A Deep Dive Into Classic Universal Studios Florida (Part 1)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.พ. 2022
- Today we're going to be taking a deep dive into classic Universal Studios Florida. This is Part 1 of a script that grew wildly out of control, but is still full of fascinating content.
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Fun fact: the Kongfrontation ride track is still in the Revenge of the Mummy showbuilding as it would have been impossible to remove without harming the building's structure.
Kongs ride is the best fake Ny ive ever seen. Actually felt like you were in the city.
@@websurfer8670
FINALLY someone else says it!!! I’ve been to NYC and Kong was one of my first Universal rides as a kid… it was done sooo well!!! (Although maybe it was missing the smell of wet pavement but that really didn’t hinder it.)
I don’t know what to say about the ride track… I’m kind of mad. I understand it would need to stay because of the structure but like… I LOVED Kong and I do NOT like thrill rides OR mummies… I only ever got to ride Kongfrontation one time and have been dying for a round two ever since…
On another note though, I hope most of the ride’s pieces have a decent home somewhere… if I had the budget, I’d specifically hunt down Kong’s Raggedy Ann since I collect Raggedies… I remember she was sitting at a doll tea party set up by a little girl in one of the apartments on the ride. The little girl was of course gone and the TV in the room was showing the news reports about Kong so the scene was kind of sad to look at but I loved the doll a lot… always wanted her.
@@CosplayCore kong was my first ride ever. And it was so terrifying i remember the entire thing. I cried on that ride when i was 6. But when i came back at 7 i purposley made sure i didnt cry. I thought i was so brave 😂
Didn’t know that! Thanks. Kongfrontation was incredible. Just felt huge!
You’re right about Kongfrontation creating a sense of danger. I was eight when I rode it and fully believed the tram would fall and we were going to die. The effects, the music, the creepy and desolate feeling of the queue all contributed to that
As a former cast member for Universal Orlando in the 90s (Entertainment: played Beetlejuice in the Original Version of the Beetlejuice Graveyard Review … prior to that I worked in Ride & Show at Alfred Hitchcock and Murder She Wrote) you did a GREAT job on this video. I know how much time and research goes into creating videos on this depth. NICE WORK 👍
My parents loved to tell the story of how I got them kicked out of Murder She Wrote when I was an infant because of my incessant baby babble. Was that a common occurrence?
@@garywillig5143 not that I recall.
Alfred Hitchcock the Art of making Movies was one of my favorite things there. Even as a kid.
One of my close family friends was one of your make up artists!
@@ChampaBayBeast who?
I know you’re not a strictly Universal channel, but as a lifelong fan of their parks, I’m happy to see some more love for both the new age of Universal as well as the classics
I always loved the educational side of the studio rides that showed you the "man behind the curtain" in production and editing. I wonder if the prevalence of screen theater rides replacing them was simply a matter of not being able to convert them into enough space or lacked infrastructure for proper dark rides.
I believe those were factors, but I also believe the screen based attractions were also just a matter of being cheap. Kong, Earthquake and Jaws were great, but they were pretty well-known as maintenance nightmares. The screen-based experiences seem rather straightforward in comparison.
Universal Studios' original state was overambition at its finest. In their race to match Disney, they built a bunch of attractions that were technical marvels. However, when doing this, they created a group of attractions that would be best described as... unstable. Rides that were remarkably expensive to keep running, and that broke down far too often.
The real killer, though? Take a good look at the park. As far as theme parks go, they built themselves into a grave. There was simply no room for expansion - it was a *complete* circle, with nowhere to grow. Couple this with the unreliable (or easily dated, like The Art of Making Movies or Hanna Barbera) attractions, and Universal's tendency to run over their old attractions reveals itself to be not born of malice, it was born of necessity. Even if the replacements weren't as good as the original (Earthquake/Disaster + Beetlejuice -> F&F Supercharged is particularly irritating), there's simply nowhere else for them to go.
This is likely due to the plot of land they have. What (I presume) would become CityWalk + Islands was the parking lot, and the land, being in the already well-developed Orlando, was very restrictive. To build CityWalk and Islands, they had to condense the parking space into a garage and add a bridge to bypass the road.
With Epic Universe, I think they finally have a place for them to develop new things without replacements. With the shackles of screens appearing to have been broken, the sky's the limit.
I have mixed opinions on their space restrictions. While I agree that the screen-based experiences were often created out of necessity, as Gringotts looks to quite literally back up to an apartment complex, there seem to have been other, viable spaces that they could have chosen. I understand the need of the sound stages for HHN, but it doesn't seem inconceivable that they could place more tents in other areas and use that area for more attraction space. I also strongly dislike how much space the Simpsons takes up. If the show building was demolished in conjunction with the old Barney theater, that's a ton of space that could be used, even for a new land. Even more, the area between Men in Black and Simpsons is often described as an expansion pad if the really wanted to use it.
