100 Years of Awesome

Universal is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year and I have to admit that their line up of events and new attractions sounds kind of awesome. Of course, they have new attractions to compete with Disney including a nighttime spectacular that is supposed to rival World of Color. But considering the description of the Universal show, it might be better than Disney’s show, at least in content. I honestly don’t think that anything else could be as pretty as World of Color, but the content could definitely use some work. Since, it’s Universal’s 100th anniversary, the water show will display every famous Universal movie. Here’s the description from one of the theme park blogs:


Universal’s Cinematic Spectacular: 100 Years of Movie Memories ~ Opening Spring 2012 at Universal Studios Florida
Narrated by award-winning actor and recent Golden Globe - Cecil B. DeMille honoree, Morgan Freeman, Universal Orlando’s brand-new nighttime show, Universal’s Cinematic Spectacular, will celebrate the most powerful and emotional moments from Universal Pictures’ most iconic films – all on cutting-edge waterfall screens within the Universal Studios lagoon and surrounded by colorful fountains and pyrotechnics. The experience will take guests on a journey through epic cinematic moments filled with heroes, horror, laughter, good vs. evil and triumph. The new show opens this spring, runs all summer and then on select nights through the end of the year.

The renderings of what the show could look like are awesome too. Not going to lie, I really want to see this.

Some other attractions Universal is adding this year are as follows:

Blue Man Group ~ Opening February 2012 at Universal CityWalk
Universal Orlando’s Blue Man Group show is taking their unique mash-up of high energy music, comedy, audience participation and collective exhilaration to another level. Featuring a new show environment, new music, new technology and new experiences, the show will allow audiences to join the Blue Men as they discover, engage and explore the world’s obsession with cutting-edge technology.

Signature Blue Man Group moments combine with new pieces for an explosive evening of entertainment. New show elements include the curious Blue Men interacting with enormous “GiPads,” a funny and insightful look at contemporary communication vehicles, and a pulsating new finale with an original Blue Man Group music score. Look closely – you may even see the Blue Men take a spin on one of Universal Orlando's most popular attractions.

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ~ Experience March 2012 at Islands of Adventure
Universal Orlando is transforming what is already one of the most amazing attraction experiences ever created into what will feel like an all-new adventure. The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man will soon feature all-new, 4K digital high-definition animation, new high tech 3-D glasses and upgrades to the set, audio and lighting systems. The re-animation of the ride film will include an entirely new level of detail for guests to discover, including a cameo by comic book icon and Spider-Man co-creator, Stan Lee.

Universal’s Superstar Parade ~ Opening Spring 2012 at Universal Studios Florida

Some of today’s most beloved characters and stories will bring new adventure to the streets of Universal Studios during Universal’s Superstar Parade – an all-new daily parade that features huge floats, state-of-the-art technology and hundreds of energetic street performers. Guests will sing and dance along with characters like the minions from Despicable Me, E.B. from the hit comedy, Hop, Nickelodeon’s Dora & Diego and SpongeBob SquarePants during the interactive experience. Guests will have the opportunity to enjoy performances and character meet and greets prior to the parade at select locations throughout the day.

Despicable Me Minion Mayhem ~ Opening Summer 2012 at Universal Studios Florida

Universal Orlando’s newest attraction, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, will take guests on an unforgettable 3-D adventure with their favorite characters from the hit film – Gru, Margo, Edith, Agnes and the mischievous minions. The experience begins when guests enter Gru’s home, where they learn that they’re being recruited to become minions and undergo “minion training.” Things don’t go as planned, and guests find themselves on a wildly hysterical journey with Gru and his daughters. Once guests make it through training, they join an interactive, minion-inspired dance party where they can show off their best moves.

Universal’s Creative team is working closely with Chris Meledandri’s Illumination Entertainment to bring this all-new adventure to life in the most authentic way possible. In fact, the beloved characters in the attraction will be voiced by the film’s original cast: Steve Carell (Gru), Miranda Cosgrove (Margo), Dana Gaier (Edith) and Elsie Fisher (Agnes). The ride’s experience is being developed by the same creative team that behind the award-winning film, Despicable Me.

Other New Experiences Opening this Year

• Hollywood Drive-In Golf, a unique 36-hole miniature golf experience inspired by the classic drive-in movie era, will open in February at Universal CityWalk.
• A great, new immersive retail entertainment experience that will become home to SpongeBob SquarePants and other characters from the number one kids animated TV series, Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants. It will open inside Universal Studios this year.
• Minutes away from Universal Orlando, the popular Wet ‘n Wild water park will open its first interactive family water play area, this summer – allowing everyone in the family to splash and swim together. Amidst lush, tropical landscaping, the new area will feature 15 water slides and more than 100 soakers, jets, waterfalls and water cannons - making it the largest interactive water play experience in Florida.

