Universal Studios Florida is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida, that opened on June 7, 1990. Owned and operated by NBCUniversal, it features numerous rides, attractions, and live shows that are primarily themed to movies, television, and other aspects of the entertainment industry. Universal Studios Florida was the first theme park to open at Universal Orlando Resort, joined later by the second theme park, Universal Islands of Adventure in 1999, Universal Volcano Bay in 2017, and the fourth theme park, Universal Epic Universe in 2025. The success of its sister location, Universal Studios Hollywood, in the 1980s fueled the desire to build a similar park in the Orlando area to compete with Walt Disney World. Two of its early projects were partially developed by famed Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, and many themed attractions over the years were developed in close collaboration with the directors, producers, and actors of the films they are based on. An early layout and design of the park also incorporated active production studios, similar to the Hollywood location, which provided guests a behind-the-scenes look at film and television. As the interest to produce films in the Orlando area quickly faded, the design of the park transitioned to a more immersive, first-person perspective.

Universal Studios Florida operates a well-known annual event during the fall season called Halloween Horror Nights, where the park transitions to a Halloween theme featuring haunted houses and scare zones on select nights. One of the park's biggest draws is Diagon Alley, a Harry Potter-themed portion of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter that opened in 2014. E.T. Adventure, another notable attraction, is the only remaining ride in the park which debuted with the park's grand opening in 1990. In 2024 the park hosted 9.5 million visitors, making it the 13th-most visited theme park in the world that year.

In 1982, Universal contemplated the idea of opening an amusement park in Florida to compete with Disney. They considered building a similar version of their Studio Tour tram ride located at Universal Studios Hollywood, retaining the studio backlot tour theme to set it apart from what Disney was offering at Disney World. However, Universal abandoned the idea after attempts to partner with a skeptical Paramount Pictures failed to materialize. The Studio Tour in Los Angeles continued to thrive, especially with the addition of a new, massive scene based on the 1976 film King Kong. It opened in 1986 as King Kong Encounter and became an instant hit with guests, boosting attendance and prompting Universal to revisit the idea of building a theme park in Orlando.

That same year, former Disney Imagineer Peter Alexander, who worked on the life-size King Kong animatronic and later became an executive at Universal Creative, met with his friend and renowned director Steven Spielberg to discuss the creation of a Back to the Future simulator ride. Star Wars creator George Lucas, who recently helped Disney design the well-received Star Tours attraction at Disneyland, had previously boasted to Spielberg that Universal was incapable of building such a ride. Spielberg and Alexander gladly accepted the challenge and began working on the ride's concept. Universal was already working on the design for its backlot tram tour attraction in Florida, which would include multiple scenes depicted at the Hollywood location.

In 1987, Disney CEO Michael Eisner – previously the CEO at Paramount when Universal pitched their Florida park idea several years earlier – announced intentions to create their own studio backlot tour at Walt Disney World. The new area, to be called Disney-MGM Studios, was a preemptive move to counter Universal's planned introduction into the Orlando market. Universal claimed that Eisner took advantage of his prior access to their plans for Orlando, borrowing some of the concepts, but Disney denied Eisner ever saw them. They also noted that planning for Disney-MGM Studios began in 1981, long before Eisner was hired. The corporate war between the two had spilled over into the public relations sector, described as a "nasty feud" by the New York Times in 1989.

Universal had publicly revealed their plans for Orlando ahead of Eisner's announcement, but Disney was in a better position to fast-track construction and open sooner. This forced Universal to rethink their approach and abandon the tram tour concept design for the park. Instead, they opted to build standalone attractions while retaining the overall studio backlot theme. Their projected opening day lineup would include Kongfrontation, Jaws, and the Spielberg-Alexander collaborative project, Back to the Future: The Ride.

A large theme park with separate attractions was a new concept for Universal, and their creative team ran into multiple obstacles during development and testing. Among the casualties from the early troubles was the Back to the Future ride, which had its opening delayed by nearly a year.

Many of the attractions over the years were developed in close collaboration with directors, producers, and actors from the films on which they were based. In many cases, actors reprised their roles, contributing new dialogue and footage to fill pre-show queues and action sequences within the attractions. Rip Torn and Will Smith contributed to Men in Black: Alien Attack, Revenge of the Mummy featured footage of Brendan Fraser and Arnold Vosloo, and multiple members of The Simpsons cast collaborated on The Simpsons Ride. Other examples involved directors, such as Steven Spielberg's assistance on the development of several rides including E.T. Adventure, Back to the Future: The Ride, and Jaws.