Our 2014 Walt Disney World Vacation pt. 4

Day 4: Tuesday, June 17th, 2014

Our fourth day in Orlando took us to Universal Studios – Islands of Adventure! We enjoyed the thrill rides and attractions so much on our 2012 trip that we knew we were definitely going to make time to go back again! Although we made out well last trip with doing BOTH parks in one day, we wanted to take our time this trip & decided to break up the park into two days.

Last trip we decided to take a taxi from our Disney resort to Universal. This year we felt more comfortable with the distance and booked transportation through Mears. Although it made numerous stops on the way to Universal, it was a comfy & affordable means of getting to the park!

Before heading out to catch the bus we grabbed some bagels & fruit from our resort. While we can handle the “intense” attractions quiet well, we wanted to be cautious about what we ate beforehand just to be on the safe side.

We decided to spend the day at Universal Studios Islands of Adventure Park because we wanted to hit up The Wizarding World of Harry Potter attractions as early as possible. When the gates dropped we were off!

The first ride we went on was The Harry Potter themed Roller Coaster Dragon Challenge. This is a fast paced, must-do, roller coaster with twists, turns and loops. Of course we made sure that we sat in the front row.

Next we went on Harry Potter’s Forbidden Journey, a quick moving simulator ride. This is another great ride, but for those of you who may be prone to motion sickness, this ride could leave you feeling a little bit queasy.

We couldn’t leave the Wizarding World before trying a frozen butter beer. If you like butterscotch, you'll definitely enjoy this cold treat!

Up next we headed over to the Jurrasic Park ride. This is one of our favorite rides and is comparable flume ride to Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom. If you sit in front, be prepared to get wet.

Now that we were a little wet, we thought we might as well keep that trend going with our next two rides, Dudley Do-Rights Rip Saw Falls and Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barge. The Canadian Mountie themed flume ride is without a doubt the most wet you can get at the park, especially if you are in the front row. Bluto’s Barge ride is a wetter version of the Kali River Rapids ride at Disney’s Animal kingdom.

Rip Saw Falls

Bluto's Bilge Rat Barge

Soaked!

After sitting in the sun and drying off a bit, we hit up the Spiderman ride. This is one of the best simulator rides in the park, with lots of fast paced movements and fiery effects. Since there is only two of us, we normally split up for this ride and go in the single rider line to get on it quicker!

At this point we decided to take a short break and grab a hod dog for lunch. Once we ate those it was off to Dr. Dooms Dead Fall Ride and the Hulk Roller Coaster! If the wait times are long for the Hulk we often opt for the single rider lines. Both are must do rides and we usually do them as many time as possible!

By this point it was supper time so we went out of the park and up city walk to Bubba Gump's Restaurant! We enjoyed a delicious shrimp dinner and a cool drink or two. It was delicious and we will definitely be heading there again on our next visit!

With some time still left before we needed to be back to get on our bus, we decided to go back to the park and try out Poseidon's Fury. This was a ride neither of us knew much about but we wanted to try it out. W came to find out that this is a walking tour style attraction where you are on your feet throughout it as you, along with a guide look for a missing professor in the ruins. The attraction was interesting and worth going to but you might want to do this attraction earlier in your day, rather than later when your legs are already tired.

It was a busy, memorable, and an exciting Day 4 of our vacation! After Poseidon's Fury it was time to head back out of the park to catch our bus and head back to our Disney resort to relax, go for a swim and rest up before we head back to Disney for Day 5 of our trip :)