• 2:12
  what the offerings are like at Universal.
• 2:14
  Again, the whole purpose of this series is for you to determine
• 2:17
  if Universal is the right park for your family, your travel
• 2:21
  party, you yourself to visit. So that is the overarching goal,
• 2:26
  you know, trying to show you what ages are good for what
• 2:29
  attractions and what areas and to really show that Universal is
• 2:33
  good for all ages despite there being kind of a stigma out there
• 2:37
  that it's not. So that is the goal for today.
• 2:41
  Hopefully we achieve that goal in a timely, somewhat timely
• 2:45
  fashion. So that being said, let's jump
• 2:48
  into some overall stats about Universal.
• 2:51
  What do you guys have for us? All right.
• 2:53
  So these are just some very high level stats as to numbers of
• 2:57
  coasters, things like that. So across the three universal
• 3:00
  parks, there are 12 coasters or rides that are classified as
• 3:04
  coasters. They can be various intensities,
• 3:07
  right? You have some very family
• 3:09
  friendly ones that are intended to be like those intro junior
• 3:12
  coasters. And then you have something like
• 3:14
  Velocicoaster, which is intense. Let's say it's intense.
• 3:20
  There are also 8 motion simulation rides.
• 3:23
  There are 21 rides that are classified as other depending on
• 3:27
  who you ask. Other, right?
• 3:29
  So it's basically things that aren't in either of those two
• 3:31
  categories. You have carousels, dark rides,
• 3:34
  teacups, various water rides from log flumes to like Rapids
• 3:38
  type rides. So that is that is the the quote
• 3:41
  UN quote other category. They also have 5 kid centric
• 3:46
  play areas with two of those being splashed.
• 3:49
  But actually three of those because there's one in epic.
• 3:52
  I almost forgot about that one. So there's now the the 3rd it's
• 3:56
  in celestial Park. And there are more meet and
• 4:00
  greets in universal than I think people realize that there is
• 4:03
  right. We have think about how much
• 4:05
  universal owns and there's a good chance that there is a meet
• 4:08
  and greet for it, right? You get The Simpsons, you get,
• 4:12
  excuse me, you get the Invisible Man.
• 4:14
  Now over in Epic Universe, I'm sure everybody's seen different
• 4:17
  videos. It's been like super popular on
• 4:19
  social media. There's Poppy from Trolls,
• 4:21
  there's Shrek characters, there's Grue and various
• 4:24
  minions, scooby-doo, like they own so many things.
• 4:27
  And a good chunk of those properties have some sort of
• 4:30
  meet and greet associated with them.
• 4:32
  So before we actually jump into discussing the rides again, I'm
• 4:37
  going to be very normal about all of this.
• 4:38
  Before we jump into our discussion, just two quick
• 4:42
  housekeeping notes up top. There was no great place to put
• 4:44
  either of these things, but they were important for us to
• 4:47
  include. So 1 is that Universal has a
• 4:50
  rule for rides for kiddos that are under 8, under 48 inches.
• 4:56
  There has to be some sort of supervising companion with them
• 4:59
  on every ride. Now it's up to the team members
• 5:03
  discretion whether like an older sibling can accompany them or it
• 5:06
  has to be an adult. Usually for like the coaster
• 5:09
  type situations, it has to be an adult.
• 5:11
  But for something smaller like a carousel or something like that,
• 5:14
  usually older siblings are OK. So I'm just, you know, something
• 5:18
  to to keep in mind as you're planning your day and maybe what
• 5:21
  you're, you know, if you have an older and younger kid, what
• 5:23
  they'd be interested in together.
• 5:25
  So you know, you can sit on a park bench for a couple minutes
• 5:27
  and let the kids take care of themselves for 5 minutes.
• 5:31
  Or if you do actually need to accompany them on the ride.
• 5:33
  Yeah, that's so interesting because Disney doesn't by age,
• 5:36
  right? So 7 and older are able to ride
• 5:41
  alone, but you still have to have someone 14 or older
• 5:44
  supervising you. I think the reason why they did
• 5:48
  that, I believe Once Upon a time it was age, but it is very hard
• 5:52
  to tell a child's age sometimes. And so I think having the
• 5:57
  concrete measurement is, is the easiest way for them to sort of
• 6:01
  be able to discern like you are above or below this metric of
• 6:04
  being able to ride by yourself. Right when they have so many
• 6:06
  more what I would consider thrill rides when you compare
• 6:10
  straight to Disney. So that makes sense.
• 6:12
  But this literally happened to us on my last family trip.
• 6:16
  My son who is 8 and my daughter who is 6 and I were riding
• 6:21
  Barnstormer. My husband does not ride
• 6:23
  Barnstormer because it is a very uncomfy ride for a man that is
• 6:26
  his his size He's. He went over 5-6, yeah.
• 6:29
  Yeah, yeah, he and he's over 6 foot so you know that's not
• 6:32
  going to happen. But the the cast member at
• 6:35
  Disney did have to ask him how old he was to make sure because
• 6:37
  he was riding in front of my daughter and I, but they knew
• 6:42
  that I was behind him. So he was allowed at 8 years old
• 6:44
  to ride in his seat by himself on that one.
• 6:47
  So interesting. It was very interesting that I
• 6:49
  was because I was kind of like, well, I don't know what's going
• 6:52
  to happen when we get up there when there's only three of us
• 6:54
  riding. Let's go find out what and see
• 6:56
  what they say, you know? So yeah, that was interesting.
• 6:59
  But it is interesting to know that Universal does it more by
• 7:02
  height. But does that make sense?
• 7:05
  Yeah, I think I think Disney, if you've probably seen these
• 7:09
  unfortunate videos along social media where people are getting
• 7:12
  their kids to lie about their height or their age or whatever,
• 7:15
  might try to game the system throughout Disney.
• 7:17
  And you could still do it with height, but it is a little bit
• 7:20
  more difficult. Like you really have to go out
• 7:23
  of your way to do it first. It's just telling your kid to
• 7:25
  lie about their age. So I think I think having that
• 7:27
  concrete measurement was probably why they were like, OK,
• 7:29
  if this kids going on this coaster, we need to make sure
• 7:32
  that they are with in a supervisor in some capacity.
• 7:35
  So. Yeah, I don't blame them on that
• 7:37
  at all. Nope. 100% OK, So now other
• 7:40
  housekeeping item that is slightly different but always
• 7:43
  gets brought up in discussion of Universal and that is their
• 7:46
  locker situation. Totally different from anything
• 7:49
  we're just talking about, but very important because Universal
• 7:53
  does not allow any bags or any loose articles on pretty much
• 7:58
  any ride. I think there's one or two rides
• 8:01
  where they'll kind of look the other way, but things like
• 8:03
  Velocicoaster, it's straight up has a metal detector that you
• 8:07
  have to walk through to make sure that you don't have keys,
• 8:10
  wallet, phone, glasses, like sunglasses to make sure that
• 8:14
  they actually won't even let you ride with like a just loose
• 8:16
  glasses on your face. Because of the way the speed and
• 8:19
  the fact that a lot of these coasters go over or like
• 8:21
  walkways of the park. So for your safety, you cannot
• 8:25
  bring stuff on these rides. As a result, they offer
• 8:28
  complimentary lockers outside of just about all of these large
• 8:31
  coasters and velocicoasters physically inside the queue.
• 8:34
  So don't worry if you don't see it right away.
• 8:36
  But places like the Mummy, it's right outside, they are smaller
• 8:40
  but we managed to shove our fairly full backpacks in there
• 8:43
  pretty easily. But if you're carrying a lot of
• 8:46
  stuff for a family, maybe snacks, maybe you have like 7
• 8:49
  water bottles because your kids just really need to be hydrated.
• 8:52
  They do. And you true absolutely safety
• 8:55
  first. You can rent larger lockers and
• 8:59
  that locker rental will be able to transfer.
• 9:01
  Like you can just buy an all day locker and then it's just with
• 9:03
  your pass, your day pass. So again, very different, but
• 9:08
  this comes up every single time. And I think since we're talking
• 9:11
  about attractions and planning your day around it, this is a
• 9:13
  really important, important one to discuss here.
• 9:16
  Yeah, definitely. And it's, it's something to
• 9:20
  note, but also something not to be overly concerned about.
• 9:22
  Like like you said, if you end up having to get a bigger
• 9:25
  locker, it does follow you, which is a really nice thing
• 9:28
  because there are some theme parks that exist in the country
• 9:31
  where that's not the case. And you have to purchase a new
• 9:34
  one for every attraction that you're going on.
• 9:36
  So it's nice that you can just do a one time thing and just
• 9:39
  have that go with you. So you don't have to worry about
• 9:41
  trying to squish all of your stuff.
• 9:43
  Like you said, water bottles, ponchos, backpacks, snacks, any
• 9:46
  of that stuff. You don't have to worry about
• 9:48
  squashing it because the locker those are not super big for full
• 9:51
  size backpacks. No, we usually bring lounge fly
• 9:54
  bags. And we manage with those just
• 9:56
  fine, but. So I will also bring so you'll
• 9:58
  bring your like when we say lounge fly for Jess, she'll
• 10:01
  bring like those little half mini backpacks.
• 10:04
  I have a larger it's a Star Wars lounge fly backpack.
• 10:07
  It is a full size bag, but I do not have it full with stuff.
• 10:10
  It is usually just like a water bottle, some you know, change of
• 10:14
  clothes, poncho, my my glasses, case, stuff like that.
• 10:17
  And laying it flat, it just kind of slides right in.
• 10:19
  And as long as it's not like overstuffed, it's usually OK.
• 10:22
  So you can make do with the smaller lockers and each person
• 10:25
  like writing can get a locker. So it's not just like one per
• 10:27
  party, Like you get your ticket and get the locker that way.
• 10:31
  So that helps too. If you have like a lot of people
• 10:33
  riding, you can kind of split your stuff up.
• 10:35
  Right. Yes, True.
• 10:37
  All right. Are we ready to talk about some
• 10:38
  rides? We are.
• 10:40
  I'm. Right.
• 10:42
  All right, so we are going to start in Universal Studios.
• 10:46
  So to keep these organized, we're going to kind of go in a
• 10:48
  clockwise, you know, pattern around the park.
• 10:53
  So mapping it out with Universal Studios, if you walk in that
• 10:56
  kind of Main Street that you enter on, just kind of keep
• 10:58
  following that main path all the way around is how we're going to
• 11:00
  do it. So the first area that you
• 11:03
  encounter in the park when you walk right in is Minion Land.
• 11:06
  This is a pretty recent addition to the park.
• 11:08
  Just within the last couple of years they've been kind of
• 11:10
  constructing it. So this is one of the two.
• 11:14
  I'm sorry I know it feels like it's super duper new but it's
• 11:17
  within the last like 15 years 10/10/15.
• 11:20
  I feel like like some of it is. Very.
• 11:22
  Yeah, that's true that you're right.
• 11:23
  They. Have was like some of the
• 11:24
  minions ride. That's right.
• 11:26
  They did. They did finish it, You're
• 11:27
  right. In fact, I like the Monsters
• 11:29
  Cafe a couple years ago and all that.
• 11:31
  I'm sorry to it's a touchy subject.
• 11:34
  Get away with it, right, Because the newest, the newest
• 11:36
  attraction there opened less than two years ago.
• 11:38
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the minion blasted the.
• 11:42
  Villain Con. Yeah.
• 11:44
  I believe you. I have.
• 11:45
  No, it was. Like a minion land until very
• 11:47
  recently. Yeah, it was like the last two
• 11:50
  years that that opened. I trust your guys, but there was
• 11:54
  mine. Like one of the rides was always
• 11:56
  there. Yeah, one of the rides has been
• 11:58
  there long. That was great because then when
• 11:59
  they went did away with the Shrek, that's it.
• 12:02
  It was it was Shrek for a very long time and then once they
• 12:04
  they did away with Shrek 3D. That's right.
• 12:06
  So sorry I lied. We can continue.
• 12:09
  You're both right. Challenging.
