|
||
|
||
Go to the Spring-Summer News & Notes Page | ||
March 28, 2012 | ||
This new wait time sign has been added near the park entrance | The facade of Despicable Me is really taking shape now | |
With the shingles going on the roof, it looks like it will be done in the next few weeks |
They're doing some work on one section of the facade of Lombards | |
The Jaws shark has been moved to the wharf in San Francisco | ||
The crew is modifying and expanding the deck for Jaws | ||
Many fans will be relieved to see he's been preserved and relocated | ||
Throughout the San Francisco are the boardwalks are getting new decking | ||
All around Lombard's the new decking looks like it could be preparation
for some kind of premium viewing area for the new Lagoon show |
||
More and more water jets are going in around the lagoon for the show | ||
There are just hundreds of these little water jets in place |
The yellow tube appears to be a gas line for a fire effect |
|
With the shark down the fence was moved back out to the edge of the walkway |
The signpost is still standing and speakers have been placed on the back of the fences and they are still playing the Amity music |
The last remaining building from Amity is the Restrooms now that the boathouse is gone |
It still feels very strange to not have the Amity waterfront buildings along the lagoon |
Posted on the gate to the construction area | |
Work is underway on one of the new decks coming to City Walk | The trees along the walkway have more beads on them with each passing week of Mardi Gras | |
March 8, 2012 | ||
They made a little progress on the Despicable Me facade | The windows are now in the Nick store | Over in Amity, all of the buildings that used to line the waterfront side are now gone |
The buildings went away really fast leaving just a little bit of rubble | This sign, the restrooms and the Jaws maintenance building really the only things left standing in Amity | |
The Amity piers are cleared off but something new is in the lagoon... | All around the lagoon the projectors for the water screens have been installed. The digital projector is inside the grey box with a lamp cooling unit in the exterior cage on the back | |
|
||
Easter cookies! | Mardi Gras cookies! | |
Spiderman reopened today with the new digital projectors and animation and had long lines, though there were a few hiccups that closed the ride periodically | The pop jets and sign at Toon Lagoon's entrance are undergoing rehab now | |
This spire on top the clubs is undergoing some rehab | The Hollywood Drive In Golf course is finally open! | |
March 1, 2012 | ||
Still a BIG crater back in the old Jaws basin area | This gives some scale as to how big the dirt piles are and how deep the crater is back there | Not much of the Amity games left at this point either |
This used to be all the games and shops | Just the Nathan's stand still standing | The demolition crews are right up to the walkways at this point |
BIG empty where Jaws used to be | The gas tanks for the Jaws fire effects are still in place | The Nathan's stand is next to go... |
Not much happening at Despicable Me's new facade lately | Not much happening on the outside, but crews were hard at work inside | |
They're painting over at Lombard's | The exterior of Finnegan's is getting some fresh paint | |
New water nozzles in place in the lagoon for the show |
||
The fresh paint looks good | The round screen on the Coke bottle has been covered up | |
The mini golf hasn't opened yet | Everything look like its ready to go | The eyeball hole is awesome! |
It looks like some Universal employees were out testing the course today | ||
February 21, 2012 | ||
Working on the greenhouse props | Some of the last pieces of astroturf are now in place | |
This is from the cage under the giant robots arm | My favorite hole so far | |
The hole names are great | The wheel was spinning today | This is the section with all the spooky trees under the walkway |
It looks like the creature will spit water as golfers pass | The spider webs are a great obstacle | |
This one is near Area 51 | Entrance to the worm's mouth | Entrance to the giant UFO |
This is the one with the tentacles with knife and fork | This hole has the yellow bugs | This is the TV hole |
Entrance to the worm | This is the one with the alien that lifts the plug and drops it back down | The twin UFOs |
The worm looks so cool | Back of Haunting of Ghostly Greens entrance poster | The Aliens From Planet Put entrance sign now has additional layers of graphics to give it more depth |
The first of the "Now Playing" entry signs is in place | The 100 Years celebrations signs are all over Universal Studios | |
The lamp posts are also decked out for Mardi Gras | They're setting up for a telecast in City Walk. | |
Looks like TNT will be anchoring coverage of the NBA All Star Game from here with the lighthouse as a backdrop | Today was Mardi Gras though there was no parade and the French Quarter was closed inside the park | |
