D&M Exclusive: Universal Orlando "Harry Potter Forbidden Forest" Coaster Track Now in Place 4K Video

We're back at Orlando with a new incredible video, this time at Universal Studios, showing the construction site of the awaited "Harry Potter Forbidden Forest" coaster, the one you can see below on this drone picture posted by Bioreconstruct.



As you'll see in the video, the coaster track has been laid on the highly anticipated Forbidden Forest family-friendly coaster that looks to be launching forward and will also have a backwards section. The construction is moving fast and should be open by 2019 to compete with Star Wars Land!




This will be for sure one of the most thrilling moment of the ride as the train will go up this almost vertical piece of track before stopping briefly and then running backward through a show building.


Okay, here is the great construction site video and there is more about the Forbidden Forest coaster after it!




Now, as i'm sure you want to learn a bit more of what to expect in this incredible coaster, watch this video posted by Alicia Stella, in which she describes all the ride and the scenes you'll go through. Although Alicia says that her description is based on rumors most of it seems to be confirmed, so no need to say that there is a spoiling alert here!




There is more as Amusementinsider has posted a CGI video of the ride, based on the most recent rumors and description.



The Harry Potter Forbidden Forest coaster ride will open in 2019, and from what i've been told they're moving at 100mph on the project as Universal Orlando wants be ready and open it before DHS Star Wars Land opening.

Pictures: copyright Universal, Warner

Is Universal Studios Planning a Star Trek Land For Universal Orlando 4th theme Park ?

We're back today at Universal Orlando for a new rumor, and this time it's about a Star Trek land that it seems Universal Creatives are thinking to include in the upcoming - but not announced yet - 4th Theme Park.

Lance Hart from Screamscape talked about Star Trek last month, but as a new show that would come eventually in the now extinct Terminator 2 3D building, and i asked my source if there was any truth in it. The reply was "Lance is correct that a live stage show is getting shuffled between the Bourne Identity or Star Trek, and a Star Trek Sci-Fi area is being highly considered to hit back WDW DHS Star Wars land. If Universal do a Star Trek Sci-Fi area, it will be very Sci-Fi city like and not too alien planet like most would think... and with an anchor attraction. And may be something very similar to the recently announced Sci-Fi "Transformers" area going to Universal Beijing"

Apparently Universal don’t want to make just a generic themed area like Tomorrowland. According to my source, "the days of random themed areas with 5 IPs around each other are gone and they are going to transition each area nicely". By the way, talking about the T2 3D building, my source added that "the Shrek attraction is safe until they come up with whatever will take over the old Terminator building".

So, apparently it seems that so far it'll be either a Bourne Identity or a Star Trek attraction that will come in the T2 3D building. OR they'll keep Star Trek as the "Tomorrowland" land for the 4th theme park, which in my opinion will be a much better idea.

The problem with the Star Trek universe is that there is ennemies but not necessarily a lot of iconic planet locations, visually speaking. I don't mean that there is no memorable planets in the Star Trek series, i mean that, except for the Trekkies, they are less known by a wide audience than the Star Wars planets. Anyway, you see  what i mean...

The real icon of the series is the Enterprise - everybody knows the ship, even non Trekkies - and each Star Trek fan is dreaming to be on board of the Enterprise. So, what they should do if Universal Creatives have the guts - and the money! - to do it is to build a giant real size Enterprise like the one that was planned for Las Vegas years ago, and unfortunately cancelled. And then to have the attractions inside it. Here is the rendering of the Las Vegas project which was designed at that time by Landmark Entertainment, the previous company of Gary Goddard.


Okay, it's huge, i agree, but, hey, it's the size of the ENTERPRISE! The other good point in the idea of building a real size Enterprise for a Star Trek land is the spaceship crew. You can make the spaceship "alive" with dozens of cast-members / actors / extras who would each play their role and will contribute to create an immersive and reliable Star Trek experience. They did it in a smaller scale at the now extinct Star Trek Experience in Las Vegas and it worked pretty well ( see video below).

Talking about Star Trek Experience, let's have a look back at it with a previous D&M article with originals artworks - painted by the great Eric Heschong who unfortunately passed away - as it might help you to visualize what i mean, how great the theming could be and why Universal should build a Star Trek land in the future 4th theme park.

