Hollywood Ride Guide Independent & unofficial

Universal Studios Florida

Springfield: Home of the Simpsons

A built-out block of the Simpsons' town with one big simulator, a spinner, and the most committed themed food in the park.

  • Opened2013
  • Attractions3
  • Places to eat5
  • HeadlinerThe Simpsons Ride

Springfield expanded around The Simpsons Ride in 2013 and it is the most complete piece of environmental joke-writing at Universal Orlando. Moe's Tavern is a real bar with the phone behind the counter. The Kwik-E-Mart is a shop. Lard Lad stands outside with a donut the size of a tractor tyre. The gags are dense enough that people who have never watched the show still enjoy standing in it.

The Simpsons Ride is a large-format simulator from 2008 — a domed screen with motion-base vehicles suspended in front of it, 40 inches to ride. It is funny and the animation is good, and it also produces more motion sickness complaints than anything else in the park because the screen fills your entire field of view. If you are going to be ill on one ride here, it is this one.

Kang and Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl is a hub-and-spoke spinner in the plaza with no height requirement, which makes it one of a small handful of rides a preschooler can do at this park. It is exactly what it looks like and it is over in ninety seconds.

The food is the real draw. Fast Food Boulevard is a food hall of Springfield-branded windows sharing one seating room, Moe's Tavern pours the Flaming Moe, Duff Brewery is an outdoor bar, and Lard Lad sells a pink-frosted donut big enough for four people. None of it is fine dining and all of it is the point.

Do not miss

  • The Simpsons Ride, 40 inches, and the worst motion sickness offender in the park
  • Kang and Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl, one of the few rides here with no height stick
  • Moe's Tavern, a functioning bar with the Flaming Moe and the phone gag intact
  • The Lard Lad Big Pink Donut, genuinely shareable between four people
  • Fast Food Boulevard, a food hall of Springfield-branded windows around one seating room

Springfield: Home of the Simpsons tips

  • Do not ride The Simpsons Ride after lunch. The dome screen fills your peripheral vision and it is the most reliable way to end a day early.
  • Fast Food Boulevard's windows share one seating room, so split your party across counters and meet at a table. Nobody checks which window your tray came from.
  • The Flaming Moe is served with dry ice in the glass and the fog is the whole trick. Drink it there rather than carrying it away; it is flat and ordinary within five minutes.
  • Duff Brewery is an outdoor bar with real shade and a lagoon view, and it is consistently the least crowded place to sit in the back half of the park.

Attractions in Springfield: Home of the Simpsons

The Simpsons Ride

40"102cm

Simulator · 6 min · Express

A domed-screen simulator through a Springfield theme park, funny and well written, and the most reliable way to make yourself ill in Orlando.

The Simpsons Ride opened in 2008 in the building that held Back to the Future: The Ride, and it reuses the same format at a larger scale: motion-base vehicles suspended in front of an eighty-foot domed screen. The premise is a visit to Krustyland, a theme park built by Krusty the Clown, which promptly falls apart around you.

Tips for The Simpsons Ride
  • Ride it before lunch, not after. This is the single most reliable way to end a park day early in Orlando.
  • Back row is meaningfully milder than the front because you sit further from the dome. Ask at the load platform if it matters to you.
  • There is no single rider line and no stationary seating here, unlike Despicable Me Minion Mayhem. If the motion is a problem, the only option is not riding.
  • The queue video is genuinely funny and worth watching rather than scrolling through. It is written to the same standard as the ride.
  • Springfield is right outside, so this is the one ride here where eating immediately afterwards is a specific mistake rather than general advice.

Full guide to The Simpsons Ride →

Kang and Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl

Any height

Spinner · 1½ min · Express

A ninety-second hub-and-spoke spinner in the middle of Springfield with no height requirement, and one of very few rides here a preschooler can do.

Kang and Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl is a standard spinner: arms radiating from a central hub, two-person vehicles, a lever that raises and lowers you while the whole thing rotates. It arrived with the Springfield expansion in 2013 and is dressed as a flying saucer ride operated by the two aliens from the show's Halloween episodes.

Tips for Kang and Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl
  • Ride it because it has no height stick, not because it is good. It is a fairground spinner with excellent jokes written on it.
  • The queue is entirely uncovered and Springfield is a heat trap in the afternoon. Do this in the morning or after dark.
  • It rotates faster than most children's spinners. Do not ride it straight after The Simpsons Ride.
  • Do not spend an Express Pass here, and do not queue more than fifteen minutes for ninety seconds of ride.

