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Halloween Horror Nights - (10/29/09) The new Scare Zone opened to guests last night and was called Tales From The Past. As  you can see in the photo sent in, Jack the clown was indeed back in action in the alley. According to another report over at Behind the Thrills, the alley also featured the return of many other major characters from past years. Not just icons like Caretaker, but other characters like Darkness, a Body Collector and “Cindy” and more. They also post some interesting ideas for HHN 20 next year, including the idea of holding a Midnight Syndicate concert. Very interesting... but which park gets the honor of hosting HHN 20?
    (10/28/09) While there isn’t much to see yet, you can sneak a peek at a few of the props already set in place inside the new Scare Zone over at Orlando United.
    (10/27/09) Universal has announced that a brand new Scare Zone will be added to Halloween Horror Nights this week in the “Sting Alley” location. Guests willing to travel through the alley on Thursday, Oct. 29th will have a chance to take surveys, do interviews or speak with some HHN creative staff to tell them just what scares them the most. This information will be put to use to develop the terrorfying attractions for next year’s HHN 20.
    (10/22/09) Universal Orlando has launched a promotional video tie between their new Wolfman haunt and the upcoming film. You can see it here. Universal Orlando will give HHN fans a unique treat this Friday from 3pm to 3:15pm when Chucky will be given control over their Facebook page and answer questions.
    (10/19/09) While one reader tells us they watched the drive in for 20 minutes and never saw the Easter Egg... another reader sent in a link to a YouTube video they posted showing off the clip itself. Seems it really is there.
    (10/16/09) This is a bit too detailed I think to be true, but the rumor going around some insider circles is that HHN 20 may be themed around the the wedding of Jack and Chance. Of course the impending nuptials will bring about a massive gathering of Icons from the past once again, each set to deliver a horrific gift to set the mood.  Hmmm... I do kind of like it, but I still think it’s a bit too soon to bring back Jack again.
    (10/15/09) In response to my thoughts about possibly holding HHN at Islands of Adventure once again once Potter opens, an e-mail came in claiming that Universal may actually be toying with the idea of holding a family friendly / non-scary event at IOA next year. Similar to Disney’s “Not So Scary” event, kids may be allowed to dress up and trick or treat at Candy stands set up around the park. Apparently this may take avanage of the more kid-friendly themes at IOA that would involve Harry Potter, the Seuss characters, and even the Marvel superheros.
    (10/14/09) With the Wizarding World of Harry Potter finally set to open next summer, some have begun to wonder if Universal might see fit to move Halloween Horror Nights back over for another run at Islands of Adventure next year. Anyone else heard anything on this?
    (10/13/09) A reader visiting Halloween Horror Nights tells us that they came across what sounds like a little Easter egg possibly for next year’s haunt. While standing outside Mel’s Diner and watching the drive-in movie screen for a bit of time, they noticed something odd at the end of the reel. A movie ticket stub comes on the screen and says “Coming Soon”, followed by footage of a “clown”, and then Flashlight (The Usher) holding a finger to his mouth as if to say “Shhhh!” The footage jumped back and forth between the clown and Flashlight for a few more seconds before coming to an end. It kind of makes one wonder if this may be a hint that Jack may be coming back again. Anyone else seen this?  Meanwhile, while we’re talking about HHN, check out this interview with Michael Roddy (aka: Dick Johnson) over at the Orlando Sentinel. It’s worth noting that he says that work on HHN has gotten to the point where they are already working the next year’s HHN over a year out now, which is a change from about 3-4 years ago when they used to take a month or two off to go over the data, review what people likes and didn’t like, before beginning the process of planning the next year’s event. According to Roddy, they began work planning HHN 2010 back in July 2009!

Resort News - (11/4/09) A few readers have been poking around the official websites for some of the usual performers and have also confirmed dates for KC & The Sunshine Band on Feb 6th. Flo Rida has concert dates for April 17, 23, 24 and 30th, with the 23rd and 24th thought to be for Grad Bash.