This afternoon they were gearing up for the festivities on City Walk...it should be a BIG party night! | ||
February 19, 2012 | ||
The view over the fence in Amity where the Jaws ride buildings are now just a pile of debris. | ||
Nothing visible inside the park at this point with the buildings gone. | From the other side you can see the ride buildings are all gone now. | |
The old kids store has been completely gutted for the Nick transformation that's going on. | Despicable Me is looking better each day. | I think this is part of the setup for Mardi Gras on City Walk this week. |
The new movie poster entries to the mini-golf courses look great! | ||
Construction wall down |
||
Entrance to Haunting of Ghostly Greens side of the course | Entrance to Invaders from Planet Putt side of the course | |
The entire golf course is filled with really fun details | ||
There's now a creature in the "water" around the covered bridge |
With the landscaping and astroturf in place the course looks really good and on track for opening at the end of the month. | |
February 15, 2012 | ||
Most of the debris has been cleared from the old Jaws area and it looks like they'll be working on filling and leveling the area next before they tackle the park-side buildings. | ||
This little building is the last of the back area buildings standing. | Finally they're back to work on the Despicable Me facade. | |
I've never seen the movie, but I assume this is a facade from it that's being added to the soundstage. It's going to look a little odd having a gothic roof sticking out onto the street. | ||
The team is still toiling away on the rigs for the new lagoon show. | There were a bunch of trucks in the streets of New York. | |
They were setup for some kind of filming. | ||
We didn't stick around to see what they were filming but it was good to see them using the Studio as a working studio and utilizing the street sets. | ||
The French Quarter Courtyard area looks great during the day with all the flowers | ||
It really feels like spring | Over at Islands of Adventure, Grinch adult size footie pajamas are available inside the Christmas Shop | |
Flowers in February are one of the things that make Orlando a good place to live (or visit). | These are the two Lost Continent buildings slated for demolition. Both are still open but this is spring break for some people and the Orlando parks are all pretty busy right now, so maybe after that's over they'll be closed, cleared out and torn down. | |
City Walk is getting decked out for Mardi Gras as well. | Over at the Hard Rock Hotel, they're doing some maintenance on the exterior including the tile roof. | The snake now has his stripes |
The hedge maze looks nearly complete | The eyes are fun | The topiary figures are starting to look really good |
A lot of the haunted course seems to be getting the purple astroturf | ||
Painting the details on the coffin | There's a big spiderweb with the spiders under the bridge | Some kind of new wheel going into the cemetery area |
They're setting all the lights | It looks like this may be some kind of water hazard at this hole | Purple astroturf is awesome! |
Lights are now in place on the entrance portals | The aliens look great with their single eyes in place | Little sitting area at the entrance |
It looks like there will be crop circles in the astroturf in the farm area | The colors are really great | |
There's so much humor in every corner of the course | The varieties of plants and sheer number are really impressive | The alternating orange and green astroturf is really effective as a ray coming down from the saucers |
Another of the signs is visible | The entrance to Area 51 | |
Orange astroturf is going inside the flying saucer as well | When the planting fill in it will look really good | From a distance it looks like it's almost done |
February 8, 2012 | ||
Demolition continues in Amity | There's a giant jackhammer breaking up the concrete | The station is still standing... |
There's a hole in this one building like they took something out | There's a construction boom on the lagoon around Amity | |
Some of the games have been setup near the bridge | The crews are working hard on the lagoon show | |
Mardi Gras merchandise is now available in the Universal Studio Store | ||
A reminder as you leave that Mardi Gras is coming | The booth at the stage is setup for Mardi Gras | I'm not sure what aliens have to do with Mardi Gras... |
The stage is getting prepped for the concerts this weekend | Monster Cafe is decorated for Mardi Gras | |
The village is setup for Mardi Gras food and games | Mardi Gras cart setup in the streets of San Francisco | |
Even the kids are is setup for Mardi Gras with the stage and photo areas decorated | ||
Cupcakes at Croissant Moon look really delicious | Spider Man is now closed for the upgrade to the projection systems | |
The new paint is finished on Hard Rock Cafe | More trees are coming to the golf course | Benches are being installed |
