Part 2. (sorry for this format --part 1 and 2 were originally a single text, but the forum has a limit on post size)
Thursday(4/26):
Another relaxing day at USF/IOA. I don't have my notes for thursday. Crowds were light. We did about 15 attractions in about 4.5 hours. We ate pizza at USF at the Italian restaurant between Kong and Earthquake. I don't have my park map with me so I can't remember it's name or the price.
Friday(4/27):
We arrived at IOA at 9:00 and spent about 3 hours there then went to USF till about 1. After which we drove to Montgomery. Several notable things happened friday. We went to pick up express passes for spiderman --this was right after the park had opened. I guess that the attendant had just verified the machines because each of the machines had an express pass already printed just sitting there. We had already ran our tickets through, so we got express tickets with our park tickets and picked up the rest as "freebies". So we rode Spiderman about 4 times and saved our last pass for later. Another notable thing was that as we were passing Pteranadon Flyers we noticed that adults were riding. This ride is usually restricted to kids or kids accompanied by an adult. We investigated and since it was early and the ride was not at capacity the attendant was letting adults on. We rode Pteranadon Flyers twice. So if you get there early on a less busy day maybe you can ride too. I thought the ride was great. If they let adults ride usually and it was a first time, I would say the ride is worth about a 35 minute wait. We also wandered through Camp Jurassic. The mines are really neat ---worth a walk-through at least once. After riding several other rides our express passes came due for Spiderman. We walked back to Marvel Island and the wait in standby was now 60 minutes. At that time a man and his son had walked up and saw the long wait time. The boy was only 6 or 7 and was excited about riding the ride, but his father was disheartened at the wait time and was saying something like, "we'll have to comeback because the line is too long." We had already ridden the ride 4 times that day, so we gave the father and son our express passes (these were the passes that we actually got with our park entry tickets). Our good deed came back to us in turn. We walked over to USF. We had wasted two of our express passes just playing around. But there time had already expired so we got one at Kong. There was no wait at Kong but we were going to eat at Richter's and thought there might be a wait upon return. On the way to Richter's we decided to get an express pass to Jaws as well. The only pass that we had out was the Kong pass. All of the others had expired, but when we got to kiosk, the kiosk said that we had too many passes out. Apparently if you have had 3 passes they all have to expire before you can get a new pass. I assume that you can then get 3 new passes. But I was under the impression that you could hold 3 passes at a time. So that as one pass expired you could get another pass. I wasn't rude but I asked the attendant to explain the process to me. The attendant at Jaws was very nice and set me straight. He then said, "because you didn't know, I'll give you your passes". We were very grateful because we were planning to leave for home after Jaws.
FINAL THOUGHTS/OBSERVATIONS:
Crowds.
This was my number one fear. And previous reports on crowd size were varied. I would describe the crowds as moderate to light. Most wait-times were under 20 minutes. The attractions with longer wait times usually had periods throughout the day with significantly lower wait-times. Express passes at Universal, and Fastpasses at Disney were helpful.
Late April is a good compromise weatherwise.
I don't like hot weather or the water rides. My friend likes the water rides. It is warm enough to get wet in April but not too hot. Several of our vacation days were in the mid 70s.
Spiderman.
The best ride at IOA has a single rider line but it seems to be open only if the standby wait reaches more than 60 minutes. The entire week we were there the single rider line only opened on Sunday, though wait times hovered around 60 minutes. I wish IOA would open the single rider line more often.
Animal Kingdom is lacking as a themepark.
This park is not worth the $50 entrance fee. However it is worth a visit if you are parkhopping. It has several good attractions --Dinosaur, Tough to be a Bug, and Festival of the Lion King. But as a zoo, the press of the crowds is too oppressive. I much prefer to visit the local zoo for me, The Montgomery Zoo, though it doesn' t have the diversity that AK has.
Food.
Disney food is slightly cheaper, but the portions are alot smaller and the quality doesn't approach Universal's. This is my opinion after eating at the Brown Derby, Columbia Harbour House, and Tony's at Disney, and eating at Confisco's, Enchanted Oak, Thunderfalls Terrace, Nascar Cafe, Richter's, and that-Italian-place at Universal. I know I tried a lot more places at Universal than Disney, but Disney's food was constantly disappointing, whereas Universal's food was always delicious.
Finally.
Don't bash me for having an opinion. I welcome the comments of others with differing views. Please remember that opinions are just that, opinions ---they aren't with getting upset over. We managed to do 86 attractions in 6 days; so with a little planning, late April is a great time to take in a lot. I hope this report helps someone who might be planning a trip. I certainly appreciate all the valuable information I have gleened from these boards.
