Universal's Islands of Adventure

Jurassic Park

The 1993 film's visitor center rendered in full scale, plus the best roller coaster in Florida bolted onto the back of it.

Opened1999
Attractions6
Places to eat5
HeadlinerJurassic World VelociCoaster

Jurassic Park is the island that has changed most since 1999, and the change made it the strongest part of the park. The original build was a faithful reconstruction of the film's visitor complex - the gates, the jeeps, the John Williams score, the river boat ride - and it was pleasant rather than essential. Then Jurassic World VelociCoaster opened in 2021 along the lagoon edge and the island acquired a headliner that competes with anything in the United States.

VelociCoaster is a launched coaster with two launches, a top speed around 70 mph, an 155-foot top hat, four inversions and a stretch of track that runs inches above the water of the lagoon. It is 51 inches, it has a single rider line, and it is the best ride at Universal Orlando. Anyone tall enough who does coasters should plan their morning around it.

The rest of the island is the counterweight and it is genuinely good. Jurassic Park River Adventure is a boat ride with a slow-build first half and an 85-foot drop at the end that soaks the front rows. Camp Jurassic is the best playground in Orlando - a multi-level structure of caves, nets, rope bridges and lava pits that swallows children for an hour. The Discovery Center is air-conditioned, free, quiet and virtually empty. Raptor Encounter puts you a few feet from a very convincing velociraptor puppet with a handler managing the interaction.

Pteranodon Flyers is the island's problem child. It is a suspended gliding ride over the island with a 36-to-56-inch requirement, meaning adults may only ride as the companion of a child in that band. Its capacity is dismal, its queue moves at a crawl, and the ride lasts about eighty seconds. Manage expectations accordingly.

Do not miss

Jurassic World VelociCoaster, the best ride at Universal Orlando
Camp Jurassic, the best free playground in the city
The 85-foot drop at the end of Jurassic Park River Adventure
Raptor Encounter's handler-managed raptor meet
Thunder Falls Terrace, the best quick service in the park

Jurassic Park tips

VelociCoaster's single rider line is the most valuable one in the resort. Use it for every ride after your first.
Sit in the back row of the River Adventure boat if you want to stay drier and the front two rows if you do not. The difference is dramatic and it is the only water ride here where seat choice really matters.
Thunder Falls Terrace has floor-to-ceiling windows looking at the River Adventure drop, air conditioning, and rotisserie chicken that is better than any quick service at Walt Disney World. It is the correct lunch in this park.
Send children into Camp Jurassic while the adults ride VelociCoaster. It is directly adjacent, shaded, and it will hold them longer than the queue takes.

Attractions in Jurassic Park

Jurassic World VelociCoaster

51"130cm

Roller coaster · 2½ min · Express

The best roller coaster in Florida: two launches, a 155-foot top hat, four inversions and a stretch of track that runs inches above the lagoon.

Jurassic World VelociCoaster opened in June 2021 along the lagoon edge of Jurassic Park and immediately became the best ride at Universal Orlando. It is a launch coaster with two separate launches, a top speed around 70 mph, a 155-foot top hat with an over-banked drop, four inversions and about 4,700 feet of track, and it is paced better than any coaster in the state.

Tips for Jurassic World VelociCoaster

Use the single rider line for everything after your first ride. It is the most valuable single rider queue at Universal Orlando and it is well signposted at the entrance.
Ride once in the front row for the lagoon view and once in the back row for the airtime. They are genuinely different rides.
Everything goes in a locker, phones included, and there is a metal detector at the platform. Come with empty pockets.
Use the test seat if there is any question about fit. The lap bar has to reach a fixed click point and there is no negotiating at the platform.
Repeat-visitor note: ride it at dusk. The over-water section with the lights coming up on the lagoon is the best two seconds in the park.

Full guide to Jurassic World VelociCoaster →

Jurassic Park River Adventure

42"107cm

Water ride · 6 min · Express

A slow boat tour of the dinosaur park that goes wrong, ending with an 85-foot drop in the dark that drenches the front rows.

Jurassic Park River Adventure has been here since opening day in 1999 and it is a faithful reconstruction of the boat tour from the 1993 film, right down to the gates, the score and the tour narration. The first four minutes are a genuine slow scenic ride past ultrasaurus, stegosaurus and a hadrosaur herd rendered as large, well-built animatronics in daylight. It is the only calm ride in this half of the park.

