We purchased a package to visit Universal Studios with our family, and overall, we had a great…read moretime! One thing I wasn't prepared for was the parking cost. When you drive into the parking area, be prepared to pay around $40 each time you visit. My recommendation to anyone planning multiple days at Universal is to look into a parking package because it can save you money. A few tips for visitors: wear comfortable sneakers because you'll be doing a LOT of walking, and bring a raincoat or poncho. Florida weather can change quickly, and it does rain at times. Other than the parking expense, we really enjoyed our family experience at Universal Studios! ‍‍‍

Halloween horror nights at universal was a complete and utter blast!!…read more Be prepared for long lines... some times over 2 hours... wear your most comfortable shoes. We were there from open 6:30pm to close 2am and we hobbled out at the end of the night. If you can afford the lightning pass that is the way to go!!! Ride options are limited but a good break in between and what they have open is good. Food and drink options are many. My sons and I had a very memorable time! And are already planning for next year!!!

Fun for the Family. Me and my family went to Fun Spot on a Friday. It was a little wet and cloudy…read morebut we made the most of it. Once the weather cleared up, we got on a few rides and did Go-Karts. I didn't know Fun Spot would be that fun. Enjoyed every minutes of it. We even were able to get a box of NY pizza. Grade: A

Fun Spot is really fun if you go without any expectations. It has a decent variety of rides, and…read moreit's not as tiring as spending a full day at a larger theme park. They have a lot to do in a relatively small space, including roller coasters, a racetrack, Ferris wheel, kids rides, splash pad, arcade games, alligators, and more. We have an annual pass for the kids, and we usually get the chaperone band since a few rides require an adult to ride with the child. There is no admission ticket required to enter the park, which I really like. You can either buy tickets for individual rides or get a pass if you plan to visit more often. The ride attendants follow the height requirements pretty strictly, which is good to see. There is also a large cafeteria, and the food is okay, not anything special, but convenient when you're there with kids. The annual pass is definitely worth it for us. It's a fun place to spend a few hours with little kids without feeling overwhelmed or exhausted, and older kids can enjoy it just as much.

Love Universal's Islands of Adventure. Its more of an amusement park geared to older teens and…read moreadults, while Disney caters to families and younger children in my opinion. I love them both actually and try to visit both while in Orlando. Yet, some of the best rides are at Universal! Jurassic World VelociCoaster, The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Jurassic Park River Adventure, Skull Island: Reign of Kong, Flight of the Hippogriff, Doctor Doom's Fearfall, Hogwarts Express - Hogsmeade Station and Hogwarts Castle, Marvel Super Hero Island among others. Some good spots to eat too. Mythos is Greek and Mediterranean, Three Broomsticks, and getting a cold butterbeer is a must! Too bad the prices are getting out of hand nowadays and it's a small fortune to do a day or two here. Worth it if you can afford it though.

Islands is a tried & true theme park that I love going to. Although it'd been years since last…read moretime, my recent visit was a great one. It was definitely on par with how I remember it. Friendly staff, functioning rides & great theming all add to the experience. With Velocicoaster opening up in 2021 & not having been since, I was really looking forward to it. I was expecting a lot & that's exactly what it provided! It's by far one of the coolest roller coasters in FL. It has flips, rolls, heights, crazy speed & is relatively smooth. Without a fast pass I was able to ride twice on a Saturday morning. I especially love Dr. Doom's drop tower & the Spider-Man ride. While totally different experiences, they're both fun. I like how the drop tower is reversed, as it shoots you towards the sky & slowly lets you down. I just wish you went up more than once. The Hulk is also a classic. While it was a little more rough than I remember, it's the same adrenaline-pumping coaster that you either love or fear. I have a soft spot for Seuss Landing so I love walking through. Looking at the life sized characters & all of the colorful sets bring a smile to my face. The aroma from the food stands also add to the experience. I've grown up visiting all of the theme parks in FL & would say that Islands is towards the top of my list. If you love roller coasters, it'll scratch the itch. If you're into Marvel, you'll be drawn right in. If you're looking for a hit of nostalgia, you'll find it here.

Seeing Diagon Alley for the first time in real life is breathtaking, but perhaps the only thing…read morebetter is getting to see it through the eyes of a close friend or family member. It is SO MUCH MORE immersive than the Hogsmeade Village side at Islands of Adventure. And to be honest, I still get excited about watching the dragon breath fire here, even though I've seen it a thousand times by now. This section of the park also comes to life at night and the storefront lights are illuminated. And don't forget to stop by Knockturn Alley as you never know what type of mischief you can get up to there! And don't forget to grab a treat at Florian Fortescue's ice cream shop!

