DreamWorks Land in Universal Studios Orlando
If you are looking for family friendly and kid-friendly things to do in Universal Orlando, a BRAND NEW land has just opened and may be just the thing! DreamWorks Land is a reimagined area featuring some of your favorite characters with splash areas, a show, yummy eats, and even a kid-friendly coaster! Let’s explore what this new land has to offer.
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Shrek’s Swamp
When you first enter the land, you’ll be in Shrek’s Swamp. You have the chance to meet Shrek, Fiona, and even Donkey in front of Shrek’s house as well as some other DreamWorks Characters like King Julian and Puss in Boots over in a special meet and greet station. For your littler ones, you can even meet Gabby in Gabby’s Doll House! These characters don’t have set meet & greet times, so you will need to make sure to keep your eyes peeled for when they do appear.
There is also a great play area with tons of slides and things to climb. This is a great option to let your kiddos run off some steam and they’ll definitely want to try out the fart slide! There are are few water guns that you blast guests with down below in the little splash pad area too.
Pinnochio’s Fact Shack is a fun one you can do together in this area! You press the button and Pinnochio will let you know some ‘facts’ about the swamp. Be sure to watch as his nose grows…. I guess you can’t always believe what he says.
King Harold’s Swamp Symphony is a silly symphony of frogs that will croak when you step on the lily pads. You can get creative with this if you can get a bunch of people to step on several of the lily pads to make a real ‘choir’ of frogs!
Mama Luna’s Feline Fiesta is an interactive ‘game’ of sorts where you can hit the buttons and pull levers to make different things happen on the screens. There are loads of cats (in boots) that you can feed, throw yarn to, and other fun interactive elements. I won’t lie… I don’t think there is an actual point to the game but it’s still super fun to see what effects you can make!
If you are looking for some eats, you can check out Shrek’s Swamp Snacks. You can get everything from the viral ‘Shrekzel’ to a swamp dog, shrek popcicle and more.
Trolls Land
Next up is a more colorful area, Trolls Land! This is where you will find the Troller Coaster - a kid friendly roller coaster that is great for a ‘first’ coaster. The height requirement is 36” so some of your littler babies may need to skip this one.
If you are looking for a cold treat, you can head to Trolls Treats for a soft serve cone! Right now there are two flavors, a Poppylicious Pink Lemonade and a Branch Huckleberry, but if you want a great hack, ask for the two flavors swirled. These do have dairy in them, so be aware if you have any sensitivities to milk.
There is another play area that’s perfect for your littlest ones. There are smaller tunnels and fun things to climb over in Poppy’s Playground and there is some decent shade to play in too. There is a fountain near this playground where you may even meet some of the Trolls themselves!
Looking for Merch? Check out Hight Five Hideaway for your Trolls, Shrek, and Kung Fu Panda merch as well as some swim gear and towels for those getting soaked in the splash pads.
One of my favorite things in this land is the Imagination Celebration Live stage show! This is a 20 minute long show that features tons of characters, puppets, dancing, and more! The storyline is about two friends - one who is having trouble with their imagination. So you are all trying to help them learn how to use their imagination again by stepping inside the stories of Shrek, Trolls, and Kung Fu Panda. (with a surprise visit from King Julian at the end) There are great seats pretty much anywhere in this theatre, but it’s still a good idea to show up at least a little early to make sure you can make it in.
Po’s Kung Fu Training Camp
If you are really wanting to get SOAKED this area is a great place to do it! There are TWO splash areas in this land - The Pond of Perpetual Wetness is more little kid friendly with spouts and dump buckets, and then one that’s great for more elementary aged kids (or kids at heart) is themed to Po’s ‘Laundry’ Station.
On one side, you’ll squirt Po’s laundry with the water guns, or get dumped on by huge buckets of water, and then on the other side, you can use the air blasters to dry the clothing.
If you aren’t super into getting soaked, there is also a ‘dry’ side with twisting noodles that chime and fun little merry go rounds.
Po Live is an interactive ‘show’ where Master Po himself teaches you the art of Kung Fu while he babysits his little cousin Ling Ling. This is very similar to Turtle Talk with Crush over at Disney World and is essentially an interactive screen where Po can talk to you.
We are so excited that Universal continues to add more family friendly activities making it a great alternative from Disney or even a great destination to add a few days if you are already visiting Disney. Make sure you are subscribed to our newsletter so that you can stay up to date on even more of the fun to come with Universal’s all-new theme park Epic Universe opening next year!
