Mitchada04

There were rumours that Islands recouped the entire investment in Potter back in 5 months or something through merch and food sales alone with the number being 3 months for Diagon Alley which is spectacular! At they rate they could (and basically are) building one new large thing each year and still raking in huge profits. May seem crazy like the Tussauds era of invest at every corner but Comcast seem pretty confident and so they should be, the figures all support it. Whilst Universal has always been great at developing modern rides such as Spiderman, Potter has really changed the parks and for the better. Yes, they continue to invest heavily in Potter which I'm not a massive fan of because the IP doesn't bother me, but can you blame them for doing so? Especially when they do invest elsewhere. Springfield is just some shops and restaurants yet it is sublime! RE Forbidden Journey: I really enjoy the ride and love the new concept and look forward to how further rides of its type are explored as they could be utterly amazing. Also, the Japanese FJ is now 3D4K which so is Hollywood. No idea of when Orlando's will get this upgrade.

So every ride should be surrounded in platforms in case the rarest conditions occur and it stalls? Saw can stall behind Samurai without people on, no platform there.

Once your time arrives, you get a 15 minute countdown to join the rides queue. If you don't arrive in that time the code that appears on your phone to be scanned expires. Don't know how strict they'll be but I presume if you miss the time slot they won't let you in as it won't scan.

Look, if the park was getting reviews from the majority saying they hated it they wouldn't continue with it, but it may surprise you there is good feedback and that's why it continues! Complaining on here does nothing other than bring up old repeated arguments that just end up in circles.

Spinball will also be closed with no ERT. Tickets for Towers tomorrow can still be used at the other parks as well presumably due to the things closed

