Universal's Islands of Adventure

History

The site selected for Islands of Adventure was initially allocated for a future shopping mall to be named Galleria Orlando, which was part of a larger complex that included condominiums and office buildings. Planning had begun in 1985, but the project was eventually cancelled in 1990. Universal Studios Florida opened the same year on an adjacent site.

During construction of Islands of Adventure, Universal opened a preview center showcasing a sneak peak of upcoming themes and attractions. It was housed in the Paradise Theater building located in the New York section of Universal Studios Florida, next to the Kongfrontation attraction. In the attraction, guests walked through various rooms themed to the different "Islands" in the upcoming park. The final room revealed the opening date and future plans for the Universal Orlando Resort.

Opening

Islands of Adventure held a soft opening preview beginning March 27, 1999, in which visitors could enter the park at a discounted price while the park conducted a technical rehearsal and made final adjustments. Attractions could open and close throughout the day without notice or not open at all. The park's grand opening was initially scheduled for mid-May, but it was later delayed, opening officially to the public on May 28, 1999.

Universal sought to better compete and eventually surpass Walt Disney World in attendance with its massive investment on Islands of Adventure, CityWalk, and the resort hotels. However, attendance in the first few years after the expansion did not rise to expected levels. The new resort in 1999 was named Universal Studios Escape, which initially confused guests. Marketing also misled many to believe Islands of Adventure was an expansion or collection of rides inside Universal Studios Florida. The marketing campaign was completely revamped in 2001 to clarify that the new park was a standalone theme park, and the resort was renamed Universal Orlando Resort.

Former attractions

A number of attractions at Islands of Adventure have been removed over the years, such as Island Skipper Tours, a short-lived boat ride that took guests across the park's central lagoon. Dueling Dragons, a roller coaster featuring two intertwined inverted tracks, was renamed Dragon Challenge in 2010 and closed permanently in 2017. One of the more recently retired attractions, Poseidon's Fury: Escape from the Lost City, closed in 2023 after undergoing several revisions during its run. The walk-through attraction, which featured special effects like lasers and flames, had its storyline revamped. It was also significantly reduced in size when a large portion of its footprint was reallocated to the Wizarding World expansion in 2010.

Islands

Islands of Adventure consists of eight themed "islands". They are, in clockwise order from entry: Port of Entry, Marvel Super Hero Island, Toon Lagoon, Skull Island, Jurassic Park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, The Lost Continent, and Seuss Landing.

Port of Entry

Port of Entry serves as the park's main entrance and includes various shops and services, including a Guest Services location named The Open Arms Hotel. The park's centerpiece, Pharos Lighthouse, is also located within the Port of Entry. Each night, this functioning lighthouse sends out a bright beam to lead visitors to and from the park's gates. It has dining options including Croissant Moon Bakery, Backwater Bar, The Grinch & Friends Character Breakfast, Confisco Grille, Starbucks, and Cinnabon. It has shopping options such as Port Provisions, Island Market and Export Candy Shoppe, DeFoto's Expedition Photography, Port of Entry Christmas Shoppe, Ocean Trader Market, and Islands of Adventure Trading Company.

Marvel Super Hero Island

Marvel Super Hero Island is based on the superhero characters featured in Marvel Comics. The area features comic-book styled architecture; many of the building interiors are created in comic book perspective, with exaggerated lines and angles. Many exteriors are painted in a special paint which appears to change color based on the angle from which it is viewed – sometimes purple, sometimes orange. The buildings are all labelled generically: "Store", "Shop", "Food", and "Comics", etc.

The area is also home to a variety of dining outlets and merchandise shops. Food and beverage items can be purchased from Cafe 4 and Captain America Diner. Merchandise items can be bought from a variety of themed stores, including Spider-Man Shop (The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man), Marvel Alterniverse Store, Comic Book Shop, and Oakley.

