#was too chicken to ride the hulk coaster or rip rockit

[offbeat-the-clownlord]

I made a list ranking how I felt about every Universal ride I went on

Revenge of The Mummy: roller coaster plunges you into darkness without warning, made me cry, 0/10 not recommended for the faint of heart

E.T. Adventure: wtf wtf wtf, 1/10 idk what the hell is going on and i am scarred

The Cat in The Hat; The Ride: animatronics are creepy/possibly outdated, 2.5/10 good getaway out of the heat for a sec anyway

Minion Mayhem: someone tried to stand or sit on another person’s lap or something twice during the ride so they had to stop for a sec to call them out, 3/10 generic 4D ride with a sort of fun premise

Shrek 4-D: i like the story, old as fuk tho, 3/10 good but probably won’t ride again

Kang & Kodos’ Twirl & Hurl: generic flying ride but if you “hit” the signs they make funny noises, 3/10 no comment

Woody Woodpecker’s Nuthouse Coaster: short kiddy coaster why did i ride it twice, 3/10 no comment

Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey: didn’t know what to expect so i held on too tight and hurt my arms, 4/10 should probably ride again

The Hogwarts Express: magical, it’s cool that it’s different depending on if your going to hogsmeade from the station or hogsmeade back to the station, 5/10 cool concept and quick way to get between harry potter sections of the two parks

MEN IN BLACK Alien Attack: fun ride, shoot aliens, win, 4.5/10 twas fun

Popeye’s & Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges: WET. VERY WET. 5.5/10 good on a hot day (it twas not a hot day when we rode it, it was very cold water), wear something you wouldn’t mind getting absolutely soaked

Kong Skull Island & The Simpsons Ride: these two are tied because i honestly like them both the same, skull island has an awesome animatronic i marvel at every time, and the simpsons ride is just fun okay, 6/10 for both of ‘em

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man: really cool cue line, also really fun ride, one of the screens glitched out the first time we rode it lmao, 5.5/10 no comment just is good ride

Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon: DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT BUT I REALLY ENJOY THIS RIDE, IT’S SO CHEESY AND IT WORKS, 6.5/10 for being just genuine fun

Transformers; The Ride 3D: really fun, better than the spider-man 3D ride but i think the spider-man one is older so makes sense, 7/10 rode it like 3 or 4 times super fun

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure: newest ride at universal, super fun wish i could’ve rode it a second time but the wait was off the walls tbh, a little anxiety inducing at some points but it was my first outdoor rollercoaster really so i think i did well for my first time ufdhufdufd, 8.5/10 just really effin’ fun

Harry Potter and The Escape from Gringotts: BEST RIDE IN MY OPINION, HOLY FUBK, THAT FIRST DROP WITH BELLATRIX? AND THEN JUST?? IT’S GOOD OKAY, TRUST ME, 10/10

[travelingmuslim]

Universal Orlando Resort – Tips for Muslim Travelers

We recently had the pleasure of visiting Universal Orlando Resort, an American theme park and entertainment complex in Orlando, Florida. We’re huge fans of roller coasters and also couldn’t wait to check out the newest addition to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Diagon Alley). Whether you prefer more mellow shows and attractions or stomach-dropping roller coasters, there’s fun for all members of the family at these spectacular theme parks!

Universal Orlando Resort is comprised of three parks – Universal Studios Florida, Universal’s Islands of Adventure, and Volcano Bay. We visited the first two; Universal Studios Florida has fantastic rides and attractions based on pop culture icons, Hollywood blockbuster films, and hit television shows, and Universal’s Islands of Adventure features innovative rides and attractions on spectacularly themed islands. For Harry Potter fans, Diagon Alley is located in Universal Studios Florida and Hogsmeade is located in Universal’s Islands of Adventure. The Hogwarts Express train connects the two parks and is a fantastic attraction as well!

Here’s what you need to know as a Muslim traveler before you visit:

Where can I pray? We recommend the following spots for prayer in each park. When we visited in early December, both spots were totally empty and private. Note that there may be music playing nearby.

Universal Studios Florida – There is a quiet space in the Central Park area near the lagoon – take the side path instead of the main path

Islands of Adventure – There is private, quiet space behind Mythos Restaurant facing the lagoon.

Here is a map showing the exact locations for prayer.

What can I bring inside the theme park? The parks allow bottled water, small snacks, any food required for medical purposes and medically-indicated nutritional supplements, any food for special dietary needs, baby food/baby formula, and soft-sided insulated bags no larger than 8.5 inches wide, 6 inches high and 6 inches deep. Full picnic lunches and food that requires heating or refrigeration are not permitted.

