Let’s start this one off strong – Universal’s Islands of Adventure is the best theme park in Orlando.
We’ve been lucky enough to visit almost all of Universal theme parks during our travels except for Beijing, and whilst they feature some of the best attractions in the business, the setting of bland soundstages and Hollywood backdrops has left a lot to be desired.
Universal’s Islands of Adventure completely turns the standard Universal formula on its head, providing a refreshing experience that is almost unmatched in the entirety of the United States. But how does the park achieve this, and being so close to family holiday capital of the world Walt Disney World, it is suitable for everybody to visit?
Our Verdict
Thrill Rides
Universal’s Islands of Adventure is home to some of the best themed thrill rides in the world. Universal has earned its reputation as a more mature theme park experience than that on offer at Disney, and that is proudly on display in this theme park.
The scope of these thrills is respectable as well, with a wide range of attractions from launched shock towers to B&M roller coasters.
These thrills may not be as intense as those on offer at your local Six Flags or Cedar Fair park, but they still pack a punch, with ‘Hulk’ being one of the most intense roller coasters I’ve ever done within a fully fledged theme park.
Even with all of that in mind, Velocicoaster is easily the stand out within Islands of Adventure, and is the best themed roller coaster we’ve ever ridden. Not only is it thrilling, it’s also insanely fun, and the entire experience is rounded out with an immersive queue and hilarious story-telling that works perfectly for the Jurassic World brand. Jurassic Park River Ride is a classic Universal ride that we adore and is featured within this park, which is surprising considering it’s almost always presented in Universal Studios.
Around the corner from Velocicoaster is our runner up for the best themed roller coaster with ‘Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure’, a thrill experience that matches the variety and length of its obscenely long name. This attraction is more suited for families with lighter thrills compared to Velocicoaster, but it doesn’t hold back with twists and turns that kept me second guessing what would happen next for the entire ride.
If you’re the sort of person who enjoys getting wet, then you’ll have a blast at Islands of Adventure, because their water rides don’t hold back. But be warned, you won’t get wet, you’ll get soaked.
Family Rides
When your neighbour is the Walt Disney World resort, you really want to make sure that you’re doing family rides right. With a consistent well-rounded line up of dark rides, family thrills, and unique experiences that can be enjoyed by everybody from toddler to grandparent; Universal’s Islands of Adventure does not disappoint.
Instead of lands, the park features eight distinct ‘Islands’ which group together the many attractions, shops and restaurants on offer. You enter the park through Port of Entry, a fantastical main street style plaza that contains many of the parks primary shops, which leaves you ready to discover the ancient myths and legends in the Lost Continent, the many crazy creations of Dr Seuss in Seuss Landing, the wizarding world of Hogsmeade, the actualised attractions of Jurassic Park, the forests of Skull Island, the cartoons and comics inspired rides of Toon Lagoon, and Marvel Super Hero Island. Yep, you heard that right, Marvel in a Universal Park.
Within the Marvel section of the park is the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man dark ride, which we regard as one of the best dark rides in the world. It uses technology and effects in such a creative way mixed with a light-hearted story and over the top characters. The pacing is immaculate and it helps to tie it all together. It doesn’t have anything that really sets it apart from other dark rides such as a trackless ride system, it just simply does everything right in one amazing package.
Speaking of Marvel – their presence is not what you may expect. The deal that Universal has is for Marvel pre-2009, so you’re not going to find anything relating to the MCU. This leaves the land feeling a little cheesy compared to the otherwise serious Marvel universe, but I think that gives it a particular admirable charm.
Rounding out the family attractions within the park are the many rides on offer at Seuss Landing such as a classic Seuss inspired carousel and Dumbo like attraction called One fish, Two fish, plus there’s a Cat in the Hat dark ride that has to be the most bizarre and oddly terrifying theme park ride I’ve ever ridden. Elsewhere in the park you have Pteranodon Flyers, a flying fox rollercoaster type hybrid that lets you soar over the Jurassic portion of the park and Kong which is a slow moving dark ride with a low height requirement.