Today celebrates the 25th anniversary of Universal Studios Florida (and in essence the entire Orlando Resort but more on that later). Instead of revising for my exams I've decided to share how the park has fallen, picked itself up hugely and become a real competitor to Disney. It started nearly 35 years ago with the idea of Universal building a theme park on the East Coast coming into managers minds in 1981. It was a big move, Hollywood was already in place as a working studios with the studio tour built to it and the theme park slowly around it. This time, Universal would have to build from the ground up! With Disney and SeaWorld in place in Orlando and doing well, it was decided the park would be built in Orlando and the original piece of land they wanted is what they have today. When Disney were looking at building in Florida, they had also looked at this plot of land (a section between the I4 and Florida Turnpike) but decided there wasn't enough land available, but Universal were happy with the size. During development between 1982 and 86, the park sought for other investors to help remove the risk. One company they approached was Paramount Studios (oh the irony of that today) and Eisner who was one of the executives at the time. He didn't take up the project but he sure did remember what he saw. Later in 1984, Michael Eisner became CEO of Disney and knew what Universal were up to. Disney had already been looking at a studios styled theme park but now plans were hurried along. In 1986, land clearing of the swamp land Universal purchased began and in 87 the park is announce with a proposed opening of December 1989. Although Universal had a years head start, MGM Studios (now Disney's Hollywood Studios) opened a whole year and a month earlier on May 1st 1989. Why? Disney has there own planning area/council that gives out building zone permits etc, the Reedy Creek Improvement District (basically why Disney can build what they want whenever). It seemed Disney had the upper hand, but Universal now knew that Disney were rushing through a studios park with the main component supposed to be a studio tour (which is originally what USF was going to utilise). Universal decided to rethink its move, and instead of making the studio tour the main aspect, it looked to the Hollywood tour for inspiration. On that, you go through Amity where Jaws makes an appearance to attack your tram. Universal therefore decided to use this one aspect and build the boat tours through the village of Amity giving Jaws its own ride. Working closely alongside Spielberg, the E.T ride was developed and Kongfrontation. All of these were going to push the boat out with ride technology and thrills. Spielberg also wanted a Back to The Future Ride which began development. In 1988 the park delays their opening date till 1st May 1990 and in 1989 MGM Studios open whilst Universal claim Disney and Eisner stole many of the concepts they originally created. Original entrance Now 1990, and at the end of January the opening date of USF is once again pushed back, this time to 7th June 1990. Soft openings did begin in late May but all the main attractions were still undergoing testing and fixing glitches. 7th June arrives, but the park is filled with technical glitches everywhere! Jaws, Kongfrontation and Earthquake all struggle so much so the park begins to give out vouchers entitling guests to a free visit when the attraction are finally operational. One of the first park maps (late 1990 early 1991) Jaws didn't feature on this map however, because the ride was fundamentally flawed technically. So much so, on 30th September 1990 Universal close the ride to fix it up. They sue the original company (Ride & Show Engineering) and get Totally Fun Company to completely redesign and create the ride basically from the scratch. In 1993 Jaws reopens and in the two years closed, Back To the Future, The Blues Brothers Show and Fright Nights (which was renamed Halloween Horror Nights) began in the park. With the park finally finding ground and critics admiring the highly advanced rides (that were now working) the park announces it expansion into a resort complex with a second park to be built. Before that let's take a look at a ride that is renowned and one I wish I had ridden, Kongfrontation! Based on the 1976 film and King Kong Encounter segment on the Hollywood Tour (which burnt down in 2008 to be replaced by King Kong 360) it was about escaping the Manhattan Island in these aerial trams as Kong is rampaging the city. Like many of the elder Universal rides, it relied on spieling as well as physical sets/effects to portray the story. I've heard from people who rode it that it was a brilliant experience, especially for its time when it opened and that the "Banana Breathe" King Kong animatronic was truly something! It was designed by Totally Fun Company who re did Jaws, and manufactured by Arrow Dynamics. Sadly, it only lasted 12 years before it was replaced with The Mummy. http://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20141225/29776/5-things-you-never-knew-about-kongfrontation-universal-orlandoBrilliant article here on Kongfrontation and some secrets. Truly remarkable that Kong entered the ride car envelope which on most rides would cause an e-stop. Universal Studios in 1990 (the car park in the forefront of the photo is now IOA) Many of the parks original attractions now don't exist (only E.T, The Horror Make Up Show and A Lucy Tribute remain from 1990). Something I found out was the studio tour the park once had that went through the studios in use and the Nickleodeon Studios that were on the site that upon exiting the ride you went through the Universal Studios Store which still exists today in the same place! With IoA moving ahead (although construction which was meant to start in 1995 started two years late in 97) Universal continued to open new attractions, such as Terminator2: 3D, Twister and A day in the park with Barney (all of which remain today). More attractions were built