PART 9 – SUPERHEROES AND SHOPPING
We had decided to have a chill out day and a nice evening meal to finish off the holiday on Saturday so Friday was officially our last park day. None of us had been to Islands of Adventure so we didn’t really know what to expect. I was however aware of the rides and judging by the courage levels of the kids I thought we may get round in good time.
We set off reasonably early and arrived at Universal City Walk at around 10am heading left to IOA. Once inside we headed over toward the superheroes area watching the Hulk rollercoaster being fired from the tunnel like a rocket. “Don’t even think about asking” said Ben.
We headed towards Spiderman and before joining the queue did a photo shoot with the web-slinger himself and the kids thought he was awesome - thought he was pretty cool too. Did you know Wolverine is nearly 150 years old? Well neither did I until Spidey told me!
We then joined the line for Spiderman and proceeded through the offices of the Daily Bugle. We had just about made it into the third waiting area (it's a very long and cleverly disguised queue) when an announcement over the PA system told us that the ride was experiencing some technical difficulties and they would hope to have it working as soon as possible.
Half an hour later and a second announcement told us that people could wait in line if they wished but at this time there was no indication as to when they would be back in business. We decided to bail out and come back later so headed out an emergency exit..... and into the rain!
Whilst in the Daily Bugle the sky had closed in and looked very menacing. We were heading in the direction of Popeye & Bluto’s raft ride when there was an enormous crack of thunder and the heavens opened. All of a sudden the park seemed to go into pandemonium with people dashing around looking for shelter and the snack kiosks closing down and disappearing while the thunder clapped, the lightning flashed and the rain stotted off the ground.
After around 15 minutes the rain eased off so we decided to brave the elements and head off. As we walked from attraction to attraction we were met with someone telling us that the ride was currently closed due to the storm still being in the vicinity. It was a bit like the Mary, Joseph and Innkeeper tale – everywhere we went we got turned away.
We had been in the park for an hour and a half and hadn’t actually done anything which was a little disappointing so headed toward Cat in the Hat as at least it was indoors so would be open. Unfortunately everyone else in the park seemed to have the same idea. A 45 minute wait whilst being serenaded by one of the Universal staff belting out “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands!” wasn’t my idea of fun.
We eventually got on the ride and Jack enjoyed it so it wasn’t all bad. When we stepped back outside the storm had gone and the sun was shining brilliantly; we were peckish so headed back round to the Fantastic 4 Cafe and shared the most humongous pizza. The boys seemed a little underwhelmed by IOA (which I had kinda anticipated but the weather hadn’t helped) so I asked them, if they had a choice, what would they like to do...
“GO BACK TO UNIVERSAL AND GO ON THE SIMPSONS RIDE AGAIN” they both shouted in unison.
So we did! Before leaving we went back to Spiderman which was now back in operation and well worth queuing for again – it was almost on par with the Simpsons Ride – and then we headed back out and over to Universal. On passing Terminator 3D Jack said he was feeling brave today and would like to give it a go. As I expected he really enjoyed it, although the shotgun blast did almost cause him to jump out of his skin.
We then did the Simpsons Ride for the 3rd time and everyone enjoyed it just as much as the first and afterwards just had a nice leisurely
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always sad when such a wonderful holiday comes to an end...... been amazing felt like we were with you and the family.... feels like ur part of our family... got so involved in your storys xxx
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