Previous Disney and more article: 

I will begin by what was probably the most incredible idea for a Star Trek theme park/attraction concept with the rendering above. As you can see this incredible concept envisioned a REAL SIZE Enterprise, and we all know how huge is supposed to be the Enterprise! Inside, guests would have found themed Star Trek attractions. Please double-click on the image to see the artwork in high-resolution as it is a big WOW!

This amazing project unfortunately not realised has a story. Years ago, the Las Vegas Down Town hotels association, aware that the new Strip's hotels were getting most of the visitors, wanted to create a unique attraction to be located down town Las Vegas. Different companies created concepts, including Landmark with this amazing Star Trek concept, but, although they loved Landmark's idea their final choice went to the Fremont Street Experience.

When i saw that incredible rendering i thought that the biggest problem may have been the architecture engineering - after all the Enterprise is design for outerspace, not for Earth gravity. The front dome and the wings may have been an engineering problem, but it seems that, no, that was not the problem. An estimated cost around $200 M (at that time) was reasonable - specially considering the size, and all we can wish to this amazing project is to exist one day as it will be the "ultimate" Trekkie dream, finally existing for real.

The next rendering below shows a "night" scene of the same concept.



Now, as we know, another Star Trek attraction was finally built in Las Vegas. Unfortunately closed recently, the Star Trek Experience was incredibly successful at its opening - it was another Trekkie-wet-dream-come-true and i have many renderings of it for you today.



The Las Vegas Star Trek Experience attraction opened in January 1998 at the Las Vegas Hilton and closed in September 2008. When it opened the main attraction was a simulator ride called The Klingon Encounter. The pavilion underwent one major renovation in 2004 which added the Borg Invasion 4-D attraction, which used state-of-the-art amusement technology where guests experienced an encounter with the Borg. The artwork below released for the press before the opening in 1998 focus only on the first version of Star Trek Experience.

Above and below two beautiful renderings showing the entrance of Las Vegas Star Trek Experience.



After purchasing a ticket, which allowed the guest to board the attractions an unlimited amount of times that day, one walked through a museum that included numerous items from Star Trek history - top of the rendering below. It also featured several video display devices and a timeline of Star Trek events. Later, there were displays for each of the major alien races, which included the Borg, Klingons, and Ferengi. The last section of the museum was a hallway that served as the attraction queues. The left side was for the Borg Invasion 4-D, and the right side was for Klingon Encounter. Because the Borg ride held about twice as many people, that line moved more quickly (each show lasted about 18 minutes). The Klingon Encounter held 27 people while the Borg Invasion 4-D held 48 people. Each show was constructed so that those "in the back" for the first part of the show would, in turn, likely end up in the front for the second half of either show.

After the attraction guests could enjoyed the merchandise shop and especially the Quark's Bar that you can see on the rendering below.



The Klingon encounter attraction was the one at the opening. Initially, the visitors entered first a small room with a depiction of "outer space". A small television in the upper right corner of the room displayed scenes from several Star Trek movies.

The group then entered a smaller, dimly lit waiting area of a traditional simulator ride. Visitors lined up in rows in front of doors, as hosts direct their attention to the screens above for a safety demo for the shuttlecraft simulator ride. A few moments into the film, the televisions flickered, malfunctioned, and the lights went out. A variety of loud noises accompanied by hundreds of small light flashes that visually simulate the "transporter effect," along with the transporter sound effect and a rush of cold air (which, according to backstage tour guides, was an unintentional but appreciated effect caused by a false room being raised into the ceiling). When the lights returned, the walls and floor and ceiling have apparently disappeared and you were on a transporter pad (a room much larger than you were previously standing, without the doors you were ready to walk through!). You are now aboard the USS Enterprise-D, transporter room as seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation.

On the transporter pad, a uniformed Starfleet officer asked for the leaders of the group and directed them away for instruction. It was explained that the visitors were beamed aboard the Starship Enterprise to "what you would call the future" and the group is then led to the bridge.

