how universal Studios Florida became what it is today

   By Drew Rasor  "All Ears"

 Orlando, Florida, is considered by most people the theme park battleground because of the rivalry between Walt Disney World and the Universal Orlando Resort. With two theme parks, a water park, a shopping and dining district, and another epic theme park on the way, Universal can certainly satisfy as an alternate thrill destination to the more kid-friendly Disney.  

Although the concept of a Floridian Universal Studios goes back to the early 1980s, it wouldn’t be until Totally Fun Company founder Peter Alexander was approached by Steven Spielberg with the idea for a simulator ride based off of Back to the Future that the project really starts to take off. Alexander at the time was working on the animatronic for the King Kong portion of the Studio Tour in Hollywood.

MCA, who owned Universal at that point in time, was looking for a partner to help finance their own Florida project. Spielberg was so impressed with Alexander’s work (and had a vested interest because of a supposed rivalry he had with George Lucas) that he agreed to co-found the new theme park.

 Universal Studios Florida would be designed from the ground up as a theme park and working production studio. Universal looked at their popular Studio Tour segments from the Hollywood park and decided to develop each of them into their own stand-alone attraction. Spielberg got his Back to the Future simulator ride (which would not arrive by opening day) and a family-friendly attraction based off E.T. greenlit as well. 

The year before Universal staked their claim in Orlando, Disney World opened its own version of a movie studio park with Disney-MGM Studios. It promised guests a chance to take a peek behind the curtain of movie-making including a tram-guided tour through real production facilities. Sound familiar?

disney got a head start by essentially copying universal's Hollywood tour and opening it a year before universal in May 1989.   In order to compete, and at alexander's insistence, universal chose to develop several complicated, prototype rides.  Technical problems were compounded when Universal tour president Jay Stein overruled project director Mike Bartlett and moved the opening from April 1991 to June 7, 1990.

This date would eventually turn into Universal’s own version of Black Sunday (Disneyland’s disastrous opening day). Crowds swelled the new park, and long lines became the name of the game. Universal Studios Florida opened with 12 attractions, with only five being actual rides.

By the end of the day, Universal was giving out refunds to any disgruntled guests. Opening day had been a disaster, but MCA must have seen this as a challenge because they set about quickly making changes to the park.  

Kinks were ironed out on the old rides (except Jaws which had to be completely rebuilt), the park began a “second day free” campaign, and the park would debut Back to the Future: The Ride and a short Halloween event called Fright Nights, which eventually morphed into the fan-favorite Halloween Horror Nights event that is still running today.  

Though opening day was definitely not what Universal or guests had pictured, the park was now on its way to surviving and thriving. Alexander quickly redesigned the jaws ride to make it simpler,  the glitches stemming from a premature opening were worked out, and that’s why we can all now sit back and watch the ongoing theme park tennis match between Disney and Universal today!