Team Tiki's Five Year Plan
2017: Seussville and Geisel Park
This brand new land at Universal Studio Hollywood will be located at the edge of the upper lot next to Minion Mayhem. This will be one of the most comprehensive areas in the park and will feature three distinct areas..."Mulberry Street" which is themed to the iconic Seuss book and will play host to the wacky suburban house in which the Cat in the Hat dark ride takes place; Geisel Park in which guests can find a relaxed yet still zany atmosphere complete with several calm family flat rides, and WhoVille which is home to the Mount Crumpet Bobsleds...the tentpole "E Ticket" of this new expansion.
Located in the Whoville subsection at the back of Seussville, this mountain is the home of the Grinch! This actually a spoof of Disneyland's Matterhorn, complete with bad Swiss music and even worse yodeling heard as you approach the mountain. Also, if you look really hard, you can see Whos scaling the mountain. The queue takes you through Whoville en route to the mountain, similar to Expedition Everest, which similarly takes you through structures en route to the mountain.
Once at the load area, you climb into a ramshackle bobsled for a thrilling trip through the Grinch's lair.
The ride starts with the Grinch on his way down into Whoville to steal Christmas as you climb up the mountain. As you climb the lift hill, you spot some of the monsters from the Grinch's Paraphernalia Wagon (from "Halloween Is Grinch Night"):
Once at the top of the lift hill, you go through the ride where the Grinch makes ready to go down to Whoville to steal Christmas. Along the way, you get some views of his lair/blueprints for evil inventions, plans etc., including at least one or two shout-outs to "The Grinch Grinches the Cat In the Hat". And, in a further parody of the Matterhorn, the Grinch substitutes for the Abominable Snowman, trying to scare you off. At another point, another parody of the Matterhorn is spotted during the ride: the Grinch's crashed sleigh substituting for the Wells Expedition gear.
For the climax, you reach the very top of the mountain, where you again meet up with the Grinch as he's having his "heart grew three sizes" moment, complete with a physical heart monitor, like so:
As that happens, the Grinch, with "the strength of ten Grinches, plus two", lifts his sleigh in the air in a climactic moment...
...after which you speed down the mountain and join him in Whoville for the finale, involving the Whos' feast, where "he... HE HIMSELF...! The Grinch carved the roast beast!"
At the end of Mulberry Street is the house of the kids from "The Cat In the Hat". This is where the Cat In the Hat ride will take place, not in a tent adorned with a giant hat, as in Florida.
Also located at the end of Mulberry Street are
Sylvester McMonkey McBean's Very Unusual Driving Machines. You ride in silly, Seussian cars for a crazy car ride through the world of Dr. Seuss. At one point, you travel across the highway that passes over the two Zax who are left standing unbudged in their tracks. At another point, you drive onto a tree branch which is also holding up the car from "Green Eggs and Ham" ("You may like them. You will see. You may like them in a tree!" and "I would not, could not in a tree. Not in a car! You let me be.").
Being as it is themed to a character from "The Sneetches", you also travel through the wacky Star-On and -Off machines, similar to the Sneetches cartoon (sample of the Star-Off machine can be found here, from 7:53 to 8:36):
The climax of the ride takes you into space, along the Hoober-Bloob Highway. A sample of this can be found in the commercial below (starting at 0:30):
Geisel Park will have iconic trees such as truffulas (from "The Lorax") and zinniga-zannigas (from "The Rabbit, the Bear and the Zinniga-Zanniga"). For those of you who don't know about that story, it can be found in a newer book called "The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories". Here's the story for that:
Here's a brief rundown of Seussville,, plus a few new additions, to make the area more complete:
ATTRACTIONS:
- Caro-Seuss-el: Located in Geisel Park, this is a double-decker carousel with a twist - the animals are all Seussian animals.
- The Cat In The Hat: Located at the end of Mulberry Street, a dark ride through the story of "The Cat In The Hat".
- Horton's Elephant Birds: Located in the Seussville park, in this Dumbo-type flying attraction, ride in giant elephant birds from "Horton Hatches the Egg".
- Mount Crumpet Bobsleds: Located in the Whoville subsection, travel on ramshackle bobsleds through the Grinch's mountain lair, but watch out for the Grinch!
- Sylvester McMonkey McBean's Very Unusual Driving Machines: Located on Mulberry Street, a racing ride along the roads and highways of Dr. Seuss, through the Star-On and Star-Off Machines and culminating in a race in the stratosphere, along the Hoober-Bloob Highway.