The group stood on the rear between the science stations and the tactical station. There were various busy crewmembers on the bridge, and they contact Commander Riker, who promptly appears on the main viewscreen. Riker explained that Captain Picard disappeared the moment the group beamed aboard the Enterprise and thus one member of the group must be Picard's ancestor. A nefarious rogue Klingon Commander named Korath used a hidden time-rift to abduct Picard's ancestor and erase him from the timeline. Starfleet intelligence, having learned of the plan, dispatched the Enterprise to intercept the Klingon's transporter beam and rescue the entire group. Riker directs the group to board a shuttlecraft to go escape the temporal rift, and return all guests to their original time.

While the group was in the turbolift, the Klingons attack the Enterprise and the turbolift enters a free fall. There are several jolts on the turbolift during the attack. Finally, the group arrives in the Grand Corridor and at the shuttle bay deck.
Below, a rendering of the Grand Corridor.



The group boarded the shuttlecraft. The shuttle ride began with a battle between the Enterprise and a few Klingon vessels...



Then, the shuttle went into warp and was then instructed to find and destroy a cloaking generator on the planet's surface. There were several dogfights and visual effects during this time.



The shuttle then returned through the temporal rift to present-day Las Vegas (although filmed almost 10 years ago, things as the Sands Hotel tower, a sign promoting Siegfried & Roy, might lead one to believe the shuttle returned prior to their abduction). Unfortunately a Klingon ship followed, however Enterprise saved the shuttle at the last minute. The 'real' shuttle landed at the Las Vegas Hilton right next to the "motion simulators" shuttles the visitors were originally waiting to enter when they were "beamed off" at the start of the story. Before the crew of the Enterprise leaves, Captain Picard thanks the crew for "restoring his existence." He says, "While only one of you is my ancestor, each of you hold that same opportunity for the future. Guard it well."

Typically a custodian led the group to an elevator and then out to the Deep Space Nine Promenade and Quark's Bar.

A new attraction - Borg Encounter - was added in 2004, and you'll find more details about it on the Wikipedia page from where most of the description text of this article is coming from.

Another great idea of Star Trek Experience was the theming of the casino - we're in Las Vegas, let's not forget it...It was originally themed as if it was an outer space casino and through the window bays one could see views of outer space supposed to give the feeling that the casino was a kind of space station. Unfortunately after some years they canceled these rear-projections effect and when i visited the attraction five years ago it was not there any more.



I remember that I loved this Star Trek Experience, the teleportation room, the Enterprise bridge, the grand corridor, all this was wonderfully done, and i was sad to hear its closure in September 2008...

End of previous D&M article

And now here is a video showing the full Las Vegas Star Trek Experience with both the Klingon Encounter and the Borg Invasion. After the "live action" parts,  guests of the Klingon Encounter embark for a simulator ride and the Borg Invasion was a 4D experience, but the most important here is the acting part and the theming of the decors to show the potential that a Star Trek land can have to make the experience both immersive and enjoyable for Universal guests. That said, may be Universal won't do a Star Trek land in the new park but only an attraction in the T2 3D show building and that will be all what we'll get...




One more thing: the Star Trek license may look less solid than the Star Wars one and years ago, before the new movies, we could hear that "the Star Trek license was dead", but the truth is that it's not dead at all with the new TV series Star Trek : Discovery which started last year and two new movies in preparation, including one rumored to be directed by  ...Quentin Tarantino! And most of all Star Trek is not only about battles with Klingon or Borgs but also about a positive vision of the future and hope between intergalactic races and, boy, do we need a bright vision of the future, don't we? So, go ahead Universal and build a Star Trek land, do it right with plenty of live action and extras and it will be a success from day one!

Artwork: copyright Landmark, Landmark entertainment, Star Trek is copyright Paramount Pictures and CBS

Is Universal Studios Orlando Planning a Third Theme Park Based on Video Games? Edited with new infos!

According to Billy Donelly of This is Infamous website Universal Studios Orlando is planning to build a third theme park in Orlando on a land they'll buy anytime soon and "expand their footprint even further as a multi-day vacation destination to rival Walt Disney World."  For This is Infamous Universal is "in the process of acquiring the necessary land surrounding their currently developed areas with these parcels being a done deal in order to realize their designs on something bigger."

Now, you may remember the recent announcement in March of  the Universal’s deal with Nintendo and Billy Donnely is saying that this third theme park will be themed on famous video games. Rumors were saying that Universal will be using Nintendo to revive kiddie areas of  current parks but although it might be the case and Universal might split Nintendo into multiple parks a Mario Kart ride is although not announced yet officially is in the works, but This is Infamous is also hearing that "a Pokemon and a The Legend of Zelda rides would be created." And all these "may end up getting their own immersive worlds – and that cannot be done in the kiddie area alone."