up to 1998 like Woody Woodpecker, Kidzone and Men In Black along with the IoA preview centre by Kongfrontation. In 98, Disney also opened Animal Kingdom, once again the two giants were battling each other head on. May 28th 1999, Islands Of Adventures opens to the park with many new technologically advanced rides. At the same time, CityWalk, a replica of the restaurant district at Hollywood, and the first hotel opened making Universal a resort. Marketed as Universal Studios Escape attendance didn't rise as they had hoped. This was largely put down to people thinking Islands Of Adventure was just a new area of the Studios park, not a whole new park on its own! Disney are said to have had E-Ticket attractions ready and lined up for each of its parks in case Universal's attendance boomed but it's impact was non existent to Disney so these were cancelled. Beastly Kingdom was the planned one for Animal Kingdom but instead we got Camp Minnie and Mickey (soon to become Avatar... maybe Disney are battling Universal ride on ride, land on land). In 2002 the Resort is renamed to Universal Orlando Resort and Kongfrontation is closed. For the next 7 or so years the parks direction was often slashed by enthusiasts as investors didn't seem to do much that was new and exciting. Island's had NO major new attraction invested in until 2010 and Universal just replaced outdated attractions with modern overlays. The Mummy replaces Kong in 2004 and is a sublime coaster with brilliant effects (although it does stick out a bit). Disaster overlays Earthquake in early 2008 which doesn't go down to well, nor does the closing of the classic Back to the Future ride to replace it with a Simpsons simulator (which when it opened stuck out like a sore thumb). The following year the park opens Rip Ride Rokit. The public enjoy the coasters, as do I, but its structure is an eyesore and it feels cheap (especially with all the problems it had and still has). It doesn't seem to fit in with the park one bit. Whilst all this is going on though, Island's have announced they're building a castle, a special Hogwarts castle! And in the background, Comcast is buying shares of NBC Universal from GE. And in 2010, the Universal that operates today with its non stop investing began. Sure was popular Wizardirng World Of Harry Potter opened to the public and was a huge success! Islands attendance increases from 5.2 million in 2008 to 7.6 million in 2011 which was the first time the Studios park was surpassed by Islands (and Islands remained ahead for 2012 and 13). With the Comcast agreement battling on as they seek to buy out all the shares from GE, Studios announces the closure of Jaws at the end of 2011, Despicable Me opens in 2012 and Transformers in 2013. The park then announces its main plans, Diagon Alley on the old Jaws site with the Hogwarts Express to link the two parks for summer 2014. Springfield is also announced which makes the Simpsons ride fit in much more into an area instead of just being a ride. 2014 arrives and Diagon Alley opens on July 18th in an attempt to put Studios ahead of Islands once more. By now, Comcast have 100% of the shares in NBC Universal and are investing left right and centre with a Springfield in Hollywood, Harry Potter in Japan and one in Hollywood for 2016. Diagon Alley is well received with its further immersion and realism to the films. Crowds flood to the park applying serious pressure to the star attraction (Gringotts) which opens on a reduced capacity and regular break downs. The queue times achieved make news globally. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2686145/Hope-brought-book-Harry-Potter-fans-wait-line-SEVEN-HOURS-new-theme-park-ride.html The 2014 TEA Theme Index report thing shows how Universal is booming evermore! Studios Orlando saw a 17% increase to 8.26 million causing it surpass IoA once again which is at 8.14 million (still nearly double the parks figuer of 4.27 million in 2009). The other Universal parks are growing well too though, with Hollywood having a 11% increase and soon a Potterworld of its own, and Japan's Potterworld opened last year giving the park a 16.8% increase to 11.8 million, making it the 5th most visited park in the world and jumping the 3 Floridian Disney parks that aren't Magic Kingdom. Comcast's persistence in investing may seem risky, but it sure is paying off majorly at the moment and why stop when figures are growing massively every year. Universal is starting a theme park revolution. It is going all out on an immersive experience write down to what you eat and drink. The battle is on between Universal and Disney with both parks continually announcing expansions and the next best thing! Disney open Frozen next year to Universal's Kong. Disney open Pandora to Universal's amazing new waterpark Volcano Bay. The Comcast era of Universal is one to enjoy. The company themselves say they'll invest in one major new attraction at each site every year for the next five years at least. With Kong opening next year, Volcano Bay in 2017 and potential rethemes of Twister or Disaster in that time as well, rumours are the Studios next big investment will be a further Potter expansion to replace Fear Factor Live. Although the Unviersal Parks division makes up a tiny amount of Comcast's profits, the company are happy to keep taking risks and invest big in an attempt to fight Disney. Will they ever win, no. But it's sure fun to watch and even better for new ride technologies as both chains plough money into developing the latest thing. "Theme parks, I think, when we first showed up, were something that came with the rest of the company, now they're right at the core of what we're all about and we think provide a tremendous growth opportunity."- Steve Burk, CEO of the NBCUniversal division of comcast at Comcast's 2015 analyst report So 25 years on from a park opening to take on Disney head to head on what was a swamp, the companies are finally clashing big time and the results are glorious! To the next 25 years!

