Theme Parks

No visit to Florida would be complete without a trip to a theme park. Which ones though? So many to choose from.

In the end we decided on Disney's Magic Kingdom first, followed by Universal Studios, both in Orlando. We arrived early at Disneyland, paid $14 for the car park and began the tortuous journey into the park. First was a ride to the ticket booth where we were lightened of $90 each for over 10's and $80 for the younger ones. Thereafter there was a choice of either ferry or monorail to the park itself. We chose the latter, the whole process taking over an hour and it was the same on the way back.



Once inside all reality is suspended. The park is aimed primarily at younger children - no big roller coasters here. The only one of significance, Space Mountain, is enjoyable enough but didn't really get the pulse racing. It was a busy day, the last Saturday of the Easter holidays, and the queues for everything were long, many taking 50 minutes or so for a usually short ride.

Prices in the park for food, drink and merchandising are on the high side of extortionate. You are a captive audience and I felt well and truly exploited.

Overall, I wasn't impressed and certainly wouldn't go back. The children enjoyed it, but Disney is a little bit too false sugary sweet for me.

Max meets the 'real' Mickey

Universal Studios on the other hand was an altogether better experience. Firstly, it was easier and cheaper to get in. Once inside, food and drink was all at normal prices as far as I could see and there was a good selection. Starbucks coffee for example, at $2, was almost half the price we pay in Dubai for the same thing!

We didn't bother paying the extra $99 each(!) for the express pass which helped you skip the bulk of the queues, but it wasn't necessary anyway as none of the queues were excessive. They had also, unlike Disney, gone to some length to keep you entertained whilst waiting - special Simpsons videos, for example, whilst waiting for the extremely good Simpsons ride.

The 2 big roller coasters were excellent, especially the Mummy one in pitch black with fire in the ceiling, backwards travel and clever special effects.

The tie-ins with the movies were good, especially Terminator, but some parts, like Jaws, were looking a little jaded.

Overall though, something for everyone here and an excellent day out.

The picture below is the current state of Universal Studios, Dubai. It consists of a gate, a site office and a whole load of empty desert as far as the eye can see. The park was due to open this year but appears to be another victim of the global slowdown.