Month: August 2023

Islands of Adventure 1999 soundtrack on YouTube

Tracks from the official Universal Studios Escape (as it was known back then) Islands of Adventure theme park have been posted to the official Universal Orlando Resort (as it is known today) YouTube channel:

https://youtube.com/@UniversalOrlando

The soundtrack was released for the 1999 opening, I believe, but these tracks are listed as being from a “2000 reissue” version. I may have the original disc somewhere, and I know it had many more tracks than what have been shared so far.

I am just hoping the crazy track from Toon Lagoon makes it. The custom soundtracks were one of the best things about Islands of Adventure. Toon Lagoon especially stood out with its massive multi-track arrangement with speakers all over the land playing parts of the looping soundtrack. (This would be done two years later with the opening of Disney’s California Adventure when it had something similar for the Paradise Pier section of the park.)

Enjoy!

Huge photo gallery update

The Theme Parks gallery has been updated with a batch of photos from Lost Island Themepark in Iowa:

http://themeparks.disneyfans.com

The Other Places gallery has also received a huge update, adding photos taken as far back as 2015 from events and places in Iowa, Texas, Illinois and more.

http://misc.disneyfans.com

These include:

  • Amana Colonies – including Wurst Fest 2023
  • Living History Farms – including Christmas
  • Jolly Holiday Lights
  • Blank Park Zoo “Wild Lights” Asian lantern festival
  • Trek Fest in Riverside, Iowa
  • Texas Pinball Festival
  • Galloping Ghosts Arcade near Chicago
  • Pella Tulip Time
  • …and probably more.

There are still dozens of galleries to be sorted and added, but this is at least progress.

Universal Orlando’s video recording policy.

I have seen so many videos taken at Universal Orlando Resort on attractions that specifically forbid photos or video recording. I wondered if there was some kind of exception for video bloggers, so I asked…

 Please know that Universal Orlando Resort does not condone the behavior you described of these YouTube vloggers. For the safety of our Guests, as well as show quality when applicable, we do not allow filming, flash photography, or Go-Pro style mounted cameras on our attractions. 

Universal Orlando Resort Guest Communications

So, yeah. I guess all the signs that say don’t do it actually are there because you aren’t supposed to do it.

Universal Orlando Garden Walk maps

Updates:

  • 2024-04-25 -Over on my Facebook Page, Jeremy O’L.point out that “Aventura is connected multiple ways as well.” There is an official way to walk north out of the Aventura lobby and reach the Garden Walk, or you can walk across the parking lot an in to the lobby of Sapphire Falls and continue walking to the Garden Walk from there, or down to the Sapphire Falls Water Taxi dock. Google limits how many layers I can have on a map (which is why I had to split them up in to West and East maps), but I’ll see what I can do about adding this. Thanks, Jeremy!

I created some Google Maps layers that show the walking path (called “Garden Walk”) between the on-site hotels and the park entrances. It includes markers for the boat docks, bus dropoffs and security checkpoints, as well. You can enable just the items you want to see. (For example, you only care about the walking route from Aventura to Universal Studios Florida.)

West Side – Cabana Bay, Sapphire Falls, Royal Pacific (for Aventura, you can walk across the parking lot to Sapphire Falls and then use their map)

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1rqDurcJoaW48Ppmmxk-yXpuHxbJphBA3&usp=sharing

East Side – Hard Rock, Portofino Bay

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=12rcfdPcjgizN3UQ8KPZqchAdG1eJUxF1&usp=sharing

Enable the “Legend” to see the different layers you can turn on.

Please comment if you find any mistakes, or if you have items that should be added.