Springfield Character Meet

Any height

Character meet · 5 min

Scheduled walkaround meets with Simpsons characters in the Springfield plaza, which is the only place to reliably find them.

Simpsons characters appear on a schedule in the Springfield plaza, usually near the Lard Lad statue or the Kwik-E-Mart. Which characters come out varies, and the rotation typically includes members of the family plus Krusty and Sideshow Bob.

Tips for Springfield Character Meet
  • Check the app for times. Appearances are scheduled with long gaps and standing in the plaza hoping is a wasted afternoon.
  • Queue near the Kwik-E-Mart rather than in the open plaza; there is at least some shade against the buildings.
  • This is one of the shortest character queues in the park, which makes it a good option at midday when everything else has backed up.
  • Fast Food Boulevard is a few steps away and air conditioned. Send half your party in to hold a table while the other half queues.

Eating in Springfield: Home of the Simpsons

Quick service · Springfield: Home of the Simpsons

Fast Food Boulevard

A food hall of Springfield-branded counters around one shared seating room, including Krusty Burger, and the best themed eating in the park.

$$Mobile order

  • CuisineAmerican, themed to the Simpsons
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Lounge · Springfield: Home of the Simpsons

Moe's Tavern

A full-scale recreation of the bar from the show, serving Duff and the Flaming Moe, with the phone gag intact.

$

  • CuisineBar
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Lounge · Springfield: Home of the Simpsons

Duff Brewery

An outdoor bar on the Springfield lagoon frontage with real shade, a water view and the least crowded seating in the back half of the park.

$

  • CuisineOutdoor bar
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Food truck · Springfield: Home of the Simpsons

Bumblebee Man's Taco Truck

A taco truck parked in Springfield serving three tacos for the price of a burger, and the best cheap savoury food in the park.

$

  • CuisineTacos
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Bakery · Springfield: Home of the Simpsons

Lard Lad Donuts

The doughnut stand under the giant Lard Lad statue, home of the Big Pink Donut that four people can genuinely share.

$

  • CuisineDoughnuts
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Snacks worth stopping for

Big Pink Donut

Lard Lad Donuts

$11.99

A cake doughnut roughly the diameter of a dinner plate, covered in pink frosting and sprinkles, sold under a two-storey statue of the Lard Lad mascot.

Our take: Buy one for the group, not one each. It is a decent cake doughnut carrying a great joke, and split four ways it is cheaper per head than a normal park snack.

Near the top of the list Sweet Vegetarian Walkable

Clogger Burger

Fast Food Boulevard

$18.99

A large burger loaded with bacon, cheese and a fried egg, ordered from the Krusty Burger counter inside the food hall.

Our take: The best burger in the park and the reason to eat in Springfield rather than at Richter's. Absurd, well made, and enough food that you will not want dinner.

Near the top of the list Savory

Krusty Burger

Fast Food Boulevard

$15.99

The plain house cheeseburger from the Krusty Burger counter, served with fries in a branded box.

Our take: Overrated, and people order it because of the name. It is an ordinary theme park cheeseburger; the Clogger Burger from the same window is three dollars more and enormously better.

Savory

Chicken and Waffle Sandwich

Fast Food Boulevard

$17.99

Fried chicken between two waffles with maple syrup, from the Cletus' Chicken Shack counter in the food hall.

Our take: The other thing worth ordering in Springfield and the better choice if you are not in a burger mood. Sweet and salty in the right proportions, and it travels badly, so eat it there.

Near the top of the list Savory

Square Pizza Slice

Fast Food Boulevard

$11.99

A thick square slice from the Luigi's counter inside the food hall, sold by the slice rather than the pie.

Our take: The cheapest way to feed a child in Springfield and better pizza than it looks. Order this rather than a full plate if you are eating twice today.

Savory Vegetarian Walkable

Fried Shrimp Basket

Fast Food Boulevard

$17.99

Battered fried shrimp with fries and slaw from The Frying Dutchman counter in the food hall.

Our take: Fine, and the weakest of the food hall counters. Order it only if the burger and the chicken sandwich are both wrong for you.

Savory

Nearby

Universal Studios Florida map See where this land sits All attractions Every ride in Universal Studios Florida Production Central The entrance area and soundstage district, holding the park's only outdoor coaster and its loudest screen ride. Minion Land A bright Illumination district built along the front-left of the park, with two screen attractions and the park's best-designed quick-service.