The Top 10 Rides at Universal Orlando

In this week's episode, Jared highlights the top 10 rides at the Universal parks in Orlando.

Transcript

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On this weeks episode of a Dryer Dose of Disney, Jared tells us the top 10 rides at Universal Orlando. Intro Music Welcome to this week's episode of a Dryer dose of Disney. I'm your host, Jared dryer. And today we're going to be continuing our series with the top 10 rides. At the different parks and we're going back over to Orlando where we're going to go to universal Orlando. And right out of the gates, I'm going to say this is as of late 20, 23, we've obviously got universal studios, Orlando, and we have islands of adventure, but in 2025, we're going to have the epic universe park opening. So we don't know what that's gonna look like. And maybe those rides are going to be better than these rides over at these two parks. So we will be sure to update the podcast. Once we get a chance to experience that park and we will let you know what the top rides are between all of them here at universal in Orlando. But with this, we're going to go through both parks today. We're going to tell you the top 10 rides that you absolutely should not miss, just in case your day there, it gets a little bit busy and you're trying to debate which rides to ride. We're going to give you the listing of the top 10 rides and we will go in reverse order like we did in our last couple of episodes. We will start at number 10 and work our way up to number one. Now, if you listen to our last two episodes, we did Disney world, and then we went to Disneyland and California adventure in Anaheim. Today we are doing universal Orlando and next week we will be doing. Universal Hollywood, but we will only be doing our top five. Because there's only 10 rides in the entire park, so we would have to highlight them all. So today we are going to do the top 10 rides at universal Orlando, between both universal studios and islands of adventure. Now, before we dive into that, I do want to ask, wherever you're listening to us, if it's on a podcast format Or if you're watching us on the video on YouTube. You can find that subscribe button so you can get this content delivered each and every single week into your inbox. And then if you see over my shoulder here, we have our cool, I can do this all day. Tip of the day merchandise over there. Now these episodes haven't had a tip of the day between them, but all of our other episodes do. And we've got some really cool merchandise. That's branded with our logo, but not the podcast itself. And we like to wear this stuff to the parks all the time when we get lots of comments on it, but you can find that at our Etsy page, down in the description below. And finally, if any tips or tricks saved you some time or money, we do ask for your support over at Patreon. There is the link in the description as well for Patreon. And then at our very top tier on Patreon, we do have our number one Disney tip or trick out there. It is totally worth it. It is that good of a tip or trick. But if you are going to the Disney parks, we definitely wanna encourage you to go check that out because it is a Disney specific secret. That's going to get you the front of most of the line. So lots of really cool things out there on Patreon. With this, we did a survey on our Facebook page, a dryer dose of Disney. I encourage you to go check out our Facebook page and follow us and like us, if you haven't already. But we did a survey a while ago of the top rides at the Universal parks and we did it like a March madness bracket. Where we put all the rides up against different rides. We did it by land or by area within the park. And then as they beat each other out, then eventually we got into the sweet 16. The elite eight, the final four. And then we got down to the top rides. This is actually looking at the list. Very, close to what we found. Through the polls on our Facebook page. We did move a couple things around just a little bit. That is our opinion. And so know that this is very subjective. To what we think are the best rights there. But there were some reasons for that. And so we'll talk through those as we go through it today. But this is going to be the top 10 list. We are going to start at number 10 and I want to call out before I do number 10. I do want to say that the newest ride at universal, we have ridden it. It is a villain con. And this is over at universal studios. Did not make the top 10 lists. So it is a really cool ride. It's very interactive, very high tech. But it did not make the top 10 list of the 10 must a ride. So keep that in mind. If you're going to go to universal Orlando, we are telling you. These are the top 10 rides that you're going to want to do when you're there. Villain con would probably fall in the top 15 somewhere. So if you're going to rope drop it, you can, it's right there in the front. It's very easy to get to, but I'm going to tell you that there are other rides that are better rope drop than villain con. Especially if you're only going to be there for one day, which is what we normally do is we would do one day park hopping. We'll talk about that. Here about halfway down as well. So number 10. Let's go ahead and get started. Number 10 over at islands of adventure is skull island reign of Kong. And a lot of you may be thinking, oh, what this made the top 10 list actually. Yeah, it did. There's quite a few rides. Obviously our top 10 list is, very well-rounded. We've got a lot of great rides on it. A lot of people put skull island probably in their top 15, maybe not top 10. But there's a specific reason why we really like skull island, reign of Kong. And that is not only does it have the nostalgic factor. So you actually go past the old animatronic king Kong that has been there in the parks