I'm unsure if you follow Alicia at Park Stop, but she's continued to report that a lot of back-of-house buildings are being built at the new park site. While I'm sure many of them exist to service the new plot of land, there also seems to be some indication that certain departments will move over there, freeing up space on the west side of the studios for more possible expansion.
I’m super excited for Epic Universe!!! Mainly because of the Pokémon rumors… I’ve been a Trainer for 22 years now and as I’m typing this, my Pokémon Legends Arceus game is waiting for me to resume playing it. It has been my all time favorite video game series since I was seven years old (same year I got admitted to Hogwarts, whaddaya know)… I will be so happy if we get a Pokémon section. Of course, if ET ever closes down, I’ll be really sad but I’d also bet a trip on the Hogwarts Express, a pumpkin juice and maybe a new Pokémon plush or a gym battle would help me feel a little better at least for a little while!
@@CosplayCore That would be so cool if they added a Pokémon themed area. Been a fan since 1998. But I also think a person could easily make an entire theme park out of Pokémon. I really want a Furret roller coaster like what was in the Jirachi Wishmaker movie. And the Farris Wheel themed after the Unova one. And a slow moving ride themed after Pokémon Snap with print out sticker souvenirs where you take pictures using a built in camera on the ride. And throw in some Pokémon that will only show up on camera in an AR type of thing. That would be very cool. And I hope that Pokémon comes to either Florida or Japan as I’m not a fan of going to California. Too many rude people.
Necessity or not there was a magic to that park that could actually rival disney that now is gone. Aside from a few groundbreaking Rollercoasters in islands, the park seems cheap and underfunded. It's like a six flags now and there's really no reason to go to the original park anymore.
I do miss the old Orlando park, they had a lot of amazing attractions that put modern Universal to shame. But Universal Studios is shaping up and getting better
I hope so. Their recent slate of attractions over the last few years seem to indicate a change. Hopefully the Studios sees some real improvement soon.
Well, Disney is certainly doing their best to drop the ball lately, so hopefully Universal can pick it up and run with it.
I vaguely remember going to the old park as a child. It’s such a shame we won’t get to experience these attractions ever again. Their replacements feel cheap in comparison
Man, I miss Disaster!/Earthquake. It was my first home as a TM and I was devastated when they decided to replace it with a total bomb.
Edit/addition: Despite my love of Disaster!…it needed help. The train was the original body but they kept upgrading the software/hardware that made it run and the train hated it. Her name was Big Bertha and she had a temper. Also, each effect was given a set number of points and if enough high-level effects were out, we weren’t supposed to open….may or may not have run the ride with 10+ points out anyway. 😅
the first time I went to Universal as a kid with my family this was my favorite ride. it was heartbreaking to see it was replaced by such an unworthy replacement. Was the train called Big Bertha because she was a BART train?
When I worked there (year before closing) we called the train GiGi :)
It seems that the largest reason most of the attractions went away was because of maintenance issues. That was something I was going to cover in the second part, especially with Kong and Jaws, but it doesn't surprise me to hear it about Earthquake either.
@@PoseidonEntertainment I'll give you an idea of how bad a shape it was in. The first thing I learned in training was how to evacuate the train. :/ If we went more than 3 days without going down, it was unusual.
Every time I go back to universal I feel like it’s a different park in a good way. Love the nostalgia of ET but it’s also great they experiment with new tech and add new experiences often.
That's a curious sentiment. I don't dislike the park today, but I do perceive it as kind of a mess.
A couple of things. I was one of those kids who got to sample the slime. It was just made of pureed fruits. It actually tasted really good. Very much like a modern smoothie. Also, I was the kid that was selected to be slimed. An amazing memory. Starting that day I never thought I would end it by taking a shower in Nickelodeon Studios.
I can see that Universal still cares about nickelodeon. In the carnival area of islands of adventure I saw some rugrats toys for prizes. And they have a spongebob gift shop and meet and great
It’d be cool if Woody Woodpecker kid land was turned into a Nick land. I think some little kids still know some of the older Nick properties.
They don’t own Nick though. If they did anything in kidzone it would be their own ip.
At this point, the Spongebob store just seems to be a left-over contractual obligation. Turning Kid Zone into a fully immersive Bikini Bottom area with a Krusty Krab restaurant would be great, but I doubt anything like it would happen.
Yes, et finger did glow and his eyes moved. It was dope at night
I can't wait to see an eventual video or hear about your thoughts on Super Nintendo World. I think its the best thing Universal has done in a while.
