The SATURDAY SIX Looks at the Six Best QUEUES at the Universal Orlando Resort

This week’s SATURDAY SIX takes a look at the Six Best QUEUES at the Universal Orlando Resort. If there is one thing all theme park fans can agree with, it’s that we hate lines. Even people who aren’t theme park fans often return from an Orlando vacation with a similar thought: theme park lines are the worst. 

Thankfully our Disney and Universal overlords have spent the last decade completely transforming the queue experience. Disney, has gone in one direction: making standby lines so intolerable that guests have almost no choice but to purchase Lightning Lane “opportunities” to reduce their time in them. Universal has gone in a slightly different direction, creating queues that guests actually want to spend more time in. The concept of “feeling rushed” in a theme park line may seem incomprehensible to anyone who has waited an hour in the Florida humidity for it’s a small world or suffered through the mind-numbing banality of the Soarin’ queue, but believe it or not, it’s true.

Today we are going to look at our favorite queues at Universal, starting with…

# 6 – Men In Black: Alien Attack

The queue for Men In Black: Alien Attack checks off several items we consider crucial to having a good queue, not the least of which is that you are in air conditioning for a long time. That may seem like a minor thing until you’ve almost experienced the sensation of melting while waiting outside for the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride or Rip, Ride, Rockit. It also recreates several areas that many guests will fondly remember from the first Men in Black film.

This includes the Immigration Room, where guests can look down and see aliens at work and other fun details.

In fact, one of our favorite parts of MIB queue is that you can actually experience it hands on with a tour of the Immigration Room. Guests aren’t guaranteed this opportunity, but after riding the attraction you can ask a Team Member if you can take a tour. This will allow you some unbelievably great photo opportunities, along with a chance to see so many incredible details that Universal Creative has put into this room that the average guest will never see.

# 5 – Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon

This may be a controversial choice. Part of the queue’s appeal is based on your fondness for The Tonight Show – which has been a staple on American TV for almost 70 years – and the queue for Race Through New York pays tribute to that.

As a lifelong Tonight Show fan, the area dedicated to the history of the show is one of my favorite things in the entire park, and you get to experience it right after you enter the attraction. While Steve Allen and Jack Paar were before my time, it’s nice there are sections for them. Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show is an American institution, and Jay Leno had quite the run himself going 20+ years. The entire situation with Conan O’Brien was a fascinating one to watch play out over the one year he hosted the show, and it was awesome for a Coco fan like me to see a tribute to some of the things popularized during his run such as Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.

I would love more of these “museum” like features at both Universal and Disney. Imagine an attraction that let guests experience props and videos from the park’s history such as Kongfrontation, the Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, or Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies. My family once did a goofy Star Trek video at USF that might be the cheesiest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life, but I loved it.

Now let’s check out the next stage of the Race Through New York queue, and Universal please take note: whoever put seats in an air conditioned room as part of a pre-show should get a raise. Any of us who have had to suffer enjoy a Florida summer day at the parks would help chip in. However, the person who had the foresight to include outlets so that guests could charge their electronics deserves an even bigger raise. There are not enough outlets at Universal or WDW in the current world in which we have become completely attached to our phones.

While taking a breather, Universal also has a Race Through New York video game for guests to enjoy. A couple years ago, Disney put video games in the queue for Space Mountain, but I personally never saw the point. In my experience, even taking a few seconds to play the games ended up causing a break in the line. Not long after, thanks to FP+, the games in the queue made even less sense. Because Race Through New York doesn’t have a traditional line, you can actually play the video games without aggravating the people behind you. You also get to see Jimmy Fallon run over Hashtag the Panda in the Tonight Rider (what a perfect name paying tribute to the classic NBC show Knight Rider) and seeing Hashtag get abused is always funny.

You can’t call yourself a theme park fan if you don’t love the Dapper Dans at the Magic Kingdom, but Universal has delivered an even funnier version of a barbershop quartet with The Ragtime Gals. By far and away the biggest surprise of Race Through New York, The Ragtime Gals entertain the crowd singing various harmonic melodies – including a segment dedicated to boy bands – and also deliver an amazing History of Rap segment. The “Gals” aren’t the only live entertainment though as the Tonight’s Shows mascot, Hashtag the Panda, is also around and up to his usual crazy antics.