    (11/2/09) Behind the Thrills did some poking around at Pollstar and scored some great information about future concert events on the horizon at Universal Orlando. They report that The Temptations and the FourTops will be headlinging the New Years Eve festivities. There were also listings for L'il Malcom and the House Rockers on Feb 13/14 and Flo Rida on April 17, 23 and 24th as possible Mardi Gras entertainment in 2010.
    (10/29/09) You can read more about Universal Orlando’s Q3 results here. In short however, both attendance and revene has fallen from the same time period a year ago. Attendance was down 11% with per-cap spending down 2%. That one-two punch dropped the resorts profits by nearly 21%.
    (10/19/09) I’ve got a few more performers and dates for that Winter Concert series being planned for Universal Orlando. Look for Mannheim Steamroller on Dec. 5th, Chris Isaak on Dec. 12th, and Natalie Cole on Dec. 19th. Speaking of winter events, Universal will be going into their standard Holiday mode this winter, with the Macy’s Parade over at the Studios and the return of the ever popular Grinchmas at Islands of Adventure.
    In other news, Universal has reported that their theme parks have been struggling with attendance figures for Q3, but they have been able to off-set some of the decline with other cost cutting measures. Operating profits are down 14% for the quarter. From April through June attendance at Universal Orlando dropped 14% from the same quarter the previous year. Despite this, UO was able to boost their profits by 29% ($27.1 million) by cost cutting.
    (10/12/09) Universal Orlando has now raised the price of parking to $14 to price match Disney’s latest increase. It’s also fun to note that Google’s Street View has now uploaded the view from inside both of the Universal Orlando theme parks.
    (10/9/09) Orlando United has posted pictures showing off the site of the new Fusion Bistro - Sushi & Sake Bar, going in not too bar from the Whopper Bar.
    (10/7/09) I've got to admit, Universal’s latest online survey I got in the mail is a little weird. After asking you questions about certain movies you may have seen, they then ask you how you feel about some of these titles being picked for use as a possible future theme park show.  Not too unusual, until you hear the movies they asked about: Revenge of the Nerds, Groudhog Day and Animal House... not the kinds of films I could ever seen being turned into a future theme park show. If that wasn't enough... at the end of the survey you get RickRolled... automatically linked to a YouTube clip playing Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up."  Oh... the horror... talk about being kicked to the curb.
    (9/4/09) A new version of the Universal Orlando website is currently up as a beta test which you can see here.
    (9/1/09) Universal Orlando is apparently preparing a winter holiday concert series. A concert for Chris Isaak is already listed for December 12th, 2009 on Pollstar and insiders tell us that employee comp tickets now list “2009 Holiday Concert Event Dates” as being blacked out.
    (7/28/09) Good news today for those of you with with cheaper $99 “Season Passes” to Universal Orlando. According to the Orlando Sentinel Universal has lifted the blackout dates from those passes. The blackout dates however remain in effect for the Power Passes. By the way... check out the Halloween Horror Nights website again for a few new updates to the Theater site.
    (7/2/09) Good news for Universal Orlando this week as a lengthy lawsuit between them and the Orange County Property Appraiser’s Office has reached a settlement that will give the resort a $1.4 million tax refund. Read more here.
    (4/21/09) Bad news for Universal Orlando, as the Orlando Sentinel reports that attendance at the resort is down 20% so far for the year (Q1) compared to the same period the year before. This has been caused by a combination of the downturn in the economy as well as the moving of Spring Break out of Q1 and into Q2 this year.
    (3/26/09) Universal Orlando has reported a $9.3 million decline in profits for Q4 (55%), dropping from $16.8 million in 2007 to just $7.5 million this past year. While the parks are only responsible for a 4% attendance loss, the company lost out the rest due to investment losses, and troublesome interest-rate swaps.

