Universal Islands of Adventure is one of two theme parks in the Universal area of Orlando in Florida and it is the better of the two in my opinion. My husband and I visited Halloween Horror Nights at Universal one day and the next day we spent enjoying Islands of Adventure. There are 7 different islands in the theme park and they are all completely different, which makes exploring them a whole lot of fun. Islands of Adventure and it’s sister theme park Universal Studios are both part of Universal Orlando, along with the CityWalk shopping/entertainment area and their resorts. The 7 islands are: Port of Entry, Jurassic Park, Toon Lagoon, Seuss Landing, Marvel Super Hero Island, The Lost Continent and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
1. Point of Entry Island is the actual park’s main entrance and is home to many shops and services. The featured attraction of the island is the lighthouse, which is seen by the visitors as they are approaching the island. The lighthouse icon towering 130 feet over the main entrance is inspired by the Pharos Lighthouse of Alexandria, Egypt, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, that was constructed in 350 B.C. and fell during an earthquake in the 14th century. Each night, this real, functioning lighthouse sends out a bright beam to lead visitors to and from the park’s gates (source: wikipedia).
2. Jurasic Park Island is associated with the popular American science fiction adventure film Jurassic Park directed by Steven Spielberg and is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. Jurassic Park is a theme park focused on dinosaurs. The area is filled with attractions and exhibits that could be found in the “real” Jurassic Park.
Camp Jurassic is the children’s play area with a water feature to cool kids off. This is an exploration station for kids, complete with caves, lava pits and more. The big attraction here is the Pteranodon Flyers ride for children and this is the only ride where an adult must be accompanied by a child. This ride provides an amazing view over the Jurassic Park area, it loads very slowly, and the ride lasts just over a minute.
The park has Jurassic Park Discovery Center with some large dinosaur models on display and is very interactive.
We did only Jurassic Park River Adventure ride, which is the main ride in Jurassic Park island. Taken from Universal’s sister park in California, this is a flume ride based on the popular film. We began by taking a leisurely boat ride through tropical settings, among velociraptors and a huge T-Rex. Then, our boat took a wrong turn and suddenly plunged 85 feet into a lagoon at the end of the ride. This ride definitely made everyone in the boat wet, so we had to purchase overpriced rain ponchos at the entrance to the ride to avoid to get soaked. It worked for us. 🙂
3. Toon Lagoon Island is home to more than 150 of the world’s most beloved cartoon characters from the Sunday Funnies. Guests can stroll down Comic Strip Lane and see life-size images of characters such as Beetle Bailey, Hagar The Horrible and Krazy Kat, just three of many characters who inhabit this colorful part of the island. Most of these characters can come to life and stroll the area throughout the day posing for pictures. This island offers mostly water rides. The main rides are named after Dudley Do-Right and Popeye cartoon heroes. Since the weather wasn’t warm enough for the wet rides at the time, we didn’t ride them. Instead, we just enjoyed walking through the island and took some pictures.
Me Ship, the Olive is an interactive child’s playground based on Popeye’s boat. Children even get the chance to squirt water cannons at guests passing by in the adjacent Bilge-Rat Raft ride.
Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls ride is based on the 60’s cartoon series and is one of the ‘really wet ones’ where you’ll get soaked. The final drop plunges you 15ft below the water line (although not underwater), and is quite an exhilarating experience and a lot of fun, especially during peak season, when it gets quite hot in Orlando.
It is easy to follow the ride looking at the pictures below.
Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges looks interesting and refreshing. We didn’t try this ride, but here is its description from Universal’s official site. This whitewater rafting ride is based on the Popeye cartoons. The rafts hold 12 visitors and proceed down a rather rapid waterway around some very steep curves. The boat slows down as it passes by “Me Ship, the Olive” (an interactive play area for kids). The kids can fill a crate full of water, then dump it on your raft, they also have a series of directional water canons that they can fire at you as well. There are at least two areas where large amounts of free flowing water are dumped directly on the raft as well. Depending on which way the raft is turning and where you’re sitting you could get soaked.
4. Seuss Landing Island. This bright, shiny and colourful island is based on the popular children’s books written by Dr. Seuss. It’s a cartoon world come to life and loads of fun for younger kids. There are no straight lines in Seuss Landing, because Dr. Seuss only drew curved, slanted or “wonky” lines in the illustrations for his books. There is plenty of activities for kids here, including an interactive playground for children “If I ran the Zoo”. We took only The Cat in the Hat ride since it was almost empty at the time just for fun, but we enjoyed walking through the beautiful island. It seemed like the bright colors and playful music brought us on a trip back to childhood. Here is the Caro-Seuss-el, a carousel ride right at the Entry Arch.
Here is the popular The High in the Sky Trolley Train Ride. This attraction takes the riders high above Seuss Landing. This is a slow train ride on a single track, which rises up to 20 feet, traveling through several book-based scenes, and giving a birds-eye view of Seuss Landing attractions.
The Cat in the Hat ride takes you right into the beloved Cat in the Hat story. It re-creates the book of The Cat in the Hat scene by scene. You spin and swerve on the ride while the red and white hatted cat and his friends Thing One and Thing Two almost bring down the house. Amazing graphics and animation there.
The cute shop Cats, Hats and Things.
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. This attraction is similar to Dumbo at Walt Disney World, except you need to follow directions or else you will get wet! Guests ride (wait for it) a red fish or a blue fish, where they control the motion of the fish while trying to avoid the water being shot at them from “squirt posts”.
The Once-ler’s house from the Lorax book, which is commonly recognized as a fable concerning the danger corporate greed poses to nature and where the Lorax speaks for the trees against the greedy Once-ler. I like warm colored Truffula trees growing next to the Once-ler’s house.
Mulberry Street Store at Seuss Landing.
My post about Marvel Super Hero Island and The Lost Continent is here. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter can be found here.
In the evening we had a nice time dining at Margaritaville. Just wanted to show an interesting waiter that served there that evening.