I think it’s the best land they have done PERIOD. And that’s saying a lot since Im a fan of Harry Potter
@@NinthShinigami Agreed. It’s the best thing to come to theme parks over all in a while. I honestly think it will have more traction and be more popular than Harry Potter was.
@@coolioam8137 fax. For Harry Potter we’re taking about fans and people in general who love either or both the books or movies. With Nintendo, that’ll attract four decades worth of gamers and families.
I would be interested in Super Nintendo World, but I believe that Universal Studios Japan has been asking TH-cam to take down videos that contain ride footage of the Mario Kart attraction. I would like to do a video, but I can't really speak about the attraction without breaking down elements of the ride.
The Mario kart ride is horrendous
I must be old because I remember all of this. I clearly remember the tram tour guide explaining how the NY streets near the water front were used in the movie Oscar (Stalone) and how it had cobble stone streets. Today, most of the cobble stone has been paved over to make a safer walking surface. Many of the manhole covers still say USF.
I was a little kid going into this version of Universal so all these recaps of the rides is bringing back so HUGE nostalgia vibes.
1:40 It’s pretty cool how they have a picture of the 3D Kongfrontation billboard on display. There were also billboards that included ghostbusters, jaws, ET, etc that popped up around Orlando during the 90s. Apparently for the latter some people claimed that his finger glowed and was able to move his eyes. They were mostly gone by the 2000s although Universal still made some lavish billboards since then mostly for HHN and that one Harry Potter billboard with the glowing wand.
I wish they would bring something like those back. I-4's billboards are a little vanilla today.
@@PoseidonEntertainment Yeah I agree. I was hoping for the 30th anniversary they could have brought some of them back for nostalgia.
I went to Universal Orlando many times in the early 90’s. So thankful to have home movie footage of these classic rides and attractions!
Dang! Really wish I could have experienced this version of the park! It looks amazing and classic!
I only experienced the back end of it either in 2000 or 2001 when Kong was still there, but it certainly left an impact. It just feels like a completely different place today without the smell of propane seeping into the air and everything just blowing up with pyrotechnics all of the time.
@@PoseidonEntertainment That is hilarious!
@@PoseidonEntertainment
I’m with you on that. It’s not exactly the same space anymore… I never really realized I missed the smell as much as I did the shows and attractions (when was the last time the Ghost Busters’ vehicle made its rounds?)… I have noticed some other “minor” things though like… as much as I have always loved Harry Potter, I find that I really miss getting to ride JAWS on a cold winter day… I loved the movie and the book, I like sharks and when that one spot busted out into a wall of flame, it felt so nice if it was cold out…
Very well done and researched; looking forward to Part Two. It is fascinating seeing how the Universal Orlando resort has evolved over these last 30 years.
Part 2 is where it really seems to get interesting. I underestimated how long it would take to get through Production Central.
First job was in 2013 at Dudley Do Rights Rip Saw Falls. Second job was in 2014 at Harry Potter And The Escape from Gringotts. Went to UO first in the early 2000s and I absolutely love old school Universal. Literally teared up hearing the BTTF theme song in the beginning. Thank you for the nostalgia man. 🥺😢
Wish I could've experienced the original rides! Hopefully they keep et around!
I just wish they would renovate E.T. at least. It's pretty much falling apart at this point.
@@PoseidonEntertainment
I so badly want a renovation of my favorite ride!!!!
I’m also so grateful to Speilberg for using his star power to keep ET in place for us… it’s the last corner of the park that really makes me feel like I’m a kid again… like nothing bad ever happened to me… like I’m still home. Sure, of course, Hogwarts will also always welcome me home but in a much different way than E.T. does because I was an E.T. fan for years before Harry Potter was published in the US and similarly, E.T. was standing for its fans at Universal long before Hogwarts arrived. I grew up more with E.T. than I did with Harry. I’m afraid I won’t know what to do anymore at Universal if E.T. ever shuts down but if it does, I will HAVE to find a way to claw my way over there to say goodbye and I fear it will hit me way harder than Great Movie Ride at Disney did.
@@PoseidonEntertainment
How much do you want to bet, since they’d lose Spielberg if they removed the ET ride in the near future, that Universal is going to let the ride deteriorate or simply stay in its current state until Spielberg passes away and then they take it out?
I know that’s an off the wall theory… maybe a little too malicious to even propose, but I can’t view this situation any other way but that since they aren’t even giving it a full renovation nor enough proper maintenance to make seem like it’s fully functional.
Seeing Universal in its early years was always so fascinating to see. The experience just looked so different compared to now. Idk why, but Universal's original slogan "ride the movies" sounded so cool
I do like to experience the original Universal studios florida someday. That'd be awesome
I first (and only) visited Universal in 2001 when I was 4 and remember a lot of the early attractions that were still around then (mostly bc a lot were not age appropriate and scared me to death lol)... The Hanna-Barbera ride, the Alfred Hitchcock experience, Twister, Earthquake, Jaws (particularly traumatizing because I thought it was a real shark), Barney etc
I remember going and just smelling propane everywhere because every attraction had something blowing up.
