Universal Orlando- Changes coming to Wizarding World

Image from Behind The Thrills

Changing coming to Islands of Adventure and Wizarding World of Harry Potter. 

Not saying I'm surprised, but I am sad.

On Monday, Universal Orlando Resort announced that 'Dragon Challenge' or 'Dueling Dragons' would be closing on September 4th to make way for an 'all new attraction within the Wizarding World of Harry Potter'.

We knew it was coming. It's been coming since Universal made the call to no longer have this amazing B&M roller coaster 'duel' as it was intended. Many believe this voided the agreement with the coaster builders which would lead to long-term problems with the ride, as well as other issues with a computer system running it that was never designed to function in. It was a death blow and it was all just a matter of time.

All because people just can't listen to the simple phrase of 'No Loose Objects'. So in September, we're loosing another amazing coaster due to the humans ability to mess things up for everyone.

This leaves a very large question- What is Universal Orlando putting in this rather large footprint?

Universal has given us a few clues-

Image from Universal Orlando

While this isn't a full announcement, we know that Universal WILL be building another coaster in the place of Dragon Challenge. Something with heavy theming which will also be a key part of the Wizarding World.

Stay Tuned- We'll be following this one closely!

Universal Orlando Announces New Water Park, Volcano Bay Opening in 2017!

Tons of news out of Central Florida this week and Universal isn't going to sit back and let everyone else have all the fun. It's been rumored and speculated for a very long time, and finally, Universal Orlando Resort has officially revealed the plans for their first ever water park, Volcano Bay!

This new addition will be located just south of Cabana Bay, and while we're a little light on details, the folks at Universal are promising to redefine the water experience for their guests.

No clue what that means, but the concept art definitely makes a statement, no way around that one! From the looks of it, we have a high speed slide that comes out from somewhere inside the central volcano, a wave pool, a kids area, a few tube slides around the backside of the volcano itself and, if you look closely enough, there's another side inside volcano as well!

According to the announcement, Volcano Bay will feature a little something for everyone throughout it's sprawling tropical theme.

The park will feel as if it is set in picture-perfect tropical islands, formed by a massive volcano – and it will have something for every member of the family. It will feature radically-innovative attractions, peaceful moments of relaxation and an experience that we hope will change the way guests think about water theme parks.

I'm sure that more details will emerge as they've already broken ground on the park and we've got a long way to go until that 2017 opening date.

So, stay tuned right here for more info out of Universal Orlando and their newest addition, Volcano Bay. Also, don't forget to follow along with us on Twitter, Google+, Tumblr and Facebook for all the latest as well!

Universal Orlando Raises Ticket Prices

It's that time of year and it seems that once Disney raises their prices in Central Florida, everyone else follows suit not too long after. It happens ever year and that means Universal Orlando has announced their new pricing changes as well.

Again, it's not a surprise at all, but it's interesting to not that both parks are now over $100 mark. One has to wonder just how much higher they can go before they end up pricing people out or getting a bad reaction.

So, if you're heading to Universal Orlando and haven't bought your tickets, here's what you can expect to pay with the new rates:

One day - One park ticket: $102 (up $6) for adults and $97 for children (up $7).
One Day - 2park ticket:  $147 for adults (up $11) and $142 for children (up $12)

Right now the park is advertising buy 2 days, get the 3rd free, so at least that can help mitigate some of the cost a little as it drops the daily cost down quite a bit with that extra time tacked on. Though, if they keep this up, it'll make more sense to just buy a season pass if you plan to be at the park for any length of time.

Islands of Adventure- Skull Island/Kong 360 Construction Update

Image from Jake's Adventures

 Well Folks, Construction at Islands of Adventure has been getting crazy lately.

 Kong 360/Skull Island has gone vertical in a big way, the building is massive! It looks almost like some of the multi-level designs which we saw during the construction of Transformers over at Universal Studios.

 While there is still no official announcement from Universal Orlando on just what this new attraction will be, it's getting easier to guess. From the size and shape of the building, we're surely looking at King Kong 360 if some of the outside 'decorations' which are starting to take shape. They seem to match exactly those found out in Universal Studios Hollywood.

Image from Jake's Adventures

 Either way, it's nice to things moving along so quickly.Exterior Walls are going up and inside construction appears to be moving at a steady pace.

 Hopefully we'll all be hearing some kind of announcement from Universal Orlando here in the next coming weeks!

*UPDATE* Universal Orlando's Diagon Alley Opening Day Revealed - or Maybe Not

The wait is over as we finally have a confirmed opening date for Universal Orlando's massive Wizarding World Expansion, Diagon Alley.

I'm not quite sure who spotted it (though seem to be Parkscope and Orlando United) out there, but an official Universal website has the date listed. Diagon Alley will be opening to the public on June 30th, 2014.

Yeah, that's less than a month away here. Why there wasn't a bigger announcement, I can't say but in just 17 days they'll be opening their newest crown jewel for all to experience.

You can check out the full teaser for the event right here. While this isn't an official announcement, it's hard to disprove this one, so I'm pretty sure it's safe to say this is the date at this point.

UPDATE: Seems the folks at Universal are denying this leak is real. However, the link above to the animation is hosted on Universal web servers and I doubt they'd go through all that trouble and have the wrong date on it. But here's the official word:

I'm calling BS on that, but that's just me. We'll have to see just what they have to say in the next week or so. 

While we won't be there for the opening, we're hoping to get down later in the fall to see everything that Universal has put together for this one first hand! Stay tuned for more updates as we get 'em!