More of the AstroTurf has been installed on the hedge maze | With the plants it should look really good | |
The fountain is getting painted | The snake is getting some stripes | A small, shallow pond is going in around the bridge |
This side is just beginning to get the greenery planted | More of the turf going in | |
Looks like neon will be added to the entrance signs | The bright green looks great | It looks like all of the aliens are getting LEDs for their eyes |
With all the plants it's starting to come together | There are air tanks all around the course which I guess are for some kind of animation...can't wait to see! | |
February 3, 2012 | ||
Early in the day (around 10:00 AM) the trees and plants had been cleared
from the island, but the buildings were still standing (if slightly shaky looking) |
||
The actual ride area is torn up, and it looks like they'll be tearing down the loading platform next week. | ||
By late afternoon (around 4:00 PM) the buildings on the island were just piles of junk | ||
There's a lot of debris to be removed including tons of concrete. Just hauling that stuff away will take some time. | ||
Next week looks like doomsday for the rest of Amity. | Not much to see form inside the park, but without the trees on the island you can see to the backstage areas. | Mardi Gras starts next week! |
The Mardi Gras sign is up in the Studios entrance plaza |
||
New Despicable Me pressed penny machine in the rotunda | The park has been decorated for Mardi Gras | |
Many of the streets look like they've been re-surfaced. | Work seems to be going slowly on the Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem facade makeover | Not sure if this stage is part of the Mardi Gras area or something else. |
The new conduit is still floating on the water, and around the lagoon there are random little areas of bubbles coming up through the water like some kind of leak...hope it's not gas! | ||
The conduit leads over to the new control booth which got a coat of paint to make it blend in with the Richter's building. It looks like it's always been there. | ||
The Hollywood Drive In Golf is looking good! | Both entrances have big panels behind them which I would guess will setup the story | |
Cleaning up the debris from construction | The entrance booth | Something new awaiting installation |
Benches at the entrance to the golf course | The entrance to the haunted side of the course | This is the entrance to the alien themed side of the course |
There's now a coffin shaped hole | The haunted side | |
One hole is becoming a hedge maze | The hedge maze with topiary figures behind it. | They were installing AstroTurf all day |
Overview of the haunted side | The topiary figures | |
A sneak peek at the sign at the entrance to the haunted side of the golf course | One of the ghosts waiting to be wired up | Can't wait to see the finished versions |
The snake is called "Haunty Python"! | Lights are in place on the bridge | |
You'll have to putt through a log | The ghosts are now purple | |
The tree section sign | There are now spiders in this tree. | I'm sure the book he's standing on is some version of "To Serve Man" |
The spooky trees | Landscapers have been hard at work | |
The rope lights are ready to be wired up under the spider | The signs look like they'll all be funny | Watering the new plants |
Looks like there'll be a pepper's ghost display inside the TV. | The tentacles with a fork and knife | |
The broken gates at the entrance to the Area 51 building | Rope lights in place and ready for wiring in | Lots of landscaping going on |
Tentacles are everywhere | The flying saucer | New plantings in place along the wall of Bubba Gump's |
Love the eye in the telescope | This cow is being abducted by one of the flying saucers | The monster at the finish of the course |
Working on the wiring | Lots of plants going in | The farm scene |
The first hole to get AstroTurf is the spiders, which got this really
bright green color. I wonder if they'll all be this color, or each course or each hole will be different? |
||
With the landscaping and the turf going in the end is in sight! | ||
January 31, 2012 | ||
Crews are working hard on tearing out all the old Jaws ride area | ||
The boat house is down and all the debris is being hauled off in trucks | ||
Gotta keep the site clean! | Not much to see on the inside yet. | |
Transformation of the store has begun | Blocks and chains for anchoring the show elements | |
all along the edge of the lagoon there's work going on for the new show | ||
The crew appears to be installing conduit throughout the lagoon | ||
It was interesting to see the frames can be folded down onto the barges | ||
Lots of water lines, gas lines, water screens and fireworks mortars going in all over the lagoon area. | It's great to see Monster Cafe open all the time now. | |
The snake looks really good in green | These statues look like their being painted to look like topiaries | |
