View Full Version : Jaws Ride to Close for Good
Lesley S
02-12-2011, 16:39
Just been announced.
Universal Orlando Resort announced Friday to its fans on Facebook that it will be closing the "Jaws!" ride and Amity area of Universal Studios Florida for good on Monday, January 2
Wonder what new ride and area will be put here!
DANESKA18
02-12-2011, 17:15
When we last went in August 2010, our youngest (Darcey) was 3 and I dragged her (and two of our other kids) on to this ride while we waited for Danny and our eldest lad as it was tipping down with rain!! I've just told Darcey (now aged 5) that Jaws is closing and her response was "hooray - I didn't like Jaws". Maybe she was more traumatised by it than I thought [:I];);)!
Oh No!
[msnsad]
Jaws was brilliant. Cheesy and terrible for sure; but just brilliant anyway.
Awwww! I'll really miss the jaws ride! Yes really cheesy but hilarious!
Pauline
mary and colin
02-12-2011, 19:01
We always went on this ride, sometimes it was better than others, cheesy but fun.
Our last trip on it there were some Chinese school girls in front of us, not sure how much they new of the ride because when it stopped in the boat house they screamed so loud it had us in fits. Then when the fire went they were screaming and wanting to get of. We couldn't stop laughing it made the ride more entertaining. [:D][:D] Not sure if they were really scared or just girls being girls together enjoying themselves. :)
Mary
Very sad news!!! This ride brings us particularly fond happy memories, the first year we went to Florida our Son was 5 and on the jaws ride he jumped across the width of the boat across laps as jaws rose from the water by his side, we still remind him of it now 20 years on!!!!!!
Philomena
02-12-2011, 22:33
Such a shame. WE were at Universal in April and the Jaws ride had the longest wait times of all the rides in the Park.
kerrigan
02-12-2011, 23:01
Sorry, I for one, won't miss it!
Hazel.
I'll miss it too - as Snapper says, it was just so cheesy it was fantastic!
LiesaAnna
03-12-2011, 21:20
guess they'll come up with something better... sadly:(
Recent rumours I heard were that Universal are planning a new Transformers theme park, but I expect rather than a whole park perhaps they are making a Transformers section within Universal (I can't see how they could make a whole theme park based on Transformers).
hacoates
03-12-2011, 23:07
Boring! It will never be as good or as popular as Jaws - it was an institution. Very sad
Cruella DeVilla
13-12-2011, 16:48
Did it for the last time this week, I still have a soft spot for it!
chrizzy100
15-12-2011, 00:43
If one more roller coaster goes up I'll stop my yearly ticket..its becoming no longer a theme park just an Amusement park..it'll be cheaper to go to six flags..Jaws always reminds me of home..it was the ride that made us want to live in the US and we got a house here in New England just like the houses on the ride...very sad..
We heard that Harry Potter is expanding in both IoA and the Studios, and will be linked by Hogwarts Express ride between both parks.
luckylady
15-12-2011, 11:10
We heard that Harry Potter is expanding in both IoA and the Studios, and will be linked by Hogwarts Express ride between both parks.
That makes sense Rosie. Harry Potter is definitely busier compared to the rest of IoA. In fact Universal was extremely quiet earlier this week. Linking the two parks should generated more visitors around both parks.
The Jaws ride was a good one, will surely miss.
Looks like Jaws has asked Santa to help him :)
http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/gUCFJNI6wYZNogRJHe-NeFg
mary and colin
16-12-2011, 18:50
Looks like Jaws has asked Santa to help him :)
http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/gUCFJNI6wYZNogRJHe-NeFg
:D Love it very good :D
Mary
Cruella DeVilla
20-12-2011, 17:23
Went to the Macy's Christmas parade this week and I guess there were a few folks wanting one last ride on Jaws before it closes as it was busy.
If you haven't seen the Christmas parade btw, it is worth a look.
matte1990
24-12-2011, 16:21
Last experienced jaws last Easter, I twisted my knee (which is weak having dislocated it 3 times playing soccer) whilst foolishly swinging into my seat... Was looking forward to riding it this summer! I know it's outdated compared to the newer attractions but there's something romantic about the classics. I remember first riding it when I was 10!!! Maybe not such an attractive ride for 1st time visitors? I guess it had to go at some point. Apparently it's expensive to run. And I remember the quality of the ride being very dependent on the tour guide!!
