Ooo, Universal Annual Pass

Tried out my Universal Studios Annual Pass today.  I've been to Universal in Florida five times in the past few years.  I know it well.  On the other hand, I've not been to Universal Hollywood since they put in the Harry Potter stuff, and, except for that one visit a few years back, possibly not for decades.

It's ... changed.

I moved to California in the late 1970s, and every time a friend or relative came to visit, my family would take them to Disneyland and Universal.  ("Tour A," we jokingly called it.)  When I got my driver's license (1984), I started volunteering to do the Universal runs myself.  My folks often let me do it; they were pretty sick of the place, but I loved it.

THAT's the Universal Studios I remember -- when Universal was a tram ride followed by four live shows (the Wild West Stunt Show, the makeup show, the animal show, and that fourth one where they use people from the audience as extras (how cool is that?)).  We would go back every time they added something new to the tram ride.   They added Jaws!  They added King Kong!  They added an Earthquake! 

I'd want to go back every time I saw something from the tour on TV.  That (hilariously bad) ice tunnel/avalanche thing?  We recognized it in that Bigfoot episode of Six Million Dollar Man (a classic of American entertainment).  They put the damn thing in an episode of "Knight Rider," and I'd want to go back and see it again.  It was that whole idea of being close to the Actual Real Stuff They'd Actually Used To Make The Movies.  Actually.

The tour guides on the trams would always tell you what stuff had been filmed Right Where You Were, and they'd give you Inside Info on movies they were filming (or had just finished) so that you'd keep an eye out for them.  I remember when they told us to look out for that "Back to the Future" thing they'd filmed in the town square.  Of course, the next time I went to Universal, they were pitching something else they'd filmed since; it took years for them to call it "Back to the Future Square" on the tour.  But that's because now it's not about showing you the Actual Stuff where movies are Actually Being Made Right Now.  Now it's shiny and packaged with video clips (and, if you time it right (or wrong) a song and dance number in Whoville) and a big ol' Fast and Furious Thing at the end.

And the shows and rides have changed, too.  Sure, shows and rides ALWAYS change at theme parks, but if you walk into Disneyland, you still know "Pirates of the Caribbean" is over there to your left, and if you keep going, you'll hit "Haunted Mansion."  I walked into Universal today and couldn't find anything.  I happened into the "Special Effects" show, which was in the ... yes! that theater still has the exterior of a castle and that's where they used to do that classic movie monsters show where they made up some audience member like the Bride of Frankenstein.

(Shoutout to the "American Tail" show, also disappeared; now replaced by the "Minion Mayhem" attraction.)

And the "Mummy" ride.  (OK, pause here.  The "Mummy" ride in Florida is actually a "Mummy" ride.  It's got Brendan Fraser on video and something of a storyline and fire and stuff and it's THEMED right through.  The "Mummy" ride in Hollywood is a dark ride, with theming in the waiting area and the very first part of the ride, but otherwise contents itself with being a roller coaster in the dark which occasionally shows you screens with something scary on them.  However, the backwards bit rocks.)  The "Mummy" is a dark ride located where my memories tell me the "E.T." ride ought to be.  (And for all I know, they've probably still got some of the "E.T." stuff in there, just pushed to the side and covered with a tarp.)  There used to be that "Backdraft" attraction in the lower lot, too.  And ... wait a minute, something in the Special Effects show reminded me that there used to be a three-section Special Effects Theater down here.  What the hell happened to that?  Internet tells me "Backdraft" AND the Special Effects Theater were replaced with the "Transformers" ride.  Great.  A Decepticon stole my childhood.

When I was driving home from Universal, I was chatting with my parents on the phone and told them the park wasn't recognizable anymore.  Dad remembered having seen "Lord of the Dance" at the Universal Amphitheatre.  ("Not Riverdance.  The other one where the guy didn't do much in it.")  Dad wanted to know what happened to the amphitheatre.

Good question.  It coalesced with my interent search of "Hey, what did they build the Wizarding World on?"  Yup, Dad, Hogwarts is now on the site of the Universal Amphitheatre.  You could almost hear the echoes of the step dancers.

I'm not going to complain about the Wizarding World because it's kind of awesome (and, since it is similar to the one in Florida, it's the only part of the park I can more-or-less find my way around).  But I do wonder, as space considerations and a fickle public move on to the Next Big Thing, what will eventually take its place when it, too, is wiped away?