Jurassic Park Questions

[MrPeetrie]

Hello, gang. We've never gone to Universal Studios. Each trip, we plan on leaving Disney property and spending one day at Universal, but always change our minds. (We just can't leave the bubble.) That may change this trip, however.

My DD8 watched Jurassic Park for the first time and LOVED the movie. We've been scouring the net, looking for Jurassic Park toys and posters. I told her there's a Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios. My questions are: is it worth going to Universal Studios to ride the Jurassic Park ride? And, is there more than one attraction based on the movie?

Thanks.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Great questions... This is my opinion only... Jurassic Park is a fantastic ride... And my opinion is, GO!!!!! And don't just see Jurassic Park and leave... Visit Wizarding World (you';ll be blown away especially if you are a Potter fan, or if your daughter is), walk around Seuss Landing (The Cat in the Hat ride is so much fun and the Sky Trolley is really adorable, Seuss Landing actually is a favorite land of mine, yes, I admit it LOL...)... Like superheroes??? Then you will love Marvel Superhero Island and the Spiderman ride... And don't miss Toon Island (Ripsaw Falls is a log flume and Bilge Rats is one soaking river raft ride)...

Now, as for Jurassic Park, the main ride is Jurassic Park River Adventure, and yes, it is a water ride... You take a river ride through Jurassic Park then finish the ride with a drop... You may get wet, you may not, depending where you are sitting... it is a fun ride and in my opinion, EXCELLENT!!! As for other rides, there are the Pteranodon Flyers which is a kid only ride in the sky where kids ride on a pteranodon and you glide of Camp Jurassic, which is a kids play area.. And of course there is the gift shop with sells Jurassic Park merchandise...

As for Camp Jurassic, here is the description from Universal's website:


Clamber up and down dinosaur capture nets, play on a variety of themed slides, and negotiate suspension bridges.
Take a walk down Thunder Lizard Trail and make the ground rumble with the roar of dinosaurs.
Join in a water cannon fight in the containment paddock.


Take the day, or two, or three (go enjoy Universal Studios as well) and visit Islands of Adventure!!!

[Kenny1113]

I say yes as well! DS7 rode JP 5 times on our last trip. We were not do happy because it was. :freeze:
We took turns who would ride with him. It is a great ride! JP and HP were the kids favorite worlds in the park. They were pretty much even.

[MrPeetrie]

Thanks for advice. I will try to plan a day there. DD8 will go CRAZY at Jurassic shop!

More questions: (I apologoze if they seem silly, but I know nothing about Universal Studios.) Is there only one park at Universal Studios? Or are there multiple parks like at WDW? If so, what park should I visit?

[Kenny1113]

There are two different parks. The studios and island of adventure. Harry potter, jurassic park, marvel superheroes, cat and the hat etc are all at islands of adventure. Rip ride rocket, mummy, Simpsons, men in black etc are at universal studios.
Unlike WDW resorts you can walk from one park to the other.
With the park to park option tickets you have admission to both parks per day.
Hope this helps.

[BrerGnat]

Stick with Islands of Adventure. That's where all the Jurassic Park stuff is. It's a fun park. Definitely worth a visit.

That's cool that your daughter is so into Jurassic Park. It's a great movie. One of my all time favorites. Still a bit too scary for my boys yet.

I will say, that JP river ride is intense at the end. So, be forewarned that the part leading up to the drop is kinda scary. :blush:

[MrPeetrie]

Thanks everyone for all the info.

[DizneyFreak2002]

Thanks for advice. I will try to plan a day there. DD8 will go CRAZY at Jurassic shop!

More questions: (I apologoze if they seem silly, but I know nothing about Universal Studios.) Is there only one park at Universal Studios? Or are there multiple parks like at WDW? If so, what park should I visit?

As been stated, Universal has two parks, Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios... If you are only concerned about Jurassic Park, then stick with Islands of Adventure... But, Universal Studios is a fun park to visit as well...

