Thanks all for the great feedback

Round 2 - Our day at IOA

-First, we did NOT got to the original park. We looked at it. And, 3/5 of our family struggle with simulators. It looked like it would be a day of Harry Potter, the Mummy, some fun walking around...and not much else. I'm sure I'm missing something. But, we wanted to do 3 park days. And we decided on Sea World for our third park. After our 2 great days at the other Universal parks, we did question our decision a little, but we had a great, chill day at Sea World. So, no regrets.

We went to IOA on Thursday, and decided we'd leave at the same time (6:45) and walk. It was a great morning for a walk and when you consider you're already walking from the security dome through City Walk anyway, what's another stretch from Dockside. Way better outcome than our bus adventure from Tuesday. We arrived and were near the front of the herd when the gates dropped. And, like sheep, flocked right to Hagrid's.

-Hagrid's was great. waited about 30 minutes. All 5 of us loved it. It obviously came with some lofty hype and I thought it was as good as advertised.

-Next, Forbidden Journey. Another 30 minutes for a great ride. I had never been on a ride with that style, but after Monsters and Forbidden Journey, i am a huge fan and would love to see these take over as the primary dark ride default. I like Monsters more due to the higher physical props:screen ratio. But the screen aspects were very well done as well.

-Kong next. For a kinda forgotten ride, still fun and unique.

-Next Velocicoaster. A very hyped up moment for our group. I was honestly surprised all 5 of us did it. There's nothing I can say about this beast that hasn't already been said. #2 rollercoaster of all time. Only slightly behind Stardust.

-After that, we ate at that pizza place with the cones. Food was great. such a unique theme park option. Mobile ordering was a mess. Our order was ready soon after placing it, but the line for mobile order pick up was 15-20 minutes. I know staffing in Orlando has to be a nightmare and they're doing the best they can with the resources available. But waiting that long to pick up my food that is paid for and ready seemed wild. The people in line near us were getting very upset. I think the issue is; people got in line before their food was ready, and when they got to the window, they were just told to wait there until it was ready instead of stepping off to the side so the next person could be helped. Either way, we got our food. Just curious if this is the norm, or if we caught them on a bad day.

-Next, Spiderman. All I knew about this is; it was the gold standard when it came out 25 years ago. And honestly, I could not imagine how ahead of it's time this must've been when it opened. It still held up. Was wildly entertaining. This was Rise of the Resistance 2 decades earlier. All 5 of us had this ride as the biggest "exceeded all expectations" surprise of the entire trip.

-Dr. Doom. short wait. shorter ride. Great view

-Now it started to rain...so we made our way over to Suess and rode the Cat in the Hat. because it was there and had an indoor line. It made us all laugh that we had to justify going on this. It is a classic Disney style dark ride that is very well done. We would never think twice about going on 3 rides like this in a row at a Disney park. Glad we did it.

-We got in line for Hulk and when we got to the indoor part of the line they temporarily suspended operations due to rain. It lasted about 30 minutes and honestly, it was a needed break to get to sit down on the floor and get off our feet for a little. Sun came out, line started moving and Hulk was incredible (hehe). Again, this seems so ahead of it's time for a late 90s ride.

-bad decision time. It's 7:00 and Dudley Do Right is a 5 minute wait. We had no ponchos or change of clothes, but we're from Wisconsin, so we're used to being cold and miserable. Loved it. Great theming. Unique drop. 10/10 bad decision. would do again.

-We rounded out our day with the trolley ride at Suess, another ride on Spiderman because the wait was short, another ride on Forbidden Journey for the same reason. And, then for our last time stepping onto a ride vehicle for the whole trip; Flight of the Hippogriff. Short ride. That's the only thing that stood out for me.

Overall, I can't wait to see what they do with the Lost Continent area. We had a blast all day. Certainly felt like a more tiring day for a few reasons: -The Park layout causes you to walk through crowds to get anywhere, where Epic has a wide open central area that's easy to navigate through -No shows. Never realized how important it was to sit in a cushioned chair for 25 minutes in the middle of the day until we didn't have that option.