I guess it’s time to go to Florida and see some of these things for myself. I hear that Universal in Orlando is much better than Universal in LA because it’s an actual theme park. Although, I do love going through the back lot in LA.

Magical Year

Sorry for abandoning my blog for a few weeks. There were some insane deadlines at work leaving no time to look at what was happening in the world other than presidential events, but that's not what this blog is about. This is about the fun things that take us away from the cruel world and into the awesome, fantastical world.

So let's move on to the happiest place on Earth. California Adventure has a lot going on and I can't wait until the end of this year when it's all complete. I want to run around like a child! Cars Land is nearing completion and I keep seeing amazing images and videos and it just looks fantastic. The front entrance area is going to look like old Burbank when Walt first arrived to California. I'm most excited about the statue of Walt and Mickey that will be placed in the middle of the square.

Not sure why I love the statue so much. It's just Walt and Mickey with suit cases. What's really cool about it is that the statue of Walt and Mickey in Disneyland is supposed to be the two of them looking at all their accomplishments, while the new one at DCA is the two of them just starting out. Good job with story telling Disney folks.

Anyway, going back to the changes. The area where ElecTRONica is currently, is going away and becoming an Alice in Wonderland/Mad T Party themed bar area instead.

I'm not sure the motivation behind making this area a bar after dark. Seems kind of weird to me, but at least Alice in Wonderland is more Disney than ElecTRONica... Although, this Alice in Wonderland is going to be more like the Tim Burton version and less like the cartoon we all know and love from Disney. So I guess nothing is really changing except the decor. The change is going to take place this summer.

No matter what, I think this is what the Disney folks should have done with DCA in the first place. The changes that are being made are very awesome and I definitely think it will draw more people to the park once it's finished. I guess it took the Imagineers going through a little bit of failure with the park before realizing what the park should actually look like.

Wizarding World

I'm a couple days behind on this, but I don't think it's ever too late to share theme park magic especially because the Wall Street Journal got in trouble for posting the information too early. Anyway, Harry Potter Land is coming to Universal Studios, Hollywood. I bet the first question you're asking yourself right now is where the hell are they going to put it. Well, they're working on that. Through the theme park grapevine, I've heard that they'll either carve out a mountain or get rid of some of their back lot elements and put it there. Either way, it's going to be small and there will have to be separate transportation to get there, but it will still be as authentic as the original. Definitely exciting news for Harry Potter fans. Plus, it will add some new elements to the LA theme park because it does kind of lack pizazz. This addition will definitely add an exciting element and of course bring in more money. That's all they care about anyway. I still want to go to Florida though. Their theme park is an actual theme park and has way better rides. It will be interesting to see what they come up with here. Guess we're waiting til 2013 to find out.

Good Friday

Is it Halloween yet? I can’t wait! I keep reading about so many awesome Halloween events happening this year. Now that people are starting to have money again, they’re going all out. Especially, Universal. This year, their tram tour theme will be Scream. Honestly, that sounds pretty cool. It’s going to be called “Terror Tram: Scream 4 Your Life.” The title is kind of lame, but I like the Scream movies. They entertain me for some reason so this sounds very cool.

Universal is also bringing in some big names to create some awesome mazes. I hate mazes because I hate people jumping out at me, which is ironic because Halloween is my favorite holiday, but I would have loved to work on all of this stuff. Universal brought in Eli Roth to create “Eli Roth's Hostel: Hunting Season" maze. They also brought in Alice Cooper to present "Alice Cooper: Welcome to My Nightmare" and they even brought in Rob Zombie for "Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses: In 3D ZombieVision." A 3D maze? That’s kind of insane and it sounds freaking terrifying. I know some people working on the Bill and Ted show as well and it’s supposed to be awesome again this year. I worked on it the first year they brought Halloween back to Universal in 2007. It was so much fun! I would kill to do that again.

Halloween, please come faster!

The Swarm

I read about a new roller coaster coming to Thorpe Park in the UK in 2012 called The Swarm and it sounds freaking awesome. I have to share. I’m all about having stories during rides. I mean obviously it’s fun to just fly around, but I think having a story concept or even just some scenery always makes things more interesting.

Riders will enter a partially demolished chapel before loading on to the coaster.

