PARK TOUR | Universal's Islands of Adventure

Universal's Islands of Adventure

Welcome to Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park. This park was opened in 1999 and is the second of three parks in the Universal Studios Orlando area.

Up until our first trip here in 2019, my wife has never been here. I was here many, many years ago and didn't remember much at all. We decided, after debating going for a while and contemplating getting annual passes, we find a deal that we couldn't refuse. 3 days at either theme park (excluding Volcano Bay) for under $200 per person. We felt it was time to head over to the other part of town. We're not big Universal people. We did HHN last year and look forward to doing it again this year, and we did a restaurant or two on CityWalk. Other than that we've never had much interest in coming. So our first of three parks we decided to check out was Islands of Adventure.

So getting here we had to pay around $25 to park and they have a large garage for all three parks, vs a dedicated parking lot for each park like Disney has as well as SeaWorld. Honestly we felt this was a really easy and efficient setup that Universal has. After getting out of the parking lot and heading towards security, you end up at the beginning of CityWalk. Here you have tons of restaurants as well as Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios, which are both not too far away from each other.

Now we head to Islands of Adventure to enjoy our day and see what adventures we come across. The park is separate into several different areas. Below we are going to go into each section and give you a tour around. Also note that I'm going to go through and try to give you a brief explanation of each section. I do have a park map that will help me assist a bit in the description of places that we went to and just took pictures. Still want to give you some idea on what is there.

(The walkway from the security towards CityWalk, at the end you can go left towards Islands of Adventure or right towards Universal Studios.)

(Welcome to Universal's Islands of Adventure!)

PORT OF ENTRY

Port of Entry is the first section of the park, no matter how you enter. Here you find a lot of different shops as well as a few places to get food.





Photography
Not sure what exactly they do here.

Islands of Adventures Trading Company
Here you will find a bunch of merch.

(Need a magical wand?)

Fudge & Candy
We enjoyed checking out all of the yummy selections here. Did not get anything this time, but for sure next time!

Port of Entry Christmas Shoppe
What theme park wouldn't be complete without a Christmas store! This store had some really interesting selections.

Fruit Stand

You will find food venues all around the park, so don't worry about grabbing everything in one spot, but this is one of the many spots near the front.

Croissant Moon Bakery

Here you can grab a coffee, breakfast sandwiches and pastries.

Confisco Grille

I was reading the description and it says that this is a restaurant that basically serves "international cuisine". It is basically Epcot wrapped up in one restaurant. They have food options from all over the world. Might be something we can check out next time around.

Backwater Bar

Right off of Confisco's is the Backwater Bar.

Starbucks

What place in the world wouldn't be complete without a Starbucks!

Cinnabon

To this day, I have never had a Cinnabon. Am I the only one? Leave me a comment below!

Now at this point you have a choice to make, do you go left? Or do you go right? Well for me I've always gone left in any theme park, not sure why, but it is always what I've done. I go to the Magic Kingdom and I head towards Adventureland, if I'm at Epcot I head to Mexico. So your choices here are either Marvel Super Hero Island or Seuss Landing. We decided to head left and go towards Marvel.

MARVEL SUPER HERO ISLAND

I really wish Disney had one of these sections, but Universal does and it was awesome! You really feel like your walking down the street in a comic book. This was probably our favorite section of the park. We did not get to stay long enough since we started here first to see any of the characters that are around. They start about an hour or two after park opening. Another note here, if you're a Marvel fan then you have to check out the shops, they are probably the best we've ever seen anywhere. They offer a few items that are at Disney, since both companies kinda own the Marvel brand. You will find a lot of Avengers items here, such as the Infinity Gauntlet, not a small plastic replica, but a huge realistic version. Along with a 3-foot Baby Groot for $300 that almost, almost, almost came home with us. Not sure what the heck we're going to do with him, but who could say no to that cute adorable face. Then Groot's face as well!

The Incredible Hulk Coaster

Now really the only thing I remember about my first visit about 15 years ago was waiting in line with my step dad and getting onto the train and sitting down and not being able to close the harness, so I got off. Well fast forward all those years to and I decided to sit in the seats outside of the ride. Same issue. Not like I'm a big guy or anything, I'm of average height and not too big. They do have seats with extra belts to hold you in, but I had no plans at all to do this coaster. Therefore skipping it! It really isn't a bad looking coaster, it's mainly a lot of loops, nothing crazy. Just not a coaster person. I stick to ones without flips.

Storm Force Accelatron

This was basically Alien Swirling Saucers mixed with Tea Cups. My wife and I were in two separate cups going around and around. This was a fun way to start our day.