I was gutted when i heard Jaws was closing. Not because it was a such a great ride so to say, but it is a part of Universal's history and it was always a funny ride listening to the 'cheese' from the 'captains'. I am only sad that i didnt get to have one last ride, the last one being in 2006 when i was last there :-(
We were there the week it opened, and were there on the day it closed. Sad, we really liked it, but recently they have been skimping on the effects in it, using less gas.
Bugger, missed it last time and won't get to see it this time.
freddiehollie
10-01-2012, 18:29
We were there over Christmas/New Year. Had to do "Jaws" one last time. Will miss it now its gone[msnsad]
We still miss "Kongfrontation" our two were not around when that was going and trying to explain the ride when in the queue for "The Mummy" was impossible[msnsmile2]
DLB-GOUROCK
10-01-2012, 20:49
The last journey as the boat house doors close for good.
See http://bit.ly/jaws_end
Don't tell me you didn't have a tear in your eye.
"Show me the way to go home .... "
David
DLB-GOUROCK
10-01-2012, 20:50
I found this at this link ... www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201112/2824/
There are some photos there too.
This is a cut and paste.
David ......
Written by Robert Niles
Published: December 31, 2011 at 4:03 PM
For our final post of 2011, I leave you with a little holiday present: The plans for the new Harry Potter land in Universal Studios Florida.
A source was kind enough to allow me a look at the plans - and they do appear spectacular. Before I get into the details, though, let me clarify a few points.
First, these are labeled "Concept," and dated last month (November 2011). There's no sign that these plans have been revised, or approved by engineers, so I am assuming that they are initial concept plans. Even though they are quite detailed, they are far from final, and anyone who's been involved in attraction development can tell you that much can change in the development process.
Second, I've seen only detailed plans for the main attraction in the new land, which appears to be set in Gringotts Bank. I've seen rough detail of the rest of the new land, though, and picked out a few details here and there.
Third, every page is stamped "Confidential," so I'm not supposed to be looking at them or telling you about them, and I'm certainly not going to tell you where I got access to them, so don't even bother asking.
So let's get to it, shall we?
The plans occupy the space between the Fear Factor Live theater and the Disaster! show building on the northwest corner of the Universal Studios Florida property - basically all the land now occupied by the Jaws attraction and surrounding Amity carnival games and shops. The northernmost section of the plot - almost half the land within it - is planned for a massive show building, which will house the Gringotts ride.
On the southeastern portion of the plot, a second attraction is designated. I can't tell from the plans what this attraction will be, but its position is consistent with the rumor of a Hogwarts Express ride connecting the two Harry Potter land, as this attraction points into the back-of-house access road that runs straight into the rear of Sindbad theater where the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is expanding into in Islands of Adventure.
For pedestrians in Universal Studios Florida, there appears to be a single point of entry into the new Harry Potter land, one that requires walking around a center obstacle inside what appears to be an enclosed space. This would fit with being a "secret entrance" to Diagon Alley, from the Harry Potter books and films. There also is what appears to be labeled an 8,900-square-foot restaurant building located immediately to the left of the entrance to the land. Could this be the Leaky Cauldron?
From the entry, there is a street that proceeds straight back to the rounded entrance facade of the Gringotts building.
The Gringotts Bank exterior, from the Harry Potter films.
Diagon Alley, looking down toward Gringotts, from Pottermore.
Besides the restaurant to the left, I can't tell from the plans I saw what will occupy the other spaces in the buildings along the sides of this main street, which I presume to be Diagon Alley. There is a small, 500-square-foot "walk-through attraction" listed on a spur street to the left of the Gringotts entry, a spur that leads to the entrance to the second attraction. (Another Ollivander's? Your guess is as good as mine.)
Now let's get to that Gringotts ride.
