Florida 2013

Wow it really was quiet when you were there! Empty seats on Hulk and Dragons!

Fantastic photos as always, looking forward to seeing your night time ones

God I need to get back there

For the first 8 days it was empty! Longest queue at Islands was 20 minutes for Forbidden Journey, everything else was pretty much walk on. It picked up from the 21st but even then other than Forbidden Journey at 75 minutes, the queues stayed around 30 minutes tops.

It's amazing how much the park has changed in the 9 years since my visit. It must be the most changed established park over that period in the world

It's certainly strange that a park of such scale has received little investment in new rides (especially its first 10 years of operation) yet it is still rated highly amongst enthusiast. Just shows, high quality rides and experiences in the first place will lead to success. I think Harry Potter world has made Universal realise Islands full potential especially with the talks of a Jurassic Park extension for 2015 ish (when JP4 is released) and other ideas that I'm sure are always in the works. What is staggering (in my eyes) is how by opening Harry Potter world (which is actually just one new awesome ride and a re-theme) Islands equalled Studios attendance yet they're regularly investing. Either way I think the future for Islands is brighter (even though it was never dull) and if they can utilise an evening show on the lake or something then it will feel complete.

As always - great pics there! I REALLY want to ride Hulk Am I right in thinking that Dragon Challenge used to be Duelling Dragons, or am I thinking of something else?

It was indeed Duelling Dragons it's pretty much unchanged apart from the queue line has been redone to resemble you walking through the caves or whatever to get to the dragons and that they no longer duel.

My question is. Does Islands of Adventure ever really get busy outside of special events. Both times I went, the only rides that were ever busy was in the Harry Potter area. Walk on Dragon Challenge, no problem, straight onto Hulk, yeah sure why not. Want to ride Flight of the Hippogriff, yeah go for it but remember to join the hour long queue line beforehand.

It would seem to me that despite the attendance jumping up consistently ever year, the other main attractions are still going around half empty on every cycle. Ride enthusiast dream but it must be a conundrum for Universal in how to get people away from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and onto the other rides. And the real interest I real have is when the expansion opens, will Universal Studios have the same problems with walk on Revenge of the Mummy whilst Diagion Alley has two week long queues.

Still.. it's nice to see something so notoriously British, being such a success story.

It is a strange one, you stand outside the entrance and there are loads of people yet once inside it is dead bar Harry Potter world and even then the rides on there has short queues. Not being a massive fan of Potter I didn't care about meandering aimlessly in all the crowded shops for hours so the empty rest of the park was brilliant.

What I'm worried about regarding the Mummy and Diagon Alley is surely the public are going to find Gringotts Bank just s bigger better version of the Mummy? I guess time will tell but at least the expansion should stop everyone going straight on to Minions giving that an 80 minute queue from the start.