Happy 25th Anniversary, Universal Islands of Adventure
As Universal Orlando prepares for an Epic future, it's worth celebrating their second park hitting a major milestone.
25 years ago today, on May 28, 1999, the theme park Universal Islands of Adventure opened, in the process officially turning what had previously just been the location for Universal Studios Florida into the larger two-park Universal Orlando Resort. Marking the first time Universal had more than one park at any location – something that, to this day, still keeps Orlando unique for the company – Islands of Adventure wouldn’t just expand Universal’s footprint but also the kind of rides and themed lands that exist within.
In the years since, Universal added a water park, Volcano Bay, to Orlando and these days, excitement grows for the 2025 opening of Universal Orlando'’s Epic Universe theme park. But as a big fan of Islands of Adventure, I felt it was worth acknowledging both the park reaching this milestone and some of the things that help it stand out and have given it a rather important place in theme park history in the process.
Beyond the Studio Framing
As I wrote about recently, I grew up with Universal Studios Hollywood ten minutes away from my house and went there with my family all the time growing up. I love Universal Hollywood and its special blend of theme park with an actual, historical, working studio, but you can’t easily replicate that. So while Universal Studios Florida did evoke its predecessor, with areas themed around different locations like New York, San Francisco and Hollywood – as though we were on a studio backlot with those different sections/facades – it was all with the implicit knowledge that this was all built as a theme park first and foremost, especially as the early attempts to also produce films and series at Universal Florida mostly fell by the wayside and all the soundstages became permanent homes for Halloween Horror Nights mazes.
My dad first brought me to Universal Studios Florida in 1990, right after it opened. I liked it well enough — the replica of the Psycho house, built for Psycho IV, sure was cool! — but there were a ton of rides that weren’t working properly yet and I was a bit underwhelmed. Flash forward to 2005, when I made my return to Universal Florida, and things were much improved, with those early kinks long since worked out and, even more exciting, an entirely new (to me) second park to see.
This time, I was suitably impressed, and it stood out that Islands of Adventure was the first time Universal built a park purely based around the imaginary worlds that films and TV series are about, rather than frame it around the production of those films. It was risky, because it was much more venturing into terrain Disney had perfected – though, to be fair, Disney had already done their own take on Universal Studios with Disney/MGM (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) – but it turned out Universal were more than capable of rising to the challenge, using the likes of Marvel, Jurassic Park and Dr. Seuss as anchors for the various areas you venture through.
Yes, sure, there was also a Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios Hollywood (since transformed into Jurassic World), but with the additional space afforded, Islands of Adventure could build so much more around their version of that ride. This included appreciated touches like the Jurassic Park Discovery Center, where you can watch velociraptors hatch a la what you saw in the 1993 original film, and a Camp Jurassic play area.
Islands of Adventure also has those intangible theme park good vibes to it, beginning with the looming tower and accompanying, fantastical music that greet you at the entrance. It’s one of my favorite parks to leisurely stroll through, enjoying each distinct land with its different visuals and sounds - including the moment where you walk from one area playing iconic John Williams music (Jurassic Park) directly into another area playing John Williams music. That second area being…
The Game Changer
No theme park addition in the past 20 years has been more impactful than The Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s debut in 2010 and Islands of Adventure is where it got its start. Sure, making a Harry Potter theme park land in the early 2000s, as Pottermania reigned supreme — and its creator’s hateful beliefs were blissfully not being tweeted out every day — was a no brainer, but approaching it in the incredibly detailed manner they did, going for a level of recreation and immersion* that really hadn’t been done at this advanced scale before, was a true game changer. It wasn’t enough to have some Harry Potter rides and shops. The entire area, inside and out, is a recreation of familiar locations, vehicles, and props from the films, starting with its main Hogsmeade stretch. Nothing was overlooked, as seemingly every corner felt themed accordingly, down to the bathrooms, where Moaning Myrtle can be heard speaking to you.
I recall seeing the Wizarding World for the first time in the summer of 2010 and being blown away, because I’d never experienced this sort of “you’re walking into a familiar story” feeling to this advanced degree. Crowds packed the Wizarding World and it was very quickly clear that this set the new standard for making an IP-based theme park land, with Disney’s Cars Land, Pandora: The World of Avatar, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge all feeling influenced by the approach in the years since, while Universal themselves would both replicate the original Wizarding World at other parks and also expand the Orlando version with the Diagon Alley section over at Universal Studios Florida. More recently, the Wizarding World influence could be felt at Super Nintendo World at Universal’s Japan and Hollywood parks, while it feels safe to assume it was in mind as they planned all of the lands coming to Epic Universe.