@@PoseidonEntertainment 😂 I don't remember that
Brucey traumatized you too, huh? 🤣😂 I was too old when I went to believe it was a real shark (I was ten) but I DID imagine what it would be like to see it underwater and to be trapped in there with all the machinery… ugh… that specific panic attack in 2002 at the park gave me submechanophobia for life. Ironically, I grew to like real sharks still and as an adult, one of my favorite “creature features” is JAWS.
Man, you hit me with the nostalgia with that Hanna Barbera ride footage. Looking at it today, the 3D computer generated settings are certainly dated, but man, I want to go back and ride that ride, even Jimmy Neutron, I just want to rexperience those stories and how effective they were, and I'm sure I can easily do so through TH-cam, but it's just not the same without the simulator vehicles.
As for Alfred Hitchcock, Murder She Wrote, and Hercules and Xena, I have little to no memory of those attractions. As a kid, those are not the most exciting things, and I think my family was more of the mindset that while they were good shows, once you saw them once or twice, there was not much more to be gained from them, or perhaps they just weren't as entertaining as the Horror Makeup Show because that was always a must when we visited the park while the other two were less crucial. Perhaps I was also just too young, they didn't want me to be bored or see some of the scarier things from Alfred Hitchcock's work.
Speaking of being scared though, you are absolutely right, they were very convincing with the effects in Kongfrontation. My parents would always force me to ride it with them, and I hated every second of it. Kong was just too big, the effects too real, and the drop too intense for me as a kid. When it was announced that the ride would be closing and it was the last day it would be open, I faked being sick in the bathroom for hours preventing us from going to Universal and having to go on that dreaded ride. When it closed, I would have been 7 at the oldest, it was not a ride designed with me in mind, but being a few years older, perhaps I would have been more receptive to it. Looking at it today, it looks like an absolute blast, but even watching this archival footage is giving me some horrible flashbacks. God bless everyone that rode it and liked it and for all those that wish they could have, but there is still a little piece inside of me that is grateful it is no more.
The ironic part is, after Peter Jackson's reboot in 2005, I started to get a lot more interested in King Kong, there's still plenty of movies I haven't seen, but the classic 1933 film is great, I have seen the 1976 version and it is a movie that exists, I love the 2005 movie, I even love seeing Kong in the latest Monsterverse movies, they're stupid and ridiculous, but they're a lot of fun, and while simplistic, I loved that Skull Island screen ride at Islands of Adventure. I love King Kong, Kong is America's greatest monster, and I want more. Same goes for Mighty Joe Young. I think I might just a big ape fan. I grew up watching Disney's Mighty Joe Young, saw the original not too long ago, and it might as well just be a spiritual successor to King Kong. Still need to get around to seeing a few other Kong movies even if I know they're not going to be all that good, but what a weird way life turns out sometimes, one of my big fears as a child become my big loves. Perhaps I'm fine so long as he stays on a screen. 😅
I don't recall really caring for Hanna-Barbera but in retrospect it seems a lot more interesting. I don't think I was old enough to appreciate what Hanna-Barbera was doing but now it seems nostalgic, especially now perceiving their cartoons in a different light. I also agree with Kong, as I viscerally remember it as a 5 year old. I recall first going to the park and just remembering how everything was on fire all of the time.
