Islands of Adventure

Today we went to Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando, the second park Universal built in Orlando, after Universal Studios. IOA consists of several “ports of call” set around a central lagoon. When we last visited in 2003 they were Port of Entry, Marvel Superhero Island, Toon Lagoon, Jurassic Park, Lost Continent, and Seuss Landing.
We went mainly to see the relatively new Wizarding World of Harry Potter area. It opened in 2010, taking over part of the Lost Continent area nearest to Jurassic Park. The Harry Potter area was pretty crowded, so we walked around the park trying to do other things until after dinner.

Marvel Superhero Island has a pretty intense coaster themed to Hulk, a Doctor Doom drop tower, an X-Men spinner, and a Spider-Man dark ride. Toon Lagoon has a Dudley Do-Right flume ride and a Popeye raft ride. Jurassic Park has a flume ride, plus areas to explore. Seuss Landing has a couple of kiddie spinners and a Cat in the Hat dark ride. Many of the attractions are very well done, especially the Spider-Man ride, but tend to throw you around or spin you more than Disney rides do. 

We ate lunch at Mythos in Lost Continent, which was pretty good. Lost Continent has a pretty cool walkthrough attraction called Poseidon’s Fury and a Sinbad stunt show. In the evening, we returned to Hogsmeade and looked through the stores, tried the butterbeer, and had dinner at the Three Broomsticks. 

We then rode the Dragon Challenge and, right before closing, the Forbidden Journey. The Dragon Challenge, which used to be called Dueling Dragons before it became part of the Harry Potter area, is a two sided racing coaster. There’s also a smaller roller coaster that was themed to a Unicorn when it was part of Lost Continent, but changed to a Hippogriff. Forbidden Journey is a dark ride which uses screens and props to hurl you through the world of Harry Potter.