- Tweetle Beetle Paddle Battle: Located in the Seussville park, based on arguably the most iconic part of "Fox In Socks", spin about in giant Tweetle Beetles, but be careful - they wield giant paddles and know how to use them! (Don't worry, they miss!)
- The Wocket In My Pocket Fun House: Located at the end of Mulberry Street, a fun house themed to "There's a Wocket In My Pocket".
DINING (all located on Mulberry Street, except for some themed snack stands in the Seussville park):
- Casa Casatta: The restaurant from "The Grinch Grinches the Cat In the Hat" comes to life.
- Sam-I-Am's: A fast food spot that serves - you guessed it! - Green Eggs and Ham.
- Hop On Pop Ice Cream Shop: An ice cream parlor and soda fountain.
SHOPPING:
- Mulberry Street Emporium: The biggest store in Seussville, located at the start of Mulberry Street, obviously, selling all manner of merchandise from the world of Dr. Seuss.
- Cats 'n' Hats 'n' Things: A clothing store themed to "The Cat In The Hat".
- Whoville Mercantile: Located in the Whoville subsection, after your ride on the Mount Crumpet Bobselds. One whole section of the store sells Christmas items - ornaments, stockings, toys and more, all with a Seussian twist.
While this new land does have some similarities with Florida's Seuss Landing (such as the Caro-Seuss-el and the Cat In the Hat ride), but much of this land is quite different and unique!
2018: Jurassic World Lower Lot Expansion
In the second year of our massive universal expansion we will be opening up a major new land to coincide with the release of Jurassic World 2. This new land will give you a more immersive feel that the old ride could never have done.
As you descend from the escalator you will be greeted by the above gate welcoming you to the new land. Crossing through the gate on the left side of the land you will see that during the expansion the mummy ride has been demolished. In its place rises the Jurassic World Welcome center.
As you enter the new welcome center you will see the front half is really a replica of the movie. Where we have the holograph dinosaurs as well as a lot of information about dinosaurs with a video by of course Mr. DNA welcoming you. Of course we also have the Jurassic World gift shop so we can sell all of the new merchandise come out with the new film. However what changes this from the actual center is that the rear of the building with be our new restaurant which or course will be serving lamb chops. I wanted this eatery to have different rooms so that each time you come could be a different experience. The first room will be a homage to the which will have the dinosaurs painted on the wall and look as just like any other restaurant. The next room will be that of the cryolabs and the final room will be the control center of the new film. All of the servers will be dressed in lab coats and make them look like the scientists from the film. Below are some pictures of the new rooms of the eatery.
Room 1:
Room 2 and 3: Cyro Labs
Room 4: Control Center
Attractions:
Jurassic World River Adventure:
The original attraction will get a major overhaul as well as some new construction and scenes to really bring the story to life. Some elements will remain others will be taken out completely and we will open with a whole new experience. The story begins as you will be going on one of Jurassic Worlds newest attraction. You enter through a more lush queue as though you are walking through the jungles of costa rica. You will get on boats which will be repainted to reflect the new theme of the land. Bryce Dallas Howard will be your guide and doing the voice over work during the attraction.
You will go up the the first lift to the first scene that will get a major upgrade. All the dinosaurs will be taken out an replaced with stay of the art dinosaurs that could almost pass for being real. Next you will hear the voice of Bryce telling you that you be passing there newest attraction the Indominus Rex. As you pass the paddock the Rex will charge out and appear to start charging at your boat. This will cause your boat to crash through a new gate and throw you off course. As you get through the gate you will get whooshed up the hill.
This is a complete redesign as the hill will be moved over to where the boat where the floating Mickey ears were. There will no longer be a building look to it but more of the jungle feel. Now you go up the new hill upon arriving at the top you will see the crushed gryosphere and then you pass the military van. Just as it seems to quit the Rex pops out on the side on the jungle and comes almost close enough to touch the boat and your boat goes down the Waterfall just like in the film this is also where you picture will get taken.
Once at the bottom you see the river goes through this old looking building. As you enter you will see that this is the old welcome center of the original Jurassic Park. You will come face to face with the I. Rex one last time. As you leave the building you hear Bryce come over the speaker telling you they found a path here to get you back on track. You go through another gate where as you head to the exit you pass a few more of the new dinosaurs. As you exit you hear Bryce telling you not to worry they have everything under control and enjoy the rest of Jurassic World.