Oh, I feel you on the fears becoming loves thing. Lol As a kid, I couldn’t watch anything remotely scary normally and now as an adult, I’m addicted to horror films and shows like they’re popcorn! Not all fears become loves though… I’m still afraid of high speeds and long falls on rides. I do not do thrill rides. But! I will allow falls on a ride up to a point. I like to fall no more than about 12.5 feet or so on a ride. I barely remember the drop on Kong since I only got to go on the ride once when I was ten years old (a year before it would close). However, what little I do remember of the drop, I think it felt like roughly 10 feet? Idk but the drop seemed to be the least of the worries to me. I fell in love with Kong when I was three years old, when my parents let me watch the original film on TV. I felt like he looked at his human leading lady with a lot of emotion and love and having already had a lot more experience with animals by then than most kids get, I reasoned that he had emotions and therefore, if well behaved, he was an animal deserving of love and maybe being shown love would help him start to behave better. Imagine my horror when the helicopters started shooting him. I cried so badly that my parents thought the film had scared me and since I was three, I couldn’t really tell them why I had cried. So when we rode Kongfrontation when I was ten, I wasn’t afraid of the drop. I was afraid to watch the people shoot him again. I knew my heart would break all over again. To this day, whenever I watch a Kong film or read one of the novels, I hope and pray nothing comes to hurt him because I don’t think an animal’s natural instincts and emotions should normally warrant painful punishment…
Also, these theme park people really should think about partnering with at home console companies to “recreate”reactive ride vehicles that you can hook up to have as close to a genuine experience with older rides as possible. I say “recreate” because I mean like… while they can make generalized ride vehicles too, they should come out with ones like “Snow White’s Scary Adventure” for the Disney attraction of the same name or one that resembles a trolley car seat for Kongfrontation… and what they’d do when hooked up is you could pick a ride like you would a video game, the ride’s POV would play on your TV screen or your headset and the vehicle will replicate the movements of the ride. I know some people would go nuts to be able to purchase that!! Myself included!!! I’d also finally be motivated to get a VR headset and try it out just so I could ride Great Movie Ride again… or Kongfrontation again…
@Cheeto Licker Well, as a kid, that ride actually is scary, and it's not all the dinosaurs, it's the drop. Because it's a lap bar going across the entire bench seat, all it takes is one adult with fat thighs to make it instantly feel less safe, especially when you're on the smaller side. Didn't make me feel safe with any ride with a drop because the restraints never felt secure enough. Same thing happened to my cousin's kid the last time we went. She became an adrenaline junkie with their visit in September last year, they hot every theme park, but Jurassic Park was the one ride she couldn't put her hands up on because her dad and I had the lap bar just high enough that she felt she had to grab on at the last second.
Wow, this was great! I grew up in Orlando and lived there until my mid twenties. The 90s were my childhood and I had went on every ride you mentioned. Some of which I had forgotten, until watching this video. Thank you for bringing back some deeply stored memories 🧠
Thank you for making this video!!! As I start my 30 anniversary with the company next week, this was fun looking back on the Universal I helped operate back in the day. EXCELLENT WORK. I can't wait for your next video!!
Love your Universal videos man! Keep up the great work!
This is amazing! Thank you! I moved to Orlando in 93 and when I turned 16 I worked at Universal until I joined the Navy. I started in retail and moved to Ride and Show, I finished as a tour guide with some others in between. This was an amazing look back at my first job and it's crazy how much the park has changed since the early 90s.
I’m really happy you made a Video on this cuz I really wish I had experienced this park these rides were so extravagant
Same
They were ambitious for sure. I'm not sure if people really appreciated them until years later though.
I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned that due to the complexity of the ride track system built into the same building, the track for Kongfrontation still exists on the ceiling of Revenge of The Mummy.
Wow thats kool
It didn't seem like a relevant detail, though I do think its remnants are an interesting part of the history.
I kind of think Lucas and Spielberg had kind of falling out as Lucas sided with Disney and Spielberg has always been with Universal probably is on their board of directors. I think it is funny how Lucas thought Spielberg couldn't do anything near Star Tours. Spielberg was like hold my beer, followed by Back to the Future and ET. I personally have enjoyed Universal films far more than Disney throughout the years its not even close. I have never been to these Florida parks only to Universal Hollywood which never had the space to build like Florida. The Kongfrontation looked awesome for sure.
Your video brings back so memories. As i worked there from 1994 to 1996. I remember all the original rides. Thank you.
Great video! Brings back memories, looking forward to Part 2.
I miss the mid-90s version of Universal Studios Florida, wish I could experience it again today how it was back then but as an adult :)
The 90s were great for Universal and Disney in general. If I had a time machine...
so happy to find your channel! 90's Universal Studios always holds a place in my heart!
I'm actually crying. Thank you so much for letting me relive all my memories from my childhood. Can't wait to watch part 2 and cry some more. XD
I was very lucky to have experienced it the year after it opened. I still struggle with if I think the park is ultimately better today than back then. Rides are definitely more high tech but, rides like back to the future I believe was better than the Simpsons and it had much more charm. Harry Potter is done amazingly but I really miss jaws. Love the mummy but Kongfrontation had just a little something extra vs the new Kong 3D screens. Maybe it’s just nostalgia working on me
That just goes to show how good Universal is at making replacements. Not like Disney who’ll replace a classic dark ride for a meet and greet, or a ride surrounding the main idea of the park (Great Movie Ride) and turning it into a bland ride featuring the company’s mascot and his girl
Probably mostly nostalgia but i agree there was just something more to the rides. Just ride E.T. and compare to newer rides. Im just not a fan of removing a ride everytime you put a new one in. They simply don't have enough rides to spread the crowds out
I think it's a mixed bag. While attractions like Transformers aren't necessarily bad, the issue is that the park is just too oversaturated with them. The park needs rides with more physicality to balance it out, but I'm not sure if they're going to do that. With rumors of a screen-based Minions attraction coming to the park, it seems like the wrong move.