• 12:11
  I was incorrect, I apologize. It will most assuredly not
• 12:15
  happen again. So this is one of the two like
• 12:19
  super family friendly areas of Universal Studios.
• 12:23
  So there are two attractions here, both of which Universal
• 12:26
  describes as being for everyone. But does note that lap infants
• 12:30
  are not allowed on these rides. I don't like with a lot of
• 12:32
  Disney rides, especially the dark rides, you can just like
• 12:34
  have a kiddo in your lap. Here you cannot.
• 12:37
  So the two rides that are here are Minion Mayhem.
• 12:39
  So this is a motion simulator. It was once a 3D ride.
• 12:44
  It is no longer, but it is, you know, kind of that motion
• 12:48
  simulator kind of ride. And then the next one is Villain
• 12:51
  Con Minion Blast. So this is a shooting gallery
• 12:54
  game. Think like Buzz Lightyear, Space
• 12:55
  Ranger Spin, and both of these attractions are really some of
• 12:58
  the most popular in the parks, especially since they are so
• 13:02
  family friendly. And they're right at the front,
• 13:04
  so a lot of people are. Falcon right in there they.
• 13:06
  Walk there, they go straight there so.
• 13:08
  They're people enters absolutely, yes.
• 13:10
  So I would advise not doing that if I were you and I would circle
• 13:14
  back later because the drop the wait times will drop later in
• 13:18
  the day. Yeah, especially if you, if you
• 13:21
  are going on this as an adult and just you, you're good, wait
• 13:24
  until the end of the day. But if you're kiddos can last
• 13:27
  through the end of the day, if this is like a family trip,
• 13:30
  absolutely by the end of the day, those wait times are are
• 13:32
  nothing. They're like walk ONS, even
• 13:34
  during some of the busiest times of the year.
• 13:37
  All right, so next we get to one of my favorite areas of the
• 13:40
  park, New York. So this area of the park for now
• 13:44
  has RIP ride rocket, but that will be closing in August of
• 13:47
  2025 S really the only coaster that will be in this area is my
• 13:53
  personal favorite ride in all of the universal revenge of the
• 13:56
  mummy. I can't be cool about the mummy.
• 13:59
  So this ride is themed to the Brendan Fraser Mummy movies,
• 14:03
  which are some of my favorite movies ever.
• 14:06
  And this is definitely a thrill ride.
• 14:07
  So Universal recognize that nobody under seven goes on, but
• 14:11
  the minimum height requirement is 48 inches.
• 14:14
  So I mean, if you're a parent, you know, you're kiddos, you
• 14:16
  know what they'll be afraid of and what they won't be afraid
• 14:18
  of. There are some kind of like jump
• 14:20
  scare elements that had my sister-in-law like hit me in the
• 14:23
  face once. So even adults can be afraid.
• 14:26
  She jumped. They've shack handed me if she
• 14:29
  was insane if. She wasn't strapped down.
• 14:31
  She would have jumped 6 feet in the air and she just leaned over
• 14:34
  and just backhanded Jazz because she was just flailing in fear.
• 14:38
  It's still one of our favorite stories to talk about.
• 14:41
  So you know, you know the people you're with and what they are
• 14:43
  and are not afraid of. So it's it's not limited to just
• 14:46
  kids. And there are some scenes with
• 14:49
  fire and things like that. So, you know, again, just kind
• 14:52
  of judge based on what your kids are cool with and not cool with.
• 14:57
  But this really is a super fun roller coaster.
• 15:00
  It's an older ride that's been there, but it's still, you know,
• 15:02
  kind of stands the test of time and is one of my favorite rides
• 15:05
  and like I said, like my favorite ride in the entire
• 15:07
  park, the one of my favorite rides ever.
• 15:09
  And I would say just like we've talked about before on Mom
• 15:11
  Street with Disney rides, watching point of view videos on
• 15:14
  YouTube of some of these rides is always a really good idea,
• 15:17
  even if you don't want to spoil it for your kiddos that are
• 15:20
  going with you. Like you as a parent, I highly
• 15:22
  suggest that you do this just to double check and make sure
• 15:26
  because for example, I could, you know, recommend that
• 15:29
  somebody ride Remy's Ratatouille Adventure at Epcot.
• 15:32
  My kids do not like that ride because of the jump scares and
• 15:35
  the fire and the elements that are in that.
• 15:37
  So like watching that on YouTube would prepare me better to know
• 15:41
  that like, Nope, my kids, that's not their thing.
• 15:43
  We're not going to worry about that.
• 15:45
  So pulling up a couple point of views on some of these that
• 15:48
  you're maybe wondering about, especially the dark ride.
• 15:50
  Some of these coasters are a little more straightforward with
• 15:54
  some of that stuff, but some of these darker kind of indoor dark
• 15:58
  ride coaster hybrids are kind of ones that are good to watch on
• 16:01
  YouTube before you go. Yeah, absolutely.
• 16:04
  Absolutely. All right, So then after the
• 16:07
  mummy, there are. Once you begrudgingly.
• 16:09
  Like the Mummy? The there is 3 attractions that
• 16:14
  are all kind of similar between the rest of New York and then
• 16:18
  going into the San Francisco area.
• 16:20
  So they'll all just kind of get grouped together.
• 16:22
  So they're all 4D motion simulator rides.
• 16:24
  So one is based on the Fast and Furious, 1 is a Transformers
• 16:28
  themed ride, and then the other is the Jimmy Fallon.
• 16:31
  What is it like the Jimmy Fallon experience from New York?
• 16:34
  It's yeah. So in the court of public
• 16:37
  opinion has ruled that Transformers is the best among
• 16:39
  the three, and it's definitely probably the best if you have
• 16:43
  kids with you. Transformers is definitely
• 16:45
  something that kids just are more interested in and know more
• 16:49
  about. I I don't know many 10 year olds
• 16:51
  that care a lot about Jimmy Fallon's.
• 16:53
  Oh, no offense to Jimmy Fallon. It's not personal, man, Not.
• 16:57
  Personal but just saying. And the Fast and the Furious 1
• 17:02
  is beat like rumored to possibly be closing in the near future.
• 17:05
  They just closed the one that's in Hollywood permanently and the
• 17:09
  one in Orlando is closed for a lot of the year because they do
• 17:12
  close it down and use it as a queue for HHN in a house for
• 17:16
  HHN. So you know, if there is the
• 17:19
  possibility of that, people been talking about it on and off for
• 17:22
  quite a while now, so we'll have to just kind of see what happens
• 17:25
  there. So these rides all have a 40
• 17:28
  inch height requirement. And we also discussed this in a
• 17:31
  previous video, but the Transformers one has a really
• 17:34
  awesome meet and greet right outside.
• 17:37
  It's the Optimus Prime. So there's Optimus Prime,
• 17:39
  Bumblebee and Megatron that will meet out there.
• 17:42
  It is. They seem to usually rotate like
• 17:45
  throughout the day. But always check the app and you
• 17:47
  can always ask team members who will be out when they will have
• 17:50
  the most up to date info. Yeah, so another thing to draw
• 17:53
  you and your kiddos to that right.
• 17:54
  The Megatron's the best man. He's so funny.
• 17:59
  Cool. All right, so continuing on,
• 18:01
  once you get past San Francisco, you may see a suspiciously
• 18:04
  magical looking bus with a man. Oh, another meet and greet.
• 18:09
  Actually, I forget about that because people don't really talk
• 18:13
  about it much, but there is on the night bus, you can meet the
• 18:16
  night bus driver Stan, a lot of fun.
• 18:18
  Just a man with a British accent.
• 18:20
  Honestly, it's. Pretty fun, doesn't he have the
• 18:22
  little? The little.
• 18:22
  Sunken head with him if you yes he does have the truck and head
• 18:27
  so. And then if you happen to look
• 18:28
  to your left, you may notice a suspicious looking brick wall
• 18:31
  and you can walk right into Diagon Alley.
• 18:34
  So while there's a ton to take in in there, of course there's
• 18:37
  the stage show which we talked about last time in the Christmas
• 18:41
  theme, but they also have a regular one that they run year
• 18:44
  round. There's Butter Bear to get in
• 18:46
  there. There's delicious ice cream.
• 18:48
  But there is Ollivanders. There's Ollivanders.
• 18:50
  Oh yeah, the Ollivanders experience.
• 18:51
  So there's lots to do and see in there.
• 18:53
  But in terms of attractions, there really is only one, and
• 18:56
  that is the Escape from Gringotts coaster.
• 18:59
  So if you look at the Universal website, they classify this as a
• 19:03
  40 experience, but it is different from the other 40 ones
• 19:06
  that we were just talking about, where they're much more motion
• 19:09
  simulator heavy. This is a coaster on which you
• 19:11
  wear 3D glasses. So like yes it is technically 40
• 19:15
  but it is distinct from the other. 40 attractions, 40
• 19:18
  elements because there's like fire and water elements, so like
• 19:21
  it, it has that. It's true, but for anybody who
• 19:23
  hasn't seen a ride through, you are on a coaster and much like
• 19:27
  Guardians, the car will break apart and you look at different
• 19:30
  show scenes and you there's screen elements but also real
• 19:34
  elements. So this is a 42 inch height
• 19:38
  requirement. So something to keep in mind.
• 19:40
  I know a lot of people I've seen, unfortunately many a
• 19:43
  disappointed child near the entrance of Gringotts.
• 19:46
  So this is a big one because it's so exciting to be in there
• 19:50
  when you're kiddos, a Harry Potter fan.
• 19:52
  So maybe avoid some disappointment and just just
• 19:55
  double check before you head into the park.
• 19:57
  And that being said, if you do have a kiddo that's too short to
• 20:00
  ride any of these, especially the ones that have the really
• 20:03
  themed and extensive queues, they are welcome to walk the
• 20:06
  queue with you. Yes, that's always something
• 20:08
  that they can do. And then just at the end, you
• 20:11
  just take the the exit and the the team member will show you
• 20:13
  where to go. So.
• 20:14
  Yes, that's very true. And that's actually something
• 20:16
  that I was going to bring up later with the Hogwarts castle,
• 20:20
  right? No, no, that's fine.
• 20:21
  Actually bring a. Gun No, you're totally fine.
• 20:23
  And that's actually super true because Universal does a great
• 20:25
  job with a lot of their queues. Almost everything has a really
• 20:29
  interesting queue. And so it's fun.
• 20:34
  It's fun to just see and look through them.
• 20:36
  And you know, in some cases maybe just get like a hit of air
• 20:38
  conditioning, right. So like it's totally fair for
• 20:41
  you to just go through the queue with your kiddo and they can
• 20:43
  experience that. And then as soon as we get to
• 20:45
  the end, they can just dip out. You just tell, tell the team
• 20:49
  they do so. So almost, I think it's almost
• 20:53
  all of the rides have a rider swap, certainly all of the
• 20:56
  coasters do, but most of the rides have and I would imagine
• 20:59
  anything. That's got a height requirement
• 21:01
  has got to have some sort of a rider swap situation going on
• 21:04
  there. So anything that has that what
• 21:07
  because what you said, this one is 42.
• 21:09
  So anything that has some sort of a height requirement is going
• 21:11
  to have some option for rider swap.
• 21:14
  Yes, definitely. OK, so once you had your fill of
• 21:18
  Butterbeer ice cream and you bought 15 wands from
• 21:21
  Ollivanders, we're going to continue on and then you're
• 21:23
  going to hit World Expo, which is an interesting part of the
• 21:27
  park because it is themed to Men in Black because there is only,
• 21:32
  much like Diagon Alley, there's technically only one attraction
• 21:35
  back here and that is Men in Black Alien Attack.
• 21:38
  It is it's another like shooting gallery type ride where you're
• 21:41
  in a ride vehicle and you're moving through and you have a
• 21:44
  fun little laser gun like you're a Men in Black trainee.
• 21:47
  And then of course things go a little sideways.
• 21:49
  So this has a it's a very high capacity ride.
• 21:53
  So there's hardly ever a wait for IT.