The other big license Billy is hearing from his sources and which would be a part of this new park would be World of Warcraft, ""which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, given Legendary’s partnership with Universal now and the fact that the duo is heading up the release of Duncan Jones’ WARCRAFT movie next year."

As Billy notes, "with five on-site hotels open and Volcano Bay, their first water park set to cut the ribbon in 2017, the timing is lining up perfectly for Universal to make a valid attempt at stealing some of Disney’s thunder and their market share in Orlando." The name of this third theme park has not yet been chosen but Billy sources told him that according to Universal plans the envisioned date for its opening would be 2021. 

As Slash Film reports also today "Universal Studios Orlando was about the movies, while Universal’s Islands of Adventure was more about books and cartoons come to life — think about it: Jurassic Park, Doctor Seuss, Marvel comic books and Harry Potter are all based on books at their core. So it makes sense for a third Universal park to focus on another medium – video games." Slash Film also notes that "Universal Studios is of course producing and releasing the big screen adaptation of Warcraft directed by Duncan Jones, so that makes sense. There is also a very huge fan base behind the Warcraft universe that could drive a ton of traffic to an Orlando park if they were to devote an entire land (The Wizarding World of Harry Potter-style) to the property."

For people - just like me - who are not really specialists or hard-core fans of video games this idea of a theme park based on video games licenses may look odd but these games have been sold and have dozens - if not hundreds - of millions of fans around the world and i have to say that, if true, this idea might be one of the smartest ideas Universal had since the Harry Potter lands. 

One more news today which may be linked to this third theme park is coming from Parkscope which is saying that "on Monday, documents filed with the Orange County Comptroller indicated that a portion of the old land that Universal, then owned by Vivendi, once considered its next step in Orlando before being sold to a developer in 2003, had been bought by a company named AFF Universal. AFF Universal is what looks to be nothing more than a shell company, as it was only created at the end of last month. They paid 27 million for the property, so they shelled out a decent amount." As Parkscope notes he have "no idea if this is anything in substance" and it can be "nothing", but this added to This si Infamous report starts to be something and we'll keep an eye on what will happen next as it would make sense for Universal to create this third gate in Orlando.

Editing: A faithful D&M reader sent me the above map showing- in yellow - the piece of land that could be available for a Universal third park, ands not too far from the two others parks. Tis piece of land don't include Lockeed Martin, located just above. The yellow outline could be the new Universal new land. The green line could be some kind of peoplemover or monorail parallel to Universal Blvd. From the parking garage to the new land / park.

As i said abovea theme park about video games - which for the most i don't know - is not big excitement for me but i still think that it's a really smart move from Universal. There are dozens if not hundred of millions of young - and even less young - gamers and if Universal design for them attractions as good as he did for Harry Potter, it should be very successful. The move is even better than that as they target some specific people Disney didn't even thought about. If we take World of Warcraft only -  a massively multiplayer online role-playing game - according to Wikipedia it has grossed over 10 billion dollars, and is also the highest grossing video game of all time. In January 2014 it was announced that more than 100 million accounts had been created over the game's lifetime.

So my guess, is that someone at Universal probably wake up one morning and had an epiphany, realizing that a theme park based about video games was "the new frontier". As i've said , as i don't know anything about all these games, so it'll be hard for me to have an emotional feeling in this kind of park, but potential millions of players will have and will be excited like young wizards can be when they enter Harry Potter lands. So if it's true i think it's a very very smart move.

Editing 2: More about this Universal mystery as the reader who's sent me the map you've seen in the two posts below reminded me that one year ago there was strong rumors ( and apparently talks between the two ) that Comcast / Universal was in discussion to buy Sea World, and not only Sea World Orlando of course but Sea World with all its parks.

Where it becomes interesting and you'll see why on the new map below that he did for me ( again ) is how it would look if Universal was the owner of Sea World in Orlando and building a third gate with attractions based on video games located at mid-way between Universal Orlando and IOA and Sea World. just like on the previous map, the part circled in yellow is the land which could be used for a third park and the lines in green could be a people mover / monorail or any kind of system you want to transport the guests between all the parks. And by doing this Comcast / Universal would have 4 parks to compete with Disney.

