Universal Orlando

On October 10, 2017, Universal revealed a surprising development: it had quietly pulled the plug on its Cinematic Spectacular: 100 Years of Movie Memories lagoon show. Well, okay – it wasn’t that surprising, as the nighttime spectacular was some time past its premise, having been originally conceived (as the name might suggest) to celebrate Universal […]

‘Tis already the season – Universal is making the first announcements for the biggest annual event it throws, Halloween Horror Nights, and a number of eager, diehard fans are already making their on-site hotel reservations and are getting ready to scoop up their tickets. It’s a magical time. Except for those, perhaps, who will happen […]

A short while ago, we took a very fond and nostalgia-laced trip down memory lane, revisiting Production Central’s original slate of attractions. It’s time to continue our time-traveling adventures, this time focusing on the next stop as we work our way through the Universal Studios Florida of old: New York. The New York backlot, interestingly […]

It’s something of déjà vu for Halloween Horror Nights fans: the anthology film Trick ‘r Treat is arriving as a haunted house this year. Fans will remember the property as the headlining scare zone from last year’s event, which ended up becoming a number of attendees’ surprise star of the show (and which, no doubt, […]

When Universal CityWalk Orlando first started to open at the end of 1998, one restaurant stood out from all the other original venues, quickly establishing itself as the flagship eatery at the nascent dinning/shopping/entertainment complex: Emeril’s Orlando. With such words as “gourmet,” “high energy,” “sophisticated,” and “upscale” being deployed in its official descriptions, and with […]

It may be uncharacteristically early for Universal to do so, but the company has gone ahead and revealed the first original (that is to say, not based on a pre-existent intellectual property) haunted house for this year’s Halloween Horror Nights: Dead Exposure: Patient Zero. While it may be surprising to be getting an original announcement […]

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 […]