“Amity Island had everything. Clear skies. Gentle surf. Warm water. People flocked there every summer. It was the perfect feeding ground.”
For years now, we’ve been building an in-depth library of Lost Legends – full, in-depth, behind-the-scenes entries that tell the complete tales of closed classics and forgotten fan favorites. We’ve set sail for the frozen north on Epcot’s Maelstrom, survived the inner workings of the bloodstream on Body Wars, taken flight on a Journey into Imagination, defied an ancient goddess aboard TOMB RAIDER: The Ride, escaped the darkness of Snow White’s Scary Adventures, explored the history of the haunted Hollywood Tower Hotel that became The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and dozens more.
Every month, our collection grows. But for today’s story, we’re gonna need a bigger boat… We’ll dive deep into the history of Universal Studios Florida’s JAWS, the sensationally terrifying ride that represented the best of Universal’s action, storytelling, and signature special effects. Let’s relive the astounding story of this headlining ride that outlived most of Universal’s classics by exploring its history, riding through its signature scenes, and seeing where it lives on today…
JAWS
Whether it’s a parent, child, or friend, chances are that you’re within one degree of separation from someone whose interest in the beach declined significantly after summer, 1975. That’s because on June 20th, Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (based on the novel of the same name by Peter Benchley) arrived in theaters.
Image: Universal
Sure, Jaws is considered a watershed event in filmmaking. It literally invented the concept of the wide release “summer blockbuster” that’s now industry standard, became the highest grossing film of all time (beaten two years later with another summer blockbuster: Star Wars), and was even selected by the Library of Congress to be preserved forever in the United States National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” But what most people took from their first viewing of the film was an extreme disinterest in swimming.
The film follows the hapless residents of Amity Island, Massachusetts (including Police Chief Brody, shark hunter Quint, and oceanographer Matt Hooper) as they contend with a bloodthirsty 25-foot Great White Shark.
Image: Universal
Though the behind-the-scenes story of the film’s production is a labyrinth of cost overruns, frazzling and waterlogged robotic sharks, and principal photography lasting three times as long as expected, viewers only knew that the unbelievable thriller had to seen to be believed. What’s more, Spielberg’s blown budget and misbehaving sharks limited the shark’s appearances to mere suggestions and dorsal fins – in retrospect, a saving grace that gave the film Hitchcock-like nuance and suspense.
First Sighting
Universal’s Studio in Hollywood had been a movie-making headquarters under the supervision of filmmaking pioneer Carl Laemmle since 1912, introducing a headlining behind-the-scenes studio tour in 1915. This one-of-a-kind tour invited the general public to watch actual films being made, and cost only 25-cents (and 5-cents more for a boxed chicken lunch). Laemmle’s studio tour was axed in 1930, as the advent of sound in motion pictures required closed, quiet sets.
Image: Universal
In the early 1960s, new owners MCA had the good sense to commission a new studio tour, and in 1964 Universal Studios Hollywood was officially re-launched as a theme park open to the public. The new tram-led studio tour included looks at the Studios’ historic movie sets, glimpses of actual in-production features, and even walkthroughs of famed dressing rooms of the stars. Over time, special effects, stunt demonstrations, and staged scenes began to be as much a draw as the actual behind-the-scenes spots.
So after the release of Jaws in 1975, designers acted quickly to place a Jaws scene within the Studio Tour, and by 1976 a robotic shark was terrorizing riders daily. In the simple setup, the tram would drive through a “set” from the Jaws production (actually a recreation of a Martha’s Vineyard village since the movie wasn’t filmed in Hollywood). A fisherman (later a diver) would be floating in the middle of the bay when a dorsal fin would slice through the water in the background. Before a word of warning could be uttered, the fisherman would be gone, pulled beneath the waves with blood rising from the spot where he once sat.
Image: Universal
The tram would then make way for a pier seemingly decades old, touring along the water’s edge as, in the distance, shark bait lines and flotation barrels are dragged into the water. The lines would snag the pier’s foundations, tearing them out from underneath and sending the roadway tilting toward the water just as the great shark himself would leap out, gnashing and rumbling!
Jaws was eventually joined by flash floods, collapsing bridges, parting seas, a close encounter with Norman Bates, and more. Eventually, similarly harrowing encounters with King Kong (1986 – 2008) and an 8.3 magnitude earthquake (1988, from 1974’s Earthquake movie) joined, too.