People at work today thought they were dismantling Saw and Smiler. The press succeeds as always. They are dismantling the two Smiler carraiges to get them off the track, onto a lorry and to Buxton for the HSE to analyse. Saw isn't going anywhere and I highly doubt Smiler is. Heck, Towers might even be able to open Smiler later this season once the HSE investigation is complete, the park rectify the problem and its retested. Also hate this "procedures weren't adequate" quote from that interview. No, of course they were, otherwise this freak accident would have happened sooner and more regularly. Plus, the park wouldn't be able to run the rides without safe procedures and protocols. We all go on about how we live in a world ruled by H&S with walls being put up everywhere and seemingly unnecessary additions being added to everyday life. Do people honestly believe that theme parks would be exempt to strict rules, of course not. Merlin have closed Saw as a precaution, they didn't have to. They are adding these new protocols that they have created quickly to all their rides without being made to do so. HSE are happy with the other rides minus Smiler, Merlin didn't have to but they have to avoid this ever happening again. They could have quite easily tried to hide the fact but they aren't. Reassuring the public that they are increasing safety is a good thing to do. Anyone moaning about closures, just urghhhhh (not aimed at people on here, just generally). People have been seriously injured, Merlin are putting safety first and ensuring this never ever happens again. The odds are they could run all their rides including Smiler right now and never have an accident like this again, because it's so unlikely. But, Merlin aren't taking any risks and are reinforcing and hardening any protocols in place. Test car wise, once engineering are happy the ride is good to go, it is handed back to rides even if a test car is still on track as the system is showing all clear and fixed or whatever. People in the queue will just want to get on, and often see the ride testing and go "oh but it is working" so once it's safe to do so they'll load. The stall is unlikely and has happened four times since 2013? Just like Saw stalling, it's rare and usually only happens in strong wind or something. They wouldn't have been expecting it to stall, and if it hadn't then everything would have been fine. It wouldn't surprise me if a new protocol in place is to ensure all test cars are stacked up on the blocks leading to the station before loading passengers. Shall we start blaming mother nature for producing wind that presumably stalled the train? Let's petition against that and interview it! I'm sure Burley would scare her away. Freak accident, Merlin have learnt from it and are implementing new procedures straight away and are ignoring profits or anything. Towers doesn't need to remain closed any longer than it has (as the Smiler trains were being removed Friday according to the report) so Varney really does want to find out what's wrong before opening (plus, opening on an off peak day may be easier on the staff and so on). They are ensuring it'll never happen again. If it was down to protocol, staff, a serious of unfortunate events or bad luck, then Smiler can't be held to blame as it could have happened on any of the multi car rides, it's just bad Smiler already had some bad ish press before it. It may have been rushed but it was a huge success and I'm sure if Towers opened tomorrow along with Smiler it'd still get a queue of people. Less reports on someone having lost a limb though, and the lack of press on the others injured can only be a good sign that they are recovering well which is great to think!