since its inception. But you also have other elements to this, ride including a 3d portion. Which you do get out there and universal Hollywood. As well as it's indoors, the queue is very cool. So you're getting out of the hot sun, but they also have single rider. So you can skipped up to the front of the line. Very quickly by utilizing single rider on skull island. And we just say that at the end of the day, this is a great ride to ride. It's a lot of fun. It's a quick ride. And it brings back that old element of universal studios. So king Kong was one of the very first animatronic rides that they put into the old park. And with that, they maintained it. So that's why we made this on the top 10 list is because the nostalgic factor. Number nine is over at the universal studio side. And this one is also very nostalgic. I pray that they never remove it. Although I'm afraid that they probably will at sometime in the future. But that is E T adventure. This is my wife's favorite ride over there. It's a lot of fun. If you've seen the movies. Of course, this is a dark ride. It's a little similar to Peter pan over at Disney land. Where you're going to be riding on these bikes and you fly over the city and they do a really good job of taking you through the latter part of the movie where the kids are trying to escape on their bikes, and then they go take ET to the forest. But then it gets just plain strange and they take it to ET's planet where he's going to heal the planet. But they have a lot of really cool factors in this that make it a top 10, including you give them your name at the beginning and when you get to the end, they, he thanks you by name. That's a lot of fun. But you have E T in the basket, in the front of the bike. So if you are in the front row towards the middle, you can see that it is just a really good dark ride. It is up there with some of the best dark rides that Disney has. And again, they have great music. It's very nostalgic and that is why it made the top 10 list. So ET adventure, just for the nostalgia factor. We absolutely love it. And we do ride it every single time we go. And that's the nice thing. It's usually got a pretty short wait. And if you wind up inside in the queuing through the forest there, it's nice and cool. It's nice and relaxing in there. So we love it. Number eight is transformers the ride. If you've not ridden transformers, the ride, this is one of those 3d rides where you're in a simulator, similar to star tours. They do have here at a universal. Amazing Spiderman, the same type of ride. It's a little similar to escape from Gringotts, which we'll talk about here in a little bit, because that one did make the top 10 list. But transformers, the ride is a little bit better than the amazing Spider-Man and the characters are just a little bit stronger and the special effects are a little bit better than what on the Spiderman. ride Which is why transformers made it in Spider-Man didn't though they are very similar ride. Now I will say this is a ride that does cause me to get motion sick. And it's because the screens, as you go through moves so rapidly and they move so much. But you do get wind blown on you. You get to see all kinds of other special effects throughout this ride. And it is just a lot of fun to be with the transformers and to be a part of their world with the auto bots fighting the Decepticons it's just a great ride. So we absolutely love it. It did make the top 10 it's number eight on the list. Number seven. Is a strange one and it's definitely worth making the top 10 list. I will say that I debated not putting it on the top 10 lists. And in fact, it wasn't even voted on when we did it through the Facebook poll. And the reason is, though it's a ride, not many people view it as a traditional type of ride because of the purpose of the ride. And that is the Hogwarts express. This is the train that connects the two parks. So islands of adventure to universal studios and it connects Diagon alley to Hogmead. It connects the two Harry Potter lands, which is really cool. Hogwarts express is a kind of a ride to get on a train. You're in a car. It's going to move a little bit, but really it's serving a purpose of giving you between the parks. So for you to ride it, you actually do have to have the park to park pass. To get onto this ride, but I will say the thing that's worth calling out that made this get on the top 10 list is you get a different version of the ride depending on where you start. So if you start in Diagon alley, obviously you're going to the Hogwarts castle and they take you through one version of the ride. If you're at Hogsmeade and you come back to Diagon alley, you get a different version of the ride. So if you have somebody in your family who is a big Harry Potter fan, I'm gonna encourage you to ride this twice because you're going to get to see two different stories as you go through. This. So it's a lot of fun. And because of the Harry Potter immersion and the fact that it takes you between the two lands, it did make our top 10 lists. A lot of people like to ride it because they are Harry Potter fans and they want to see it. And it deserves to be on the top 10 list because that, so Hogwarts expresses at number seven. Number six on our list is over at islands of adventure. Over there in the Hogsmead area. And this is Harry Potter and the forbidden journey. This is a great immersion ride for Harry Potter fans. It takes you through a simulator. That's going to take you through a Quidditch match and then you get to encounter all the different perils of Harry Potter world, including the Basalisk. The dementors the huge gigantic tarantulas. You get a dragon, you get all kinds of cool things through this ride. This ride. If you are prone to motion, sickness can make you sick. The wait is typically not too long because so many people