September 8, 2014 – The summer season has finally come to a close as Universal begins preparing for this year’s Halloween Horror Nights event.
Construction continues to thrive at Universal with additional walls popping up this week. With the closure of Flintstone’s Bar-B-Q and Louie’s renovation, the Upper Lot has become even more congested. From the Wizarding World of Harry Potter to Fast and Furious: Supercharged, construction crews are working around the clock.
So without further ado, let’s begin our journey.
» Lankershim Boulevard
» Parking Lot Expansion
» The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
» Fast and Furious: Supercharged
» Springfield
» Halloween Horror Nights Construction
» Transformers Meet and Greet / NBCUniversal Experience
» Shrek 4D Construction
As we start our tour through Universal, we will begin our journey on Lankershim Boulevard. A new development has taken place this week as shrubbery and trees have been removed from the center medium. An effort to widen the road leading up to the theme park perhaps?
The ongoing construction on the new parking structure continues as the lot near Curious George continues to grow vertically alongside the bridge that will allow connect from the new structure to the Curious George structure.
The new structure is currently slated to open in 2016 – just in time for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
On Tuesday of last week, Flintstone’s Bar-B-Q closed to help make room for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
The Wizarding World is now being promoted on the new construction walls with a 2016 opening – concluding Universal’s five-year epic transformation plan. Scaffolding has surrounded most of Hogsmeade and – if you look carefully – you can begin see that each building taking shape. Similarly, the Forbidden Journey show has almost been completely enclosed with the building developing at a rapid pace.
To help celebrate Universal Studios Hollywood’s 50th anniversary, Universal will be debuting its newest mega-attraction on the Studio Tour – Fast and Furious: Supercharged in the summer of 2015.
This has become one of the more intriguing construction zones on the Universal lot, as the massive multi-building continues to become enclosed.
Construction on Springfield is beginning to take shape as the facade continues to develop.
Last Tuesday, Louie’s patio closed to make room for Springfield and to help ease foot traffic within the area. Louie’s looks to be receiving a facelift and not a demolition. Between the new Studio Tour restrooms and the Simpsons Ride, more construction has popped up. We will continue to keep an eye on this area.
Halloween Horror Night construction and set decoration is now in full swing with opening night less than two weeks away.
Set decoration has begun with the scare zone Dark Christmas on Baker Street and Mask-a-Raid invading French Street. Dracula Untold’s facade is currently being worked on, along with From Dusk Till Dawn and Clowns 3D music by Slash. An American Werewolf in London’s facade seems to be complete minus the sign for The Slaughtered Lamb. Finally, the Terror Tram is also receiving its props and decorations – with the sets from the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Psycho, and War of the Worlds transformed into The Walking Dead.
The Transformers meet and greet is still undergoing construction. It seems that progress on the permanent meet and greet has slowed down over the last few weeks.
Meanwhile, the ever changing NBCUniversal Experience has introduced new props from the Universal films Get on Up and Ride Along. The new additions also include props from Laika’s new stop motion animated film The Boxtrolls.
As the rest of the park is receiving it’s facelift, Shrek is about to get a much needed facelift of its own. Walls have now taken over a majority of the queue in an effort to bring more cohesion to the area.
That does it for this update. Please continue to follow Inside Universal’s coverage of all things Universal Studios Hollywood. Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.
Jonathan Green is the managing editor of Inside Universal.
Jonathan has been going to Universal for over 25 years, developing a deep passion for the theme park and its historic films. His real passion involves Universal Studios Hollywood’s storied past and how it eventually transformed from a movie studio into a theme park.
You may contact Jonathan at jonathan@insideuniversal.net