The RnR trial starts on Monday for 2 weeks

The HSE report posted in the Smiler incident thread says that the decision to reopen Towers is now down to the managers as HSE have finished with all the rides bar Smiler as of earlier today. The decision to still be closed tomorrow isn't H&S related, it's one that's been made by the park managers. Why would Varney lie about this? There's nothing to hide, the worst is out there. He has handled this all very well. We would know if an external H&S is investigating the rides as they'd be making reports and so on. Saw was running fine Tuesday, Fury and Rattle were still open Wednesday and Thursday. If H&S were involved in their closure they'd have done it sooner.

Varney can do what he wants, its his company. Isn't he the reason Towers is still closed as he doesn't want to open the park until he knows how the accident occurred? As the HSE report said, only Smiler is prohibited to run, doesn't affect the other rides so Towers can open whenever managers decide, HSE have cleared it basically. Varney and the Merlin team are implementing new procedures, they decided to close Saw because it was too similar to Smiler, not because there hand was pushed. Same with Fury and Rattlesnake, they've ran without problems for years and are different manufacturers. H&S wouldn't close them, Merlin have decided to implement new procedures to learn from mistakes. I doubt they'll run lower capacity, the new procedures will hopefully cover that.

Random question, why on some of the parks are the most random of things included like Defibrillators and ATM's at Busch Gardens Tampa? Also, does the Thorpe Park list not update to include the Dodgems and IAC as they're now on the park boards?

Seems a random addition but guess it makes sense. Credit to Xplorer Central on FB

Yet it after all its bad press (ignoring this one) was Merlin's most effective, best investment business wise. It was only rushed because of delays that occurred. And even then, the rushing means nothing as a coaster won't open unless it passed all the tests of which there are many. Towers has never had a serious incident of this type, what's to say protocols were insufficient and the staff member simply didn't make a mistake (okay a large one) or it's a system error. Nothing can be concluded until the report of the incident is released. People at work, college, everywhere are talking about Smiler. No press is bad press in the long run, even if it seems it. Smiler is in the public eye, and it always has been a huge brand. Texas Giant killed someone yet opened a few months later is a widely acclaimed hybrid. Give it a year and it'll be back to normal operation with its merch everywhere once again.

So then shouldn't they close X and so on? They run of blocks. Varney said this: http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/alton-towers-theme-park-remain-9387467 So if they don't know if it's just isolated to Smiler and are thinking it could affect the whole park, and then Saw, then surely the other parks have to be taken into consideration in general as well? Saw and Smiler are completely different types of coasters, they'll have different computers I'd guess because Saw deals with loading two and two in off load as well as four others. I can see why they've shut Saw, but if Towers is shut due to the investigation across the park or whatever, then if Saw is shut as Merlin are investigating/checking that other rides have to be considered too. And RE the food, yes, all of the products from that delivery would be recalled. So why aren't all of Gersts coasters shut that use these block systems so heavily? As that's what Gerst rely on because of their smaller cars, multiple blocks. If Saw and Smiler have the same system, surely loads of others will too. Especially as Saw and Smiler aren't even the same ride type. Just saying

I just feel that if they can't trust the ride system then what hope is there? I'm all for all the precautions, but Saw was operating fine and has never had a incident causing problem with its system. I rode Saw about the same time Smiler's incident happened and it continued to operate all day fine. I know Merlin don't want any risks and I'm glad they're taking the safety very seriously (as they always do) but should one incident on one ride stop the operation of the other? Rage and Speed use blocks, as do many Gerst coasters. Cobra at Paultons is a wild mouse with lots of blocks, surely you could say that system can't be trusted. I'm sure if Gerst thought straight out it was a major failure with the computer system they'd contact other parks (or you'd hope so). Six Flags did the same with Iron Rattler when Texas Giant killed someone though so it seems to be a thing companies do. Just because you see lets say a Vauxhall crashed on the motorway doesn't mean you'll avoid all Vauxhalls because all of them will crash, the risk is always there and in coasters it's always very very minimal. Basically, if Merlin can't trust the system then what hope do either of the rides have without major work? Also, people will cotton on very quickly that Saw is closed because of Smiler, and if the press get their hands on it they'll have a field day about Merlin running "unsafe" rides and so on. If only Merlin had come in and taken up that wooden coaster plan instead of going to Gerst for a quick job...

Surely if a ride breaks down the first thing you do is work out where all the cars are on the track? There's 4 trains that they use, they all have to be somewhere. If the system is only picking up 3 then you'd look to see if the 4th has stalled. If it's picking up 4 you'd make sure they were all stopped before you continue. I'm no engineer and have no idea how they go about these things but that seems most logical to work out where all the cars and people are in case you need to prioritise like a car stuck on the vertical lift.

