Every Ride at Islands of Adventure Ranked

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There are 18 rides at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, but which one is best?

I’ve visited the Islands of Adventure theme park more than 20 times in the past decade, both solo, as a couple, with young kids and with elderly parents. As such I know which rides at the park are best and why.

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure is the best ride at Islands of Adventure. VelociCoaster is the second best ride, but given its intensity it’s not always suitable for everyone.

1. Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure

📏 Height Requirement: 48″ (122 cm) 
⏰ Average Wait Time: 89 minutes
🧍Single Rider: Sometimes (see FAQ)

The best ride at Universal Islands of Adventure is Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. This ride consistently has wait times in excess of 90 minutes but thankfully there are some ways you can minimise the wait.

Hagrid’s Motorbike Adventure is a rollercoaster that takes you through the Forbidden Forest. You’ll see magical creatures like dragons and skrewts as you race through twists and turns.

There are two seating options on this ride:

1. Motorbike
2. Sidecar

The motorbike seat is definitely more thrilling as it’s more exposed. Both seats have a lap bar for safety.

Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure has some sudden drops, but it doesn’t go upside down or have any inversions. If your kids are Harry Potter fans, I’d try to encourage them to experience this ride, as it’s fantastic!

2. Jurassic World VelociCoaster

📏 Height Requirement: 51″ (130 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 49 minutes
🧍Single Rider: Yes

Jurassic World VelociCoaster is one of the most thrilling rides at Universal Orlando. Reaching speeds of up to 70 mph (113 km/h) and featuring a massive 140-foot (43-meter) drop.

Jurassic World VelociCoaster has two seats per row and uses Intamin’s lap-bar-only restraint design (no over-the-shoulder harness), which is what lets you feel every airtime moment and inversion so vividly. The ride features fast launches, sharp turns, and inversions for an intense ride experience.

3. Hogwarts Express: Hogsmeade Station

📏 Height Requirement: None
⏰ Average Wait Time: 23 minutes
🧍Single Rider: No

The Hogwarts Express is a fantastic, family-friendly ride. However, as it goes between Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida, you can only ride it with a park-to-park ticket.

The train departs from Hogsmeade Station at Islands of Adventure and takes approximately 4 minutes to arrive into Kings Cross Station at Universal Studios Florida.

During this train ride, a window projection mimics the journey from Hogsmeade to Diagon Alley. Along the way, you’ll encounter familiar Harry Potter characters, including Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

This ride is suitable for all ages and has no height requirement. Strollers can be transported on the train. They do not need to be collapsed but children must be removed. Accessible cabins are also available for wheelchair users.

4. The Incredible Hulk Coaster

📏 Height Requirement: 54″ (138 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 35 minutes
🧍Single Rider: Yes

The Incredible Hulk Coaster is a high-speed rollercoaster that starts with a launch taking you from 0 to 40mph in just 2 seconds from there, you’ll experience loops, corkscrews, and sharp turns.

This ride isn’t as good as VelociCoaster and can cause some head bashing. While the revisions to the ride that took place in XXX helped with this, it still exists so try to push your head back into the seat to minimise this where you can.

5. Harry Potter And The Forbidden Journey

📏 Height Requirement: 48″ (122 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 37 minutes
🧍Single Rider: Yes

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey is the most immersive Harry Potter ride at Islands of Adventure. Situated inside the iconic Hogwarts Castle, this ride sees you join Harry and friends as you fly on broomsticks.

Each guest sits in an individual seat secured with a harness and lap bar. The ride vehicle swings and tilts, simulating the feeling of flying. There are a couple of things you should know before going on this ride:

1. The over-the-head lap bar can be a struggle for guests with larger chests. There’s a test seat at the ride entrance.
2. Despite not needing 3D glasses this ride can still cause motion sickness.

This ride has dark scenes and fast movements, which might be intense for younger children. The seating format also makes it difficult to comfort upset children during the ride. If your child is a fan of Harry Potter and meets the height, then consider watching a POV of the ride together first to see if it’s something they want to do.

