Tag: Universal Studios Florida

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To See These 10 Audio-Animatronics in Ride Queues, You’ll Have to Wait… Literally.

At Park Lore, we love Audio Animatronics – no apologies. Audio Animatronics bring Disney and Universal rides to life. No screen can replace the power of seeing Abraham Lincoln stand before you; the terror of a gargantuan monster snapping its jaws in your direction; the awe of seeing dozens of birds begin to sing… And that celebration of this astounding art form is what lead us to create our must-read Countdown: The 25 Best Audio-Animatronics on Earth.

But of course, our love for Audio-Animatronics doesn’t just stop with the “best.” The ways that Disney and Universal use these incredible creations extends far beyond just headlining moments in E-Ticket rides… Which is why our analysis of Animatronics continues with a countdown of figures you’ll find where you need them most: while waiting in line.

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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LIVING LANDS: Immersive Storytelling Worlds That Invite You to Live the Adventure

“Here you leave today and enter the worlds of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.”

Since 1955, those words have been a sort of “thesis” of Disneyland and all major theme parks to come after. They exist to transport us to new worlds; different times; unexpected places. Over the decades since, the methods of transporting have changed from idealized, romanticized environments, to walking onto film sets, to stepping into movies themselves. And that got us thinking – which “lands” at Disney and Universal parks are the most successful at carrying us away?

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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Parks After Dark: The Must-See Nighttime Feature of Each Disney & Universal Park

After the sun sets, Disney and Universal’s Parks truly come alive.

It’s no surprise to any frequent visitor that theme parks transform by nightfall, with most every corner of every park completely revitalized by the warmth of gas lamps, torches, incandescent bulbs, and etheral glows. To walk around Disneyland’s New Orleans Square, Magic Kingdom’s Tomorrowland, or Animal Kingdom’s Asia by nightfall is to see these familiar lands in entirely new ways.

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


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We Bet You Know ALL of These Iconic On-Ride Quotes by Heart…

The sights! The sounds! The smells! The snacks! If there’s one thing Disney and Universal’s parks do well, it’s to engrain themselves in your mind; to act as the backdrop to timeless memories. It’s no accident that Disney and Universal’s best attractions are the ones that become evergreen classics; the kinds of rides you can’t to get back to and…

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.

This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.

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“That’s Not Dory” and 8 Other BAD Voice-Acting Moments at Disney and Universal Parks

What would the Haunted Mansion be without a Ghost Host?

The Enchanted Tiki Room without Jose, Michael, Pierre, and Fritz?

Carousel of Progress without John and Martha?

Voice acting is a major piece of great theme park attractions, lending life to Audio Animatronics, characters on-screen, and even ever-present narration! In fact, the delivery of lines can become so iconic, we created a two-part list of ride voiceover lines we bet you know by heart, from “This here’s the wildest ride in the wilderness!” to “Thank the Phoenicians!”

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From Big to GARGANTUAN, These are the Enormous Showbuildings You Never See

What do an off-roading ride through the last minutes of the Cretaceous and “the happiest cruise that ever set sail” have in common? Not a whole lot. But like so many of Disney and Universal’s E-Ticket adventures, one thing they do share is the kind of building in which they take place. Most of the industry’s leading, anchoring, epic attractions take place in enormous soundstage-style warehouses – called “showbuildings” in Disney-speak – that are (to varying degrees of success) completely hidden from the view of Guests.

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


Log In or Join Now
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Revenge of the Mummy: Unearthing the Story Behind Universal’s Mummified Marvel

Dateline: 1926. Deep within the timeless sands of ancient Egypt, a most peculiar discovery has been unearthed… long believed to be only a legend, the burial place of the high priest Imhotep is indeed real… and its sole inhabitant isn’t content staying dead for another three thousand years…

Here at Park Lore, we’ve taken our globetrotting to the extreme with our new series, Modern Marvels, where we uncover the details behind some of the world’s must-see masterpieces of themed entertainment, thrills, and technology.

