Hollywood Ride Guide Independent & unofficial

Universal's Islands of Adventure

Seuss Landing

The only island built for small children, and the reason a family with a preschooler can still have a day here.

  • Opened1999
  • Attractions4
  • Places to eat4
  • HeadlinerThe Cat in the Hat

Seuss Landing is the counterweight to everything else in this park, and it is executed with more care than its pastel palette suggests. Universal's designers took the position that nothing in a Dr. Seuss world should have a straight line in it, and they held to it - the buildings lean, the fences curve, the palm trees on the site were sourced from groves bent by Hurricane Andrew rather than shaped artificially. Standing in the middle of it and finding a true vertical is genuinely hard.

Four rides, and the height requirements finally relax. The Cat in the Hat is a spinning-couch dark ride at 36 inches that is a legitimately good attraction rather than a children's consolation prize. The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! is an elevated track that circles the island at rooftop height at 34 inches, and it is the best low-intensity view in the park. Caro-Seuss-el and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish have no minimum height at all, and One Fish is the rare spinner where the ride actively squirts riders who steer wrong.

It is also where the shade, the benches and the bathrooms are on the Seuss Landing side of the loop, and where an adult can sit for twenty minutes without a coaster roaring overhead. Green Eggs and Ham Cafe reopened in this island serving the tater tot dish it is named for, which is better food than a novelty item has any obligation to be.

One structural warning: Seuss Landing is at the far end of the loop from Marvel Super Hero Island. If your group splits so that one half rides Hulk and the other half stays with a toddler here, they are twenty minutes apart on foot with the lagoon in between. Plan the split around that, not around ride times.

Do not miss

  • The Cat in the Hat, a real dark ride rather than a kiddie ride
  • The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! circling the island at roof height
  • Two rides with no minimum height at all
  • Green Eggs and Ham Cafe's tater tots
  • The only substantial shade and seating outside Port of Entry

Seuss Landing tips

  • Do Seuss Landing first if your group's youngest is under 40 inches. Waits here build through the day like everywhere else and this is the island they can actually use.
  • The Cat in the Hat's benches rotate as they travel. Anyone prone to motion sickness should sit and face forward deliberately rather than turning to look at the scenes.
  • The Trolley Train has two separate tracks with different routes and different narration. Ride both if the wait is short - most guests never notice there are two.
  • This is the far end of the loop from Marvel. If you are splitting the group by height, put the meeting point in Port of Entry, not here.

Attractions in Seuss Landing

The Cat in the Hat

36"91cm

Dark ride · 3½ min · Express

A spinning-couch dark ride through the whole book at 36 inches - a genuinely good attraction rather than a children's consolation prize.

The Cat in the Hat takes a six-passenger couch on a track through a room-by-room retelling of the book, with the couch rotating freely as it goes so the scenes arrive from unexpected directions. It is the best attraction in Seuss Landing and one of the better traditional dark rides in Orlando, which is not how most adults treat it on the way past.

Tips for The Cat in the Hat
  • Do not skip this because it is in Seuss Landing. It is a better dark ride than most of what is at Magic Kingdom in the same category.
  • Face forward deliberately and avoid tracking the scenery if you are prone to motion sickness. The spinning cannot be switched off.
  • Ride it in the late afternoon. Seuss Landing empties out as families with young children leave and the wait drops to nearly nothing.
  • The 36-inch requirement is the same as Skull Island: Reign of Kong, and this ride is vastly gentler. If a child has cleared 36 inches, this is where to start.
  • Repeat-visitor note: the detail density is high enough that a second ride shows you a completely different set of gags, because the couch spins differently each time.

Full guide to The Cat in the Hat →

The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!

34"86cm

Train · 3 min · Express

An elevated trolley that circles Seuss Landing at rooftop height with a 34-inch minimum - the lowest height requirement in the park.

The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! opened in 2006 and runs small trolley cars on an elevated track that loops around and through the buildings of Seuss Landing at rooftop level, at roughly walking speed, for about three minutes. Its 34-inch requirement is the lowest at Islands of Adventure, which makes it the first ride a lot of children here can do.

Tips for The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride!
  • This is the lowest height requirement in the park at 34 inches. For a family with a very small child, it is the first ride to head for.
  • There are two tracks with different routes. Look at which side the queue is feeding and ride both if the wait is short.
  • The cars are cramped for adults. If two adults and two children are riding together, split as one adult per car rather than squeezing four in.
  • Ride in the late afternoon for the light. The view across the lagoon from the outer loop is the best thing about it and it is best an hour before sunset.
  • Repeat-visitor note: the pass through the Circus McGurkus building is the piece of design worth watching for, and it goes by in about four seconds.

Full guide to The High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride! →

Caro-Seuss-el

Any height

Spinner · 2 min · Express

A carousel of Dr. Seuss creatures whose eyes blink and heads turn, with no minimum height and no straight lines anywhere on it.

