My first surprise came upon entering the park as we passed by all the enticing establishments of City Walk with the huge roller coasters of Islands of Adventure looming ahead.  That was only the beginning!

As we experienced our day at Universal Studios, we found that a few of the old attractions had been updated and revamped such as “Disaster! A Major Motion Picture Ride starring You” which was formerly “Earthquake – The Big One!”  Earthquake closed in 2007, however, several of the main elements of the ride are the same incorporating a new theme and some additional special effects.  Some attractions were entirely replaced such as the old “Back to the Future” which in March of 2007 was replaced with “The Simpsons Ride” and “Kongfrontation,” which closed in 2002 to be replaced by “Revenge of the Mummy” which according to my son is a pretty “awesome” indoor rollercoaster (I don’t do roller coasters).  The “Funtastic  World of Hanna-Barbera” is now “Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast” which is a wild simulator ride through the worlds of everyone’s favorite Nicktoon characters (it was great fun though I had to close my eyes a few times).   “Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies,”  closed in 2003 to make way for “Shrek 4-D” which is a fantastic adventure with all the special effects you come to expect from 3-D (or in this case 4-D) that takes off from where the popular movie ended. 

Men in Black: Alien Attack was brand new in 2000.  You enter this ride under the pretense that you are at the World Expo about to view a presentation called “The Universe and You,” but you end up being an MIB trainee.  This ride is similar to the arcade-style Buzz Lightyear in Magic Kingdom as you travel in vehicles shooting up aliens with your laser gun trying to score as many points as possible – fun!

Some outdated sets such as the Bates Mansion and Swamp Thing were gone but the kiddie area called Woody Woodpecer’s Kidzone had expanded to include the Nuthouse Coaster and the Curious George interactive playground.

Sadly, the Boneyard had disappeared.  I remember how much I enjoyed viewing the discarded props from some of my all time favorite films.  This has been removed to make way for the entrance to the coming attraction, “Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit.”   Out with the old and in with the new as they say!

We had a great day and loved the new attractions.  We will no doubt return very soon!

We were lucky to be able to take our children to Florida for the 6 weeks holidays. While we were there we wanted the children to try different experiences and thought I would share them with you all…..but that would take far too long and decided to focus on the “NEW Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit ”

Our children are 11yrs, 12 yrs, 14 yrs, 16 yrs, 18 yrs old so we wanted to do things that they would all enjoy, one of the things that they all wanted to do was to go on the “new” ride at Universal Studios, “Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit” but was not sure when it was due to open has Universal Studio’s was only advertising “due to open summer 2009” after arriving at the park on several occasions they see that the ride as people queuing, the park are now doing “test Rides” and decide to join the queue, they waited for two and a half hours and was finally sitting in the seat of the new ride.

Like most roller coaster rides the children felt it was over far too quickly, but loved the idea of been able to select and play your own choice of music of which you have to decide on before the roller coaster starts to move.  Once the ride is in motion, you start to climb upward to the height of around 17 Stories over Universal Studio’s, they children say the view is fantastic for the spit second that you see it and then the speed of the roller coaster starts, you have no chances of really hearing the song that you have selected due to the speed and the twists and turns of the roller coaster, your tummy flipping over and over, your head flipping side to side and the feeling of nothing really holding you in place.  The drops and turns of the roller coaster at speeds that is unbelievable, when the ride is finished the children got off the ride still feeling the rush of excitement of wanting to go on it again and again, the adult that went on with them could not say the same he reckons it’s far too scary for a second go………