Earthquake & USF

After the article in the Orlando Sentinel about Earthquake "closing" and becoming "Disaster! A Major Motion Picture Ride . . . Starring You." and it got me thinking about Universal Studios Florida and it's high turnover rate of attractions.

For a park that isn't very old (17 years) Universal Studios Florida sure has a lot of extinct attractions: back to the future, funtastic world of hanna barbera, kongfrontation, albert hitchcock, Ghostbusters show.

In comparison Disney's MGM/Hollywood Studios is one year older and only former attractions are stage shows like: Who wants to be a millionare PLAY IT, and the fun Superstar Television.

Was this poor park planning by universal, i mean there are very few opening day attractions still around at that park. Could it be that "Ride The Movies" only works for a period of time when that movie is relevant?

Then my attenion went to two of the parks remaining "old" attractions in E.T. and JAWS. In ET you have an excellent dark ride whimsical adventure, but it is based on a movie that isn't exactly relevant to the family market nowadays. The ride also is set in a large wharehouse which would be easy to gut and replace with a new family ride based on something kids nowadays actually know. And you have to think if they got rid of E.T. in california, it is probably on its way out in florida at some point. Then there is JAWS a large water ride adventure, but the effects are WAY outdated and impress no one. JAWS is a better license then E.T. but i think the ride is in worse shape as far as entertaining the audience goes. I do think JAWS has more of a future in the park for the reason alone that taking out the lake it sits in would be incredibly expensive. Now over at disneyland the jungle cruise started life as a serious educational experiance, but now is famous for its bad jokes and making fun of itself, i think if JAWS wants to stay for the long haul it should make a similar transition.

Now, Could this "plussing" of the Earthquake attraction at universal possibly be a response to disney "plussing" some of its older attractions such as: Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Small World, and currently Spaceship Earth.