u/Strongarm_11

I made it back to Islands of Adventure for the first time since 2023 and my 4th visit overall. I have previously visited IOA as a kid in both 2015 and 2019 but 2023 was my first visit as a proper thoosie. The wait times were relatively short for nearly every ride so I l nearly got on everything! Here’s what I rode:

VelociCoaster (58): FINALLY! After painfully skipping one of the best coaster in the world due to excessive wait times and rain, I finally got to ride VelociCoaster! I got 3 rides total and it’s just peak! I’m not sure if it’s the best in the world considering Iron Gwazi is my goat but I’ll have to think about that.

The Incredible Hulk (37 in 2023): I’m so glad I got to reride Hulk. I only got one ride on my last visit but since the wait time was constantly 5 minutes, I got 3 rides in a row today and man I forgot how intense this is. This also makes me miss Kumba more (I miss that beast 😭), I hope to ride Wildfire at SDC one day.

Hagrid’s (59): This was the other credit I missed out on during my last visit due to excessive wait times. Unfortunately it still frequents 1 hour waits so I stuck it out through the long line. It’s a really fun family coaster, I see why it’s still so popular. It’s also my first motorbike coaster, switch track, and drop track so that’s cool.

Flight of the Hippogriff (41 in 2023): Got the credit on my last visit as a last minute ride on the Hogwarts express to end out the day I visited Studios. Gave it a reride today and my thoughts are the same. It’s pretty alright, good family coaster but nothing too special.

Forbidden Journey: Another ride I rode for the first time on my last visit alongside Hippogriff. It’s still a great dark ride! I’d argue Monsters Unchained is better, though that might be recency bias.

Spider-Man: still a classic all these years later! This is the only ride I’ve ridden on all 4 of my visits!

Storm ride: I thought this was teacups lol, I could barely spin the cars 😅. Mainly rode this as a pace breaker and it’s fun.

Dr Doom ride: Rode this for the first time on this visit, also my first ever S&S shot tower (rode twice on both towers). I’m not a big fan of drop towers but I’ve done Falcons Fury a few times. The S&S shot towers like Dr Doom are pretty fun though I see why many prefer the Intamin drop towers like Falcons Fury.

Skull Island: I remember riding this back in 2019, though I don’t remember anything about the ride. Reriding it now I kinda see why, it’s just ok. I could have sworn this used to have 3D glasses, did it?

Dr Seuss land: I rode all the rides there as a pace breaker, they were pretty decent. Cat in the Hat is pretty trippy but a fun ride. The Seuss carousel and red fish blue fish ride are decent rides.

I do remember riding the Seuse Trolly on my first visit as a kid but I don’t remember anything about the ride so I chose to not count it as a credit. I finally rerode Seuse Trolly so I can count the credit. I decided to count both tracks as separate credits (60 green track, 61 purple track).

The only rides I didn’t get on today were all the water rides since I didn’t want to get soaked. I do miss the Jurassic Park boat ride, that ride is a core memory from my early visits as a kid that sadly I missed out on both in 2023 and today due to refurbishments. I don’t have the park hopper ticket so no Hogwarts Express but I don’t mind since I’ve ridden it on the past.

I got to ride nearly every ride! Here’s what I got to ride:

Stardust Racers (53 yellow, 56 green): this coaster is just peak, don’t have much to say that hasn’t been said before. I got 4 rides (two on each sides).

Hiccups Wing Gliders (55): pretty fun ride, great family coaster!

Mine-Cart Madness (54): pretty fun ride with some great theming but man this ride had a long ass line all day that barely moved.

Curse of the Werewolf (57): it’s not that bad tbh, my car was quite off balanced and I got some crazy whip. The rocking section is such a stupid pace breaker though.

Mario Kart: this was the main reason my family wanted to go to Universal this year, safe to say we weren’t disappointed.

Monsters Unchained: Great dark ride! I rode this twice since the line was 15 minutes nearly all day.

Battle of the Ministry: This ride kept breaking down even during my ride. It’s a great ride but man does it have so many technical issues.

Carousel: pretty unique compared to most other carousels!

I’ve made a few post like this a few months back but here is part 4! I found some more random movies you likely forgot about.

Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/MiddleGenZ/s/8eI4ShypqO

Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/MiddleGenZ/s/B8t168i0l1

Part 3: https://www.reddit.com/r/MiddleGenZ/s/shzdLZ1pa5

Kumba was one of the first coasters I rode when I made my first ever trip to Busch Gardens Tampa in 2022. It has always been one of my personal favorite coasters (my number 2 overall at the moment) and I’ve had several memorable experience with Kumba over the years. From taking some of my friends on it to break their fear of coasters to once nearly vomiting on it, Kumba is a fun coaster that always packs a punch. I’m gonna miss this beast 😔

Rip Kumba (1993-2026).

Me personally, I’d say it was pretty even between the model version and the CGI versions, I had a crap ton of DVDs for this show and watched it a lot on Sprout growing up.

Some outside shots of the coaster: https://www.reddit.com/r/rollercoasterjerk/s/KxpFFWQ3y4

I made a similar post before with Disney Channel shows so I thought I’d do the same thing but with Cartoon Network shows.