And today, we’ll unearth the in-depth experience of another spectacular hit ride: Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Florida. We’ll dust away the sands of time and reveal the story behind this “psychological thrill ride,” get a first-person idea of what awaits inside the mummy’s tomb, and even see where this unexpected E-Ticket has been adapted around the globe. Ready to dive in?

Continue reading “Revenge of the Mummy: Unearthing the Story Behind Universal’s Mummified Marvel”
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Wild Sightings: 10 Places to Spot Disney and Universal Animatronics “In the Wild” and Outside of Rides

In an era of screens, special effects, and projection mapping, there may still be nothing more sensational for theme park fans than an encounter with a good, old-fashioned animatronic. Since the technology’s debut in 1963, Audio-Animatronics have become industry-standard storytelling tools, bringing to life everything from pirates to princesses; dinosaurs to dragons. That’s why our must-read Countdown: 25 Best Animatronics on Earth feature is one of the most-read Extras here at Park Lore, celebrating the most astounding animatronic encounters on E-Ticket attractions the world over.

But for those who prefer to keep their feet on the ground, a number of well-known animatronic figures are scattered across theme park paths, simply there to expand the worlds of “yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy” and present one-of-a-kind encounters outside of the parks’ rides and attractions.

Stories in the Extra Features and Special Features collections of Park Lore are all about connections – they’re the threads that interlace between the Lost Legends, Declassified Disasters, Modern Marvels, and Possibilitylands you’ll find in our Main Collections. In other words, these features are for people who really want to dig deep.



This article and hundreds more are available for Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members who help support this ad-free, clickbait-free, quality-over-quantity collection with a monthly membership. Park Lore Members can access more than a hundred Member-exclusive articles, unlock rare concept art and construction photos in every story, stream audio across the site, tune into podcast exclusives, and receive an annual member card and merch in the mail!

If you choose to join Park Lore’s community of Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Members, you’ll instantly unlock this story (and of course, a lot more). You can learn more about joining and supporting Park Lore (and browse all the available Extras and Special Features) in the “Memberships & Perks” menu above. If you can’t afford a Pass, please contact us; we’ll make some magic happen.


Log In or Join Now
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“Once Upon a Ride…” Where Thrills and Theme Unite in the 21st Century Era of the “Story Coaster”

UNDER REFURBISHMENT! You know I love to keep things fresh around here, and as a result, this feature is currently under construction! As I finish up edits over the next few days, you may encounter outdated information, repeated or disjointed sections, or “past perspectives” that refer to current events in the future tense. If you don’t mind sifting through some rough edges, I think you’ll still enjoy it… and check back soon for a fully refurbished story!

If you ask Universal Orlando, the 2019 opening of Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure at Universal’s Islands of Adventure represents not just a reset (ending Universal’s long-time dependence on screens and simulators), but the dawn of a new era: the age of the “story coaster.” Is the new Wizarding World E-Ticket the first? Well…

Continue reading ““Once Upon a Ride…” Where Thrills and Theme Unite in the 21st Century Era of the “Story Coaster””
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Coffeeland: 8 Ways Disney and Universal Parks Disguise Starbucks in Plain Sight

If you were to ask his friends and family what Walt Disney was, you might get any number of answers: an animator; an artist; a dreamer; an optimist; a futurist… But that’s not all…

According to the fantastic Eat Like Walt by Marcy Carriker Smothers, Walt was also a restauranteur – a man experimenting right at the height of mid-century middle class American dining, introducing the idea that food and fun could go together; that food was full of color and fantasy; that food could be an integral part of the story of each of Disneyland’s themed areas.

Image: Disney

However, there was one area where even Walt wasn’t willing to mess around: coffee. As the story goes, Walt decreed back in 1955 that Disneyland would always offer a cup of coffee for ten-cents and not a penny more. And in fact, coffee in the park did cost only a dime until Walt’s death in 1966. Those days, of course, are long gone…

Continue reading “Coffeeland: 8 Ways Disney and Universal Parks Disguise Starbucks in Plain Sight”
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