Besides the pretty cool scenery and the escape from gringotts ride, this area is mostly shops…read more When you're in this part of the Harry Potter Park, you have to stay on your around for a little bit and wait for the dragon the spew fire. That's the main draw of this area besides the rides and the shopping

It's magically overwhelming in Super Nintentdo World, and I don't mind it. If you are an adult, I…read morehighly recommend having an adult beverage before entering as it will really make you lean into it all :) Incredibly immersive, I have really lucked out by going at times where it wasn't overwhelming busy--clutch. I do want to go back and focus on mini-games one time as last time I felt a bit rushed.

A very interactive and immersive world in Epic Universe, Super Nintendo World mostly lived up to…read morethe hype for me. I was blown away with the level of detail inside of Bowser's Castle and almost wished I had more time just to look around it before getting on the ride. The Yoshi Ride was underwhelming, however, and I feel like there was more that could have been done with it, even if that meant building an additional structure. I did not participate in using the Power Up bands, but noticed several children that were loving it. It would have been so amazing to experience this world back in the N64 days!

My husband is the car buff in our family. When we were visiting Orlando, we were looking for…read moresomething to do in the daytime while waiting for our grandchildren to finish summer camp for the day. Dezerland kept us busy for a few hours and inside during a very hot day. Besides the Auto Museum, Dezerland also features an arcade, escape room, bowling alley, bumper cars, lazer tag maze, ax throwing, and pool tables. Being of a certain age, we chose to visit just the Auto Museum. There are a variety of attraction packages available if you want to use one or several of the attractions. Everyone entering must fill out a waiver, even if you're visiting just the Auto Museum. The waivers are available online as well as advance ticket purchases. There is also a food court and several shops within the Dezerland complex. I'm not into cars myself but the Auto Museum was impressive. My husband especially loved seeing the vintage cars from the 1940s through the 1970s, although some of the cars shown preceded the 1940s. The displays include vehicles used in movies and popular culture. My favorites were the Mystery Machine and Herbie the Love Bug as I saw the movie Love Bug as a child. Besides cars, the museum also features vintage motorcycles, scooters, bicycles, fire trucks, police vehicles, post office delivery vehicles, subway cars, and buses. The backdrops, movies posters, pictures, and cardboard cut outs of the movie 'stars' and historical figures greatly enhance the experience. I can't imagine the time and energy it must have taken to amass this collection of vintage vehicles. We spent about two hours browsing the huge collection of cars but easily could have spent another hour or two here admiring the old time motor vehicles.

I remember when this used to be festival Bay mall. And then,…read moreafter that, it was already on marketplace. Both were really cool concepts and a fun way to spend a sunny afternoon outside of the heat. Now it's become a year-round indoor car show, and I really don't care for it . Most of the shops they used to be here are gone. The only thing that really remained are the theater and the putt putt golf. It's cool if you're into vintage cars and a car museum for props that were used in movies and TV, but other than that, there's not much else to do

This was my very first time visiting Icon Park, and I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised…read more The first thing I appreciated was the parking. They have a convenient parking garage where the first three floors are paid parking, while the fourth floor and above are free. That was a nice bonus and made getting there easy. I was actually on my way to a restaurant, so exploring the park wasn't part of the plan. But once I walked inside, I couldn't help but look around. There were restaurants, food vendors, candy shops, drink stands, and so much more. The atmosphere was lively, fun, and full of energy. It looked like the perfect place for families, couples, or anyone just looking to spend a few hours enjoying themselves. This is a short review because I didn't get the chance to experience everything Icon Park has to offer. However, based on my first impression alone, I can definitely say I'll be back. It was filled with excitement for both children and adults, and I'm looking forward to exploring it even more on my next visit.

Overall, I think this is a great place to check out if you are in Orlando…read more We came here because we have Legoland gold passes which means we get free admission to sea life, Madame Tussaud's, and the Orlando Eye. All three of these together took up about two hours and then we were able to go to Cafe tu tu tango to get a bite to eat. This was a great half day experience while we were visiting Orlando. There was a parking garage and parking was super easy. By that time we left around 8:30 PM there were so many cars, but when we first got there at about 5 PM there were tons of spots. They do have parking spots you can pay for in the lower levels so it seems like if you're willing to pay there will always be parking. If you want free parking, you need to go earlier because this seems to be popular for nightlife. I always appreciate when there's so many attractions together that you can walk to. This place has quite a few restaurants, some shops and the attractions all in a contained area. It was very clean and when we came, there was a huge police presence, because apparently a couple weeks before there was hundreds of teenagers that descended to the area and fought. So the place was doing a really good job making sure that everything was safe. This is a place for both families and non-families alike.