One thing was clear: The short-but-sweet encounter with the single animatronic was a horrifying hit and quickly became the starring encounter on a tour packed with movie magic. So when Universal Studios decided to build a new movie studio and an accompanying Studio Tour in Florida, it was all-but-assured that Jaws would be a stop on that park’s tour, too. Until…
Movie Wars
Plans for a Universal Studios Florida developed as far back as 1982, and from the start, designers planned to be ambitious. While Universal Studios Hollywood had always been a theme park within a movie studio, in Orlando Universal would build a movie studio within a theme park. Built “from the ground up” rather than the (to that time) 70-year organic growth of their California property, Universal Studios Florida would be their first chance to master-plan a park with guests, traffic flow, and a lineup of rides in mind.
Steven Spielberg himself – who served as the park’s co-founder – lit a fire under the park’s production in 1986 when the concept of a Back to the Future themed simulator ride boosted morale and implied that a Universal Studios in Florida could go head-to-head with Magic Kingdom and the brand-new Epcot. So in 1987, MCA purchased 400 acres of swampland in Orlando to build a movie-themed park centered on an East Coast version of the Tram Tour.
Image: Universal
There was just one problem.
In 1984, Michael Eisner became the new CEO of the Walt Disney Company. No stranger to the world of media, Eisner had been the CEO of Paramount Pictures for the preceding decade. Eisner knew movies. In fact, it was his cinematic history that led to a period of rejuvenation within the Walt Disney Company. In film, the “Disney Renaissance” kicked off with 1989’s The Little Mermaid and continued through Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and many more.
He also brought his filmmaking prowess to Disney’s parks, forging connections with outside intellectual properties (an unthinkable act at the time) to bring new, thrilling, current brands into Disney Parks. The end result was a handful of Lost Legends: the original Star Tours, The ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror to name just a few.
Image: Disney
But Eisner was thinking bigger. At first, his plans called for EPCOT Center to host a Future World pavilion all about filmmaking with a lengthy and informative dark ride through the greatest licensing-accessible scenes in cinematic history. But the plans grew. Eisner and Disney Legend Marty Sklar began to consider the potential for an entire park themed to move making. And Universal’s movement in Florida made it all the more important that Disney launch a preemptive strike. A Disney-branded movie studio park in Florida might ward Universal away. So the path was set.
How could Disney’s decision to rush-order a movie park have been the impetus behind Universal Studios Florida’s lost Jaws attraction? Read on…
Copycat
Image: Disney
Controversially, some insiders say that Eisner’s time at Paramount meant that he knew full well about Universal’s plans for a movie park in Florida, and that he used that insider knowledge to fast track a movie-themed park of his own for Disney. Even though Disney-MGM Studios was announced after Universal Studios Florida was, Disney’s unique legal arrangement (wherein Disney retains governmental control of their own property and can effectively approve its own permits) meant that Disney’s movie park would open a year before Universal’s.
What’s worse, the Disney-MGM Studios park they were building would be a half-day park, built around only two major attractions: the first would be the elaborate dark ride once envisioned for Epcot (a fellow Lost Legend: The Great Movie Ride), and the second would be – you guessed it – a Backstage Studio Tour through the park’s working studio facilities, backstage areas, and staged “catastrophes.” Universal’s own bread-and-butter – its iconic tram tour – had been ripped out from underfoot and repurposed by its competitor.
Image: Disney
Here’s where karma kicks in.
Disney might’ve beat Universal to the punch, but Eisner had intentionally under-built the Disney-MGM Studios, sure that the multi-hour Backlot Studio Tour would be the park’s real draw. But as quickly as it opened, the Studios’ concept sunk. Disney and Universal’s dreams of turning Orlando into a “Hollywood East” were quickly dashed and production never really came to Disney’s studio park. The grand tram tour meant to be the park’s star attraction quickly became a ride worthy of its own Declassified Disaster: The Backstage Studio Tour feature; merely a showcase of vacant and repurposed facilities that would never actually be used for filming anything.
And since Disney had stolen their studio tour idea, Universal Studios Florida would have to change plans. Brilliantly, Universal adapted. The staged elements and encounters that had been mere blips along Hollywood’s grand Studio Tour were instead separated out and re-imagined as full, standalone E-Ticket attractions of their own!
And yes, one of those headlining new rides was JAWS. But it’s probably not the Jaws that you remember…
JAWS: Take 1
Click and expand for a larger view. Image: Universal.
