Universal/IoA secrets

[ChrisFL]

They took out The Enchanted Oak due to Harry Potter land construction. Sorry buddy. (That place was no good anyway)

What?? I loved the Enchanted Oak tavern

 

[macraven]

They took out The Enchanted Oak due to Harry Potter land construction. Sorry buddy. (That place was no good anyway)

everyone has an opinion.

i loved that place.

 

[loribell]

everyone has an opinion.

i loved that place.

Ditto!

 

[ntsammy5]

Ditto!

Ditto, dittio.

Great theme there

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

We've never eaten there but sure loved the design of the place. We were there this past weekend and the area just isn't the same. Not to mention ds8 so sadly missed Flying Unicorn. Now the area in front of DD is a dead-end and very congested, at least when we were there. When coming from JP, you have to turn left to go to DD, then right again to head toward Seuss's Landing. I guess this is just temporary...

 

[donaldduck352]

What?? I loved the Enchanted Oak tavern

everyone has an opinion.

i loved that place.

Ditto!

Ditto, dittio.

Great theme there

DITTO times 5.That was my hangout when everyone rode DD 4times in a row

 

[macraven]

just trying to bring this thread back from the dead.

Please add your secrets to this thread.



Some things in it from 2005 are not the same now. some new things have been added.

It is a good read from page 1 to now so you can see what the secrets were 4 years ago and some are still the same.


I'm sure newbies will enjoy reading the "can't be missed secrets " at universal and ioa.



The following two posts have a combination of info for you.


hope you enjoy........

I have read of a few things here and there on other sites, but I haven't made it back to find them myself yet.

Twister - In the second preshow, watch the spinning tractor wheel in the ceiling. When it stops, you should notice there are a pair of Mouse Ears attached to it.

Shrek 4D - In the gift shop there is a decorated stairway. This was once the "Vertigo" stairway from the attraction that once occupied the building: Alfred Hitchcock, the Art of Making Movies.

Revenge of the Mummy -
*KONGfrontation, the building's former attraction, managed to leave several references in the Mummy ride. In the queue, keep your eyes peeled for several bananas scattered about.
*There are also some large gorilla hyeroglyphics near the giant Anubis figure.
*As you wind through the dark corridors at the beginning of the ride, look closely at the people from the crashed train. One of them is wearing a hat that says "Kong Rules".
*In the Treasure Room scene, wait for the treasure to light up, then quickly look to your left, near the middle of the piles. You should see a golden statue of King Kong himself.
*There are ride vehicles hidden in the dark Coaster portion of the ride, including some E.T. Bikes. When the lights flash revealing the mummies, look quick and you might spot them.
*There is a small rectangular chamber in the tomb portion of the queue. To the right as you enter there is a hole with treasure. Try to grab it.

Jaws - In the queue line for Jaws, keep your eyes open for shoes hanging about. Each one represents a skipper of the ride's past.

Men in Black -
*In the queue, take a look at some of the posters hanging about the walls. Do they look familiar? They should. They were deliberately designed to look like the classic Disneyland posters.
*If you are on the right track, you'll have a chance to shoot Steven Spielburg. After the Ambush, you'll see "Steven" sitting on a bench reading a newspaper.
*The newspaper the Steven Spielburg is reading features Jurassic Park 3.
*Listen for your instructor to shout "Push the red button!" at the Big Bug scene. That's your cue to, well, push the red button in front of you. If you do, you'll recieve a 100,000 point bonus.

Port of Entry -
*Almost every Port of Entry building has a conversation going on inside. Listen closely. In one building you might hear an arguement; in another, you might hear a lively conversation.
*Check out the Port of Entry Firestation, unfortunately closed. Why's it closed? The sign reads "Moved closer to water".
*There's an actual mailbox in the Port of Entry. It reads RocketMail and is emptied once a week. You can buy stamps in the Islands of Adventure Trading Company.

Marvel Super Hero Island - There are two sets of "Newscast Machines" in the area. One is near Storm Force, the other on the terrace of Captain America Diner. Press each machine's buttons to hear an interesting news update.

Dr. Doom's Fearfall - Outside of the ride entrance, look carefully at the concrete. There are body imprints from those who have fallen from atop the tower.