are waiting for other rides. But what we loved about this ride is the fact that it totally immerses you into the world of Harry Potter and throughout some of the ride you're flying on a broomstick, and then you get to see all these different elements you get to see the different enemies from the seven different books. But we absolutely loved it. We thought that this is a really immersive ride with a lot of different factors from the Harry Potter world. And you get to go into the Hogwarts castle, so totally worth it. Harry Potter and the forbidden journey is that number six. And we encourage you when you come off this ride, go grab a butterbeer. It's going to be right there in the immediate area and they're delicious. Number five, we're going to go back to universal studios. And that is revenge of the mummy. This is the first coaster that we've put onto the top 10 list and it is an indoor coaster. So if you've never ridden a revenge of the mummy, it is a great ride. I actually love the classic universal monsters. Which include the mummy, the Wolf man, Dracula, the invisible man. Creature from the black lagoon, Frankenstein, bride of Frankenstein, the whole nine yards. And they're going to put a whole new land of universal monsters at epic a universe. So we're really excited about that at the new park. We really hope that they bring back the monsters cafe, which was in my opinion, one of the best restaurants in the park over a universal studios, but revenge of the mummy is a really fun ride. Now this is going to be based on the late nineties, Brendan Frazier movies, where the mummy's come back and he's trying to stop him. And this. Coaster is awesome. It does have a lot of elements. Of a flame and 3d effects and stuff like that. As you go through it with mommy's popping out and all that. It can be a little bit scary for the little kids. So I do encourage if you have little kids, You probably don't want to take them on this ride. It is not as scary as Halloween horror nights at universal studios, but it is probably the scariest as far as monsters. Type of ride in the park. So revenge, the mummy, it's a lot of fun. Again, an indoor coaster that just winds around throughout the warehouse there, but it's a lot of fun and it's number five on our list. Number four on our list is also a coaster at universal studios. And this is escaped from Gringotts. And this is one of those coasters that they did a really good job of combining the 3d led screens and the moments from the movie with some of the physical attractions that are around you. This one does have a very small. Very easy drop at the very beginning. So do know that going into it. It can spin just a little bit, it's not too intense. My wife has ridden it multiple times. She says it doesn't make her sick at all. So she enjoys it. But it's a really cool addition to Diagon alley. So you go into the Gringotts bank. It's totally immersive they do a really good job taking you through the bank where you get to go in and go towards the vaults. And then obviously they're going to take you on the mine car to the vaults. Like you wait, in the movie and it's just a really great experience. Now I will say, if you have not gotten to the seventh Harry Potter book yet, Or seen the movies and you're working your way through. It does have some spoilers in it. As they are going after our horcrux from the seventh book. So do be warned of that. I don't want to give any spoilers away on this episode. Though the movie's been out a long time. If you have not read it or not seen it yet, do know that there are spoilers on this ride. So you may be one. Aware of that before you take your kids, if they're still working their way through the series, but escape from green gods is awesome. I love all the goblin characters and all the things that they have and that element there as well. Number three, we're staying with coasters. We're going over to islands of adventure. Our number three ride in all the universe. Orlando parks is the incredible Hulk rollercoaster. This is over a Marvel island. I will say that out of all of our rides, this one probably has the least amount of theming on it. That is just a plain mega coaster that you're going to get into it's themed after the incredible Hulk. They do a good job going through the queue and explaining the Hulk in the gamma, radiation and all that and how he changes. But when you get on this ride again, if you listen to my other episodes, I don't love Heights. I'm afraid of Heights and I don't love rollercoasters that click all the way up. So I like launch rollercoasters, which this does have a launch, but you do have to get a little bit up the hill to do it. But it's great because you're on the hill and Bruce banner screaming because of the gamma radiation, all of a sudden, it just takes off and it goes into a corkscrew dive. So the incredible Hulk rollercoaster is awesome. It does have multiple loops, multiple corkscrews. If you have anyone in your party that gets sick from that kind of stuff, do not ride it. I will say out of all the coasters here this is one of the top two most intense coasters. We'll talk about another one here in just a minute or two. But the incredible Hulk rollercoaster is very aggressive. Lots of loops, lots of GS that you're going to be pulling through this, and it is a ton of fun. Now this is one that I'll also encourage you. We did have a single rider episode that I would encourage you go back and listen to, we do talk about the single rider line. It does have a single rider line and because it's four across in the seats. The single riders move very quickly through this ride. So it is a great ride to use single rider on you're going to get on very quickly versus waiting in the whole queue outside of that. Number two, we are saying actually at islands of adventure for our next two, and this one, I'm