Last time, we left off boarding the Hogwarts Express train from Universal Studios to Islands of Adventure, their sister theme park. Even though it was just a simple train ride, the Hogwarts Express ended up being one of the best rides at the park, due to the theming and atmosphere.  Find out why and see more of Islands of Adventure in this blog entry.

While the Hogwarts Express was just a simple tram connecting the two parks, once you step inside it’s like you’re right on the train from the books and movies. Attendants seat you in compartments that hold about six to eight people.  On one side of the compartment is a ‘window’ and on the other side is a sliding door with opaque windows that only allow you to see shadows of people walking past.

Once the train starts; you’ll notice that the ‘window’ is actually a monitor that shows you scenes of what you might see on the Hogwarts train. It starts off with the streets of London, but then you might see owls, griffins, or dementors flying in the sky, or even other characters like Hagrid flying on his motorcycle.  If you turn and look at the sliding doors with opaque windows on the other side, you might see shadows and silhouettes of the Harry Potter cast walk by.  Highlights include Ron and his red hair peeking through to see that the compartment you’re in is already occupied, or a dementor on the train breathing on the window and turning it to ice!  Harry comes along shortly after to zap the dementor, and then they get treats from the trolley like nothing ever happened.  And if you take the opposite trip back, the ride is different as well!  It’s really neat how they do it all, I have to admit.

Once you arrive at the other side on the Islands of Adventure, you’re treated to a second section of the Harry Potter theme park. The area here is designed after Hogsmeade, the town near the Hogwarts castle and school. There are more shops here, but it was a shock to the senses to see (fake) snow on the roofs while feeling the humid Florida heat!

Also in this area was Hogwarts castle, which housed one of the Harry Potter themed rides in this section. I didn’t do any of the rides here, though.

All in all, the Harry Potter theme park areas were pretty amazing, especially for fans. Can you imagine how it must feel to write a series of children’s books, only to have them be turned into a theme park years later?  Speaking of which, another popular series of children’s books was made into a section of the theme park here, too.  And that was Dr. Seuss books!  Like Hogwarts, the theme in this area was pretty amazing.

They had a couple of rides. We went on the Cat in the Hat ride, which was surprisingly jerky for a kid’s ride.  They also had a train that looked kind of neat as it travelled over the area, but we didn’t go on that.

They also had a Marvel comics section. This area was made to look like a city, but with bright, comic book colors.  I wonder if, when their contract with Universal runs out, if Disney will make a Marvel section in their parks, and what will happen to the one in Islands of Adventure?

There were a couple of rides in this section, too, like a Spiderman ride and a Hulk roller coaster. I didn’t do those though, as like I said, I don’t do big roller coasters very well.

Another section was called Toon Lagoon, and had a newspaper comic strip theme. As a fan of newspaper comic strips, I thought this area was cool.  But I also couldn’t help but wonder if this area was irrelevant to kids of today.  Do kids even read newspaper comics anymore?  Back when I was young, that was a reading staple on a lazy Sunday.  And the more popular ones like Garfield and Charlie Brown become must-see prime time TV specials and Saturday morning cartoons, among other things.

There were tons of characters featured in this section. Do kids even know who Beetle Bailey and Hagar the Horrible are anymore?  I think all these comics are published by King Features Syndicate, that’s why there are so many!

And here’s Heathcliff (is that still around?) and a Comic Strip Café that looked like it would be fun to eat at.

They also had a Popeye area in Toon Lagoon with a few kiddy water rides, but nothing was picture worthy. There was a neat Wimpy’s hamburger stand, though.  Wimpy is the best Popeye character.  Also in Toon Lagoon was another water ride called Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls.  I didn’t ride it either, as with all the rain we got that week, I treasured the times that I was dry.

There was also a jungle area with a Jurassic Park ride, but it was also a water ride so I skipped it as I wasn’t in the mood. And that’s really about all we did in Islands of Adventure.  In the final part of my Disney trip blogs, I’ll go over the miscellaneous things we did in the evenings, like Disney Quest and Downtown Disney.  Until tomorrow, later!  –Cary

Tags: Misc