Remember that all this is just thoughts - if not wishful thinking - until further official announcement...
You can read HERE and HERE last year articles talking about a Sea World acquisition by Comcast.

Pictures: copyright Universal Studios, Nintendo

Comcast's Profit Jumped 50 Percent to $2.6 BILLION Thanks to Universal Studios Parks

The Orlando Sentinel reports that Universal Orlando's new Harry Potter land sent Comcast Corp.'s third-quarter theme-park revenue soaring 18.7 percent compared with the previous year, the company said in an earnings report Thursday. Overall, Comcast's profit jumped 50 percent to $2.6 BILLION!!

And the party is not over yet for Comcast with new attractions coming soon at Orlando ( the long rumored King Kong Skull Island at IOA ), the WWOHP at Universal Hollywood and a new Loews luxury hotel, the Sapphire Falls Resort - renderings above and below - that will open in summer 2016 and will be Universal Orlando's fifth hotel. No need to say that you can expect all these to raise Comcast profits.

Artwork: copyright Universal Studios

Will DLP "Lava Lagoon" Water Park That-Never-Was Project Resuscitate at Universal Studios Orlando "Volcano Bay" ?

I don't know if you've read the post on Screamcape today about a Universal Studios Orlando water park project, but you should. Why, you ask? Because this rumor of a Universal Orlando water park might not be a rumor after all as Parkscope discovered that Universal filed a new trademark under the name of "Volcano Bay" and Lance think that, considering the "Volcano Bay" name is intended for use in “Amusement park and water park rides” or “entertainment in the nature of a water park ride” this might fit with "the rumor for a Universal themed waterpark build around a large fake Volcano mountain structure that would give them a reason to add fun chaotic elements of themeing to the park’s slides and attractions. Steam vents, pyro and mist projection screens full of virtual flames”.

That Volcano water park looks like a pretty cool idea, you say? Sure, but where it starts to be interesting is when you remember that Disneyland Paris had a similar "volcano" water park project called "Lava Lagoon", the famous DLP water park project that never was - and never will be, unfortunately. Instead DLP will have the Villages Nature, a much more profitable real estate operation for DLP in which a part of it will be a water park but in no way similar to Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, or.... Lava Lagoon. I've posted an article about Lava Lagoon in 2012 which i repost here, but it will be interesting if this Universal "Volcano Bay" project is confirmed as  a water park to see if there will be similarities with the DLP project. And don't come telling me that i might be the one who gave the idea to Universal by posting the article two years ago as i will remind you that Universal Creative Senior Vice-President and talented wizard Thierry Coup worked previously at DLP Imagineering, and as everyone working at DLPI he didn't need anyone to be aware of the Lava Lagoon concept.

That said, as my previous article was telling you two years ago there will be some reminiscences in the Villages Nature of the Lava Lagoon concept, so have a read first of this article and i'll be back at the end:

In a recent interview to the french news magazine L'Express, Philippe Gas DLP CEO answered to the journalist question about "a water park at DLP ?" : "For this we will have Villages Nature, a holiday destination which will include the biggest water park in Europe. It took us some years to finalize the project with Pierre & Vacances and we asked Joe Rhode, who created Animal Kingdom, to work on the project. The water park will be based on geothermal and you'll be able to bathe all year long in Icelandic geysers! The commercialization will start at the end of 2012 and the opening is scheduled for mid 2015."

That sounds good, isn't it? Now, as you may know, another famous water park project was envisioned for DLP by WDI Imagineers. It was called Lava Lagoon, was supposed to be build on a land more or less in front of the Sequoia Lodge Hotel and for years DLP fans have hoped that Lava Lagoon will be finally built. Unfortunately there won't be any Lava or Volcano rising in front of the Sequoia Lodge as it is now an extinct project. However, as we will see, some of the ideas which were included in Lava Lagoon might find a new life in the Villages Nature water park.



