Officially Open!

In order to catch up with what has been an exciting couple of weeks in the bustling Orlando, I will be going through each park and getting you up to date on what has been happening in the theme park world.

Despicable Me 2012 Attraction: Confirmation

Firstly, we'll begin where we left off - Universal Orlando.


In an announcement on May 19th, we got the big 'surprise' we were all expecting, but yet personally, secretly not hoping for. This was indeed the confirmation of the upcoming 2012 Despicable Me attraction:

"Gru, one of the world’s greatest super-villains, is bringing his high-tech empire – and his three adopted daughters – to Universal Studios, and he is looking for all the help he can get. [...] And that kicks off an unforgettable ride experience that creates a hysterical mix of chaos and family fun." 

So what is this attraction going to be exactly? Amongst all the jargon and hype of the media release, I've picked out the elements we can expect to hopefully see:

"[...]entirely-new, high-tech 3-D digital adventure"

"swept into a first-ever, minion-inspired, interactive dance party where they [the guests] can show off their best moves" 

Despicable Me Going Interactive:
Will the attraction hold up against TSM?

Therefore this suggests we are getting a 3D simulator. With the attraction going into the existing Jimmy Neutron building, I guess we couldn't have expected much more! The use of 'interactive' suggests that this attraction will immerse the guests into the attraction, perhaps this will be an element similar to Toy Story Mania? However, who knows. Rides from their concept to their finished product, often change radically and we can only keep our fingers crossed for an exciting new addition. What this DEFINITELY means, is that Jimmy Neutron is expected to close forever around mid-late August, operating during peak times throughout the summer.

In the same announcement, it was also announced that Spiderman will undergo a few changes in the near future:

"All-new digital animation done in 4K high definition" and "Universal Orlando is adding entirely new details to the film – and leaving it up to guests to find them."

It is unclear when these changes are to take place as projectors are currently being replaced. However, there are rumors that Spiderman could go down at the end of the summertime for these updates.

Over at Disneyworld, Disney's Hollywood Studios has seen the opening of Star Tours 2! In which your ride experience differs each time you ride the attraction, it is unclear how many 'versions' of the ride you can actually experience. Updates on this to follow...