• 21:55
  People like to say it's because it's not popular.
• 21:57
  Those people are lying. It's because it's because it's
• 22:00
  got a very high capacity and it also has stellar air
• 22:04
  conditioning and a pretty fun cue.
• 22:06
  It's got some animatronics like I don't, I don't know if
• 22:09
  necessarily people who are, are our age having kids, their kids
• 22:13
  may have seen men in black, but we saw men in black a lot
• 22:15
  growing up. Therefore it's a fun experience
• 22:18
  for us. This does have another height
• 22:22
  requirement and it is also 42 inches.
• 22:25
  And that I, I'm a little surprised at that just because
• 22:28
  the nature of this ride, but I think it's the way that the ride
• 22:31
  vehicles are designed. I don't think anyone shorter
• 22:33
  your feet wouldn't touch the, the ground of the ride vehicle.
• 22:36
  So yeah, I didn't think about. That with a height requirement,
• 22:40
  because it's not, it's not a thrill ride, you know what I
• 22:44
  mean? Like it, it does kind of spin
• 22:46
  you and jerk you side to side a little bit, but I feel like no
• 22:49
  more than something like a Toy Story mania would.
• 22:51
  And there's no height requirement on that ride.
• 22:54
  So interesting. It's got to be something with
• 22:55
  the construction of the vehicle, part of me thinks.
• 23:00
  That it's, there's actually one specific bit at the end that
• 23:03
  whips you around pretty good, like you're in a teacup ride.
• 23:07
  And so I think because of like there is the lap bar that you do
• 23:11
  have, right? You're not just standing.
• 23:12
  Big enough you would go, right? You did.
• 23:16
  There would just be a kid. Sailing across the ride and then
• 23:19
  just, boy, I just don't think they want that.
• 23:21
  Yeah. No, I I don't think they want
• 23:23
  that. Either.
• 23:25
  OK. So once your child has been
• 23:26
  launched out of the Men in Black.
• 23:31
  Not. Actually, if they meet the
• 23:33
  height requirement disclaimer, This is why height requirements.
• 23:37
  Are foreign. We are all about.
• 23:39
  Safety on this podcast, I am fully joking.
• 23:44
  Once you are done in Men in Black, you've taken in all the
• 23:46
  air conditioning you can. You can then move on to
• 23:49
  Springfield and Springfield is themed to Springfield from The
• 23:53
  Simpsons. It's like a carnival area, like
• 23:55
  a boardwalk type situation. There are two rides in here.
• 24:00
  If you were like me and you have motion sensitivity, they are
• 24:04
  horrible for us personally. They all this.
• 24:06
  Was. An attack against me personally,
• 24:09
  right? So 1 is a 40 motion simulator
• 24:12
  ride and the other is a scrambler ride which is
• 24:16
  appropriately named the Twirl and Hurl.
• 24:19
  So great. Love.
• 24:21
  That that's. Yes.
• 24:23
  That's a terrible name. OK, I not great, not great.
• 24:27
  I mean it, it makes sense in the theming of The Simpsons, right?
• 24:31
  The aliens. It is.
• 24:33
  It is yeah, Kang and I can't remember the other ones name.
• 24:37
  I'm a bad Simpsons fan, but on the bright side, they have tons
• 24:42
  of carnival games and there's like lots of fun prizes that you
• 24:44
  can win. So if you're like me and you got
• 24:46
  to set that, sit those ones out, there's plenty to do.
• 24:50
  There's also like a themed food area that has like a bunch of
• 24:52
  different Springfield themed restaurants and as like a Moe's
• 24:57
  Tavern and things like that. And if you're like me and The
• 25:00
  Simpsons fan, they also sell the giant pink frosted doughnut that
• 25:03
  Homer eats. So I had it.
• 25:06
  It was pretty good. Pretty good.
• 25:08
  OK, let's talk. About the next area which I get
• 25:11
  to talk about because I know things you guys, I was like
• 25:16
  this, this feels. Like the five for Jackie, this
• 25:18
  is perfect. Let's talk.
• 25:20
  About DreamWorks land, this is AI think the newest area like
• 25:25
  full area in any of the parks, aside from epic, which we'll get
• 25:29
  to whole brand new brand new. You know, and it is the most
• 25:34
  family friendly area of the park, as everything here is
• 25:38
  specifically geared towards your younger kiddos.
• 25:40
  So there are two splash pads and little water park areas here, a
• 25:45
  pose Kung Fu training camp and Shrek's Swamp for Little Ogre.
• 25:49
  So you can tell those are themed perfectly for little kiddos.
• 25:54
  Now if you want a space for them to run around but don't
• 25:56
  necessarily want them getting drenched or soaked, there's also
• 25:59
  Poppy's playground, which is a trolls themed playground for the
• 26:03
  little ones to run around there. And if your kids are ready for a
• 26:06
  family friendly kind of basic coaster experience, there is the
• 26:12
  Troller coaster in the area, which we love that name,
• 26:16
  amazing. And the height requirement on
• 26:18
  that is only 36. So very, very accessible for a
• 26:22
  lot of little kiddos that are ready for that first coaster
• 26:25
  experience in there. After that, you venture into
• 26:29
  Hollywood and the Hollywood area for as of now, the ET ride is
• 26:35
  the only attraction in the area and it's really like adjacent to
• 26:39
  the entrance to DreamWorks land. So it's super close.
• 26:42
  Hollywood. Yes.
• 26:43
  Yes. It's the ET area basically, so
• 26:47
  it is a good one to check out on your way to and from seeing
• 26:51
  Shrek and PO and the Troller coaster.
• 26:54
  The height requirement on this one is 38, so very similar in
• 26:58
  height to troller coaster. But if you've got kiddos that
• 27:01
  are just tall enough for troller coaster, just be aware that it
• 27:04
  is a 38 inch height requirement for this one.
• 27:07
  And Universal classifieds this as a motion simulator ride, but
• 27:11
  it's really more of kind of like a tame dark ride because
• 27:16
  there's. I don't know motion.
• 27:18
  Simulator is surprising to me with that one because there are
• 27:21
  a lot of like audio animatronics and things like that that you
• 27:23
  experience in the ride. So so I don't think.
• 27:27
  Universal uses the classification of dark ride on
• 27:30
  any of on any of their things because there are things like
• 27:33
  this that I would call a dark ride and and other things too
• 27:38
  that, you know, we've gone through and I would classify
• 27:40
  them as dark ride, but they just don't.
• 27:43
  So I think that is the only other option, right?
• 27:46
  It is. Well, it's simulating you being
• 27:49
  on a bike through the motions. It is motion simulator.
• 27:54
  But yeah, but this? Is not one that you have to
• 27:56
  worry about motion sickness or feeling any of that dizziness
• 28:00
  that you typically think of with like a motion simulator.
• 28:02
  It's really just a dark ride. So if you've got a kiddo that
• 28:06
  likes ET, it's very, very kiddo friendly for for those in that
• 28:11
  sense, almost your kids very afraid.
• 28:13
  Of ET true. True, you have to kind of know a
• 28:16
  little bit about that. You know, maybe watch the movie
• 28:19
  before you come because just saying that because.
• 28:22
  I was terrified of ET. I didn't like him either.
• 28:24
  He was so OK I. Would loved him, didn't like the
• 28:27
  neck extension in the scream. Was it for me.
• 28:30
  Everything else 100%. Love that weird little guy and I
• 28:32
  think there are I. Think there are some some
• 28:35
  polarizing opinions on ET. I think there are a lot of
• 28:37
  people that were sort of traumatized by valid him because
• 28:42
  I mean when that movie came out there was nothing like it that
• 28:45
  existed in the cinematic universes anywhere.
• 28:48
  So it was kind of this odd little man alien little guy
• 28:53
  Yeah, yeah, So exactly. So just be aware of that, maybe
• 28:58
  prep your kid accordingly because because you do visit E
• 29:02
  TS planet and see other other characters in his species.
• 29:07
  So just prepare yourself for that.
• 29:11
  That being said, with the Hollywood area, what they lack
• 29:13
  in attractions, they do make up for meet and greet.
• 29:15
  So just briefly want to talk about that in this area because
• 29:19
  they are something fun that you can do in that that region of
• 29:23
  the park. I'm so scooby-doo and the gang
• 29:25
  are out in that area. Doc Brown from Back to the
• 29:28
  Future, Beetlejuice can be found over there.
• 29:31
  Hello Kitty is now over there. She was relocated from her
• 29:34
  previous store when they kind of shifted all of that because
• 29:38
  that's where the Wicked store is now, right?
• 29:40
  So. Kitty for for Alpha Blind,
• 29:43
  Glenda's Shiz University dorm. Yeah, yeah.
• 29:47
  So. Again, lots of characters to
• 29:49
  see. Check your app for those to make
• 29:51
  sure that you can find who you're looking for or see what
• 29:55
  your options are 'cause there are several others that are
• 29:57
  little kiddo friendly. Gabby from Gabby's Dollhouse
• 30:01
  meets over there. There's some others kind of
• 30:03
  younger, younger geared yeah greets over there so definitely
• 30:08
  check your your app or talk to your the team members that are
• 30:11
  in that area yeah you're. And even sometimes your best bet
• 30:15
  is to talk to a team member over the app because there are very
• 30:18
  often, I don't want to call them surprise meet and greets, but
• 30:21
  like unscheduled meet and greets, right, of characters.
• 30:25
  I don't want to call them rare characters because it's not in
• 30:27
  the same way that like a Disney would have a rare character.
• 30:30
  But there are characters that don't meet all the time that may
• 30:33
  just be out on a particularly busy day to try to, you know,
• 30:37
  gather some of the crowds to sort of alleviate other areas.
• 30:40
  So just, you know, look around on social media, there's lots
• 30:44
  and lots of pictures of characters and things like that.
• 30:47
  And it can't hurt to ask team members all throughout Hollywood
• 30:50
  if they know if someone's meeting that day exactly.
• 30:53
  Love it. Okay, I think that wraps up our
• 30:56
  time at Universal Studios. Let's go to Islands of
• 31:00
  Adventure. Let's go on an.
• 31:02
  Adventure to an island, finds out what we've got over there.
• 31:06
  Crush that transition. We're professionals people.
• 31:10
  So for IOA, for Islands of Adventure, we're going to go in
• 31:13
  the same clockwise pattern, just, you know, forsake of if
• 31:15
  you guys are following along at home or you're mentally going
• 31:18
  through this because maybe you've been there before.
• 31:20
  So we're going to start at Superhero Island.
• 31:22
  We're going to go around and end in Seuss's Landing.
• 31:24
  So Marvel Superhero Island. There is actually a ton to do
• 31:30
  here. It is one of the larger areas.
• 31:33
  It is one of the larger islands in this park, if you will.
• 31:36
  So there's a superhero parade where the superheroes are on
• 31:39
  themed 4 Wheelers and it's the greatest thing.
• 31:43
  It's so funny. It's so funny because you have
• 31:45
  no idea what's going on. And then all of a sudden this
• 31:47
  superhero music starts blasting all throughout the area and you
• 31:50
  look up and there's Wolverine on a four Wheeler.
• 31:52
  It's the It's like a very. Dated thing like it's just like.
• 31:56
  A relic of like the 90s and it, I love it, perfect.
• 31:58
  And I think that's amazing. It never will.
• 32:01
  Because they are never giving up anything to do with those
• 32:03
  rights. That's 100% true.
• 32:05
  Yeah. So in addition to seeing Storm
• 32:09
  on a four Wheeler, you can also have there's also meet and
• 32:12
  greets, right? So a lot of the classic heroes
• 32:14
  you have, like Spider Man, Captain America, Storm,
• 32:16
  Wolverine, when I was a kid, the Fantastic Four we're meeting.
• 32:20
  They seem to me they will periodically bring them back.