But, as i realized that i never did an article about this Lava Lagoon project, let's begin first by having a look at how it would have been as the concept looked great! Basically, the idea was to have a "two in one" water park, themed around a Hawaian volcano, with one part covered by a giant dome and the other one, open air which would have been open only during the spring and summer season. Originally the water park was supposed to have an access only for DLP hotel guests and Annual passport holder, and this is probably why its capacity would have been of only 1600 people for the "under dome" part with an addition of 1500 more people during the summer days when the open air part and slides would have been open. On the renderings above and below, coming for a big part from the Westcot website, you'll see clearly what would have been the open air part and the one under the giant dome.



At the center of Lava Lagoon, according to the Webcot article written by Grandmath in 2007, the giant volcano would have been called "The Big Kahuna" and all around it WDI Imagineers had planned to recreate a tropical forest, with bamboos, coconut trees, tikis dedicated to hawaian gods, and fake lava flows who would have served as slides. Apparently it would have been also possible to walk through and explore the volcano. Lots of slides, so, as well as exotic paths at the base of the volcano, with a lazy river going all a round the water park going through a bamboo, palm tree and orchids forest and even going through the "Big Kahuna".



What kind of water activities guests would have found at Lava Lagoon? Well, of course the classic wave pool called the "Great Pacific", located on the west base of the volcano and on the volcano itself guests would have climb stairs going up to the top of the Big Kahuna from where they would have found different type of slides called "Pele’s Plumett", or "Lava Loop", "The Spouting Horn", or "The Sizzling Stones"!





However Lava Lagoon guests would also have found other attractions all around the volcano, one called the Kahuku Falls, a kind of rafting slide, or another slide called "Aloha Falls". Another interesting detail: all around the Big Kahuna would have been beaches of dark "black" sand - like the one you can find near real volcanos - with other beaches of white sand in the open air part of the water park.



In this exterior part guests would have found others slides - artwork above - called "Waimea Canyon", "To a Needle", et "Waihia Falls" but also large pools with evocative names: "Hula Hula Bay", "Alakoke Pond", "Hanahuma Bay", "Koko Cove"... all linked to each others then to the others pools located in the "under dome" inside part thanks to a small river.



And where is the link in all this with the Village Nature water park, you ask? Well, what Grandmath didn't said in its 2007 Westcot article - probably because he didn't knew it - was that WDI Imagineers had also envisioned in their concepts for Lava Lagoon an area which would have been inspired by the natural hot pools that you find naturally in countries of the north of Europe, in two words a part which would have been more "geothermal", as you will see on the renderings below, and for a big part in "open air".





So, even if no "Big Kahuna" volcano or tropical forest with bamboos and orchids will be part of the Villages Nature water park, DLP fans will probably be happy to know that some of the ideas developed for this Lava Lagoon that never was will finally become reality in 2015 when the Villages Nature water park will have its opening, confirming the famous Walt Disney Imagineering quote that " At WDI, a good idea never die ".

( End of 2012 article )

Well, sure, a good idea never die at WDI but apparently it may even resuscitate at Disney's biggest competitor, thousands miles from Disneyland Paris. A water park themed around a volcano theme is a great idea, it's just a pity that DLP missed the opportunity to built it, but to be honest they didn't had the funds to do it. And they also probably have never been convinced that, considering the harsh weather in Paris at least six months a year, a water park, even themed by Disney, could be as popular and financially viable as the ones at WDW can be. And i have to admit that they had a good point, here. So, well, i suppose that we might have to go to Orlando to enjoy some "lava slides", right?


Pictures: copyright Disney - All my thanks to the Westcot web site for the pics previously posted on their site in 2007.

Universal Studios Orlando Evening Opening Event Unveil Harry Potter Diagon Alley and Hogwarts Express !

That's it, the opening evening event for Harry Potter Diagon Alley happened last night and first videos appeared on Youtube. As always Inside the Magic did a great job and filmed both Hogwarts Express trip - from London Kings Cross to Hogsmeade and return, but also all the queue decor and pre-show for the awaited Escape from Gringotts ride. It was forbidden to film the ride itself so i suppose that we may have to wait until the opening on July 10 to have someone who will transgress...

In the meantime here is the video showing the trip from London Kings Cross to Hogsmeade station at IOA and for the return trip and the Escape from Gringotts ride queue video jump to Inside the Magic HERE. One more thing: the Hogwarts Express ride is EXTREMELY well done, there is a lot of clever ideas in it and i even won't be surprised if very young kids would be scared a bit during the London - Hogsmeade ride. Also have a look at how they did for the moment where you have to walk through a wall to access the 9 3/4 platform in Kings Cross.




