Disney World! (Day 5)

aka "The Day We Really Didn't Go to Disney World..."

Instead, we went to the best "'Disney park' that isn't on the Disney property"

Hooray! I had only been to the park once...and that was briefly during my one-week stint helping start up the production of "Beat the Clock" in Orlando. And even then, I only had time to see about the 1/2 the park! Not only that, but I was on my own then as opposed to being with eight of my closest friends.

So, this morning, we hopped into some taxis and made our way the Universal Orlando Resort and before we knew it...

Since I had the whole day to check out the park, I was able to appreciate things a bit more. The theming, I have to say, was top-notch...rivaling that of any Disney theme park.

The first stop...Marvel Island. We headed straight to The Hulk coaster. As we discovered with all the thrill rides, they have test seats outside to make sure you can "fit" in the seat...

And thankfully, I did...only to have a face like this throughout the whole ride...

After the ride, we went to the nearby gift shop...

...needless to say, Ted was like a kid in a toy store...

Oh, wait a minute...it was pretty much a toy store!

Then, off to...The Amazing Spider-Man!

...in 3D!

For those of you not familiar with this masterpiece of an attraction, it's a dark ride-meets-motion simulator-meets-3D-movie that's just all heaps of coolness.

Hands down....THE best theme park attraction...EVER!

We also went on Dr. Doom Fear Fall where I found a sign that would make a wonderful reality show...

..and quite an appropriate sign for me...

Marvel Island was a cool area...

...but there were many other places to see...like Toon Lagoon...home of this very neat Flash Gordon storefront...

Cue up the Queen theme to the 1980 "Flash Gordon" movie for full effect...

Even after our experience at the Kathy Griffin...I mean, Kali River Rapids, we ventured on to the Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges. It made the Kali River Rapids look very tame.

I mean, there was wetness...

lots...

and lots...

and lots...

...of wetness! Look at my back!

Miraculously Darren stayed pretty much dry compared to us!

But that all changed with the even more wet Dudley Do-Right Ripsaw Falls...In order to preserve my camera, I held back on using it.

From Toon Lagoon, we went to Jurassic Park...

...where we achieved a triple crown of wetness by riding the Jurassic Park River Advenutre.

All of this water fun made my butt a tad moist. No...don't read into that...

Upon finishing with the aquatic rides, there was a dryoff session...

...though Tim needed a whole new wardrobe because he was drenched!

But the water theme didn't end quite yet...We checked out Poseidon's Fury...

...which again had excellent theming...


Then, it was on to Dueling Dragons...the ride that at one point was originally meant for the aborted Beastly Kingdom section of Disney's Animal Kingdom...

We did the Fire side and Ice side before I got roller coastered out. I was ready for something a little more low key like...

Little did I know that it wasn't quite "low key." There was lots of spinning and spinning and spinning and spinning...oh, the dizziness...

And at the point, we had made a full circle around the park. Before we left, we made one final trip to Spider-Man...our third of the day...

This go 'round, we took a little extra time to take some pics in the queue area:



Unfortunately, our final run at Spider-Man was ruined by a back row filled with a VERY loud family that talked throughout the whole ride. BOO ON YOU! (Though they probably wouldn't have understood me had I said that...)

Thus ended another productive day at a theme park...

And thus ends the last of our full theme park days on this trip. The next couple of days will probably be a grab bag of different things like checking out the other Disney resorts, hitting the pool, and making some return visits to the parks. Who knows?

Whatever happens, it's quite amazing that we've done SO much in just a few days!