Orlando 2025 Part 2: Universal Studios
I had wanted to post this earlier, but then my country and the US entered into a trade war and I felt that posting anything that might promote the US would be in bad taste. I became emotionally paralyzed and did not write anything for a long time. But then something happened on September 10 which made me reconsider my position on a lot of things, and then I realized the importance of sharing happiness and joy in this world. This post is dated as of the date it was supposed to be posted; this paragraph to explain the delay was added after. So with no further ado, let me take you to Orlando Part 2: Universal Studios.
This is the second time Sally and I have visited Universal Studios, and is our son’s first time. This was the actual reason why we chose this as a destination; when we went on our honeymoon back in the mid 1990’s at around the same time of year, this was a place we went to to celebrate our union together. As we approach 30 years together, we wanted to return to this place to share the experience with our son, and to see how much has changed over the years. In this post, whenever we have returned to a spot that has remained unchanged since our last trip here, you will see a “Before” and “After” photograph as above; though the globe has most certainly changed as you can see. We spent the remainder of our days going to this theme park, so this post will cover those days.
Universal Studios is very much a tourist trap, with exorbitant parking rates. There is no bus from our hotel to here; those busses only go to Disney. So every day we drove here, we got to pay an additional $32 USD for parking. Something to consider, as Universal Studios has their own resorts with transportation to the park.
The security at Universal Studios is much tighter than when we were last here. It’s almost like going through the airport; we had to place all of our possessions into bins that went through X ray machines, and we had to go through metal detectors. I suppose this is the new normal in 2025.
I’m just going to start this off by declaring the Hollywood Rip Ride as the greatest roller coaster experience I have ever had. Back in the 1990’s, I don’t believe there were any roller coasters at Universal Studios Florida. As you can see, we started off going straight up 167 feet, and then after that, a most excellent ride along 3800 feet of steel track. It was so wild, it was required that all riders go through a metal detector and were not allowed to have anything in our pockets. What made it unique is that it allowed us to choose a genre of music to listen to for the ride; choosing from Pop (Waterloo by ABBA), Classic Rock/Metal (“Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance), Country (“Man! I feel like a woman!” by Shania Twain), Rap/Hip Hop (“Humble” by Kendrick Lamar), or Techno (“Sandstorm” by Darude). Nick and I rode the coaster enough times to try out the different music options; my favourite was Sandstorm, though each song selection seemed to be chosen to align well with the timing of the various coaster events like the first drop, the loops, and the corkscrews. Simply phenomenal; the music option should be available on all roller coasters. UPDATE This coaster was closed on August 18, 2025. I feel fortunate to have got to experience this most amazing coaster.
Being big Back to the Future fans, we went straight to the DeLorean. It was in the same place, but has been turned around 180 degrees and relocated from being at the front of the train to being at the rear. The palm trees in the back in the 90’s photograph are now Springfield, USA, Home of the Simpsons.
In addition, the train seems to have lost the black fuel car it was pulling behind it in the 1990’s. Overall, it’s good to see they’re maintaining the train and the DeLorean quite well, though that’s about all they have for one of the greatest trilogies of our time, aside from merchandise.
Mel’s drive-in was another place that hasn’t changed much at all over the past 30 years. Looks like they moved some cars around, but everything is just as it was.
The food is pretty much the same as it was, though a lot more expensive.
A couple of people in the horror film makeup industry explained to us how they create their effects in a very entertaining way.
Another show we enjoyed here was Animal Actors, where animals from actual movies came out and their technique on how they are trained was explained to us in a very entertaining way.
Another example of a place where nothing has changed in the past 30 years, in spite of so many things that have come and gone at Universal Studios Florida over that time. It’s certainly a much bigger place today than it was back then.
For example, there is an entirely new section called The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. There is a full sized cable drawn train that can be ridden from the San Francisco part of the old park to Hogsmeade. No photographs or filming was allowed inside the train, but the decorating inside is accurate to the movies, as are the train stations at either end, and there are scenes from the movies that play out in the windows of the cars we were riding in. There was a lineup to ride this train, but it was worth the wait.
Stepping out of the train station and into Hogsmeade and seeing very convincing snow on the rooftops of buildings right out of a storybook in the sweltering Florida heat of nearly 30 degrees Celsius felt very surreal. I’m not a big Harry Potter fan, but if I was, I would have been out of my mind crazy with excitement being here, as many kids and some adults clearly were. I would go so far as to say this place made me appreciate Harry Potter, where at one time I would have dismissed it.
We were even treated to a live performance show on the other side of Hogsmeade; credit to these performers for putting on such a great show in this heat.
The amount of money and effort that went into building this world to such a degree of realism cannot be understated. Nothing here looks fake.
Leaving the world of Harry Potter brought us right into the world of Jurrasic Park, which also was not here when we were here last. This felt like stepping into the movie, which motivated us to watch it again, as I haven’t seen this movie since the 90’s.
After Jurrasic Park, we entered Toon Lagoon. Boy did this place really bring me back! This place was straight from the comic strips I used to read as a kid - Popeye, Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Dagwood, Heathcliff, The Family Circus, Mother Goose and Grimm, Broom Hilda…those good wholesome newspaper comic strips that always made me laugh every Saturday morning when we got the paper. The period theme comic music really added to the atmosphere.
We decided to backtrack to the old part of the theme park to finish up what we didn’t complete the first day. The Jaws ride that was a popular attraction when we last went is long gone, but the shark has been kept up and restored over the years.
The Hollywood Hotel still stands in all its glory.
Oi! A fake camera store! How I wish stores like this were still around today.
Scooby Doo, where are you?
The minions have really taken over a lot of the old part of the theme park.
Yet another part of the theme park that has remain unchanged for all these years.
We decided to start our last day at Universal Studios Florida with The Lost Continent.
Poseidon’s Fury certainly isn’t in its prime anymore. Wasn’t here the first time we were here, and looks like it won’t be around for much longer, but it’s certainly still very impressive.
We found a great place for kids of all ages, and it’s called Seuss Landing. Another new to us part of the park.
Our first ride here was the merry-go-round, as there were no line-ups or waiting time.
Also no wait time to get on One Fish, Two Fish.
The Cat in the Hat ride was very bizzare.
The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride gave us a great view of this part of the theme park.
Our next stop was at the marvel comics part of the Island Adventure part of the park, and you bet we rode The Incredible Hulk Coaster.
We bought the photo of us on the coaster because it was so awesome.
Doctor Doom’s Fear Fall was actually a lot more tame than I thought it would be.
A meal at the Marvel Cafe. The prices are fixed at this park, and there are no deals. At least the food is decent for a burger and fries.
Adventure Island had plenty of adventure oriented things to see, but by this point we were all getting very burned out.
This concludes our adventures in Florida. These posts barely skim the surface of our experience. I did take video of our adventure, and will be uploading that to our channel on Youtube, so stay tuned for that. But I can say that this park is massive. We went on a four day pass, and we definitely needed each of those four days just to take in as much as we did, and there was plenty that we didn’t get to experience. The first time we were here back in the 90’s, a day was plenty. But today, four days is barely enough. If we do this again, we would rather stay at the resort; it would probably cost more, but there’s enough going on here that it would make it worthwhile.