Right now at Islands of Adventure all eyes are on the new Wizarding World dark ride, which has been under construction for over a year, but about which precious little is actually known. However, it looks like while we’ve all been focused on The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, it looks like Universal has quietly been developing another corner of Islands of Adventure for a new attraction that was just confirmed…
New Jurassic Park roller coaster confirmed to be coming soon by local news
Image: Universal/ Legendary
Earlier this week, eagle-eyed park-goers noticed that some of the carnival games and vendor kiosks around the Jurassic Park area of the park were removed, and construction walls went up around a portion of the old Triceratops Encounter area. And though this could have just been part of a cleaning, maintenance or refurbishment effort, local ABC affiliate news station WFTV has obtained a document that shows a roller coaster track layout for the exact area that was walled off, including a queue area near the Discovery Center area of this land.
Interestingly, these new developments also match details found in a demolition permit filed with the city of Orlando last May for “Project 791” for a 1.36-acre area. of the park. Like all permits, this one is pretty vague, but it does specify that a new attraction is planned for the area, with demolition and construction taking approximately 1 1/2 years.
Image: Universal/ Legendary
Though we definitely weren’t expecting this attraction to be confirmed today, Universal has been hinting about something being announced regarding this part of Islands of Adventure for several days now, tweeting last week about something “exciting” happening soon and a picture of a Dinosaur busting out of the World Record Egg just a few days ago.
Impact to existing Jurassic Park area will be minimal
Image: Universal Orlando Resort
While details are sparse about this new attraction, the good news is that it doesn’t look like any current attractions will be sacrificed to build this roller coaster, which, according to a mock-up created by WFTV (that you can see here) will largely fly over developed areas of the Jurassic Park area. In fact, the only attraction areas that seem like they will be affected by construction will be the former Triceratops Encounter (which has long-been closed) as well as the Raptor Encounter (which could easily be moved). This is definitely good news, as many of Universal’s newest attractions have required the shutdown of older attractions, so it’s nice to see Universal building something in an unused area of the park that won’t have any big impact on current rides.
Could this be the beginning of a soft switch to a “Jurassic World” theme for this new area?
Image: Universal Studios Hollywood
Though Jurassic Park is its own giant franchise, many have wondered if Universal might try and bring this land into the 21st century by re-theming this land as “Jurassic World” after the latest series of movies. This move wouldn’t be without precedent, as Jurassic World is coming to Universal Studios Hollywood later in 2019 as their version of the Jurassic Park water ride is re-themed to Jurassic World. We don’t quite know what changes are being made to this attraction to make it more relevant to the newer series of movies, but considering this re-themed ride is supposed to open later this year, we should know more soon.
And while Islands of Adventure has not announced any changes for their version of the Jurassic Park ride just yet, the addition of this roller coaster in 1-2 years could make room for them to eventually re-theme their version of this ride, just in time for a soft transformation from Jurassic Park into Jurassic World.
Though there is still plenty we do not know about this new Jurassic Park roller coaster, at least it has been confirmed that Universal is officially proceeding with development on this attraction. Hopefully we will learn more about their official plans for this area (including a possible soft transition into Jurassic World) in the very near future as construction begins to ramp up on this brand new project!