It looks like we can expect another elaborately themed walk-through queue tour, along the lines of what we got with Hogwarts Castle in the original Wizarding World of Harry Potter. From the "Entry Hall," the queue appears to leave the building into shaded, then covered, areas before re-entering into the large "Bankers Hall." The next room in the queue is "Vault Display," then the "Reading Room." From there it's into what's labelled "Office Hallway" before we reach "Bill Weasley's Office." The next feature is labelled "Elevators," which take us up a level in order to cross over the ride tracks to access the center load island.
There are two load channels for the ride, with loading on the center island, and unloading off to the outsides. The ride vehicles are twin, 12-person, open-air cars, arranged in three rows of four. Each row is placed slightly higher than the row in front of it, in a "stadium seating" effect. The look of the cars is very Victorian, with individual lap bars and six Dolby speakers per seat for on-ride audio.
After the load platform, the two load channels merge to the south, then bearing to the left and entering Scene 1: "Turntable." In this scene, you'll face a brick wall, with two tunnel entrances, to the left and right. But before you proceed, the track below the first of the twin cars will drop from underneath that car. The track will come to rest at a 40-degree angle. Then, the track under the trailing car will begin to rise, matching the 40-degree angle of the leading car.
At that point, the two cars will drop in tandem into a third tunnel, below the tunnel on the right. Basically, we've just ridden a teeter-totter-like vertical track switch, attaching to the roller coaster track for our initial drop.
From there, we drop into Scene 2: "Dark Tunnel," a kinetic ride section with a small bunny hop and a hard right turn before we hit a block brake in preparation for Scene 3: "Ledge."
The Gringotts ride won't be a traditional roller coaster. It appears to be a hybrid roller coaster and motion-base ride, a la Spider-Man and Transformers. There are 3D projection screens throughout the ride, embedded in the rockwork of the tunnel walls, creating an illusion of open space, within which we'll watch battles taking place.
The first is in the Ledge scene, where some concept art shows a battle with wizards and giant-like creatures. The plans detail a shaker table under the track, and there's a waterfall effect at the end of the scene, including a fogscreen and water spritzers.
There's a slight free drop and turn to the left as we proceed through the waterfall, leading us into Scene 4: "Thief's Downfall." There are wind and heat effects in this scene, along with our first look at a dragon. Meanwhile, the ride's making a chicane-type turn to the left, then the right.
That leads us immediately into Scene 5: "Sirius Black's Vault." We hit a fog blast before entering the vault, where we see illuminated treasure ahead. The car makes a turn to the right, where the physical show scenery opens up a bit, with a large vault area with a flat 3D projection screen along the far wall. We then bear to the left, turning into Scene 6: "Ruins."
We're curving to the right through the rubble of what looks like a collapsed tunnel in this scene, which leads us into Scene 7: "Chasm." We're inside a large projection cone for this scene, which appears to involve Harry, Ron, Hermoine and… could it be? Voldemort? (The concept art I saw wasn't clear - it almost never is.) I do see a heat curtain and cold-air blast noted in this scene, though. (Shades of Revenge of the Mummy?)
From there, we launch into another dark tunnel (Scene 8), which banks up and around to the left, taking us into Scene 9: "Passage," our finale, where Harry and company bid us farewell before we return to the load/unload platform.
And yes, we do exit through a retail shop.
That's all I've got from these initial concept plans. They lack any information about the narrative of the ride or the imagery we'll see on those projection scenes. But the plans do detail a unique hybrid ride system that takes us through scenes that set up a potentially ambitious narrative.
DLB-GOUROCK
10-01-2012, 20:52
.... and there is a whispers that the side shows from the Amity area might get relocated over to the Simpson's ride area.
DLB-GOUROCK
11-01-2012, 20:00
Lest we for get ... a tribute to Amity as we remember it.
... and finally one I found which shows Amity as we all remember it
http://bit.ly/memoriesofAMITY
DisneyPrincess
10-03-2012, 14:54
I loved Jaws - pretty naff but nonetheless enjoyable...wonder what is set to take its place?
DisneyPrincess
10-03-2012, 14:59
I have just read the above post re: expansion of WWOHP - oh my lord. Its my dream come true!!