(2/23/11) Over the past several days, many different reports regarding the use and status of the old original Hard Rock Café building at Universal Studios Florida have come in. These included several eye-witness reports of the building itself from over the years, most of which seem to confirm that while the building was never really used as office-space, it does seem like it was used as long-term storage for a period of time as well… though it seems it is no longer used for this purpose either.
You may be wondering why, and the one common thread I’ve been told over and over is that the inside of the building is a disaster area. In fact some believe that the damage to the structure itself (possibly from Hurricane damage over the years) may have been significant enough that Universal may have lost their occupancy permit to use the building for anything at all. This story isn’t completely unheard of, as the long closed Murder She Wrote / Herc & Xena theater next to Shrek 4-D has also been closed for many years for a variety of reasons.
That said, the chances of the site being used for a new Haunt for HHN are slim to none at this point.