Candy
A place to grab a snack.

Interplanetary Popcorn
A spot for popcorn!

Doctor Doom's Fearfall

So as you can tell by the name of this ride, it was nothing that we were looking to do. Okay well I wasn't, my wife was however wanting to, but yea not for me! I'm not a fan of going up 185 feet and dropping straight to the ground, only to do it again. Probably something like Tower of Terror. Again another ride that I'm never going to do.

Shop
I'm going to call this the best shop in Orlando for anything Marvel related. This blew our minds at how amazing the selection was here. Also almost went home with a 3ft Baby Groot!

(Hi Groot!)

(Yes this is actual size, it is massive and awesome!)

The Amazing Adventure's of Spider-Man

Onto our next ride. This was a lot of fun. Zooming around the city in 3D with Spider-Man as he battles Doctor Oct. Really loved how they incorporated Stan Lee into the ride.

Cafe-4

This cafe is the location of the character dining. They offer pizza, pasta and salads.

Captain America Diner

Here you will find burgers, chicken sandwiches, grilled chicken salad, chicken fingers and shakes.

Auntie Anne's Pretzels

Here you will find candy corn. Just kidding, you will get....you guessed it, pretzels!

Ice Cream
A spot for ice cream, great on a hot Orlando day.

Lemon Slush
We saw several of these around the park. Might be a better and more refreshing option to the ice cream.





Carnival Games
Between Marvel Island and Toon Lagoon is a section where you can play some Carnival games.

TOON LAGOON

Next up we head to Toon Lagoon. This wasn't our favorite section, kinda all over the place with themeing. Some Popeye to Betty Bop.

Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls

This had such a cool-looking drop to it.

Comic Strip Cafe

Here you will find a little bit of American, Italian and Asian cuisine.

Shop
One of the shops in the Toon Lagoon area.

Blonde's

Home of the Dagwood, specialty sandwiches, hot dogs, chili dogs and Chicago dogs.

Dippin Dots

I have not had these since a kid. Should get one again soon.

Popcorn
Another popcorn stand.

Gasoline Alley
A small shop.

Ale and Chief
Another food place.

 

Frostbite Freezes
Tons of places to eat.

SKULL ISLAND: REIGN OF KONG

On the park map this shows as it's own section. Well it really doesn't fit with Toon Lagoon or our next stop. Well maybe more of our next stop, but still not an exact fit. Let's check it out.

Skull Island: Reign of Kong

This is a 1930s expedition that takes you face-to-face with King Kong. You enter in a big ride vehicle, kinda like the ride vehicle you have on the safari ride at Animal Kingdom. This ride isn't intense in the form of movement. You get 3D glasses for part of our adventure as Kong fights a couple of T-Rex dinosaurs, saving you from a disaster. Well overall the ride was okay, I honestly thought it was going to be more intense. It went quick and ended with a large life-size Kong. You may remember back in the day over at Universal Studios they had a King Kong ride, and I can still smell that smell from when you walked into the ride and seeing the graffiti on the walls as you head up to the Roosevelt Tram. That ride was amazing and so intense, Skull Island was not anything near as intense. When you watch the movie it is one of the most intense movies I've seen, it's amazing. The ride for me was a letdown.

JURASSIC PARK

Welcome to Jurassic Park! This has always been one of my favorite movies growing up and this section I really looked forward to checking out. Let's check it out, shall we!

Camp Jurassic

Here is a section for kids to explore, climb and discover in a prehistoric playground.

Pteranodon Flyers

This looked like an awesome ride, but the only catch is that you have to bring a child with you to ride. So we couldn't borrow a kid.

Jurassic Park River Adventure

This unfortunately was closed for refurbishment. It was my exception to me not wanting to do a water ride or anything with a big drop. Maybe next time, this is really a ride I wanted to checkout. We were unable to get any images of this section.

Thunder Falls Terrace

Here you will find rotisserie chicken, chargrilled ribs and salad.

Raptor Encounter

How many people can say they met a Raptor before? Not many, huh! Well here you get a chance to meet Blue and she is a feisty girl! It was a lot of fun!

Jurassic Outfitters
One of the stores available in this area. Pretty cool items here.

Bone Chillin Beverages
Another spot for some food options.

Natural Selections
Is a pretzel natural?!?

Vacation Information

Here you can get some information for your vacation.

Jurassic Park Hot Dogs
Here you can get some hot dogs and beer.

Pizza Predattoria
Hot dogs not your thing? How about a slice of pizza.

Photo Op
I loved this photo op, it was amazing and one of my favorites.

