By: Nicole Rubin, a Marvelous Mouse Travels agent
There have been a lot of opinions, both ways, when it comes to the new Universal Kids Resort in Frisco, Texas. As a local, I've watched this park being built for the last year. Locals have anticipated its opening and watched its progress, excited to see what it would be like. Many have said it's terrible, not up to Universal's expectations, a waste of money, etc. I couldn't disagree more. I think the problem with the haters is they're going in expecting a traditional theme park, and Universal Kids is not that — but what it is rivals anything I've seen for kids in that age bracket.
I decided to bring my 11-year-old daughter with me, which according to everyone is outside the target age to enjoy this park. My daughter is an avid Disney World traveler who loves roller coasters and thrill rides, so I was interested to see her take on this park.
We went on a Monday after the park opened to the public. The internet said it was sold out, so I was bracing for longer lines and bigger crowds than many of the preview visitors had spoken about. We arrived at about 10:15 a.m. and parked in the general parking lot. You have a few options when you park, including "premium parking," which gets you closer to the park — though it truly isn't necessary, in my opinion, or at least not yet. The parking lot was pretty empty, and we parked close to the entrance. Even when we left around 1:30, there were maybe two or three more rows of cars behind us.
You can use your toll tag to pay if you live in Texas instead of a credit card; however, in my opinion, they need a separate lane for this, as it's confusing how you indicate you want to do that — the parking attendant actually had to have me move to a different position to make it work. There were plenty of parking attendants, and it moved very quickly.
Once at the entrance, there's the Universal Kids sign for photos. There was a line that moved pretty quickly of people taking pictures at the sign and around it with their families. At the entrance, you place all your items in bins to go through an airport-style screener and walk through metal detectors. Multiple lines were open, and this process moved very quickly.
Once through, you walk up to a whole bunch of employees basically blocking the entrance, wanting to scan your entrance ticket on your phone. I'll say our interaction was a little strange, as an employee awkwardly put his body pretty much touching mine, acting as if I was going to squeeze through a tiny hole and run into the park (I had no plan to do this, lol). He scanned our tickets and then said he needed to take our picture for "security issues." I did see them doing this with everyone, so it must be part of their protocol. As a travel agent, this is something I would make sure to tell my clients as it was slightly off-putting to start the morning.
As we entered, we were greeted by about 15 employees with pom-poms and bubbles saying good morning. It was a nice touch, and everyone seemed genuinely happy to be there. I didn't see these greeters later in the day when I left, so I think it's potentially just a morning thing they do when the park opens.
The park is set up basically in a circle, so you can choose to go right and enter Minions, or left and enter Trollfest. The front area with Gabby's Dollhouse is part of the entrance, called the Isle of Curiosity.
This area includes a cupcake shop called Cakey's Cupcakes, a meet-and-greet with Gabby, a cafe, a Gabby's Dollhouse-themed playground, and the park gift shop. The playground area in Gabby's land is similar to the others scattered throughout the park — all of them are covered by shade and have areas for parents to sit and relax while the kids play. They're interactive, colorful, and spread out. The gift shop is well designed, well laid out, and has a variety of merchandise and snacks for purchase.
I specifically loved the interactive areas for kids and the feeling that you could drop in and relax in the AC for a few minutes to cool off from the Texas heat. The little stools and play tables are a great addition to the shop, specifically designed with the target demographic of small children in mind.
We did get a confetti cupcake from Cakey's filled with rainbow sprinkles. The cupcake was $10 and was large enough for two. It was delicious, moist, and tasted fresh.
We also met Gabby. There was no line at all, and as we found out, the characters really take their time with meet-and-greets and you don't feel rushed at all. The photo process is a little confusing, as there's some type of photo card, but how to get it and use it wasn't really clear, even after the photo attendant explained it to me. She seemed happy to just take the pictures on my phone for us, which is what we chose to do.
We entered the trolls area and immediately jumped on the first ride we saw, Rhonda's Trollfest Express. This ride is great for young kids as a starter roller coaster. They let us go around twice, which I'm not sure is the norm or if it was just because there wasn't a long wait. I'll say this was the ride we waited the longest for the entire day.
The staff on many rides was still figuring out the nuances of loading and unloading quickly. Something to note: there isn't a lot of storage for things on any of the rides, and they make you take off your hat and sunglasses on all of them, forcing some people to leave their backpacks and such on the platform to pick up after the ride.
In Trollfest there's also a theater to go into and cool off with air conditioning, and an amphitheater where the concert countdown show was. There's a cute Trolls store — Universal's version of Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique — called Trollify Me! This area was packed, and there were a lot of kiddos getting their faces painted to look like trolls. The other ride in Trollfest is a spinning balloon ride called Hair in the Clouds.
Overall, many of the rides at Universal spin, which is something to keep in mind.
Shrek Swamp is the next land you enter, which consists of a pretty substantial splash pad/water experience, a meet-and-greet with Fiona and Shrek, the Shrek Swamp ride, and a food stop.
The meet-and-greet with Fiona and Shrek was great, except the line was directly in the sun, and since they take their time with each interaction, it didn't move quickly. However, when it was our turn, the characters were great and took time to talk with my daughter and interact for quite a while.