• 32:22
  And with the new movie, I suspect they will bring them
• 32:24
  back again. And you also get villains that
• 32:27
  you can meet in here. So Doctor Doom and the Green
• 32:29
  Goblin are the two most common. But occasionally they'll break
• 32:32
  out somebody else, you know, I've seen, like the Hobgoblin
• 32:35
  and Venom. So I'm going to pick two to talk
• 32:38
  about in here and I'll talk about the two biggest ones.
• 32:40
  Of course, in here you get the Incredible Hulk coaster and you
• 32:43
  get the Amazing Adventures of Spider Man.
• 32:46
  So to start with the Hulk coaster, this is a thrill ride.
• 32:50
  This is a coaster. So this is it launches, there's
• 32:54
  loops like this is a serious coaster.
• 32:57
  So as such, the minimum height is 54 inches, which is much
• 33:00
  higher than anything that we've talked about so far.
• 33:04
  It is a lot of fun. It's this is actually a fun one
• 33:06
  to go through the queue of if you have a kiddo who likes the
• 33:09
  Hulk because it is as if you're transforming into the Hulk.
• 33:12
  That's what the theme of this is.
• 33:14
  And here's a fun fact. Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy
• 33:17
  wrote the music to the theme music to when to when they
• 33:20
  reopened it in 2014. Yeah, I think that's right.
• 33:23
  That sounds. True, I'll go.
• 33:24
  With 2014. If I'm wrong tell me.
• 33:26
  I like that and I don't. Know how he ended up in that?
• 33:29
  Because he also wrote all of the music for the Disney Junior.
• 33:32
  Spidey and his amazing friends shows a lot of composing.
• 33:35
  Like, yeah, the side, it's like amazing what he's been involved
• 33:38
  in. He's clearly got.
• 33:40
  Some in with both sides of Marvel somehow.
• 33:43
  Can you ring on the theme of? Spider Man, Actually, we have
• 33:45
  The Amazing Adventures of Spider Man, which is that very beloved
• 33:50
  3D4D ride, right? You are going through these
• 33:53
  different show scenes as you're going a ride along on a ride
• 33:56
  along. Excuse me, with your friendly
• 33:58
  neighborhood Spider Man. You do have 3D glasses.
• 34:01
  This can make some folks who are sensitive to motion.
• 34:04
  Some people do have a problem. I'm very sensitive to motion and
• 34:07
  I do not have a problem on it, but that maybe because when I
• 34:10
  was a child I forced my father to go on it like 10 times in a
• 34:13
  row. So I think my body just like is
• 34:15
  good with it, right? Like I just got over, I just got
• 34:17
  over the hurdle exposure. Therapy, it's great you're so
• 34:20
  excited about. Spider Man, your body was just
• 34:21
  like how? This is fine.
• 34:23
  This is cool. I will say on that one there
• 34:25
  are. Lots of jump scares, so just be
• 34:28
  aware of that because as much as I was just saying my kids love
• 34:32
  Spider Man, that is not a ride that I can take them on because
• 34:35
  they will not do well with jump scares on that ride.
• 34:37
  So extremely fair this is. Another one, there's tons of
• 34:41
  ride throughs that are available so you can because this is you
• 34:44
  are moving through sets, there are fire and some explosions and
• 34:48
  it does at one point feel like you're falling.
• 34:50
  So like absolutely 100% know your kiddo and double check
• 34:53
  these these ride throughs and it may not even be an issue because
• 34:57
  this does have a height requirement of 40 inches.
• 34:59
  So if your kiddos not quite there yet, maybe next year when
• 35:03
  they're past that 40 inch mark, maybe they'll be a little bit
• 35:05
  more comfortable with some of the excitement, we'll call it.
• 35:09
  Or you're just have kiddos that are super sensitive to jump
• 35:12
  scares like they are because you know, my 6 year old is 49 inches
• 35:15
  so and she's like she's she will probably never ride this until
• 35:19
  she's a teenager and that's so fair.
• 35:21
  Yeah, Yep. So once you have decided to
• 35:24
  leave Wolverine on a four Wheeler behind, you can move on
• 35:27
  to to it's the, I don't mean to keep bringing it up, but it was
• 35:30
  just the craziest thing that I remember that parade from when I
• 35:33
  was a child and they were still running it.
• 35:36
  But then we can move on to Toon Lagoon.
• 35:39
  So Toon Lagoon, as you might have guessed it is cartoon
• 35:42
  themed, but it is specifically to like the Sunday funny comics.
• 35:46
  So think like Popeye and and comics like that.
• 35:52
  The name just went right out of my head.
• 35:54
  Mutts. Like there's all those Dudley Do
• 35:56
  right? Yeah.
• 35:57
  So there are two rides in here. Both of them are water rides.
• 36:01
  There is Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw Falls, which is a log
• 36:04
  flume and you are going to get soaked.
• 36:08
  This is a ride where they're just going to pour buckets of
• 36:11
  water on you. So just just a heads up, bring a
• 36:15
  bathing suit or a change of clothes.
• 36:17
  And then there is Popeye and Bluto's bilge rat barges, which
• 36:21
  is very difficult to say. Tongue twister.
• 36:23
  It's terrible. And that's like a Rapids ride so
• 36:26
  you will still get wet on it. Don't get me wrong.
• 36:30
  I mean both their water rides, but like famously rips off
• 36:33
  falls, you get absolutely soaked on it.
• 36:37
  They do have height requirements for both of these.
• 36:39
  It is 42 for Popeyes and 44 for Deadly and if you are not
• 36:46
  interested in either of those but you have a kiddo that needs
• 36:49
  to burn off some energy, there's a lovely Popeye themed
• 36:52
  playground called Me Ship Olive Oil and your kiddo can just go
• 36:56
  run around and pretend like they're ship captain and it's
• 36:58
  excellent. I've seen many a child burning
• 37:00
  off energy there. All right, so.
• 37:02
  Then going, leaving the kind of comic themed area.
• 37:08
  Next we hit Kong Skull Island. So this is not really like an
• 37:11
  area of the park. It's literally just this ride
• 37:13
  that is there. So this is a ride where you and
• 37:18
  20 of your closest friends or most likely random park goers
• 37:21
  get kind of shoved into this Jeep and you drive through Skull
• 37:24
  Island. So Universal explicitly
• 37:26
  recommends this one for adults. Older teens might be fine with
• 37:30
  it, but there is like violence and gunfire and pyrotechnics and
• 37:33
  stuff like that. So it's definitely recommended
• 37:35
  for more of an older crowd. And this is one that you just
• 37:39
  it's you're. Driving through.
• 37:42
  And it's bumpy and all that kind of stuff.
• 37:44
  We. I've been on it once.
• 37:46
  Yeah. And that was fine, right?
• 37:47
  Like it was I did. She was the one who did.
• 37:49
  It was good. It was for somebody who really
• 37:52
  loves King Kong, you would love this ride, right?
• 37:55
  Like it's really, it's not even that it's like not impressive
• 37:58
  because it's a good and interesting ride, but the
• 38:01
  vehicle is pretty uncomfortable because they really jam pack
• 38:04
  everybody in there and there is a lot of motion.
• 38:06
  So like when they're recommending this for adults,
• 38:09
  this isn't like, oh, I'll just bring my kid on it anyway.
• 38:12
  Like, like, please make sure because your child can get
• 38:14
  squished in the vehicle because there's some harsh turns.
• 38:17
  Like please absolutely make sure that your child is probably like
• 38:21
  a teenager or older. That's that's yeah, I'm I'm with
• 38:24
  universal on this 100% All right.
• 38:26
  And then the. Next themed.
• 38:27
  Area of the park is honestly one of the coolest and what me and
• 38:31
  duck are repping today is the Jurassic Park themed area.
• 38:35
  So this really does feel like you're in Island.
• 38:37
  I can't, I can never say this. Isle of Nublar, Island Nublar,
• 38:40
  you got it. You did it.
• 38:42
  Yay. So there is a lot of stuff for.
• 38:45
  People of all ages in this area. So for the kiddos, there is the
• 38:49
  turn on, turn on. All the dinosaur things.
• 38:53
  Confused me Flyers. So this is like a Sky glide ride
• 38:57
  and it lets you get a good look at Jurassic Park.
• 39:00
  So this ride is explicitly for kids.
• 39:02
  The minimum height is 36 inches, but this one does have a maximum
• 39:06
  height of 54 inches. Unless you're like a supervising
• 39:09
  adult, in which case you can ride the ride with your little
• 39:12
  one and then. If you are ready for some.
• 39:16
  Thrills. There are two kind of more
• 39:17
  exciting rides in this area. So one is the Jurassic Park
• 39:20
  River Adventure. So which as Rally guest is a
• 39:24
  water ride. So you kind of gently are
• 39:26
  floating along the river, you're meeting the dinosaurs.
• 39:29
  It's so nice. They're so cute.
• 39:31
  And then things go wrong. Of course, they too, but it's a
• 39:37
  very fun ride. Another one where you might get
• 39:39
  wet. So it's like water rides are not
• 39:40
  really your thing. Maybe 1 to skip depending on how
• 39:43
  you're feeling. But this one does have a minimum
• 39:46
  height requirement of 42 inches. I would it's probably.
• 39:50
  Akin in the size of the log flume drop to splash.
• 39:54
  Yeah, maybe. Maybe even.
• 39:56
  Small, I would I feel like if you're not in the very front,
• 39:58
  you're not going to get super, super soap.
• 40:00
  Yeah, it's less I I think the height is the.
• 40:02
  Same, but the angle is less dramatic than splash, so you are
• 40:06
  still definitely going to get wet, but it is far less violent
• 40:09
  than going on ripsaw falls. In which case you are done for.
• 40:13
  You are getting soaked, this one like you'll get wet, but you're
• 40:17
  I have never walked away from this ride being totally dressed.
• 40:20
  No, no, but some people. Just like you can't stand that
• 40:22
  at all. So fair, if that's you, maybe
• 40:24
  not the ride for you, maybe Velocicoaster will be the ride
• 40:27
  for you. So that is the next ride in this
• 40:29
  area. So this is like a coaster for
• 40:33
  coaster lovers. It is amazing.
• 40:35
  There's an amazing top hat, lots of airtime, 2 launches because
• 40:40
  you're trying to outrun the Raptors.
• 40:42
  So this one is super, super fun. And the height requirement on
• 40:45
  this one is 51 inches. So I think is that taller or
• 40:49
  shorter than Hulk? Shorter.
• 40:52
  It's a little shorter the. Hulk.
• 40:53
  Hulk is. Foot was 54.
• 40:55
  Does that seem true? That sounds right, yeah.
• 40:57
  I don't know. We're just getting.
• 40:58
  You think we would remember 54 Hulk 54?
• 41:01
  Surprising because I feel like that, like there's like a.
• 41:03
  Straight like down kind of drop on Velocicoaster and it goes
• 41:07
  super fast. So I'm like kind of surprised,
• 41:09
  but I believe it is the way to the ride.
• 41:12
  Vehicles are designed because Hulk is the over the shoulder
• 41:15
  restraints in which you need to be able to sit up taller so your
• 41:18
  head doesn't bang across them. But it's a lap bar situation for
• 41:22
  Velocicoaster. So I think they are able to
• 41:25
  accommodate slightly different sizes.
• 41:28
  And also Hulk is older and they're also different not to
• 41:31
  get to inside baseball, but the different coaster makers.
• 41:33
  So as a result, like the way that the vehicles are designed
• 41:36
  and the sizes that they can accommodate are a little bit
• 41:38
  different. And that is that that is as in
• 41:42
  in depth as I'm willing to go for being very normal about
• 41:45
  that. You did great knowledge.
• 41:47
  Thank you so much. Proud of you, all right?
• 41:50
  So that is the Jurassic Park area.
• 41:53
  So now moving on. Yeah.
• 41:54
  Well, I will say before we move on there.
• 41:56
  Is a really great play area in the Jurassic World area that
• 41:59
  just want to mention that briefly.
• 42:01
  So if you've got a wide age range of people that you're
• 42:04
  traveling with and you've got some people that want to do
• 42:06
  these throw rides, but you've got little littles, there's a
• 42:08
  really great play area in the Jurassic World area that's got.