From there, the coaster will take riders through a post-apocalyptic war scene where riders will encounter a crashed airplane, a burned-out fire engine and a smashed helicopter. That sounds pretty freaking cool.

To make things ever better, the riders sit wing style, meaning their seats are located on the side of the track and not directly on the track.

That makes this coaster only the second of its kind in the world. The first is in Italy in case you were curious. I would totally ride this. I know Six Flags makes some pretty innovative coasters, but none of them tell a story. They all just fly around and do crazy stuff. I want more scenery. Time to book a ticket!

The Hill

Back at work. Sad day. I hope everyone has an awesome 4th! Since it's been so hot, I thought I would talk about something cold....

Another Disney ride to turn into a movie? First, was The Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy, which didn’t do very well. They’re going to try again soon and I hope it does well because that ride is awesome. Then, I mentioned not too long ago that Disney is making a movie based on The Jungle Cruise, which sounds like it might work. It will star Tom Hanks and Tim Allen and they’re a great pair. The new movie on the list will be based on the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn is a fun ride, but the plot sounds too obvious and dumb. It’s going to be an action adventure movie centered on 5 climbers who climb to the top of the mountain and encounter a yeti on the way down. That sounds so lame! Why Disney why?!?! The working title right now is “The Hill” and they’ve chosen Jason Dean Hall to write the script.

Looks like Disney’s main objective right now is to write movies based on their rides. There are many more in the works and I’m not sure how I feel about that. Kind of makes me sad. What do you think?

Good Friday

Just when we thought we were free of 3D movies, 4D theatres are being built. I keep reading that fewer and fewer 3D movies are being made because people just aren’t seeing them anymore. People are tired of them. So then why the hell would you go out and make a bunch of 4D movie theatres outside of a theme park. It’s fun and cool in a theme park when you’re watching animatronic characters, but not when you’re watching a real movie. I would not want to be watching Transformers in a 4D theatre. I don’t want to feel the explosions or feel water falling on my face. That’s just too intense. I can handle it at a theme park for a 15 minute show, but that’s as much as my sensory over load can handle. There’s a 4D theatre ready to open late August somewhere in LA. I didn’t get the details on where, but trust that I will never go there. It might be cool and fun for one movie, but I doubt people would go back for that. Maybe I’m wrong and I have no idea how the world works, but knowing how sick people are of 3D doesn’t make me confident that they would be interested in 4D. Am I alone here?

The Ride

I’m really excited for the new Transformers movie and not just because Paramore has a new song on the soundtrack. I think it looks really awesome. Plus, I’m kind of happy about the fact that Megan Fox will not be in it. I was never a huge Transformers fan, but I watched the first movie and was hooked. What I find even cooler is that Universal Singapore and Hollywood are making Transformer rides. The Singapore ride is due out this summer and the Hollywood ride will appear in 2012. I will definitely be riding that ride. Universal is getting better with their creative projects. For a while, they were awful and no one was caring what they were doing, but the Harry Potter land changed that.

Recently, a photo from the queue line was leaked. Universal has already mentioned that thirty minutes of story is built into the queue so guests will get a good taste of the ride before they even enter. This is why I love theme park magic. It’s very rare to find a ride where the queue line holds any attention.

Premieres

So this past weekend, Disneyland and California Adventure premiered 2 big attractions. I talked about them both last week: The Little Mermaid ride and Mickey's Soundsational Parade. Of course, people filmed every moment of both. If you have a few minutes, you should definitely take a look.

Little Mermaid


Soundsational Parade

Things Are A Changin’!

California Adventure is changing and I can’t wait to see the finished product! When I was at the Pirates premiere, I could see the changes they’ve made already to the front entrance and I think it’s going to look amazing. It’s going to look something like this; minus all the cars and lights of course:

When it’s all done, I might need to spend some good quality time there looking at every little thing. The first thing to kick off the new park is the Little Mermaid ride opening in June. Here are some awesome stills from the ride as well as a video interview with the Imagineers. Get your tickets, cause we’re going!

Toy Story 4 Live Action

I’m kind of super excited about this. I’m not a fan of the ride itself, but this sounds like it’s going to be awesome. Disney has announced that they’re going to make a Jungle Cruise movie. At first I was a little skeptical because they totally killed The Haunted Mansion by casting Eddie Murphy, but the cast for the Jungle Cruise movie is just amazing. There’s no way this movie could be ruined:

The Walt Disney Studios is excited to be in development with Mandeville Films and writer Roger S.H. Schulman on a feature film based on the Jungle Cruise, one of the most iconic attractions in Disney theme park history. The film will pair up Tim Allen and Tom Hanks in their first live-action project, after their previous collaborations in the Toy Story trilogy.‬

So not only is the essence of Toy Story coming together here, but it’s live action! That just sounds awesome. So Disney, please make this one good. Please!