Thursday(4/26):
Another relaxing day at USF/IOA. I don't have my notes for thursday. Crowds were light. We did about 15 attractions in about 4.5 hours. We ate pizza at USF at the Italian restaurant between Kong and Earthquake. I don't have my park map with me so I can't remember it's name or the price.
Friday(4/27):
We arrived at IOA at 9:00 and spent about 3 hours there then went to USF till about 1. After which we drove to Montgomery. Several notable things happened friday. We went to pick up express passes for spiderman --this was right after the park had opened. I guess that the attendant had just verified the machines because each of the machines had an express pass already printed just sitting there. We had already ran our tickets through, so we got express tickets with our park tickets and picked up the rest as "freebies". So we rode Spiderman about 4 times and saved our last pass for later. Another notable thing was that as we were passing Pteranadon Flyers we noticed that adults were riding. This ride is usually restricted to kids or kids accompanied by an adult. We investigated and since it was early and the ride was not at capacity the attendant was letting adults on. We rode Pteranadon Flyers twice. So if you get there early on a less busy day maybe you can ride too. I thought the ride was great. If they let adults ride usually and it was a first time, I would say the ride is worth about a 35 minute wait. We also wandered through Camp Jurassic. The mines are really neat ---worth a walk-through at least once. After riding several other rides our express passes came due for Spiderman. We walked back to Marvel Island and the wait in standby was now 60 minutes. At that time a man and his son had walked up and saw the long wait time. The boy was only 6 or 7 and was excited about riding the ride, but his father was disheartened at the wait time and was saying something like, "we'll have to comeback because the line is too long." We had already ridden the ride 4 times that day, so we gave the father and son our express passes (these were the passes that we actually got with our park entry tickets). Our good deed came back to us in turn. We walked over to USF. We had wasted two of our express passes just playing around. But there time had already expired so we got one at Kong. There was no wait at Kong but we were going to eat at Richter's and thought there might be a wait upon return. On the way to Richter's we decided to get an express pass to Jaws as well. The only pass that we had out was the Kong pass. All of the others had expired, but when we got to kiosk, the kiosk said that we had too many passes out. Apparently if you have had 3 passes they all have to expire before you can get a new pass. I assume that you can then get 3 new passes. But I was under the impression that you could hold 3 passes at a time. So that as one pass expired you could get another pass. I wasn't rude but I asked the attendant to explain the process to me. The attendant at Jaws was very nice and set me straight. He then said, "because you didn't know, I'll give you your passes". We were very grateful because we were planning to leave for home after Jaws.
FINAL THOUGHTS/OBSERVATIONS:
Crowds.
This was my number one fear. And previous reports on crowd size were varied. I would describe the crowds as moderate to light. Most wait-times were under 20 minutes. The attractions with longer wait times usually had periods throughout the day with significantly lower wait-times. Express passes at Universal, and Fastpasses at Disney were helpful.
Late April is a good compromise weatherwise.
I don't like hot weather or the water rides. My friend likes the water rides. It is warm enough to get wet in April but not too hot. Several of our vacation days were in the mid 70s.
Spiderman.
The best ride at IOA has a single rider line but it seems to be open only if the standby wait reaches more than 60 minutes. The entire week we were there the single rider line only opened on Sunday, though wait times hovered around 60 minutes. I wish IOA would open the single rider line more often.
Animal Kingdom is lacking as a themepark.
This park is not worth the $50 entrance fee. However it is worth a visit if you are parkhopping. It has several good attractions --Dinosaur, Tough to be a Bug, and Festival of the Lion King. But as a zoo, the press of the crowds is too oppressive. I much prefer to visit the local zoo for me, The Montgomery Zoo, though it doesn' t have the diversity that AK has.
Food.
Disney food is slightly cheaper, but the portions are alot smaller and the quality doesn't approach Universal's. This is my opinion after eating at the Brown Derby, Columbia Harbour House, and Tony's at Disney, and eating at Confisco's, Enchanted Oak, Thunderfalls Terrace, Nascar Cafe, Richter's, and that-Italian-place at Universal. I know I tried a lot more places at Universal than Disney, but Disney's food was constantly disappointing, whereas Universal's food was always delicious.
Finally.
Don't bash me for having an opinion. I welcome the comments of others with differing views. Please remember that opinions are just that, opinions ---they aren't with getting upset over. We managed to do 86 attractions in 6 days; so with a little planning, late April is a great time to take in a lot. I hope this report helps someone who might be planning a trip. I certainly appreciate all the valuable information I have gleened from these boards.