Jurassic Park Discovery Center

Here you can get hands-on with the mysteries of the past.

The Burger Digs

Here you will find burgers, grilled chicken sandwiches, vegan burgers, chicken fingers and shakes.

The Watering Hole

Here you will find nachos and a full service bar.

THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER - HOGSMEADE

We already checked out the Harry Potter section of Universal Studios and today we got to check out the other section. Now have to say that the Butterbeer on the other side is so much better than here. Not sure why but it just was. One thing we noticed here that you can buy a wand and do magic all around at the different locations around the section. The themeing here was really cool. We saw Harry Potter, well I watched here and there, but my wife watched all the movies and enjoyed them and had a little understanding to the different parts.

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

Here you can enter Hogwarts Castle and join Harry and his friends on a breathtaking adventure. We decided to skip out on this ride. My wife doesn't care for the harness for the ride and the way the ride rotates you around. I was 50/50 on doing it, maybe next time. Kinda like the harness from Mission Space mixed with Soarin and Flight of Passage.

Flight of the Hippogriff

This looked like a calm coaster, again next time we should check it out. It did say "family-friendly" so it can't be that crazy of a ride.

Frog Choir / Triwizard Spirit Rally

Between the two rides they have a show throughout the day.

Butterbeer Stand

We did not love the Butterbeer, thought the one from the other park was so much better. They also serve frozen options as well.

Drink Stand

One of the many drink stands around.

Owl Post

See a wand choose a wizard and purchase an Interactive Wand in this shop.

Hogwarts Express - Hogmeade Station

Here you can head over to Universal Studios, ONLY if you have a park-to-park pass for that day or an annual pass. You can also come here to get a great photo op with the train, pretty awesome!

Three Broomsticks

We decided to eat lunch here (we will add this to another page as well, make sure to check it out.). Overall the design inside was very interesting and fun. They also have live samples of the food offered, if you wanted to check it out. We ordered the chicken and rib combo. Really good, would get it again!

Honeydukes

Another sweet spot around the park.

THE LOST CONTINENT

Next up is The Lost Continent, another land that was kinda cool but we really didn't do much in.

The Mystic Fountain

This magical fountain loves to joke and spray visitors. Kinda like the Chucky scarezone at HHN.

Poseidon's Fury

This is a guided tour around Poseidon's ancient temple. We decided to skip out on this for our trip today since we were getting a bit tired and we're looking to head out.

Treasures of Poseidon

One of the shops, lots of cool stuff.

Doc Sugrue's Kebab House

Here you will find beef, chicken & vegetarian kebabs and Greek Salads.

Fire Eater's Grill

Here you will finds gyros, falafel, chicken fingers, hot dogs and salads.

Mythos Restaurant

This is a full service dining venue that offers a contemporary cuisine.

SEUSS LANDING

This is the last section on our tour. We were never one's to ever read a Dr Seuss book. So we really have no idea what any of this is. We've seen parts here and there before. Carnival Cruise does have a partnership with them and they have different things on their sailings, such as character meets and character meals. So let's check out this final section. Or first if you started this way first!

The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride

This was our longest wait during the day at 30 minutes. Well that wait ended with us doing a 5 minute ride around Seuss Landing and listening to the alphabet. Well that was fun!

Honk Honkers

Here you will find the insanely large cotton candy.

Snookers & Snookers Sweet Candy Cookers

The donuts are huge and the sweets are amazing treats.

Mulberry Street Store: Gizmos, Gadgets, Goodies Calore

Another shop here in Seuss Landing.

Caro-Suess-el

This was really unusual and a lot of fun and a bit scary. The carousel was going really fast, which you didn't feel once on. Getting on and off was a bit of a hassle, but we got on and off okay.

Cats, Hats and Things

One of the gift shops.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Here is another section for the kids.

The Cat in the Hat

Whirl through the pages of the famous children's book.

Moose Juice, Goose Juice

Juice and frozen juice.

Food Stands

Here are a few more options for snacks around Seuss Landing.

Now we come back to Port of Entry. So make sure to check out some of the amazing stores on the way out.

We really hope you had a great time on our tour around Universal's Islands of Adventure. Overall we had a fun time here, and one day will be here again. One thing we did notice is that we really are Disney people over Universal. Don't get us wrong, Universal is fun, but something about Disney is just a lot more fun. The rides are so much better and the offerings are so much more than Universal. However we have another park to review on the other side as well as a water park one of these days. Feel free to join us for a quick snack over at Toothsomes, check out that page. Thank's for stopping by!