Tips for Jurassic Park River Adventure

Sit in the back rows to stay relatively dry and the front two to get properly drenched. This is the only water ride here where the choice actually works.
There are lockers at the entrance and they are worth using even from the back row - the drop throws enough water that a phone in a pocket is a real risk.
Ride it before VelociCoaster in the morning if the standby is short. It builds later in the day than the coaster does and gets skipped for the wrong reasons.
Warn small children about the last two minutes rather than the first four. The gentle opening is what lulls families into riding it.
Repeat-visitor note: look up on the left as you enter the first indoor section. There is a set piece there that almost nobody sees because they are watching the water.

Full guide to Jurassic Park River Adventure →

Pteranodon Flyers

36"91cm

Roller coaster · 1½ min

A suspended glider over Jurassic Park restricted to riders between 36 and 56 inches, with the worst capacity and the worst wait-to-ride ratio in the park.

Pteranodon Flyers is a suspended gliding ride that carries two people at a time in a dangling seat along a track above the Jurassic Park island, at low speed, for roughly ninety seconds. It has been here since 1999 and it is one of the most misunderstood attractions in Orlando.

Tips for Pteranodon Flyers

Only queue for this if the posted wait is under twenty minutes. At any higher number the arithmetic does not work and Camp Jurassic underneath it is free and better.
Check the height band before you queue. Riders must be 36 to 56 inches, and an adult over 56 inches can only ride as the companion of a qualifying child.
There is no Express Pass on this ride and no single rider line. There is no way to shorten the wait.
Do it first thing in the morning if it matters to your child. It is one of the few attractions here where the early-morning wait is dramatically better than the rest of the day.
Repeat-visitor note: the view down into Camp Jurassic is the best part, and you can get most of it for free by climbing the play structure's upper level.

Full guide to Pteranodon Flyers →

Camp Jurassic

Any height

Play area · 45 min

A three-level playground of caves, nets, rope bridges and slides that is the best free thing in the park and will absorb an hour of a child's day.

Camp Jurassic is a multi-level adventure playground built into the terrain between the River Adventure and Pteranodon Flyers, and it is considerably more ambitious than its no-queue, no-fee status suggests. It has rope bridges, cargo nets, lava pits that hiss and steam, a set of amber mines with dark tunnels, slides at multiple levels, dinosaur bone dig areas and water cannons that children can aim at each other.

Tips for Camp Jurassic

Agree a ground-level meeting point before anyone goes in. There are multiple exits at different heights and children come out somewhere other than where they went in.
Send children here while the adults ride VelociCoaster. It is directly next door and it will hold their attention longer than the queue takes.
The amber mine tunnels are genuinely dark. Walk a nervous child through once rather than letting them find them alone.
The water cannons will make them wet. Do this before Toon Lagoon, not after you have already dried out.
Repeat-visitor note: the upper-level view across to the VelociCoaster track is the best free photo spot in Jurassic Park.

Full guide to Camp Jurassic →

Jurassic Park Discovery Center

Any height

Walkthrough · 20 min

The film's visitor center rebuilt as a free, air-conditioned exhibit hall - the best sensory break and the emptiest building in the park.

The Discovery Center is the domed building from the 1993 film, reconstructed at full scale on the lagoon edge, and inside it is an exhibit hall with interactive dinosaur displays, a skeleton, a DNA sequencing game and a raptor hatching demonstration that runs at intervals through the day. Entry is free and there is no queue.

Tips for Jurassic Park Discovery Center

Use this as your heat break. It is the largest air-conditioned space in the park that does not require buying food.
Check the time of the next raptor hatching demonstration when you walk in. It is short, it is genuinely well done, and it is the only scheduled thing in the building.
There is an upper level with a good view over the lagoon that most visitors never climb to.
This is the right place to bring a child who was upset by Reign of Kong or the River Adventure. It is calm, bright and has nothing sudden in it.

Raptor Encounter

Any height

Character meet · 5 min

A close-range meet with a full-size velociraptor puppet and a handler in character, and the best photo opportunity in the park.

Raptor Encounter puts guests a few feet from a full-size velociraptor - a highly articulated puppet with a performer inside, managed by a handler who stays in character throughout. The raptor breathes, tracks movement, snaps and reacts, and it is convincing enough that adults hesitate before stepping up to it.