going to get a lot of pushback on if you want to push back that's okay. Go to our Facebook page. You can make a comment there or write to us there and tell us what you agree with or don't agree with. My daughter was very mad at my selection for number two. Some of our friends were very mad at me for her selection for number two, but there is a distinct difference. And so we're going to talk about that. Number two is Haggard's magical creatures, motorbike, adventure. At islands of adventure. This is the most popular ride at universal islands of adventure. It is the one most people rope drop. It is not uncommon for it to get up to a four hour wait at sometimes during the day. And they do a really great job because it isn't Hogsmeade you are going to go through the Harry Potter land when she get in there. And they do a great job taking you through part of the castle there to get to where Haggard's hut is and then to go ride. His magical creature, motorbike, adventure. Now, if you're familiar with Hagrid that he likes all the different, strange animals out there. He had a dragon egg in his first book and raised Norbit the dragon. And then he raised the acurantulas, the gigantic tarantulas that we talked about on the forbidden journey ride he's into all these animals. So you're going to see a lot of different animals on this ride. It does have a lot of really cool elements to it. It does have multiple launches. There is one surprise moment. I'm not going to spoil for you. That really does make this ride very unique and makes it a lot of fun. And I love it. I think it's a great ride. I think it's awesome. What I don't love about it is the long wait to get into it normally, because it does take a couple hours usually to ride this ride. I don't love that the seats are different, meaning that the bike has the motorcycle piece. And then the sidecar I have ridden the sidecar probably at least 10 times I've ridden the motorcycle, like three. Normally the motorcycle gets stolen from me by my daughter. But the motorcycle part is better. I'll be honest with you. So if you write it and you do get the choice between the two. You do want to be on the motorcycle? It sits up a little bit higher. You see a little bit more, and it's not as prone to motion sickness being up a little bit higher. The sidecar seats a little bit lower. You are going to feel the motion just a little bit more on that seat. I don't want to say you're going to miss action cause you don't really miss the action. I just think you get more of it when you're sitting up a little bit higher. So I know that there are some differences now. Again, I love this ride. When it got voted on it, wasn't the top two. It was very, close between the top two. And in fact, it did lose in our poll. Now, after the fact, some more people came and voted after we made the decision already. So it may have moved up since then. But it's a great ride. I will say it definitely is top two ride. I just think that the last ride is a little bit better than the Haggard's motorbike adventure. Know, that now, if you disagree again, you can go on Facebook and you can let me know you disagree, and we're happy to hear those opinions. And like I said, with epic universe coming up, we are going to have to redo this list. And when we redo it, maybe a Haggard, magical creature motorbike, adventure moves up in the list based on. What we find over an epic universe. But that takes me to number one, the number one ride at universal islands of adventure, I think hands down is Velocicoaster and if you've not ridden Velocicoaster, it is a take on the velociraptors. You're going to go through their paddock and they do well theming it when you get there. Now it's not as well themed. I will say that as Haggard's motorbike, adventure and theming does play a big role for me and in these rides. But they do well enough taking you through in the queue. You get to go through the Raptor area where you get to see the Raptors in their cages and the Effects that they have in there are amazing. Meaning they, have live Raptors in there. It's really, cool. When you see those. It is the Raptors themselves are not scary. So don't worry. Your kids are going to be fine. If they're tall enough to ride this rollercoaster. The ride is very intense though. So I will say for your very little kids, they may not love him. Now, when you get on this ride has two launches. Both from the ground, they have a really high hill in the middle. But you, get some good drops. You get some good corkscrews, they do one part where you go over the water completely upside down for a prolonged period of time. All in all. I'll say that this is one of the most intense rollercoasters I've ever been on. And I love it every single time I go or I go and ride this one. They do have single rider on this as well. It is two by two. So it takes a little bit longer on this single rider. But you will get through the line probably quicker than the general queue a they do have lockers about halfway through. So you're going to be able to leave your stuff in the lockers. But it's a great ride. Velocicoaster. It's probably the fastest rollercoaster. It's got to be the fastest roller coaster at universal studios, Orlando. It's probably the highest roller coaster at universal Orlando and it's just got some really great elements to it. So because of that, it wins for our top, ride over at universal Orlando. With that we wish you a magical week as you're planning your next vacation. Be sure to ride these top 10 rides. If you haven't checked out our other episodes with the top 10 rides, go check those out next week. We're going to come back with the top five. At universal studios, Hollywood. And I'm going to tell you, you'll probably be surprised by what we put in that list over there. But we'll talk to you guys the next time. Bye-bye. End Credits Music