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Resort News - (5/12/08) According to the Universal Orlando home office, things are going well for them right now after reporting another quarter of improved attendance, sales and profits. Attendance is up 6%, PerCap spending is up 5% along with as 12% increase in overall revenue over the same quarter (Jan 1, 2008 to March 30th) as last year. Universal Orlando reported a $1.1 million profit this quarter compared with a $18.5 million loss in the same quarter last year.
  (5/7/08) Nickelodeon will be returning to Universal Orlando this August to film 20 episodes of My Family’s Got Guts, an extreme sports competition series.
  (4/23/08) Universal Orlando has announced the addition of eight new Jurassic Park themed kid suites at the Royal Pacific Resort. The kids get an entirely separate bedroom apart from Mom and Dad, complete with custom JP murals, artwork from the movies, JP themed beds and a 32 inch flat screen with a DVD player.
  (3/24/08) The new Rising Star opened a little early for a Team Member Preview night late last week and the evening was said to be a big success with lots of people getting the chance to get up a sing with the live band as well as have their performance broadcast throughout the club on the HD video system. Apparently Joey Fatone (NSYNC) came to visit as well and got up on stage to sing a few songs too.
  The club is now open to the public and Universal Orlando has introduced the CityWalk’s Rising Star Top 10 Karaoke Challenge, a contest that searches for the best karaoke artists in the area. If you think you have what it takes, there will be four opportunities to impress the judges – March 26 and 28, and April 2 and 4.
  (3/20/08) The new signs for the Rising Star are going up in the latest photos posted to Orlando Rocks.
  (3/14/08) Universal Orlando has confirmed the addition of Citywalk’s Rising Star on Friday, March 21st, a new karaoke bar with a twist, “performing guests will be introduced to screaming audiences by an emcee and take center stage as they sing with a full live band and back-up singers.” Citywalk’s Rising Star will take over the old CityJazz site which will close down on Sunday, March 16th.
  (3/7/08) Metromix Orlando reveals the plans Universal Orlando has in store for the CityJazz nightclub. According to the article CityJazz will close down on March 15th and reopen soon after as the Rising Star, a karaoke bar with a twist. Instead of the patrons getting up to sing to pre-recorded audio tracks they will instead sing to the music played by a live band with their performance shot and broadcast throughout the joint by a series of cameras and monitors. The whole production will also have some kind of host to oversee everything and keep the action moving.
  Screamscape sources can also back up The Rising Star as the new club name as work permits to install the signs and carpet for just such an attraction have now appeared online.
  (2/26/08) Universal Orlando reports they have had their best year ever in 2007, earning a record $92 million in profit last year, over double from what they made the previous year. Overall attendance at the parks was up 3% and Per-Cap spending was up 6%.

Halloween Horror Nights 2008 - (5/13/08) It’s hard enough sometimes to track down rumors about Horror Nights as it is, but now someone has posted information to a few HHN sites giving hints about the locations and themes for this year’s haunts, giving off only abbreviations for what looks to be 8 mazes and four scare zones.
SS23a - SK:TS
SS23b - TT:R
SS44 - PX
EQ - KB
Jaws - OM
T1 - JO
T2 - DFD:3D
B-79 - ST3

H/CP - SK:TM
NY - OM:NOM
SF/A - K
E/KZ - TF
  While I’m sure we could all spend days and weeks trying to figure what is what (already some seems fairly obvious, such as the “SK” stuff likely meaning Stephen King’s The Shining and The Mist) I’m leaning more toward the idea that these are fakes. Even more… not only are they very possibly fakes, but given how web savvy the HHN creative team is these days, it could be very possible that this could have been something planted into the fan sites on purpose as a distraction. Anyone know more?
  Now while I still have no hard clues myself about what exactly will be taking place this year, or even if we will see a return of some movie themed houses and characters, I did come across a trailer for a rather interesting film that would be perfect for a haunt. Check out the trailer for Quarantine.
  (5/6/08) Looks like work for this year’s Halloween Horror Nights is getting ready to start already as a permit has been issued for Construction of Haunted Venues for 2008 HHN to Fake Productions.
  (4/18/08) I came across something by accident this morning and I just had to share it with everyone. What you’re about to see may shock you for a moment, but click here and take a look as Oscar, a Cockatoo who is also the unofficial mascot of the Broward County Humane Society. Oscar apparently has never had a full coat of feathers due to a disease, so they’ve got perhaps one of the strangest looking “birds” I’ve ever seen. Why am I posting this here? Because I think Universal Orlando should try to adopt Oscar to be the new mascot of Halloween Horror Nights. Go on… you know you’ve got to watch it. Oscar also laughs and talks and dances… and I couldn’t think of a more perfect spokesperson for Halloween Horror Nights.