Toon Lagoon -
*Next to Me Ship, The Olive play area, there's a quiet little secluded path way that goes over the water. On it you can find: A school of fish, an anchor on shore (being held in place by a boat), Plymouth Rock, crow's nest, and perhaps more sight gags.
*There's a big plate of burgers providing a fun photo op on one of the tables outside Wimpy's.
*Outside Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw Falls, keep an eye on the Dynamite Shack. Every time a log flies through it, not only are their numerous sound effects and creaking boards, a chicken pops out of a crate.
*There's a giant bomb in front of one of the Toon Lagoon shops. Push down on the trigger.
*Look for the hidden Aesop and Son photo op in a small alleyway on Comic Strip Lane.
*Be sure to spot the Fountain of Toon Dogs, with dogs from many classic cartoons.
*Follow the Family Circus dotted line to find Billy.

Me Ship, The Olive -
*As you enter the boat, turn left. There should be a box on the floor. Get down and look closer, maybe touch it a little. A Popeye character will appear inside.
*On the first floor of the ship go up to the cargo nets, right where they start. Hop on it and look down. There's a hole in the ship! Not only that, but there are sharks below! (Be sure to not drop any loose and small personal belongs here!!)
*On the second floor you may find a kid-sized player piano. On the music sheet the color-coded notes play the tune of Popeye. Play them correctly and the entire song will play.

Dudley Do Right's Ripsaw Falls -
Warning: Numerous Disney Spoofs ahead!!
*In the queue, in the room before the loading room, there are two talking animal heads. The beaver and bear converse making cheap puns as you wait. Listen carefully for them to take a jab at both "it's a small world" and the "Country Bear Jamboree".
*Also in the queue, keep your eyes open for movie posters advertising such classics as "Paws".
*Snidely Whiplash will try to drop a giant boulder on you above the "Wannabe Mine". This is a subtle spoof on "Snow White's Scary Adventures".
*Once you reach the railroad scene, you take the first of 3 drops (this is one in the dark). Right before you fall, a train appears to be rushing towards you... this is another subtle spoof, this time on Mr. Toad.
*At the top of the big lift hill, Snidely and Dudley Do-Right are duking it out shootout style. Yet another spoof, this one on Pirates of the Caribbean.
*After the big drop, you enter a scene with Snidley in jail, attempting to lure a squirrel with the keys. An obvious spoof on Pirates of the Caribbean.

The Flying Unicorn - At the loading station, check out Merlin's collection of butterflies on the wall.

Mythos - Take a stroll on the terrace outside of Mythos. Ever wonder what's supporting the mammoth structure? A sculpted warrior, perhaps Hercules, is holding the entire thing up with his bare hands.

Dueling Dragons -
* In the queue, take a look at the charred and/or frozen remains of brave knights who tried to defeat the dragons Pyrock and Blizzrock in the past. They have some funny, gruesome poems written next to their corpses.
*Look for more funny messages in the tunnels made almost completely out of skeletons!


Some of these I found are from posts made almost 2 years ago, so I don't know if they still exist or not. A few it was hard to tell if they were talking about US Florida or US Hollywood. Can anybody help confirm if any and/or all of these are in UO now?

ive learned most of these from going with people who go monthly/weekly, lol

Entrances:

if you have a 2 park pass and you get there early, always start with ioa, the lines wont be too long to get in, and when u want to go to universal, you can skip the long lines in the afternoon by walking around the right side of the hard rock live and going through that entrance, where rarely anyone goes. (usually only 2 ppl or so)

MIB:

Hold down the trigger instead of pressing rapidly, it shoots as fast as possible and provides more accuracy because ur not jerking ur hand around as much

once you find a target, keep aiming and shooting at it instead of looking around for more, you can shoot some monsters repeatedly and the points after 3 or 4 hits will increase from the original hit points

on mib, wait for the part where you "scan" the other car of passengers and see that theyre all aliens. instead of trying to shoot their car, look at the posters behind them. the posters are of aliens with glowing eyes. shoot the eyes fro HUGE points (note, very hard to hit because they are so small, but definitly worth it if u can hit it 3 or 4 times).

When you see the giant alien at the end of the ride, listen to what the agent is saying. as soon as he says "...hit the red * button", hit it where i put the * and get 50k points (not 100,000, as mentioned earlier). Only one person per car can get this, so you gotta do it before other people have time to react to what the agent is saying, but if you do it too early, u cant get it anymore.

