One of the top reasons Orlando, Florida is so popular as a vacation destination is because there are about a bajillion parks there. Disney World alone has 4 parks : Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Universal has 3 parks: Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios and Volcano Bay. And then there’s Discovery Cove, Sea World, LEGO Land and who knows what else honestly. It’s incredibly overwhelming, especially when it comes to figuring out which ones to go to. Which brings me to the Universal parks and which one is better: Islands of Adventure vs Universal Studios.
So why Universal?
If you have younger kids, you’ll likely be going to the Disney Parks (Magic Kingdom and/or Animal Kingdom) and possibly one of the water ones (Discovery Cove, Sea World, Volcano Bay). I made the mistake of going to Disney as an adult without kids. I was about 25 at the time and it was brutal. They are very much for kids and not very enjoyable if you are single and childless.
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The main attraction at Hollywood Studios is Star Wars, while the other rides there seem a little ‘eh’ (besides the Tower of Terror). If Star Wars is high on your list, you’ll likely be heading here. Likewise, LEGO Land is sort of in its own category.
As an adult going to the parks, your best options are the Universal parks or Epcot, and Epcot is a different breed. While it does have a few simulation rides and shows, it’s known mostly for having different countries that you can explore through food and drink. And by that, I actually mean ‘drinking around the world’. It has a bit of a reputation for adults trying to drink their way through each country…and there’s 11 by the way. As you can imagine, it can get interesting.
SO, we’re left with Islands of Adventure vs Universal Studios. These are both definitely more fun for adults, with more thrill rides and roller coasters. So if you don’t have kids, or are a family with kids who are a little bit older, these are both great options because of the roller coasters. But they do have some iconic rides and areas that kids will love. And either park would be a fun thing to do in Florida with kids. But which one is better?? To me, there’s an obvious winner and I’ll explain why.
Universal Update:
Universal actually announced that it will be expanding and will be adding a 4th park called Epic Universe. It will be a few miles away from Islands of Adventure, Universal and City Walk, but looks like it will be massive and bigger than the entire Universal family combined.
It’s said that the new park will ‘transport guests to new lands’. Super Nintendo’s Mario has been in the building process as well as an expansion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (the Ministry of Magic). The opening date is expected to be around the summer of 2025 and definitely looks like something to be excited about.
About the Parks
Both of these parks are located in the same area. And actually they are both joined by City Walk-a boardwalk in front of a lake with quite a few restaurants, bars and stalls. City Walk itself is fun to walk around and it’s a hot spot at night for the restaurants (absolutely make reservations ahead of time). There’s a Voodoo Donuts here, a movie theater, mini golf course, etc. You don’t need a ticket to go to City Walk, it’s more of an outdoor mall, except with restaurants instead of shops ha.
There’s a lot going on at City Walk at night but during the day, it’s the bridge between Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. And if you have a dual ticket, you quite literally can decide at City Walk and then walk left for Islands or right for Universal.
Hours for both parks: Opening time 9:00am, Closing time varies – usually between 6-8pm. Check here for their recent calendar.
Ticket Costs: Varies by day. Peak months will have higher prices. Prices below are the estimates I found at the time of writing this (which was September). Check here for recent prices.
1 Park – 1 Day Ticket: $109 for adults, $104 for children (age 3-9)
2 Parks – 1 Day Ticket: $164 for adults, $159 for children
*Florida residents can occasionally get discounts.
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Below are lists of some of the main rides and attractions that you’ll find at both parks. However, this list is constantly being updated due to ride renovations and/or replacements. So you’ll want to check their site.
Islands of Adventure
This park has different themed areas throughout and with characters and rides to match. Islands is also where the first Harry Potter World went in. There’s a good mix of roller coasters, water rides and simulation rides.
Mostly the sections of the park follow the rides. There’s a Harry Potter section, Jurassic Park section, Marvel section, Toon Lagoon and a Dr. Suess Section (which is mostly for kids).
