ISLANDS OF ADVENTURE
ROB URBAN
Adventure
has a
handwriting.
A crooked line.
A painted wall.
A story carried forward.
A lighthouse becomes a perfume bottle. A painter looks for the right shade. An old wall acquires a new joke.
Universal’s January 2026 story about a Port of Entry mural offers an appealing way into Islands of Adventure. Graphic designer Jodie Meade imagined a perfume advertisement that plays on the park’s lighthouse and the phrase eau de toilette. Scenic painter Heidi Scheumann helped bring it to the wall.
I love the scale of that attention. In a park with attractions that can dominate a skyline, there is still a place for a carefully made visual pun.
Islands of Adventure inspires me because so much personality can live in one place: crooked storybook houses, a bustling comic-book newsroom, the menace of dinosaurs and a port full of invented travelers. Each invites a different kind of curiosity.
The color of
belonging.
Meade consulted original Port of Entry drawings to match the established colors. She and Scheumann compared swatches and discussed how the design would look in paint. Scheumann then worked from a projected drawing, outlining in charcoal before adding color, shading and age.
The adjoining Water Works Authority mural received fresh paint too.
That combination feels thoughtful to me. A new contribution can have its own wit while showing affection for what already belongs to a place.
I admire the exchange between designer and painter. One person brings a visual idea; another understands what happens when that idea meets a wall, a brush and real light. The work benefits from both kinds of knowledge.
The result is something a visitor might notice for only a few seconds. Those seconds are worth someone’s care.
Keep the
crooked
lines.
In Seuss Landing, the original drawings have a say in the architecture. Universal’s account of The Cat in the Hat describes an attraction full of the curved and slanted forms associated with the book.
There is an especially good example of fidelity to an illustrator’s choice: the mother’s face remains out of view, as it does on the page.
I find that delightful. It would be easy to think only about which characters and events to include when adapting a book. Here, the things the reader is allowed to see also matter.
The ride carries that decision into a space people move through. A composition on paper becomes a choice about what a guest encounters.
That is a form of respect I appreciate as a writer. The character of a work lives in its small decisions, including the ones a reader may absorb without consciously naming them.
You have an assignment.
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man begins with a newsroom. Guests pass through the Daily Bugle’s offices, where televisions carry news of a crisis. With the regular reporters gone, J. Jonah Jameson recruits the visitors to cover it.
It is a wonderfully direct reason to put the audience in motion. You have a job to do, even if the assignment quickly becomes much more adventurous than expected.
The attraction combines physical scenery and effects with animated action. Its storytelling gives those elements a common purpose: you are inside a comic-book emergency, with Spider-Man trying to help.
I admire the confidence of that premise. It trusts people to enjoy becoming part of a story. A familiar hero gains a different meaning when, within the fiction, he is looking out for you.
The Daily Bugle also makes the adventure particular. A desk, an editor and a reporting assignment give the extraordinary events an ordinary place to begin.
The visitor who
became a builder.
For show producer Shelby Honea, Spider-Man helped make a career imaginable. In Universal’s behind-the-scenes VelociCoaster account, she recalls encountering the attraction during a family visit in 2001 and being struck by its technical possibilities.
She went on to study engineering and build experience through projects that included theater sets and a haunted house.
Art director Greg Hall brought visual-effects and simulation experience to Universal. He also describes the influence of Keith McVeen, who mentored him during his internship and later worked with him on the coaster’s early development.
Their histories make me appreciate the attraction in another way. Something made for a family’s day out can become part of the reason a young person chooses a field.
Years later, that person can help create the next experience.
There is a lovely continuity in that. Enjoyment becomes curiosity; curiosity becomes study and practice; eventually, someone has something of their own to contribute.
A new detail.
A familiar place.
Looking at these accounts together, I see affection taking several forms. An illustrator’s visual choices are preserved. An established attraction helps inspire a future builder. Two artists give an entrance area a fresh detail that belongs beside its older ones.
Those are reasons I admire Islands of Adventure. Its character comes from people who care about the stories, the craft and the possibilities of a place made for play.
The big experiences give people much to talk about. I also like knowing there is a painter carefully aging a banner, helping a new joke look as though it has always had a home.
Continue with the imaginative work behind Epic Universe or the wider Universal Orlando story. If your own work carries forward the character of a place, I would like to hear its story.
Rob Urban
Before you explore.
Is Islands of Adventure a separate park from Universal Studios Florida?
Yes. They are separate theme parks at Universal Orlando Resort. Check the parks included in your admission before visiting.
Where is the new lighthouse perfume mural?
Universal’s January 2026 account places it at Port of Entry beside the renovated restrooms near the park’s exit.
Where can I confirm attraction requirements and current availability?
Check Universal Orlando’s official website and app, then follow posted guidance and team member instructions during your visit. Attraction availability can change.