Many families will be blown away by the sheer impressive scale and presentation of the Harry Potter attractions alone. Walking into Hogsmeade and seeing the iconic Hogswarts castle is something that any wizarding world fan will remember, and it’s likely to spark some magic even in those who aren’t familiar with it… but really, who isn’t familiar with Harry Potter?
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is the flagship attraction for this land, and for good reason. The technology featured within this dark ride is relatively unmatched by anything else in the world, and this isn’t the only impressive dark ride attraction at Islands of Adventure. Though with an objectively high height requirement, this ride toes the line between family and thrill.
Experiences
No other theme park comes close to the sheer variety and quality of experiences on offer at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. Around every corner you’ll run into something new and exciting, turning exploration into a rewarding experience in itself.
Poseidon’s Fury has to be the best and most bizarre theme park experience in the world. The scale of this attraction is immense and the production value is next level with effects that I’ve not experienced anywhere else in the world. I won’t spoil anything because I highly recommend going into this attraction blind so that you can truly appreciate all the twists and turns that it provides.
Hogsmeade is an incredibly faithful recreation of the location featured within the Harry Potter movies, and allows you to truly immerse yourself in the wizarding world, but not just through its incredibly theming. Featured within this land is the Olivander’s Wand Shop, where you can participate in an experience where a lucky guest will be chosen to be matched with a wand. On top of this, you can purchase interactive wands to cast spells at various spots around the land to see how things react, but these wands are fairly expensive so keep that in mind before visiting.
Elsewhere in the park you’ll be treated to experiences such as Camp Jurassic, the Jurassic Park Discovery Centre, and the interactive Mystic Fountain which you can talk to… and possibly get blasted in the face by water. That’s not to mention the line tours on offer where if you’re unwilling to ride some of the headliner attractions, you can request a guided ‘tour’ of their lines to experience Velocicoaster and Hogwarts Castle at your own pace with some behind the scenes insight as well.
Islands of Adventure enters a coveted elite group of theme parks alongside DisneySea where we can happily say you’ll have an amazing day without needing to do a single ride with the sheer amount of experiences on offer.
Entertainment
Entertainment is interesting at Islands of Adventure. When visiting the park you’ll be treated to a variety of Wizarding World showcases in Hogsmeade with live action performances of the Frog Choir and Triwizard Spirit Rally, and seasonal nighttime projection shows on Hogwarts Castle.
Scattered around the park you’ll find other entertaining encounters such as “Oh! The Stories You’ll Hear!” at Suess Landing and we’re happy for Poseidon’s Fury to be covered across both entertainment and experiences, but we will admit that the amount of entertainment on offer at Islands of Adventure is fairly disappointing compared to the scope of the theme park and the time of the year that we visited.
The park has no theatre or stadium style shows even though they currently have two giant theatre’s going unused, new shows in these spaces would be perfect way to absorb the immense summer crowds, as well as take the edge of the heat, and what was on offer felt lacking compared to the quality of the rest of the park.
Operations
We visited on the 4th of July, smack bang in the middle of the busy summer period, and surprisingly the park was pretty bearable to be in. Now we will admit, Express Pass definitely helped with this, but if you’re only at the parks for a couple of days during a busy period like this and you’re international with little chance of coming back then purchases like Express Pass make sense.
Be prepared that lines can and will get very long, especially for headliner attractions such as Hagrids, but they move steadily and don’t feel nearly as long as they are. The staff are masters of keeping attractions moving, and are attentive and curtious whilst also having a no nonsense attitude towards problem guests.
Some attractions, such as Velocicoaster, require all items to be removed from your person but you are provided with a small complimentary locker. With this in mind, we recommend packing light, or leave your bags with somebody who isn’t riding. I had a small loungefly bag from Disneyland which fit perfectly when chock full, but anything larger will become a problem.