Universal Studios
This park also has a few themed sections, as well as city themes such as Hollywood, New York and San Francisco. It’s more of movie sets of those cities and then themed rides within the city ‘movie sets’.
They built the second part of Harry Potter World here and now there’s a Hogwarts Express that takes you between the two parks. They also have a pretty good mix of rides but I’d say they have a few more simulation rides than roller coasters.
Islands of Adventure vs Universal Studios
When it comes to which park is better, I’m going to compare the things that I think stand out to park goers. Ambiance, rides, that sort of thing. And one thing you’ll find missing is food. I tend to always grab something on the go like a slice of pizza or a hotdog, so not anything that would be worth reviewing.
Park Entrance: Islands of Adventure
Arriving at Islands of Adventure is pretty memorable. As someone who read a lot of adventure stories growing up, this felt like walking into a storybook adventure. It sort of looks like an Aladdin type area and has carved out lettering on a stone overhang that reads ‘the adventure begins’. Your head turns in all directions immediately upon arriving.
The entrance to Universal Studios is underwhelming. There’s a spinning world with Universal on it right before you get to a giant archway entrance. The entrance is palm tree-lined and you come out quite quickly into the city themed streets.
One looks like a normal street you’d see in the US, one is a fictional world.
Overall Ambiance: Islands of Adventure
Here’s the thing. As far as ambiance goes, Universal Studios takes you through places that are based off real cities. So you’ve got New York and Hollywood mostly (San Francisco is a small area with only one ride and it was closed when I went). For me, I’d rather be transported into a fictional world because it’s more magical. I’ve been to the real New York and the real Hollywood, so Universal Studios wasn’t as exciting in that sense. Islands of Adventure takes you through a Jurassic Park area with dinosaurs and buildings that look like the command center.
It also takes you through a town of marvel cartoon buildings, which just looks crazy. You’ve got super heroes zooming around on little go-cart things and walking through that area feels like walking through a comic book. And it’s the same thing with Cartoon Lagoon-the entire area is themed to match popular cartoons.
The shops and stalls at Islands of Adventure reflect the area that you’re in. Whereas Universal Studios has shops and food spots that are sort of places you’d find in New York or Hollywood (or anywhere for that matter)-pizza places, Italian joints. It’s just not as fun or creative to me. I would have loved to see more buildings and props in the Despicable Me style or even see The Mummy expanded into a themed section. I love the Mummy movies and am obsessed with Egypt. I just feel like they could make a really cool Egyptian area and expand more on The Mummy movies. (But maybe I’m just getting old and The Mummy isn’t that popular anymore, sigh.)
Best Simulation Ride: Universal Studios
Both parks have simulation rides AND both parks have Harry Potter simulation rides. The Harry Potter simulation ride at Islands takes you through the Hogwarts castle and around the grounds as if you are on a broomstick. The Harry Potter simulation at Universal takes you through Gringotts Bank as you’re trying to escape on the dragon. Both are incredible. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you’ll love both simply because you get to see more of the Harry Potter world come to life.
I haven’t been on the Skull Island ride at Islands, and Spiderman is an oldie but goodie. The simulation rides at Universal are pretty great. Minion Mayhem is super cute and Transformers takes you on an intense ride. There just seems to be a few more simulation rides at Universal which is why it comes out on top. If this is your favorite type of ride, Universal Studios might be more up your alley.
Best Roller Coaster: The Hulk at Islands of Adventure
The Hulk wins this one for sure. I won’t ruin the ride for you but if you aren’t expecting it, it’s pretty awesome. It also takes you underneath a water section of the park. It’s fun to watch and to ride.
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The Rip Ride Rockit is fun as well and has a pretty steep drop. You can choose your own music to listen to when the roller coaster starts which was pretty cool. But it’s hard to beat the beginning of The Hulk.
