✨Updates! Big Change at Islands of Adventure ~ Another Closing!ng

Hey, what's going on everybody? Rick here and it's time for our weekly visit to Islands of Adventure. But before we get into Islands of Adventure, we need to go through CityWalk. I need to step into guest... I need to stop by guest services and purchase an Epic Universe ticket for tomorrow. $139.52. I think the live stream will start around 7 or 7 30 tomorrow night. The FIFA World Cup trophy tour is gone. It's gone from CityWalk at least. Not one, not two, but three retail carts dedicated to anime. Harry Potter gets half of one. Right there. That's the Harry Potter stuff. I shouldn't do this but I'm starving. Let's review a donut today. What's in the bag? It's an Old Fashioned for $2.50. The Old Fashioned, a little more dense than a regular glazed donut because it's like a cake donut. I almost went with the glazed but I know the glazed donut at Voodoo Donuts not as good as what you can get at Publix. So at the last minute I switched it up to the Old Fashioned which is, you know, it is very delicious. A good donut and it feels a little more hearty I guess because it's a cake versus like a regular glaze. So for just a couple bucks I'm a little less hungry. Will it be enough to power me through this vlog? Yet to be seen. You know what song is stuck in my head right now? Sheena Easton. My baby takes the morning train. If you don't know why then you haven't seen one of my latest videos. I'll leave a link to it in the description box. Alright, we have made it inside the theme park, Islands of Adventure. The Tupac Unlimited Express Pass is $230 plus tax today. This structure is still here because there are two more dates for Gradventure, May 15th and May 21st. Which reminds me, in the last Studios Update video, I commented on how the original music is back in New York City and Hollywood Boulevard and someone tried to have a gotcha moment with me and said, oh see Gradventure's over and the music's back like we thought it would be. Well, their gotcha moment failed. As there are two more dates for Gradventure. Hey, I'm not always right but I am never wrong. I don't know where I got that quote from. Must have been a movie or something but you know it made an impression on me. Are we just supposed to forget there was a sign for green eggs and ham at one point? One day I'm going to show up here. We're going to have a big update. The green eggs and ham sign has returned but that day is not today. Big meet and greet just finishing up. Thing one, thing two, cat in the hat, Lorax, the Grinch over here. They'll be back again later. They're finishing up right now though. High in the sky trolley is the longest wait in this area. As usual, 25 minutes for it. Of course, everything else less than that. In last week's update video, I was showing you some of my favorite AC vents in the park. I neglected to show you my favorite in here in the Mulberry Street store. Just walk this way and get some cool AC under this vent. Have I shown you this hat before for 30 bucks? You would think you would think I remember. Have I shown you this hat before for 30 dollars? You would think I would remember. This is kind of unforgettable. There's that one and then you have a cat in the hat one as well. As the school year winds down, some of you may be thinking of a gift to give your kid's teacher. Well, here's a whole wall of teacher of all things. Cups, mugs, t-shirts, but I have to be honest with you. You know what they really want? What they appreciate more? Just give them cash or a gift card. They are underpaid for what they have to put up with. Not a lot of stuff happening in Seuss Landing today. Kind of quiet. The whole park may be quiet. Maybe that's why the park is closing early tonight. Someone is renting out some organization for their group. So park closing early. That tends to happen a lot this time of year because it's a slower time for regular guests. The waterfall guy up here said screw it. I know what you're doing in this place. I quit. Someone in the comment section wanted me to take a closer look at the fire eater's grill menu. There it is. You can pause the video if you need to. It is widely reported that tomorrow is the last day for the mystic fountain. Look, they're even like recording stuff over here. Can we have one last interaction with them? Hello. Sorry I haven't been around. I've been taking you for granite. I just have to ask, what's your summer plans? Big plans this summer? Where are you going? Rocky Mountains. Oh boy. The volume is real low. I don't know if you can hear him but he is going to visit the Rocky Mountains. Well I hope you're feeling okay. Are you feeling okay? Your voice is kind of gravelly. Well that's it for me. Have a good one. Don't know why the volume is so low with the mystic fountain today. But when I asked him about his summer plans, it was all rock related. You know, visiting the Rocky Mountains. His cousin Kazbah. You know, stuff like that. I was just happy to work in my two usual jokes for him. Just in case you didn't know where we were. A little village I like to call Hogsmeade. As usual, one line is longer than the other. I always want to tell people about the discrepancy with the line length. But you know, I don't want to come across as a know-it-all. But it's a struggle. I want to help. I want to