Islands of Adventure Update: Camp Jurassic Work & More
While all the track pieces of The Incredible Hulk Coaster were installed several weeks ago, this massive coaster is still expected to be closed for a few more weeks as work continues to be done around the indoor queue, the loading area, the tunnel, and the track supports. Additionally, some areas of Camp Jurassic are currently behind walls as crew work hard to replace the concrete in the area. Let's take a look around the park to see what else is new since our last visit.
The color of the new track is great, even though it's the same as the previous version:
The building that houses the indoor portion of the queue is behind scaffolding:
Minor work also continues to be done around the launch tunnel:
The rest of the track is ready. We can't wait to see trains cycling!:
A look at the coaster from the opposite side of Marvel Superhero Island:
Let's take a closer look at the supports:
A familiar sight has returned:
Entering Toon Lagoon:
As previously mentioned work is being done around Camp Jurassic at Jurassic Park:
Walls now block several sections inside the play area:
T-Rex sighting:
That other dinosaur that nobody likes:
We will conclude with a few more photos of the park:
Here you are two more photos of the Hulk coaster:
And that is all for now. Before concluding, remember to like us on our official Facebook page and follow us on Twitter for live updates from the parks. If you would like to make a donation to OTPN, feel free to use the "DONATE" button found on the sidebar. Thank you for your support, and see you again soon.
PHOTOS BY: Alex, Official Orlando Theme Park News Team Member and Photographer.
The fact that gigantic show buildings go unnoticed by the masses of Universal-blind is pathetic and thoroughly hypocritical. Just look at that monstrosity next to one of the Potter rides?!?! Laughable! Certainly not isolated either. Between the similar ride systems overusing screens for supposed thrills, the rides that are completely boorish (Lost Continent, Shrek, KidZone, several attractions finally being torn down and replaced after an excruciatingly long time of being outdated, etc, etc), or the extreme lack of covered sightlines throughout their "themed" lands, I continue to be amazed by those that will stop at nothing to bash Disney. Bottom line is Universal does not hold a candle to Disney and is kidding itself if it believes it ever will. Not enough land to compete (including its recent reaquisition) and certainly not enough overall imagination or creativity. Sure, some rides are great (no argument at all here), but it continues to be a far, far, far cry from Disney. The Universal attendance figures have only increased so much (as a percentage of prior attendance) since Potter because the parks were epic failures beforehand. Enjoy the Kool Aid Universal lovers. You have an extremely unfair perspective and baseline for the comparisons you try to make.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry you do not enjoy entertainment. How sad. Disney is filled is pretty looking empty attractions. They look good, but have no substance and are really for the easily amused section of America. Universal actually has rides that aren't for babies looking for a pretty building.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry Anonymous #1 but have you seen Cars Land? The only real "sight line" issue in ALL of Universal is the Harry Potter building and it has gotten better over time with trees growing. However, Cars Land was Disney's first attempt at a totally themed land that makes you feel like your in a movie and they only built it after they saw the success of Harry Potter. However, when your IN Hogsmeade, nothing takes you out of the world. You can't see any other parts of the park. However, no matter where you are in Cars Land, you see the massive Tower of Terror EVERYWHERE. I don't know about you, but that totally kills the whole "I am in the movie" element. Your also kidding yourself if you think everything at Disney is better than Universal. Living with the Land, Ellen's ride, Stitch, the Tree house, and many, many, many more are all outdated and flat out boring rides. At least Universal offers more than 1 thrill ride at each park and they all don't need screens. However, news flash, Disney is becoming all screens too! The new Avatar ride is simply a different version of Soarin with screens. All the new rides in Star Wars land will be nothing but screens. The new Frozen ride..more screens with all the characters faces being screens much like the Seven Dwarfs in their lame excuse for a "thrill" ride. I would much rather give my money to a company that is building new rides and experiences that open each year than a company that tries to upcharge everything but doesn't open new stuff for years. Wasn't Avatar announced shortly after Hogsmeade opened like what, 8 years ago now and we are still a year away from opening? NINE YEARS to build a screen based ride is a total joke. Sure, we are getting Frozen (NOT a new ride) and a new Soarin (just a new video) but no new rides! We have Avatar next year but then Toy Story will be 2-3 years behind that. Also, bringing up landmass is not the thing to do. Universal is using every square inch of land they have to build on. Disney will never fill up all their land because they can't even manage the land they have now. They have grown stale in terms of trying to create new things and they can't maintain what they have. Having to close down an ENTIRE WATER PARK because they can't maintain the pumps goes to show how poor of job they are doing managing their parks.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous #1, Universal doesn't have to hold their candle to Disney. Disney is following in Universals footsteps now making entire lands from movies. Who's more creative now?
ReplyDeleteDisney vs Universal? Universal's income from its theme parks is a mere fraction of what Disney earns. And Disney's got huge projects - whole new lands - coming in the next few years: Avatar, Toy Story Land and STAR WARS. Disney's future is looking good.