Finishing the concrete surfaces | The entrance area | The cemetery section |
The robot attack scene it looking really good, with the paint details adding to the overall picture. |
||
The alien scarecrow | One of the tombstones which appears to have a speaker in it. | |
The perimeter fence is going up and looks good. | The flying saucer looks complete | |
January 22, 2012 | ||
The Hollywood Drive In Golf course looks really fun | ||
The props are really fun, and it looks like there will be a lot of great lighting effects | ||
The crews are making great progress each day | ||
Really looking forward to the courses opening in February! | ||
The two courses feature an alien theme and a ghost theme | ||
Hard Rock Cafe is still getting fresh paint | ||
Time for Jurassic Park River Adventure's rehab | ||
Love the Coke Freestyle machines in Lost Continent | ||
The new package pickup area | HUGE new area for Harry Potter merchandise | |
Could this be a hint of things to come? | Amazing model | |
Lots of great new high end merchandise | ||
There is a LOT of great new Harry Potter merchandise in the Islands of Adventure Trading Company! |
||
Still working on the Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem facade | MINIONS! | The rehab walls have moved from the front to Louie's to the other side of the walkway |
Working on the projection/control booth for Universal's Cinematic Spectacular – 100 Years of Movie Memories | ||
All the barges and water screens seem to be in place and more fountains are being added | ||
January 22, 2012 | ||
Work is still going on with the Hollywood Drive In Golf course. More props and scenery are arriving and finishing touches are being made all over. You can clearly see the two separate themed courses with a haunted/ghost course and an alien invasion course. |
||
Hard Rock Cafe is getting some fresh paint | Tribute in the lobby of the Hard Rock Hotel to the late, great Etta James | |
January 19, 2012 | ||
A new prop has arrived | ||
Lots of work on the fiberglass UFO, sealing up the seams |
||
Painting the props | ||
January 18, 2012 | ||
With the off-season, work is
happening all around getting ready for the spring season. The Hollywood Drive In Golf course is looking like it's nearing completion. |
||
New entrance taking shape on Despicable Me | Some refurb at Louie's | Every park should have Dyson Arirblabe dryers! |
The barges are all out in the lagoon now and there are water screen nozzles in between them. |
||
Banners are down in Amity | Fixtures are being removed from all the buildings | Things are looking empty in Amity |
Signs have started coming down from the buildings | ||
Still more signs to come down | New gates in place | |
January 13, 2012 | ||
The golf course is getting more color with each day | ||
The sign is up and looks awesome! |
||
Bugs! | ||
The tentacle was painted and now isn't... | Perfect for these cold days | |
New kiosk on City Walk | ||
Ripsaw Falls is
closed for rehab right now, but should be re-opened shortly |
They were doing some
kind of filming in Islands today... |
|
The old package pick-up area is being remodeled | ||
January 10, 2012 | ||
Signs are going up on the golf course and more props going up. |
||
The barges are going out to the lagoon | Movie posters have added to the Amity blank walls | |
January 4, 2012 | ||
January 3rd was
closing day for Jaws and the Amity area of the park, and the next
morning walls were up from one end of the section to the other. The
walls have closed off everything but the restrooms at the far end (near
the Fear Factor stadium) including the Jaws photo spot. |
||
January 2, 2012 | ||
Lots of work happening all over the golf course | ||
A bunch of new fiberglass props have been installed | ||
Comically large telescope coming out of the observatory | I spy a spider | The tentacle holding the lawn chair is really cool! |
December 12, 2011 | ||
The haunted house looks cool | Very distressed looking cow figure | |
|
||
Lots of working happening on the entrance area building | This creature is looking really neat...can't wait to see the finished product with color | |
Working on the robot | Lots of work going on with the old show barges being reconfigured with rigs and re-sized into rectangles from squares | |
December 7, 2011 | ||
The golf course is looking really neat, with its B-movie themed holes | ||
December 2, 2011 | ||
The haunted house and creature are really starting to take shape | ||
November 15, 2011 | ||
Its starting to look like a creature and a haunted house for the centerpiece of the golf course | ||
November 13, 2011 | ||
There's all kinds of
work going on for the new mini golf course. |
||
November 2, 2011 | ||
A really cool new attraction coming to Universal City Walk with a mini- golf course taking shape on either side of and below the entrance walkways. It sounds like a great addition to the entertainment offerings of City Walk. | ||