Universal Studios Florida

**Universal Studios Florida** (also known as **Universal Studios** or **USF**) is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. Primarily themed to movies, television and other aspects of the entertainment industry, the park opened to the public on June 7, 1990. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal and features numerous rides, attractions and live shows. Universal Studios Florida was the first component of the larger Universal Orlando Resort to open, ranking eleventh in the world and sixth in North America for attendance among amusement parks in 2019 while hosting approximately 10.9 million visitors.

In addition to the theme park aspect, early design focused on providing guests with a behind-the-scenes look at film and television. A significant portion of the park operated as an active production studio. As producers and filmmakers showed a lack of interest in filming onsite in Orlando, Universal's approach evolved, transitioning to a first-person perspective for its heavily themed rides, areas and attractions. The resort eventually expanded with the introduction of two additional theme parks, Universal's Islands of Adventure, the restaurant and retail epicenter Universal CityWalk, both in 1999, and Volcano Bay in 2017.

## Park Sections

### Minion Land on Illumination Ave

* Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem
* Illumination's Villain-Con Minion Blast

### Production Central

* Nickelodeon Studios
* The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
* The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera
* Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast
* Shrek 4-D
* Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit
* Universal Music Plaza Stage
* Transformers: The Ride 3D
* Universal's Superstar Parade
* Hercules and Xena: Wizards of the Screen

### New York

* Kongfrontation
* Ghostbusters Spooktacular
* Twister...Ride It Out
* Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride
* The Blues Brothers Show
* Delancey Street Preview Center
* Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon

### San Francisco/Amity Island

* An American Tail Theatre
* Beetlejuice's Rock and Roll Graveyard Revue
* Earthquake: The Big One / Disaster: A Major Motion Picture Ride...Starring You
* Fast & Furious: Supercharged
* Jaws: The Ride
* The Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show

### The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley/London

* Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts

### World Expo

* Fear Factor Live
* Back to the Future: The Ride
* Men in Black: Alien Attack
* The Swamp Thing Set

### Springfield

* The Simpsons Ride
* Kang & Kodos' Twirl 'n' Hurl

### Woody Woodpecker's Kid Zone

* Animal Actors on Location! / Animal Planet Live
* Curious George Goes to Town
* Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster
* Fievel's Playland
* E.T. Adventure
* DreamWorks Destination
* A Day in the Park with Barney
* The Bates Mansion Set
* The Bates Motel Set

### Hollywood

* Universal's Horror Make-Up Show
* Marilyn and The Diamond Bellas
* The Bourne Stuntacular
* Lucy: A Tribute
* AT&T at the Movies
* How to Make a Mega Movie Deal
* T2-3D: Battle Across Time

### Lagoon

* Dynamite Nights Stunt Spectacular
* Universal 360: A Cinesphere Spectacular
* Universal's Cinematic Spectacular: 100 Years of Movie Memories
* Universal Orlando's Cinematic Celebration

## Character Appearances

* E.T.
* Doc Brown and Marty McFly
* Shrek, Fiona and Donkey
* Felonious Gru and the Minions
* Alex, Gloria, Skipper, King Julien XIII, Kowalski, Private and Rico
* SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, Sandy Cheeks and Squidward Tentacles
* Rocket J .Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose from *The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle*
* Princess Poppy, Branch and Guy Diamond
* Curious George and Ted the Man with the Yellow Hat
* Agent J and Agent K from *Men in Black*
* Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Megatron from *Transformers*
* Scooby-Doo, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne, and Fred
* Woody and Winnie Woodpecker