Future Resorts, Parks & other Expansions - (12/4/07) Screamscape sources have sent a piece of concept artwork discovered showing off what the proposed new 16-story tall 1,800 room hotel project may look like. As described in the master plan amendment, this hotel would go right across Hollywood Way behind the Jurassic Park building, between Turkey Lake Road and Adventure Way. We also have map over the overall new master plan, a small piece of artwork showing off what the proposed employee apartment building would look like. There is also a photo of the billboard showing off The Promenade (mixed use office/retail/restaurant) going in across from the Hess station as well as a construction photo of the site posted to OrlandoRocks.
    (8/2/07) Today we have to discuss the fate of Wet ‘n Wild. It’s been a few years since anyone talked about this, but the latest rumors claim that the end of the road for Wet ‘n Wild may be in sight. For those who need a little history lesson, I confirmed a few years back that the property under Wet ‘n Wild is actually not owned by the park or Universal, but was part of a land lease deal signed by the creators of Wet ‘n Wild back before it opened in 1977.
    Even today no one really knows for sure just how long the term of the lease was for, but shortly after I uncovered that fact one of the local Orlando papers did their own research to contact the property owners who confirmed that there was little chance of them signing a deal to renew the lease due to the increased value of the property and it’s key location on I-Drive that could be put to better (and more profitable) uses. An older article in the Orlando Sentinel about Aquatica once mentions that the terms of their lease start to change in 2007 and the price is expected to rise through the roof by 2012.
    The bottom line… Wet ‘n Wild is living on borrowed time. This has led many to speculate about when and if Universal Orlando may take the next step to build their own new water park on their own resort property. It’s also been noted that all of the “new attractions” added to the waterpark over the last few years have either been rehabs of older attractions (The lazy river, The Blast) or larger above ground attractions (Storm, Disco H2O, Brain Wash) that would be fairly simple to move to a new location when the time comes.
    These days the rumor mill has picked up once again claiming that 2009 could very well be the last summer for Wet ‘n Wild. If this is true, then my best guess may be that Wet ‘n Wild signed a 35 year lease possibly as early as 1975 which could come to an end in 2010. Remember that the park will need time to remove their property from the site, so you can see where the 2009 closure idea may be coming from.
    Keep in mind that other than the fact that there is a ticking clock… everything else is just speculation right now. For all we know the park may have another 10 years left on their lease… or they could already be in some kind of overtime extension where the fees grow higher and higher each additional year. If the end is near, I’m sure we’ll hear more about this very soon and Universal is likely to promote this fact to drive up attendance in the final season when they find themselves up against the new waterpark on the block, Aquatica.
    (5/15/07) According to a post at UrbanPlanet.org, Universal Orlando is asking for an amendment to their master plan to add Timeshare Units and Multi Family Residential units to their 800 acre property. Currently only 104 acres are undeveloped and this plan pretty much fills up almost all the rest of the holes. The Residential section of the plan will add up to 316 units along Vineland that are intended to be used as Workforce Housing, most likely in much the same manor that Disney offers housing for their International and College Workforce programs. A new four story tall office building will be added not far from the current office building(s) along Turkey Lake Road. Meanwhile it looks the plot of land next to the Royal Pacific will become home to an 800 room 8-story tall hotel property and the land between Adventure Way and Turkey Lake Road will become home to a 1,800 room 16-story tall hotel project. From the look of the new Masterplan Map, the river system will be expanded to allow for transportation to these two new hotel projects. Looks like those rumors last week about the new Premium and Moderate sized resort projects were right on the money. Meanwhile the only big holes left open for future development include what’s left of the property from the new 1,800 room resort down the South end of Universal’s property on Turkey Lake (enough room to build a new waterpark still) and the large plot of land between the Men In Black ride building and Universal Blvd where they set up a few mazes at last year’s Halloween Horror Nights. Here’s another look at the Sat Map showing off the various site plans.