On the one hand you have the more traditional film studio and special effects exposé of Universal and on the other you have the wonderful world of superheroes and cartoon capers. There are stomach-churning rides in both, but for my money Islands of Adventure has more of the ‘pzazz’ that I am looking for when it comes to escapism. You may have a different view!

Both parks are off I4 Junction 71 and are of course well-signposted from miles away. As you draw closer you can see the joint towers of Dr Doom’s Fearfall looming above you, and feel the excitement mount as the billboards showing Shrek’s beaming face multiply. Once inside the cavernous car-parks you ride the walkways all the way into the park and make your choice : left to Islands of Adventure or right to Universal Studios Florida. We usually start with our old favourites at Universal first - Back to the Future, Men in Black, Terminator (and even ET while it is still there!). We then walk past the lake and Hard Rock Cafe and into Islands of Adventure and start the queue for Spidey, the Hulk and the Duelling Dragons…

Universal Studios Florida

Our family has loved returning to the “old” favourites of Back to the Future and the Men in Black. The trip into the mouth of the dinosaur in Doc Brown’s De Lorean was a highlight of any visit, and we are wary of the revamped Simpson’s ride which will open this year. It just won’t be the same. On the other hand the whole family enjoys the competition of helping Will Smith find and shoot the aliens in the backstreets of  New York. (Well, ok, maybe I do take it just a bit too seriously, but these are A L I E N S for goodness sake!). Maybe just one more practice!

Jaws is fun, and Terminator is thrilling the first couple of times - especially for older children - but for me the Revenge of the Mummy was a slight disappointment (too rushed & disjointed with no flowing narrative) but this year I will be back to try it once again. The best, most wonderful and side-splittingly funny (and scary!) place here though is Shrek 4-D which is always a hit and has some ticklish surprises… One downside here though is the length of the queues to get in, and in the heat of the August sun it is very noticeable that there is not enough shade nor mist fans here….

That leads neatly on to another slight quibble. The price of the Universal Express tickets is hefty - for us almost the same price again as the regular tickets. That hurts. We did it once but in the future will just try to plan our visits better…

We still haven’t yet tried the Animal Actors, nor Twister, or several of the smaller attractions, which all goes to show that there is never enough time… The layout of Universal Studios Florida - around a lake and meandering through landscapes and timezones - is a good one but not as easy to navigate as, for example, Magic Kingdom or Islands of Adventure. Plan your visit!

(see our next review for Islands of Adventure )