Islands of Adventure
Orlando, FL
NBC Universal / Comcast
---- THE LATEST BUZZ ----
(3/29/2025) An Interesting New Jurassic Park Rumor
(2/22/2025) Hagrid May Have Retired The Single Rider Queue
(2/21/2025) Islands of Adventure May Have Reopened Pteranodon Flyers
(1/28/2025) Skull Island Update
(1/27/2025) Construction Walls Up At Skull Island
(1/14/2025) Watch some Great Nighttime Footage of the Pteranodon Flyers Testing
Ride Rehabs - These dates subject to change:
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey - April 9
Wizarding World of Harry Potter - DIAGON ALLEY Review
Screamscape Previews Diagon Alley!! We’ve Got All The Details!
Screamscape Review Part II: Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts
Screamscape Review Part III: The Hogwarts Express!
Other Features & Reviews
Skull Island: Reign of Kong (2016)
Volcano Bay (2017)
Christmas in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (2017)
Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure (2019)
Jurassic World VELOCICOASTER (2021)
 General Park News - (2/22/2025) According to what I’m hearing, the single rider queue for Hagrid at Islands of Adventure may have been closed for good a couple of days ago. Crew members have gone back to just sorting rider groups into “odd” and “even” numbered groups rather than trying to be concerned about single riders. As I recall, the single rider line experience was a bit of a mixed bag… and often could result in a longer wait than if you just waited in the regular queue with everyone else, so this makes sense.
Of course, there is also another big reason to do this… something Universal fans have been requesting for a very long time. This could be the first step in adding Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure to the Universal Express system, allowing them to repurpose the single rider queue space for Express riders if they do add it. However… if Hagrid does get added to the Universal Express system, I wouldn't expect to see it happen until around the time Epic Universe opens in late May.
(2/21/2025) I’m hearing that Universal may have quietly reopened the Pteranodon Flyers sometime on Friday, after it has sat closed for most of the past year. If anyone gets a chance to ride, let me know, plus it’s probably the best way to see what’s going on over at Skull Island next door over those construction walls.
(1/28/2025) A quick update on the Skull Island construction taking place at Islands of Adventure. I’m told that the scrim/walls have been up since around Thanksgiving and at various times heavy machinery could be seen or heard working on the site, along the former vehicle road. It is assumed that the outdoor road used for the trackless transports is being rebuilt, possibly to make repairs to the guidance markers embedded within it.
(1/27/2025) Something is afoot at Kong inside Islands of Adventure. A new video posted on Twitter shows that a large scrim is now covering up the entire outside portion of the attraction. If memory serves, it has been several months since the transports have used the outside portion of the layout, instead taking the shortcut from the loading bay right into the indoor portion of the ride.
Rumor has it that the outdoor segment is undergoing some kind of refurbishment and enhancement process that may see some kind of new themed additions added to the landscape by the time the transports roll through here again in 2025. Anyone know more?
(1/14/2025) Some great nighttime video clips shot at Islands of Adventure show that the park is now testing the long-closed Pteranodon Flyers attraction, which look amazing after dark by the way. As the post mentions, the attraction has been closed since at least April of 2024, and many had come to the conclusion that perhaps the ride was being retired.
With the testing now taking place, a reopening sometime in the next month or two now seems likely.
(1/4/2025) After sitting closed for the past year, it appears as if Islands of Adventure may be preparing to reopen the Pteranodon Flyers. Posts have been posted on social media showing off the cars that have begun making empty test-runs through the tree-tops course around the Jurassic Park themed island setting.
2026 - Jurassic Park River Adventure Refurbishment - Rumor - (3/29/2025) Rumor has it that we can expect to see the Jurassic Park River Adventure at Islands of Adventure go down for what may be a longer than normal winter refurbishment towards the end of 2025. Now before the rumor mill kicks into gear thinking that this could be a conversion to add a Jurassic World themed makeover like what happened with the Hollywood version of the ride, I’m told that this is not the case at all. There are still said to be no plans to make the Orlando ride anything like the Hollywood version.
2026/2027 - The Legend of Zelda - Rumor - (11/11/2023) Screamscape sources tell us that Universal Creative is indeed working on concepts to bring an attraction themed to The Legend of Zelda to Islands of Adventure. Nothing has been locked down yet apparently, not the attraction style, size, or scope of the location, but we’ve got some ideas. With the Poseidon’s Fury just sitting there closed and theater for the former Eighth Voyage of Sindbad Stunt Show also sitting closed right next door for the past few years, what is left of the original “Lost Continent” section of the park would allow for an entire “Zelda” themed land. Just don’t look for anything to happen until they finish with Epic Universe in 2025.
(4/12/2023) After being closed for a long period of time during COVID, only to reopen after a lengthy rehab as well… Universal Orlando shocked many today when they announced via an internal employee email that the Poseidon’s Fury attraction would be closing for good at the end of May 9th, 2023 to make room for something new at Islands of Adventure.
So what is on the horizon? No one knows for sure, but when The Eighth Voyage of Sindbad stunt show closed in 2018, I figured that Poseidon’s Fury was likely to be living on borrowed time. It’s also fair to assume that The Lost Contient island in general will also be lost to the sands of time, as after May 10th, both of the remaining attractions that made up the themed zone will be no more, leaving just a random assortment of gift shops, food stands and a foul tempered fountain. Oh, and Mythos… the park’s premier dining restaurant.
It would be interesting if Mythos was also shut down, but so far nothing has been said about that. Even if Mythos stays, the combined land used by the closed Sindbad and Poseideon attractions, along with the connecting shops is almost comparable in size to the land used for the Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure attraction. I’m not saying this will happen yet, but if Universal was willing to do so, they could level this entire space to the ground and be able to repurpose it for just about anything… a new major attraction to a whole land with several smaller attractions.
Universal seems to have something in mind however, as the email mentioned sharing more details about what might replace Poseidon’s Fury in the future. So it is also entirely possible that they could just reskin the existing Poseidon’s Fury attraction to create another similar walk-through adventure. I know at one point, many years ago, a concept was pitched to turn Posideon into a Legend of Zelda attraction, but those plans were never approved. Plus, from what I understand, the basic layout and effects gags from Poseidon would have remained intact, including the water vortex, the only change would be the story and theme of everything, so it makes sense why Universal never went through with it.
Screamscape Reviews the VELOCICOASTER!
(6/14/21) I’ve just posted the official Screamscape review of the Jurassic World VelociCoaster, which just may be one of the best coasters on the planet, and most certainly to be considered the best in all North America. A few days ahead of the grand opening, I journeyed down to Orlando on my own with the family and took on this insane beast of a ride. But I’m not just going to tell you about it, I’m going to show it to you as well in an all new Screamscape video all about the VelociCoaster and and one other epic new attraction at Universal Orlando.
(5/28/21) Universal has released the official POV video for the new Jurassic World VelociCoaster. While watching all the insanity take place, keep in mind that the entire runtime of the video is just 90 seconds, with the first launch kicking off around the 7 second mark and the train doesn’t stop until it hits the second set of brakes around 80 seconds later. I’ll say that again… 80 seconds!
80 seconds of non-stop, pedal to the metal, high speed, velociraptor screaching in your face utter chaos! It’s a beautiful thing! Check it out!
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