We got an EXCLUSIVE look at Universal’s NEWEST land.
While much of the focus on the Universal Orlando Resort is currently on Epic Universe, a NEW land is opening at Universal Studios Florida. Based on the films of Dreamworks Animation Studios, this new land occupies the space formerly occupied by Woody Woodpecker’s KidZone.
DreamWorks Land, which is scheduled to open to the public on June 14th, features a brand-new ride, a show, and several meet & greets and play areas dedicated to young children.
Once you first step foot into this new area, you are greeted by the most beautiful sight to ever behold: Shrek’s Swamp. The iconic ogre’s humble abode has been designed into a vast playground with four slides, a water play zone, and a slide down Shrek’s outhouse (which is kinda gross…but also very cool!). You can even visit Pinocchio where he can tell you some facts that may or may not be true (watch out for his growing nose!).
There are also other interactive play areas such as King Harold’s Swamp Symphony, where each lily pad you hop on will make one of the area’s frogs sing, and Mama Luna Feline Fiesta where you get to play with the feline residents of Mama Luna’s retirement home for cats from Puss in Boots 2: The Last Wish.
Also in this area is Shrek’s Swamp Meet where you can meet Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey and visit the highly anticipated Swamp Snacks that made news with their Shrekzels with green cheese. The stand also sells Swamp Dogs, Far Far A Waffles, Mud Puddle Pudding, Chonkey Donkey chocolate ice pops, and Frozen Ogre sour apple ice pops. All treats are perfect for an ogre feast!
Inside DreamWorks Land is also the Trolls Village, which is as whimsical and colorful as the movies themselves. Featured in this area is an attraction called the “Trollercoaster” which is a family-friendly rollercoaster where you get to ride a Caterbus and journey through the Trolls’ forest.
There is also Poppy’s Playground, which is a shaded play area for kids with lots of fun and vibrant details, including brightly colored flowers and quirky little critters.
The food stand in this land is called Troll Treats, which is an ice cream shop inside of a giant boom-box where you can get Poppy-licious Pink and BroZone Berry cones (try to say that 3 times fast). And if you’re looking for some unique souvenirs exclusively made for the new land, you can check out High Five Hideaway.
Po’s Kung Fu Training Camp is a fun play area themed after Kung Fu Panda that brings to life The Panda Village from the movie and has tons of interactive elements. A fun inclusion is Mr. Ping’s Noodle Kaboodle which has merry-go-rounds shaped like bowls of noodles. This area is also home to ‘Po Live!’ where you can interact with Po as he teaches you some kung-fu moves and tips to cook the best stir-fry (all the things a dragon warrior needs to know).
The new land has also added a new stage show to the theatre that once housed Barney. The new stage show is called “DreamWorks Celebration,” and as the title hints, it is a musical dance party celebrating the beloved DreamWorks characters featured in the land.
After getting a chance to sample DreamWorks Land, we’re confident this new land is going to become a fixture at Universal Studios Florida for years to come. Stay tuned to DFB for more Universal updates.
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Are you excited about DreamWorks Land? Let us know in the comments below.
Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Universal to attend their media preview of DreamWorks Land. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ
Martin Blake says
I thought Pinocchio was part of disney? How is universal having Pinocchio in this land?
DFB Gigi says
Hi Martin! Pinocchio was also a character in Shrek, which is a DreamWorks franchise. To expand on that, however, Disney owns it’s own adaptation of Pinocchio, but the Pinocchio character in general is so old that it’s public domain so they never stepped on Disney’s toes because they didn’t use one of Disney’s exact likenesses of Pinocchio.