Universal Florida’s website accidentally leaked the name of the show that is replacing the Terminator 2 stunt show. The show is to be called the Bourne Stuntacular and is to be based on a story from Jason Bourne. Hopefully Universal officially announces this attraction soon, but as of now that is all the info I have regarding this new and improved show! Check back and follow this blog for updates on this story as they become available!
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New Fantasmic! for Hollywood Studios in 2023?
There is an early rumor that Hollywood Studios will be receiving an entirely new Fantasmic! just in time for the show’s 25th Anniversary in 2023. There are very few details on this rumor as of this time, but based on Disneyland’s Fantasmic! refurb we can have an idea of what could be coming to this new version if it is in fact coming.
Disneyland’s Fantasmic! took about one year to refurb and added a couple new scenes such as the controversial Pirates of the Caribbean scene. No idea if the same scene would come to the new Hollywood Studios version or not, but if the show is going to get a refurb then expect the show to go down sometime in 2022 for a reopening in 2023.
Do you want a Fantasmic 2.0 in Hollywood Studios or do you like the current show? What new scenes would you like? What scenes are a must keep? Let me know in the comments below!
Universal Studios Hollywood to Test New VR Experience in CityWalk
Hello and welcome back to Theme Park Wizard if you are living in Southern California then please stay safe from the strong winds and as of this writing five fires throughout our region.
Universal Studios Hollywood will be trying to compete with Downtown Disney and get its own new VR experience in Citywalk starting October 14th and going through November 7th. This is a partnership between Universal Pictures, Ford Motor Company, and Holoride.
During this experience guests are loaded on to the back of Ford 2020 Explorer cars and will take a 5-7 min drive by a professional driver. The interesting twist of this drive is that it will be through the dark world of Frankenstein. Riders will be using Oculus Headsets to experience this attraction. The best part is that this limited time attraction is free and all you have to do is sign up for a free reservation on their website.
So what do you guys think of this new experience coming to Citywalk? Will you be signing up and giving it a try during this month trial period? Let me know in the comments below!
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway Officially Begins Construction at Disneyland
Hello there and welcome back to yet another construction update. Earlier today I talked about the Velicicoaster and right now I have an Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (MMRR) construction update to share.
Visitors to Toontown this week probably have noticed some very visible changes to the backdrop of Toontown as now Toontown mountain range has been completely demolished.
As you can see from this picture both entertainment buildings D13 and D14 were demolished within 48 hours starting Monday and ending today. The Toontown hills are attached to those buildings that are still intact in this picture but as of now those structures and the hills are gone as well.
Construction still has a long ways to go as this attraction will not be open until 2022, but it is great to see it starting already.
Well that is it for this quick update, are you excited for this attraction to open in Toontown? Comment your thoughts below and don’t forget to hit that follow button for constant theme park updates!
Velicicoaster Construction Update!
Hello and welcome back to the blog where today I have a construction update on Universal Island’s of Adventure’s new coaster coming to the Jurassic Park area of the park called the Velicicoaster. All these pictures are courtesy of fellow blog Micechat which provides excellent Disney news so be sure to go over and check out some of their stuff.
This first picture is taken from across the lagoon and really shows the massive scale of the project.
The building in the center is the Jurassic Park Discovery Center which is expected to remain with the coaster tracks going around the structure. You can also see the start of potential footers in the water as this coaster is expected to have a rather significant portion of its track be over the lagoon area which will certainly make this coaster very beautiful and picturesque.
That is the best vantage point you can get from this project as all other areas inside the land just have large construction walls blocking all of the view.
This coaster is expected to be an intense coaster much to the likes of Taron over at Phantasialand. That coaster goes 70 mph and twists and turns through highly themed caverns and environments. One last thing I would like to talk about is the name of this coaster. I absolutely love the name Velicicoaster but I did want to let you know this is so far just the rumored name as Universal has not even announced the project yet! They did trademark that name though, so I am very hopeful that they will use it as the official name of the coaster.
Are you excited to ride the Velicicoaster when it opens in 2021? What do you think of the construction progress currently? Stay tuned because coming up later today I will have a Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway construction update from Toontown!
Hong Kong Disneyland Castle Construction Update!
Hello and welcome back to Theme Park Wizard where today we are going to check in on the Hong Kong Disneyland Castle Refurb and Expansion. Several months into construction we can see the castle is at least halfway done by now and is looking rather excellent. The final product will look like the concept art down below!
I love the new look of the castle and did not like that the original castle was a carbon copy of Disneyland’s castle here in Anaheim. Now each Disney park has its own unique castle and I think that is fantastic, but what do you guys think? Do you like the look of the new castle? Do you think Hong Kong getting a new castle is a waste of money? Let me know in the comments below!