6. Flight of the Hippogriff

📏 Height Requirement: 36″ (92 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 30 minutes
🧍Single Rider: No

Sticking with the Harry Potter rides, we have Flight of the Hippogriff. This ride is a great introductory rollercoaster for young kids, offering a gentle ride through Hogwarts’ grounds.

After soaring past Hagrid’s hut, you will fly around the Hippogriff’s paddock before swooping down for a thrilling, yet mild, drop.

Each ride vehicle seats two people in a row, secured with a lap bar for safety. While this rollercoaster is not intense, the slight drop and speed excite kids and those looking for a light thrill.

7. Pteranodon Flyers

📏 Height Requirement: Minimum 36” (92 cm) Maximum 56” (143 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 32 minutes
🧍Single Rider: No

Pteranodon Flyers is a great ride that offers a bird’s-eye view of the theme park. However, this ride is only available for one child (36″–56″) and one accompanying guest. Adults cannot ride unless they are with a child.

The ride lets you soar through the air in a glider, simulating the flight of a Pteranodon. Each Pteranodon has a lap bar for safety and gently sways as it moves along the track. Given the seating format and the ride’s height, this could be scary for younger children.

8. Jurassic Park River Adventure

📏 Height Requirement: 42” (107 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 27 minutes
🧍Single Rider: Yes

Jurassic Park River Adventure is the best water ride at Islands of Adventure. In terms of thrill, it’s a draw with Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls. However, the popularity of the theme (dinosaurs) makes this ride more desirable for most families.

The concept of Jurassic Park River Adventure is that you’re going on a journey through calm waters to see the dinosaurs. However, the dinosaurs have escaped, leading to a thrilling chase and a dramatic 85-foot (26-meter) drop as you try to escape.

Aside from the 85-foot drop at the end, the ride itself moves at a slow pace. However, escaping from dinosaurs might be scary for younger children, even if they love dinosaurs.

9. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man

📏 Height Requirement: 40” (102 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 32 minutes
🧍Single Rider: Yes

Ranking The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man so low on this list of the best rides at Islands of Adventure is no doubt controversial. However, I’m not a fan of this ride.

The concept of the ride is similar to Transformers: The Ride 3D at Universal Studios Florida, but with a Spider-Man theme. During the ride, you’ll team up with Spider-Man to stop the Sinister Syndicate, which has stolen the Statue of Liberty.

This ride is a moving 3D motion simulator take thats you through New York with Spider-Man. The 3D visuals, plus special effects like fire, water, and wind, make this ride super immersive. However, the intense motion and effects can cause motion sickness for some guests.

10. Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls

📏 Height Requirement: 44” (112cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 28 minutes
🧍Single Rider: Yes

Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls is another popular water ride at Universal Islands of Adventure. This log-flume ride takes you through some thrilling twists and turns before plunging down a dramatic 75-foot (23-meter) drop.

This ride’s concept is incredibly similar to Jurassic Park River Adventure. However, the theme is different, which is what gives Jurassic Park River Adventure the edge in rankings.

11. Skull Island: Reign Of Kong

📏 Height Requirement: 36″ (92 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 40 minutes
🧍Single Rider: Yes

Skull Island: Reign of Kong is a trackless dark ride that takes you into the world of King Kong. The ride itself isn’t thrilling, although the theme might be scary to younger children.

The ride sees you board an expedition truck and travel through the jungle. Along the way, you’ll face giant creatures, hostile tribespeople, and an intense encounter with Kong himself.

While the Skull Island truck moves, most of the action in this ride is caused by visual effects and seat vibrations rather than physical motion.

12. The High In The Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!

📏 Height Requirement: 36″ (92 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 22 minutes
🧍Single Rider: No

I have mixed opinions on The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! Primarily because what should be a toddler-friendly ride has a rather tall height restriction.