  (4/16/08) For the past week or so we’ve heard it being said that Universal Orlando was dropping the Unmasking The Horror daytime behind the scenes tours. Today Universal Orlando confirmed to Screamscape that, “The Unmasking the Horror Tours will not be offered for this year’s event. Instead, we will be focusing our efforts on our nighttime tours.” While we can hope this may lead to a more revealing night tour, HHN Vault is urging anyone who would like to see the return of the daytime Unmasking tour to show their support and let the park know how you feel and has provided email address to the right departments.
  (4/14/08) While it may only be April, Universal Orlando will be holding auditions for the return of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Tribute for this year’s Halloween Horror Nights. While this is just speculation, one might assume that since they are bringing back this show, HHN will be held in the Studios once again in 2008.
  According to the audition sheet (which will be held May 3rd) they also give the complete list of dates of HHN 2008 – “SEPTEMBER 24, 26, 27, OCTOBER 2,3,4,5,9,10,11,12,16,17,18,19,22,23,24,25,26,29,30,31 AND NOVEMBER 1ST.” I’m assuming the September 24th date (Wednesday) is the employee preview night, otherwise it looks like it will start on the last Friday in September as usual and jump right into Thur – Sun operations and adding Wednesdays into the mix on the last two weeks.
  (2/27/08) Universal Orlando has launched another survey to field out some other new ideas for Halloween Horror Nights 18. This one asks some interesting questions about general Urban Legends, some of which most people have heard of (Alligators in the New York sewers, the kid who died from drinking coke after eating several packages of Pop Rocks, Bloody Mary, etc. Then they had quite a few I had never heard of, including a strange one about the ghost of a teen who died in a sewer who kills anyone who doesn’t repost her story on MySpace. (Wha????) Then they ask your opinion of the work of several well known movie directors (Hitchcock, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, George Romero, Sam Raimi, James Cameron, Tim Burton, Speilberg, M. Night Shyamalan, etc). There was also one other small interesting question about which do you find more scary… Gore or Supernatural horror? Given what we saw in the last survey for storyline options and the rumors I’ve heard that any story with Jack is out since they’ve overused him quite a bit lately, I’m thinking they may be playing with the idea of another cinematic horror theme this year again. After all, despite having Jason, Freddy and Leatherface as icons last year, The Thing proved to be one of the most popular and well received mazes of HHN 17.

2008 - The Black Hole: The Next Generation - (5/15/08) If your in the area you may want to drop into Wet ‘n Wild sometime today or tomorrow. If the rumors hold true, you may be one of the first to experience a soft opening for The Black Hole: The Next Generation.
  (4/30/08) From what we’ve been told there is a good chance that the new Black Hole will reopen as early as this weekend. Officially the website only says that it will reopen in May.
  (2/18/08) The Black Hole rumor is now confirmed… and it will be renamed The Black Hole: The Next Generation according to the press artwork they’ve released. Here’s the description from Wet ‘n Wild:
  “The Black Hole is back this summer with a wilder attitude. The Twists and turns are still there, but the 3-D color explosions and sounds will shock the senses. Welcome to the next generation in aquatic thrills. If you dare tackle such a challenge, hold on! The next generation Black Hole has evolved beyond extreme.”
  (2/15/08) I know it sounds crazy, but Screamscape sources are telling us that the new and improved Black Hole may actually attempt to use some kind of 3D video projection technology. I’m not sure how riders are going to keep their glasses on unless they use some kind of weird 3D Dive Mask… plus with all the water splashing around you would think it would make it hard to see. Still, that’s the latest rumor in today from more than one source so take it for what you will.
  (2/13/08) Screamscape has heard a bit more about the major renovation of The Black Hole at Wet ‘n Wild this year. While we don’t have any exact details at this point in time we’ve been told that “this is the update to bring one of the more intense and futuristic park attractions into the 21st century in a big and unparalleled way.”
  (2/12/08) It’s been awhile since we’ve heard much of anything about Wet ‘n Wild’s plans for 2008, but from the sound of things our speculation about a major rehab of The Black Hole was right on the money. Apparently The Black Hole slide is being renovated with all new special effects to turn it into a unique new experience.
  (11/2/07) Screamscape sources tell us that The Black Hole at Wet ‘n Wild is scheduled for an extended bit of rehab downtime from January 2nd to March 16th. From what I’ve been informed, normally they only close each attraction for about 2 weeks for a winter rehab. With two and a half months to play around, perhaps they are going to upgrade the old dark slide with some new effects and market it as the new draw for the year.

Future Resorts, Parks & other Expansions - (12/4/07) Screamscape sources