Where can I find halal food? We were excited to find out that the #1 theme park restaurant in the world, Mythos Restaurant, serves halal lamb! The restaurant offers a mix of Mediterranean, Asian and American fare and serves many seafood and vegetarian options as well. Note that you may need to make a reservation for this restaurant if you plan on coming during peak lunch hours or peak times for the parks (weekends and summer/winter holidays). Mythos Restaurant is located in Islands of Adventure close to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade.

Here’s a picture of the cavernous interior of Mythos Restaurant. The ambiance definitely makes for a unique dining experience!

Here’s the tender and juicy lamb burger we tried. The staff cooks the meat to the doneness you prefer (we asked for medium-well done). The feta-olive aioli drizzled on the lamb was the perfect topping and overall, the meal was excellent. Another halal option is the Mediterranean lamb meatball appetizer. You can view the full menu for Mythos here. If you dine here, be sure to thank the manager for offering these halal options!

Another great option for halal food is NBC Sports Grill & Brew. All of the burgers, the 12 oz. New York Sirloin Strip Steak, and the 10 oz. Top Sirloin Steak are made with Creekstone Farms beef which is certified halal. The restaurant is located in Universal CityWalk right outside of the parks. You do not need an admission ticket to access this restaurant. Beautiful views, especially at night!

Source: News965.com

Here is a picture of the menu stating that they use Creekstone Farms beef which is certified halal.

Here is the full menu with all the burgers available!

Another halal option for Harry Potter fans in Universal Studios Florida is the fish and chips served at the Leaky Cauldron:

A true Harry Potter experience!

In addition to the halal meat and plentiful seafood options available throughout the park, Universal Orlando Resort also provides kosher menu options which include chicken, Salisbury steak, and salmon. You can find more information on how to request kosher meals here.

And finally, the chefs at the restaurants throughout Universal Orlando Resort are very accommodating. All you need to do is tell your server of your dietary restrictions when ordering and they will offer plenty of options and information.

Other tips for visiting Universal Orlando Resort Get there as early as you can to beat the crowds. At The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley, keep an eye on the dragon atop Gringotts – it breathes fire! Hint: The dragon will growl three times before it spits fire, giving you just enough time to grab your camera. The timing is usually every 10 minutes starting at noon, unless the winds are too strong.

Be sure to try the delicious butterbeer at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It’s unlike anything we’ve ever had before and is the #1 activity that people do when they visit! No alcohol, we promise – it’s a butterscotch-flavored drink.

We also loved the butterbeer-flavored ice cream at Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley. Again, it’s alcohol free and was absolutely divine!

If you are going to Universal’s Islands of Adventure and want to ride the three wet rides, make sure you bring an extra pair of clothes or wear quick dry clothing. You will get drenched on some of these rides!

Should I get a 2-park 1-day pass or a 2-park 2-day pass? We recommend two days to experience both parks fully at a leisurely pace. If you are tight on budget and can plan well, then you can get a 2-park 1-day pass to experience both parks, but be sure to focus on the attractions you are most interested in and also get an Express Pass to minimize your wait times. Here are some of our favorite attractions at both parks:

Universal Studios Florida

Revenge of the Mummy

Despicable Me

Transformers 3D

The Simpsons Ride

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

The Hogwarts Express – It’s also a great way to get between both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade. Be sure to travel both ways for a different experience each time!

Men in Black: Alien Attack – Interactive ride!

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit

  Universal’s Islands of Adventure

Jurassic Park – You will get wet, but not drenched.

The Incredible Hulk Coaster

Skull: Reign of Kong

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

The Hogwarts Express

Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges – You will get drenched.

Flight of the Hippogriff – Good for children.

Pteranodon Flyers – Good for children.

Storm Force Accelerator – Good for children.

NOTE: Many rides do not allow bags to be taken inside the line. You do get free lockers for a limited time to place your belongings in.

  Should I get an Express Pass? Yes, if you are coming at peak times – summer/winter vacation and spring break are the most crowded times. An Express Pass not only lets you skip the long line but also provides the best seats for that particular ride. For example, the best way to experience the Skull Island: Reign of Kong ride at is actually in the back seats!

  Where is the best halal food nearby outside of the park? If you are willing to drive, we recommend Hot Krust Panini Kitchen. It’s owned by a Muslim brother from Trinidad, and everything on their menu is halal except the chili. Be sure to try the variety of homemade sauces they offer. The staff was friendly and the service was quick. Note that this restaurant closes early (8PM most nights).