Picture: copyright Universal Studios

Video: copyright inside the Magic

Universal Studios Hollywood Despicable Me "Minion Mayhem" Attraction - Full Pre-Show and Ride Video

A new attraction will open soon on April 10 and it's Despicable Me "Minion Mayhem" at Universal Studios Hollywood. A soft-opening happened this week and for this USH version Universal did something on a much bigger scale than in Orlando!

On the video below you'll see not only the exterior, the queue decor and the full pre-show but also the ride movie itself! No need to say that it's full of spoilers so i warn those of you who intend to go at USH anytime soon!




Pictures: copyright Universal Studios

New Pictures of Universal Studios Orlando Cabana Bay Beach Resort

Universal Studios Orlando released new pictures of the new hotel, the Cabana Bay Beach Resort. If, just like me, you're a fan of the 1950's - 1960's design you should like it. Personally i think it should be a great "value" family hotel and with 900 suite rooms and 900 value level rooms, two massive pools, a lush tropical themed lazy river - the first in a Universal Studios Resort and even a bowling, it should help Universal to attract and "keep" guests at Universal Orlando...

Pictures: copyright Universal Studios

Jekyll and Hyde Club, The Awesome Themed Restaurant That Won't Come at Universal Orlando City Walk

Universal Studios Orlando did yesterday their awaited big announcement and unfortunately even if there was a strong rumor saying that a Jekyll and Hyde Club - similar to the popular one existing in New York - would open at Universal City Walk, i'm sorry to say that unfortunately this awesome themed restaurant is not included in the new eight City Walk venue.

It's really a pity as this would have been a very, very, smart move from Universal. And here is why: the Jekyll and Hyde club is a club of "eccentric explorers and mad scientists where guests eat, drink and socialize among the unusual and the bizarre" in a british victorian decor filled with Audio-Animatronics monsters and weird props. Yes, a club of "eccentric explorers"...  does this remind you something? That's right, the Jekyll and Hyde club would have delighted all of you who miss dearly the now unfortunately extinct Adventurers Club at WDW Downtown Disney, but a Club with a more weird theming.

But what exactly is this Jekyll and Hyde club, you ask? Well let's have a tour of this splendid "club" that New Yorkers can enjoy, with plenty of pictures and videos that will show you everything!

The Jekyll and Hyde club is indeed a place where you can drink and eat while you're sit in "chesterfield" sofas surrounded by artifacts from around the world and on your way to your table you'll note changing portraits and Audio-Animatronics skeletons...

You can count on the eyes of the portraits on these paintings to follow your steps...

You must not miss a visit to the library and its kind of "Mrs Leota" floating above the table...

Highly detailed theming and gargoyles await you at each corner...

Here is a first video who will show you a bit of everything, and then we'll have a look at each "show" in detail. You'll note that in New York you enter the club through a phone booth!




Now, let's start our tour of the shows and animated characters, and again, chances are that all these will be include in the Jekyll and Hyde club coming at Universal City Walk. The big show is the "Frankenstein" one called here "Dr Brain Experiment"...

...in which the "creature" hidden for now in the metal box above will come to life after blood from a guests would have been transfused to it!

Here is the video of the whole show, don't miss it, it's fun and the actor is great.




The Jekyll and Hyde club include as i told you some Audio-Animatronics like this skeleton ventriloquist and his puppet...

...or these Siamese twin...

...as well as The Elephant Man himself, and you'll see all of them in this next video!




And now meet the cast of "eccentric explorers and mad scientist" of the Jekyll and Hyde club in this next video!




A last video for the road showing the mad clown and the Audio-Animatronic devilish puppet in the chamber of horrors!



What a great theming, isn't it? And what a great place to eat, drink and "socialize" as they say. I think you better understand now why bringing the Jekyll and Hyde club at Universal Orlando City Walk would have been an incredibly good move from Universal, and it's a pity they missed it! But if you fly to New York, don't forget to pay a visit to the Jekyll and Hyde  club, HERE is the official website with all needed infos.

Pictures: Copyright Jekyll and Hyde club