Themed Birthday

Wow. Can you believe that California Adventure celebrates its 10 year anniversary today? Part of me feels like it's been there longer than 10 years. I guess this would be the perfect time to revamp. Just like Disneyland, it's opening was not a success in the least. You had to pay extra money to get into a park that was definitely not as cool as Disneyland. Plus, it had everything Walt didn't want, such as an area that looked like a carnival. Walt hated carnivals and never wanted anything even remotely similar anywhere near his precious park. Eisner made a huge mistake with this park. It's only recently started gaining its footing because of World of Color. Not many people care about the park otherwise. Soon, that will all change. Come 2012, this park is supposed to be awesome with their new Buena Vista Street entrance, which is already under construction and Cars Land and the Little Mermaid ride. Cars Land alone makes me a little gaga. I'm sure it will be cool. So I guess a Happy Birthday is in order for California Adventure. I want to go to there!

The Livin's Easy

It's the beginning of summer and that means fun vacations and visits to silly places. My brother and his fiance have created a bucket list of things to do this summer, which I think is an awesome idea. My friends and I have a tiny list and I would like for that list to grow. Summer is the time to get out and just do things you wouldn't otherwise do.

I heard on the radio this morning that Legoland just opened a water park. I went to Legoland 2 or so years ago and it was definitely for the kids. It was lame in places and pretty cool in other places. The rides were pretty lame, but the fact that everything was made out of legos was pretty freaking cool. I wonder how the water park is. It opened this month and I would like to take a trip to San Diego to find out. Here's a list of the water park features:

* The centerpiece of the Water Park is a 45-foot-tall tower designed to immerse children in the creative world of LEGO®
* The Build-A-Raft river – a lazy river where guests float on their own custom-built LEGO raft
* Several water slides including six-person raft slide and one-person tube slides as well as slides designed especially for toddlers
* More than 20 LEGO models including giant LEGO friends who splash or spray water on guests
* A splash tower that will pour hundreds of gallons of water over kids standing beneath
* A DUPLO® zoo themed water play area for toddlers
* Two sandy beach wading areas
* Cabanas for families to rest and relax in
* Retail shops and snack carts

Sounds pretty cool to me. I may need to push some kids out of the way to get to some of these attractions, but it seems worth it to me. This has now been added to my summer vacation list.

Medieval Monday

Yesterday was incredibly adventurous and something I had never thought of doing, ever. My friends and I braved Disneyland in the heat, but not only that, we went to Medieval Times for dinner. How crazy is that? Who does that? We pretty much went to 3 theme parks in one day. It took us about an hour to get into Disneyland because for some ridiculous reason, Disneyland closed their main parking lot. We found out later that Disneyland thinks it’s a good idea to close their main lot mid morning and then reopen again in the afternoon. How that makes any sense baffles me, but Disneyland is God and we must not question.

So we left Disneyland at 4:30 or so to make the trek back to the car and made our way to Medieval Times. We were placed on the blue knight’s team. Our knight totally looked like a girl so I named her Britney and we rooted her on during the sword fight. Medieval Times is one of those places where you can go once or twice and never go again and live life fully. Last night was my third time going and it was more fun than I thought it would be. Obviously, going with friends makes things more fun. Our waiter sucked, but he was in training so I guess we could give him some slack. I freaking hate eating in the dark. Eating with my hands gets annoying, but eating in the dark is the worst thing ever. They serve chicken and that is one food that I must eat in the light in order to inspect. I only eat white meat and I don’t eat the veins. How am I supposed to know what I’m eating when it’s dark? At one point, they brought up the lights and I had been eating the dark meat. Barf!

Anyway, no one cares about my weird eating habits. The show itself can get a tiny bit cheesy. The guys playing the knights are stunt men obviously, but they suck just a tiny bit. The acting is terrible and there has to be a better way to fall off a horse and make us believe you. They joust and then fall off their horses by dramatically tumbling off. Even the kids have to think this shit sucks. The story is really hard to follow as well. I get that we’re supposed to feel like royal people eating and watching a show, but then they try to sneak in a story line and I’m all lost. The language they use might as well be French. We got cool cups and a picture with us and some weird lady so I guess it was all worth it.