Category: Jurassic World

Just three days ago we covered some of the updates coming to Jurassic Park at Islands of Adventure, pertaining to a new roller coaster and Jurassic World re-theme – now even more concrete details have surfaced, revealing the (current) layout of the ride!

First reported by WFTV News, and then covered in greater detail by Alicia Stella at Orlando Park Stop, we have a great idea of what changes are coming to the Florida park. The layout was obtained by both parties by looking into permits filed for the demolition and construction activities planned for the park – take at look at the layout reconstructed by Orlando Park Stop in the image below!

The ride, as proposed, is a high-thrills multi-launch roller coaster which begins its queue down in front of the Discovery Center by the waterfront. Not much is know about it, other than theming will be kept to a minimum (more Incredible Hulk, less Expedition Everest) and will be Velociraptor themed – reportedly letting riders “be a raptor” as they escape from their paddock. Velociraptor’s are known for their speed, and this ride will be no different as it’s rumored to be the fastest multi-launch roller coaster eclipsing 73 mph.

As shown in the track layout, there will be a small show scene at the opening of the ride, which reportedly features a Raptor paddock. While it’s unknown if it will be themed off of the iconic paddock from Jurassic Park, or the one from World, most signs point to the latter. In all likelihood, this scene and ride is based upon Jurassic World when the Velociraptors are released from their enclosure to hunt for the Indominus Rex (“Hunt for the Indominus Rex” would make a great ride name now that I think about it).

Construction is expected to take about 1 and 1/2 years, gearing for a mid 2020 or early 2021 opening at the latest.

The majority of the ride will takeover the abandoned Triceratops Encounter plot of land, but will effect numerous other smaller attractions in the area, leading to some relocation. In my last article I talked about why I’m not exactly thrilled about this coaster (which sounds like a lot of fun to be fair), as I’d rather have an authentic and well themed addition to Jurassic Park which really transports me to that prehistoric island. However, I remain hopeful that Universal Creative will keep innovating, and perhaps add more show scenes and theming to this ride before it’s locked in.

Jurassic is Universal’s biggest brand, and it’s overflowing with imagination including inspiring adventure, iconic movie scenes, beautiful locales, and incredible dinosaurs to bring to life – the area could easily rival the Wizarding World, Avatar Land, and Star Wars Land if they really allow it to grow and thrive.

As for the rumored Jurassic World re-theme, it’s almost assuredly coming, although this coaster may open prior. However, as reported by Midway Mayhem, the construction walls are sporting the colder and modern Jurassic World themed key art as opposed to the brighter more safari themed Park aesthetic.

Whatever the future may hold, one thing is for certain: Jurassic Park at Orlando Florida is evolving, and something new will be hatching soon. Be sure to sound off in the comments below, and as always, stay tuned for the latest news!

Source: WFTV News, Orlando Park Stop

Hold on to your butts, big changes are coming.

Jurassic Park is a staple of blockbuster filmmaking, awing and inspiring audiences of all ages across the world to this day – not to mention its huge impact in 1993, redefining what can be achieved with visual effects and paving the way for CG to become commonplace in today’s movies. Jurassic Park’s impact is long lasting, and wide reaching – but its name is soon to just be a distant memory, as Jurassic World roars in as the new permanent franchise moniker.

While it’s yet to be officially confirmed, the rumor mill has long pointed to Jurassic Park at Islands of Adventure for an upcoming Jurassic World retheme. Reportedly, Universal Parks teetered back and forth on the idea, considering Jurassic World for their upcoming ‘fourth gate’ in Orlando and saving Jurassic Park at IOA. However, Universal has apparently opted NOT to include Jurassic in any capacity within the upcoming new park (barring major last minute changes) and will put their focus on Islands of Adventure for everyone’s dinosaur needs.

This equates a re-theme to Jurassic World – and is backed by new trademarks for ‘Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous‘, the suspected ‘Camp Jurassic‘ rebrand.

Objectively, a ‘Jurassic World’ rebrand isn’t a bad thing (although I find the more adventure infused safari resort look of Park to be more unique, compared to World which reflects Universal’s City Walk) – it makes sense, as it’s the name the current film saga and merchandising all share. While Jurassic Park certainly isn’t unfamiliar to younger fans, World is the more relevant brand identifier at this time. In fact, Universal Studios Beijing is doing some incredible things with the Jurassic World branding – building a replica of Main Street, the Innovation Center, Aviary, and heavily themed innovative roller coaster that will cut through Jurassic themed mountainsides – check out the artwork below!

However, the plans for Islands of Adventure are far more limited – primarily due to the Jurassic Park land being blocked in by the new Harry Potter and Kong sections, both of which took expansion plots originally planned for Jurassic. This limited space has created the inability to create all new Jurassic attractions at the scale of other headlining properties, like those seen within the Wizarding World rides. As such, the roller coaster coming to Islands of Adventure (which has yet to be officially announced) is reportedly not a heavily themed coaster, simply putting the focus on thrills over an authentic dinosaur filled movie based experience.

In fact, you can learn a lot more about the upcoming coaster from theme park enthusiast Alicia Stella within this video!

While that video is a few months old, the information is believed to be accurate – and now work within the park corroborates it, albeit circumstantially.

Essentially, we’re looking at a steel coaster with numerous tight twists and turns to make use of the smaller area it can expand across. Its starting location will see the coaster launching and intersecting itself numerous times before it shoots out in front of the Discover Center, over the lagoon and then eventually loops back again. While the track layout is far more complex, the rough surface area can be observed here:

As stated earlier, the upcoming coasters theming is rumored to be minimal to nonexistent – which is too bad, as it was originally concepted as a coaster that would traverse through mountainsides, with the insides themed to amber mines. That idea could easily be applied to Fallen Kingdom’s volcanic disaster theme, taking inspiration from Disney’s Expedition Everest ride, all while using the current track layout as we’ve roughed together in this mock-up down below:

While these new changes coming to Jurassic Park are exciting as the area itself is in desperate need of a modern makeover and new attractions, it’s hard not to be a little bit disappointed by what’s been reported. I can travel to any park and experience a great roller coaster – but the Universal Parks are the only place that can truly offer a chance to step inside the diverse an exciting Jurassic World, and bring dinosaur thrills to life within state of the art rides, making us believe those animals are alive once again – and ready to eat us if we’re not careful.

If there was room for further expansion, I’d more accepting of a thrill coaster with minimal theming coming to Jurassic – but fans of all ages who love the films, or simply want a authentic adventure alongside prehistoric flora and fauna are sure to be left wanting more if the plans carry forward as is. Fingers crossed this coaster surprises, and infuses itself the state of the art dark ride elements for the ultimate Jurassic experience.

Be sure to stay tuned for all the latest Jurassic news, and as always, sound off in the comments below and let us know what you think about the changes coming to Islands of Adventure!