DreamWorks Land at Universal Orlando Sneak Peek: Shrek, Kung Fu Panda & TrollerCoaster!
Universal Orlando Resort has revealed new details about the new DreamWorks Animation Land coming soon to Universal Studios Florida. This shares a sneak peek at the attractions and offerings based on Shrek, Trolls, Kung Fu Panda, Gabby’s Dollhouse and more.
The new DreamWorks land coming to Universal Studios Florida is part of a collection of new entertainment experiences debuting at Universal Orlando Resort in 2024 and is a continuation of the company’s commitment to rich storytelling that places guests of all ages in the most incredible and immersive environments.
In terms of background, this DreamWorks Animation Land replaces Woody Woodpecker’s KidZone, which permanently closed at the beginning of last year. Construction started shortly thereafter, and a little over a year later, DreamWorks Animation Land is visibly taking shape–you can spot Shrek’s Swamp (stump) rising about the walls. E.T. Adventure, SpongeBob StorePants, and the Animal Actors show remain open, but everything else–Woody Woodpecker’s Nuthouse Coaster, Fievel’s Playland, and Curious George Goes to Town–has been replaced or reimagined.
Universal Orlando Resort has now announced that DreamWorks Land at Universal Studios Florida will open in Summer 2024. This vibrant new themed environment–inspired by beloved characters Shrek, Trolls and Kung Fu Panda–will feature tons of fun for the entire family and include a family-friendly coaster, multiple play areas, live entertainment, meet & greets and more.
As soon as guests step into the spectacular new land, the vivid world and imagination of DreamWorks Animation will surround them as they embark on exciting adventures like exploring Shrek’s Swamp just outside of his 35-foot-tall cottage, taking a ride on a dazzling Trollercoaster, interacting with Po in the Panda Village and meeting favorite characters like Gabby from Gabby’s Dollhouse.
Within DreamWorks Land, guests will also discover unique treats, photo-op-worthy murals, interactive play areas, splash pads and entertainment offerings. All themed to popular stories and characters from DreamWorks Animation.
Here are more details about the new experiences coming to DreamWorks Land at Universal Studios Florida in Summer 2024:
Like ogres and onions, guests can peel back layers of fun in Shrek’s swampy oasis to discover “ogre-the-top” adventures at every turn.
Shrek’s Swamp Meet: Guests can visit Shrek’s Swamp Meet to interact with beloved characters Shrek, Princess Fiona and Donkey, the noble steed eager to joke around and converse with guests, just outside of Shrek’s cottage.
Shrek’s Swamp for Little Ogres: This ogre-sized play area features four fun slides, wet play areas and a playground where guests can climb, bounce and splash around as well as venture into Shrek’s outhouse.
Mama Luna Feline Fiesta: Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish comes to life with this new interactive experience that takes place in Mama Luna’s retirement home for cats. Guests get to play with Mama Luna’s many cats on vivid interactive screens activated by buttons, bells, maracas and levers. Puss in Boots himself might even make an appearance.
King Harold’s Swamp Symphony: Guests can create their own melodious masterpiece as they trigger a choir of ever-changing frog ribbits by continually stomping on an array of interactive lily pads.
Swamp Snacks: Families can eat like ogres at this new kiosk, which will serve scrumptious snacks inspired by Shrek, including Shrekzel, Far Far A Waffle, Frozen Ogre and more.
A magnificent fountain featuring favorite Trolls characters Poppy and Branch sits at the center of the Trolls Village where “fantastamazing” energy flows and guests can relax and “find their happy place.”
Trolls Trollercoaster: What we stop for a moment to appreciate the perfection of the name Trollercoaster? Honestly wouldn’t even surprise me if this got greenlit on that basis alone, as Trollercoaster is simply too perfect not to use. (Your move with Soul, Disney!)
Anyway, Trollercoaster starts with guests strolling through a dazzling marquee starring cherished Trolls characters Poppy, Viva, Tiny Diamond, Satin and Chenille. From there, guests of all ages can take a ride on the iconic Caterbus escaping evil spiders as they speed along a bright orange and yellow track aboard Trollercoaster, a family-friendly rollercoaster.