Best Water Rides: Universal Studios
I feel like this category is a little unfair to include since Universal Studios doesn’t really have water rides. They have a few that are for kids I believe but not real water rides for adults. However, I feel like it’s still an important category because, HOT. It’s hot. And when you’re walking around for hours and waiting in line forever, you need a reprieve from the Florida sun. Islands of Adventure has a few options where you can get wet: The Jurassic Park River adventure (the T-Rex….just great.), Dudley Do-Right falls (similar to the Jurassic Park ride), and Popeye & Bluto’s Barges (one of those circular raft rides).
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: ???
This is a huge part of the Islands of Adventure vs Universal Studios decision, because the Wizarding World of Harry Potter boosted these parks immensely. It’s hard to judge which section of Harry Potter world is better honestly. If you grew up reading the books like I did and wish you were a wizard, just seeing any part of the park is completely magical. So let’s break it down a little bit.
First of all, if you have a 2-park ticket, you can ride the Hogwarts Express between the two Harry Potter worlds.
Hogsmeade & the Hogwarts Castle
This part of Harry Potter World was the first section built and is found at Islands of Adventure. You can see the Hogwarts Castle from far away in the park and it just makes it exciting to walk up to it. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is the ride that is located inside the castle and as you’re waiting to get on the ride, you get to walk through the castle to see different rooms. The ride itself is phenomenal and really creative.
Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure is the newest ride there and I haven’t gotten a chance to ride it yet, but I’m sure it’s equally as great. There’s also a hippogriff ride for kids.
The other part of this section is the town of Hogsmeade and it’s adorable. The crooked town buildings are snowcapped and really transport you to that snowy, Christmas time of Hogwarts even though it’s likely 90° outside.
You can visit Ollivander’s Wand Shop, which is not in Hogsmeade in the books, but I guess the reason for that is so you can potentially get a wand to explore the magical secrets of this park as well. And you’ll find places like Honey Dukes, the Three Broomsticks (where you can get non-alcoholic butter beer) and some other shops.
Diagon Alley
In true fashion, there’s a London street section as well at Universal Studios. The London section is what leads into the Harry Potter world. You have the King’s Cross train station, which will take you to the Hogwarts Express and an alleyway that represents the bricks opening up into Diagon Alley.
Diagon Alley is quite a lot to look at. The whole area sticks to the theme between the cobblestone streets and store front window displays. You can go to Ollivander’s Wand Shop here also, as well as The Leaky Cauldron, Sugarplum Sweet Shop and Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes. There’s also a dark corridor which leads you to a low-lit alleyway that becomes Knockturn Alley.
The main attraction here is Gringott’s Bank with the dragon sitting on top. The ride is a simulation that takes you into the depths of the bank vaults to free the dragon and escape. The dragon outside the building also has fire coming out of its mouth periodically.
Which Wizarding World do I prefer? If I really, absolutely had to choose, I would probably choose Hogsmeade & Hogwarts at Islands of Adventure. The snow covered town was really magical to me. It could have been because it was the first section I had been to and the other section wasn’t even built yet. But it’s hard to beat the castle and be able to explore that. But one is the extension of the other, so really, you can’t go wrong with either one. They are both fantastic.
Which is better: Islands of Adventure vs Universal Studios?
I feel like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a big draw for people to come to these two parks but since they are equally as cool, let’s weigh in on the other stuff. For me, Islands of Adventure is the true winner. It is so much more immersive with the movie themes AND I just tend to like those themes better. I love Harry Potter, I love the Jurassic Park movies and even Marvel…it’s just really cool how they are brought to life. The Hollywood movie set theme of Universal isn’t as appealing to me. I also feel like there is a better variety of rides at Islands of Adventure.
But most importantly, between Islands of Adventure vs Universal Studios, I think it depends mostly on which area YOU want to see. You’re going to like whatever movies you grew up watching, so that’s a big factor. I just think Islands of Adventure does a better job at immersing you into those worlds.
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