All I can say to this is… I have the exact same thoughts.
I think it's a bit of a mix but majority nostalgia. I was lucky enough to have been on family vacations there when I was younger and I'm taking my own family on trips now. I was there in October of 2021 and rode ET again for the first time in a while with my children. I talked to ride up saying how much I loved it and they pretty much stared at me the whole like "this is the amazing ride you were telling us about?!?!" I also thing Universal strikes a good balance between screens and sets. Having the screens there allows them to do some pretty remarkable things with the technology we have today and the physical sets during transitions are incredible. Screens also make the rides much more reliable, upping the capacity and making wait times as short as possible. Lastly I absolutely understand your opinion on the matter and this is just my opinion so honestly I cod be way off the mark here lol.
I went in 97, it was still the classic way. Pretty amazing
really loving this so far, i'm excited for part 2
I remember going to universal studios when I was about 11/12 so 96/97. Possibly a year or 2 earlier. But I still remember just this magical feeling. I absolutely love movies and I'm fascinated by anything movie related. We unfortunately don't have anything like this in England. But I think I could definitely visit once a month and not get bored!
Your video refreshed my memories. I’m so glad I got to see most of these attractions before they closed. The last time I went to Universal Florida was in 2001.
I think it has everything to do with the fact that the concept of a movie studio has dramatically changed. The original park was a studio (and sort of still is) with a tour for guests much like what they still have at the Warner Bros Studio. And it became an attraction that slowly evolved into a theme park. This is contrasted with Disneyland which was created by a studio company that deliberately created an off site theme park.
As studios and backlogs have become a thing of the past, the idea of getting to visit a studio backlot became less meaningful. USF was created just as the idea of studios were on their way out the door (and well after the orginal studio era.) While USF wasn't just a studio, it was definitely about studio film production. I think it would still be cool to have the original park in tact (or perhaps added to) but I get that you can't make a theme park based on nostalgia for folks like me. My main problem with the park now (other than nitpicking specific attractions) is that it has no meaning or central purpose. It is just a weird amalgam of multiple pop culture references.
I never really understood the notion that film making became outdated. The industry has certainly changed, so why wouldn't the attractions change with it? The process is still fascinating today, so I think the old argument is essentially a myth. I also agree that the park is a mess today. Its many areas made a lot more sense when they were an eclectic arrangement of movie sets, but now they appear random and meaningless. I don't dislike the park as it exists today, but its loss of an overarching theme has definitely hurt it.
@@PoseidonEntertainment I'm just saying that use of a backlot studio is more a thing of the past. Use of sets built for filmmaking is rare now. And basing a park around soundstages with green screens doesn't really bring the same amount of magic. I mean, you can have one such attraction and make it interesting but that doesn't have the level of immersion and emotional resonance of a series of movie sets that a person can walk around and take in. Also, having a theme park behind the scenes area featuring computers where people are creating GCI would make for one good attraction but still wouldn't have the same appeal as a whole variety of movie sets.
What I think Universal could do would be to have a park area (at all of their parks) that focused on history. It could include movie props but also more history of special effects and even matte paintings. That could be a great lead in to then learning how computers transformed film making.
I’m starting to see more and more people around that would enjoy a “nostalgia park” aside from myself… I know the idea might not seem like a viable thing now but I hold on to hope that maybe someday we can have that.
I remember going to Universal as a kid in the mid-90s. It was a hot July day and got a wicked sun burn from Disney the day before. When the flames went off during the Jaws ride it really amped up the pain of the sun burn!!! I remember all of these rides. My favorite was Back to the Future and Ghostbusters show. I remember one of the things we had to see was the I Love Lucy walk through for my mom. They had a Jurassic Park exhibit right there on the right. You could get up close to the sick triceratops and a few other dino props.
Edit: Thanks for this video and I look forward to part 2! Awesome work!
Glad I got to go to Universal twice in the 90s I will always cherish those memories and consider myself lucky to have got to see it.
Awesome work! Cant wait for second video. Thanks for putting this together!
I remember going back to universal and being terrified in that Hitchcock birds segment lol great video. Loving your channel
Also. I remember after demonstrating the shower scene with a fake knife one of the team members would actually turn "evil" and would throw the knife at another cast member and it would stick into a wooden beam next to the victim. Which would shock the crowd showing that it was real all along
THIS IS FANTASTIC!! Reminds me of my childhood thank you sooo much
I appreciate the work you put into these videos.
When I first discovered USF's website, they showcased these now defuncted attractions, except for the Murder She Wrote sound stage. And made me wish I could go to Florida to experience them, which I sadly wasn't able to. Thank goodness for online videos showcasing what their full experiences were like.