Tips for Raptor Encounter

Check the posted times in the app. It is not a continuous offering and there are gaps of an hour or more.
Let a nervous child watch two or three other guests go first. The handler will happily slow the interaction down if you ask.
Do not put your hand out. The handler will tell you the same thing and the raptor will react as though you had.
This is the best photograph available at Islands of Adventure and the queue is usually under fifteen minutes.

Eating in Jurassic Park

Quick service · Jurassic Park

Thunder Falls Terrace

Wood-fired rotisserie chicken and ribs in a huge air-conditioned room with windows onto the River Adventure drop - the best quick service in the park.

$$Mobile order

CuisineWood-fire rotisserie and barbecue
ReservationsNo reservations

Quick service · Jurassic Park

The Burger Digs

The upstairs burger counter in the Jurassic Park visitor complex, with a toppings bar and air conditioning.

$$Mobile order

CuisineBurgers and chicken sandwiches
ReservationsNo reservations

Quick service · Jurassic Park

Pizza Predattoria

A walk-up pizza and salad window in Jurassic Park with shaded outdoor seating and one of the shortest queues in the park.

$Mobile order

CuisinePizza and salads
ReservationsNo reservations

Lounge · Jurassic Park

The Watering Hole

An open-air bar in Jurassic Park with shaded stools, frozen drinks and a view of the VelociCoaster launch.

CuisineBar - beer, cocktails and light snacks
ReservationsNo reservations

Snack cart · Jurassic Park

Natural Selections

The fresh fruit and cold drink stand near Camp Jurassic, and one of very few places in the park selling something that is not fried.

CuisineFresh fruit, snacks and cold drinks
ReservationsNo reservations

Snacks worth stopping for

Quarter Rotisserie Chicken

Thunder Falls Terrace

$16.99

A quarter of a chicken cooked on a wood-fired rotisserie, served with rice and black beans and a piece of grilled corn.

Our take: The best quick-service plate at Universal Orlando and better than any counter-service main at Walt Disney World. It costs the same as a burger a hundred yards away. Order it.

Do not leave without it Savory Gluten-friendly

Baby Back Ribs Platter

Thunder Falls Terrace

$21.99

A half rack of wood-smoked baby back ribs with corn on the cob and rice and beans, served on a tray in the Thunder Falls dining room.

Our take: Genuinely good smoked ribs at a price no table-service restaurant would match. Slightly less consistent than the chicken, and still one of the two best things in the park.

Near the top of the list Savory Gluten-friendly

Smoked Turkey Leg

Thunder Falls Terrace

$15.99

A large smoked turkey leg, cured so that it tastes closer to ham than to roast turkey, sold to eat in the dining room or carry out.

Our take: The standard theme park turkey leg, done properly here because it comes off the same wood fire as the chicken. Enormous, salty and genuinely shareable between two.

Savory Gluten-friendly Walkable

Double Cheeseburger

The Burger Digs

$16.49

A double-patty cheeseburger with fries, finished at a self-serve toppings bar with lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles and sauces.

Our take: Ordinary until you use the toppings bar, which is the only thing separating it from every other burger here. Thunder Falls Terrace is two minutes away and much better.

Savory

Personal Pepperoni Pizza

Pizza Predattoria

$13.49

A single-serving pepperoni pizza from the outdoor window on the lagoon side of Jurassic Park, served with a side salad option.

Our take: Exactly what a theme park window pizza is, and no worse than that. It buys you a short queue and a shaded table, which is sometimes the whole point.

Savory Walkable

Frozen Margarita

The Watering Hole

$13.99

A frozen lime margarita from the covered outdoor bar between the Jurassic Park visitor complex and the VelociCoaster entrance.

Our take: Sweet, cold and fine, and mainly an excuse to sit in the shade underneath the VelociCoaster launch. The seat is worth more than the drink.

Drink VeganGluten-friendly Walkable

Nearby

Universal's Islands of Adventure map See where this land sits All attractions Every ride in Universal's Islands of Adventure Port of Entry The entry bazaar and the park's only crossroads - no attractions at all, and most of the useful services. Marvel Super Hero Island Primary-colored comic architecture wrapped around the park's two most physically aggressive rides and its best dark ride.