This was always my favorite part of IoA! The Spider-Man ride…read morewill never get old! It's been updated a bit since the ride came out, but it still has an old school comic book charm! In my late teens, I finally found the courage to go on the Hulk ride. It's the fastest and scariest coaster I've ever been on! Hulk yelling at the beginning doesn't help btw! I don't like drop rides, so I avoid the Doom fall. I'm glad Universal and Disney still have an agreement to keep this part of the Island! It would be sad to see it go!

Old school (pre Disney) Marvel comics, ride, and stores in Islands of Adventure in Orlando…read more Lots of comic book themed colors and designs here, good for those who are historic comic fans and the meet & greets here looked like fun if busy lines. The Hulk coaster, Fearfall wasn't on when we were there, and the Spiderman 4D experience. End of the day could've used some cleaning, someone had thrown up or really lost a meal on the ground, no one out there cleaning it up...

Haha, this was my first ride when we arrived in Universal. It was kinda cute…read more The wait wasn't too long with the express pass. In fact even with the regular line it was averaging about 45 minutes for this ride, which is nowhere near as bad as some other rides. If you're into Minions or Despicable Me, you'll definitely be into the intro segments with Gru and his daughters. Many of us were laughing so hard at how hilarious it was. As for the ride itself, it was relatively low intensity, but there definitely were some moments. I'd say this ride is safe for those who experience motion sickness as I didn't feel bad at all. If anything the introduction may have dragged a bit long, but otherwise I was pretty happy with this ride being my introduction to Universal.

Reviewing an Orlando local childless couple in theory 30s:…read more We rode this for the first time recently and it's really really cute. Neither of us were children's when Despicable Me & Minions become popular, nor do we have children's so we don't have much of a personal affinity for the franchise. Still this is really cute and fun. We would definitely do this again. My husband is prone to motion sickness and this did not bother him at all

I went to the Gator Spot located inside the Fun Spot in Orlando. I just wanted to check out the…read moregators and hold one and they are open most of the day. I was exhausted from a full day of travel the night before but their hours were flexible for me to be able to stop in on my free time. If you are just going into the gator spot you can skip the ticket counter and head right over to The Gator Spot. Staff working the gift shop have a window that opens to the entrance where they will scan your wrist band (admission is free with fun spot wrist bands). Admission just to the Gator spot is only $6. I purchased that and the option to feed the gators. I wish they had pointed out the Ultimate admission offer that you get admission, a photo & feeding for a discounted price - I did end up purchasing photos as well as some fun stuff in the gift shop. Everyone I encountered working at the Gator spot were so friendly & sweet. They have 4 alligator enclosures, photo ops, tortoise, monitor lizard & bird enclosure. It is a small are but exactly what I was looking for. I was able to feed the gators fish while going in the enclosure and posing in the pit for a photo. They had baby alligators, yearlings, 5-6 year olds and one really large guy in his own pin. At the photo area you can hold Cheesecake an Albino Alligator or Grumpy a feisty little female gator or a python. I waited for my opportunity while the photographer did some photos of the family ahead of me. It was pretty comical watching the reactions of people when they get held the animal or freaking out asking why the live animal is moving while they hold them. There was no one after me so I asked if I could get a photo with Cheesecake & Grumpy so I could make my mom a Mother's Day Card. Cheesecake was a very calm gator with very beautiful intriguing eyes, she is very mellow and would be good for those unsure about holding one. Grumpy on the other hand had been feisty all day according to the worker. She was moving and wiggling around. The group in front of me jumped up and asked why she doing that when she started wiggling. I don't know if she just liked me or if she could sense how awesome I thought this was but she was so calm when I held her, she even closed her eyes while I had her. The worker was surprised at how still she was for me. This was such a great experience and the staff was so friendly. This was a great small stop to see some gators without having to spend a lot of money or being short on time. I would highly suggest checking out if you are passing through the area.

Had some time before leaving Orlando and wanted to see some FL gators. Looked up some places and…read morethey were all far from me and found this jewel on Yelp. I called to make sure it was open since the reviews are old and sure enough it was. The place was in Fun Spot and it's a collab between gator land and them. For only $6 a person, you can get an all day pass to access gator spot and see a live feeding show, not only that but you can touch a gator and ball python snake and take pictures. I don't think you have to buy it but we did for $20 just to remember our time here. You can also feed them with alligator food you can purchase. I really enjoyed seeing the many alligators they had and the baby ones too. They have white albino one that's pretty cool. Then there is "big nasty" the biggest of all there. My fam and friends all had a good time and it was def a FL experience seeing these ancients beasts.