It’s time for January’s photo update around Universal Studios Hollywood! This month, we take a look at the progress for the transformation of Jurassic Park: The Ride into Jurassic World, alongside other projects throughout the park.
Let’s get started!
Park Update Index
» CityWalk Hollywood
» Baker Street
» Globe Theater
» Jurassic World Refurbishment
» Lower Lot
» A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That
CityWalk Hollywood
Two more closures have appeared at the rapidly-evolving Universal CityWalk. The Element apparel store located on the side of CityWalk closest to the park entrance, as well as the Flip Flop Shop located near Voodoo Doughnut now both remain empty without any announcement of their future replacements.
Construction progress on the future location of Antojitos remains hidden from public view, with no predicted opening day announced as of today.
Baker Street
Just as the theme park holiday season has come to a close, construction walls completely blocking off the end of Baker Street located near the entrance to The Walking Dead Attraction have returned. Restroom access is still available from the other side of the street just across from Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem, though walls now hug the side of the Parisian Courtyard facing Baker Street, preventing guests from taking that particular shortcut to the restrooms.
Globe Theater
Construction is rapidly progressing on the unannounced attraction being built on the former plot of the Globe Theater. Much structural work has been completed since our most recent update, allowing guests and fans alike to spot the outline of a show building.
Jurassic World Refurbishment
Satisfying the trend of construction progress throughout the park, the transformation of Jurassic Park: The Ride and its surrounding area into Jurassic World is moving at an accelerated pace, with the most significant visible change being the input of walls blocking off the entire Jurassic Park area, as well as the main entrance to the Studio Store and the restrooms, from guest access. As a result, Jurassic Outfitters, Jurassic Café, and Jurassic Falls have been closed, though the Studio Store still remains open through a side entrance to the building, and the Raptor Encounter is still available, though with a slightly different setup. To help guests with the modified layout of the Lower Lot, maps describing the location of everything have also appeared on the themed construction walls.
Though it still remains open, the Lower Lot Studio Store now serves as a makeshift Jurassic Outfitters, for some of the displays and much of the merchandise from the temporarily-closed Jurassic Park gift shop have evidently been transferred over for guests to continue purchasing if they so wish to do so.
The grey paint job that has recently appeared on the main show building of the former ride is now being applied to the rest of the Jurassic-themed area as well, matching the cool, sleek aesthetic of the Jurassic World franchise. In addition, a portion of the show building covering the ride’s final drop is also receiving a new paint color, donning a Jurassic World blue that pops out to the eyes.
Newly-painted boats sporting the Jurassic World gray as well as its iconic logo have also appeared on the lagoon.
Construction on the ride itself has significantly progressed as the new show building beginning just after the initial lift hill continues to develop.
Lower Lot
The ramp leading from the left side of the Transformers show building to Soundstage 29 appears to be more evened out with the rest of the surface of the P168 plot as construction progresses just to its left. Though not much else appears to have changed on the plot, construction crews still appear to be working nonstop on the unannounced project being built there.
A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That
Just after Grinchmas and eVe have disappeared for the season, Universal Plaza now remains closed-off as setup for the upcoming Lunar New Year celebration occurs just behind the green walls.
Though Christmas in the Wizarding World has officially ended, some decorations still remain throughout the land.
A new digital sign has appeared at the Transformers photo-op location, continuing Universal’s conversion to digital wait time boards.
That’ll do it for this month’s photo update. From all of us at Inside Universal, we hope you had a Happy New Year. Be sure to follow Inside Universal for continuing coverage of Universal Parks and Resorts.