There is also "Meet Spider-Man and the Marvel Super Heroes", a meet-and-greet attraction, where guests can meet superheroes including Wolverine, Storm, Cyclops, Rogue, Spider-Man, and Captain America.

In late 2009, The Walt Disney Company (Universal's biggest competitor in the theme park market) announced that it would acquire Marvel Entertainment. Universal announced that Marvel's new ownership would not affect Marvel Super Hero Island as their contract for exclusive rights to the characters had been signed in 1994, and Disney CEO Bob Iger stated that Disney would continue to honor any contracts that Marvel currently has with Disney competitors. Despite this, in March 2012, Iger revealed that Disney had begun preliminary concepts of incorporating Marvel's properties into their parks, although no major negotiations with Universal were announced. Under the terms of Universal's deal, as long as Marvel Super Hero Island remains open and the attractions are maintained "in a first-class manner," and Universal complies with the financial terms of the deal, then Universal will continue to own the exclusive rights to Marvel characters in theme parks east of the Mississippi River. However, Universal rights would be limited to only to the characters and families of characters that the park actively uses, specifically Spider-Man, the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men.

Walt Disney World Resort is the Disney theme park resort most impacted by Universal's contract. Walt Disney World is barred from having unrestricted access to the Marvel characters in its parks, due to contractual obligations to Universal, and cannot use any of the characters listed above in the region east of the Mississippi River. Universal also has the exclusive theme park marketing rights to the Marvel name throughout the United States. Walt Disney World is able to have meet and greets, merchandise, attractions, and more with Marvel characters not associated with the characters at Islands of Adventure, such as the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Toon Lagoon

Toon Lagoon is based on the cartoon and comic strip characters from King Features Syndicate and Jay Ward, with the area's main focus being water-based rides (hence the name).

The area is also home to a variety of dining outlets and merchandise shops. Food and beverage items can be purchased from Blondie's, Cathy's Ice Cream, Comic Strip Cafe, and Wimpy's. Merchandise items can be bought from a variety of themed stores including the Gasoline Alley, Toon Extra and Wossamotta U.

Skull Island

Skull Island is the newest island at the park, having been opened in the summer of 2016. The area's sole attraction, Skull Island: Reign of Kong, opened on July 13, 2016. The attraction and island mark the return of the King Kong character to the Universal Orlando Resort, after the Kongfrontation attraction closed at Universal Studios Florida in 2002 to make way for the Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride.

Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is themed to the film series of the same name. Set after the events of the first film, the area undertakes the guise of John Hammond's dinosaur theme park featured in the series. As such, the area is filled with the attractions and exhibits one would find in the "real" Jurassic Park, including thrill rides and discovery-based exhibits.

While the land is generally themed to Jurassic Park, there are two attractions themed to the newer Jurassic World franchise. In 2015, the Raptor Encounter character meet-and-greet was added, offering guests an opportunity to meet with Blue, a velociraptor from Jurassic World. In 2021, Universal added VelociCoaster, a roller coaster themed to racing through a raptor paddock. VelociCoaster is the fastest coaster across all of Universal's parks.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade is themed around the Harry Potter universe, authored by J. K. Rowling. It officially opened to the public on June 18, 2010. On May 31, 2007, Universal announced that it had secured the licensing rights from Warner Bros. and Rowling to incorporate the Harry Potter franchise to Islands of Adventure. The 20-acre (81,000 m2) island features attractions, shops, and restaurants set inside such locations as the Forbidden Forest, Hogsmeade Village, and the iconic Hogwarts Castle. Ground breaking began in 2007, with the official opening scheduled for June 18, 2010, as announced on March 25, 2010. As part of the promotion for the then-upcoming area, a behind-the-scenes documentary on production of the park section is included on the Blu-ray and DVD release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

There are five main attractions in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter:

There is also a singing Frog Choir and a Triwizard Spirit Rally held in the town center. These events feature Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang students.