The cherry on top of this queue sundae is that Race Through New York has a ride safety video that you actually want to watch. Talk about a game changer.

# 4 – The Simpsons Ride

When a beloved attraction is replaced, the new ride better be good or you are never going to hear the end of it. At EPCOT, Horizons fans will be moaning until the day they die because their ride was torn down for Mission: SPACE. At USF, both the Kongfrontation and Jaws attractions have die-hard supporters, but their replacements in Revenge of the Mummy and Diagon Alley are so good that the vast majority of people are happy with the change.

Back to the Future: The Ride was a lot of fun. However, the queue was bad (almost Soarin’ Around the World bad) and nothing was truly exceptional other than that we love the BTTF characters and the DeLorean ride vehicle will be enshrined in the theme park Hall of Fame. BTTF’s replacement, The Simpsons Ride, has one of the best queues in the park. It has so many great things that you probably won’t be in line long enough to ever see them all. Outside, there is a wonderful map of Krustyland that most people just walk by without giving a second look, but if you check out the details on that map you are in for a treat. I’m fond of the gigantic attraction posters that appear to be poking fun at Universal’s competition down the street…

While in the outdoors queue, you’ll see clips from classic episodes of The Simpsons where the family visits theme parks. These are great, but Universal also added new material exclusively for this attraction. You’ll get to see Homer Simpson complaining about the price of food inside the theme parks, and even an appearance by Doc Brown himself as a short video explains how Krusty took over the home of the former BTTF: The Ride!

Once indoors, we also get some E-Ticket references to classic Disney attractions.

Along with other fun gags.

# 3 – Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts

The queue for Harry Potter and the Escape From Gringotts is filled with great moments, but it starts off with a jaw dropper when guests enter the Great Hall of Gringotts Bank. With stunning chandeliers and incredibly detailed goblin animatronics, to theme park fans in 2014 it was like nothing we had ever seen before and set the stage for the future of queues in attractions such as Avatar: Flight of Passage and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. The pre-show featuring Bill Weasley possibly gives that character more screen time than he got in the actual Harry Potter films. On our journey to the ride vehicles, we pass by offices with goblins having conversations, get into an elevator that should make the heart flutter for any Seabase Alpha fans who miss the hydrolaters, and ultimately end up in a huge cavern filled with gigantic stalactites.

Rumors and Innuendo suggest these chandeliers cost $1M dollars, and they look every penny of it. Stunning.

# 2 – Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter: Hogsmeade Village made its debut in 2010, and the entire theme park world is still feeling the effects of that monstrous opening to this very day. It changed everything. While there are many reasons for the success of the land, the two biggest surprises have to be shockingly massive success of butterbeer, and the I can’t believe this is real queue for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

Being able to walk through Hogwarts Castle is a lifelong dream for many Potter fans, but it can be just a cool experience for someone who has never seen the films. The idea of “living portraits” was neat to read about in the Potter books, cool to see on the big screen, but becomes something else to behold when you see paintings having discussions with each other while in line. Like JK Rowling’s Potter books, the queue is filled with details that will reward guests who return again and again, including listening for characters talking in the background.

The queue for Forbidden Journey used the “moving paintings” that made their debut with the Potter films, including one section that has the Four Founders of Hogwarts interacting with each other while discussing Muggles visiting the grounds (with Salazar Slytherin NOT happy about it.)

For the movie fans, the queue has two scenes using Universal’s Musion technology. One featuring Dumbledore, and the other with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. With Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) and Emma Watson (Hermoine) distancing themselves from the Potter Universe, the queue (and subsequent ride) give us that delicious taste of the Potter franchise that we remember. The Hogwarts Castle façade sets expectations high, but the queue itself somehow over-delivers to the point where many guests let others pass them so that they can fully appreciate the environment around them. The queue for Forbidden Journey is a gold standard for excellence.

