Universal Orlando

It’s been a long, winding road to reach this point regarding Universal Orlando Resort’s seventh (and eighth) on-site hotel. Nearly a year ago, Universal filed paperwork with the city of Orlando, revealing just the bare-bone basics of the new hotel complex; this past November, the company went ahead and made the new property’s existence official, […]

Ever since Netflix jumped headlong into the original-content pool with 2013’s House of Cards, the streamer has managed to produce several high-profile and memorable series. None, however, has managed to top Stranger Things in terms of either cultural impact or creative synthesis – not to mention paranormal creep factor. Part X-Files, part John Carpenter, part […]

When Universal originally decided to establish a presence in Orlando, Florida in the early 1980s, the company settled on essentially duplicating its Universal Studios Hollywood formula: a working film lot as the foundation, with a production tram tour as the main themed element. Such an approach, however, was not meant to be. Disney learned of […]

The ride experience itself might be the heart of an attraction, but the queue just may be its very best part – establishing the tone, laying out the backstory, and building up the anticipation step by expert step, the line is that theme-park element that routinely makes us feel like we’re kids excitedly counting down […]

Last Christmas, Universal gave Harry Potter fans – and theme-park aficionados across the board – a very special gift in the form of a brand-new projection-mapping show called The Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle, which debuted as part of the larger Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter celebration. Transforming the iconic Hogwarts […]

While not necessarily surprising, it’s still terrific to have the news officially confirmed: Voodoo Doughnut, that unique and fast-spreading West Coast start-up, is landing in CityWalk Orlando. We’ve already given you the full run-down on the idiosyncratic chain’s sensibilities and wares, from its wooden-coffin packages to its indie record label – and, of course, its […]

When word arrived in early 2017 that both Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Hollywood would be receiving projection-mapping shows utilizing Hogwarts Castle as their canvas, Floridians were, understandably, confused. Universal Orlando Resort had been the original Harry Potter trailblazer, after all, opening Hogsmeade several years before its counterparts and, even, topping it off with […]

We’ve already run down this year’s big new attractions, ranging from Fast & Furious: Supercharged to Aventura Hotel. It turns out, however, that we didn’t quite know every last item that is set to debut within the next 12-month period – Universal just today teased us all with some big announcements that are hovering on […]

In October, the surprise announcement was made that the Superstar Character Breakfast would be retired the following month and would be replaced with a new, unnamed character dining experience sometime in 2018. What has turned out to be an even bigger surprise, however, is what that replacement is: Marvel. The Marvel Character Dinner will begin […]

On the one hand, designing The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley was a straightforward proposition for Universal Creative: take all the descriptions of the downtown London wizarding location from the novels and all the imagery from the films and use them to assemble a pitch-perfect recreation of a key part of the […]

Everyone has been abuzz about Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and rightfully so – that new holiday program is nothing short of breathtaking, from the new musical performances to what arguably is now the crown jewel of the Wizarding World, the Magic of Christmas at Hogwarts Castle projection-mapping show (you can read […]

We’ve had a few weeks now to check out the new (and absolutely stunning) Christmas decorations at both Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. Now it’s time to sink our festive teeth into the remaining Christmas in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter items that we have yet to experience in one shape, way, or form already […]

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter may have originated in Orlando, but, it turns out, some of the most interesting attractions or experiences tied into J.K. Rowling’s sprawling mythology have existed solely in Universal’s other theme parks – with it being an open question of whether or not they’ll ever get fully realized on Harry’s […]

A week ago today, we entered the hum-drum work week to discover an early yuletide surprise: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade had been decked out for the holidays overnight, getting ready for the first-ever Christmas in The Wizarding World (which starts Saturday, November 18, for all those keeping track at home). Now, […]

When Wet ‘n Wild Orlando, the 1977 water park that Universal eventually purchased to be Universal Orlando Resort’s original aquatic destination, was shut down on December 31, 2016, word had already spread that the 64-acre chunk of land it sat on would be the future home for even more on-site hotels. It wasn’t much later […]

Universal may have originally announced that its Fast & Furious: Supercharged experience would be making the journey from Universal Studios Hollywood over to the East Coast back in August 2015, but it wasn’t until just today that the company blew wide open the ride’s exact contents. Here’s everything we now know, broken down into race-friendly […]

When Universal first announced back in April that its perennially-popular Wizarding World of Harry Potter was, at long last, getting the holiday treatment, we knew that it would be comprised of four different elements, and we knew the first of these was a series of elaborate Christmas decorations. What we didn’t know – what we […]

Universal and parent company Comcast may have been getting a lot of attention for their aggressive, new-attraction-every-year plan here at Universal Orlando Resort, but it turns out that a lot of their ground-breaking projects and technologies are first being debuted over in Universal Studios Japan, the park that the two companies only purchased in full […]

This year’s Halloween Horror Nights may have gotten off to an incredibly slow start in terms of its announcements – we’ve never gone so close to the event’s kickoff without knowing its full slate of attractions, which may or may not point to some problems behind the scenes – but the payoff turns out to […]

Not familiar with Voodoo Doughnut, East Coasters? That’s going to change – and soon. Universal will be bringing the fast-growing mom-and-pop doughnut chain to CityWalk. It’s a good fit – not only is the small company’s quirky sensibilities and funky wares compatible with the likes of The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar (or, even, Bread Box […]

In Universal and parent company Comcast’s never-ceasing effort to upgrade nearly every square inch of Universal Studios Florida, they have leveled an entire swath of older attractions, many of them dating back to the park’s earliest years: Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast, Jaws, Lucy: A Tribute, Twister: Ride It Out, Disaster: A Major Motion Picture Ride […]

After an incredibly slow start, Universal has surged ahead with its Halloween Horror Nights 2017 announcements within the last two weeks, filling in many of the last details that fans have been anxiously waiting to hear for the past few months. Now we have confirmations on the vast majority of the event’s nine haunted houses, […]

This is one of the more interesting announcements Universal has made in relation to Halloween Horror Nights yet: a special Blumhouse mash-up haunted house is on its way. You may not have heard of Blumhouse Productions, the tiny production company behind a surprising number of big-profile movies, but you’ve certainly seen its films: so far […]

Last month, Disney confirmed long-standing rumors that it was interested in instituting its own Uber-like on-demand ride service; called Minnie Vans, the electric vehicles take guests willing to pay the $20-per-ride fee anywhere they want on Walt Disney World Resort property. Not only have the vans already been deployed, their presence has been steadily expanded, […]

The number of ways that Universal Orlando Resort has changed so far this decade is, to put it mildly, mind-boggling; ever since the twin advent of Harry Potter and Comcast (the new corporate owner), attendance has soared, the money spigot has been turned resolutely on, and the developments have been coming fast and heavy. Just […]

After a dearth of information for what has felt like forever, Universal has finally cast open the floodgates and allowed a veritable torrent of Halloween Horror Nights 2017 revelations to come pouring out – just this week alone, we’ve already gotten the next haunted house (that’s Saw: The Games of Jigsaw, but of course) and […]