When Universal Studios Florida opened on June 7, 1990, JAWS was one of its must-see attractions alongside Earthquake: The Big One and the headlining new ride that earned its own in-depth entry, Lost Legends: KONGFRONTATION (with all three being extended standalone rides based on Studio Tour scenes). Even if this project was bigger, Universal Planning and Development brought on Ride & Show Engineering Inc. (the designers of the Studio Tour’s Jaws scene) to recreate their magic on a grander scale.
On-board pontoon boats piloted by a live skipper, guests would explore the coves and bays of Amity Island for a number of close encounters with the great white himself. While he was sometimes visible only as a dorsal fin slicing through the surf, the shark was also present a number of times via impressive animatronics. In one particularly unique scene, the shark would burst from the water, physically bite onto the boat, and drag it backwards, rotating the ship 180-degrees.
The explosive finale involved a grenade launcher and a hungry shark, mirroring the finale of the film; the skipper would shoot a grenade into the shark’s mouth just before it submerged to swim under the boat. Once it reached the other side? A bloody burst of water signals the end and a cheering boat returns to dock.
You can see the original version of JAWS in action in this rare point-of-view video filmed as a training reference for the ride’s skippers:
From the start, JAWS was an ambitious ride with some cutting-edge animatronics and sincerely tense moments; a “Disney quality” attraction in terms of detail, effects, and interaction. The problem is, the ride didn’t work.
Industry experts saw the writing on the walls. Disney Legend Bob Gurr (at the time the vice president of the Sequoia Creative design firm) took one look at the plans and passed at making a bid to build. The ambitious ride was determined to rival Disney, and on paper it did. But engineers knew that mixing electricity, hydraulics, animatronics, synchronized audio, boats, and water would require immense expertise and a handful of backup plans.
Allegedly, faulty special effects, frazzled computers, and animatronics that were improperly waterproofed led to almost daily evacuations and extensive breakdowns. The ride limped through its opening summer (a summer marked by sincere hardship given that the park’s other two headliners were disastrously designed, too and the beloved Lost Legend: Back to the Future: The Ride’s opening was delayed a full year) but by August 1990, Jaws had had it. We chronicled the very, very short life of the original ride in its own in-depth feature.
Image: Universal
The ride closed two months after it opened and Universal sued Ride & Show Engineering for improperly designing the ride, citing “poor workmanship.” The then-president of Universal Studios commented on the debacle, saying, “We have suffered tremendously. Ride & Show did not deliver on what they said they could deliver on. In the interim, we had to discover and correct problems at our own expense. I think we have been more than reasonable.” For two years, Universal worked toward re-opening the waterlogged ride, but it was no use.
A New Hope
Image: Kurtis Garbutt, Flickr (license)
After years of being closed, Universal started from scratch. They hired some prominent attraction-engineering firms and designers. Intamin Worldwide (best known as a roller coaster and water ride manufacturer) designed and built an entirely new ride track and control system with ITEC Entertainment, who developed software to control the precisely-timed show.
Oceaneering International, a global leader in deep-sea research equipment, constructed seven brand-new fiberglass and steel sharks. Their engineering skills would be tested, given that each time a shark burst from the surf, it would require 500-horsepower of thrust – about equivalent to the force needed to get a Boeing-737 aircraft off the runway – giving the sharks a thurst speed of 20 feet-per-second.
Image: Matt Schwarz, Blog
An unimaginable undertaking, the 7-acre, 5,000,000 gallon lagoon was rewired with 2,000 miles of electrical wiring and underwater track (for the sharks to “swim”) carrying 12-ton hydraulic lifts (to make them “jump”).
The new engineers and designers determined that two of the ride’s scenes – the “boat biting” scene and the “exploding shark” scene were so impractical, they didn’t even warrant rebuilding. Instead, they’d be replaced by an exploding gas dock and a shark fried by an underwater electrical cable (based on the finale of Jaws 2). They’d also fill in much of the ride’s vast emptiness with new scenery.
Image: Universal
When it’s all said and done, the complete rebuild was said to cost an additional $45 million on top of the original version’s $30 million price tag.
In Spring 1993, Steven Spielberg was on hand with the film’s stars – Roy Scheider and Lorraine Gary – to rededicate and re-open JAWS.
Ready to ride through what guests found on this true classic? Read on…
Welcome to Universal Studios Florida, where you can “Ride the Movies!”… Particularly if you’re into disasters and creature features.
