Universal's Islands of Adventure Archives - Page 2 of 5

December 30, 2021May 8, 2024

The 2021 Year in Review: What Opened (and What Didn’t) at Disney and Universal Parks…

It’s the end of another year – and one unlike any other. A year ago today, we were stepping out of 2020 – a year defined by closures, cancellations, and cost-cutting that included Disney’s vow to axe $900 million in capital projects from its Parks, Experience, and Products division going forward. We made it through a year when construction stalled, projects slowed, tourism slammed to a halt, the rules of operations were rewritten, and it was entirely unclear what the future could hold for Disney and Universal Parks…

Now, standing at the start of 2022 and looking back on the ups and downs of 2021, there’s no doubt that industry-wide, we’ve just made it through 365 days of playing “catch-up”… Many of the rides that debuted in 2021 were initially planned for 2020, and likewise, many of 2021’s planned attractions will instead open in 2022! So today, let’s look back on 2021 with a time capsule review of the big attractions of the year… and the rides that missed their expected 2021 openings altogether…

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August 5, 2021February 20, 2024

WHAT IF… Disney’s Legendary, Terrifying Alien Encounter Was Reborn in Universal Orlando’s Jurassic Park?

Every day, themed entertainment designers ask themselves and each other the same question: “What if?” In the so-called “Blue Sky” phase of design, there’s no limit; no capacity; no technology; no budget. The idea is to dream big and let reality hem in the project’s scope later. In this new Theme Park Tourist mini-series, we invite you to “Blue Sky” with us, and to reimagine a ride that could use a refresh.

As part of Park Lore’s Member-exclusive Extra Features collection, we launched into a new “WHAT IF…” miniseries when we pitched a retheme of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, turning this Sunset Blvd. E-Ticket into a 1930s head trip into The Twilight Zone. Today, we’re wondering what it would be like if Disney’s ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter was reborn at Universal Orlando, and merged into the Jurassic World mythos…

Think this hybridized concept is crazy enough to work? Here’s our pitch…

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May 26, 2021February 9, 2022

10 “Off-The-Beaten-Path,” World-Building Secret Spots and Design Details at Islands of Adventure

There was a time when Disney was Disney, and Universal was Universal.

Then, Islands of Adventure changed everything. Opening in 1999, the much-heralded second gate at the redesignated Universal Orlando Resort at last dispensed with “beige backlots” and “boxy soundstages” in favor of a park built using Disney’s own formula… with a dash of something twenty-first century.

Simultaneously the most and least “Disney” park since Disneyland itself, Islands of Adventure was a mould-breaker. Eschewing blockbuster movies to instead bring to life timeless, intergenerational stories; building unheard-of, IP-centered lands; co-mixing immersive environments with bare steel coasters; brandishing technology as a weapon in the theme park wars, and embedding it in next-century dark rides and shows…. This park was often big, loud, fast, vibrant, and in-your-face.

Except when it wasn’t… After all, Islands of Adventure opened with Universal’s first seeming intentional investment in the unsung heroes of theme park lineups: hidden gems. In our recent look at the kinds of rides Universal should pluck from Disney’s playbook, we highlighted hidden gems as a particularly important element of parks – the kinds of experiences that reward exploration and build-out both a park’s capacity and its mythologies.

So today, we’ll take a tour around the exceptional stories of Islands of Adventure to highlight some of those “secret spots” or thoughtful design details; the kinds of attractions, nooks and crannies, and unexpected surprises you can only find between E-Tickets. We hope you’ll have at least one item to add to your Islands of Adventure “scavenger hunt” after reading about these off-the-beaten-path extras…

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May 16, 2021July 30, 2021

Good Movie, “Bad” Ride: 8 Iconic Films Whose Spirits Were Lost in Translation to Theme Parks

Whether you like it or not, Disney and Universal Parks have evolved. Since at least the 1990s, theme parks M.O.s have been shifting from places to “Ride the Movies” aboard Modern Marvels: Star Tours, Indiana Jones Adventure, and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror to today’s immersive lands where you can “Live the Movies” by stepping into Hogsmeade, Pandora, Springfield, Radiator Springs, Batuu, or Avengers Campus.

Both Disney and Universal tend to be pretty picky about the films that are afforded permanent, expensive attractions inside their parks… No one wants a ride themed to a box office bomb, after all… However, just because you pick a good, revered, classic, or award-winning movie, you’re not guaranteed a good, revered, classic, or award-winning ride will come out the other end. Here’s our short collection of eight really good movies that somehow got lost in translation, turning into rides that just don’t live up to the film’s legacy.