ReplyDeleteLast Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThats the issue though. Toy Story and Star Wars are AT LEAST four years from now. Toy Story is rumored to be 2019-2020 and Star Wars 2021-2022. They have nothing else planned between Avatar in 2017 and Toy Story that is big. You claim Disney's income is so much more than Universal, yet it takes Disney 6-7 (or in Avatar's case nearly 9) years to build something big. I mean, it took Disney nearly two years to reconfigure the main hub of MK for crying out loud!
At least Universal is putting the money they are making to good use. New land purchases for more parks. New thrilling rides. New Hotels. A new water park. Plus, its not something that takes them multiple years to do. They built an entire hotel in just over a year. It will be less than two years to build an entire water park. They will have gutted and expanded a building and completed a brand new ride inside of it in about 18 months.
If Disney is rolling in the money, why can't they build at this pace? If they have all this money, why did SO MUCH get cut from the Toy Story land already? I mean, nearly every piece of rock work is gone in Toy Story Land.
This is really getting boring- Disney fans bashing Universal and vice versa. Are these the only comments going to be made! How about- both companies have great theme parks in their own ways. Both parks are going to offer great things in the future. Give peace a chance!
ReplyDeleteMy issue is, I like them both but I just wish Disney would step up to the plate to at least TRY and compete with Universal.
ReplyDeleteWith Universal, I feel like I need to go every single year to see all the new stuff. This year, we get a new MASSIVE ride, a totally rebuilt Hulk and a new hotel. Next year, a new ride and a whole new water park. 2018 will be the new Fast ride and I'm sure something else.
At Disney this year we have two updated rides (not new) and two new night time shows. The Frozen ride was something they tossed together quickly and I doubt will be anything worthy of booking a whole trip for. Rivers of Light I had high hopes for but the delay is not looking good. Rumors are, higher ups saw it days before employee previews were to start and put a halt on it because it was that bad. I wanted something World of Color like and I don't think it will be anything like that. It's just nothing major enough to justify they much higher trip cost. The fact that they are showing their greed by charging an insane price for extra park hours and extending Food and Wine to charge people $6 for a single slider burger or 1/4 cup of soup just makes things worse. Trying to get money out of people any way they can without offering BIG new things in return.
I think the biggest issue is that Disney does these big grand reveals to show off artwork of new rides and areas and then they wait 1-4 years after announcing them to start building. Universal on the other just starts building and then announces it during the construction. Fast and Jimmy are exceptions to this rule but construction started shortly after the announcement.
My fear is that by the time Star Wars opens, Universal will be opening a third gate, a new Citywalk complex and 1-2 new hotels the same year. If Universal can keep up the construction pace, they will have 3 parks with more thrill rides than Disney's four parks combined. I'm just disappointed that a company I once thought could do no wrong has become corrupt with greed and lack of any motivation to build things quickly. Sure, I still love going to Disney, but when they don't offer anything new that's big, I don't feel like I should give them money. I mean, the fact that the lion king show in The Land was closed for a few months and they couldn't even spend a few thousand dollars on a new projector just goes to show how little they are willing to spend. Yet Universal tore down a perfectly functioning roller coaster and totally rebuilt it from the ground up to make the overall experience better...in less than a year.
Thank you! I really enjoy your photo updates! 👍
ReplyDeleteUniversal needs to rip off its guests to be more like Di$ney. They don't force you to buy character dining or add on packages. As someone who is actually from Orlando I know that Disney and Universal use the same companies to theme and build rides. The days of WED are long gone.
ReplyDeleteDisney hired the lead designer of Diagon Alley to design Star Wars land so it won't be a total embarrassment like new Fantasyland which added the tacky animal abuse themed circus carnival which is much worse then what it replaced. They even added a daily clown band for that extra Disney touch instead of using them for an event like Halloween Horror nights where all clowns belong. You think Dinoland would had taught them a lesson to NEVER add a tacky carnival to a park with Disney's name on it.
Sadly Universal is like the Disney of old taking chances using new technology and Disney is hawking timeshares, add on packages and building tacky carnivals which are much worse then state of the art 3D screens
Be grateful you live near enough to attend these fabulous parks on a regular basis. Most of us cannot, and it is a once or twice in a lifetime experience!! You don't realise how fortunate you are!Count your blessings!
ReplyDelete"However, Cars Land was Disney's first attempt at a totally themed land that makes you feel like your in a movie and they only built it after they saw the success of Harry Potter. "
ReplyDeleteCarsland started construction a year before the first Wizarding World even opened.
lol yall mad, and full of wrong information
ReplyDeleteI think it's fun to debate Disney vs Universal. I like both, but they're certainly different and are targeting different audiences. Thrill seekers should head to Universal. Families with younger children should head to Disney. I'll also say that NO ONE can compete with Disney World since no other park has that much space to separate things and keep the support structures and buildings out of site. That's true for Universal, Disneyland, etc...
