Legacy

We will probably never again see a park quite like Islands of Adventure.

Universal Orlando's one-of-a-kind second gate was seemingly built at just the right time in the industry... Detractors often point to its opening as the birth of the (controversial) "IP park" model. But even though Islands of Adventure benefitted from the scale and immersion practiced in the '90s "Ride the Movies" era, it opened before the "Content Wars" of today where concepts must be connected to a high-earning franchise or be doomed.

It would be easy to argue that if Universal were ever to re-use the bones of the "Islands of Adventure" model today, the works of Dr. Seuss would never make the cut; Jay Ward would be axed; original lands like the Lost Continent and Port of Entry would never be considered to begin with; and Marvel would be impossible thanks to Disney's $4 billion purchase in 2009.

But as luck would have it, we don't have to argue or imagine what a from-scratch 2020 Islands of Adventure would look like... it exists!

Image: Resorts World Sentosa / Universal

After all, Universal's next park, 2011's Universal Studios Singapore, fused the idea of a "Studios" park and the "Islands" park. The result is a park borrowing the Islands of Adventure layout (lands arranged around a lagoon with "hard cuts" between) but using Hollywood and New York City entry lands, Sci-Fi City (themed to Transformers and Battlestar Galactica), Ancient Egypt (dedicated to Universal's The Mummy), The Lost World (a Jurassic Park land), Far Far Away (that's Shrek) and Madagascar (based on the Dreamwork's film series).

Though Universal Studios Singapore clearly echoes Islands of Adventure in its structure, it's missing the most important feature of the Floridian park: its timelessness. Rather than lands based on beloved literary staples and evergreen mythologies and settings, the park instead worked backwards from selected Universal attractions and high-earning films... 

Image: Resorts World Sentosa / Universal

And while that makes sense in overtly "studio" themed parks (where the contents of soundstages can be swapped as new "flavor-of-the-week" films roll in and out), the permanence of immersive lands just doesn't mesh with the impermanence of modern films. That's why the entire Madagascar land in Singapore is going to be bulldozed to start from scratch as a Despicable Me land, with rumors that Shrek's Far Far Away will fall to Nintendo. Will the new properties be more evergreen? Maybe... but there's a reason Seuss Landing can live forever and Madagascar couldn't.

Image: Universal

For better or worse, you'll see the same potential hazard in Universal Studios Beijing, under construction now. Like Singapore, Beijing adapts the Islands of Adventure structure (proving once and for all that the era of the "studio" themed park is over). But Beijing goes even further in the direction of "IP lands," again featuring Hollywood as the entry, then Jurassic World: Isla Nublar (overtly themed to the sequel trilogy currently being released and not the literary original), Kung-Fu Panda Land of Awesomeness, Minion Land, Transformers: Metrobase, and of course the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. 

While the scope and scale of the Beijing park will be impressive, it's another potential pitfall park... What happens in ten, twenty, or fifty years when Jurassic World, Kung-Fu Panda, Despicable Me, and Transformers have all been forgotten? Again, unlike a soundstage-filled "studio" park, it won't be as easy as swapping out showbuilding contents to inject hot new films... Any obsolete IP in an "Islands" style park of immersive lands will result in intensive and expensive redesigns.

And that's the difference.

Image: Universal

Islands of Adventure – the inventor of the "IP park" model – seems to have gotten the formula right the first time. Port of Entry. Super Hero Island. Toon Lagoon. Skull Island. Jurassic Park. Hogsmeade. The Lost Continent. Seuss Landing. Each and every one of the park's lands is evergreen.

(By the way, it's certainly concievable that when Disney eventually opens a third park in California or a fifth in Florida, the "Islands of Adventure" "IP park" model might be their go-to. Imagine immersive Galaxy's Edge-style lands dedicated to Avengers, Star Wars, Monsters Inc., Frozen, and Indiana Jones situated around the lagoon. Would such a park be truly timeless and evergreen? With the right combination of Disney's exceptionally high-quality catalogue, maybe...)

Heart

Image: Universal

Islands of Adventure was Universal's first attempt to prove that they could build more than mere "studio" parks of mis-matched stories and industrial soundstages; it was their big play against Disney, meant to act as evidence that Universal could build compelling, dynamic, colorful, and fanciful environments.

Along the way, their plan to supercharge the park with technology and special effects created some of the world's most impressive theme park experiences, from Spider-Man to Harry Potter; Poseidon's Fury to Jurassic Park. And brilliantly, designers managed to disguise that tremendous technology in a park that feels effortless and organic; a park of tropical jungles, snow-capped villages of smoking chimneys, water-logged ruins of an ancient world, a pastel Seussian port, and more.

Image: Universal

Their once-in-a-lifetime combination of timeless intellectual properties (and a focus on literature over film) is just another aspect that makes the park so unique. That's why we say Islands of Adventure has been imitated, but never duplicated. Even though each Universal park concept since has borrowed the style of Islands of Adventure, none have matched its substance. Its spirit isn't of movies or studios or Hollywood, but of stories and adventures and exploration! And for that reason, it remains one-of-a-kind, and worthy of being our first ever Park-of-the-Month.