Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, Florida 🇺🇸

High thrills, movie sets and Marvel – that’s what you can expect at these famous theme parks!

Straight off the sidewalk and onto a film set, Universal Studios is the place for film buffs! Its sister park – Islands of Adventure – by contrast, is a playground for comic book and coaster fanatics.

Universal Studios

Whilst Universal might be the more tame of the two parks, it more than makes up for the high speed thrills with it’s brilliant 3D and 4D motion rides, behind the scenes shows and character interactions.

There’s an much nicer pace about Universal Studios, allowing you to soak up the visuals at each turn. It’s not unusual to find yourself walking behind a giant transformer or being an unwilling participant of a minions show, whilst wandering through the star-lined street of Beverly Hills, the theatre district of New York or through Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco.

Universal Studios is also home to ‘Springfield’ where you will find Bart, Homer, Marge, Lisa and Maggie amongst all of your favourite Simpson’s characters. Here you can stop by Kwik-E-Mart to pick up some Duff Beer (ok, orange soda) or grab a Krusty Burger and fries for lunch.

The star attraction of Springfield – the Simpson’s Ride – is one of the very best 3D motion rides there is! This ride may be an oldie (it’s been around for over ten years) – but trust me, it’s a goody! You will find yourself riding a rather dodgy simulated rollercoaster and venturing on fairground attractions whilst escaping the evil clutches of Sideshow Bob. In true Universal style, expect a few special effects along the way. Even the queuing is entertaining, with short video reels playing throughout. The ‘safety message’ from Itchy and Scratchy is particularly amusing.

If you’re a fan of motion rides, there are many more to be found, including ‘Transformers’, ‘Fast and Furious Supercharged’ and Universal’s most recent addition – ‘Race Through New York starring Jimmy Fallon’. Don’t forget to pick up your 3D glasses for each of these.

If a good old alien ‘shoot em up’ is something that interests you, Universal has the longstanding ‘Men in Black’ ride. Even older than this, is the ‘ET’ ride – perfect for a little bit of 80’s nostalgia (and great for those of us old enough to remember it).

If you’re at Universal with little kids, there’s the Curious George and Woody the Woodpecker rides at Fievals Adventure Land. If this doesn’t keep them entertained, the ‘Animal Actors’ show likely will.

Without question, the busiest part of the park is the Harry Potter area. Here you will find the ‘Escape From The Gringotts’ ride and ‘Diagon Alley’, as well as a brilliant replica of all things Potter related, including a mock up blue ‘Knight Bus’, red telephone box and Leicester Square tube station – all popular ‘selfie’ props!

If you get hungry, you can grab something to eat at the Leaky Cauldron – or visit the Fountain of Fair Fortune for some Wizards Brew or Pumpkin Juice! You can also buy your own wizards wand in Wiseacres Wizard Equipment, alongside other branded merchandise. Be prepared to see a lot of children (and adults) dressed in Hogwarts school attire, waving their wands and generally looking in awe as you navigate around the park!

*One way ticket: Kings Cross to Hogsmeade*

This is also in this part of the park that you’ll find the ‘Hogwarts Express’ – a replica train that takes you from ‘Platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross’, across to Hogsmeade over at Islands of Adventure. Only those with park-to-park/ multi-park tickets can make this journey – so be expected to show your proof. The journey is reversible too, should you wish to travel to Universal from Islands of Adventure.

Now I did say that Universal wasn’t renowned for its rollercoasters, but there are a couple of exceptions – ‘Rip Ride Rockit’ and ‘Revenge of the Mummy’. Both are really good fun and full of surprises….so I won’t give anything away!

These type of thrill rides do mean that you have to put your belongings in a locker. Not so long ago, this meant having to keep a raft of spare dollars, or forgoing a bag. In 2022 however, you can now have free locker use whilst you ride – or else pay a small fee and store your stuff for the day. A definite improvement.

Check out my video of Universal Studios!

Islands of Adventure

Or IOA (for short) is the younger, brighter, fun-loving, baby brother of Universal Studios – has upside down, inside out rollercoasters and Marvel by the bucket load.