Murder, She Wrote was actually quite difficult to cover. I had to piece together various videos because there wasn't a lot of information on it available.
That 45 sec opening clip got me SOOO HYPED on watching this haha!
First time I was at Universal was shortly after it opened in 1990. Went many many times until I moved in 97'[. Finally made i back to Universal Florida in 2020....omg! What a shock it was for me! I really do miss many of the old shows and rides, the new productions and rides, along with IOA made me very excited to finally be there again....thank you for this amazing nostalgic video!!!
Thank you so much for this video! I visited back in January 1991 so remember a lot of these rides
I find it so fascinating how the original idea of theme parks dedicated to the MAKING of movies has transformed to simply Theme parks dedicated to the world of the movies themselves.
Granted, I think that's because of this particular park. Kong, Jaws and Back to the Future never had any movie making context, simply just throwing you into a narrative.
Thanks for another great video, luckily my first time visiting Universal as a kid was the summer of 2002 and I got to experience kongfrontation just before it closed, the next time I went back a few years later the Mummy ride was there, which is good but the nostalgia of Kongfrontation will always make me smile ☺️
Another amazing video! Can't wait for part 2
I was very lucky to have gone to Universal Orlando back in the summer of 2002, so I was about 7-8 years old. And I was able to ride all of the rides that were originally there before they were closed. We had a 3 day pass, I never forgot those rides, and loved them!
I returned to Universal many years later to see most of all the classic rides I loved were almost all gone, so I made sure to ride the ones that were left like JAWS that actually closed that year, even T2 show as well.
Oooh boy… we first went in 2002 when I was ten years old (my birthday is in November so we went in December for my tenth birthday gift). I loved all of the attractions. I had so much fun… but it was a lot of shock and disappointment when we went back in 2004 and most of it seemed to already be gone. I remember that trip, I asked my parents when we were gonna go see King Kong and when none of us could find it on the map, I started to cry a little… there were four attractions I loved left though so it wasn’t for long. My tears dried when they told me we were going to go see Bruce, E.T. and Beetlejuice. My top three favorites.
@@CosplayCore nice! Glad to hear you got to get on most of the classic rides as well before they went away. At least you have the good memories of riding on them with your family. Some of my favorites of classic rides were JAWS, Kongfrontation, The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera, and Back to the Future.
Universal in the 90s was the best park ever. Disney did not come close. I used to have the option of where to go when visiting relatives in Florida and California and I went to all the major parks and made Universal the only one I cared about.
Back to the Future was the best attraction ever and I remember great memories of every single attraction shown in the video.
This is how I remember Universal as a kid from London! Wow! Amazing memories!
Wow this is giving me so much nostalgia. Visited a few times as a kid. And again about 20 years ago. Universal was so awesome back then!
I agree for sure.
Great video. At 17:32, I got to eat slime once as a kid when I did that same tour in 1996. It was literally just green apple sauce lol
Man unlocked so many memories for me. Thank you 🥲
Your content is amazing. Your very educated with what your doing. I love your videos
Thanks for this video. I was one of those first tour guides on the short-lived tram tour. The only reason they had a tour was because so many people complained about how different it was from Universal Hollywood. I transplanted there in 93, and did the tour for a year or two. It was really weird, because we were just standing on the back of typical parking lot shuttles. Not the Supertrams that I was used to in Hollywood!
Fantastic job with these videos
Thanks, I'm glad that you enjoy!
Man this seriously brings me back to my childhood, I absolutely loved the Hanna Barbara ride. The Ghostbusters live show was also another favorite as was Jaws!
So lucky I got to experience them as a kid in the 90’s. Thanks. Miss those days!
I am watching this right after my Universal Trip! Loved the video
great content!!! will be waiting for part 2
I still regret closing my eyes during the entire Kongfrontation ride when I was four. It was the first and last time I got to ride this amazing attraction and I never got to fully experience it cause I was a scaredy cat. Lol :)
awesome video!! I always get so excited when you upload something! You really know your stuff about theme parks which is super refreshing to hear as someone who is in college for designing them rn and your opinions abt the industry are always on point!! keep up the great work, i love listening to these essays :D
Thanks, I appreciate the feedback!
I was one of the visitors who vistited when they first opened. I still have a video of me riding the King Kong ride, jaws and et with my parents. Such a great time in history
This was awesome. Thanks!
Always a good Sunday when you wake up to a Poseidon upload! Peace!
This is bringing back a lot of deep memories my dad brought me there all the time over the years when I was little in the 90s 😅☯️ Good times 💯
I remember going round the park with my family and film buff grandfather in the 90s. At the time I think I most appreciated that we could skip the line since he had to be in a wheelchair for long walks, but it does bring back really nice memories seeing the park as we enjoyed it! He loved the earthquake ride.