There were very few noticeable ride outages whilst we were there except for one bad experience we had waiting for Dudley Do Rights Ripsaw Falls. We were in line when the attraction went down, but unfortunately we weren’t told until after almost 40 minutes of waiting in a stagnant line when they announced the ride was having problems. It’s important that guests are kept in the loop regarding problems such as these so that they can make decisions on whether they stay in line, or move on to another attraction, especially when paid extras such as Express Pass are involved.
Despite this, the park did a great job at keeping things moving, and attractions such as Velocicoaster which don’t yet have Express Pass managed to keep their waits to around an hour or less most of the day. If you’re happy to wait, later in the day it got as low as 20 minutes. Also Poseidon’s Fury has weird times, so plan accordingly.
Theming
The Universal Orlando resort doesn’t mess around. This is a global vacation destination, and it has the services to match. Being a resort, you’ve got plenty of hotels nearby that provide quality benefits for staying with them. The Universal Resort is far more compact than Walt Disney World, so you do have the opportunity to walk between many of the hotels and parks, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t considerable distance for some of the hotels. We stayed at Universal’s Aventura Hotel which was a solid 20 minute walk to parks. I have no issue with this, but some may, especially those with mobility concerns, and thankfully a courtesy bus is still provided for those looking to cut down on walking.
As mentioned earlier, Express Pass is available at Universal. This is an exclusively paid extra, and is not a required purchase, but will definitely save you time when visiting. If you’ve got limited time, and are travelling in from overseas where you can’t come to the resort regularly, we think that the Express Pass is a valid purchase.
Universal does provide an app which can be used during your visit. It’s great for getting glimpses of information, but some of the wait times can be a bit off, so I would take the information provided with a grain of salt before trying to make a mad dash across the park to get to an attraction showing a low wait.
Small lockers are provided for attractions that don’t allow any items onboard, but larger lockers can be purchased all around the theme park.
You can also catch the Hogswarts Express to get between the two theme parks if you wish to park hop, but a park hopper ticket is required, and you will miss out on this experience if you do not have one.
Merchandise
It’s almost guaranteed that everybody will leave Islands of Adventure with a satisfying purchase. With a wide gamut of worlds from Marvel to Harry Potter to Jurassic Park, there is literally something for everybody.
As mentioned before, Wizarding World fans have the opportunity to purchase a wide variety of high quality wands to take home with them. This range includes iconic character wand designs, as well as twelve unique ‘month’ wands which you can match up to important dates and purchase similar to a birthstone. Most wands come in both an interactive and non-interactive version. Personally as somebody who rarely visits Universal, I am not a fan of the interactive wands. They’re a neat idea, and add to the immersion of the land, but they need to compromise a lot of the designs with a bulbous tip that has the interactive element on it. I much prefer the streamlined, thin wands which match the movie aesthetic and will look far better being displayed.
Taking a step back in time, the Jurassic brands are well represented with plenty of great wearables and display items. I ended up purchasing a wooden model of the front of the Velocicoaster train which you assemble yourself. I personally love these types of souvenirs because it gives me something to do when I get home to reflect on my trip and proudly display them in my home. Beyond Jurassic, you’ve also got Kong, pre-2009 Marvel, Popeye, Doctor Seuss, and more.
The weak link in Island’s merchandise is the lack of Islands of Adventure specific merchandise. There are very few options to represent your visit to the park which is disappointing because we love the iconic logo seen at the front of the park. In saying that, plenty of attractions themselves are well-presented in their merchandise line up.
Affordability
The Universal Orlando Resort can be a bit tricky to navigate financially. Similar to the Walt Disney World resort, the longer you stay, the more value you’ll get on a day-to-day basis. A ‘2-park, 1-day’ pass starts at $164 USD, whereas a ‘2-park, 5-day’ pass averages out to $67 per day.
This pricing strategy is designed to keep you on property and spending money within the resort, but the bonus of Universal is that it’s in the heart of downtown Orlando meaning you’re much closer to alternative food and entertainment options if you want to step off property.
