Escape from Gringotts...

I wonder how many rides at Universal are left from opening day. Any? E.T.?

I thought Jaws was just awful. I think I went on it twice, and the first time was definitely more suspenseful than the last. And (maybe) it wasn't the ride's fault, it was just that I'd already been there.

In the end the only thing that Jaws was eating was prime real estate.

One year many years ago we went to HHN and they had Jaws "spruced up" for the event. Scare-actors running around screaming about the shark, bloodied with torn clothes. The water was blood red, the boathouse was WELL decorated and actors were stationed there desperately trying to keep from being eaten.

I had never cared much for Jaws before....but after that, it was a total let-down to ride without the extra theming. I mildly complain about the "bug room" on Mummy having lost a significant element...but Jaws without the Halloween theming just was an incomplete attraction. IMO.

I'm just bummed because hubby and I were going to renew our vows for our 10 year anniversary at Universal, with the ceremony taking place when Jaws popped out of the water. ;)

As best I can determine, E.T. is the only remaining opening day attraction. I've never seen the movie, never ridden the ride, and happy to stay that way.

The movie is easily an American classic, one of the best films ever. I was surprised to watch it in the last year or two and see how well it holds up after all of this time. The ride is kind of neat. My then not-quite-2-year-old was able to ride it.

The horror makeup show is still running, isn't it? That was original, maybe. Disaster is mostly an original as well, even with the different name. I don't remember if the Terminator thing opened with the park or not.

Never saw E.T.? It's one of the greatest movies ever made.

When the movie came out, there was no social media, and not many multiplexes where I lived.

Frankly, by the time the movie reached a theatre close enough to the tiny town I lived in that I could go see it, I was so sick of seeing E.T. on merchandise at K-Mart and Meijer that I had no interest in actually seeing the movie.

And, to my old, gay mind, great movies have Bette Davis or Joan Crawford in them.

The Horror Make Up show had a few things changed from opening, but the basic idea is still the same. That, Disaster and ET are the only opening day attractions remaining.

Did anyone here ever see a video of the original Jaws attraction? The one that barely ran for 3 months in 1990 before being mothballed and rebuilt into the current version? The sharks looked... cartoonish, there was only one set and the ending was different. Instead of the gas dock explosion, the shark bit the boat and dragged it around. Here is a good youtube video:

The ride was rebuilt in 1992 and reopened in 1993, where it ran with no further issues until 2012. An exact clone still operate at Universal Studios Japan, along with Backdraft and Back to the Future.

Terminator 2 3-D was 1996 and was the last new attraction for a while that did not replace an original one.

I only ride Jaws once, during our only visit to Universal Orlando in 2007. I thought it was a lot of fun but I could see how it would get old if you ride it time and time again. Did anyone else notice in that video they pass the boat named Orca? That was Quint's boat that they set out in to destroy the shark in the original movie... It should be on the bottom of the sea!

slithernoggin said:

And, to my old, gay mind, great movies have Bette Davis or Joan Crawford in them.

And, to my old, gay mind, theres one great movie that has both.

Oh, Blanche, ya know we got rats in the cellar?

I did Jaws in, I think, July 1990, shortly after the park opened. I don't remember it being all that different except for the bloody explosion at the end.

I happened to have scored a lap on King Kong as well. That was an epic ride, and really amazing. I love The Mummy, but wow was King Kong interesting. The banana breath amused me.

Kong was amazing.

Mummy, I was underwhelmed. By the time I had the chance to ride it, I'd read so many glowing accounts of the ride online, it probably wasn't possible for the ride to live up to what I'd read.

I remember doing Kong when I was 3 or 4 years old. I was terrified. It'll be interesting to see if the new King Kong ride will be anything like the old one.