Stepping through the Studio Gates, you’ll be immersed into a world of movie magic. Of course, the truth is that Universal Studios Florida was never a hot set like its Californian sister, but just like Universal’s esteemed movie sets, the “lands” designers constructed for the park could’ve been stand-ins for real life locales. Habitable recreations of New York, Hollywood, and a World’s Fair concealed soundstages with King Kong, the Terminator, and Doc Brown inside, respectively.
The strangest of the park’s themed lands (and perhaps in any Floridian park) would have to be San Francisco/Amity. Seemingly grouped only because they’re both waterfront, the unique recreations of the diametrically opposite West and East coast locales are home to two of the park’s stand-outs: Earthquake – The Big One and JAWS.
Ride The Movie
Here’s the setup. Jaws happened. It was decades ago – back in 1974 – that a 28-foot great white shark terrorized the citizens of Amity Island. Chief Brody, Matt Hooper, and Quint really did put an end to the creature’s reign of terror and, in so doing, became local heroes. So prolific was their victory, it inspired a hit movie by famed filmmaker Steven Spielberg. Problem is, the incident left a sour taste in the mouths of Amity’s annual summer crowds, and tourism has taken a nosedive. However, an ingenious local resident seaman – “Captain Jake” Grundy – has taken to capitalizing on the notoriety and is running tours of the real landmarks around the island that inspired the film!
Image: Universal
Alright, so it’s a little convoluted, and a lot contrived. But let’s be clear: the story we’re sold in line sets us up for something new, and something that doesn’t require much pretense.
And to Universal’s credit, Disney fans deride what are often called “book report” attractions where we simply ride through a scene-by-scene, song-by-song retelling of a story we already know, simply observing it unfold in three minutes instead of the usual 90. Rides like Magic Kingdom’s Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid test fans’ patience for their lack of creativity. No new settings or feelings allowed, these “book report” rides feel like mere summaries of a story we already know. And say what you will about Universal’s storytelling (and the criticism is fair), but JAWS and its peers at Universal Studios Florida will hardly be re-tellings of the story we already know.
So our queue today is inside none other than Captain Jake’s Amity Boat Tours boathouse. In line, we’ll pass real artifacts and costumes from that Spielberg picture based on the real happenings here, including two boats used in the real filming of JAWS 2: The Revenge. Overhead television monitors are tuned to Amity’s WJWS Channel 13 – “The Station that BITES!” – and the local access program, “Hey There, Amity!” It’s catching us up on the 1974 attacks. Among the lineup of local commercials on each commercial break is an advertisement for Captain Jake’s. We’re lucky to have made it before the rush! And just in time, one of Captain Jake’s repurposed pontoon boats arrives, ready to tour us around the island!
Captain Jake’s Amity Boat Tours
Image: Universal
Today, our seafaring sightseeing is all hinging upon our Skipper, a loyal (and low-paid) employee of Captain Jake who’s nothing short of an expert when it comes to Amity’s bays, landmarks, and waterlogged history. “Welcome to Captain Jake’s Amity Boat Tours! We are the best – … and only – scenic cruise on the island. I’ll be your Skipper today when we visit all the spots where, back in the 1974, that bad ole’ shark Jaws devoured all those poor innocent islanders!”
Speaking of which, the Skipper lets us know that he’s armed with some impressive firepower – an army surplus 40 mm grenade launcher – but never fear; a shark hasn’t been spotted in these waterways since the big one back in the ’70s… a very long time ago!
“Base, you’re cleared for departure Amity 6!” Immediately off the dock, we see a few key points of interest portside: the actual homes of Chief Brody and Mayor Larry Vaughn, the real life heroes who would be brought to life in the film by Hollywood’s A-list. From this vantage point, Amity looks like a fairly simple, peaceful village of waterside cottages, beautiful trees, and peaceful docks bobbing in the tide.
Image: Ross Hawkes, Flickr (license)
While the ride’s triumphant musical score presses on, a crackling frequency comes across the boat’s transmitter… It’s Amity-3. “Mayday, mayday! — something’s out there — I don’t know wh– help! — Help!” Only blood curdling screams are left behind as the long strings of a violin echo off…
The Skipper reaches for the radio. “Amity 6 to base, did you copy that transmission?”
“Uh, 10-4, we copy. He can’t be too far away; he was headed back in! We’re picking up his distress signal now. Keep an eye out for him! I’ll call Chief Brody. Base clear.”