This gentle ride takes you above the colourful world of Dr. Seuss, where you’ll fly through the air in a whimsical trolley car. The ride moves slowly and is mostly smooth, with a few gentle turns and small drops.

This ride offers a fantastic, unique perspective on Universal Islands of Adventure. Even if you don’t have kids, it is well worth going on just for this.

13. Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges

📏 Height Requirement: 42” (107 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 15 minutes
🧍Single Rider: No

Popeye & Bluto’s Bilge-Rat Barges is the lowest-ranking water ride at Islands of Adventure. This is primarily due to the ride’s dated theme.

The ride concept, however, is pretty good. You board a circular raft with up to 12 people as you float through the river’s rapids. Along the way, you’ll encounter water jets, waterfalls, and geysers that will ensure you get wet.

14. Caro-Seuss-el

📏 Height Requirement: None
⏰ Average Wait Time: 7 minutes
🧍Single Rider: No

Despite its low ranking Caro-Seuss-el isn’t a bad ride. In fact, it’s one of the best rides at Universal Orlando for toddlers. However, this whimsical carousel ride is limited in its target audience.

It’s located in Seuss Landing and features beloved characters from Dr. Seuss’s books. Guests ride on colourful, Seuss-inspired creatures instead of traditional horses. Meanwhile, each seat is secured with a standard lap bar.

15. The Cat In The Hat

📏 Height Requirement: 36″ (92 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 9 minutes
🧍Single Rider: No

Another fantastic ride for little kids at Universal Orlando is The Cat in the Hat. Again, this ride only has a low ranking due to its limited target audience, although you could argue that Dr. Seuss is becoming a little dated.

For this ride, you’ll board a colourful ride vehicle and travel through the chaos caused by the mischievous Cat and his friends, Thing 1 and Thing 2.

The ride moves relatively slowly with turns and spins that make it suitable for all ages. The colourful scenes, animatronics, and music create a fun and immersive experience.

16. Doctor Doom’s Fearfall

📏 Height Requirement: 52” (132 cm)
⏰ Average Wait Time: 15 minutes
🧍Single Rider: Yes

Doctor Doom’s Fearfall is a pretty dated drop tower ride. The ride lifts you to 185 feet (56 meters) and then drops you at speeds up to 40 mph (64 km/h).

The concept of this ride is unique. There’s no other ride similar in Islands of Adventure or, in fact, Universal Orlando. However, the theme of this ride, and in fact, all rides in the Marvel Super Hero Island area of Islands of Adventure, is dated.

Universal has held back from investing in these rides because its Marvel licence at Islands of Adventure is a legacy 1994 agreement. The terms make it awkward to add newer MCU characters, and any retheme risks reopening negotiations with Disney.

Updating any of these rides will mean completely re-theming this entire area of the park which while an expensive and highly disruptive job. However, it’s long overdue and hopefully now with the opening of the new Epic Universe theme park it’s an investment Universal is willing to make.

17. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

📏 Height Requirement: None
⏰ Average Wait Time: 13 minutes
🧍Single Rider: No

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish isn’t a terrible ride. Again, it’s just one of those rides with a limited target audience.

Universal Orlando has a target market of families with older children, and most kids over the age of seven won’t be interested in this ride. But, since the ride has no height requirement, it’s one of the best rides at Universal Orlando for babies and toddlers.

The ride sees you board a fish-shaped vehicle that gently spins as it rises and falls in time with the ride’s movements. You can even control how high your fish flies by using a handle in front of you. This ride has no height requirement, although your child must be able to sit up independently.

18. Storm Force Accelatron

📏 Height Requirement: None
⏰ Average Wait Time: 6 minutes
🧍Single Rider: No

Storm Force Accelatron is the worst ride at Universal Islands of Adventure. This ride is situated in the Marvel Super Hero Island area of the park and offers an intense superhero twist on the classic teacup ride.

Not only is the theme of this ride super dated, the ride itself can cause a severe amount of motion sickness even for those who don’t typically suffer.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are the questions I’m often asked about the rides at Islands of Adventure: