"Old School" Universal Orlando

[Mad Dog]

I feel like it doesn't help that more people are traveling to Orlando. I did some fact checking - 1990 claimed 14 million tourists, while 2017 reports 72 million. That's hecka amounts of tourists. I think we can all agree it's gotten more crowded at the parks, and sadly, ticket prices increases are one of many ways to try to remedy that.

EDIT: Some USF relevant numbers: 2.8 million visited in 1990, 10.2 million visited in 2017. (Courtesy of theparkdb)

Yes...and more than a decade ago WDW management thought theme parks in Orlando were a mature industry with little upside remaining. They sure were wrong on that.

 

[belloq87]

EDIT: Some USF relevant numbers: 2.8 million visited in 1990, 10.2 million visited in 2017. (Courtesy of theparkdb)

The infamously (and widely-publicized) rough first summer in 1990 certainly didn't help, but those numbers are still interesting to see.

 

[Scott W.]

 

[GAcoaster]

Ren & Stimpy

 

[shiekra38]

Ren & Stimpy

He took souls before Imhotep made it main stream

 

[Ryan]

I think this is the first time I've seen footage of the short-lived Casper on Location attraction.

 

[belloq87]

Nice find! Fun to hear some of the spiel from the old tram tour while that was still operational.

 

[WAJAS]

I think this is the first time I've seen footage of the short-lived Casper on Location attraction.

I always wondered why that stage sat in front of Mel’s Diner. I’ve never seen any show perform there in all my time going to the park.

 

[Mad Dog]

I always wondered why that stage sat in front of Mel’s Diner. I’ve never seen any show perform there in all my time going to the park.

The band plays there, and in front of Hello Kitty's store. .

 

[WAJAS]

The band plays there, and in front of Hello Kitty's store. .

Oh? I’ve only ever seen them near the Hello Kitty store.

 

[Nick]

The band plays there, and in front of Hello Kitty's store. .

When did they play in front of Mel's? Hello Kitty is their only location as of right now and i'm fairly confident in saying that based on what I know and from what some of the Entertainment TMs that I know have said.

 

[Mad Dog]

When did they play in front of Mel's? Hello Kitty is their only location as of right now and i'm fairly confident in saying that based on what I know and from what some of the Entertainment TMs that I know have said.

I've seen them play there on my visits. Perhaps they've stopped using that location recently.

 

[UNIrd]

Casper would've made a great dark ride. Whipstaff Manor could've been Universal's version of a "friendlier" Haunted Mansion.

 

[RFRees]

Yes...and more than a decade ago WDW management thought theme parks in Orlando were a mature industry with little upside remaining. They sure were wrong on that.

This is exactly why I wouldn't be surprised to see Universal adding another dry park and water park soon after Fantastic Worlds, to catch up to Disney's four dry + two water. Disney could reasonably try to one up them with a fifth dry park. During this time (about ~15 years), Legoland Orlando could grow enough to be considered a legitimate competitor in the theme park industry, alongside SeaWorld. (Legoland just needs to keep building year after year, which they have been.)

That would mean Orlando could go from the current 7 decent sized theme parks, up to 11 within a relatively short period of time. This would echo the expansion Orlando saw in the late 80s to late 90s.

But I digress.

 

[shiekra38]

Casper would've made a great dark ride. Whipstaff Manor could've been Universal's version of a "friendlier" Haunted Mansion.

It was planned for IOA, or, Cartooniversal at the time

 

[Returning-The-Reaction]

I had never seen this before:

 

[belloq87]

That's basically the end of this longer promo film created to hype the park...


Fun stuff!

 

[universal_fanatic]

That's basically the end of this longer promo film created to hype the park...


Fun stuff!

I love how none of that was actually shot at the Florida park. Looks like almost entirely Hollywood.

 

[belloq87]

I don't believe USF was all that far along in the construction when that was shot! So Hollywood had to stand in for it.

 

[Jwhee]

Checkout this awesome large scale fireworks show from the early 2000s



IOA 2006. Small launch in the lagoon with high level stuff in what eventually turned into HPFJ


Another, this time shot from behind MIB. "Universal can't do big fireworks" pssh


Here you can see IOA, Citywalk and USF doing a massive show all at the same time. Holy smokes.