Men In Black is a shooter attraction where you shoot at aliens... There is a Simpsons ride that is a simulator (you are on a theme park ride and shenanigans ensue) but very fun... The Mummy is an indoor coaster/dark ride hybrid and one of the best rides around... E.T. The Ride is a dark ride where you sit on a vehicle designed to a flying bike and you ride through show scenes helping ET get home (the finale is you visit ET's home planet)Then there is a 4D Shrek attraction, a 3D Terminator attraction, a roller coaster called Rip, Ride Rocket... And don't forget about Disaster, where you enter a movie set and experience an earthquake... And twister has an attraction too, but I never even go see it anymore...

Visit the two if you can, but again, if Jurassic Park is really the only desire, then IOA is your choice...

[NJGIRL]

The ride has been described to you so I'll go into a few other things in that area.

Camp Jurassic is alot on fun for the kids. It is a huge play area (similar to Disney's play areas) with bridges,tunnels, mist, caves, water guns. It feels like you are in the jungle just like the movie. My son has always loved it and has spent at least an hour (that's all we allow) in there each time.

At the Discovery Center you can watch a baby dinosaur hatch. There is also other interactive stuff to do in there.

The cafeteria (I think it's Thunder Falls) is set up to look like the cafeteria in the movie.

[HackLaSalle]

Cafeteria actually has pretty good food as well. I actually was seriously disappointed with the jurassic park ride. But I definitely enjoyed the atmosphere. Are the pterdon? Flyers still open or was that swallowed up by HP?

[MrPeetrie]

You have all been so helpful. I am actually excited about visiting over there. Do you have any recommendations regarding transportation to and from Universal.

We are using the Magical Express to stay at Port Orleans French Quarter so we won't have a rental car. Should we call a taxi? Should we rent a car on property? Or is there a bus or shuttle available between WDW and Universal?

[DizneyFreak2002]

Cafeteria actually has pretty good food as well. I actually was seriously disappointed with the jurassic park ride. But I definitely enjoyed the atmosphere. Are the pterdon? Flyers still open or was that swallowed up by HP?

They are still open...

[NJGIRL]

Pteranodon Flyers is one of the few rides I don't think that I will do again. The ride is very cool BUT, the lines are so long and SLOW moving, coupled with the fact the ride is extemely short, it's not worth my time. Just my two cents. :D

[thrillme]

Islands of Adventure very nice ride...Oh my...it's very much like right out of the movie except that you're in a boat not a car...Harry Potter is there too and a Dinosaur Nursery etc. Quite neat. Spider Man's there also...one of my favorites.

Jurassic Park is fun to explore. My son fell in love with the movie 15 years when he was only a year old...go figure...he discovered the movie when we were looking for a new TV...it was the video of the week at Circuit City...LOL...the more the dinosaur would growl the more he'd laugh...we ended up buying the movie AND the TV.

[DonaldDuckUSA]

DBF and I had annual passes to Universal before we had Disney passes. We didn't renew because the parks got old (unlike at Disney), but we miss the Jurrasic Park ride. It was a lot of fun and that section of the park is so well themed. We were giddy everytime we entered that section of the park. I think she'll enjoy it!

[EeyoresBestFriend]

You have all been so helpful. I am actually excited about visiting over there. Do you have any recommendations regarding transportation to and from Universal.

We are using the Magical Express to stay at Port Orleans French Quarter so we won't have a rental car. Should we call a taxi? Should we rent a car on property? Or is there a bus or shuttle available between WDW and Universal?

As you can see by my signature that FQ is also our home. We go to US every trip for at least a couple of days and have always found renting a car, even for a day, to be well worth it. The car rental per day is cheaper than a cab or shuttle and you can come and go when you want. The parking at Universal is $15.00 for the regular parking. You can upgrade to preferred parking which I think gets you closer to the gates of Citywalk, but we've never used it.

We rent the car from Alamo by MK and return usually in the evening or next morning. They have a free shuttle service (during business hours) that will pick you up from FQ and then when you return the car, they will either take you back to the resort or a park. It has always worked well for us and we usually make a stop at Publix or other grocery store to stock up on beverages & munchies for the remainder of our stay on property.