This one isnt really a secret, more of a tip Theres ONE alien on the ride that gives way more points than other other, and is almost impossible to find unless you're looking at every detail of the ride. it took me like 15 times to find it, and i only saw it when i wasnt riding for the points, you only have about 3-5 seconds to hit it if you see it, but it gives somewhere between 200 and 300k points. my high score is 850k
(the avg is like 80k, lol)

Disaster:

If you or someone in your party is wearing a red shirt, try to go in the first room on the far left side of the room where the camera is facing. when you see the red shirt on the tv screen, it will be flashing/glowing rapidly xD
(i still dont rly know why)

if ur a woman and you think your scream is better than the rest, wait until the 3rd room and try to sit in the very center of the room, towards the front. When they ask for their last volunteer, they usually look for someone in this area. You get to have a close up witht he camera and scream your head off, and later see it in the movie,

Single Rider Lines:

As most people probably noticed, most of the rides have "single rider" lines. the only rides i recommend this for are mummy, mib, and hulk. If you choose to take the single rider on these rides, most of the time your whole party might stay on the same car anyways, or at least 2 or 3 ppl, and the lines only take about 2-5 mins, instead of 45-90. you do miss some of the secrets in the ques, but some people are there for the rides, lol.

I dont really recommend it for spider man, because it can take as long as the actual line.

Lunch/Eatting:

If you are going to be in the park for lunch, make sure you eat between the hours of 11 and 12ish. The lunch rush is uaully around 12:30 TO 2:00, and they stay busy til about 4:00. If you can get there before noon, you only have to wait for like 5 or 10 mins instead of 30. (I usually go to the dinner in universal studios, its got good burgers )

thats all i can think of right now o_o besides the ones that were mentioned already

 

[billdog1977]

I'm going in June and will try to find all of the hidden things thanks to the tips on here!!

 

[macraven]

when i return in the fall, i am going to see if there are more hidden secrets that we haven't posted here yet.

 

[macraven]

Dueling Dragons
*There's a golden plate in the center of the entrance plaza to Dueling Dragons. Stand on it, facing the dragon statues, and you should see all 3 coaster "near-misses" perfectly.
*In the queue, take a look at the charred and/or frozen remains of brave knights who tried to defeat the dragons Pyrock and Blizzrock in the past. They have some funny, gruesome poems written next to their corpses.
*Look for more funny messages in the tunnels made almost completely out of skeletons!

 

[RAPstar]

If you look at my TR, I have a picture from one of the body outlines in front of the entrance to Dr. Doom!

 

[yankeepenny]

i love this thread

 

[billdog1977]

bump

 

[Disney Padawan]

Bumping a great thread. I think I have some old pics with some secrets. I'll have to look and see.

 

[rastahomie]

Subscribing. I'm looking forward to getting my Universal on later this year.

 

[glocon]

Bumpers!!!

 

[JumpingJack]

I wanted to revive this thread in hopes of getting some input on some of the attractions or changes that have been added since 2010.

This will be our (me, DH, and DS8) first time at Universal, though we are Disney and other theme park veterans. We'll be staying at the RPR in late January for 7 days.
My son just loved searching for Hidden Mickeys at Disney, so I know he'll enjoy the different hidden things woven into the scenery at IOA and US. We purposely scheduled more time than we needed so we would be able to see all the main attractions and also soak up the lesser known gems.

So, does anyone have any secrets they'd like to share?

 

[macraven]

I wanted to revive this thread in hopes of getting some input on some of the attractions or changes that have been added since 2010.

This will be our (me, DH, and DS8) first time at Universal, though we are Disney and other theme park veterans. We'll be staying at the RPR in late January for 7 days.
My son just loved searching for Hidden Mickeys at Disney, so I know he'll enjoy the different hidden things woven into the scenery at IOA and US. We purposely scheduled more time than we needed so we would be able to see all the main attractions and also soak up the lesser known gems.

So, does anyone have any secrets they'd like to share?

this thread started over 7 years ago.
some of the items in it are no longer valid.

i know the post i included in it some years back doesn't hold the validity now since the parks have changed somewhat.

so many new things have been added over the years.
the posts about the mummy aren't accurate anymore.
but, it still is nice to walk down memory lane to read on how it was way back then.

i'll browse through this thread every once in a while as it is enjoyable reading.
maybe it will jog my memory of the new items to seek out from over the past 2 years for you to be aware of and look for.
will try my best ..

 

[macraven]

i found it.

on post 147, i tried to update from that date of current items to seek out.


read that post and we can add on to it from that date of 09.


it would be nice to have an updated thread on things to look for.

 

[olive]

This is wonderful! I haven't been in about 20 years but will be visiting with my husband and kids in January. The infant won't care so much, but this will be fun for the rest of us! Thanks, experts.