The building that used to be the home of Twister: Ride it Out has been completely gutted. The inside has been stripped down to just the exterior walls and supports. In fact, an entire wall by where the pre-show and show building entrance used to be is completely removed, as in, no wall at all. To me, there is more than an enough room inside for a Soarin' type ride system. If the entire queue is moved outside and they only use one pre-show instead of two, this building is big enough to hold a couple Soarin' sized theaters if you ask me.
And over in San Francisco the entire Beetlejuice stage has been leveled to the ground. Almost immediately after their last show the stage started to come down. Now we have a clear view of the King's Cross station for the Hogwart's Express train backstage. This means we've got a big hole in the park between New York and London, that is, until Fast & Furious Supercharged opens in 2017. Parts of the old Earthquake/Disaster building have also been demolished behind the Beetlejuice stage. The main entrance and preshow areas still stand, as well as all facades facing guest areas, but all of the backstage facing building seems to be coming down. See the construction photos below and stay tuned for more Universal news coming soon!
Jimmy Fallon Construction Photos:
Approaching the old Twister soundstageLook! A see-through buildingThis building, if you can still call it that, is just bare bonesLooks like the building may have re-claimed the space that was allocated to bathrooms previouslyLong-time fading artwork of a sunset finally removed from the wallThe backing to the Twister sign has finally been removedWorkers stripping the buildingA very empty building, all the way to the ceiling! Absolutely no remaining internal structure!Worker welding on cherry picker way up highView from the side. Will this be re-themed as 30 Rockefeller Center with a huge new facade?Old Twister queue entranceClean removal of the awning jutting out for entranceView down the street with old Ghostbusters firehouse on the left. Right cutout building being refurbishedOne by one cutout forced perspective buildings being refurbishedView from the Library facade looking back at old Twister queueBehind the coaster supports, you can see that the ENTIRE WALL IS MISSING!!!Workers tearing out the old cyclone venting system on the ceilingA good look at the wall-less sideCleaning up the fallen rubbleBack to the front view, as the Blues Brothers pass byWith the coaster track passing through, not much will be able to be done here
Fast & Furious Construction Update:
Approaching (a very empty) San FransiscoWhere's Beetlejuice? Gone. That's where.King's Cross Station train entrance now clearly visible from pathwayWhat little is left from the final destruction scene from Disaster. This is where the fake subway train was held before "crashing" into your tram on the ride.The fountain in front of Beetlejuice has been spared! (At least for now.)Cleaning up the remains of the stageDOM Supercharged!Graffiti on construction wallsWalking down the street in San Fran.Scrim on a building facade being cleaned upSuch a decently printed scrim, I wonder if people even notice it's covering the buildingFormer front of the Disaster rideGraffiti construction walls have been pushed out a bit since my last visitParts of Frank Kincaid's tentacle tank monster still remain, you're welcome.Tentacle stops hereGolden Gate bridge on left side of artwork so we know ride will be reworked since Hollywood's incarnationLast piece of graffiti art
Checking out the prop shop
Dorothy still for sale
Still no takers? C'mon people. We got cows!
Subway map from Earthquake/DiasterOnly $500 to have a fake subway map from a classic attraction on your wallOne of Frank Kincaid's classic posters can be yours!
Chicken from Twister store
Chicken from Twister
Do you have Prince Albert in a can?Wall/door piece from Disaster pre-showYours for only a thousand bucks (plus tax)Disaster's extended queue's boneyard signThe actual Beetlejuice sign!Just another thousand bucks and it could be yours!I actually kinda want it, and I did not like that show at all!
That's all for this update. See my last update of the Hello Kitty store construction, and check back next week for Kong and Hulk coverage at Islands of Adventure!
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