help. Look, one person in line here. Should I say something? And now the eighth wonder of the world. The backside of Honeydukes. You can walk down this aisle. You have the three broomsticks dishes being done here. Audio themed. And then you have the backside of Honeydukes. Window display there. One inside of here. But there's no entrance. For team members, yes. For you, no. Coming back this way for the parade. What? You didn't know there was a parade back here? Just watch this. I love a parade. By the way, a 105 minute wait for Hagrid's. The refurbishment work on Hogwarts Castle continues. Not all done yet, but it is coming right along over there. That side there. All looking good. Don't worry, we'll get to that section there eventually. So Flight of the Hippogriff. Kind of a low wait time for it. Just 20 minutes. Not that this ride is popular or anything, but it does get a high wait time. Mainly due to capacity. Can't get a lot of people through this in like an hour. I think there's only like two trains mainly. That's why. But even today, just 20 minutes. A low per hour ride capacity is what I think I'm trying to say. The bridge from Hogsmeade to Jurassic Park. Still closed. Still being repaired. A 45 minute wait and a friendly reminder. No single rider line for VelociCoaster. And if you're not going to do the front row, as far as the rest of the rows that are concerned, I would recommend row 11. I'm always going into Jurassic Outfitters for these videos. Never Dino Store. That changes today. Most of the stuff is the same stuff. But they do have for $20 these prints here. Look at that. Let's just see what else. Let's just pick one at random. Let's pick some more. Oh, isn't he fancy? But there you go. Cool little unique dinosaur prints. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of a... I mean, I'm sure you can find a spot in your home like this could your kid's bathroom. And they have make your own gemstone pendant. The pendants are $8 each and each cord is $4. So there's your cords and the different things you can use for your pendants. I don't think anything like this is in Jurassic Outfitters. But a lot of this merch is the same as Jurassic Outfitters. Oh, and aren't these necklaces nice? For like around eight bucks. The only reason I'm recording this, I feel a rollback coming. I feel it. Rolling back. Down the top hat. Come on. Would it be amazing if there really was a rollback? Oh, we're about to find out. No way. That was pretty easy. No rollback. All right, into this monstrosity of Jurassic Outfitters. I think production has started on a new Jurassic World movie for a potential 2028 release. Well, introducing mini canisters, $4. Little canisters of Doritos, Cheetos, and Funyuns. In junior high, I lived on Funyuns. Well, I'm a bit surprised. A full one hour wait for Kong today? With a high temperature today of 87 degrees. I don't blame anyone for wanting to come into Toon Lagoon and do the water rides and cool off and then walk around wet. I didn't time that too well, did I? Here at Ripsaw Falls or Candy Corn River, if you want to call it that. I mean, they do kind of look like candy corn. I think I'm just going to have to cut and edit. Son of a gun. As soon as I turned it off, it started to come. I should have known that would have been the case. I have a worry when it comes to some of the merchandise here. They've been having the Scooby-Doo merchandise and the t-shirt that I want to have for Halloween Horror Nights has been here, but last week it was not here. So now I'm worried I may have waited too late for that shirt. Let's see. No, no, it's back this time. This is what I want for my Halloween Horror Nights shirt. $30. Do I get it now or do I continue to test fate? I was so worried last week when it wasn't here. But yeah, that's a good HHN t-shirt in my opinion. You know, that is great. But we're going to push our luck for another week. There are a few things that I do want to purchase here at Universal. I've been waiting on. There's a couple things. That shirt's one of them. There's another shirt I want to get. Another t-shirt I want to get and wait for it. And there's a hat I want to get. Now Nikki's philosophy is, you know, you see it, you want to get it because it might not be here next time you come. But I'm always, I'm always waiting for purchases. I don't know why, you know. What's the difference if I buy that Scooby-Doo t-shirt now or if I buy it, you know, in August or right before Halloween Horror Nights? Other than I keep tempting fate that maybe it won't be here when I'm ready to when I get it now. I don't know. I don't know. Let's see. Any updates in here? Let's see. Looks like Blondie's is closed. Let's mosey on over to Safe Haven. See the other water ride. Construction walls are still up there. Let me double check Blondie's. Yep, it's closed. Thursday. Closed. Probably be open this weekend. Oh, have they removed, they removed some construction walls. Okay. So there were construction walls right there. So they're all done with that. Looks like they've even planted some new trees and foliage. But this was not why they were construction walls. This is after they were done doing the work, they went ahead and put in the new foliage. So, um, oh no. Wimpy's is not open today. This Thursday. I presume it will be open on the weekend though. Let's