# 1 – VelociCoaster

When the VelociCoaster opened back in 2021, it was coming off the heels of the wildly successful Jurassic World films, but one main character featured in the ride’s queue dates all the way back to the very first Jurassic Park movie. Mr. DNA was an immediate fan favorite when he made his on-screen debut back in 1993, despite only being featured on screen for a relatively short amount of time. Mr. DNA was the cartoon character used to explain the science behind Jurassic Park to the park’s guests and – more importantly – us, the audience. Who knew that a simple DNA helix with arms and legs could be so charming?

Mr. DNA made his triumphant return to pop culture in the VelociCoaster, as he meets us in the lobby to introduce us to the ride, and reappears later to show us one of the coaster’s coolest features (but we’ll get to that in due time).

Throughout the queue you will see appearances and references to characters from all the Jurassic Park/World films.

There are several raptor animatronics in the VelociCoaster queue that are so lifelike it is downright creepy. With their eye movements and snarls, you feel like they could break loose at any moment.

Among the props seen in the queue is this radar gun reading the number 79.1. The VelociCoaster was codenamed Project 791, which means very little to most people reading this, but means a heck of a lot by people obsessed with the construction of theme park rides.

Over the last several years, Universal Orlando has done an incredible job at improving the situation of lockers for their thrill rides. When the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade Village originally opened in 2010, you could make a case for the only negative in the entire land was the complete Cluster F of the locker situation for Forbidden Journey. People don’t like using lockers in the first place, but making the entire experience miserable can sour what would have been a great ride experience. In the following decade plus, we’ve seen Universal create some amazing things at the resort, from world class attractions like the Bourne Stuntacular, to incredible hotels like Sapphire Falls, to the best water park in Florida with Volcano Bay, but the thing that has probably had the biggest impact on the most amount of guests is fixing their “locker situation” at thrill rides including The Incredible Hulk Coaster, Revenge of the Mummy, and Forbidden Journey. Getting in and out of the thrill ride lockers is now simple, easy, and – most importantly – stress free for everyone.

The VelociCoaster takes the locker situation to the next level, incorporating lockers into the actual ride experience. Midway through the attraction, we meet our friend Mr. DNA and he’s here to tell us how to keep our belongings safe.

The Mr. DNA videos go into great detail on what you need to put into the lockers (basically, everything on you except your park ticket) and how the lockers work.

Here’s the game changing part. Guests put their items in lockers while walking through the queue, but once they exit the attraction they pick up their belongings from the opposite side of the lockers. This gets rid of all the congestion you see at other ride locker systems.

Late in the queue we are given a great sequence involving the two main characters of Jurassic World, Claire Dearing (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Grady (played by Chris Pratt). The two have some fun interplay as Owen is losing his mind about a theme park ride being built around his velociraptors. Behind Claire, we can see she is in front of the VelociCoaster.

What’s absolutely AMAZING is that when it becomes night time in real life, the background behind Claire reflects that it is night time in the ride as well. Unbelievable!!!

Lots of little details in the video, including what appears to be a group photo of the VelociCoaster design team on the desk and some triceratops toys paying tribute to the area’s previous resident: the Triceratops Encounter attraction.

Now remember, the theme of VelociCoaster is that you’re visiting a theme park (Jurassic World) to ride a roller coaster. Well, roller coasters have lockout stations. So naturally the queue for VelociCoaster has a faux lockout station to add to the immersive feel. With that, you are ready to RIDE!

Honorable Mention – Villain-Con Minion Blast

One of the most recent additions to Universal Studios Florida is Illumination’s Villain-Con Minion Blast. This attraction replaced Shrek 4D (you can read our love letter to the Green Ogre by CLICKING HERE.) Now, while we haven’t found any references to Shrek in Villain-Con, we have found several references to the attraction which Shrek 4D replaced – Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies.

An opening day attraction with the park, Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies gave guests a behind-the-scenes look at how some of the most iconic movies in Hollywood history were filmed. One of Alfred Hitchcock’s most famous films was the movie Psycho. The main character of Psycho was named Norman Bates, who you can see listed as a Villain-Con presenter in the queue.

