By Karen Feldman
News-Press staff writer
ORLANDO - This Memorial Day will likely be a memorable one for the folks at Disney. It will mark the emergence of the first serious challenge to the mighty mouse's supremacy in the battle of Orlando theme park kingdoms.
On May 28, the start of the holiday weekend, Universal Studios Escape throws wide the gates to its action-packed Islands of Adventure attraction, home to techno-charged titans like SpiderMan, the Incredible Hulk and Jurassic dinosaurs, as well as Popeye and pals, Betty Boop, Sinbad, the Cat in the Hat and many more.
Hope is high at Universal that it, too will become a destination location - the place people head to and stay at while in the Orlando area - rather than a one-day excursion for those vacationing at the multi-faceted Disney complex.
The addition of the $1 billion Islands of Adventure gives visitors at least a second day's worth of activities (with the first, presumably, spent at Universal Studios Florida, the movie studio and theme park).
CityWalk, a collection of restaurants, bars, stores, a movie complex and a concert venure, now supplies the nightlife. It's expected to cost about $1.8 billion when it's done.
And come September, the first of three on-site hotels will open - the Portofino Bay Hotel, a 750-room Loews resort with technologically smart rooms, curb-side check-in and a lush Italian ambience.
At a sneak preview last week, Universal ushered in its new arrivals with much fanfare, playing host to hundreds of journalists as well as celebrities and other VIPs.
Not one for understatement, Steven Spielberg, Universal Studio's creative consultant, said at the Wednesday morning preview, "People from everywhere will come here and see, I think, one of the wonders of the world. Here are entertainment achievements beyond what I've seen anywhere in the world."
Even without the fireworks, special shows and the presence of luminaries such as Spielberg, Ron Howard, Michael Douglas, Kirk Franklin and Rosie O'Donnell, the new park is a dazzling sensory smorgasbord with something for every age and taste.
While the designers are still finetuning some of the new rides and shows, touring the park during this "soft opening" period has its advantages: admission is about half what it will be after the grand opening (you by a full-price pass to Universal Studios first, then add $24.95 for entry to Islands of Adventure) and the lines are considerably shorter now than they will be."
The project took close to nine years from conception to completion. Of the process, Spielberg said, "Creating a theme park is like making movies and plays and building an entire city to contain them."
And that's exactly what he and the creative team have done, bringing moving, bellowing, spitting, sneezing, dinosaurs to life, designing two stomach-churning, mind-numbing roller coasters and rides in which participants can't be sure what's real and what isn't. Visitors should go prepared to be amazed, amused, charmed, exhilarated, terrified, hurled about and very, very wet.
Here's a look at the highlights of Islands of Adventure:
Port of Entry
Visitors pass through the turnstile at the entrance and enter an exotic marketplace with a 131-foot tower designed after one one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Here is the Port of Entry, filled with gift shops offering goods from around the world - silks from the Far East, carved soapstone statues and intricately woven baskets from Africa, French croissants, sausages, funnel cakes. The idea is that visitors from throughout the world willpass through the portals on their journey to the Islands of Adventure.
The islands are situated in a ring around a large lake. Make a right out of Port of Entry and enter the land of all things Seuss.
Seuss Landing
With nary a single straight line anywhere, this is the twisting, turning, topsy-turvy world as imagined by Dr. Seuss. With some 500 colors taken from the Seuss palette, visitors literally step into the pages of Seuss' whimsical books.
In the Cat in the Hat ride, visitors board their couch, then head through 18 chaotic show scenes that depict the story of two bored children whose mother steps out for a while. The Cat in the Hat comes in to play along with his furry friends, Thing 1 and Thing 2, who wreak havoc as visitors spin through the scenes that include a revolvign, perception-altering 24-foot tunnel. Beware: those prone to motion sickness may find this one a little rough, although it seemed only adults suffered any ill effects.
One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish is a water ride in which visitors steer their Seussian-style fish up or down as they travel through water spouts and streams, listening carefully to instructions and guiding their fish accordingly or they get splashed.
The Caro-Seuss-el features seven characters, including Dog-a-Lopes, AquaMop Tops, cowfish and elephant birds that blink and nod as their riders direct them. And If I Ran the Zoo offers lots of interactive amusements, including a Toe Tickle station where kids can tickle the toes of a laughing Seussian animal.
Hungry? Try a green eggs and hamwich.
Seuss Landing is designed for the 5-year-old in everybody," said Lisa Girolami, the show producer who spent 6 years working on Seuss Landing.
As they step onto the island, confronting a maze of colors, shapes, and sounds, "the little kids react away," says Girolami, 38. "With the adults, a 38-year-old person takes everything in and I see their age go 37, 36, 35, until they get down to 6. And then they react. I guess it's the inner child in all of us."
But it's more than the entertainment factor that Girolami finds gratifying about her creation. "These are very important stories about how bad greed is, how bad prejudice is."
And the tales and easy-to-read signs encourage the kids to read. Nearby Seuss shops offer books and games to help them get started.
The Lost Continent
A crumbling statue of Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, lies along the path. Exotic traders and fortune tellers beckon to passers-by. Lush landscaping resembles a medieval forest where dragons and mythical gods once roamed.
At least two of the fire-breathing beasts remain. Merlin the sorcerer warns visitors: "This forest is enchanted. And living within it are two fierce dragons. One breathes fire, the other breathes ice. In order to escape, you must prove your bravery by mounting the back of one of the creatures and riding it to freedom."