The Shrek Swamp ride has taken some heat online, and unfortunately, it's really the only negative feedback I agree with. The ride isn't even really a ride — it's hot, boring, and not swamp-like at all. There's so much more they could have done with it to make it more fun. The buggies you ride in are super cute, but again, the workers were struggling with a system to load and unload them, and you were sitting in the sun for quite a while at the end of the ride, waiting to get off. I think they could easily improve it with some more features along the short track.
We did get a Shrek pretzel, which cost $10 and came with cheese. It was super cute to look at and delicious!
This area is one of my favorites from a theming perspective — it was more immersive than the others, in my opinion, specifically because of the building facades. Within this land are some carnival-type game booths, a theater, and a great ride called Swings Over Del Mar. In my opinion, this ride is the most thrilling besides the Jurassic Park coaster; it might be scary for really young kids, since it moves pretty fast and you feel like you're pretty high up. There are also some fun food stops here, as well as a candy-type store.
Jurassic World has three different rides within it, and if you blink, you'll certainly miss the transition from Puss and Boots Del Mar to this land. The theming doesn't really support the transition, aside from the signs for the rides you see as you walk through.
This land consists of three rides: Pteranodrop, Mr. DNA's Double Helix Spin, and Jurassic World: Cretaceous Coaster. To be honest, as a motion-sickness girlie, the Double Helix Spin looked too spinny for me, but my daughter loved it. The Cretaceous Coaster was one of the best rides in the park — it was truly a roller coaster, and although short, it felt like the most typical Universal coaster ride for kids. Once again, though, at the end of the ride, the unloading process was taking a while, and you were baking in the hot sun waiting for them to send the car into the station. This was a theme throughout the park, but something I hope they work out as they move forward.
This land also included a baby dinosaur meet-and-greet, which dino-loving kids would be super pumped about, as well as a food stop and a gift shop themed around dinosaur merch.
As you exit Jurassic, you start to see SpongeBob theming, and your first sight is the water splash pad area, Jellyfish Fields Jamboree, which was packed on a hot day. Even with it being busy, there were still plenty of things to access within the splash pad.
The rides included Mrs. Puff's Boating School, similar to the Dumbo or Magic Carpets ride at Disney, just SpongeBob-themed, and Bobbing Barrels, a water ride where you can shoot other barrels with water cannons. This ride was fun, but we had the most problems here with loading and unloading. The ride is in direct sunlight, and they will not move it until everyone is seated. If anyone stands, including children, they'll stop the ride.
This proved problematic for a family who was having a hard time with their young child. We sat for about 10 minutes before the family decided to get off voluntarily. During that time, the staff didn't come over to help or offer options — they just continuously came over the loudspeaker saying they wouldn't move until everyone sat. Again, this is something I think they'll work out over time, and I hope they do.
Barnacle Bus is a vehicle that sways back and forth and goes around and around — think pirate-ship-at-the-carnival vibes. Again, as a motion-sickness girlie, this one was not my friend, but my child absolutely loved it!
Within this land there's also Meet SpongeBob & Friends, a snack bar, a gift shop, and one of the best places in Universal Kids — Goofy Goober's. I could do an entire blog just on this. The food is excellent, and the ice cream is delicious! The inside has super fun theming, and it was packed! If I was headed to Universal Kids, this is where I'd plan to eat lunch and grab an ice cream, for sure.
The last land you enter, if you start to the left of the theme park, is Minions Land. This land starts with Bello Bay Golf Cart Derby, a fun (and spinning) ride where you're basically in a golf cart that almost crashes into all the other golf carts while you move. This ride was fun but, again, very hot, and it took a long time to load and unload.
The water ride, Bello Bay Cruise, was super fun. You're in a large round "boat" that you have the chance to get soaked on, which was great for a hot day. There are lockers for rent by the entrance, because if not, your items are bound to get soaked. This ride has received a lot of hate online for the theming, but we really enjoyed it. I will say the ride spins — a lot, surprise surprise — far more than I was expecting, but overall, it was fantastic.
Within this land, there's also Bello! Meet the Minions and Bello Bay Boutique & Bites.
I can't understand all the hate towards this park online. If you go in with the expectation that it's a children's park, I don't think you'll be disappointed. Are there things they could improve? Sure. Even my 11-year-old had a good time and asked if we could come back at some point. The food was good, the waits were short, and the meet-and-greets were fantastic.
My areas for improvement would include: more shade — yes, more shade, specifically in the areas where the benches are, so people have somewhere to sit throughout the park; better loading and unloading on the rides, which I fully expect to improve as the park stays open longer; and more thought put into where to place your items while riding, whether that's adding cubbies or some other system to hold your things.
As a travel agent would I suggest clients fly all the way to Texas to go to Universal Kids? Probably not. Would I recommend visiting if you were in Dallas, or within an hour? Absolutely!
Ready to plan a family vacation that's the perfect fit for your kids? Whether you're considering Universal Kids Resort, Universal Orlando, Disney, or another destination, reach out to a Marvelous Mouse Travels vacation planner, and let's start planning your next adventure!