This side of the fence does rollercoasters, 3D rides, 4D rides, water rides and fairground rides with abundance! First stop as you enter the park is ‘Doctor Doom’, a 185 foot sling shot and ‘Spider-Man’, a 3D motion ride. Both usually have shorter queues than most, possibly as people make a dart to the newer rides first.

If you want to be thrown and twisted in the air until you feel the need to be sick, ‘Velocicoaster’ is one of the newer rides at IOA and what a great one it is! It feels faster than any other, with the thrill level extended due to only being strapped in waist-down as opposed the traditional support around the top half!

Although a relatively old ride now, ‘Hulk’ will also guarantee twists, turns and loop the loops. Don’t overlook the ‘Jurassic Park’ ride – this may look tame from the outside but don’t be fooled – the drop is huge – and the timing, unexpected! Perhaps take a poncho for this one!

*Velocicoaster, with Hulk in the background*

There’s no denying that IOA has some top coasters, but a number of visitors choose IOA for one thing only: The original ‘Wizarding World of Harry Potter’, built prior to its Universal counterpart.

Here you can walk through the very realistic Hogsmeade Village, grab yourself a (super sweet) butter beer, and ride on a motion stimulated broomstick playing quidditch. As mentioned earlier, if you’re a two park ticket holder, you can hop aboard the Hogwarts Express and pop over to Universal too.

*Cheers! If only every watering hole sold butter beer!*

Prices

There are a number of ticket options to choose from – day tickets bought at the park gate, single park passes or 7, 14 or 21 day park hoppers that grant entry to Universal Studios, IOA and City Walk (some also give you entry to the ‘Volcano Bay’ water park too). We bought the 14 day hopper via an online agent in the UK which, in 2022, cost us £289 per person. You can expect prices to fall and rise depending upon high and low seasons.

2022 prices for general car parking currently stands at $27 per vehicle.

Queuing

Ah, that old favourite. There’s no denying that a long queue on a scorching hot day is far from ideal. Especially when you’re on holiday!

IOA is probably the busier of the two parks, especially with families and Harry Potter devotees – and as such, gets pretty busy. Therefore, you may want to fork out for a fast pass (prices vary according to busy and quiet periods). Alternatively, you can download the Universal app, which will give you an idea of wait times across both parks, which is pretty accurate and effective.

Be prepared for rides to break and delays to be had too. When we recently queued for ‘Velocicoaster’ (second visit), we were held in the queue for almost an hour before they shut the ride. Fun, it was not.

If you’re travelling with small people….

You might be wondering – like I did – what the heck the whole ‘child swap’ thing is!

Well this is actually a really clever idea when the child is either too young or too small to ride. One parent waits with the child and once the other has ridden, the parent who waited then gets their chance! Not as bizarre as it might first appear!

City Walk

There’s so much to see and do of an evening at a Universal – ‘City Walk’ is the place to go for nightlife and restaurants and is located in between both parks and before you exit for the car park/ shuttles/ taxis.

Here you will find the likes of the Bob Marley ‘A Tribute To Freedom’ restaurant and bar, Margaritaville and Pat O’Briens – where you can sample one of their famous ‘hurricane’ cocktails. Bubba Gumps is also a great choice for dinner if you like shrimp, shrimp and more shrimp! Yep, they will “barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it, pan fry it, deep fry it and stir fry it!”

Just a short walk across the water is the famous Hard Rock Cafe – and a new edition – the ‘Toothsome Chocolate Emporium’ – guess what they do there? Just by way of warning, even though you have access to City Walk, it does not guarantee that all venues will be open. On our first visit this year, we were disappointed to find that many of the most popular bars were closed off to a private function. So, whilst hopefully rare, it can happen – and apparently this detail is ‘conveniently’ missed off the Universal website.

Universal Studios is also known the world over for its Halloween Horror Nights (not for the faint hearted) – so if you’re in Orlando in October, maybe check it out? Tickets usually work out somewhere around the equivalent of £100, which also gets you on the rides after dark.

If your budget stretches even further, then why not treat yourself to an overnight stay in one of the on site hotels? There’s the Hard Rock Hotel, Cabana Bay Beach Resort and the Loews Pacific Resort and the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel. None of which are cheap (see the on accommodation section in my Real Florida Guide for more about this).