Brilliant! I really appreciate the effort that obviously went into this video. It's also obvious that you're someone who "gets" the Opening Day attractions at USF. Whenever I get the chance I try to point out to Management that I fell in love with Universal Studios Florida lived up to the slogan of *Ride the Movies* whereas nowadays it seems like it's all about *Ride the Roller Coasters* . I live in Georgia, I don't need to go to Orlando in order to ride roller coasters. If the Hitchcock Theater was still in existence I'd enjoy going through it every time I visited the park. Same goes for the Murder She Wrote Post Production Show, Jaws, Kongfrontation and Ghostbusters. So, in anticipation of Part 2, put me down as not preferring the format change made in the park. Hell, I couldn't believe they closed the Lucille Ball tribute.
Wonderful video. Brought me back to how the park was when we first visited when I was younger. That western stunt show was pretty epic, it was one of the things that I really enjoyed. Earthquake and Backdraft, too... I hadn't realized how recently the park had opened when we first visited.
Are you speaking about Hollywood? The Florida park never had a version of Backdraft.
@@PoseidonEntertainment Very possible. We've visited both Florida and California but because I was young, memories tend to blur together.
For that reason, when my sister and I went back to Walt Disney World Disney as young adults, we searched high and low for the Indiana Jones ride and much to our dismay, could only find the stunt show... We only figured out at the end of our trip that we had probably seen this ride in California!
LOVE this video! amazing to see the little details of the original park! just subscribed to your channel!
damn dog i love your videos i look forward to them. I wasnt even a big them park fan until i saw your channel i realized just how much work goes into these parks. Thanks for your content bro
Such a wonderful trip down memory lane
Your videos are awesome! ✌️❤️
I already know this is gonna be the greatest video I've ever seen
I love your videos, and it's great to see your channel grow! Here's to 100k subs soon!
Thanks, I appreciate the support!
Love this content! Better than TV by far
Ive been going to USF since 1993 and I remember a lot of the old school rides. Currently work for the IOA side and its my favorite job Ive ever had!
Absolutely fascinating. You're the best 👌
I first went to universal as a kid in 1993 and returned in 2021; it's a completely different park but it's great that they pay homage to the old park. The King Kong ride was scary af and the one in the park now can't compare. My favorite ride was ET and the back to the future ride. This video really took me back to my childhood.
That's so cool that the base structure of the park hasn't changed too much. A lot of the buildings still look the same as the 90s 🤯
Can't wait for part 2!!!
In March of 1994, my 14 year old self was experiencing a theme park for the first time. We went to Universal first, although we did plan to go to Disney too. We walked down the street marvelling at everything and decided to first go to Kongfrontation. My 11 year old sister and I were losing our goddamned minds in the line with the tension waiting in the line. We were amped up just from the experience in the line, let alone the ride. The theming was so amazing it still makes me shiver nearly 30 years later. Listening to your summary I do remember other parts of the trip, I was one of the volunteers in the Murder She Wrote show to do some foley work. But Kong made one hell of an impression. I've only visited Universal one other time, but that was 2015, and a lot changed 20 years.
Can't hardly wait for part 2.
Yesss what a good video needed this
I definitely miss Jaws and Kong, even Twister. I wish they had kept a few OG attractions.
Really enjoyed the video. Makes me wish they would make a Universal legacy park
What a breath of fresh air though this describes the past of Universal Studios Florida... This is how I remember the studios as a kid and before I returned to it many years later after all of these premium attractions were unfortunately replaced by (in my opinion), lesser attractions such as the really flat and boring "Fast and Furious" silly and much cheaper 3D instead of actual animatronics or other physical (real) animated set pieces. Thank you for all the research work and editing that went into this video. I certainly look forward to part 2 of this video series. :D
Wouah I was a kid back then but this fells so nostalgic for me.
Lovely nostalgia. I miss all the older rides. Wish they would add rather than replace. I loved the back to the future ride and hanna Barbera ride. Great memories. Thanks
Although I have fun at the park now there really was something unique and special about the original early years and the rides.
i vividly remember my first time going to universal in 2005-06 and my favorite memory was jaws and twister that experience will forever be embedded in my soul the thrill of it all really made me fall in love with that park living in fort lauderdale all i wanted to do was go back every year and every time i go back it feels different idk what it is specifically but maybe its the 90's kids thing lol
i was born in 94 and both my parents work 20+ years their I've enjoyed every phase of Universal 🙏🏿🙏🏿
I’ll never forget my first visit when I was 8! Twister, Earthquake, and Jaws terrified me. I cried on Jaws and from that moment on I was hooked on universal. I have so many fond memories of going to the parks growing up