see. Scanning. This is what I walk around and I scan for updates. Anything that looks new, unusual, or interesting. Hot day like today. No need for the people dryer. Have that cool t-shirt on you. It's going to dry naturally within the hour with this hot Florida sun. Let's see. Yeah, the waterfall's going. That's good. Oh, let's get over here. And time to watch the splash. A group of red shirted kids with the big splash today. I don't know what group. Probably elementary school on a field trip or something. End of the school year trip. More kids. That one's full of kids. Oh, that was a bunch of green shirts now. Oh, they're already wet. Yep. Lots of groups. End of the school year groups. I'm going to pop into the pass holder lounge there and see what they have on sale for pass holders. Everything on this wall is 70% off. You have some creature from the black lagoon, some Frankenstein, some monster dark universe stuff, and some epic t-shirts over there. I guess even the Niffler. So anything on this wall, 70% off. Epic t-shirts, dark universe, license plates, tags, wallets, Niffler. This is the big discount wall in the pass holder lounge. Now this is not 70% off, but let's see. I like the style. It's see the stars, ride the movies merchandise line. T-shirt here is $33. And then you have the tumbler with the same styling. $27 for it. Tank top. So this is, uh, I like it. I like it. It looks like, um, Polaroids. Windbreaker jacket is 90 bucks. Now remember, if you're ever visiting here and Blondie's is closed and Wimpy's is closed, get some of their stuff inside of the comic strip cafe. You can get Wimpy's Wellington. Wait, wait. It's a double stack Wellington here. And then as far as like, um, Blondie's is concerned and get the Dagwood sandwich. They're their signature sandwich. And also the mac and cheese pulled pork bowl. I do want to try the double Wellington, but whenever I'm here, I'm just, I'm not hungry enough to get a double Wellington. Inside of Toon Extra, some new Hello Kitty merchandise. Look at this big water bottle here. Hello Kitty. I'll rotate it and let you know it is $30. Well, since they have it front and center, as soon as you enter, I'll show you the bag for $50. Hello Kitty there. A couple of charms on it. The inside of the bag, hold on. And that's what the inside of the bag looks like. And a better look at the charms. And look at the pillow here. $30. That's one side of the pillow. That's the other side of the pillow. Whack-A-Mole has a prize I haven't seen before. I don't even know what those are. Pushkin? They're Pushkins. Pushkins. Pushkins. There we go. Pushkins. So over here at the balloon popping game, we have this, these are kind of new. It looks like unicorn otters. Maybe the, look at the head there. Obviously a unicorn and a unicorn face, but on the back, is that like an otter's tail? You think the team members ought to know. All right, on to Marvel Superhero Island. I think the superheroes are already out doing their meet and greets. I see Captain America over here to the right. So we missed the meeting today. We missed the little parade they have in the meeting. In line for Cap over here. I mean, should I be with that group? They're all in yellow shirts. Can I jump right in? You think they would notice? There's Cap. Oh yeah, Wolverine's just chilling over here by himself. Just... There he is, Wolverine. What'd you see? High five. Be careful with that. He didn't, he didn't appreciate the jokes. Oh yeah, Rogue and Storm's down there. They have a larger crowd. Plus they would appreciate my joking around more, more so than Wolverine. 45 minutes for Spider-Man. Well, they, uh, the busyness level of the park is picking up now. And like I said, it closes early today. Let's make our way over here. Just to say, just give them a wave or something. They probably have a line for Storm and Rogue. Or should we see? Check on the wait time for Doctor Doom first. 15 minutes for Doom. I've been working in a little more merch. Oh, hold on a second. That's the sound. That's the sound of a launch coming. Left or right? Left or right? I'm gonna guess left. I was right. I mean, I was correct. Wait, is it? I think the other side's gonna go. It wasn't as loud. A lot of sounds emanating from Doctor Doom. That sounded wrong. I don't think it's gonna go. No, no. But I've been highlighting a lot of merch anyway. But I might as well. I will show you the Marvel merch of the week. Since I always do that. Right over here by the arcade. Rogue and Storm. Might as well mosey on to the Hulk. 45 for Spider-Man. What do you think the Hulk is? Same? About to find out. I think I hear. Do I hear it climbing? It's gonna. Yes. Oh, let's get to our spot. Oh no. Frogger. Frogger. Frogger. We made it. Did we make it or not? Oh yeah, we made it. No, it's only. It's not 45. It's 25 for the Hulk. And the single rider line is open. The single rider line for Spider-Man not open. Looks like we're gonna step into this store for the Marvel merch of the week. How about this t-shirt for $37. Marvel superheroes. And we got Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Hulk, and Thor. So yeah, like the major ones right there. All right guys, I hope you enjoyed today's visit to Highlands of Adventure. Perhaps a little mini virtual vacation for you all. Don't miss the magic, don't miss the fun, and watch this next.