Universal Studios Florida plans to close one of its oldest and most popular attractions next month to make way for a new attraction. The theme park announced on Facebook Friday that on Jan. 2 it will permanently shut down its "Jaws" ride, which is based on the blockbuster 1975 Steven Spielberg movie.
Last chance to ride will be New Year's Day. I'm curious what the rest of you think about this. Personally, I liked Jaws a lot, so this sort of pisses me off. I guess not totally surprising, but still upsetting.
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I have to agree with you on liking Jaws. It was cool with a mix of scares and relaxation at the same time. The entire Amity city will be removed as well to make room for a future attraction. With that said, I have to say I agree with Universal on this move because even though Jaws was good, the surrounding area was rather plain. I believe whatever Universal has planned for that spot, it will be something well themed and more interactive.
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I remember going on this ride and having to be the one sitting next to the stupid thing. Dang near jumped into the lady's lap on the other side of the boat. I hated that shark.
I'll just copy this from ScreamScape since I don't feel like typing out my own version of the story.
In case you missed the late breaking announcement on Friday afternoon, but Universal Orlando announced that the Jaws attraction and the entire Amity themed area around it will be closing down forever after January 2nd to make way for a new attraction. While they were not ready to disclose what is in the works yet… I’ve done a good bit of digging since then and have come up with an amazing proposal that is going to both shock and likely amaze you at the same time. If my various sources are correct, the Amity / Jaws area will be replaced by the proposed Phase 2 expansion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Now, before you flip out… lets go over it all, because for starters this really isn’t going to be the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at all. Instead, from what I’ve been able to gather, the new land to be build in Universal Studios Florida will actually represent the “London” side of the PotterVerse… including an entrance to the infamous Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley, as seen in the movies, is home to infamous locations such as The Leaky Cauldron, Gringott’s Wizarding Bank and the true Ollivanders wand shop location, as seen in the films. The London location is also said to be home to King’s Cross station, where students would board the Hogwarts Express train from Platform 9 ¾. Many of these locations have been mentioned in the rumored development plans for Phase 2 of the Wizarding World for months now, including an innovative indoor dark coaster ride said to take place inside Gringott’s Wizarding Bank. It’s no secret that the Wizarding World has been popular…so much so that it needed to be expanded to spread out the crowds, and come up with a way to provide new locations for guests to buy Butterbeer, Ollivanders wands and more. But it seems that Universal Creative really decided to try a new idea… and think really outside the box this time. Literally… because this new expansion is going to allow for guests in both parks to get a taste of the PotterVerse… but to get the ENTIRE experience, you’d going to have to have a 2-park ticket. Speaking of having access to both parks… connecting the dots is said to be a true recreation of the Hogwarts Express, allowing guests with two park passes (and Universal Resort guests) to recreate the true journey from the Muggle world of London and actually board travel to the train station and board the train for a trip over to Hogwarts and the rest of the Wizarding World at Islands of Adventure. Now if all that wasn’t enough, I’ve heard some rumors about another possible new attraction likely to go into this Phase 2 project, that may attempt to take advantage of the new 3D projection tunnel technology Universal created for King Kong 3D 360 at the Hollywood park earlier this year. I don’t know if this may be put to use during your train ride on the Hogwarts Express, or if this will be an entirely separate ride experience. (One source suggested it could be a trip on the 3-decker Knight Bus, but I’ve heard that this isn’t likely to happen). Either way this is huge… and apparently it all has a rather aggressive construction timeline as Universal is said to be shooting to have it all up and running by 2014. I’ve also heard that an official announcement or teaser could be released very soon, so stay tuned!
-From Screamscape.com
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You've got to be sh*tt*ng me??! I rode that ride when I was 4 or 5 and barely barely barely remember anything. Its all one giant fuzz to me. I really was going to go back and visit now that Im an adult now. Grr...why is it always when its too late??
This is good news for me, but not so good news for everyone else. This ride has its issues and needs to go, but it is a classic, but out with the old and in with the new (and awesome attractions).
Universal Orlando Mechanical Engineer Marathon down, Goofy to go.
When Seagrams bought Universal a while back they went though the trouble of making this film to show at a company party. I think it sums it up quite nicely....
Jeffery Katzenberg is in that video at 1:16, this was probably filmed right after he left Disney. Also it's kind of funny how even though they are making fun of it being old and stupid, it's still there and exactly the same over 15 years later.
RE Jaws: I went to ride it tonight with some friends and waited through the queue (was about an hour) and it went down, waited about 15 minutes more and decided to leave. While it was a nice little ride and no doubt a classic attraction, it was also old and had expensive explosives going constantly. For a ride that doesn't exactly pack in the crowds anymore they were probably losing money off of operating it.
F*CK YEAH!!!!! Make way for the expansion of WWOHP Wizarding World of Harry Potter!!!!!!!!!! They are supposedly adding Gringotts and making a Gringotts roller coaster!!!! Being the ultimate harry potter freak obsessed fanatic that I am this is not surprising amazing stupendous news!!!! This is an even bigger excuse to go!!!!
First Back to the Future, now Jaws. What the...? I have never been to Universal Studios and now I don't plan I ever will. Is nothing considered classic or timeless anymore.
Today we are all 70's/80's movie based rides being replaced by Harry Potter Magic Funtime Happy Wizarding Place with Rides and Shops. Oh and the Simpsons. Which literally jumped Jaws years ago. Also Future scenes in BttF II with the holograph Jaws 8 shark, doubly sad now.
Push down, then pull up. Exit to your left/right. And, enjoy the rest of your day at Six Flags! Your friendly enthusiast Kyle.
Went to Universal Twice in the last two years... And I don't think this place has anymore appeal to me considering it's almost half Harry Potter stuff with this new expansion. They have 3 or 4 good roller coasters and maybe this new one will make it 5 good coasters.
Im literally LMFAO with all these people annoyed about the new Harry Potter expansion!! Move aside jaws make way for the new Wizarding World!! I don't like Harry Potter himself I'm just a fan of the series overall. Expelliarmus!!
