Six Steps to improve Islands of Adventure

By all accounts, Universal created a masterpiece when they developed Islands of Adventure, a park of beautiful vistas, wonderful theming, amazing rides, and one of the best restaurants in a theme park anywhere. The amount of detail put into areas as simple as the Port of Entry, and the queue for Dueling Dragons are a testament to the dedication Universal had while developing this park. The Islands are creative and different enough to keep interest peaked as you travel around the park, and the rides and attractions are top notch. In fact the Spider Man ride was voted best Dark Ride for several years in a row by theme park insider. In fact, it won the award so many times that they retired the category until something else could come along.

This was a park that easily made the Disney company stand up and take notice that other companies are equally as qualified to create amazing experiences when they pour the money into it as well. And while this park is a wonderful experience and a architectural and theming marvel, it has seen better days. It's a shame that a once marvelous park has been allowed to slowly deteriorate. But take heart, it is not too late to bring this park back to its place competing at the top of the theme park food chain. Below are six steps that need to be taken to restore this park to its full and wonderful potential.

6. Maintenance

It seems so simple, but it is the one thing that is overlooked in every theme park across America. Universal Creative designed a beautiful and detailed park and unfortunately its been allowed to slowly lose its luster. Simple effects such as the fire on the torches of the Jurassic Park entrance aren't lit, foliage has been allowed to die around the exterior of the park so that backstage is clearly seen from inside the park, and many on-ride effects simply don't work any longer. When was the last time we saw the small dinosaurs fight over the shirt in Jurassic Park? It's such a simple matter, but in a desire to cut costs and increase profits it's the first thing to be cut. You created a beautiful park Universal, is it too much to ask to keep the place shined up? It doesn't fit easily on financial spreadsheets, but guests notice things like that and while they may not complain about them to guest relations, rest assured that they do remain as a stain on their memories. If you don't respect your product enough to keep it in top shape, why should they respect it enough to recommend it to their friends.

5. Keep your restaurants and beverage carts open for longer hours

It is not only bad show, but incredibly frustrating to walk through Islands of Adventure and have to explore to find a simple beverage cart or place to purchase a snack. Seuss Island has some wonderful dining locations by the looks of it, but unfortunately I've never once seen any of them open. Mythos is the most spectacular theme park restaurant I've ever eaten at, but by keeping such short hours I've heard several guests state that they thought the restaurant was simply closed completely for the day. Market your dining experiences more and they'll bring in more money. It's almost impossible to find a seat in most of Disney's park restaurants but Universal can't even be bothered to keep theirs open for the full park dining hours. The park dining experience works, you just have to convince your guests that you have more than quick service buffets to experience.

4. Do Something With The Lake

As it stands the lake sits there only as a thematic visual, but worse, as a major impediment to travel amongst the islands. If I'm in the Lost Continent and want to get over the Superhero Island I have to walk through several other lands to get there. This is a major problem for traffic flow around the park. If possible, place several water taxis on the lake which run all day long and take your guests from land to land. This would help immensely with the traffic flow throughout the parks and also add a wonderful kinetic energy which is currently missing from the lake. If that is not possible due to guest throughput, use the lake for some sort of action packed show or water parade. Turn the lake into another palette for guest experiences. If something was happening on the lake constantly, I'd be a lot less annoyed at its interference with park traffic flow.

3. Streetmosphere

The theming of Islands of Adventure is absolutely wonderful, and the music which mixes in fits perfectly creating a realistic and fantastic scene in the minds eye. Lets take that and plus it. The streetmosphere over at the Studios is wonderful, from the Blues Brothers Stage show, to the I Love Lucy tribute band, and the wonderful characters who walk the grounds guests have a number of opportunities to be surprised by seemingly spontaneous entertainment. I've seen the characters in Islands of Adventure and the nice interaction with the superheroes at Marvel Superhero Island, but bring a few more things out. It doesn't have to be over the top presentations, but a cobra charmer or arabian styled band in The Lost Continent or surprise readings of the wonderful Seuss tales in Seuss Island could go a long way to creating intimate and personal experiences that can't be found in the rest of the park.

2. Create a Night Time Spectacle

I understand that a grand fireworks affair is out of the question due to the location of Universal Orlando and that's a shame. But it shouldn't stop you from being able to create something in Islands of Adventure to cap off a great day in the parks. The end of day show is one of the more important pieces in crafting together the theme park puzzle. Guests spend all day and much of their money exploring your park and they look for something to cap it off, to remind them that this a wonderful and fantastic place. By ignoring this simple exercise, you are ignoring one of the major unspoken needs of your guests. While I appreciate the attempts at Universal 360 over at the Studios, each park should have their own reason to stay on property until nightfall. Unfortunately, that also requires that Universal keep their parks open till nightfall. It's important, and keeping your guests in the parks until night time would not only give you the opportunity for a night time spectacle, it would also increase the profits at City Walk as well. So develop something to wow your guests at night, to not do so is a majorly missed opportunity.

1. More Attractions

It's been over 7 years since this park first opened and the only new addition has been the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley. Don't get me wrong, I think it was a nice addition, but it's not what is needed to help draw new guests through the gates. One of the major problems with the marketing of Islands of Adventure is that it has come to be known as Universal's thrill park and does not appeal to families at all. As I mentioned in a previous update, this is a major problem because it divides the family into segments. Some will sit on a bench and wait while others go ride the next big thrill ride and then those will go do something else while the younger set rides the kiddie rides in the park. The best thing to be done to combat both problems is to create 2-3 amazing dark ride experiences that are enjoyable to the entire family. Dark rides and Family rides are not dead, for inspiration on how to create amazing attractions see ET from the Studios which still stands up as an amazing experience so many years later, or the new Nemo ride over at Epcot, or any of the classic attractions from the Magic Kingdom in Pirates of the Caribbean or The Haunted Mansion. Universal Creative has some of the best minds in the business, put them to work creating rides that tell wonderful stories on some of the great themes in the park. Give us a jeep ride in Jurassic Park using technology similar to Test Track at Epcot, or a boat ride or typical dark ride through Hagar the Horrible in Toon Lagoon, or a family friendly ride through ancient mythological stories in the Lost Continent. There are hundreds of opportunities for wonderful storytelling in family friendly rides all throughout this park. If you can manage to make the park marketable to not only thrill junkies, but families as well then your potential guests have just gone through the roof. If you build them, they will come.

Now don't get me wrong. I have made several criticisms about the park in this update, but rest assured that a trip over to Islands of Adventure is still an amazing experience. I would like to see this park reach its full potential however and these are the best ways I know of to bring it to that level. For those of you who haven't taken a trip over to Universal in years or ever because it's not Disney, you owe it to yourself to schedule some time into your next trip to Orlando to visit. You may just find yourself pleasantly surprised.