So you see that we will be keeping some of the original scenes but there will be some major reconstruction of the ride for the new scenes and the old scenes will get major upgrades. So it will feel like a completely new attraction.
Below are some pictures of the last scene of the old welcome center:
Our final two attractions for this land will be going to the back of the river adventure and to the side of the Terminator attraction this is a new piece of land that will be expanding the park as well. This will give this corner a little more for guests to do.
Jurassic Petting Zoo:
In between the new indoor coaster and the river adventure we will be having a small area for the kids. Here they will be able to pet dinos as well as ride a few like above. This will be all new state or the art animatronics that will have the kids believing that the actually saw a dinosaur.
Gyrosphere coaster:
Also
getting added and is the final piece to our Jurassic World land will be the Gyrosphere coaster. This ride will focus more on the newer films and will be able to adjust depending on the future of the series. Since we are taking out the new 3-d Kong in the studio tour I thought the technology would greatly help in this ride.
The queue will be set up like the one in the film where it is outside and you our one the plain of the area. There will be five gyrospheres connected together so 10 people can get on the coaster at one time. You will put on you 3-D glasses and just like in the film you tour guide will be that of Chris Pratt. You will enter the ride building and the screens will already be playing the great valley area where you see the herbivore dinosaurs. Everything seems to be going well the dinosaurs are walking so close and even over your. You then hear Prat say something is wrong the invisible force field is down. This is where the coaster takes on the more thrilling aspect. As your cars get hit by clubtails you spin out of control when you finally see where you are at your cars smash through the glass the aviary. He they flying dinosaurs start to attack to Pratt takes controls from the booth. He is able to get you out of there but you are so far off course he thinks that he has found the road but you end up right in front of the water arena where the Mosasaurus jumps up and tries to get at you. Pratt is finally able to get you back in control and you got down a steep drop back to the valley where you finish up the ride before docking back at the end.
The Park is Open 2018
2019: Overhauled Studio Tour
Part of Universal Hollywood's 5 year expansion will be an update to the world famous studio tour.
The queue will be themed to something like a Universal museum. It features many props from movies not in the tour. These include some of the classic Universal Monsters, Despicable Me, Ted, Gladiator, Apollo 13, and 2 whole sections dedicated to the Fast and the Furious, and Jurassic park franchises.
There are many new additions to the studio tour that optimize the experience and build upon the rich history of Universal Studios. Some of these additions include:
- New pyrotechnics to the Jaws scene, as well as a new audio animtronic Jaws that strikes fear into guests,and even inches up to the tour trams!
- An upgrade to the classic Bates Motel features a shadow of Norma in a window, as well as shrieks and the faint sound of running water in a room. These additions add a new immersive element to this scene in the tram tour.
- The Mummy set gets some new updates, as well as some new lighting effects. These updates are basic, but still add a new immersion since the Mummy ride will be removed.
- The Earthquake set will be replaced with a much more iconic one... E.T.! The new set is themed to the final half of the movie. Like the classic bike chase, the trams make many run-ins with cop cars through the neighborhood. Overhead is a projection of the moon with the iconic scene with E.T. and Elliot flying on the bike. The set ends with a spaceship, and E.T. saying goodbye.
And finally...
- The speed tunnel for new attractions has been scrapped in favor of one of the most iconic Universal franchises... King Kong! Much like the classic Kong soundstage that burned down over a decade ago this set is themed to a city being wrecked by Kong. At the end, Kong rampages and grabs the tram complete with much more realistic simulated movement in the return of this beloved character!
2020: Hogwarts Express and Diagon Alley
Due to the limited space at Universal Studios Hollywood, a full blown second park complete with an expansion to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is simply out of the question. With that said, we at Team Tiki still wanted to give Hollywood guests a taste of the more complete experience over at Orlando that includes the famous Hogwarts Express as a legit mode of transportation outside the main park to a new Potter themed land.
With that in mind, we decided to open up a full blown Diagon Alley expansion to Universal CityWalk. Expanded back from the far end of the shopping/dining complex and using Kings Cross as a transitioning point, Diagon Alley will recreate all the same shops and dining experiences guests can find at the Universal Orlando counterpart including Weasley's Wizard Wheezes joke shop and Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour.
