In June 2004, I visited a Universal Studios Store at an Outlet Mall in Orlando, Florida, very close to Walt Disney World. I had never been to Universal's Islands of Adventure park, and did not visit on this particular trip. I did manage to find some great souvenirs on sale, and I picked up this PVC figure representing Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls flume ride (no, I did not pay $5 for this figure).
On November 13, 2009, I finally got to Universal's Islands of Adventures. This was the last day of a week-long trip to Orlando. The Marriott Orlando World Center hotel had a special Universal ticket option: A one day, two parks ticket good after 2PM. After visiting CityWalk, and eating at the Hard Rock Cafe, the adventure finally began at Islands of Adventure.
The first stop was Marvel Super Hero Island for the Hulk rollercoaster and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (my favorite Universal attraction). The next stop was Toon Lagoon!
I quickly made my way to Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls. The parks were not very busy that day, but I was trying to experience as much as I could in a short amount of time.
That's me briskly walking past the other visitors. The weather in Orlando had been all over the place that week. It had been very warm and also quite cold. On this day, it was kind of chilly.
On this ride, Dudley Do-Right and his sidekick, Horse, must chase down villain Snidely Whiplash, who has kidnapped damsel-in-distress Nell.
I had been warned that I'd get really wet on this attraction. I got drenched right away.
In case you didn't get soaked earlier in the ride, the final drop will take care of that.
Yikes--that water is cold!!
I was in the front seat, so I stopped the big splash from hitting the rest of the people in the boat.Universal is no stranger to re-theming or changing major attractions. One (fan) suggestion I had read online for Islands of Adventure that makes sense to me involves Toon Lagoon changing to a video game/Nintendo theme.
A Mario Bros. Plumbers theme for Ripsaw Falls seems like a great idea to me. Mario and Luigi are very popular with kids today (and of course, their parents know the characters, too). It doesn't seem like it would be too difficult to swap out Dudley, Horse, Nell and Snidely for Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and King Bowser.
Don't get me wrong, I had a good time at Toon Lagoon and enjoyed Ripsaw Falls. I think it's OK if people aren't that familiar with Dudley Do-Right. Ripsaw Falls is great fun.
Still, there's lots of possibilities with the Nintendo characters. I have no idea how much money has been spent by my own family members on Mario stuff for kids---but I'm sure it's a big chunk of change.
Only been to Universal's IOA once and I loved both Spiderman and the Cat In The Hat dark ride. Spiderman is one of my favorite all-time theme park rides!
ReplyDeleteAs for Dudley Do-Right, yeah I got wetter than I thought I would too. I didn't like the water cannons they had positioned at the end of the ride. I got more water on me from the people paying to operate the water cannons than I did from the actual ride.
Hey TokyoMagic! I've only been to Islands of Adventure once, and those two rides were my favorites, too (Harry Potter was under construction at the time).
ReplyDeleteI forgot about the pay water cannons--I was already drenched, so maybe I did not notice them!
I wonder how much Harry Potter changed the crowds at the Universal parks in November 2010. In 2009, Cat in the Hat and Men in Black seemed to have very slow moving lines (the ride vehicles and loading on these two attractions seem very similar). However, the longest wait was for Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit (newer and not a high-capacity "people eater").