Walt Disney World With Kids (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [137]
Me Ship, the Olive
Map Location 7
This is a compact play area designed like a ship, with slides, climbing webs, and buttons that make tooting and beeping noises. Swee’ Pea’s Playpen is a separate play area for toddlers.
By far the most enjoyable feature of Me Ship, the Olive, is the water guns that allow you to take aim at the occupants of Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges below. If you have a child too young to ride Popeye, take him aboard the Olive while you wait for the rest of the family to ride; he can seek revenge on his siblings as they pass. But watch out—the squirt guns can squirt back!
Insider’s Secret
Toon Lagoon is full of great photo ops. You can pose beneath the giant word bubbles, so that it appears you’re saying or thinking such phrases as “It must be Sunday—we’re in color!” and “I have the feeling people can read my thoughts!” The fountain on Comic Strip Lane is the hangout place for every cartoon dog you can think of and another fun place for a group snapshot.
Jurassic Park
As you walk through the high stone entryway with its torches, note the distant rumbling of unseen beasts, and look down at the fossilized leaves and footprints in the sidewalk before you. The Canadian pines around Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls have given way to lush tropical vegetation, and the merry beat of Toon Lagoon slows to an ominous jungle rhythm. Is there any doubt you’ve entered Jurassic Park?
River Adventure
Map Location 10
The River Adventure starts out with a mild cruise through the habitats of gentle vegetarian dinosaurs. Hmm, do you think we’ll stay on course? If you don’t know the answer to that, you have to go back to Theme Park 101.
Sure enough, a playful dino bangs your boat, sending you drifting into a restricted zone, and once you’re inside the dangerous containment area, your boat is pulled up a long ramp past vicious little raptors that leap around spitting at you. When the T-Rex at the top decides you’ll make a good snack, you escape via an 85-foot plunge—and that’s one long, fast, steep descent.
The Scare Factor
Eighty-five feet may sound like a T-Rex-size drop, especially in contrast to the 75-foot drop next door at Dudley, but because you’re loaded into much larger boats, the River Adventure fall doesn’t feel that intense. Most families report that they found this plunge less frightening than the one at Dudley Do-Right. There’s some atmospheric scariness, however, in the form of some very real-looking dinos. It’s key to let nervous youngsters know what to expect in advance—that is, you’ll get pushed in with the raptors. If it’s any consolation, this part of the ride is very short—less than two minutes from the beginning of the climb to the final plunge. Our surveys indicate that most kids 7 and up love the ride.
Camp Jurassic
Map Location 9
Of the three play areas in Islands of Adventure, this is the best one for kids ages 6 to 10. The setting is a group of posteruption volcanoes, with caves for hiding, and a multilevel, fairly rough terrain perfect for jumping, climbing, and exploring. There are slides, plenty of netting, and some take-no-prisoners water cannons. Because the Camp Jurassic play area is bigger and more spread out than Me Ship, the Olive in Toon Lagoon and If I Ran the Zoo in Seuss Landing, it’s easy for kids to get lost. Unless you’re sure they can find their way back to one of the benches where Mom and Dad sit waiting, you may need to go with them.
Pteranodon Flyers
Map Location 8
This aerial ride, in which children dangle beneath the wide wings of a gentle flying dinosaur, is the first thing you see when you enter Jurassic Park. Ergo, most kids insist on making a beeline there. It’s indeed a pleasant 80-second flight around lushly landscaped Camp Jurassic, offering you great views of Islands of Adventure. The catch is that only three birds, each holding two riders, are on the track at a time.