Sandbox / Universal Orlando

It's more than magic, it's real.

If Universal Studios Hollywood is the original movie studio/theme park, then this is the the Universal resort.

One of the flagship destinations of Universal Destinations and Experiences, Universal Orlando Resort is a large resort complex located in Orlando, Florida and the primary competitor to Walt Disney World. As such, it has a reputation as one of the most visited theme park resorts in the world, with four parks, numerous resorts and hotels, and an entertainment complex.

The main attractions

Theme parks (and their lands)

Universal Studios Florida

"The only place on Earth where you can ride the movies!"

The original park that opened on June 7, 1990, Universal Studios Florida originally acted as an East Coast counterpart to Universal Studios Hollywood to compete with the nearby Walt Disney World. The original vision is to create a working motion picture studio that doubled as a theme park like in Hollywood, but over the years, the vision shifted into a more immersive experience where one can "ride the movies". This is also the part that acts as the central hub for many of Universal Orlando's events such as Halloween Horror Nights and Madi Gras.

• Minion Land on Illumination Avenue: The park's newest land, making up most of the entrance to the park. Primarily based on the Despicable Me franchise, this land showcases properties based on Illumination, with attractions, dining, and shopping all themed to their characters (the Minions especially). Attractions here include Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem and Illumination's Villain-Con Minion Blast, with their attached gift shops being Super Silly Stuff and Evil Stuff.
• New York: An area of the park themed to New York with facades and fictional props depicting the streets of the Big Apple. Attractions here include Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, Revenge of the Mummy, Transformers: The Ride, and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit.
• San Francisco: One of the park's most minor areas, made to represent the docksides of San Francisco. The area's sole attraction is Fast & Furious: Supercharged and used to be home to an attraction based off Jaws, but was closed to make way for the below area. However, there does exist a photo-op of the shark itself.
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley: The second major expansion to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter already present at Islands of Adventure, it's made to represent a London street on its exterior. But when guests travel underneath, they enter the secret Diagon Alley from the movies, with many shops and restaurants including a larger version of Ollivanders and the Leaky Cauldron. The sole attraction here is Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, situated inside Gringotts Bank which has a nonmoving Ironbelly dragon on top^note Fun fact: it breathes fire every 10-15 minutes.
• World Expo: The park's smallest area is made to represent a 1960s World's Fair exposition, making up the facade of Men in Black: Alien Attack which houses a front to the organization's base. There is also a Coca-Cola stand with similar theming, complete with aliens inside.
• Springfield - Home of the Simpsons: Based on the popular primetime television show, Springfield is made to be a replica of the hometown of Springfield, with shops, restaurants, and two rides. The majority of restaurants can be found in Fast Food Boulevard, all hosting food from the show, the Duff Brewery, Moe's Tavern, and other misc stops around the area. The park has one shop, the Kwik-E-Mart, situated between the two rides; Kang n' Kodos' Twirl and Hurl, a spinning carosuel ride based off the two aliens, and The Simpsons Ride, the land's marquee attraction.
• DreamWorks Land: The park's kid-centric area based off the titular animation studio, separated into three areas based off three of its films; Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and Trolls. Formerly known as Woody Woodpecker's KidZone, the land shut down and was subsequently remodeled for a June 14, 2024 opening, and contains interactive meet-and-greets, a rollercoaster (fitting called the Trollercoaster), interactive play areas, and dining.
• Hollywood: An area made to represent a Hollywood street, with one ride, a variety of shops, restaurants, and shows. Sharing its role as an entrance area with Minion Land, the two shows here include The Horror Makeup Show, a mainstay since the park first opened and inspired by the classic Universal Monsters, and the Borne Stuntacular, an immersive show based off the Jason Bourne franchise. Other landmarks include a sole attraction in E.T. Adventure^note The sole remaining opening day attraction at the park, a store called SpongeBob StorePants, and KidZone Pizza Company^note A leftover from the aforementioned KidZone area.

Universal Islands of Adventure

Are you ready?

The park's second theme park that opened on May 28, 1999 themed to exploration and literature specifically, with the park hosting numerous "islands" themed to different intellectual properties. While the park doesn’t typically get a good amount of focus event-wise, it's still considered the more popular of the two, hosting many rides that many have called the best in the world.

