Studio Tour

[JPLA]

Lot's and lot's of new uplighting installed in the planters of the new studio tour sign area.  Very nice effect.

 

 

 

[William]

So those little indents in the planter are for lighting..! Looks good!

 

[Aaron]

From John Murdy on Twitter:

"We're starting install tonight on a new graphic program in the Studio Tour queue line to celebrate Universal's 100 plus year film history..."

 

[William]

He says it should be ready by Spring Break. Nice to see that he's involved in celebrating the anniversary.

 

[Ryan]

...I hope that Universal in the sign there gets lit up. Looks so odd.

Kind of bizarre just how much of the upper lot has changed. I wonder how much time Cartooniversial has, or even the main arch entrance plaza.

 

[Allen The Actor]

^I think that as soon as they start building Hollywood and Dine/HoH Replacement, we'll also start seeing other changes and refurbs being made to the entrance plaza.

 

[William]

Once "Hollywood & Dine" (or whatever replaces HoH) is complete, the rest of the buildings along the entrance path will stick out like a sore thumb.

 

[12th Man]

That is very true. But what will stuck out the most is cartooniversal and the spongebob store

 

[William]

John Murdy has confirmed a small bit of news: the Psycho House restoration will definitely be complete before summer (this was sort of assumed anyway, just thought I'd share).

 

[Freak]

I'm surprised Cartooniversal, its exterior at least, is still there! It just screams GE-era USH. I don't think the store will leave, but I would expect its exterior to be remodeled (At least I hope).

They could always put another grab n go in there. Maybe it will stay open.

 

[Allen The Actor]

I'm 99% sure they'll retheme it, or at least change the sign once they start building Hollywood and Dine.

 

[Wesker69]

So how about that Studio Tour...  (couldn't resist with the detour in topic)

All I gotta say is, damn I missed this. The thing that is hilarious about getting to do the Studio Tour again for the first time in 14 years last year was the fact that the first time I rode it in 2000, there was no "finale attraction" because the Mummy vortex tunnel was in the process of being added. Jump to 2014, I move out here, go ride this... and the Mummy tunnel is torn down with F&F taking up residence. Once again, no finale attraction haha...

The new Studio Tour plaza looks so amazing. The entrance will make for a good photo-op spot for Hogwarts with all the new landscaping. I can't wait for some of my friends to come visit this year because they've only seen the park with the old Studio Tour entrance. If there is one thing that I'd like to see redone, its the load platform/queue area itself. Not really too concerned about it though.

I saw one of the new fleet trams when I was at the park last month... Was a little bummed that I got stuck with an old tram, but I did get singled out as being a fan of the "Newsies" while on there when we were sitting in the metro sets lol..

 

[techmaniac16]

I'm probably gonna visit the park around the end of March. Let's hope I end up with the new tram! Universal has really undone themselves though. Last I visited this park was in January and it seemed like Springfield and all of Wizarding World were just starting. Now they seem to just have just magically rose out of the ground! 

 

[Aaron]

IMG_9203 by InsideUniversal.net, on Flickr



IMG_9213 by InsideUniversal.net, on Flickr

Feels like yesterday... 

 

[techmaniac16]

Feels like yesterday... 

Indeed man. Indeed. Progress at its finest. 

 

[Allen The Actor]

Really DOES feel like yesterday! I remember when the original name of the animation was advertised as: "King Kong 360-3D: Return to Skull Island", which I always loved so much!

Can you imagine if they reuse that for Florida?!

 

[techmaniac16]

Really DOES feel like yesterday! I remember when the original name of the animation was advertised as: "King Kong 360-3D: Return to Skull Island", which I always loved so much!

Can you imagine if they reuse that for Florida?!

I'd imagjne the headline be something like "King Kong: The Escape from Skull Island."

 

[Wesker69]

Oh Im sure the new KONG ride will be titled something along those lines, don't worry... I'll be curious to see how it compares to the original KONGfrontation ride which was pretty cool & didn't involve a videoscreen/3D ...YAY...

Speaking of KONG... while at Citywalk today, I got a good laugh from the KONG 360 mug they have on the display table sort've devoted to the studio tour.. but I had completely forgot that the tagline for KONG 360 was "He's never been this real!" And I'm just like.. "really? because he seemed a lot more "real" when I rode the studio tour 15 years ago than he does now" haha

also.. has anyone seen the awesome new Studio Tour shirt they're selling now? It's very 50th Anniversary-esque without actually saying it. I'm definitely going to have to get it.

 

[Aaron]

John Murdy on Twitter: Been working on lots of stuff for studio tour lately, new graphic panels in the queue to celebrate Universal's film history are installing. The queue graphic program includes displays of some of Universal's Horror classics, Phantom, Classic Monsters, Psycho, etc. Each graphic display has a classic film still, original movie poster art and famous quote from the film. Nice to pay homage to our films

 

[Wesker69]

Yay... its nice to see the Classic Monsters get a little more attention. They've been pushed to the side too much.