Rounding a rocky jetty with a lighthouse atop is our first signal that something is amiss… The steaming remains of Amity 3 – our sister ship – are disappearing beneath the surface, with churning, bubbling water escaping from the wreckage. The last piece of the boat in view is its rear, with a chunk taken clean out…
The Skipper’s speechless for a moment. “Amity-6 to base. Amity-3 is sinking out by the lighthouse. I don’t know what could’ve done with except…”
In the distance ahead off the port side, a grey dorsal fin emerges, slicing through the surf as the ominous, tense, award-winning theme by John Williams signals impending doom. Duh-dun, duh-dun, duh-dun, duh-dun… Just as the menacing figure submerges again, its trajectory intersects with the boat’s path. We feel the boat shift and rock from its tremendous power as it swims beneath us. “He’s under the boat, base! What do we do?!”
“Uh, stay calm!” The voice over the radio warns. “Try the grenade launcher!” Two contradictory strategies, it would seem, but the Skipper reaches for the weapon. The shark’s fin emerges again, this time ahead on the right. The Skipper takes aim and launches, with an explosion of water just short of the shark’s fins. He fires again and again, but the shark has disappeared again into the depths.
Our only possible means of escape? The looming wooden boathouse ahead.
Image: Nick Chandler, Flickr (license)
“Tell Chief Brody we’re going to wait for him inside of the boathouse!” As the heavy wooden doors swing open, a curtain of dense mist escapes. The boat pulls into the shed and stalls as eyes adjust to the foggy darkness and the hardware scattered around. The Skipper illuminates a searchlight to add context to the darkness. “Let’s see… Where can we tie up?” His light scans the shed, highlighting carcasses left bleeding into the water.
The boathouse offers what may be one of the most tense, adrenaline-packed, and purely “fun” moments on any attraction in Orlando as every creak and groan within elicits shrieks from riders. A rowboat suspended on ropes suddenly falls, splashing into the water. A bucket slams to the ground. Suddenly, the walls of the boathouse begin to shake as if the shark is ramming itself against its moorings. A faulty gear-shift leaves the boat stranded in idle water as the Skipper tinkers frantically. The rumbling subsides as daylight begins to eminate from underneath the boathouse dock… almost as if something has made its way in from the lagoon outside…
Just as the Skipper kicks up the engine, the boat bucks to the left by the pure force of the 25-foot great white leaping from the waves, grazing the side of the pontoon boat. In our first face-to-face encounter with the hellish creature of the deep, its gnashing teeth and fabled dead, dark eyes are piercing, even in the darkness. Then, as quickly as it appeared, the unmistakable monster disappears back into the murky water.
The doors out of the boathouse swing open and usher us back into the light. The stunned Skipper fails to notice that we’re headed right toward Bridewell’s Gas Dock, a fueling station with towering tanks of gas. Only Chief Brody’s voice over the radio brings him back to reality as he hastily turns the wheel to steer us away into open water.
“Amity-6, this is Chief Brody! I’m on my way; I’ll be there in 10 minutes!“
“10 minutes?! We’ll be shark-bait in ten minutes! Alright guys,” he grabs the grenade launcher and faces out to the desperate unknown of the bay to our right. I don’t see him… WHERE IS HE?”
Image: Bones 84, Flickr (license)
The shark surfaces just to our left in an explosion of water. The startled Skipper sends off an grenade, launching it well past its target and to the base of the gas tanks. As the shark disappears again, the tank explodes in a massive column of flames. Tanks fly off the dock and fall into the water, upending submerged pipes that guzzle gasoline. The chain reaction ignites the floating gas, encircling the boat in flaming water.
Death by shark or death by fire? We opt for fire as the Skipper guides the boat right through the wall of flames. We make it, and salvation lies directly ahead. With a little manuevering, the Skipper can line us up with a fishing dock ahead on the right. But we’ll need to keep our hands and arms inside the boat for this one, because a high voltage barge is floating just to the left of the docking site.
The shark’s fin breaks the water off in the distance. The Skipper arms himself with the launcher, ready for war. But as the great white makes a final play to have us for dinner, it makes a fatal mistake: its last lunge sees it catch in its mouth a submerged high-voltage electrical wire.
Image: masatsu, Flickr (license)
With one chomp, the shark recoils, sparks erupt from the barge, and the sea is filled with an electrical buzz, blinding steam… and the unsavory sent of charred flesh.
