Universal Orlando has grown from its small beginnings to now a must-see theme park industry. With award-winning rides, must-see shows, and fantastic events. To make sure they are always drawing in guests, Universal must make sure they are creating new attractions. But since Universal has minimal land to use, and already crowded, Universal must shut down old, and not-so-popular attractions to build new ones. A well-known example of this problem is shutting down the Jaws Ride and opening Diagon Alley. I will talk about the popular new attractions recently announced and built, including rumors and how these things can affect the resort.
1. Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure (New Attraction)
Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike AdventureHagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure
Harry Potter is one of my favorite movie franchises and having a whole world dedicated to Harry Potter at Universal is absolutely amazing. The land is split into two different parts with Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida, and Hogwarts and Hogsmeade at Islands of Adventure. Universal recently just opened a new ride at the Islands of Adventure in Hogsmeade. Which took the place where Dragon Challenge used to be. With completely destroying the old ride, the new ride is called Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure and the new ride came with a new track layout, animatronics, and story.
So far the ride has been a huge success with having a huge grand opening of the ride, park increased attendance and the ride time on opening day 10 hours long. The reviews for the ride have been more good with the ride said to have to redefine the roller coaster game. Fun fact the ride opened on June 13th, 2019 which is the date Hagrid was accused of opening the chamber of secrets.
The ride takes you on an adventure with Hagrid through the Forbidden Forest. With you either riding on a motorbike or in a sidecar and bind through turns, drops, and come face to face with magical creatures. I haven't ridden the ride yet but just the description of the ride makes it sound amazing. This truly helps cover the important setting of the Forbidden Forest and gives light on such a lovable character. Universal has made the wizarding world come to life and for sure never took any short cuts while building the land. If you have the chance to ride Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure take it because it sounds like a magical adventure.
2. Jurassic Park/ Jurassic World (New Attraction + Rumors)
Jurassic Park River Adventure™
Jurassic Park land of Islands of Adventure has been around since opening day, and the land is spectacular. If you have recently visited Jurassic Park in Orlando, you can see that most of it has been walled off and major construction all around the land. With no real ideas or facts on what's being added on or what's being built, we can only guess by what we see so far.
At Universal Studios Hollywood the Jurassic Park or now called Jurassic World was all updated but the primary attraction, Jurassic World The Ride, used to be Jurassic Park River Adventure, which the new ride has the same layout of the old ride but with updated new parts of the ride and new climatic drop. Which some people speculate will happen in Orlando, which many fans of the franchise aren't happy with. Fans feel the movie and ride relating to Jurassic Park think that they are relevant to the franchise and should stay. Also feeling that Universal should build a new ride to help capitalize on the recent Jurassic World Movies.
Now the Universal's Orlando does have more room, and also very hesitant when getting rid of old rides. I truly don't think Universal will get rid of River Adventure at the Orlando park because it has a very well built atmosphere and ride system going. If Universal was smart they would build an entirely new land for the Jurassic World expansion and has all new rides that have their own ride system. I will explain how Universal can do this later.
3. Universal Endless Summer Resort (New Hotel)
Endless Summer Resort
Universal is well known for its affordable hotels and resorts. Universal recently built its first Value category hotel called the Endless Summer Resort. The resort is comprised of two hotels and is off-site of the Universal lot. Universal opened one of the two hotels called the Surfside Inn and Suites, the other hotel, Dockside Inn and Suite, is slated to open on March 2020.
The Surfside Inn is smaller of the two and has a pool shaped like a surfboard in the middle of the hotel. The hotel has four types of rooms with the cheapest starting at $156 a night. Since the hotel is off-sight Universal does offer transportation to the parks. They also have some extraordinary packages for hotels and parks.
This hotel looks very nice and very creative and relaxing. It's also nice that the hotel is off-site so that you can avoid the traffic on Universal property. For a new clean hotel, it is very affordable and definitely worth staying at
4. Bigfire of Citywalk (New Restaurant)
Exterior of Bigfre
Citywalk is a Universals entrance plaza filled with restaurants, shops, and shows. Recently added at Citywalk is Bigfire, a new open-fire restaurant. Bigfire has a very open fire grill to cook your meats suck as steaks and beef on and very rustic wood look. The menu has a wide variety of meats, creative sides, and delicious desserts. Truly it sounds like your regular grill but it may have a slight difference with it being cooked over an open flame.
The reviews have been pretty neutral with people loving the food and creating a new design for the restaurant. Also, people have had many outstanding reviews on the hosts and servers at the restaurants. On the other hand, bad reviews have been mainly on the food where it wasn't what they were expecting from the hype of the new restaurant.
Citywalk has always been a great sight to see and an amazing environment to walkthrough. This new restaurant will make a great new addition to the resort and will be a great place to visit.
5. New Universal Park (Rumor)
Probable land for the new park development
As I said before Universal has a very aggressive stance when it comes to replacing rides. By replacing older rides with newer more popular franchises. Universal Orlando has closed some of its original attractions to replace it with more famous franchises.
As of right now, Universal Orlando is as up-to-date as it can get. Meaning they can't get rid of any rides without shutting down famous attractions. This leaves Universal in a bad spot because they can't make many more rides to bring in more guests. One way to fix this problem is for Universal to open a new park. This rumor has been circulating since the opening of Volcano Bay. This showed people that Universal is open to new things and is trying to expand on what they have. This new park will be a big step up for Universal and will open land to build all new lands and attractions.
People have speculated some of the lands that could be going into the new park, some of them being: a new Harry Potter world, new Jurassic World land, and a Nintendo Land. Nintendo Land is something no one has ever seen before and will be a completely new concept. News about Nintendo Land surfaced before news of a possible new park. It was speculated Nintendo Land would take the place of Woody Woodpecker's KidZone. Which holds five attractions, one of which being E.T. Adventure a ride that has been open since Universal has opened. To not get rid of a ride that has been open since the parks beginning Universal could give Nintendo LAnd a fresh start with its own beginnings and not get ride of Woody Woodpecker's KidZone. This new park could help Universal grow and become a must-visit vacation spot.
Now Universal has many events, such as Halloween Horror Nights and Rock the Universe. I will be doing those events in another article of mine because they are separate entities all to themselves.
Universal will always have new attractions and new coming to its theme parks and each choice affects the parks deeply. This want for new things is what makes Universal great, for always being open for new things. Universal is a great resort and continues to grow. If you ever get the chance to visit universal take it, because it has many fantastic attractions that will make memories last for a lifetime.