ReplyDeleteI like both Parks. Harry Potter is just simply amazing. The overall experience at Disney is just better though. I will say Universal top attractions are better, or more thrilling, but that is mostly just taste. Universal is doing great things while Disney has been expanding its infrastructure because people have been coming in record numbers no mater what they do. The rides will come, and while I agree with most that its moving at a glacial pace, the wait will be worth it. Disney is not going to mess up Star Wars and I think Avatar will surprise people with the level of immersion. Most were not excited about Cars Land when it was announced btw.. I feel like Avatar and Cars Land share the same stigma of just okay movies, but as theme park attractions, they'll be top notch.
ReplyDeleteThe most recent anonymous is right. The same was said about Cars Land. And it does come down to taste. Luckily we're all free to visit whichever parks we choose. I'm not sure I agree that Cars and Avatar were "just okay movies" (Cars did $462M globally. Avatar did $2.788B. So obviously those who disliked those movies are in the minority), but I digress.
ReplyDeleteUniversal absolutely has more thrills, especially Orlando with all the roller coasters. If being on a real movie lot is your thing, there is no better park in the world than Universal Hollywood. If perfection immersion and theming is your thing, Disney World may be the place for you. Not say that Harry Potter isn't just as good, but it's much smaller and just a single theme, so comparing Harry Potter to all of Disney World won't end well for Harry or anyone else.
If I had to pick a favorite, it would be Disney World easily, but that's just me, and yes I still visit Seaworld and Universal Orlando regularly. I pick WFW because I love the size, scale, theming, dining options, lodging options, water park options, nighttime shows, golf courses, etc. And if I get bored (Ha!), there's always I-Drive with a million more lodging, dining and entertainment options. There are certainly better restaurants elsewhere, better hotels, better water parks, and better nighttime shows. But they're all one-offs without all the rest. Put simply, no other place on the planet has the variety of WDW. And if you haven't checked out Disney Springs in a while, wait until August or later and give it a visit. Still lots of construction going on now, but most should be open by then.
I'll end by saying I also love thrill rides, specifically roller coasters. The bigger, the better. But to be honest, I don't go to Universal for that because while they have a few amazing thrills, there are only 3-5 at most. Compare that to Cedar Point, Great Adventure or Great America, where each have a dozen or more thrills rides that are much bigger, faster and scarier than anything at Universal.
I'll end with saying that the good thing is none of us are locked into any one park or company. I visit them all because I love theme parks, thrill parks, amusement parks, and even local carnivals. The smell, sound, sight, feeling and excitement is something that all fans know. First it makes you smile. Then scream. Then laugh. Hopefully we can all agree on that!
Jason,
ReplyDeleteI meant just okay as in the movie itself, as in my personal taste, not how it performed at the box office. Cars 2 was downright terrible, imo. So nothing has performed better than Avatar Globally... The Force Awakens was monster but is still far away from Avatars amazing box office numbers. Disney will have the highest grossing film of all time in Avatar and the Highest grossing film franchise in Star Wars dominating the parks soon. It's a great time to be fans of Universal and Disney!
THANKS to the fans of Universal Orlando, I was convinced I would be AMAZED BEYOND BELIEF at the WWoHP attractions and of course, Spiderman. So we booked our trip and even paid to stay on site at UNI to gain skip the line passes.
ReplyDeleteWe arrived to a run down hotel. That said the hotel was in the midst of upgrading rooms. I immediately put on my Jaws t-shirt and we headed to IOA to checkout the original WWoHP. We understood, Disney was the originator of immersive lands and that has backed by UNI Creative.
The construction was beautiful, but we were shocked at how it wasn't immersive. Everywhere you turned their was a BUY THIS, BUY THAT. It made me realize immersive is in the eye of the beholder. We went on the ride, as UNI fans call it the best ride of all theme parks. Turns out, it was boring with one dimensional screens, used for the WOW. The WOW fell short.
We immediately proceeded to Uni Studios for DA thinking UNI Creative got it right, there. Again, I was disappointed. The ride operator overheard me say, the vehicles remind me of Indy in CA. He said, me too! Off we went thinking it's going to be better than Indy. Nope, this ride actually stops at screens. AGAIN, SCREENS!
Overall, we skipped all the outdated attractions/rides. And there are so many! Two have already been demolished, but it raises the point... this is not new construction, it's replacement construction.
We also noticed, with Skip the Line passes you are done with both parks in one day.
Facts are facts!
I guess it's a good thing that Hong Kong Disneyland is going forward with all those layoffs due to declining attendance. That will surely stick it to Universal! #sargasm
ReplyDeleteSorry you had higher hopes for Universal, but I enjoy Uni attractions way better than any Disney attraction. They are more exciting and more fun! Your facts are your opinions. My facts are my opinions, that's what makes these comments so great. But, facts are, you spent a lot less "greed" money at Uni. You didn't pay an "upgrade" fee for after hours parties, and you paid less got your hotel and fast passes than you would have spent at Disney. So, maybe you bought a Butterbeer, or maybe a wand, but now you can say you've tried it, you weren't impressed, and you're not going back. And your point of outdated rides, come on. Some if Disney's attractions have been there since day one,the 1970's.
ReplyDelete