It’s not over till it’s over… But this one’s over. The grizzled, toasted, burnt remains of the menace float to the surface, its lifeless body bobbing. With one final surprise burst of steam, it sinks again, this time for good. “Amity-6, this is Brody! Are you alright?”
“Chief, this is Amity-6. Call off the marines… We are coming home!” As the celebratory streets of Amity come back into view, the Skipper asks for a little help… “If word of this little fish episode leaked out, that’d be it for Captain Jake and all the other businesses around here! So keep it to yourselves. After all, we did get him, didn’t we?!”
As always, we end our Lost Legends entries with the best point-of-view videos to surface. Here’s a look at what it was like to conquer the mighty Jaws at Universal Studios Florida:
A Select Spoof
If it seems at all to you that JAWS is in any small way a take-up on Disney’s own Jungle Cruise, you’d be right. First of all, Universal’s designers intentionally set out to match Disney, knowing that only by truly approaching or meeting Disney’s standards for sets, animatronics, story, and character could they justify a Floridian park at all. “Go big or go home” doesn’t go far enough when you’re a theme park hoping to establish yourself in Orlando, Florida.
And it’s true that Universal – well-versed in their “spoofs” of Disney rides and their often-colorful ribbings of their primary competitor – upped the ante on Disney’s wildlife-gone-too-wild cruise with a more sinister version of their own. JAWS was, in many regards, a spoof of Jungle Cruise, turning the clueless skipper and mysteries of the unseen on its head.
And for Universal fans, JAWS is held in as high a regard as the Jungle Cruise is by Disney fans!
So imagine how Disney fans would feel if the closure of the Jungle Cruise was announced. It would seem unthinkable; unimaginable! And yet, the feeling would be all-too real for Universal Orlando fans. After barely a decade, the first signs emerged that Universal’s surprising shark epic might be sunk… Read on…
The first sign of impending doom came about in January 2005, when Jaws was temporarily shuttered due to the rising cost of petroleum. The surge in fuel prices came at just the wrong time for Orlando’s theme parks, which had suffered tremendously from attendance declines following the terrorist attacks in New York City just over three years earlier. Expensive, low-capacity rides that guzzled fuel (as Jaws did in its boat fleet and special effects) were a liability.
That same December, Jaws re-opened, though Universal was careful to clarify that it was now a seasonal ride that would open only when crowd levels demanded it. The ride, then, was open and closed seasonally until February 2007, when the holiday crowds left, but Jaws didn’t. It would be open full-time again. To celebrate, comedian Ellen Degeneres served as the ride’s Skipper during an on-location filming of her talk show in a must-see clip. (True to form, she asks the shark’s electrocuted corpse, “Are you okay?!”)
Image: Universal
But the writing was on the wall. Industry observers know Universal’s method of operation well… Beginning in the 2000s – a decade after opening, mind you – Universal kicked off an aggressive and continuous systematic revitalization of its parks. The moment an intellectual property becomes obsolete or a better fit emerges, Universal topples rides – even classics! – and fills their Studio park with whatever’s hot.
And the truth is, they’re probably right to do so. By and large, people feel much less of a connection to Universal’s properties (E.T. or King Kong or Back to the Future) than Disney’s, so it’s probably in Universal’s popular best interest to keep their park stocked with “flavor of the week” films, nostalgia be damned. As much as fans might mourn the loss of Hanna-Barbera, wouldn’t you imagine Despicable Me pulls more visitors?
In any case, the unique strategy makes Universal Studios a veritable graveyard of Lost Legends. And Jaws would soon join them…
Magic Comes to Town
Image: Universal
Ever since Universal’s Islands of Adventure next door had opened in 1999, it had been a direct challenge to Disney’s creative dominance. Even if a failed marketing and unclear marketing campaign had sullied the park’s debut (just in time for attendance fall even farther after September 11, 2001), Islands of Adventure proved that Universal – long operators of studio-themed parks packed with soundstages and warehouses – could indeed meet and exceed Disney’s standards.
Port of Entry, Marvel Super Hero Island, Toon Lagoon, Jurassic Park, The Lost Continent, and Seuss Landing.
In June 2010, these detailed, themed islands gained a sister. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened ushering in a new era for Universal and for the theme park industry as a whole.
Image: Universal / Warner Bros.
