While Universal Kids Resort will officially open on July 1st, we’re at the park right now to experience it early! This is Universal’s first Texas theme park, featuring some of the most popular children’s characters, including SpongeBob, Shrek, and more.

The park has seven brand-new lands – Isle of Curiosity, Shrek’s Swamp, Puss in Boots Del Mar, Minions vs. Minions: Bello Bay Club, Jurassic World Adventure Camp, TrollsFest, and SpongeBob SquarePants Bikini Bottom – and we’re taking you with us through all of them!

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Universal Kids Resort is a brand-new theme park located in Frisco, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas. It’s aimed at families with young children, with family-friendly characters, rides, and food, but we think it’s fun for both kids and kids-at-heart!

Universal Kids Resort features seven different lands themed after Shrek, SpongeBob SquarePants, Minions, Trolls, and Jurassic World. There are over 3o new attractions, dozens of new restaurants, seven new gift shops, one new show, and a whole lot more. There’s plenty to see and do, and we’re taking you along for the ride!

We started by heading to the hotel, where we were blown away by the bright colors.

We also got to meet a few characters while we were there.

The Standard Room was built perfectly for families, and we think there’s going to be some arguments about who gets the top bunk.

CHECK OUT THE FULL ROOM TOUR HERE!

We were not going to skip out on the pool, either. It was no entry, so anyone could walk right in, and we enjoyed lounging around and soaking in the Texas heat.

No, really. The pool might be our favorite part of the whole hotel.

FULL TOUR OF THE BRAND-NEW UNIVERSAL KIDS RESORT HOTEL

Now that we’re in, let’s check out the rest of this park!

SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom

For our first land of the day, we had to hang out at SpongeBob SquarePants: Bikini Bottom! The land has six attractions. First, we rode Barnacle Bus, which took us on a tour of Bikini Bottom, taking in the sights and familiar faces from Goofy Goober’s to Glovey Glove and SpongeBob’s loyal pet, Gary the Snail.

We were super excited to ride Mrs. Puff’s Boating School. We had our undersea boating license ready and rode on through. Luckily, we stayed on the road a little easier than SpongeBob.

Look at Bobbing Barrels! Patrick was waving us in, and with the hot Texas sunshine, we were ready for a cooler water ride.

We also checked out some of the photo ops around!

There’s also a brand-new restaurant called Goofy Goober’s that serves the iconic Goofy Goober Sundaes.

Yes, dreams came true the minute we held them in our hands. It felt just like the cartoon!

Of course, we played in the splash pad a little bit, too.

CHECK OUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN SEE AND DO IN SPONGEBOB’S BIKINI BOTTOM

Jurassic World Adventure Camp

Next, we went to Jurassic World Adventure Camp to meet real-life dinosaurs and ride some more attractions. All Jurassic Park and Jurassic World fans will want to check out this land to live their dinosaur-exploring dreams. 

We met a baby raptor, and it was awesome.

CHECK OUT MORE  DETAILS ABOUT OUR DINO MEET AND GREET HERE!

We had to ride Jurassic World: Cretaceous Coaster, a family coaster where you search for Baby Bumpy, a curious ankylosaurus that has gone missing.

Then, we hopped on Pteranodrop, a ride that takes you into the skies like a pteranodon! We had an amazing view of the park.

Lastly, we rode Mr. DNA’s Double Helix Spin, where we hopped in a colorful pod and joined Mr. DNA for a fun experience packed with tons of twists and turns!

There’s also some pretty fun playgrounds like this massive climbing tower…

…and this dinosaur you can play on!

For dining, you can check out Jurassic World Canteen. They were sold out of dishes when we made our way over, but you’ll be able ot get pizza and dino nuggets on mashed potatoes that look like a volcano.

CHECK OUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN DO AT JURASSIC WORLD ADVENTURE CAMP HERE!

Puss in Boots Del Mar

On to Puss in Boots Del Mar. This land features a swing ride called Swings Over Del Mar, which carries guests high above a festive kitty adoption day celebration alongside Puss in Boots, Perrito, and Mama Luna.

We had to watch Mama Luna’s Adopt a Kitty Day!, a live show with puppet performances and some Spanish-language moments worked into the fun.

It was such a cute show, and the kids seemed to really enjoy it.

CHECK OUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN SEE AND DO IN PUSS IN BOOTS DEL MAR LAND

Shrek’s Swamp

Now we’re heading to Shrek’s Swamp!

We got to meet Shrek and Fiona, and we loved all the details in the backdrop.

We also checked out the two interactive play areas, Shrek’s Swamp Rompin’ Stomp and Shrek’s Swamp Plash & Smash. Get ready to get wet at the splash pad!

The playground was covered, which was great.

We had to ride Shrek and Fiona’s Happily Ogre After, a family-friendly boat ride that takes guests through the love story of an ogre and a princess.

It was so cute!

We couldn’t resist doing some shopping, too.

CHECK OUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN DO AT SHREK’S SWAMP

TrollsFest

We had checked out TrollsFest!

First, we went to the interactive play areas, Poppy’s Playland…

…and Trolls Critter Crawl.

We had to ride Rhonda’s TrollsFest Express, a fun coaster/Armadillo Bus ride that has you “turn and groove through the land with Rhonda and friends!”

Then, we headed to Hair in the Clouds, a colorful balloon ride that takes you up above the land!

Who’s ready for a dance party? You can find King Trollex Techno Dance Party for a show-fance party hybrid featuring King Trollex, disco balls, and high-energy techno, funk, and pop music.

There’s also a stage show called Trollstastic: Concert Countdown where you get to lead the sound check, learn the dance moves, and jump into the spotlight with your favorite Trolls.

We also met Poppy and Branch.

There’s a restaurant called Trolls Eatz! that has pizza and pasta.

You can’t forget to get ice cream at BroZone Cones, too.

Of course, we had to do some shopping. You can head to Mr. Dinkles’ Market to grab Trolls souvenirs.

Something that is so special about this land is that they have a makeover experience. You can go to Sparkle Shine Glitter Glow to get Troll outfits and accessories along with lots of glitter and face paint.

CHECK OUT EVERYTHING YOU CAN DO IN TROLLSFEST

We’re going to be updating this post throughout our trip at Universal Kids Resort, so keep checking back for new details and info. Stay tuned to Disney Food Blog for more Universal Kids Resort news!

Ticket Prices REVEALED for NEW Universal Theme Park — And They’re ON SALE NOW!

Are you planning on going to Universal Kids Resort? Comment 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 Universal Kids Resort. 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