Staying on property is our recommended way to maximise your time and value at the resort, and if you stay in one of the deluxe hotels, you are provided with free unlimited express for all room guests the duration of your stay. Considering that Unlimited Express Pass can sometimes cost hundreds of dollars per day per person, if its something that you’re already considering purchasing, you can essentially get a free room by just buying a deluxe stay.
We stayed in the Aventura Hotel which is a tower resort located near Volcano Bay, and we found that relatively good value, especially compared to stays at other resorts such as Walt Disney World. However I will point out that the resort promised that we could use a robot to get things delivered to our room and we never met the robot which was sad. Apparently it was broken but I’ll never forgive them for this betrayal.
Within the park, food and drinks were reasonably priced. We’ve mentioned before that being Australian, food and drink is already pretty expensive for us, so theme park prices are about what we expect to pay on a regular basis, but those travelling interstate might think otherwise. Also we recommend dining at Mythos located in the Lost Continent. The service was spectacular alongside its beautiful setting, and it provided easily the best theme park food and drink that we experienced in our entire trip.
The best thing I can say is that if you do your research and plan correctly, you can have a rather affordable stay at Universal Orlando, but you can easily fall into several financial traps which will significantly impact the value of your visit.
Atmosphere
Islands of Adventure is in Florida, and Florida gets HOT. We went smack bang in the middle of Summer and I’m glad that, being Australian, we’re relatively used to intense summer days because you could tell that some tourists were struggling.
Outside of acts of god, the park does a great job in keeping the atmosphere lively in a way that is respectful to the various properties being showcased across the theme park. You don’t need to worry about the park blasting pop music when you’re travelling through the Jurassic forests, or exploring the knocks and crannies of Hogsmeade. The atmosphere in these areas are fantastic, faithful, and immersive.
Keep in mind that this is a global theme park destination, which means it is going to get busy. We never had any issues with crowds, and everybody seemed relatively respectful of each other. The park itself is rather large and has a loop layout so its important to plan accordingly. Wear comfortable shoes, keep note of things you want to do, and don’t spend too much time walking.
Another tip is that you’re definitely going to get soaked on the water rides. We planned for this, and packed a spare set of clothes to change into after doing these attractions, or else we were going to have a very uncomfortable day.
Services
The Universal Orlando resort doesn’t mess around. This is a global vacation destination, and it has the services to match. Being a resort, you’ve got plenty of hotels nearby that provide quality benefits for staying with them. The Universal Resort is far more compact than Walt Disney World, so you do have the opportunity to walk between many of the hotels and parks, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t considerable distance for some of the hotels. We stayed at Universal’s Aventura Hotel which was a solid 20 minute walk to parks. I have no issue with this, but some may, especially those with mobility concerns, and thankfully a courtesy bus is still provided for those looking to cut down on walking.
As mentioned earlier, Express Pass is available at Universal. This is an exclusively paid extra, and is not a required purchase, but will definitely save you time when visiting. If you’ve got limited time, and are travelling in from overseas where you can’t come to the resort regularly, we think that the Express Pass is a valid purchase.
Universal does provide an app which can be used during your visit. It’s great for getting glimpses of information, but some of the wait times can be a bit off, so I would take the information provided with a grain of salt before trying to make a mad dash across the park to get to an attraction showing a low wait.
Small lockers are provided for attractions that don’t allow any items onboard, but larger lockers can be purchased all around the theme park.
You can also catch the Hogswarts Express to get between the two theme parks if you wish to park hop, but a park hopper ticket is required, and you will miss out on this experience if you do not have one.
Final Thoughts
There isn’t much more we can say about Universal’s Islands of Adventure. It is simply one of the best theme parks currently on offer in the entirety of the United States if not the world, and it’s especially impressive considering that this isn’t even the main park of the Universal Orlando Resort.
We highly recommend anybody visiting Orlando to give this park and its respective resort a go, because Universal is currently doing incredible things in the theme park space, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds for them.