Poppy’s Playground: Nestled under a giant, 20-foot mushroom is Poppy’s Playground. This shaded play area features colorful flowers and bugs with a bountiful array of fun bouncing and climbing structures for the youngest of trolls.
Trolls Treats: Poppy’s boombox from Trolls Band Together has been transformed into a playful kiosk that offers up brightly colored Trolls ice cream treats inspired by Poppy and Branch like the pink lemonade-flavored Poppy-licious Pink and huckleberry-flavored BroZone Berry.
High Five Hideaway: Cloud Guy hosts this all-new retail location featuring the latest merchandise including apparel, plush and accessories from Shrek, Trolls, Kung Fu Panda, Gabby’s Dollhouse and more.
Guests embark on thrilling and fun adventures alongside the lovable panda Po from the action-packed world of the Kung Fu Panda movies.
Po’s Kung Fu Training Camp: This all-new play area is inspired by the Kung Fu Panda films, bringing the Panda Village to life. Within both wet and dry play areas, guests have the opportunity to help the pandas wash and dry their laundry with enormous water cannons, dump buckets, giant fans and more. Guests will also encounter fun elements throughout the experience, including an interactive gong, mischievous, giggling baby pandas, and oversized merry-go-round noodle bowls from Mr. Ping’s Noodle Shop.
Po Live!: This digital, interactive meet and greet experience gives guests the opportunity to interact with the famous Dragon Warrior himself as he teaches them cool Kung Fu moves, cooks some delicious stir fry and babysits his little cousin, Ling Ling…all at the same time.
DreamWorks Land will also feature additional opportunities for guests to meet and interact with beloved characters through extraordinary live entertainment, including:
DreamWorks Imagination Celebration: Popular DreamWorks Animation stories leap off the screen and come to life in DreamWorks Imagination Celebration. The multisensory adventure combines hit pop songs, high-energy dancing, advanced technology, and more to create an imaginative party atmosphere that will transport guests to the worlds of their favorite characters within the all-new DreamWorks Theater.
DreamWorks Character Zone: At DreamWorks Character Zone, guests can meet, greet and interact with their favorite DreamWorks characters like Gabby from Gabby’s Dollhouse and more.
In terms of commentary, DreamWorks Land honestly does absolutely nothing for me…but I’m not the target audience, so that’s perfectly fine. I can still recognize that this is an important strategic addition that furthers Universal’s goal of expanding the appeal of its parks to guests of all ages.
Not only is this great for kids and families, but repurposing KidZone was long overdue. That corner of the park had dead (outdoor) mall vibes, and felt stuck in the 1990s. And not even the second half of the decade! This DreamWorks Land will be a major upgrade, and one that preserves E.T. Adventure (which got a light bit of plussing recently), making it a win-win.
This is exactly the type of thing that Universal Studios Florida and (to a lesser extent) Islands of Adventure need in the next few years. I know a lot of disenchanted Walt Disney World fans like to hype up Epic Universe and Universal’s recent track record of additions. And that’s completely fair. What Universal is doing and has done over the last decade-plus is (mostly) incredible. But there’s also a degree to which these fans gloss over the spottiness of the current gates, and areas that have languished or are otherwise thematically lacking.
The good news is that it appears Universal’s plan is to fix that. To open Epic Universe, and then refresh and repurpose parts of the existing gates. Rumors are already swirling about lands and attractions based on other Nintendo franchises coming to the existing gates in the second half of the decade. (Also, Universal Orlando still needs to find a space for Secret Life of Pets: Off the Leash, a dark ride rivals Disney’s best!) In the shorter term, more new entertainment and other small scale stuff should help round out Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure, offering compelling counter-programming with crowd-absorbing capacity ahead of Epic Universe.
Need trip planning tips and comprehensive advice for your visit to Central Florida? Make sure to read our Universal Orlando Planning Guide for everything about Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. If you’re planning a trip out to the already-open Super Nintendo World, see our exhaustive Guide to Universal Studios Hollywood. For regular updates, news & rumors, a heads up when discounts are released, and much more, sign up for our FREE email newsletter!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of DreamWorks Land at Universal Studios Florida? Looking forward to riding Trollercoaster, meeting Shrek, or partaking in Kung Fu Panda training camp? Excited for the new movies, characters, or improved placemaking with this reimagined area of USF? Any other updates you’d like to see to Universal Orlando? Which movies, games, or characters do you think Universal should adapt into theme park attractions? Do you agree or disagree with our commentary? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
As long as you just remember that your tv doesn’t get Caillou you’ll be fine.