• Port Of Entry: The park's entry island designed to be a port for the adventurers of all of the different islands of the park. There are no attractions here but there are a wide variety of gift shops and restaurants present.
• Marvel Super Hero Island: An island inspired by Marvel Comics that takes place on an island that became the way it is after a meteor crashed, releasing heroes and villains all over. This land was created after Universal gained the theme park rights to the Marvel characters in perpetuity east of the Mississippi River, which is the reason why it's still there even after Disney bought out Marvel in 2009.^note For this reason, they can't legally use the Marvel name in the United States, nor create experiences based off characters already present here. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind is one example since the Guardians have no presence here. Attractions here include The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Storm Force Accelatron, and Dr. Doom's Fearfall.
• Toon Lagoon: An island inspired by newspaper comics and classic cartoons, with large setpieces and cutouts made to look like a cartoon strip come to life. Since this is also the area with heavy focus on water, there's also plenty of photo ops and water props, with two major water rides anchoring the land: Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls and Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges.
• Skull Island: The park's smallest island, shared with Jurassic Park, based off King Kong (2005). As such it has one sole ride here: Skull Island: Reign of Kong.
• Jurassic Park: Based off the franchise of the same name, this area is a defictionalization of the titular park filled with dinosaur-themed rides and attractions. While most of the area is more themed towards the original film, such as Jurassic Park River Adventure, in recent years they’ve incorporated more elements from Jurassic World, particularly with the park's then-newest attraction, the Jurassic World Velocicoaster. There is also a replica of the Discover Center where guests can engage in different exhibits, as well as the popular Raptor Encounter, where guests can meet Blue from the World films.
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmede: The first of the Wizarding World areas to be added to any Universal park, this area is themed to Hogsmeade and the school of Hogwarts, a replica of the castle sitting at the end of the land. Attractions here include Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, and Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure.
• The Lost Continent: Based off mythical beings and creatures, the Lost Continent is the only area to lack any rides, but has plenty of shops and restaurants scattered across its two sub-areas: Sinbad's Bazaar, based off the Arabian legend, and the Lost City, based off Atlantis. The latter area is also home to Mythos, a full-known restaurant voted best in any park for five consecutive years.
• Seuss Landing: The park's children-oriented area based off the works of Dr. Seuss, with all of the whimsy imagery brought to life. The park features attractions and entertainment based off some of his most beloved books, including The Cat in the Hat, The High in the Sky Suess Trolley Train Ride!, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, and the Caro-Seuss-el. This section transforms for the holiday season into Grinchmas, based off How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.

Universal Volcano Bay

Universal Epic Universe

The resort's newest park, set to open in 2025 and themed around the universe and its possibilities. This park will be located off the main campus of the resort in its own area near the Endless Summer Resort hotels, and has five distinct areas all connected via portals, with an in-park grand hotel sitting at the far end of the park.

• Celestial Park: The astronomy-themed hub area of Epic Universe, containing various water features, restaurants, shops, three main attractions, the Universal Helios Grand Hotel, and the portals to the four other areas of the park.
  • Constellation Carousel: A carousel with constellation-inspired mounts.
  • Astronomica: A play area with dancing fountains.
  • Starfall Racers: A dual-launched coaster based on shooting stars.
• Super Nintendo World: This is based off the iconic line of Nintendo characters, Super Mario Bros. especially. It features a full scale replica of the Mushroom Kingdom and DK Island, based off the Donkey Kong Country spinoff with a wide variety of attractions, dining, and shops. Its portal is a warp pipe transitioned by a tower of popular icons from the Mario series.
  • Super Mario Land: The Mushroom Kingdom-themed area and the main one of the land. This is what guests first see as they walk out of Peach's castle and contains the majority of the attractions. Mario Kart: Bowser's Challenge and Yoshi's Adventure are the two attractions in this area.
  • Donkey Kong Country: The land's second sub-area based off Donkey Kong that's tropical and jungle-based, matching the IP. The main attraction here is Mine Cart Madness, a rollercoaster simulating the mine cart segments of the games stated to be a "first-of-its-kind" coaster that simulates jumping off, on, and between tracks.
• Isle of Berk: An area based on the titular village from How to Train Your Dragon.
• Dark Universe: A horror-themed area containing reimaginings of classic Universal Horror characters such as Frankenstein, the Wolfman, and Dracula.
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic: An expansion on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter that contains areas based on 1920s Paris from Fantastic Beasts and the Ministry of Magic as shown in Harry Potter.

Other attractions

Resort hotels

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