• 42:13
  Now I will say you have to be willing to follow your kiddo
• 42:16
  around because it's got lots of little tunnels and, and smaller
• 42:19
  spaces, yes, but it's really fun for kids too.
• 42:22
  So yeah. And also a meet and greet and.
• 42:25
  Their area, so yeah, so there's the.
• 42:27
  Dinosaurs. Yes, you can meet a couple
• 42:28
  different dinosaurs. You can meet other Raptors and
• 42:32
  if you have a kid that's loves I'm stores but maybe it's too
• 42:36
  freaked out by meeting a live Raptor.
• 42:39
  There is in in the area that's attached to what they called the
• 42:44
  Welcome Center, and it's meant to look like the Welcome Center
• 42:47
  in the movie. There is actually an area that a
• 42:50
  lot of people forget about. It's like an interactive
• 42:53
  educational play area. Yeah.
• 42:55
  Which has Epcot. Yeah, like some of the areas off
• 42:57
  the. Rise like when?
• 42:58
  Like when you're walking in spaceship.
• 42:59
  Earth, when you are exiting, there's like that interactive
• 43:02
  play area and you can, you know, do different quizzes and things
• 43:04
  like that so you can find about dinosaurs and you can
• 43:08
  occasionally maybe catch some egg hatching of some dinosaurs.
• 43:13
  And there's also like the replica T Rex fossil skeleton.
• 43:16
  So all very cool if you're looking for an area for your
• 43:19
  kiddos to run around and some air conditioning and much fewer
• 43:22
  hidey holes in there. Yeah, yes.
• 43:24
  Good to know. Very well noted.
• 43:26
  OK. As we exit the Jurassic Area, we
• 43:30
  are moving back into Harry Potter with Hogsmeade.
• 43:33
  So once you've said goodbye to the dinosaurs, we're going to
• 43:35
  head back to the Wizarding world.
• 43:38
  And Hogsmeade does have a few more attractions than Dive and
• 43:40
  Alley that we were talking about earlier.
• 43:43
  The first one being Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which
• 43:46
  is your castle ride, right? That's the iconic Hogwarts
• 43:49
  castle ride that you everybody talks about and wants to go on.
• 43:53
  This is a motion simulator arm ride that brings you through
• 43:56
  different scenes throughout the castle in the ground.
• 43:58
  So it's not a traditional coaster, so to speak, your but
• 44:02
  you are in a vehicle that does move and it does have screens.
• 44:06
  So it's kind of like a 2 for one when it comes to the way that
• 44:09
  the ride operates. It is a 48 inch height
• 44:12
  requirement for that one. And again, like we talked about,
• 44:15
  if you are a Harry Potter fan, but you're not so sure you want
• 44:18
  to ride or you've got a kiddo who's not tall enough or you're
• 44:21
  utilizing rider's swap or whatever it may be.
• 44:24
  The queue is phenomenal. So be sure to take some time to
• 44:28
  go through there and and check out the theming there for sure.
• 44:33
  There are two coasters in this area as well.
• 44:35
  The first being the Flight of the Hippogriff.
• 44:37
  And this is a very family friendly kiddo coaster that is a
• 44:40
  really great introduction for your kids to kind of test the
• 44:44
  waters and see if they're ready for some of those bigger
• 44:46
  coasters. It is a 36 inch height
• 44:49
  requirement. So again, very accessible to a
• 44:51
  lot of younger kiddos. But beware that it's not super
• 44:56
  large adult friendly. So if you are if you are a
• 44:59
  taller adult, your knees may may suffer after this one.
• 45:05
  Ask us how we know. How do you know that duck?
• 45:09
  Thank you for asking, Jackie. Well, I didn't realize what the
• 45:13
  ride was the first time we went there.
• 45:14
  And I'm like this, this is a coaster.
• 45:16
  Let's check it out. Yeah.
• 45:18
  And then I sat and then my I, I was like, oh, and then my knees
• 45:22
  were hitting into the seat in front of me and I was like, oh,
• 45:25
  and then I got off the ride and I was bruised.
• 45:28
  Yeah, yeah, it's, it's definitely a tight fit, but it.
• 45:31
  It's it's worth squeezing in once because it's so cute.
• 45:34
  It's such a great fun little ride to see Buckbeak the
• 45:37
  hippogriff and kind of, you know, look around in that area,
• 45:41
  some fun little creatures on that ride.
• 45:45
  But if you want to look for more creatures, oh, look at that
• 45:47
  Segway. That was a good one.
• 45:49
  You can visit also in this area Hagrid's Magical Creature
• 45:53
  Motorbike Adventure, which is the longest name, but everyone
• 45:57
  just calls it Hagrid's. This is a wonderful coaster.
• 46:01
  It is very smooth experience and a lot of people really enjoy it.
• 46:05
  It's super fun because the ride vehicles are like Hagrid's
• 46:09
  motorbike, so you're either riding the bike or you're in the
• 46:11
  sidecar. So fun to kind of experience
• 46:14
  both if you're able to ride it more than once, which it does
• 46:16
  have a very long queue, so or a very long wait time in their
• 46:20
  queue. So keep that in mind that that's
• 46:22
  typically one that you're going to want to make some plans to be
• 46:26
  able to go on. It was recently added to
• 46:28
  Express, which is great news for those who may have Express.
• 46:34
  It recently was added. So that is a A+ with that.
• 46:37
  It's really nice for this one though.
• 46:39
  Yeah, definitely a good A. Good theme for sure.
• 46:44
  So then this one has a 48 inch height requirement.
• 46:47
  So again, a little bit taller, but still fairly accessible. 48
• 46:51
  inches is what a lot of the Disney coasters are so very,
• 46:55
  very in line with that when it comes to that through all these
• 46:58
  conversations. I'm realizing I have no idea how
• 47:01
  tall children are at what age because because.
• 47:05
  You were like Oh my 6 year olds. 49 I was like, well, I wouldn't
• 47:08
  have guessed that's the right for a six year old to be.
• 47:11
  Yeah, she's a little on the taller side.
• 47:13
  Probably, but my SO I would say anywhere between 6:00 and 8:00
• 47:20
  is going to be that 48 inch height requirement depending.
• 47:23
  My 8 year old is also tall, he's like 54 1/2 inches.
• 47:27
  So he can ride a lot of the bigger coasters now, which is
• 47:30
  just like mind blowing to me. But we're, we're, we're doing
• 47:35
  some trial coasters that we're, we're fairly close to Kings
• 47:38
  Island here in Ohio. So we're doing some trial
• 47:40
  coasters there before we venture to Universal and some of these
• 47:44
  other big coasters to see how these days we can meet in the
• 47:47
  middle at Hershey. Park no Hershey.
• 47:50
  Park has been on my list of places I want to get back to.
• 47:52
  I used to go as a kid when I lived in Pennsylvania when I was
• 47:55
  like 5-6, seven years old. So really want to take my kids
• 47:59
  eventually. So we'll get there, We'll get
• 48:01
  there. But yeah, so that is everything
• 48:04
  with Hagrid before we. Move to the next area.
• 48:09
  We could have talked about this with either park, but I feel
• 48:11
  like the the Hogwarts Express is worth mentioning as like an
• 48:14
  objection. So if you have like the park to
• 48:17
  park ticket that allows you to go on the Hogwarts Express, you
• 48:21
  can take that to go between Universal Studios and Islands of
• 48:24
  Adventure. So especially if you're a big
• 48:25
  Harry Potter fan, you have a kiddo who loves Harry Potter.
• 48:28
  It really is just like the experience of like writing to
• 48:30
  Hogwarts from the movie and then it lets you out at the train
• 48:33
  station right by Diagon Alley. So something else to damn worth.
• 48:38
  Not only is it worth mentioning, it is.
• 48:40
  Also worth it if you are trying to do both parks in one day, it
• 48:44
  cuts out a whole lot of walking because you were just
• 48:45
  immediately in the back of the park.
• 48:46
  So it is perhaps a worthy investment.
• 48:49
  Not only is it cool, right? It's smart planning.
• 48:52
  That's what we're here for, folks.
• 48:53
  These tips look at that and it's a different experience.
• 48:57
  Both ways, so keep that in mind too.
• 48:59
  If you take it one way, it's worth it to try to time it to
• 49:02
  then also take it back the other way because you'll have a
• 49:05
  different experience if you do it that way Yes exactly.
• 49:08
  Perfect. Something worth mentioning as we
• 49:12
  exit the Harry Potter area over here is that there is an area,
• 49:16
  the Lost Continent, that is between these two lands, but it
• 49:19
  no longer houses any attractions, rides, anything
• 49:23
  there. So we're going to kind of
• 49:25
  unfortunately skip over that and keep moving on, much to Duck's
• 49:30
  dismay, it seems. RIP aside.
• 49:32
  And there was it. Was a fun area.
• 49:34
  It's cool. I like the theming, it felt
• 49:37
  unique and it feels like it's it was original to IOA.
• 49:40
  So I really like it because it just feels like it comes from an
• 49:44
  era of theme parks where things were very heavily focused on
• 49:48
  being original in their designs and concepts and ideas.
• 49:52
  And there was a coaster in there called Dueling Dragons.
• 49:55
  It's actually now where Hagrid's is.
• 49:58
  And so I, I just really liked the theming of the area and it
• 50:01
  felt like it just came from a different a different time in
• 50:05
  theme park development. So I'm sad to see you go, but I
• 50:07
  am excited that hopefully it will be utilized for something
• 50:10
  fun and new. Yeah, there's been lots of
• 50:12
  rumors circulating. About what's going to go there,
• 50:14
  but nothing officially announced from Universal.
• 50:17
  So like I said, hopefully we'll hear something about that
• 50:21
  because I think it's it's it's disappointing when you're
• 50:24
  walking around the park to leave such a nice themed area and if
• 50:29
  you head towards that direction to get like to Seuss Landing,
• 50:32
  it's like what? Yeah, it's jarring.
• 50:36
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 50:37
  So I think they're there. Definitely needs to be some some
• 50:40
  work done in that area but that's OK.
• 50:43
  Theme parks. Can all be a work in progress.
• 50:45
  We can appreciate what Universal has been doing.
• 50:48
  We know that they've been busy, so they gave me a whole
• 50:51
  werewolf. Coaster, they can take their
• 50:52
  time with the lost continent. OK, so true.
• 50:56
  So that being said, once you wander through the lost
• 51:00
  Continent, you will enter Seuss Landing, which much like
• 51:05
  DreamWorks, DreamWorks Land, There We Go is totally geared
• 51:08
  towards kiddos and adults who love Doctor Seuss as well.
• 51:11
  This area is just so well themed and so cute.
• 51:15
  You really do feel like you're walking straight into a Doctor
• 51:18
  Seuss book. It's wonderful.
• 51:19
  You've heard us talk about this in our previous episode when we
• 51:22
  talked about all of the Hula Day.
• 51:24
  Hula Day? Is that what it's called?
• 51:26
  Holiday hula. Day, that whole thing.
• 51:29
  Yeah, it's that, that and the Grinch and all that.
• 51:32
  So this is that area. There are several things here
• 51:35
  that actually have no height requirements which is what makes
• 51:37
  it so family and little kiddo friendly.
• 51:40
  The Cara Soussel and 1 fish 2 fish ride think that one's kind
• 51:43
  of like Magic Carpets and at Magic Kingdom.
• 51:47
  And then the Cara Soussel is a fun little carousel with Seuss
• 51:51
  like creatures that you can ride on there which is also very fun.
• 51:55
  There is the famous or infamous depending on your opinion, Cat
• 51:59
  in the Hat ride. That ride does have a 36 inch
• 52:03
  height requirement and is a a little bit of how do I, how do I
• 52:09
  put this nicely? It's it's a little wild in there
• 52:13
  and it's a little bit of a fever dream.
• 52:15
  A fever dream? Yes.
• 52:17
  That's a very. Good way to put it.
• 52:18
  But yes, it is a very still very much a fun ride nonetheless.
