THEME PARKS RAISE THE STAKES
developed for the popular Soarin’ and cranks up the action to a giddy level. It simulates, quite effectively, the Na’vi rite of passage experience of riding on the back of a banshee.
a new nighttime show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
a new fireworks show at the Magic Kingdom a new family raft ride at Typhoon Lagoon The Collector, a shady character who scours the universe for precious objects — some of which are living — so that he can display them to VIP guests (i.e., you).
Guardians’ multiple drops and rises, with gut-wrenching falls and butterflies-in-your-stomach ascensions, seems more intense than the Tower of Terror. There are six ride sequences choreographed to six songs that might find their way onto one of Peter Quill’s “awesome mix tapes.” Culled from the 1960s and 1970s, the hits include the Edgar Winter Group’s Free Ride. Over the past few months, motorists traveling through Orlando’s theme park corridor along I-4 have seen a whimsical 200-foottall mountain taking shape. They might be more distracted now as waterfalls have begun roaring down the mountain by day and glowing, molten lava flows at night.
Krakatau volcano, as the folks at Universal Orlando have dubbed the mountain, is the centerpiece of Universal’s Volcano Bay. Spanning 30 acres, the new park features 18 attractions, including the Krakatau Aqua Coaster. Using linear induction motor technology (as opposed to the water blasters that power most water coasters), the ride sends passengers in canoes racing downhill and uphill through the volcano.
Other attractions include a multidirectional wave pool, a lazy river, multiple family raft rides, and speed slides that start at the apex of the 200-foot mountain. Guests can rent private two-level cabanas on the beach.
“We call Volcano Bay a ‘water theme park,’ because it’s not going to feel like a typical park,” says Thierry Coup, senior vice president of Universal Creative. “This is a whole different level. It’s a theme park built around water.”
Among the innovations, Coup says that some of the attractions incorporate media and other immersive storytelling techniques used at Universal Studios Florida and Islands of Adventure. Perhaps the most anticipated advance is TapuTapu, the new crowd management system that Universal developed for the park. All visitors will need to make reservations to board the rides, and no one will wait in any lines.