An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often featuring multiple areas with different themes. Unlike temporary and mobile funfairs and carnivals, amusement parks are stationary and built for long-lasting operation. They are more elaborate than city parks and playgrounds, usually providing attractions that cater to a variety of age groups. While amusement parks often contain themed areas, theme parks place a heavier focus with more intricately-designed themes that revolve around a particular subject or group of subjects.
Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. Based on a concept by Marty Sklar, Randy Bright, and Michael Eisner, the park opened on May 1, 1989, as the Disney–MGM Studios (Theme) Park, and was the third of four theme parks built at Walt Disney World. Spanning 135 acres (55 ha), the park is dedicated to the imagined worlds from film, television, music, and theatre, drawing inspiration from the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Amblin Entertainment, Inc., formerly named Amblin Productions and Steven Spielberg Productions, is an American film production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg, and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1980. Its headquarters are located in Bungalow 477 of the Universal Studios backlot in Universal City, California. It distributes all of the films from Amblin Partners under the Amblin Entertainment banner.
Nickelodeon Studios was a production studio and theme park attraction run by the television network Nickelodeon at Universal Studios Florida.
Universal Destinations & Experiences, also known as Universal Studios Theme Parks or solely Universal Theme Parks, is the theme park unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The company, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, operates Universal theme parks and resort properties around the world. Universal Destinations & Experiences is best known for attractions and lands based on famous classic and modern pop culture properties from not only NBCUniversal, but also third-party companies, for all of its parks.
Universal Islands of Adventure, originally called Universal Studios Islands of Adventure and later Universal's Islands of Adventure, is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida. It opened on May 28, 1999, along with CityWalk, as part of an expansion that converted Universal Studios Florida into the Universal Orlando Resort. The resort's slogan Vacation Like You Mean It was introduced in 2013.
Universal Studios Florida is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida, that opened on June 7, 1990. Owned and operated by NBCUniversal, it features numerous rides, attractions, and live shows that are primarily themed to movies, television, and other aspects of the entertainment industry. Universal Studios Florida was the first of three theme parks to open at Universal Orlando Resort, joined later by Islands of Adventure in 1999 and Volcano Bay in 2017. In 2019, it ranked eleventh in the world – sixth in North America – for overall attendance among amusement parks with approximately 10.9 million visitors. A third park, Epic Universe, is expected in summer 2025. It is expected to be the largest Universal park in the United States.
Jaws is an amusement ride attraction based on the Jaws film series and is located at Universal Studios Japan. It originally opened at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando in 1990, and another installation later opened at Universal Studios Japan in 2001. The ride uses tour boats to take guests through a harbor of the fictional Amity Island, which begins as a leisurely tour that is abruptly interrupted by an attack of the famous great white shark. The concept is an expanded version of the Jaws miniature attraction featured in the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood in California. In 2012, the attraction was removed from the Florida theme park to make room for the second phase of expansion for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Back to the Future: The Ride was a simulator ride located at several Universal Destinations & Experiences locations. The first installation opened on May 2, 1991, at the World Expo area of Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida. A second installation opened on June 12, 1993, in the Hollywood Lot area of Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California. A third installation opened on March 31, 2001, in the San Francisco area of Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, Japan. Based on the Back to the Future franchise, the ride is a first person adventure that takes place after the events depicted in Back to the Future Part III. Riders engage in a race through time in pursuit of Biff Tannen, who has stolen the DeLorean time machine.
Kongfrontation was a ride located at Universal Studios Florida theme park in Orlando, Florida. As one of the original attractions featured during the park's grand opening on June 7, 1990, it quickly became one of the most popular. It was closed in 2002 to make way for Revenge of the Mummy, which opened in its place in 2004. Kongfrontation was based on the 1976 King Kong film and King Kong Encounter, a defunct attraction once located at Universal Studios Hollywood. It was themed to the evacuation of civilians from Kong's rampage on Roosevelt Island.
Jack Lindquist was an American business executive who served as president of the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California from 1990 until he retired in 1993. He was a Disney employee from 1955 until his retirement, and was a marketing executive in the theme parks division for almost thirty years, including a stint as the first advertising manager for Disneyland. His eventual reach would extend worldwide, having trained and/or greatly influenced others who would become amusement industry leaders, both inside and outside of the Disney attractions. Among the amusement industry, many have credited Lindquist with founding and greatly expanding the arts and sciences of attraction promotion.
Jimmy Neutron's Nicktoon Blast was a simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida that replaced The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera based on the 2001 movie Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and it is set to take place after the events of the film. The story line revolved around Ooblar, from the Yolkian planet that has stolen Jimmy's newest rocket creation, the Mark IV. Jimmy, along with his best friend Carl and robot dog, Goddard, invite the audience to give chase in other rockets through the worlds and sound stages of the Nicktoons.
The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera was a simulator ride at Universal Studios Florida and one of the park's original attractions. The story line tells that Dick Dastardly and Muttley have kidnapped Elroy Jetson. Yogi Bear and Boo-Boo give chase and the audience is in for the ride of their lives. The attraction opened on June 7, 1990 and closed on October 20, 2002.
E.T. Adventure is a dark ride located at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida, United States. Primarily designed in-house by Universal Creative in collaboration with Steven Spielberg, the ride first opened to the public at Universal Studios Florida in 1990. Similar installations of the ride opened at Universal Studios Hollywood in 1991 and Universal Studios Japan in 2001, both of which have since been removed.
Universal Creative is the division of Universal Destinations & Experiences responsible for designing, developing, engineering and producing themed attractions, rides, and resorts. Headquartered in Orlando, the company operates at Universal Destinations & Experiences locations around the world in the United States, Singapore, Japan and China.
Thierry Jean-Andre Coup is the Chief Experiential Futurist at JOCOUP Creative. Coup began his career working in the film industry, performing set design and visual effects. He moved into theme park design in the early 1990s when Walt Disney Parks and Resorts offered him a position with Walt Disney Imagineering. In 1995, he transferred over to Universal Creative and led projects such as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Transformers: The Ride, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley and Super Nintendo World.
Philip D. Hettema is an American businessman who heads The Hettema Group. Prior to starting his own company in 2002, Hettema worked as the senior vice president of Universal Creative and in managerial positions at Walt Disney Parks & Resorts. He has also been credited as a production supervisor of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics, and has several patents to his name.
Springfield is a chain of themed areas at Universal theme parks in Florida and Hollywood, based on the town of the same name from the long-hit American television animated sitcom, The Simpsons.
Scott Trowbridge is an American entertainment creator currently serving as Portfolio Creative Executive for Walt Disney Imagineering, the design and production division for Disney Parks, Experiences and Products; a division of the Walt Disney Company. Before Disney, Trowbridge was active in film and theatre production, and held leadership roles within Universal Creative, the design and development arm of Universal Parks and Resorts. In 2007, Trowbridge left Universal to join Walt Disney Imagineering to lead Disney's Research & Development division and Blue Sky Creative Studio. In 2015, he started a new studio at Imagineering dedicated to developing Lucasfilm and Star Wars projects.