Even though I have a lingering childhood contempt for Woody Woodpecker cartoons, it sounds like even people without that bias will find Universal Animation Land to be superior to the KidZone.
If so, it should drive more people in the direction of E.T. Adventure, which in a perfect world would be more widely known as a must-do for all dark ride fans.
Replace Jimmy Fallon with Secret Life of Pets. It belongs in New York and no one would miss Jimmy, I promise. The other bonus to doing that is it’s really a stone’s throw from Minion land. Put a Nickelodeon Stage Show in the old Fear Factor space by MIB. Nostalgic Millennials and their kids will love it, major people eater. Then retheme F&F to a HP Knight Bus ride and Studios is in good shape for a while. Relatively cheap ways to seriously plus up that park and make it more welcoming for all ages.
I love the idea of a Jazz-playing roller-coaster but when I hear ‘Soullercoaster’ out loud it sounds like ‘solar coaster.’ Of course, Disney could take that pun and run with it, having ghost trains powered by sun-absorbing panels on the roof, hah.
But…as much as this is probably useful for luring in families, I always personally disliked having ‘kids areas’ in theme parks. I much prefer the Disney idea of the whole family getting to go on (most) rides together. As much as I do love Universal, I had a hard time bringing my adult friends because none of them do roller coasters, and a few of them are a little freaked out by how much fire Universal uses in…literally everything. Even I noticed that it seemed they were constantly trying to roast me.
Anyway, long story short, I wish they’d have just dropped this ‘land’ altogether and spent the money on porting Pets over and maybe another dark ride or simple ride. That’d appeal to everyone, instead of an area that most people can’t really take advantage of.
Fire must be the new Gun. Most of Universal’s past attractions had guns or blasters of some sort. Many still do (Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, Men in Black, Fast & Furious, Bourne Spectacular). Off the top of my head there was Jaws, the Wild West stunt show, Terminator, E.T., Ghostbusters, Kongfrontation. It’s lazy storytelling when gun violence seems to be the only way to represent “winning” or conflict resolution. And people get up in arms with Harry Potter magic.
Tom-
This is where if Disney was more nimble in attraction development, they would have had a Bluey Land about 18 months ago…. and it would have the GDP of most European countries. You will be watching and singing Bluey tracks with Megatron in due course, my friend.
My one issue with the Dreamworks land is that it seems to be leaning heavily on the physical interactive parts… those get worn out fast and are a maintenance nightmare.
If they end up redoing RnRC at Hollywood Studios, I could get on boarding with a Soullercoaster reimagining. It would even preserve the music theming.
“DreamWorks land does absolutely nothing for me …………. Ahhhhhhh but Megatron !!!!
In fairness, I’ve yet to see HTTYD or the newer Puss in Boots movies (all of which look/sound good), but I think Shrek and Kung Fu Panda are massively overrated and don’t really hold up well. Haven’t seen Trolls, so I’ll withhold my (uninformed) opinion as to how that looks. To each their own, though! I know those franchises have their fans.
Probably an unrealistic expectation, but I hope Megatron likes Studio Ghibli, Henson, and certain Disney/Pixar movies, primarily. Bluey also looks fantastic, from what I’ve seen of it.
HTTYD (the first movie) is my favorite animated film, and I’m a lifelong Disney fan. also, Bluey is absolutely phonomenal! I’m being introduced to the classic Studio Ghibli films currently by my husband and love them, so sounds like you have a solid plan for baby Megatron. only seen Trolls kinda of once, but the music is super fun!
Tom, if the kids in my life are any indication, Megatron won’t make you watch Trolls a ton, but you *will* be playing the soundtrack on loop.
I might ride a Trollercoaster, but there’s no way I’m riding a Soullercoaster after seeing what happens at the top of the big conveyor belt incline in that movie.