Choose between the Fire Dragon, which reaches a top speed of 60 mph, and Ice Dragon, which reaches 55 mph. They are designed so the coasters speed toward each other, avoiding impact through a camelback, a double helix and compound inversion, coming as close as 12 inches to each other.
The one sour note in the new park is The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad, a 15-minute show that is 15 minutes too long. The dialogue is predictable and corny; the acting is worse. The handsome young Sindbad attempts to rescue the beautiful damsel in distress from an evil sorceress. In particularly bad taste is making Sindbad and his ladylove white and the sorceress black. While there some big fiery explosions, they aren't good enough to sit through the rest of the drivel.
Jurassic Park
Bellows and roars from the unseen animals echo through the dense foliage.
At the Triceratops Encounter, visitors enter a feed and control station where a veterinary assistant is examining Chris, a 3 and a half ton triceratops who responds to touch, blinking, moving her head, flinching muscles and even sneezing. This is animatronics at its best.
For a wilder look at dinosaurs, there's the Jurassic Park River Adventure, where visitors board boats to view placid vegetarian dinosaurs grazing on the banks. But they quickly discover they have strayed off the approved path and are headed into the clutches of the voracious velociraptors and a five-story T-Rex looking for lunch. Not only do riders get an up-close look at dinosaurs, they experience an 85-foot plunge straight down what's billed as "the longest, fastest, steepest, water descent ever built."
That claim aside, photos available following the ride show passengers plummeting, hair streaming upward, mouths open in earnest screams - proof that it's one of the scariest rides ever built.
Toon Lagoon
Name a favorite cartoon character and chance are, it's here. Betty Boop, Cathy, Beetle Bailey, Family Circus, Mother Goose, and Grimm, Little Orphan Annie, Dudley Do-Right, about 150 in all have walked off the comics pages and onto the island. Many wander around the park, mugging it up for the cameras.
Two water rides dominate the island: Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, where riders race along a giant flume and plummet into a 400,000 gallon lagoon; and Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges, a churning white-water raft ride.
The Me Ship, The Olive, is a Popeye-themed three-story interactive playland where kids can make whistles toot, organs play, and even douse unsuspecting Bilge-Rat Barge riders from above with water cannons.
Marvel Super Hero Island
As befits the super heroes who reside here, this island is the wildest, most technologically advanced of the bunch. The island is all angles and zags, bold color on Art Deco buildings. Bad guys hang off roofs and on ledges.
This isn't the place to go right after lunch because the three main attractions here will strain even the strongest stomach.
Doctor Doom's Fearfall features two 200-foot towers of steel. Once seated, passengers learn that Doctor Doom has built a machine that will drain fear from them. With that, they shoot to the top of the towers, then drop to ground level faster than the forces of gravity.
The Incredible Hulk Coaster is a huge green mass of metal that soars 110 feet into the air and dominates the Islands of Adventure skyline. The coaster catapults riders up a 150-foot tunnel at G-force speed - about the same force as a U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter jet - spins them into a weightless zero-g, a heartline roll then turns them upside down 110 feet above the ground. Riders then dive at 60 mph before skimming the waves of the lagoon, rising and falling again.
The roar of the coaster and the screams of riders can be heard through most of the park.
And then there's the aptly named Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man. It combines a moving vehicle, filmed 3-D action and special effects in such a way that it's soon hard to tell reality from the vertual version. Riders are drafted to help Spider-Man retrieve a treasure. Wearing 3-D glasses, they speed through a street set and get swept into a fast-paced battle between good and evil. The high or low point, depending on your point of view, is a 400-foot "sensory drop" as the vehicle plunges off a skyscraper and hurtles toward the pavement below.
Attention to detail
Not only is every ride, show and set outfitted perfectly, they are aged as well. Wood structures bear scratches and dirt splotches. Domes in The Lost Continent are cracked as if by time.
Another bonus is that many of the attractions include entertainment for those in line. At Spider-Man, a k a Peter Parker, works when he's not saving the world. It's full of newspaper trappings, television screens, and intercom that pages employees and, best of all, is blissfully air-conditioned.
What are the critics saying?
"Cat in the Hat was my favorite ride so far," declared 7-year-old Miriam Perillo of New York City. "The spinning was fun."
Her 9-year-old brother, Daniel, was as emphatic in his choice. "Spider-Man was the coolest. I went on it three times and I'm going to go again later."
Their weary mother, Debra Perillo, said, "Personally, Triceratops Encounter is more my speed."
Two 16-year-olds - Jason Davis and David Moretti of Jacksonville - had taken the day off from school to check out the new park.
"We came today because it isn't crowded and we're able to get on way more rides than we will after the park opens for good," Davis said. "Doctor Doom and Spider-Man were so great. I liked the Hulk better than the Dueling Dragons because of the way it shoots you out."
Moretti echoed Davis' feelings but also thought the Bilge-Rat Barges were great. "It was really fast and you get really wet. I was really hot until I took that ride. Now I feel good. This place is great."
Source: Fort Myers News-Press
> Take plenty of sunscreen and a hat with a brim.
> Take a camera with extra film and batteries (all are available but once inside the park, you'll pay dearly for them).
> With all the water rides, most visitors get wet. Take a change of clothes along and store in lockers at entry of park.
> Strollers are available for $6 a day, wheelchairs for $7.
> Parents who have small children but still want to experience the more adult rides can arrange for a baby swap: one adult goes on the ride while the other waits with the child. When the first adult is done, he waits while the other adult boards right away, rather than having to wait in line again.
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