With 365 days in each and every year, a menu of dozens of attractions, rides, and other experiences from which to choose, and thousands of guests walking through the gates every day of the year, nothing short of sheer magic could explain how Central Florida’s major theme park resorts are able to conduct their day-to-day operations successfully for the most part–and offer a personalized experience for guests whenever possible.
But sometimes, those same conditions lend themselves to creating periods of chaos and confusion for some guests, much to the dismay of everyone involved–the guest and Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld team members as well. That’s exactly what happened to one guest who has been a fan of Universal Studios’ Islands of Adventure theme park.
A “Weird” Day at Universal’s Islands of Adventure
The guest, known on Reddit as @Mediocre_Nectarine13, usually has a wonderful time when she visits Universal Studios. But this week, she just happened to visit on a day that seemed like a visit to the Twilight Zone, as everything seemed haywire, out of place, and overall completely unenjoyable. So she took to Reddit to share her experience.
She begins by sharing her affinity for Universal Studios’ second theme park, but she can’t deny the fact that her experience was, as she described it, a “really weird day.”
“I love Islands of Adventure,” she writes. “It’s my favorite park, but I had a really weird day there yesterday.”
Then, in what sounds like an endless list of things gone wrong–because it is–she recounts her experiences in the theme park the day before when almost everything was experiencing its own “hiccups,” as she described them.
Like many guests of Universal Studios have mentioned in recent weeks, the Velocicoaster attraction was non-operational. Until it was operational. But as soon as she made her way across the park to get in the queue for the ride, the coaster was down yet again–and didn’t reopen to guests for the rest of the day. But things only got worse from there.
“I got stuck on Ripsaw Falls for about five minutes at the top before the big drop,” she continued. And though the guest is clearly a coaster fan, no one likes to be stuck for what feels like an indefinite amount of time on any ride–but especially on a coaster and at the top of an impending drop. It’s enough to unsettle even the fiercest of coaster junkies.
The next ride she boarded treated her with a similar disrespect: “Forbidden Journey froze for about a minute in the area with the Dementors.”
Yikes. The worst place to stop on two attractions in a row. No wonder things felt so “weird” for the guest. But the day hadn’t gotten its weirdest yet.
“[Then] Spiderman made it all the way through with no issue, then started to freeze in the final screen,” she explained. “Weird thing is, I rode it earlier and didn’t have a glitch.” (We’re starting to feel the “weird” theme of her day.)
After Spiderman disappointed her, the guest attempted another experience within the Wizarding World of Harry Potter–only to be disappointed yet again.
“Hagrid’s [Motorbike attraction] took forever because groups decided to clog up the single rider line, which actually took longer than the regular line,” she explained. “I had a group of four ahead of me and a group of six behind me. Being an actual single rider–that pretty much [was awful.]”
The most enjoyable part of the Redditor’s post was the way in which she ended it.
Despite everything that had gone wrong for her at one of her favorite theme parks, she was able to still find joy where it could be found throughout her day, and as she concludes her post on Reddit, she writes, “I still had fun and enjoyed myself,” though she notes that she had never experienced “this many technical hiccups” at Universal’s Islands of Adventure.
From her account of all that transpired during her visit, it’s likely safe to assume that this guest’s visit gave a whole new meaning to Islands of Adventure, as she seems to have had her own brand of adventures that day. Here’s hoping her next visit will be better than any she’s ever had!
Have you ever visited your favorite theme park at Disney World or Universal, only to experience a long row of unusual and less-than-enjoyable scenarios throughout the day? Tell us about that experience in the comments below!