• 52:22
  And they also have a little playground area over there that
• 52:25
  is theme from the If I Ran a Zoo.
• 52:28
  Fun little area to run, jump and spin.
• 52:31
  They've got lots of different places to explore in that area
• 52:35
  as well. So definitely a super fun area
• 52:38
  for your little kids and kids at heart that love Doctor Seuss.
• 52:41
  And that being said, I think that is the end of our IOA time.
• 52:47
  Shall we move on to what everybody I feel like is talking
• 52:50
  about now when it comes to Universal Epic Universe?
• 52:53
  Let's hear about that. Absolutely.
• 52:55
  All right, I'm sorry not to cut you off, but it's.
• 52:57
  So popular. My mom wants to go with us.
• 53:00
  She's like, if they're going to come with you and go in, in.
• 53:03
  August I was like, yeah, Ma, you should.
• 53:05
  Let's go. Eddie, get in that car.
• 53:08
  I I am dying. To hear about Debbie's opinions
• 53:11
  when you come back because we all know how opinionated she can
• 53:13
  be. Debbie has strong and.
• 53:16
  Usually correct. Opinions.
• 53:18
  There we go. I'm excited to hear about it.
• 53:21
  So let's hear about what Debbie's going to experience,
• 53:24
  Yes, and then fake universe. So we will start off with.
• 53:28
  Celestial Park so this is a whole area that is themed to the
• 53:31
  cosmos and so the attractions are also themed accordingly.
• 53:36
  So one of the attractions is the constellation carousel.
• 53:39
  So this is a classic carousel, but all of the little vehicles
• 53:43
  that you ride on are themed to Zodiac animals because this one
• 53:47
  doesn't have a height requirement.
• 53:48
  So it's a good option for everybody.
• 53:50
  And I also just want to say it's.
• 53:52
  Beautiful it. I am now starting to see more
• 53:54
  and more people post about it, which is I'm so happy because it
• 53:58
  is just gorgeous. Even if you are not like a
• 54:01
  carousel person, I think I think everyone should ride this just
• 54:04
  to experience how like very well done and well designed this is.
• 54:08
  Yeah. And I didn't realize until
• 54:09
  recently that it's. Got a rotating playlist so you
• 54:12
  get a different song depending on when you ride.
• 54:15
  So that just makes it, that makes the rewrite ability fun to
• 54:18
  kind of experience the different vibes with the different songs.
• 54:22
  Yeah, and I know that whoever designed.
• 54:24
  That is a parent who has had to take their child on a carousel
• 54:27
  multiple times in a row. And I'm like, I know who this
• 54:29
  was designed for and I can really appreciate it.
• 54:32
  Yes, yeah, that is one that like I am excited.
• 54:35
  Whenever I get to Epic Universe to go on because I just think it
• 54:37
  looks so fun. It it's gorgeous.
• 54:39
  It's really fun. And it's again, just like those
• 54:42
  little things, like they could have just done one song and it
• 54:45
  still would have been cool. But but the idea of the rewrite
• 54:48
  ability and the investment that they put into everything in
• 54:50
  Epic, it's it really shows through for sure.
• 54:53
  Absolutely. And then the next ride is.
• 54:56
  Stardust races, so obviously we have not made it to Epic
• 54:59
  Universe yet, but for what we've been seeing online, this looks
• 55:02
  like another big hit with coaster fans.
• 55:05
  So some people are saying that it rivals Velocicoaster, so
• 55:07
  we'll have to be the judges. Them just fighting words.
• 55:11
  So the big drop for this? One is that these are dueling
• 55:13
  coasters, so for anyone who doesn't know, that means there's
• 55:16
  2 tracks of the coaster that are intended to launch at the same
• 55:19
  time or shortly after each other.
• 55:21
  And then there are areas where they will kind of cross over
• 55:24
  each other so it feels like you're racing or challenging the
• 55:26
  other side of the coaster. So this one has a 48 inch height
• 55:30
  requirement and I'm really excited for this one, especially
• 55:33
  since they used to have the dueling coaster over in IOA and
• 55:36
  now you know they have one again, so RIP dueling Dragons.
• 55:39
  So then we move on. To Super Nintendo world so there
• 55:43
  are two big ticket rides in here so one is minecart madness.
• 55:47
  This is themed to Donkey Kong so from what we've seen this is a
• 55:51
  good like midpoint kind of coaster.
• 55:52
  So if you have a coaster fan who isn't super ready for like the
• 55:57
  Big Ones TM, this is a thrilling but approachable option for
• 56:01
  them. And obviously who doesn't like
• 56:03
  Donkey Kong? So this one has a 40 inch height
• 56:05
  requirement. And then the other ride in this
• 56:08
  area, or well, not just the other ride, but the other kind
• 56:11
  of like big ride, is Mario Kart Bowser's Challenge.
• 56:15
  So this is pretty much what it sounds like.
• 56:16
  It is a Mario Kart simulator. So it's like a 3D4D experience
• 56:20
  and you're racing around Rainbow Rd.
• 56:23
  Hopefully you can't fall off of it because.
• 56:27
  I do rainbow. Road we were flinging kids.
• 56:30
  And Men in Black? I don't know.
• 56:31
  I don't know why Rainbow Rd. would be any different.
• 56:36
  So this one has a 40 inch. Height requirement and then
• 56:39
  there is also an Omni mover dark ride, which is yoshi's adventure
• 56:42
  and this one has a 34 inch height requirement.
• 56:45
  But it sounds super cute. I look, Oh my gosh, it looks so
• 56:47
  cute. It looks.
• 56:48
  Adorable. I'm I'm very.
• 56:50
  Into the Yoshi's Adventure ride, that might be one of the ones
• 56:53
  that we like Sprint to because of the Omni Mover.
• 56:56
  It suffers from the same problems that like the Haunted
• 56:58
  Mansion and things like that do where like when it goes a little
• 57:01
  sideways, it can go sideways for a couple minutes.
• 57:03
  So it's a pretty high capacity and it seems like like most days
• 57:06
  it's been moving, not that I've been stalking the wait times on,
• 57:10
  on the ad you're normal, it seems like.
• 57:12
  Thank you SO. Much it's it seems like most
• 57:16
  days it's been working pretty well, but sometimes you see the
• 57:19
  wait times kind of creeping up. But so this might be 1 where if
• 57:23
  you think maybe it's a long wait now, maybe come back a little
• 57:26
  bit later and and wait until it's starting to move again.
• 57:28
  There's plenty to do and see and themed treats and games and what
• 57:32
  not around. So yeah, when I will say that
• 57:35
  with. Specifically the Super Nintendo
• 57:37
  area. I have not been to Epic Universe
• 57:39
  but I have been to the Helios which is the resort that is
• 57:43
  attached to Epic Universe and so I have looked from afar and seen
• 57:48
  into some of these portals. the Super Nintendo world area is
• 57:54
  unreal. It looks like you have
• 57:57
  physically transported into either the movie if you're a
• 58:00
  Super Nintendo, you know the Mario Brothers movie that just
• 58:03
  came out not that long ago or just the video game.
• 58:06
  It, it is massive in scale. It is unreal.
• 58:09
  And I know that people have experienced this out in
• 58:11
  California. I didn't watch any of that stuff
• 58:14
  because I I live in Ohio, like get out of here California, but
• 58:19
  seeing it even just from the Helios area was just mind
• 58:23
  blowing to see it. So it's they they went above and
• 58:26
  beyond and just blew it out of the water with that area.
• 58:29
  It feels like all of. Epic is it is one thing to look
• 58:34
  at it through a screen and see how cool it is.
• 58:36
  And I can already sense it will be a a a not to be dramatic, a
• 58:41
  life changing experience too, right?
• 58:44
  I mean, like the first time that I went to Pandora in Disney, I
• 58:47
  literally felt like I was on an alien planet.
• 58:49
  And it seems like that sense of wonder and that sense of feeling
• 58:54
  and and the dedication to detail is all here.
• 58:57
  And I have a very strong feeling that I I when we finally get to
• 59:01
  experience it, it's really going to be something to behold.
• 59:04
  Truly. Yeah, for sure.
• 59:06
  All right, let's. Hear about the next portal tech
• 59:08
  because I know this is the one you're excited to talk about.
• 59:11
  Let's talk about Dark Universe. OK, so Speaking of places.
• 59:14
  That I will lose my mind when I finally get to experience it.
• 59:18
  I want you to know I'm almost certainly going to cry walking
• 59:21
  into a dark universe. There's a non 0 chance I'll be
• 59:24
  so overwhelmed I cry. So there are two rides in here.
• 59:29
  There's there's more to see and do of course, just like
• 59:32
  everywhere, there's different food themed places and there's
• 59:35
  like walk around characters For now TM, we'll see how Igor does,
• 59:40
  but for now there's walk around characters.
• 59:43
  But there really are two ride experiences in here.
• 59:46
  So the first one up is Monsters Unchained, the Frankenstein
• 59:49
  experiment. I have been saying violently
• 59:52
  spoiler free for this. So I'm going to give you the
• 59:55
  synopsis as given to us by Universal.
• 59:57
  So I'm not finding out any more than I I need to know.
• 1:00:00
  Perfect. So essentially it is Doctor
• 1:00:03
  Victoria Frankenstein continues the work of her ancestors deep
• 1:00:06
  below the family estate. A demonstration of her
• 1:00:09
  experiments to control monsters goes awry when Dracula leaves a
• 1:00:12
  revolt of enraged monsters, including the Wolfman, the
• 1:00:15
  Mummy, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, and more.
• 1:00:19
  This is so cool looking from the animatronic previews that I've
• 1:00:24
  seen, this is 1 along with, like we were saying before, the Harry
• 1:00:27
  Potter ride. I think this is one that even if
• 1:00:30
  you're not interested in necessarily riding it, you
• 1:00:33
  absolutely should go through the pre show area because the things
• 1:00:36
  that they've done in the theming from the little bit that I've
• 1:00:39
  gotten spoiled, it's all just so incredible.
• 1:00:41
  It really is so, so impressive. You feel like you are in a
• 1:00:45
  manner with an actual scientist lady speaking at you like it's
• 1:00:48
  unbelievable. And and also related to the
• 1:00:53
  forbidden castle ride or sorry, forbidden, forbidden journey,
• 1:00:58
  the castle ride. That's what I'm going to call
• 1:01:00
  it, the castle one. This is another.
• 1:01:03
  It's the same ride mechanism where it's like the arm, the
• 1:01:05
  motion arm that will bring you through.
• 1:01:07
  Same company, same exact ride vehicle.
• 1:01:12
  Yeah. And that being said.
• 1:01:13
  I will say that from what I've been told and seen that although
• 1:01:17
  it is the same mechanism as the Harry Potter ride, this ride
• 1:01:20
  itself is actually a slower moving 1, so it's not as quick
• 1:01:24
  to move you from scene to scene. So if you're someone who's
• 1:01:27
  concerned about knowing that from motion sickness, I've been
• 1:01:31
  told that it's much tamer and a much smoother, slower
• 1:01:35
  experience. Our good friend Kirk at Walrus
• 1:01:38
  Karp has kind of explained it that way and he is very much a
• 1:01:41
  theme park expert when it comes to all of those things.
• 1:01:43
  So keep that in mind and maybe give it a try if you're on the
• 1:01:47
  fence about that. That's actually really good
• 1:01:50
  because I. Sometimes have struggled with
• 1:01:52
  the castle ride before, You know, just like I'm on days
• 1:01:56
  where maybe I've done something else that kind of made me feel a
• 1:01:58
  little motion sicknessy and I was a little concerned for this.
• 1:02:01
  But this makes me feel so much better that I will get to enjoy
• 1:02:04
  my spooky monster ride in peace. Yes, I felt like that was an
• 1:02:07
  important note. And still spoiler free because I
• 1:02:08
  do not want to spoil anything for you.
• 1:02:10
  It is perhaps the most important note.
• 1:02:12
  That I've been given. I'm so happy.
• 1:02:14
  Thank you. You're so welcome.