We try to avoid spoilers here in the SATURDAY SIX, but to be fair the movie Psycho came out in 1960 and enough time has probably passed to go over a plot point from the film. During points in the movie, the character of Norman Bates speaks in his mother’s voice and even dresses as mother, although we find out late in the film that his mother has been dead for many years. In the queue for Villain-Con Minion Blast you’ll see an advertisement for a Cosplay Contest, and in the ad there is a character in a stroller who is dressed up as Norman Bates-as-his-mother (even brandishing a knife, referencing one of the most well known horror sequences in the history of cinema.) As a bonus, you’ll also see another reference to Jaws right below!

The indoor queue portion of Villain-Con is very kid friendly with a look at larger than life bad guys. Your mileage may vary, but as a comic book fan who has been to many conventions over the course of my life, Villain-Con does an incredible job capturing the experience of visiting a con and seeing the various vendors. With, of course, some Villain-appropriate modifications.

Have to love this Villian-Con map, which is just like every comic convention map I’ve ever seen. Lots of details to find, but my absolute favorite is a section right in the middle labeled Con-Artist’s Alley. I don’t care who you are, that’s funny.

As you make your way through the queue you will come across booths set up by various villainous companies, such as Malicious Motors specializing in getaway vehicles.

My personal favorite booth was Corrupt Companions, which focuses on evil pets. This is next-level genius.

My personal favorite booth is Corrupt Companions, which focuses on evil pets. Just Amazing. There is a line of perfume that has a tagline of Mark Your Territory while the pet tags say Henchmen Are Disposable, Pets are Not. Brilliant stuff.

Double Secret Honorable Mention – Revenge of the Mummy

Universal Studios Florida is still a working production studio for film and TV, but for the most part the rides themselves have moved away from that aspect of storytelling. While many early attractions focused on the art of filmmaking (such as Earthquake: The Big One, Alfred Hitchcock: The Art of Making Movies, and Star Trek Adventure), the current attractions eschew anything related to breaking the fourth wall. Revenge of the Mummy was one of the last attractions made that incorporated the concept of guests walking onto a movie set. Once guests walk past the filmmaking props they enter the Egyptian tomb “set” and it becomes awesome. The creepy atmosphere is straight out of Halloween Horror Nights, and there are several places where guests can interact with the environment. The queue experience and the ride itself are so good that fans have forgiven it for replacing the beloved opening day attraction Kongfrontation (compared to say, Disney’s Mission: SPACE, which would do anything to get a break from Horizons fans.)

Now let’s check out a Kong reference that I always thought was obvious, but I found out during the course of writing this article that not many people have ever noticed this. In the Revenge of the Mummy queue and ride you will see artwork that has a cool design for a scarab beetle that, storyline wise, is the logo for The Mummy sequel that is being filmed on a hot set. If you look closely at the center of this artwork, you’ll notice that it has the face of King Kong cleverly hidden inside.

There are also several video screens in the queue and during the ride itself where you will see this artwork animated. When the artwork starts to disappear, the Kong face in the middle is highlighted. Pretty ingenious way to pay tribute to a former attraction if you ask me.

TRIPLE THREAT HONORABLE MENTION: The E.T. Adventure

Speaking of opening day attractions, E.T. Adventure is the last man standing at Universal Studios Florida. Disney’s Magic Kingdom is celebrating its 53rd anniversary this year, and there are over a dozen attractions still in the park that began their operation in 1971. USF was opened twenty years after MK, and has only 1 ride still operating from its opening day: E.T.

Here’s hoping E.T. lasts another 25 years because the queue alone is pure magic. It starts off with an introduction by Steven Spielberg that is next level bonkers. Spielberg, joined by E.T., explains the backstory for the upcoming ride. Guests then line up to give their names to a Team Member and receive an interplanetary passport. This is a neat little physical card that you end up handing to another TM when you board the ride and the cards allow E.T. to say your name at the end of the attraction.

In recent years, the card has been updated.

After you get your passport is where the fun begins, because now you enter into a large indoor forest that is one of the coolest things ever made for a theme park. No offense Flight of Passage queue, I love you, but this is what I like. The smell in this queue is one my favorite scents at Disney or Universal.