New Digital Fastpass Kiosk Being Tested at Disneyland’s Tomorrowland
Well we know at least some of the work going on at Tomorrowland inside Disneyland. Part of the work going on beside the Tomorrowland Theater is the installation of a new digital Fastpass kiosk that will include fastpasses for Star Tours, HyperSpace Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear.
This new digital kiosk is a test to see how guests react to the new system and if it becomes popular and guests find them easy to use then all fastpasses kiosks will become digital. Guests will have to link their ticket to the Disneyland app to be able to use this new kiosk since their will be no slot to insert your ticket or annual pass.
I happen to love this new idea of getting rid of the paper reminder tickets, but what do you think of this new kiosk? Potentially too confusing for you? Or do you like that Disneyland continues to evolve to the future with less paper and more in-app and digital kiosk type stuff? Comment your thoughts down below!
Universal Studios Hollywood Construction Update!
Welcome back to Theme Park Wizard where today we will take a look at some of the construction going on at Universal Studios Hollywood. I have been super busy the last few weeks and unfortunately was not able to the parks so I credit Dylan from Theme Park Obsession for these fantastic photos of the construction in the parks. I also invite you to watch his latest video! So let’s get started with the Secret Life of Pets project.
The Pets project is still under wraps, but as you can see here the facade work has been really making progress and the tarps look to be coming off sooner rather than later which is a great thing. This ride is supposed to open in Spring 2020 and believe it or not that is just a few short months away. Baker Street is still closed so to get to Minion Mayhem you must go around and use French Street.
Next up let’s take a look at the Nintendo project being built down in the lower lot.
Here is an overhead look at the Super Nintendo Project and you can see that the show building for Mario Kart is having its roof being installed. The second building to the left has gone more vertical and has had more steel beams installed along the site. The space is extremely tight so some people are wondering if the buildings housing the Studio Store and Panda Express will be demolished and rebuilt to allow for more breathing room and match the new themes of the Lower Lot.
What do you think of all the changes going on at the park? Are you excited for the Pets and Mario? Comment your thoughts down below and make sure to hit the follow button for constant theme park updates!
WDW Skyliner Has a Major Accident
Just a mere six days after opening the Skyliner at Walt Disney World has crashed due to a power failure on the Caribbean Beach Line. At about 9pm on Saturday night a power failure at the Caribbean Beach Station on the Skyliner caused a blue gondola to get stuck right before it was about to take off from the station. That caused about five other gondolas to crash into the blue gondola and for the whole system to auto-stop after the crash was detected. It was reported that one of the gondolas had its glass shattered, but luckily no guests were injured.
Speaking of the guests, although no guests were injured plenty of angry guests were stranded in other gondolas (some over water) for anywhere between 45 min for up to 3 hours. Now as one can imagine being stuck suspended in a gondola with no air conditioning in the humid and warm Florida air is not the most comfortable thing in the world. Luckily it was dark so it was not as hot as during the day and also guests were lucky not to have any stormy weather pass through while they were stuck. Unfortunately though it was dark so guests had no light besides their cellphone flashlights to guide them as they were waiting for help.
Guests also complained on social media of Disney not offering any updates on the situation for as much as 3 hours. The gondolas came equipped with emergency kits that included water, paper bags, and some other medical supplies for emergencies. At there highest point the gondolas reach 60 feet (six stories) above the ground which is enough for firetrucks to reach. The entire system has 300 cabins and crews have to evacuate each one manually which as one can expect takes quite a bit of time. For gondolas over water it takes even more time because crews have to get on small boats and evacuate the guests on to the boats and transport them back and forth to land before retrieving the next set of guests.
Disney has stated that the incident occurred due to “unexpected downtime” on the line and that they are offering guests four all day park tickets as well as a $200 gift card. I for one would be very hesitant to take the Skyliner because I do not like heights and get claustrophobic and for this very reason of being stranded for 3 hours above water or anywhere makes me wary to say the least.
What do you think of this situation? Just a fluke? Did Disney not do enough testing on the system and opened it to early? Do you think they will do the same thing with Rise of the Resistance and Avengers Campus? Leave your thoughts below!
The VOID at Downtown Disney to get a new Avengers Experience
If you like the Star Wars experience at the VOID well you’re in some bad luck at that is about to make way for a new Avengers VOID Experience. This will be called Avengers Damage Control and will debut next month.
People will be teamed up in groups of four to take on an enemy who wants to steal the Avengers technology. Avengers like Black Panther and Doctor Strange will make an appearance as well.
Will you be trying this new experience? Comment your thoughts down below!
Theme Park Universe 