Monthly Archives: February 2016

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P1070056While I was visiting SeaWorld over the weekend I was able to get some shots of their new Mako coaster being constructed. It's incredibly tall and intimidating and can be seen from nearly anywhere in the park. I am looking forward to riding as this will be my first "Hyper" coaster. SeaWorld is touting it as Orlando's fastest, tallest, and longest coaster. It will be 200 feet tall at its tallest point and will reach 73 mph along 4,760 feet of steel track — nearly a mile long. The best part is, this coaster will have several air-time moments, where you feel weightless and come out of your seat a little! I cannot wait until it opens this Summer. The surrounding area is also being re-themed as "Shark's Realm," which will look like an underwater shipwreck, and will include Shark Encounter, Sharks Underwater Grill, and other area shops. Check out the construction update below as well as a concept video and images. And stay tuned for more theme park updates!

Concept Art

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Kong-blog-featured-900x563Just a few days ago some folks caught a glimpse of some great lighting effects turned on at the construction site for Skull Island: Reign of Kong at Universal's Islands of Adventure. Turns out they were filming some promotional videos to help explain what this new attraction will be all about, as well as grab some amazing photographs. Universal also confirmed that this will be "one of the longest rides of any Universal attraction", and it feature "several new firsts for Universal Orlando Resort." This attraction is scheduled to open Summer of this year. See the full ride description, new videos, and more news about the viral marketing campaign they started earlier this month called Myth Explorers: The Quest for Kong, all below. And stay tuned for more Kong news!

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Main Sequence NEW.Still017Diagon Alley's new candy store and home to the new Butterbeer Fudge is now open! Sugarplum's Sweet Shop is now open at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter Diagon Alley in Universal Studios Florida. It takes over the former location of Shutterbuttons Photography, which was not getting enough business in its former location. Shutterbuttons has moved to a new location on the main Diagon Alley street across from Ollivander's, and they appear to be doing better now in this more visible location. Shutterbuttons is the place where you create your own magical portraits, (moving pictures,) to take home with you.

Main Sequence NEW.Still015Sugarplums's also seems to be doing well in the former photo store, packing in people and selling lots of candy. Hogsmeade already has Honeydukes for candy, so it's nice to see Diagon Alley get their own candy store. This is the first place in the world offering Butterbeer fudge, the sixth incarnation of Butterbeer products in the Wizarding World. Sugarplum's is connected to the neighboring Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes joke shop and Quality Quidditch Supplies store, so guests can easily slip in and out between all three shops. Check out the video and more images below and stay tuned for more Universal news coming soon!

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P1050916The 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.

P1050967And 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!

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P1050895I recently checked out what might be the slowest construction project Universal is currently working on, the Hello Kitty store and experience at Universal Studios Florida. Rumors had this opening back at Christmas late last year, but here we are in month two of 2016 and not much progress can be seen. When I visited today I did get some confirmation that I did not have before, that Betty Boop will in fact be coming back to her original location when the building is done being refreshed. This is something I suspected, but didn't have proof of until now.

P1050905Besides the fact that a couple of employees have confirmed it for me, you can see on the awnings for the shop, (as well as some text visible through a window,) that the black and white beauty will be re-claiming her "largest selection of Betty Boop merchandise in the world" location once again. I find this surprising, as it only allows the portion of the building that used to house Lucy: A Tribute to be used for the new Hello Kitty store and meet & greet areas. It's not that small a space, but considering how much Sanrio branded merchandise exists in the world, I find it somewhat shocking how small a space they'll be allocating for it. They could fill the entire main Studio Store with Sanrio twice over and still not run out of Hello Kitty and friends branded merch. Perhaps we'll see products with the famous Kitty in more stores throughout the parks as well. Check out the photo update below and stay tuned this week and next for more theme park updates!

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