Whereas most industry experts had expected Comcast to quickly sell off the Parks division they inherited in a 2011 purchase of NBCUniversal, the wild success of the Wizarding World instead compelled Comcast to not only keep the Universal Parks division in their portfolio, but to double (or maybe triple) down on investment in them, acquiring properties, building themed lands, and designing E-Tickets to make Universal Orlando Resort a destination in and of itself, no Disney trip required.
As part of that “magical” growth, the space once home to the Jaws ride would become a second half of Universal’s fabled Wizarding World of Harry Potter which had debuted in June 2011 at Universal’s Islands of Adventure next door. The radical and groundbreaking new land would continue Universal’s growth spurt post-Potter.
Image: Universal / Warner Bros.
On July 15, 2014 – one day after Universal Studios Florida’s 24th birthday – the land once occupied by the village of Amity became a London streetscape. Concealed behind it is the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley, which opened to industry-wide acclaim. Somehow, the glorious themed land seemed to best even the original Hogsmeade next door (a near impossibility given the scope of the snowy village and the towering Hogwarts overhead).
Though the undisputed headliner is Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, the real surprise is the Hogwarts Express. To our knowledge, it’s the only ride anywhere on earth that lets guests travel between two theme parks, as riders step aboard in Kings Cross Station at Universal Studios Florida and disembark in the forested Scottish highlands just outside of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade.
A Shark in the City
While the seaside village of Amity may be a world away from Diagon Alley, designers were careful to include a few fitting tributes into the magical streetscape: in fact, tributes to Jaws are among our favorite “Easter Eggs” of Closed Classics Hidden in the Rides that Replaced Them.
For example, the record store window in London has a number of vinyl records on display, including one particularly interesting one: “Here’s to Swimmin’ with Bow Legged Women” by the Quint Trio. Of course, that’s a line by Quint himself in Jaws.
Image: Sam Howzit, Flickr (license)
An otherworldly brass telescope lofted high in Wiseacre’s Wizarding Equipment is reportedly made from the large brass ship compass once housed in Jaws’ queue, and shark jawbones are on subtle display in the window of Florean Fortescue’s ice cream parlor and the dark shops Knockturn Alley.
Image: Luke Tilley, Flickr (license)
And that’s where one of our favorite Easter Eggs resides. A menagerie of shrunken heads floats in the windows of Knockturn Alley’s Noggin and Bonce. With a wave of your interactive wand, they’ll sing. But not just any song – “Show Me the Way to Go Home,” sung by Brody, Hooper, and Quint in Jaws.
Living On
Even if Universal Studios Florida’s Jaws ride was a victim of progress, there’s good news, too.
First, the Jaws scene on Hollywood’s Studio Tour is still going strong. Even if, today, it’s a rare throwback amongst a tour lineup of increasingly high-tech stunts, it remains a fan favorite.
Image: Ollie Harridge, Flickr (license)
But most reassuringly, in 2001, Universal Studios Japan opened with their own Jaws ride, identical to Florida’s (but developed by MTS Systems Corporation). While the Japanese park has picked up a bit of Florida’s rapid and unapologetic growth strategy (their Back to the Future: The Ride just closed in 2016 to make way for Despicable Me), we can hope that Japanese guests’ rabid enjoyment of the Jaws ride might ensure its continued presence.
Image: Universal / Warner Bros.
That said, we can’t help but notice that the Japanese ride is located exactly adjacent to Japan’s own Wizarding World… an expansion pad that may be too convenient to pass up…
Sunk
Image: Universal
While our Lost Legend series has, until now, stuck mostly to closed Disney classics, there’s no denying that Universal’s own shuttered favorites – while decidedly different than Soarin’, Horizons, the Peoplemover, or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – nonetheless earn in-depth entries to preserve their experiences for future generations. That’s why we’re committed to telling the full must-read stories behind Universal’s closed rides, too.
Now that you’ve blasted through time, don’t forget to relive the cinematic excitement of Universal Studios Florida’s co-starring Lost Legends: Back to the Future – The Ride and KONGFRONTATION, or visit our In-Depth Collections Library for a full list of Lost Legends and more
In the comments below, share with us your thoughts about Jaws. The film scared a generation of Americans out of the water; was this ensuing suspenseful Disney spoof attraction enough to keep you on the edge of your seat? Or was Jaws a ride whose time had come? Whether you’re a fan of the Boy Wizard or not, do you think the Wizarding World was a worthy replacement? Or would Universal be stronger if it stuck to its roots and brought classic cinema to life?