• 1:02:17
  So other than. The other than the Monsters
• 1:02:22
  Unchained we have the Curse of the Werewolf coaster.
• 1:02:25
  So this is the closest Disney analog that I could give to this
• 1:02:30
  would be like Guardians of the Galaxy or even to make a
• 1:02:33
  universal comparison, this would be like a Gringotts ish because
• 1:02:38
  there is it it it is a rotating ride vehicle.
• 1:02:41
  So you were on the coaster and the coaster will spin to show
• 1:02:45
  you different scenes. It is important to note that you
• 1:02:49
  there are actually like it's four seats, but it's a set of
• 1:02:52
  two back-to-back. So as you're going through the
• 1:02:54
  coaster, you may see different show scenes depending on where
• 1:02:58
  you are in the cart order and what side of the cart that you
• 1:03:01
  are on. So this is very much a ride that
• 1:03:03
  has a ton of rewrite ability. If you are, you know, if you
• 1:03:07
  love it enough as I know that I will will be going on it several
• 1:03:10
  times. But you know, just like we were
• 1:03:12
  talking about before with the carousel and you know, the music
• 1:03:15
  swapping, just another interesting choice that
• 1:03:19
  Universal made so that this is a definitely a ride that you can
• 1:03:22
  ride a few times. So there is a 40 inch height
• 1:03:26
  requirement. But if you're over 40 inches and
• 1:03:29
  your kiddo, it seems like they would like it or you seem like
• 1:03:32
  you would like it, you have to ride it legally.
• 1:03:34
  It's a it's a werewolf requirement.
• 1:03:37
  You have to. If you're if you were, I will
• 1:03:40
  citizen's arrest. If you were listening to this
• 1:03:43
  podcast, you are legally required if you go to Epic
• 1:03:46
  Universe and you can deal with coasters and you're of the
• 1:03:49
  appropriate height, you must ride the Wolfman coaster.
• 1:03:52
  Great, thank you anyway. OK, so once you have decided to
• 1:04:02
  leave the spooky Dartmoor Castle area, you can then head over
• 1:04:06
  into the slightly less scary Ministry of Magic area for for
• 1:04:13
  the Harry Potter for the Wizarding World area.
• 1:04:16
  There is one ride in here, probably forever.
• 1:04:20
  There will only be one ride, but there is room for them to
• 1:04:22
  expand. There was rumors of multiple
• 1:04:24
  rides. We'll see how the future goes
• 1:04:26
  because they just opened. So this is of course the
• 1:04:29
  extraordinarily popular battle at the Ministry.
• 1:04:33
  So this is another motion simulator ride.
• 1:04:36
  You are traveling via flu network to see Umbridge's trial.
• 1:04:39
  And of course, something goes a little sideways.
• 1:04:42
  The like I said before, this has been all over social media.
• 1:04:46
  This is without a doubt the most popular ride in the park and the
• 1:04:50
  wait times have been pretty crazy on some days.
• 1:04:55
  So just something to consider to plan your day around.
• 1:04:58
  Keep an eye and in the couple days leading up, keep an eye on
• 1:05:02
  the wait times, try to get a feel for when it's a little bit
• 1:05:05
  less and whatever you personally, you know, are
• 1:05:08
  comfortable waiting. You know, I know we have like a
• 1:05:11
  hard limit of like 45 minutes ish to an hour depending on how
• 1:05:15
  much we want to ride something other than that, like, I don't
• 1:05:18
  know, it just depends. That's just what we can
• 1:05:20
  tolerate, right? So everyone has different
• 1:05:22
  different limits. This one seems to be extremely.
• 1:05:26
  Popular early in the day, like everyone heads their first and
• 1:05:29
  then it does tend to taper off from what I've seen.
• 1:05:33
  Now that may change in the coming weeks as capacity in the
• 1:05:36
  park increases because for the first several weeks of it of the
• 1:05:41
  park being open, they were still doing a more limited capacity
• 1:05:45
  even though it was open to the public.
• 1:05:46
  They just weren't selling as many tickets to just try to kind
• 1:05:49
  of stair step that capacity to make sure that the part can
• 1:05:53
  handle the crowds. But this does seem to have the
• 1:05:57
  really, really high 300 minute wait right off the bat.
• 1:05:59
  And then it does tend to taper as the day goes.
• 1:06:02
  But that depends on downtime and crowd levels and all that good
• 1:06:05
  stuff. So, so very much in the days.
• 1:06:08
  Leading up, just keep an eye on it.
• 1:06:10
  See, generally, maybe for the the crowd level of the week that
• 1:06:14
  you will be going, just keep an eye and see when the best time
• 1:06:17
  to go is. This is also a 40 inch height
• 1:06:20
  requirement. So not super high, but you know,
• 1:06:23
  it might be high enough that if you have a kiddo who really
• 1:06:26
  loves Harry Potter, again, recommend going through the
• 1:06:28
  queue because again, we're trying to stay mostly spoiler
• 1:06:31
  free on this, but from what we've seen, incredible queue.
• 1:06:34
  So definitely something if you're a Harry Potter fan, you
• 1:06:36
  want to experience, but you know that you can always just dip out
• 1:06:40
  at the end and if rides aren't your thing or you don't want to
• 1:06:44
  wait that 300 minutes. There is, there's of course,
• 1:06:47
  lots to do in here, lots to shop and see and whatnot.
• 1:06:50
  But there is another attraction in here.
• 1:06:52
  It is Le Cirque Arcanis. So it is a stage show that is
• 1:06:56
  basically supposed to be like a wizard circus.
• 1:06:59
  So it is weird and it is wonderful and there's lots going
• 1:07:02
  on. There's music, there's there's
• 1:07:05
  pyrotechnics, there's acrobatics that it's a whole whole thing.
• 1:07:08
  So yeah, that is a good alternative and is a fairly high
• 1:07:11
  capacity show too. So yeah, keep an eye on the the
• 1:07:14
  showtimes. For that though, because they
• 1:07:16
  were using that queue as overflow for Battle of the
• 1:07:19
  Ministry for a while. So they were like some of the
• 1:07:22
  show times got displaced because of that.
• 1:07:25
  I don't know if that's still the case, and I don't know if that
• 1:07:27
  will be the case moving forward or if they've come up with a
• 1:07:30
  better solution to that. But once Ministry of Magic went
• 1:07:34
  off of that virtual queue, which it was during previews, some of
• 1:07:39
  the overflow ended up over in less.
• 1:07:41
  I think it's lesser car canoe is technically the pronunciation
• 1:07:45
  for that. So that's right.
• 1:07:46
  So French, my name, it is so French.
• 1:07:49
  So just keep an eye on the show times for that.
• 1:07:51
  And maybe that might be one that you might need to ask the the
• 1:07:54
  team members in the area to find out for sure if shows are
• 1:07:57
  running or not. If that's still the case, like I
• 1:07:59
  said, it may have changed. Yeah, that's really interesting.
• 1:08:02
  And I wonder. If that will be a long term
• 1:08:05
  solution, because that does totally kneecap their show,
• 1:08:09
  which would be the other like people eater.
• 1:08:11
  So I don't know. That's interesting.
• 1:08:12
  I don't I don't know that they'd keep that long term, but I don't
• 1:08:15
  either. And I think they.
• 1:08:16
  Weren't sure how to anticipate because the queue for Ministry
• 1:08:21
  is so immersive. No spoilers, I'm not going to
• 1:08:23
  talk about any of that, but because it's so immersive,
• 1:08:26
  people are taking a lot longer to get through the first part of
• 1:08:30
  the queue and it's taking them. Longer to get into.
• 1:08:34
  The second part, which is more standard queue like, if that
• 1:08:38
  makes sense, because the first part of the queue was a little
• 1:08:40
  more open-ended for wandering. So I think that was part of them
• 1:08:45
  trying to figure out how this queue is going to work going
• 1:08:49
  forward. And they may have solutions now
• 1:08:52
  at this point and maybe they're not utilizing that show queue
• 1:08:55
  anymore. But again, I do know that was
• 1:08:57
  something that happened within the kind of weeks after, before
• 1:09:02
  and after opening once, excuse me, once that virtual queue went
• 1:09:06
  away also brand new, yes. Yes, so definitely.
• 1:09:11
  But again, just something to keep an eye on wait times, keep
• 1:09:14
  an eye on what the line is doing for all of the experiences in
• 1:09:17
  that area, just to give yourself a better chance of being able to
• 1:09:21
  see the show and do the ride both in that in that space for
• 1:09:25
  sure. Yeah, perfect.
• 1:09:26
  So as we leave the Ministry of Magic and the Paris 19 what?
• 1:09:33
  20s I think is what? It's supposed to be of the the
• 1:09:37
  ministry and and all of that good stuff.
• 1:09:40
  Let's head over to Isle of Burke.
• 1:09:42
  This area is another amazingly themed space from Universal.
• 1:09:47
  It has a number of attractions for all ages.
• 1:09:50
  It is the and as the two most popular since opening are fire
• 1:09:54
  drill and hiccups wing gliders. So both of those are very, very
• 1:10:00
  popular. This area of Epic Universe is
• 1:10:03
  definitely the most developed. They've got the most kind of in
• 1:10:06
  that space. So with Fire Drill, it is an
• 1:10:10
  interactive water boat ride. So essentially you are training
• 1:10:14
  with two of the characters from how to train your Dragons, Rough
• 1:10:17
  Nut and Tough Nut and you board their boat and try your best to
• 1:10:20
  shoot the targets with your water guns, but be careful
• 1:10:23
  because the Dragons, they love to splash.
• 1:10:27
  There is no height requirement on this one, but I have seen
• 1:10:31
  people come off of this absolutely drenched, so that is
• 1:10:36
  definitely a possibility with this one.
• 1:10:38
  I don't know that it's every time, but there is a very high
• 1:10:42
  chance of you getting absolutely drenched on this ride it it
• 1:10:45
  appears to be. A feature, not a bug, of how you
• 1:10:50
  and your boat participate in this ride to see how soaked you
• 1:10:54
  end up getting because there is some interactive elements to it.
• 1:10:58
  So it is you are at the mercy of your fellow your your fellow
• 1:11:03
  trainees. Oh boy oh boy.
• 1:11:06
  So choose. Wisely who you are on the ride
• 1:11:08
  with I guess you know. Yes, the other ride in this area
• 1:11:12
  is Hiccups Wing Gliders and on this one you are going to train
• 1:11:17
  to be a dragon rider with Hiccups latest contraption,
• 1:11:21
  which is it's not explicitly called like a coaster and a
• 1:11:26
  family coaster, but it's it's pretty darn close when it comes.
• 1:11:30
  To. All of that, I mean, is another
• 1:11:32
  good intro attraction for kiddos who like a thrill and maybe
• 1:11:36
  you're testing the waters with bigger coasters.
• 1:11:38
  With a 40 inch height requirement on this one.
• 1:11:41
  It's definitely a good option for your little thrill seekers
• 1:11:44
  that are testing the waters. When it comes to coasters, we
• 1:11:49
  also didn't. Originally include this in here,
• 1:11:51
  but I do just want to note there is like a kiddo playground area
• 1:11:54
  in here that is I think it's themed to like Viking training.
• 1:11:58
  I know we didn't really talk about it.
• 1:11:59
  There is one other like a splash pad type in Celestial Park.
• 1:12:03
  But other than that, these are really the only two like
• 1:12:05
  playground ish type areas that are in epic.
• 1:12:08
  So just a heads up for anybody who is maybe has a couple kids
• 1:12:11
  that are in varying ages, these areas are kind of going to be
• 1:12:14
  going to be your friend for getting some energy out.
• 1:12:16
  Yeah, also all of. Super Nintendo World because you
• 1:12:19
  can just run around and hit the question mark block.
• 1:12:22
  So interact it is. Yeah, yeah, all of Super
• 1:12:25
  Nintendo World. Is a playground.
• 1:12:26
  It's that giant play. So true.
• 1:12:27
  It's so true, but I don't know that Darkmoor.
• 1:12:30
  Has a playground? I don't think so.