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April 16, 2021July 30, 2021

Wonders of the Wand: 8 Incredible Incantations (and 2 Secret Spells) Within the Wizarding World

For fans of themed entertainment design, time might as well be measured in years A.P. – After Potter. After all, the 2010 opening of the Wizarding World’s first half (Hogsmeade at Universal’s Islands of Adventure) reset the rules of theme park expansions, officially replacing the era of the E-Ticket with the age of the “Living Land.” Thanks to the Wizarding World, guests didn’t just want to “ride the movies;” they wanted to shop where their favorite characters shop; to eat where they eat; to step where they step!

Image: Universal via WizardingWorldPark.com

So when the Wizarding World’s second half (Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida) debuted in 2014, it brought with it the next leap for designers seeking “in-universe” souvenirs: the interactive Wand. Guests (literally) lined up to fork over Muggle dollars for wands capable of bringing Diagon Alley’s windows to life, quickly leading to the ret-conning of simpler effects back in the original Hogsmeade. Today, more than two dozen spells dot the two lands of the Wizarding World, but we’ve collected eight of our favorites… and two totally-unmarked secret spells you may not even have known exist…

March 24, 2021February 9, 2022

Potter… Nintendo… Star Wars… WHAT’S LEFT?! 12 Untapped IPs Perfect for Theme Park Lands

For at least the last few decades, multimedia companies like Disney, NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS, and WarnerMedia have been engaged in an all-out war. The goal? Purchasing, licensing, conglomerating, trading, and protecting the most precious resource of the 21st century: intellectual property. In fact, one of Park Lore’s recent Extra Features took a look at 9 surprising IPs that are now officially Disney’s thanks to its acquisition of 20th Century Fox!

But away from the studio, one battlefront in the ongoing IP War has been Disney and Universal’s respective theme parks, where a new era of “Living Lands” has plucked places right from the highest-earning franchises in history like Harry Potter, Star Wars, Marvel, and Disney Princesses to go head-to-head in billion-dollar theme park projects.

A few years ago – after so many major acquisitions – we might’ve wondered aloud, “What’s left?!” Then came Nintendo. How had we missed it?! Nintendo was the kind of integenerational, widely-recognized, timeless brand and character catalogue few movies can match. It’s perfect for creating an immersive world. And of course, it doesn’t hurt that between Mario and Donkey Kong alone, Nintendo’s top two franchises have amassed $40 billion in revenue (more than the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe)…

The surprising coup of Nintendo has left lots of theme park fans wondering aloud, “What else have we missed?” and more importantly…

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January 23, 2021February 26, 2024

Disney Parks Quiz: How Long Has It Been Since Each of These Theme Parks Had an IP-FREE Headliner?

“The year is 2021. The Intellectual Property Wars have been waging for decades…” What might sound like the beginning of a post-apocalyptic young adult novel is all too real for theme park fans today. As their respective parent companies race to create, borrow, or outright buy the hottest brands they can get their hands on, Disney and Comcast’s theme parks have become a pop culture battleground.

We spent an entire Special Feature here on Park Lore examining the age of the “Disney+ Park” – an era of increasing interchangeability and diminishing themes as IP floods into theme parks. And why not? With nearly $100 billion in acquisitions over the last two decades (and many unexpected IPs en route to Disney+ and Disney Parks), wouldn’t it be downright irresponsible for Disney to waste time with original mythologies, original worlds, or original characters? Wouldn’t it be a disservice to shareholders to build Mystic Manor instead of Ariel’s Undersea Adventure?

Which brings us back to 2024… Today, we’ll look back in the archives to discover… What was the most recent IP-free headlining ride at U.S. Disney and Universal Parks? How many years has it been since each debuted a truly original major attraction without a blockbuster movie, character, or brand as its reason for being? You might be surprised…

January 6, 2021March 16, 2021

How It Works: 9 Real, Screen-Free, In-Your-Face Physical Effects… And How the Magic’s Made

Here at Park Lore, we love to look at rides differently. In Member-exclusive Extra Features across the site, we dissect fan-favorite rides and attractions to reveal the inner workings of Imagineering masterpieces. Along the way, we’ve tracked some of the absolute coolest moments, effects, and encounters you can find in Disney and Universal Parks, like 10 of Must-See Projection-Based Effects, 10 “How’d They Do That?” Effects that Amaze Us, 10 BIG Scenic Reveals That Give Us Goosebumps, and of course, our popular list of the 25 Most Incredible Audio-Animatronics on Earth.

But for many Imagineering fans, there’s nothing quite like the classics… Even as projection, light, sound, animatronics, and – yes – screens become increasingly prevalent across Disney and Universal Parks, it’s still practical effects – real, tactile, in-your-face, and physical – that seem to leave us astounded. These are the big ones – the effects that are so mesmerizing, surprising, and astounding, even seasoned Imagineering fans may not have recognized the complexity required to make them work.