An expansion of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, based on the Diagon Alley and London settings from the series, opened on July 8, 2014, at the adjacent Universal Studios Florida park in the former site of the park's Jaws attraction. The Hogwarts Express attraction connects the two areas of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in each park. A third expansion of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, based on the Fantastic Beasts franchise and the Ministry of Magic, opened at Universal's Epic Universe in 2025. The newest expansion has no direct park-to-park connection to the existing areas of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

The Lost Continent

The Lost Continent is themed to ancient myths and legends, and is divided into two sub-sections; an ancient Arabian marketplace called Sindbad's Bazaar, and a Grecian-Atlantis-esque Lost City. Formerly, the Lost Continent included a medieval section Merlinwood, but the majority of that area was re-themed for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. This land is also home to Mythos, which is one of two full-service restaurants in the park and was voted winner of best theme park restaurant by Theme Park Insider for six successive years between 2003 and 2008.

In late April 2026, Universal announced the Lost Continent will be demolished for a new themed area. Its final attraction, the Mystic Fountain, had its last day of operation on May 15, 2026. The following day, it was surrounded by work walls. The demolition will start in phases beginning with Phase 1 with removal of the former Sindbad theater and the former Poseidon's Fury building. Phase 2 will involve removing Mythos and other thematic elements near the land's entrance at Seuss Landing. Universal hasn't announced its replacement plans for the space.

Seuss Landing

Seuss Landing is based on the works of author Dr. Seuss. The island features several Seuss-themed attractions, especially geared towards small children, as well as a Green Eggs and Ham Cafe and Circus McGurkus restaurant. As in the books, one of the unique characteristics of this area is that there are almost no straight lines anywhere. Palm trees bent by the winds of Hurricane Andrew were even planted in the area to continue this theme.

The area is also home to a variety of dining outlets and merchandise shops. Food and beverage items can be purchased from Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoo-pendous (The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!), Green Eggs and Ham Cafe (opened seasonally), Hop on Pop Ice Cream Shop, and Moose Juice, Goose Juice. Merchandise items can be bought from a variety of themed stores including Cats, Hats & Things (The Cat in the Hat), Snookers & Snookers Sweet Candy Cookers (The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!), All the Books You Can Read, and Mulberry Street Stores Trading Co.

A live action show entitled "Grinchmas Wholiday Spectacular", which retells the story of How the Grinch Stole Christmas is available seasonally.

Licensed properties

Like Universal Studios Florida next door, Islands of Adventure expands beyond Universal's intellectual property, licensing themes and characters from other studios such as Warner Bros. and Marvel Entertainment.

Dr. Seuss properties (Dr. Seuss Enterprises)

The Wizarding World/Harry Potter book and film franchise (J. K. Rowling and Warner Bros.)

Popeye (King Features Syndicate and E. C. Segar)

Pre-2009 Marvel Comics (Marvel Entertainment, now owned by The Walt Disney Company)

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (Jay Ward Productions)

Character appearances

Like the neighboring Universal Studios Florida, Islands of Adventure has a number of famous characters:

Current characters

Betty Boop

Dr. Seuss: Cat in the Hat, Thing 1 and Thing 2, Sam-I-Am, Guy-Am-I, The Grinch and The Lorax

Jurassic Park: Blue and Bravo the Velociraptors and Tango and Sierra the baby Velociraptors

Madagascar: King Julien

Marvel Comics: Spider-Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Rogue, Green Goblin and Doctor Doom

Popeye the Sailor Man: Popeye and Olive Oyl

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Train Conductor, Death Eaters (during the fall season), Frog Choir and Triwizard Tournament Spirit Rally

Universal Express Pass

Several attractions in Islands of Adventure allow guests to utilize Express Pass. This pass admits users to a separate line for the attraction, which is given priority status when boarding. Express Pass is not a virtual queuing service. Instead, passholders may enter the "Universal Express" line whenever they wish. The price of this pass is not included in the charge for park admission.