While it would be a logistical nightmare to put a full blown E Ticket attraction into a CityWalk, guests of this Diagon Alley can still get a tour of the world famous Gringotts Bank. Every hour a tour guide will take groups of guests down into the vaults of the bank, complete with a more elaborate and spread out version of the Escape From Gringotts queue (including the impressive elevator effect) as well as an extended walk through tour of the Gringotts mine with an AA dragon waiting for you at the end. Speaking of dragons, the one famously perched on the Gringotts building in Orlando will be recreated for this Diagon Alley...only this time the dragon will come complete with realistic wing, neck, and mouth movements as well as sound effects of roars and the familiar pyrotechnic fire breath.
While this expansion isn't quiet as grand scale as the Orlando counterpart, we hope it's a good substitute considering the limited space in Hollywood, and makes the Potter experience more complete. We'd also like to encourage potential Imagineers looking to expand the Potter land inside the park to take queues from other parts of the Potter lore so that the need for an Escape from Gringotts clone doesn't exist.
2021: The Return of Back to the Future
For the final phase of our five year plan we decided to create a brand new E Ticket attraction out of the much loved and missed Back to the Future franchise. As time has gone on since the original ride's closure the fanbase around the original trilogy has only grown stronger and stronger (plus, current Adult Swim show "Rick and Morty" has brought a new attention to the characters by presented a twisted parody of Doc and Marty's relationship...) While it'd be impossible to revert The Simpsons back into Doc Brown Labs due to the Springfield expansion, we figured the franchise needed something bigger and better in the first place.
With that in mind we set our sites on the Water World stadium as well as some surrounding area. While Water World has been a shockingly popular show for many years in spite of the turkey of a movie it's based on, we all agreed that most people would take a new Back to the Future ride over a decades old show based on a forgotten movie any day of the week. Using all new technology which combines projection mapping with Peter Pan's Flight style model fly-overs, and a brand new inverted Enhanced Motion Vehicle to simulate the bumpy flight of the DeLoreon, were please to present our trip back...To the Future!
Upon getting in line for the new Back to the Future: The Ride!, guests see the facade is a replica of Doc Brown's house from the first movie. Once guests enter the house, they go through a museum dedicated to Doc Brown's life and inventions. In the living room is an AA Einstein fast asleep on the couch.
Down the stairs they go into a secret garage filled with dozens of makeshift time machines, among them the famous DeLorean, the train from the third movie, a vessel with a resemblance to a Chinese junk, and a gyrocopter with a flux capacitor. It is here that the pre-show begins.
On the overhead monitors, a found-footage-type video plays explaining how the Institute of Future Technology went bankrupt, so Doc Brown had to fund future time travel adventures himself and move the essential facilities to his home. The video is buzzed out, and the frizzy black-and-white screen from older TVs are seen.
The screens go back to normal, but we see Biff telling us how he discovered the garage, and is "takin' a little joyride" with one of the DeLoreans. It's now up to us to stop him. Each ride vehicle is a mix of an inverted coaster with slow sections that let you take in the scenery Peter Pan's Flight-style. They accelerate during the more thrilling scenes.
Some of the scenes are as follows:
-A chase scene through futuristic Hill Valley including the floating freeway and the 3D Jaws projection. And AAs on hoverboards...Mix of practical effects and projections (for the cars on the highway...). On the ride vehicles, the date will be shown as 30 years from the present. So, if you were to ride in 2019, the date would be shown as 2049.
-The alternate 1985 Hill Valley in a large room with a giant model of Biff's Casino. Below are AAs gambling at poker tables, slot machines, and the like. In one corner a Vegas-style cabaret is being performed. Sure enough, at the casino's front entrance, Biff's henchmen are kicking someone out "the hard way". This could be done Peter Pan's Flight-style.
-1955 Hill Valley, Enchantment Under the Sea dance. Lots of AAs dancing about, giving a similar visual to the ballroom scene in the Haunted Mansion. Clearly visible "future Marty" is sneaking around as current Marty is playing guitar on stage. If you look closely, you can see Doc Brown freaking out through a window.
-Another chase scene in 1955, ending in a collision with Biff's car and a manure truck in a freeway tunnel. Biff can be heard screaming, "I hate manure!"
-Wild West Hill Valley. Another Peter Pan's Flight style overview of a model, this scene depicts the night festival from the third movie. As the western version of "Double Back" is heard, Buford's gang can be seen causing trouble. Ride ends with the DeLorean Train taking us back to the present.
And with that we conclude our five year expansion plan for Universal Studios Hollywood. While the park might still have a long way to go and might never really feel like a full blown all day theme park like its Florida counterpart due to the naturally cumbersome layout, we hope these expansions go a long way towards making USH a true destination in its own right.