Today, we’ve collected just a handful of some of the physical effects we love… true, practical, in-your-face effects that leave guests recoiling, ducking, shrieking, or just staring in awe as no screen can. Note that these effects often serve as big moments in the rides they occupy, so expect spoilers! And for each, we’ll include a video that’s already fast-forwarded to the big moment so you can inspect these effects up close… Which had you fooled? Which are must-sees for leaving first-time guests with their jaws dropped? Which of the hundreds of screen-free physical effects do you love most?

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November 28, 2020May 8, 2024

Inverted. Stand-Up. Flying. Diving. Wing. Here’s What Legendary Coaster Manufacturer B&M is Doing Next…

Founded in 1987 by Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, B&M today is one of the world’s most respected roller coaster design & manufacturing films, supplying headlining attractions to amusement parks across the globe. In fact, you’d be hard off to find a major, thrill-focused coaster park in the United States (or elsewhere, for that matter) that doesn’t have at least one B&M creation among its lineup…! No, really… Try to think of one…

If you’re not sure, just venture into the rabbit hole of your friendly, neighborhood park’s unofficial fansite discussion board; scour RCDB; or more to the point, visit a park with a seasoned coaster enthusiast. Without fail, a coaster geek can spot a B&M a mile away thanks to unmistakable signs: rounded support columns; four-abreast trains; signature “pre-drops” before the biggie meant to relieve stress on chain lifts; buttery track transitions; signature maneuvers like wing-overs, dive loops, Immelmans, and cobra rolls… once you know how to spot them, B&Ms are everywhere.

In part, the proliferation of B&M rides around the world is thanks to the firm’s apparent three-word mantra: reliability, reliability, reliability. A designer who knows how far to push the limits (and what lines not to cross compared to, say, their nearest competitors, Intamin), B&M rides are trustworthy crowd-pleasers and people-eaters. But the spread of B&M coasters is also due to their part in the epic “Coaster Wars” of the ‘90s and early 2000s, when parks were willing to spend big to prototype B&M’s cutting-edge, record-breaking ride systems that would earn parks attendance, awards, and acclaim.

The breakneck pace of innovation and the thirst for record-breaking has (mostly) quelled. The primary competitors in the “Coaster Wars” – Six Flags and Cedar Fair – have since noticed that in their two decades of bigger-taller-faster obsession, they might’ve accidentally forgotten to invest in anything but thrill rides, leading to a significant slowdown in coaster construction throughout the 2010s and a needed shift toward flat rides, dark rides, and entertainment. But now, a new patent suggests that B&M may be ready for a comeback…

Today, we’ll tour through the major reinventions of the roller coaster pioneered by B&M over its thirty year history, watching as they reposition, reorient, and remake riders’ roles in thrill rides. Think you know what B&M might have planned next? We bet you’ll be surprised…

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October 17, 2020February 21, 2021

COUNTDOWN: The “Best” Rides of the Century (So Far)

The story of theme parks in the 21st century is about to be a weird one… We may only be 20% of the way through the first century of the 2000s, but we’ve already lived through some of the wildest swings of the pendulum in themed entertainment design ever. Theme parks began in a lowly position as the tail end of Eisner’s budget-conscious ’90s and early 2000s lead to an era of underbuilt, abandoned, and low-budget plans, made all the worse by the 2001 obliteration of tourism in the wake of September 11th and, further, the financial crisis of 2008. Budgets were slashed. Theme parks cancelled. Projects downsized.

Arguably, that trend was reversed only by the opening of the Wizarding World in 2009, propelling Universal (and by extension, Disney) into the modern age of “living lands,” big-budget investment, per-capita spending records, and theme parks as corporate revenue-generators… Who would’ve foreseen an era where E-Tickets weren’t enough? Where competitors battled over blockbuster IPs? Where guests would queue for hours not for rides, but for food and shops? Where Disney and Universal would drop a billion dollars on a single land? Of course, this golden age of investment is itself coming to an unceremonious end thanks to the catastrophic fallout of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the results of which will no doubt be felt in the parks for decades.

So now, today, we find ourselves in an unusual position: half celebrational, half mournful, 2020 seems like a good time to look back at what may have represented the height of Imagineering; the pinnacle of theme park spending; the biggest $200 million E-Tickets we’ll see for a while. So today, let’s take a look at some of the best to come out of Disney (and Universal) Parks so far in the 21st century – that is, opening in the year 2000 or later. (So no, Indiana Jones Adventure, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror won’t be on this list… though you can read up on each in our Modern Marvels collection!)

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