Caro-Seuss-el is a carousel populated entirely by invented Seuss animals - cowfish, elephant-birds, twin camels - rather than horses, and every mount is animated. Eyes blink, heads turn, tails move, and the ones with reins make the animal respond when a child pulls them. It is the most detailed carousel in Orlando by some distance and it took a serious amount of sculpting work.

Tips for Caro-Seuss-el
  • There is no minimum height here. For a family with a toddler, this and One Fish, Two Fish are the only two rides in the park with no restriction at all.
  • Ask at load if someone in your party cannot straddle a mount. There is a chariot and several bench-style seats at the outer edge.
  • Every mount is animated. Let a child pick their own rather than taking the first free one - they are all different and some react more than others.
  • The queue is short all day. This is a good filler while someone else in the group is on The Cat in the Hat.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Any height

Spinner · 2 min · Express

A spinner where the song tells you when to go up or down, and the water spouts punish you for getting it wrong.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish is a hub-and-spoke spinner in the Dumbo mold, with one significant addition: a rhyme plays throughout that instructs riders when to raise and lower their fish, and squirting spouts positioned around the ride fire at anyone who is at the wrong height at the wrong moment. Following the song keeps you dry. Ignoring it does not.

Tips for One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
  • Listen to the rhyme. It tells you when to go up and down, and the spouts fire at whoever is on the wrong level - this is not random.
  • You will get lightly wet regardless. It is a splash rather than a soaking, but do not queue for this holding an unprotected phone.
  • No minimum height. This and Caro-Seuss-el are the only two rides in the park with no restriction at all.
  • The lever needs real hand strength. An adult should ride with a child under about seven rather than expecting them to operate it.

Eating in Seuss Landing

Quick service · Seuss Landing

Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoo-pendous

The big-top dining hall in Seuss Landing with a trolley train running through the ceiling and the largest indoor seating on this side of the park.

$$Mobile order

  • CuisineAmerican - fried chicken, pizza and pasta
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Quick service · Seuss Landing

Green Eggs and Ham Cafe

The ham-shaped counter in Seuss Landing serving the tater tot dish it is named after, which is better than a novelty item has any duty to be.

$$Mobile order

  • CuisineNovelty American - loaded tots and burgers
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Snack cart · Seuss Landing

Moose Juice Goose Juice

The frozen drink stand in Seuss Landing selling two colored slushes named after the animals that supposedly produced them.

$

  • CuisineFrozen drinks and snacks
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Snack cart · Seuss Landing

Hop On Pop Ice Cream Shop

The ice cream window in Seuss Landing, with shaded seating and the shortest queue of any sweet counter in the park.

$

  • CuisineIce cream and sundaes
  • ReservationsNo reservations

Snacks worth stopping for

Green Eggs and Ham Tots

Green Eggs and Ham Cafe

$12.99

A bowl of tater tots loaded with diced ham, cheese sauce and a green herb sauce that supplies the color, served from the ham-shaped building in Seuss Landing.

Our take: The best novelty dish at Universal Orlando and one of very few gimmick foods worth ordering twice. The green is herbs, not dye, and the acidity is what makes it work. One bowl feeds two.

Do not leave without it Savory

The Whoburger

Green Eggs and Ham Cafe

$14.99

The house cheeseburger at Green Eggs and Ham Cafe, served with fries from the same window as the tots.

Our take: Filler on a menu that exists for one dish. Order the tots and skip this unless somebody in your group will only eat a burger.

Savory

Moose Juice

Moose Juice Goose Juice

$7.49

A frozen tangerine slush sold from the Seuss Landing stand of the same name, in a bright orange cup.

Our take: The sweeter of the two and the one children actually finish. A good cold drink at a low price in the island where you most need one.

Drink VeganGluten-friendly Walkable

Goose Juice

Moose Juice Goose Juice

$7.49

A frozen sour green apple slush, the tart counterpart to Moose Juice, sold from the same Seuss Landing stand.

Our take: Sharper than children expect and frequently abandoned half-finished. Ask before letting a five-year-old choose by color.

Drink VeganGluten-friendly Walkable

Hot Fudge Sundae

Hop On Pop Ice Cream Shop

$8.99

Hard-scoop vanilla ice cream with hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry, from the small window in Seuss Landing.

Our take: Standard ice cream with a queue a fraction the size of the ones in Hogsmeade. The correct bribe for a child who has just been measured and turned away.

Sweet Vegetarian

Fried Chicken Platter

Circus McGurkus Cafe Stoo-pendous

$15.99

Fried chicken with a side and a roll, served in the big-top dining hall where the Seuss trolley train passes overhead.

Our take: Adequate counter fried chicken. You are eating here for the air conditioning, the space and the trolley overhead, and that is a fair trade with a tired four-year-old.

Savory

Nearby

Universal's Islands of Adventure map See where this land sits All attractions Every ride in Universal's Islands of Adventure Port of Entry The entry bazaar and the park's only crossroads - no attractions at all, and most of the useful services. Marvel Super Hero Island Primary-colored comic architecture wrapped around the park's two most physically aggressive rides and its best dark ride.