On top of that, the centerpiece, Hogwarts castle-housed Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride at Wizarding World remains a wonderful ride – I prefer it to the Diagon Alley’s Gringotts ride – and the addition of Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure to the Islands of Adventure Wizarding World in 2019 gave the land one of the best attractions across the resort.
*Did Jenny Nicholson’s recent epic four-hour video about Galactic Starcruiser make me try and think of some other word to use here other than immersion, given she pointed out how much that term has become a talking point now for theme parks? It did. But dang it, it’s the right word to use, especially since the whole “super immersion” idea really began here.
Make Mine Retro Marvel!
The legalities around the old contracts that allow Islands of Adventures to still have its Marvel Super Hero Island section, long after their competitor, Disney, bought Marvel and how it does and doesn’t affect what can be done across town with Marvel characters at Walt Disney World remain complex. TL;DR: Disney can’t use any Marvel name/branding in their park, nor any characters under the distinct groupings Universal was contracted for in the 1990s, which include Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic Four or Avengers, which is why Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Epcot has nary a Marvel logo on it (and is is able to exist in the first place). But in the meantime, the continued existence of the first ever Marvel Comics-based theme park land, Marvel Super Hero Island, remains both a fascinating time capsule and its own still-entertaining experience.
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man is a really fun ride - a well done combination of moving vehicle and 3D animation screens that puts you into a classic Spidey adventure with a bunch of visually dynamic villains (Hydro-Man!), while The Incredible Hulk Coaster is a great coaster experience. True, Doctor Doom's Fearfall and Storm Force Accelatron (that one I tend to skip) are pretty basic reskinned amusement park rides, but overall, there’s plenty of fun to be had in this corner of the park. And hey, those Doom mask doors on Fearfall are awesome! I want those in my house.
And of course, it’s all surrounded by all that glorious oh-so 90s Marvel art, with the characters forever depicted as they were in that era. Rumor has it Universal doesn’t have a lot of room to change things up in this regard, though it’s amusingly benefited them of late, as many of the versions seen in this area are now very much back in the public’s mind thanks to the debut of X-Men ‘97.
So yeah, Marvel Super Hero Island means Disney can’t do a full Avengers Campus in Florida, but that’s okay, as it forces Disney to be creative, while Super Hero Island continues to endure, allowing you to see the likes of Spider-Man and Wolverine for photo opps before you grab a burger at the Captain America Diner. And honestly, Universal has the better Spider-Man ride compared to the one in Avengers Campus.
What’s Next?
Impressively, Islands of Adventure debuted two truly stand out new rides in the past five years – Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure (though that name is still a bit much) and the Jurassic World-based VelociCoaster (there you go, that name is nice and simple!) - which both instantly became musts when visiting Universal Orlando. Universal clearly heard the pushback to so many attractions being so screen heavy in recent years and pivoted in a commendable manner, with both the pure, high speed thrills of VeloCoaster and the hybrid approach of Hagrid’s, which blends coaster elements with an appreciated peppering of animatronics along the way.
It remains to be seen what will be added to Islands of Adventure in the future, with the presumption being that it will be a while before much changes in a major way there, given the focus on Epic Universe’s debut. But at some point, I do hope to see Islands get some big new additions and changes. While Seuss Landing continues to make for a fine kiddie land setting and I understand that the small pocket remaining of the fantasy-based The Lost Continent section (much of which was absorbed into the geography of the neighboring Wizarding World) is probably going to remain its own thing for the foreseeable future, it sure would be nice to see the area known as Toon Lagoon get an overhaul.
Though there’s still some resonance to the Popeye characters included, much of the imagery featured in this section, based primarily off of comic strips from King Features Syndicate, is very outdated, with the likes of Cathy, Blondie, and Hagar having no meaning to kids – or, let’s face it, many adults – who might otherwise be excited by the bright and colorful area. What Toon Lagoon does have going for it are two strong water-based attractions, Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls and Popeye & Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges, guaranteed to get you very wet in an environment where that is appreciated. But it feels like the whole area should be either updated in terms of what characters it's focused on – if it’s still to be called Toon Lagoon – or simply get a totally different framing that can still incorporate the lagoon/water-based setting. We’ll see if that ever comes to be or stays as is, because, to be fair, even if you don’t know who Dudley Do-Right is, that ride drenching you in water when it’s blazing hot in the middle of the summer in Orlando feels great.
In the meantime, as Universal Orlando prepares for Epic Universe, Islands of Adventure can be seen as an example of an expansion done right. For a quarter of a century, it’s added an appealing and commendably different atmosphere and set of thrills to a visit to Universal, while also coming through with some especially great additions as the years have gone on. Here’s to the next 25, IOL.