  We also highly recommend Flame Kabob. The cook is from Jordan and the owners are Palestinian so you know this food is authentic! The staff was friendly, the service was very quick, and the portions were generous. The food itself was excellent. It’s open late, too.

We also recommend Merguez for halal Moroccan food. The food is fantastic and the prices are very reasonable. We enjoyed the kefta tagine and chicken bastilla (a sweet and salty chicken pastry which we’d never tried anywhere else before). It was excellent!

And that’s a wrap! Everything you need to know to have a great vacation at Universal Orlando Resort without having to worry about finding halal food or prayer spaces. For more information on Universal Orlando Resort, visit http://ift.tt/NBwih3.

Thank you Universal Orlando Resort for the complementary tickets to your theme parks. All opinions are our own.

The post Universal Orlando Resort – Tips for Muslim Travelers appeared first on Muslim Travelers.

from Universal Orlando Resort – Tips for Muslim Travelers

[youmeandwinona-blog]

We apologize for the delay in posting; it has been a busy (in a good way) last couple of days.

Jess has just notified me that she does not apologize.

On Wednesday, February 22, we spent the day at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure using our full day two-park pass. For those of you who are not familiar, these are essentially two separate parks. Universal Studios is known for its classic movies and shows like the Simpsons, Shrek, and Revenge of the Mummy, while Islands of Adventure has more of the epic sagas like the Marvel storylines, Jurassic Park and King Kong. Both of them have children’s sections but overall, Islands of Adventure is more teen-friendly while Universal is more family-friendly. 

Recently, Harry Potter world was introduced and eventually placed in both parks. They are connected by the Hogwarts Express in order to get people to pay for both parks! ;)

Anyways, it called for rain for most of the day so we figured that there would be less people. I am also quite scared of roller coasters but Jess and I spent the previous evening preparing me with Youtube videos of the rides and a route that started with light attractions that got more and more intense.

The main three big rides we were building up to were:

3. Rip Ride Rockit (Universal) - big drop, lots of twists

2. Dragon Challenge (Harry Potter, Islands of Adventure) - two rollercoasters side by side, very twisty and upside down most of the time

1. Hulk (Marvel, Islands of Adventure) - very powerful, fast, many loops

9:00 AM

We got there early to avoid any line-ups; although, as we expected, there were none. Our game plan was to start in the Islands of Adventure section of Harry Potter World when it was less busy, take the express to Universal, where the rides are less intense, and then train back over to Islands of Adventure and do the two big rides (amongst other things, of course). 

Walking into Harry Potter world was unbelievable; the castle was so well done and all of the rooftops were covered in snow with Ollivanders, Honeydukes, and other adorable little stores amongst the rides.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

Jess remembered that this ride had a really long line in the past so by speed-walking across Islands of Adventure, we weren’t in line for more than 10 minutes. The storyline behind this 4D was that Harry, Ron, Hermione and the gang urged us to skip class to see a Quidditch match. But, things went awry went they realized that the dragon was on the loose. During the ride, we were strapped in and experienced flying around Hogwarts, the Quidditch field, and running away from the dragon.

Hogwarts Express

The train took us from Hogsmeade Station to Diagon Alley. In a way, this was its own little ride because it too had a story. In a train compartment with 4 other people, we witnessed the trip from Hogwarts to London’s dark alleys within King’s Cross station. The window was really a TV screen showing us the forest, Hagrid following us on his flying motor bike and the scenery leading up to the city. The doors to our booth were also TV screens; we could see the shadows of Harry, Ron and Hermione talking to the confectionary lady as the chocolate frogs they’d purchased also hopped along the sliding door to our compartment.

Exiting from King’s Cross into Universal Studios, we had to find the rest of Harry Potter world (because Diagon Alley is hidden from the muggles)! You can see how realistic (or magical) both renditions of Harry Potter World were from the pictures we posted earlier. 

Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringott’s

This was probably the longest line we waited in for the whole day - only 30 minutes! It’s a new ride so this is expected. Also 4D, this ride had a similar story only this time we were taking a tour of the vault, but the gang was breaking into the vault (like they did in the seventh movie). There was a dragon. Shocker. Plus, Voldemort also made his appearance. Jess was happy that I liked these rides so far. When we exited the ride, the rain had started.

So, we booked it to...

Revenge of the Mummy

Jess had loved this ride when she was a kid apparently, so I had a good feeling going in. I knew that this ride had a drop somewhere in it, but I didn’t know what to expect. This ride was completely in the dark and surprisingly short. It was very obviously based on the movie. There were a couple parts where we were going backwards, and there were a couple of drops, but I loved it in the end! (And, Jess did too of course.)

