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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The Problem
When Universal’s Islands of Adventure opened in 1999, the park looked like the pivotal project that could actually shift focus in Orlando. More than just the attempt to match Disney it’s often simplified as, Islands of Adventure was a conceptual evolution.
With its unique “islands” layout packed with secret spots and hidden gems, Universal’s first “non-studio” park is literally where the concept of “IP lands” was born and prototyped. More to the point, Islands of Adventure largely ignored “flavor-of-the-week,” big-budget blockbuster movies and instead filled those lands with timeless, intergenerational stories with no pop culture expiration date – pulp adventures, myths and legends, comic books, Sunday funnies, picture books, and novels!
Only one of the park’s “islands” was themed to a movie at all…
Riding on the success of the Lost Legend: Jurassic Park – The Ride that had debuted in Hollywood (above), Islands of Adventure dedicated an entire land to 1993’s Jurassic Park. It’s probably fair to say that when the land debuted with the park in 1999, it was the first “Living Land” – one drawn straight from the screen, bringing to life a “real” place with internal consistency and an overarching framing structure between its attractions.
In other words, this was the real Jurassic Park (or at least, via a largely-unknown backstory, a version of it). Islands of Adventure’s land could “sketch out” parts of the dino-park not seen on screen, but believably there just off-screen, like an in-universe Jurassic Park River Adventure drawn straight from Michael Crichton’s original 1990 novel.
Beyond just that anchoring attraction, though, the “real” Jurassic Park was supported by much more – the iconic Jurassic Park Discovery Center serving as a mini-museum of exhibits and interactives; the Camp Jurassic family play area packed with climbing nets, caves, dig sites, and more; the Island Skipper Tours, ferrying guests to and from Isla Nublar from across the park; and of course, the infamous Triceratops Encounter, inviting guests into the “real” park’s “real” veterinary outposts to meet drowsy (animatronic) Triceratops who would respond to guests’ touch, sneeze, stomp, and even pee.
Part of the brilliance of Jurassic Park as the subject of a “Living Land” is that it’s a theme park version… of a theme park. That makes things like restaurants, gift shops, dinosaur meet-and-greets, and even midway games “allowable” since they’d reasonably exist “in-universe” at the “real” Jurassic Park.
Of course, so would more rides. So to build out this “real” park, several more attractions were once famously planned for further phases of development – most notably, a Jurassic HelicopTours simulator (see background of concept art, above) and a Jurassic Park Jeep Safari that would mix an off-roading outdoor jungle adventure with dark ride scenes. It’s likely that on each, “something would go horribly wrong,” of course, but that’s half the fun of getting to visit Jurassic Park.
Ultimately, Universal made the choice to use the expansion pads set aside for the HelicopTours and Jeep Safari for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Skull Island: Reign of Kong. The result is that Jurassic Park was more or less landlocked, hemmed in by the expansion of neighboring “islands.”
Small additions – like 2015’s Raptor Encounter meet-and-greet – managed to squeeze into the park to promote the new Jurassic World trilogy, but only the demolition of the long-shuttered Triceratops Encounter emptied out any sizable expansion space for the land. Naturally, that sent Armchair Imagineers daydreaming what could be. (A “nothing goes horribly wrong” family dark ride with Mr. DNA through the Discovery Center’s labs, hatcheries, and vet clinic was a frontrunner on discussion boards.)
It won’t surprise you to learn that that rare expansion opportunity instead went toward something very, very big. In 2021, the former Triceratops Encounter area was beautifully repurposed as a Raptor Paddock, housing the twisted, convoluted first half of the Jurassic World VelociCoaster.
With its steely blue-and-gray glow and its adrenaline-packed (and outright absurd) premise, the VelociCoaster makes no apologies about leaning into the new, trendy, Jurassic World sequel trilogy of blockbusters. Universally acclaimed, the ride’s atmosphere and aesthetic “reset” the island, so that even if it remains Jurassic Park in name, it’s pretty clear that Islands of Adventure’s dino-themed land is pretty inevitably in for an evolution…
Which got us to thinking… The Jurassic franchise is, without a doubt, one of the highest-earning and most-recognized in media history. Jurassic World isn’t just coming to Islands of Adventure; it’s here. As that transformation continues (hopefully with a refresh to the 20-year-old River Adventure), Universal will likely be on the lookout for Jurassic attractions that fit into the land’s immovable borders – experiences with small footprints, viral social media draw, and killer concepts to boost a land in the midst of a raptor resurgence…
The Pitch
The glowing blue marquee of the RAPTOR ENCOUNTER has taken on a whole new meaning. A curving path through the jungle foliage still leads to the “Raptor Squad’s” enclosure, but now, the opportunity to meet Blue or Delta face-to-maw is merely a preshow. Perhaps being within inches of the snapping jaws of an unpredictable predator has left you slightly shaken… but it’s only the start.
While you can end your Raptor Encounter here, a keeper is on hand to offer an alternative: a narrow pathway alongside Blue’s Paddock that leads behind-the-scenes. It’s a big day, after all: a brand new Velociraptor chick is ready to hatch, and this is our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience it in person.
It’s clear at once that the pathway leading us deeper into the jungle wasn’t meant for guests. As soon as it curves out of sight of the public meet-and-greet area, banana plant leaves and jungle ferns give way to humming electric fences and corrugated steel walls that seem to grow closer and closer, narrowing the pathway. We’ve entered into the industrial backbone of Jurassic World, far from the public-facing exhibits.
It’s here – far from most guests’ view – that we can glimpse into a behind-the-scenes pen, home to an animal that’s currently off-exhibit. Between high-powered electrical lines, industrial steel supports, and dense jungle foliage, it’s impossible to see what might be inside… But we can hear it. Somewhere deep in the pen, there’s a horrible, crazed snarling; breathless reptilian shrieks, and the terrible sound of claws against metal. Occasionally, a violent crack of electricity and the sound of a thudding body briefly silence the noise… but it resumes a moment later, with mad hissing screams of rage…
Something very angry is inside this behind-the-scenes habitat… and it’s trying to get out. We’d better hope we never find out what…
Eventually, the path leads to an auxiliary access door, where a Jurassic World team member excitedly ushers guests inside. Despite its rough, steel exterior, within is a gleaming white lounge with a wall of windows that look out over the first turn of the Jurassic World River Adventure. Elsewhere, the walls adorned with blueprints, posters, and plaques – odes to the park’s corporate sponsors. Like the World’s Fairs of old, this behind-the-scenes facility serves as a lounge for financiers and big budget donors.
A Jurassic Park scientist named Timberly (a real T2: 3-D Kimberley Duncan type) calls the room to attention, explaining to guests that this usually-backstage VIP lounge and research facility has been connected to the park’s midway through a makeshift queue for a momentous occasion: a Velociraptor egg is believed to be on the verge of hatching. With a corporate smile, she explains to the assembled group that most reptiles abandon their eggs shortly after laying them. Thus, the park’s animal care team have isolated this egg to ensure the hatching process occurs under strict protocols. And we, of course, are invited to witness it firsthand…
What’s the worst that could happen?!