Universal did the Park2.0 thing the way Disney *should* have

Went to Islands of Adventure which is Universal Studios version of California Adventure except the opposite. Where as California Adventure is non-disney generic and way less amusing than the main park, Islands of Adventure is much more branded, interesting and better than Universal.

The Harry Potter ride is pretty intense and no one went on it except us 3 bushnells plus 6yr old nephew Riley. The rest all all wimped out and went home an hour before the park closed (even 16 yr old Aidan!) so we poached Riley and went to Harry Potter when there was no line instead of a 2 hour line. You sit in chair like Haunted Mansion and then fly up like Peter Pan and wabble around so it doesn’t feel like you’re on a track but are actually floating and it mixes between Star Tours style ride and Indiana Jones style. Your chair whips over to a giant screen where you follow Harry flying on his broom into Hogwarts and then fly through real-ride stuff (like animatronic things) with those ghost-of-christmas-future monster things and giant spider and whip back to the screen for more fast paced flying that is the best of that genre of ride. You cant see where the screen ends so you’re much more “in it” than other rides of that type and the effects (tilt up while the screen footage is flying up, dip down when you’re plummeting, etc) is much more effective than others.

No footage cuz they make you check all bags and such in a locker before you go on, which we forgot to so we have to ride separately while one half of us held the bag. bummer.

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