These really have to be taken with a pinch of salt as Thorpe did not have 2 million visitors in 2013. More like 1.8... They more just show the trends and guesstimates from data released. I don't think Thorpe or Lego will naturally catch up to Towers, they don't have the infrastructure for those sort of numbers. Towers might fall closer to them though. Merlin always going on about catching the mouse, Disney are surely untouchable especially with another park opening in a few years. They should be more wary of being rolled over by the globe of Universal (again though, difficult as Uni's parks can't make up 25 million between them). Uni are opening that small thing in Moscow though and then the massive park in Beijing plus Potter in Hollywood. Was more interesting to see how Universal Japan has topped Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom for the first time and both Orlando parks being similar attendance wise for once (and not miles from the less visited Disney parks in Orlando). Another bad year for Disney Paris with the other European parks seeming to gain brilliantly! Europa is starting to become a ridiculously strong contender! Shame about SeaWorld Orlando though. First time they've been sub 5 million in a long long time. Hopefully Mako, the new CEO and direction will put the park on the positive path once again!

Floating around on TowersStreet (no link with it). Shows you how tough it was and how well all the services did! The park for erecting a scaffolding structure quickly and the air ambulance crew, paramedics, fireman etc for getting all those people off safely and exceedingly quick considering the position and situation. It may have taken 4.5 hours which must have felt torturous (that was for all the people though, those seriously injured will have been off a fair bit sooner. Also, Varney just said on ITV News "accidents like this are very rare but even one is one too many and the health and safety of guests is always first priority."

Let's say it isn't covered by CCTV (then towers will get in trouble for that you'd assume) still begs the question of how the system allowed two trains in one block. Even if they can somehow manually override it, wouldn't the system show where all the cars are block wise and that one hasn't completed it's block? It's a really odd incident that like Varney said is theoretically impossible. The investigation results will be very very revealing.

Thing is, Towers closed X Sector multiple times when Smiler stalled there and during construction so they're willing to do that (which will presumably happen for a few days any way if the park does open tomorrow). You can check all the rides in as much detail as you want, if this was purely a computer glitch then it might not have been able to foresee, it could well have just happened out of nowhere. It's like getting your car serviced, it can feel fine for a week then the next minute the head gasket goes or something. Staff get used to being asked loads of questions, on our BTS of Smiler our staff member told us about the wheel incident when it was just a rubber sealant thing, not a wheel. Just something that runs along the chain so they already were pestered with questions. Remember when Rita's cable snapped? That's a major thing to happen, just look at Xcelerator. But it happened luckily out of park hours. If that happened with people on and in the area it would get just as much press as this. But Joe Bloggs doesn't know about it, because no one could tweet it and get the prying eyes of the press in. Basically, you can check a ride as much as you want and give it the best maintenance but if it's going to break, it'll break.

Truly upsetting what's happened. Same can only be said again that full support on the recovery of those involved and injured. Full support to all the staff on park as well and anyone who works on the ride (of which I know a few). Can't be easy to see something you work on every day go horribly wrong and then to get loads of guests screaming at you to do something when you maybe can't (problem with customer facing jobs). Towers are going the right way about this all keeping it very professional and putting peoples safety first is paramount. Varney is a genuinely nice guy as much as enthusiasts moan about him, to him its like his kid has gone horribly wrong and attacked his friends. Can't be easy to witness or hear, especially with media today I doubt no one believed it for the first 5 minutes. If this was a staff issue I'd be surprised and feel awful for the person at fault, imagine having that on your shoulders. Ride systems are clever, they know where every car is at all times so something should have popped up saying the valleyed car in the Batwing isn't registering on the circuit. Unless it glitched and somehow registered it at the bottom of the vertical lift. Either way, that pit will be heavily covered in cameras as it's prone to stalling, like Electric Bill said there is no blind spot on a ride. If one of Swarm's CCTV cameras isn't working it can't operate, wouldn't be surprised if Smiler is the same. Plus, there's a staff member at the entrance always who will have seen the valleyed car who presumably would have made it clear. Hopefully the investigation finds it to be a system failure on Gersts behalf as that's preferable to it being a staff members fault. Either way, hope everyone involved is recovering well and staff aren't too affected by what happened. Oh the Mail, they were doing so well with the terminology of the inversion and then made it a block section. The media makes everything worse.