E.T.’s friend Botanicus appears at times (literally popping out of the ground) to remind us E.T. needs to return home to save his planet. We even get to see the famous Speak & Spell from the movie. The facade for E.T. is one of the worst at Universal (to be fair, it is supposed to look like a movie sound stage, which it does), but the queue is A++++++, the first half of the ride is a more spectacular version of Peter Pan’s Flight, and the second half is so completely insane it has to be seen to be believed. After exiting E.T. I always have two thoughts: 1) Thank the heavens Steven Spielberg never made a sequel to E.T., and 2) If Universal even thinks about getting rid of E.T. Adventure, I will be chaining myself up to that ugly façade. NOT ON MY WATCH.

Grand Slam Honorable Mention: Skull Island: Reign of Kong

While Revenge of the Mummy’s queue has a creepiness factor to it, SKULL ISLAND: Reign of Kong goes straight for terror. The atmosphere is off-the-charts, and the use of animatronics and (previously) live scareactors makes the queue experience like no other. Similar to the mazes in Halloween Horror Nights, the queue itself is designed at points to funnel guests into areas that are smaller than we are used to while waiting in lines, adding even more to the overall chill factor.

GRAND SLAM Honorable Mention –  Dr. Doom’s Fearfall

What’s interesting is that Universal has two rides in Islands of Adventure where basically the “bad guys” are in full control of the queue. The first is Skull Island, but the second attraction is over in Marvel Superhero Island at Dr. Doom’s Fearfall and they go a wildly different way with their queue that is completely subversive.

Let’s take a quick step back in time. When Islands of Adventure opened back in 1999, one of the pieces of merchandise you could buy was issue #1 of the Marvel Superhero Island comic. This comic had three stories; one featuring The Hulk, another with Spider-Man, and it started off with a story featuring The Fantastic Four thwarting an evil plot by Dr. Doom, only to reveal at the end that Doom had taken his technology to Orlando and was going to use it on theme park guests.

At IOA you’ll find out that Dr. Doom actually succeeded in his plan and is using his Latverian Embassy to extract fear from unwitting guests.

For the ultra kid friendly Marvel Superhero Island, the queue is dark, ominous, and more than a bit chilling.

It also includes one of my favorite things in the park, The Fear Funnel!

There is a video in the queue where you can see Dr. Doom interact with the Fantastic Four, but the video also has a BONKERS Latveria propaganda film that is just incredible to watch. The Team Members in this attraction can also be incredible as they indoctrinate you into the Glory of Doom.

Dr. Doom is about to have a HUGE presence in the upcoming years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe as none other than Robert Downey Jr. is coming back to play the character.

So there you have it: The SATURDAY SIX Looks at the best QUEUES at the Universal Orlando Resort! See you next weekend for the latest installment of the SATURDAY SIX, where we’ll look at something fun from the world of Disney and Universal. If you enjoyed yourself, be sure to check out the THEME PARK ENJOYMENT INDEX, giving a monthly recap of all the theme park news you need to know (and a lot more you don’t need to know, but we’re gonna tell you anyway). You can also follow Your Humble Author on BlueSky (@derekburgan).

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Special Thanks to The Elite Brandon Glover, Digital Maestro Scott Walker, the bio-est of all reconstructs @bioreconstruct, Captain Cruiseline Scott Sanders of the world famous Disney Cruise Line Blog, my personal protege Hunter “Elvey” Underwood, artist @SonderQuest, the mighty maven of merchandise Hedgehog’s Corner, the SAT SIX Fun Squad of Parkscope Joe and “the Dadalorian” Nick, hot shot Michael Carelli, charter member of the Universal Four @Nitro230, the permit princess Alicia Stella, master cartographer Tommy Hawkins, and Hermione Granger’s tutor Megan Stump for their invaluable assistance with this article. Absolutely no help was added by SeaWorld Influencer @SuperWeenieHtJr. The SAT SIX is inspired each week by goofballs Aengus Mackenzie and LitemAndHyde and you Potterheads will  enjoy Meg’s other blog work over at the Central Florida Slug Club.