Kelly Monaghan - Universal Orlando 2014: The Ultimate Guide to the Ultimate Theme Park Adventure

UNIVERSAL

ORLANDO

2014

The Ultimate Guide to the Ultimate
Theme Park Adventure

Kelly Monaghan and Seth Kubersky

Universal Orlando
The Ultimate Guide To The
Ultimate Theme Park Adventure

Published by
The Intrepid Traveler
P.O. Box 531
Branford, CT 06405
http://intrepidtraveler.com

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Copyright 2014 by Kelly Monaghan

Thirteenth Edition

Book design by Jana Rade

Cover photo 2012 Kelly Monaghan (owl by Markus Varesvuo)

Theme park maps designed by Eureka Cartography

Orlando area map by MapGorilla.com

ISSN: 1543-6233

ISBN: 978-1-937011-33-8

Publishers Cataloguing in Publication Data.

Monaghan, Kelly and Kubersky, Seth

Universal Orlando: the ultimate guide to the ultimate theme park adventure. Branford, CT: Intrepid Traveler, copyright 2014.

Revised and updated edition of Universal Studios Escape (2000).

Includes five maps.

PARTIAL CONTENTS: Universal Studios Florida. -Islands of Adventure. Seuss Landing. Lost Continent. Jurassic Park. Wizarding World of Harry Potter. -CityWalk. -Resort Hotels.

1. Universal OrlandoDescription and travelGuidebooks. 2. Theme parksOrlando region, FloridaGuidebooks. 3. HotelsOrlando region, FloridaGuidebooks. I. Title. II. Intrepid Traveler.

917.5924

Trademarks, Etc.

This book mentions many attractions, fictional characters, product names, entities, and works that are trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their various creators and owners. They are used in this book solely for editorial purposes and are not intended in any way to infringe on the rights of the respective rights holders. Neither the authors nor the publisher makes any commercial claim to their use.

Neither the publisher nor the authors are associated in any way with Universal Orlando Resort or the Loews Hotels. This book is unofficial and unauthorized and has not been reviewed or endorsed by Universal Orlando Resort or Loews Hotels. The opinions expressed in this book are solely those of the authors and do not reflect the opinions or policies of Universal Orlando Resort or Loews Hotels.

Photo Credits

All photos Kelly Monaghan, except as noted.

About the Authors

Kelly Monaghan has been covering the other Orlando for over eighteen years. In addition to this book, he is the author of After Disney: The Other Orlando and Seaworld, Discovery Cove, & Aquatica: Orlandos Salute to the Seas. Over the years he has written other travel-oriented books about how to travel on the cheap and how to be a home-based travel agent. He offers a home study course for those who wish to expand their travel horizons with and profit from their own travel marketing business at HomeTravel-Agency.com

Seth Kubersky is an author, artist, and entertainment professional who has been based in Orlando since 1996. After graduating from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, Seth began his career at Universal Studios Florida, where he was a technician for the Ghostbusters , Terminator , and Barney shows, and an entertainment supervisor for Mardi Gras parades, Halloween haunted houses, and other special events. He has been interviewed as a theme park expert on Rudy Maxas satellite and broadcast radio shows. As an independent theater producer, he has worked on stages across Central Florida, from dinner shows and Fringe Festivals to Orlandos Shakespeare Theatre and Performing Arts Center. He is a frequent contributor to Orlando Attractions Magazine and his arts & entertainment opinion column Live Active Cultures appears in each issue of the Orlando Weekly alternative newspaper.

Table of Contents

List of Maps

CHAPTER ONE:

Planning
Your Escape

H ave you heard about the magical kingdom in the middle of Florida? There, the halls of an enchanted castle echo not with the squeals of little girls playing princess, but the screams of teens and adults having the ride of their lives. And you can find dozens of other adventures within walking distance of this one, inside an intimate resort that epitomizes new urbanism. For Orlando visitors willing to wander beyond the usual World, an extraordinary new Universe is waiting.

Youre forgiven if Mickey immediately came to mind as you read the preceding paragraph. After all, the Mouse has been the Big Cheese of Florida tourism ever since 1971, when Walt Disney World opened on 43 sprawling square miles of scrubland southwest of Orlando in Lake Buena Vista. Two decades later, Disneys domination of Orlandos attraction industry was still essentially unchallenged. By then, this new and improved version of Californias Disneyland had been expanded to include hotels, water parks, nightclubs, and multiple theme parks. But when Universal Studios, in distant California, announced plans for an East Coast edition of their famous Hollywood tour, Mickey was spooked enough to rush the Disney/MGM Studios (today known as Disneys Hollywood Studios) into construction.

Universals entry in the Florida theme park sweepstakes was dubbed Universal Studios Florida. When it opened in 1990 it quickly became Orlandos number-two attraction, but it was just one theme park to Disneys many and seemed doomed to perpetual also-ran status. It didnt help that some of its signature attractions were initially plagued by breakdowns, giving the park a reputation for unreliability that haunted it for years.

That all changed in 1999 when Universal Studios Florida reinvented itself as Universal Orlando Resort, adding a second theme park, a nighttime entertainment complex, and several hotels. For the first time, Walt Disney World had competition worthy of the name and Orlando had its second multi-park, multi-hotel, multi-activity, all-in-one, never-need-to-leave-the-property vacation destination. Then, in June 2010, almost exactly 20 years after opening its original park, Universal Orlando upped the ante again by opening The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a highly anticipated expansion that reset the bar for theming and thrills. The resulting rush of world-wide attention brought record crowds to the resort, and attendance has increased exponentially. And the resort hasnt rested on its newfound laurels; new owner Comcast has purchased substantial acreage in the surrounding area for potential expansion, and announced accelerated capital investments worth over $1.1 billion in their resorts this year.

Universal Orlando is no mere Mouse copycat. It represents a new departure in theme park and resort destinations that is very shrewdly positioned in the marketplace to build its own following and capitalize on any decline of the Disney brand. It is sure to capture the imagination of both theme park veterans and a new generation of vacationers hungry for entertainment experiences designed with the twenty-first century in mind.

Just What Is Universal Orlando?

Universal Orlando and Walt Disney World are both multi-park, multi-resort vacation destinations. But whereas Disney sprawls over a vast area, Universal Orlando is comfortably compact, allowing its guests to spend less time getting around and more time enjoying themselves. And while Disney World harkens back to an earlier time, Universal is very much of the moment, with an eye to the future.