We went to check out the Rockit as our next ride, but it was closed due to the rain.

The Simpsons

This ride had a lot of TV’s showing old episodes the whole time, so our 25 minute wait was a breeze. The premise of this ride (which was stationary and mainly the 4D experience) was that we forget who was out to destroy the rollercoaster we had just boarded and Homer was trying to save us. But in the end, Maggie saved the day and we won’t tell you how. :) 

For some reason I ended up feeling quite nauseous after this one, most likely from all the jolts and the extreme drops in the movie we watched. But, it was lunch time so I had to power through.

12:00 PM

Krusty’s Burgers

To pass the rain, Jess plowed through her pizza and I had a grilled chicken sandwich plus the carrots we had brought. 

Shrek 4D

To seek more refuge from the cold weather, we decided to partake in this show. Shrek, Fiona and Donkey try to hide from the ghost of Lord Farquaad but they face a couple of challenges along the way. This ride featured some spurts of water representing Donkey and/or Shrek’s spit and a lot of moving around in our seats!

I had now built up the courage to skip the third most intense ride (which was the Rockit) and go onto the Dragon Challenge back in Islands of Adventure.

Dragon Challenge

After another ride on the express, I got quite nervous about this rollercoaster! The wait time was only 5 minutes which did not give me any time to freak out before the ride (which was probably a good thing). So, after a (unnecessarily long) stroll to the front of the line, we sat in the blue dragon. 

Side note: This ride has a cool design; it is basically two dragons that ‘battle’ with each other. Jess told me its even cooler when they set off the dragons at the same time because there is one point in the ride where we can see their feet flying when we are upside down! 

Back to the ride.

After being strapped in with no escape, I tried to act all confident to make Jess think I was fine and also because we were sitting in a row with two young teenagers and didn’t want to embarrass myself. But I was not fine. The click click click of the rollercoaster felt as if each following click was slower than the last. When we got to the top, we twisted off to the side right away, and dropped HUGE. The rest of it was just a series of screaming, constant change of scenery between sky and ground, and catching my breath. 

But it was so much fun. 

So we did it again. This time, on the red dragon. Jess was so soososoosos proud of me!

We decided against the third time in a row because we were feeling quite woozy, so we went out to get some butterbeers that we were eyeing before.

The guy working the butterbeer stand didn’t seem to be enjoying himself at all. Which doesn’t make sense because what he was selling was soOO good. It basically was a caramel, vanilla and root beer slushie that was smooth and frozen through-out; no extra ice at the end. Even though we were dripping wet from the rain and freezing from the wind, it was perfect. 

3:00 PM

Poseidon’s Fury

Next, we decided to slow things down by attending a show. Here, in a room full of other tourists, the host was an archeologist named Taylor who told us that the professor he worked with would be back shortly! He told us about the room we were in, and excavating, and how it was Poseidon’s chamber. I don’t recall the full story, but Taylor had gotten us into a pickle and also got us out by helping Poseidon fight his fiery counterpart - the evil Lord Darkenon - by finding his long lost trident. We walked through a spinning water tunnel to see the crazy finale where Poseidon and Darkenon fight with fire and water explosions! 

After this, we walked back around through Harry Potter world to access the rest of Islands of Adventures. Along the way, we picked up some treats from Honeydukes: a lollipop and some fudge! To get to our next ride, we passed by Jurassic Park to get to...

Skull Island: Reign of King Kong

There was basically no wait here either! The ride involved our sitting in a safari truck throughout the rainforest. Unfortunately, Jess and I were seated in the front seat right in front of a canvas. This was because the driver’s cabin was right in front of us. It was difficult to move our heads left and right to see all of the action! The 4D part of it was cool though; King Kong fought off a bunch of dangerous dinosaurs to save our lot of helpless humans!

We walked through Toon Island, where we decided against all the water rides because it was already freezing outside, and made it to the final Marvel section.

4:30 PM

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man

This was my favourite ride! Here, you are journalists meant to take pictures of Spiderman’s victory in stopping Dr. Octopus and his accomplices from stealing the Statue of Liberty. The makers of the ride did a very good job of keeping Spiderman’s story true to the comics and less about the movie; it was also very interactive.  

The last big ride we were going to do, the Hulk, was also closed which was a bummer because I got really excited after my successful experience with the other rides.

That concludes the end of our trip to Universal + Islands of Adventure! We walked the way back to our car and then spent an hour in traffic.

6:15 PM

Once we got home, Jess napped, I made dinner and then I got her started on Are You The One. It is a really good-but-bad MTV reality TV show, as well as my guilty pleasure.

- Maria