Everyone moans about Chessie's council but have they been that bad of late? They allowed the park to build a new hotel which is only going to make it busier and that lead to them closing off half the North car park so the south one would become busier. The council will see that Chessington is getting ever more popular year on year without any significant investment. Chessington haven't put any plans in for any substantial new ride for ages, we can't say the council would reject it as we've no idea. The only way to find out is if they receive plans for a major investment at Chessie and say no to it, then the reasoning will be laid out. If the park was getting stuff denied like Lego then I'd understand the Council hate but in this case I can't quite see it. The other problem is green belt. Council's can't just decide they want to build flats on green belt, they'll still go through the National Trust or whatever. Right by me, McLaren were looking at building a third factory for their applied technologies HQ and it got turned down multiple times as it was proposed for green belt land, nothing to do with traffic as they have hardly any affect on the area. Surrey Council being the top of the tree means little around here. They essentially control the school term dates and roads (neither of which they do very well especially as my old secondary school has had a two week October half term approved starting this year). Yet, Runnymede Council (Thorpe's district) allow almost anything within reason, a lot of the time Thorpe's original plans are changed or removed by the park, not because the council says no. It's all to do with the locals and people on the committee, very little comes down to the reasoning. I also hate this argument that the parks can get stuff approved if they play hard ball. The old "Thorpe could get a 400ft coaster approved if they wanted by persuading the council it'll provide more jobs" is nonsense. Every park has terms put upon them to keep development to a sustainable limit that allows the parks to grow without destroying the local area at the same time. The council aren't stupid, they wouldn't instantly give in if Merlin threatened to close Chessie because one, Merlin wouldn't and if they were someone would snap it up. Anyway, locals might heavily be in favour of Chessington closing so whilst it would probably have a negative affect in the long run, the locals might lap up the idea at first.

Not just this year Matt, but in one months time today for opening Music at parks is an odd one, sometimes the theme doesn't work on its own but works superbly with the ride and surroundings! The whole experience is key. We're just spoilt with all of ImaScore's work these days.

So lots going on around Universal at the moment! New raptor encounter enclosure to replace the long gone Triceratops one! Dad's like "lol this'll stop my kids wanting to come here making me poor every summer!" http://blog.universalorlando.com/whats-new/raptor-encounter/ The Nascar Sports Bar replacement has been announced. NBC Sports Grill and Brew. Over 100 beers according to these American people! Looks nice! This is part of the CityWalk Phase 2.0 redevelopment. And last but not least, Volcano Bay has been briefly announced! They're calling it a water theme park which goes along the idea of Universal trying to make the water park a whole day thing with the night time show being rumoured to be a spectacular eruption of the volcano where the water is projected on or lit up to make it look like lave. Who knows but it looks good. Rumours also of it having the tallest slide in the world as the Volcano is 200ft and there's a platform near the top with a slide going through the volcano and exiting bottom right. Needs to be over 170ft to get the record. Not much on it but for a water park that's half the size of Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach but promising to offer a full day experience it'll be interesting to see what arises. Especially knowing Universal and there ride technologies these days, this won't just be a new Wet'n'Wild (of which the future hasn't been decided). http://blog.universalorlando.com/whats-new/volcano-bay-announcement/

Retheming The Dome is something that's been on the cards for a few seasons but is continually pushed back due to the huge infrastructure cost (if they were to completely strip away the theming on the walls and basically start over) that would see little revenue gained by it. Hopefully with half of The Dome having seen a makeover this is the start of something bigger (or at least a freshen up of it all, the shop in there is awfully laid out in my eyes. It's so cluttered and bland! Maybe the budget has never been there to do it all over one closed season but they are able to spread the cost over 2 or 3.