• 1:12:32
  I don't think. Don't anticipate.
• 1:12:34
  That being a feature of Darkmoor anytime now or in the future.
• 1:12:39
  What if I wrote a strongly? Worded letter for any of our
• 1:12:42
  future children, maybe? They might.
• 1:12:45
  Yes, they might. And yes, Jules in our chat does
• 1:12:48
  bring up a good point that they do have another ride in the
• 1:12:51
  Burke area that is Dragon Racers Rally.
• 1:12:53
  Again, we were just kind of highlighting some of them, but
• 1:12:55
  that is another ride in that area as well.
• 1:12:58
  So I did not hit everything. Go ahead.
• 1:13:02
  Yeah, that. No, no, just that that one is.
• 1:13:04
  It's actually really hard to explain what it is.
• 1:13:06
  Also in a podcast it's like you'll know what it is when you
• 1:13:09
  see it. It's called a sky.
• 1:13:13
  I forgot exactly what they classified as a sky something
• 1:13:15
  ride, but it is that is another one that is I think they have a
• 1:13:18
  shorter height requirement too. So that is another option if you
• 1:13:21
  have some smaller kiddos. I think it might be 38.
• 1:13:23
  That sounds true. OK.
• 1:13:25
  Yeah, that one is like. It is kind of hard to explain
• 1:13:29
  until you've actually seen it function.
• 1:13:31
  So if you're curious about that one, do a quick Google search,
• 1:13:35
  YouTube search and look that up because it it's a rotating ride
• 1:13:40
  that you're dangling from in your ride vehicle, but your ride
• 1:13:44
  vehicle also moves independently from the arms that rotate you.
• 1:13:48
  It's very there's nothing there's.
• 1:13:51
  Nothing quite like it that I could compare it to, right?
• 1:13:53
  Like everything else, I kind of had an analogue like this.
• 1:13:56
  I don't have any other explanation like it.
• 1:13:59
  You kind of move up and down and the wings flap and you're you're
• 1:14:02
  being spun around, but you're not like, I don't know.
• 1:14:05
  It's really, it's very this is this is 1.
• 1:14:08
  And I couldn't understand what the website was trying to
• 1:14:10
  explain this to me until I just looked up APOV and it made total
• 1:14:14
  sense. It's like, imagine like a
• 1:14:16
  scrambler. Ride, but they flip it upside
• 1:14:18
  down. That's probably the best way to
• 1:14:22
  describe because it spins and spins like, yeah, and you kind
• 1:14:26
  of go up. In debt, like as you're soaring
• 1:14:28
  through, it's like a, it's like a wave motion.
• 1:14:30
  Yeah, there's a lot going on. So true.
• 1:14:33
  But yes. That is the other ride in the
• 1:14:35
  Isle of Burke area. And again, like Duck mentioned
• 1:14:37
  at the beginning of this, we did not go over every single ride in
• 1:14:40
  these areas or every single attraction for any of the parks.
• 1:14:44
  So there are probably more things that you may be needing
• 1:14:47
  to do some research on if you are planning a universal trip
• 1:14:51
  that is. You know, that is something that
• 1:14:53
  we highly suggest you do. Or if you need more information
• 1:14:56
  or you're like, I need to know more about XY and Z again, reach
• 1:14:59
  out to us Mom St. usa@gmail.com or find us on various social
• 1:15:04
  media platforms at Mom St. USA on those.
• 1:15:07
  We are happy to help you. You know, if you need help
• 1:15:10
  planning and figuring out what rides are good for you and your
• 1:15:13
  travel party, we are more than happy to do that with you for
• 1:15:17
  both Universal and Disney. But primarily we're talking
• 1:15:19
  about Universal for this one. Perfect.
• 1:15:21
  Well, I think that kind of brings our fast and furious how
• 1:15:25
  I did it again attraction kind of rundown for you.
• 1:15:30
  Hopefully you found that helpful.
• 1:15:32
  Hopefully that it gives you some good insight for your travel
• 1:15:34
  party. If you are going to be going to
• 1:15:36
  Universal or considering going to Universal, it gives you an
• 1:15:39
  idea of maybe what's good for your kiddo.
• 1:15:41
  That being said, Universal does have more thrill rides and a few
• 1:15:45
  more height requirements than Disney does.
• 1:15:47
  But as you can see, there are still a lot of kiddo friendly
• 1:15:50
  places at these theme parks. As a mom, I looked at a lot of
• 1:15:55
  this previously and I said, you know, for my family, I'm going
• 1:15:59
  to wait until my kiddos are a little bit taller than what they
• 1:16:03
  were at the time that I was looking simply because I've got
• 1:16:06
  thrill seekers. And if they see these
• 1:16:08
  attractions and they're not tall enough to ride them, they're
• 1:16:10
  going to be upset. So that was the decision that I
• 1:16:13
  made. Now that my youngest is over 48
• 1:16:17
  inches, it's a reconsidering factor for us knowing that
• 1:16:21
  she'll be able to ride a lot of the the bigger thrill rides that
• 1:16:24
  she sees and we will avoid a lot of the meltdowns that would have
• 1:16:28
  happened previously. So you know your travel party,
• 1:16:32
  you know your kids, you know your teens, you know whoever it
• 1:16:34
  is that you're going with to know kind of the the rundown
• 1:16:38
  that we gave you today on whether or not these attractions
• 1:16:41
  are good fits for you. Good stuff, Yeah.
• 1:16:43
  Do you guys have any final thoughts before we talk about
• 1:16:46
  what's coming up next? I think the only thing that I
• 1:16:49
  want to say is. A sounding good job to
• 1:16:52
  Universal. It's clear you can tell that
• 1:16:55
  they what that unlike some other theme parks that we've been to
• 1:16:58
  and this isn't I'm not like throwing shade at Disney
• 1:17:00
  specifically. I know we talked about Disney a
• 1:17:01
  lot on the other podcast on this podcast, but we go to a lot of
• 1:17:06
  theme parks in general. So it's very clear to me that
• 1:17:09
  Universal learns in a way that a lot of theme parks do not right.
• 1:17:13
  You can see because they built studios first they built it.
• 1:17:17
  It was the big, the, the bad, the, the fast, the interesting.
• 1:17:21
  And then they were like, well, there's not we're losing a
• 1:17:24
  smaller, like the younger kid customer base to Disney.
• 1:17:27
  So when they built Islands of adventure, there was much more
• 1:17:30
  variety in the type of ride, in the accessibility of the ride.
• 1:17:34
  You know, in they, they put a playground or some sort of child
• 1:17:37
  friendly activity in every single area.
• 1:17:40
  And so they now took those lessons that they've learned
• 1:17:44
  from updating the adding the DreamWorks land in Universal
• 1:17:48
  Studios, some of the updates that they've done to IOA
• 1:17:51
  recently. And it's clear that they really
• 1:17:54
  cared going into Epic that everybody has a great
• 1:17:57
  experience, no matter the age range, right.
• 1:18:00
  So I just, you know, not to not to overly praise a corporation
• 1:18:04
  or anything, but I am actually very impressed with all of the
• 1:18:08
  designers and all of the work that have gone into making epic
• 1:18:12
  what it is. And that it is sort of like this
• 1:18:14
  true this true like final form of a theme park that they really
• 1:18:19
  took all the lessons in making interesting, unique and widely
• 1:18:23
  appealing rides and they put it all in one park.
• 1:18:26
  So I I hope that this episode was helpful and really helped
• 1:18:29
  you understand that there is a variety and and broke maybe that
• 1:18:33
  stigma that people have where Universal is just for thrill
• 1:18:36
  seeking or older kids and there's there's not much there
• 1:18:40
  if that doesn't fit us. So I hope everyone who maybe was
• 1:18:43
  on the fence reconsiders and enjoys Universal because
• 1:18:46
  obviously we both really love it.
• 1:18:48
  It's just one of our favorite, you know, theme parks in
• 1:18:51
  general. So yeah, I hope this was helpful
• 1:18:53
  to everybody. Yeah.
• 1:18:55
  That being said, I do think that.
• 1:18:56
  Something about Universal that differs from Disney is I think
• 1:19:00
  that Universal you get much more bang for your buck when you do
• 1:19:04
  multiple park ticket days like so when you're.
• 1:19:07
  When you have like what we. Consider a park hopper from
• 1:19:10
  Disney. Purchasing something like that
• 1:19:12
  at Universal I think is in your best interest if you've got
• 1:19:14
  varying age ranges that you're traveling with, because then you
• 1:19:18
  do have the ability to make sure everybody is getting a little
• 1:19:21
  bit of everything. I think that is is a very big
• 1:19:25
  benefit of something that you can do at Universal to kind of
• 1:19:28
  maximize that. Disney, you find it a little bit
• 1:19:30
  more kind of contained park to park where they have that wide
• 1:19:35
  age range of and different activities to do.
• 1:19:37
  But I think with Universal, it's a little bit more big picture
• 1:19:40
  when it comes to things for little kids and things for
• 1:19:42
  thrill seekers. You might need to do both
• 1:19:45
  Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure in a day to kind of
• 1:19:48
  please everyone. So keeping that in mind I think
• 1:19:54
  can be beneficial as well if you're looking to plan a
• 1:19:56
  Universal trip. Agreed and.
• 1:19:59
  We'll happily help you, just ask us.
• 1:20:00
  We sure will, Yes, that being. Said let's talk about what we're
• 1:20:04
  going to talk about next because we're not quite done with
• 1:20:07
  Universal. We've got one more episode for
• 1:20:10
  now in this series that we've been doing here with Duck and
• 1:20:13
  Jess. And we are going to be talking
• 1:20:15
  about food at Universal in our next episode and focusing on
• 1:20:19
  family friendly options and kind of how that works.
• 1:20:22
  Because the way that food works is a little bit different at
• 1:20:25
  Universal when it comes to like mobile ordering and, and table
• 1:20:28
  service versus quick service and things like that.
• 1:20:30
  So we want to kind of go over that a little bit just to make
• 1:20:32
  sure that you guys have a heads up on that.
• 1:20:34
  So that is next with Duck and Jess, but that will be a few
• 1:20:38
  episodes in the future here as we go through our rotating
• 1:20:41
  schedule at Mom St. Our next episode for Mom St.
• 1:20:44
  USA will be a solo episode for me.
• 1:20:46
  And I'm going to be talking about what is in my park bag.
• 1:20:50
  So talking about Disney park bags kind of from the mom
• 1:20:54
  perspective, what to bring, what saved your day, what I'd never
• 1:20:57
  bring again. And also talking a little bit
• 1:21:00
  about child friendly backpacks and what might be a good intro
• 1:21:04
  to kiddos carrying their own stuff in the parks.
• 1:21:07
  So that is the next episode of Mom St.
• 1:21:09
  USA, but for now, we will put a pin in Universal and we will see
• 1:21:14
  Duck and Jess again very soon. And as always, if you've got
• 1:21:18
  information you want us to cover or ideas or thoughts about the
• 1:21:21
  episodes that we've been doing in future episodes, please reach
• 1:21:24
  out to us. I think I've said it multiple
• 1:21:26
  times already in this episode, but we are Mom St.
• 1:21:28
  usa@gmail.com. You can also find us on various
• 1:21:31
  social media platforms. And if you are a Discord user,
• 1:21:35
  we do have a channel on our good friend Kirk at Walrus Karp on
• 1:21:38
  his Discord. The link to all of that is in
• 1:21:40
  our Mom St., USA social media BIOS.
• 1:21:43
  So, so if you need to find us on there, if that's an easy way for
• 1:21:46
  you to do that, you can reach out to us and find that through
• 1:21:50
  the link in our bio Good stuff. Love it.
• 1:21:53
  All right. Well, that.
• 1:21:55
  All being said, thanks for being here, we appreciate you watching
• 1:21:59
  and hanging out and we will catch you on the next episode of
• 1:22:01
  Mom St. USA.
• 1:22:02
  Bye everyone. Thanks everyone.
• 1:22:04
  Bye.