I remember when “Interview with the Vampire” came out and folks familiar with the source books were upset that the vampire Lestat was cast by an actor that did not at all resemble the description of the character from the books. Folks like me who had never read the books did not notice or care.
But Universal Epic Universe information was released the other day and I found it interesting that the Monster of Frankenstein’s creator has been gender flipped in the new park version – Victoria Frankenstein. I doubt that many have actually read the original Mary Shelley book (I certainly haven’t), but the story is so iconic that I think the name “Victor Frankenstein” is pretty well-known. I wonder if their story will be a sequel of some sort with Victoria being his daughter or a relative.
Victoria Frankenstein is not new – she has appeared before in remakes:
The 2007 film Frankenstein introduces Victoria Frankenstein. Instead of making the creature out of corpses, she uses stem cells, intending to use her experiment to save her dying son. The experiment goes wrong, however, and the creature escapes. When Frankenstein catches up with the monster, she comes to love it because it is her only remaining link to her son who has since died.
…
A 2014 ongoing web seriesFrankenstein, MD, created by PBS Digital Studios and Pemberley Digital, focuses on Victoria Frankenstein, a medical student determined to prove herself in her field. This series gender-swaps several characters – Elizabeth becomes Eli Lavenza and Henry becomes Rory Clerval.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Frankenstein
…though the Frankenstein movie from 2007 does not appear to be a Universal Studios release and I do not know if PBS has any connection to Universal for their web series. At least they aren’t the first to do it.
Press release mentioning Victoria may be found here:
Photos from this year’s Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Florida and Howl-O-Scream at SeaWorld Orlando will be added to the gallery in coming weeks. We were able to visit all ten haunted houses, the scare zones, and the one (!) show at Universal, and also all five haunted houses, the scare zones and three (!) of the four shows at SeaWorld Orlando.
While Universal’s offerings had zero scares (the only time we heard anyone scream all night was from a chainsaw in a scare zone), they sure were amazing walk through theatrical experiences.
SeaWorld, however, actually had real haunted houses — letting in groups rather than a large conga line. The groups were too big so most scares were spoiled, but we were certainly startled many times during that four hour event (mostly in the scare zones).
Over at my Des Moines Haunted Houses website project, folks there know I scream like a little girl and am a pretty easy target. Seeing these two big theme park haunts be so tame was a surprise — especially with the reputation of HHN being one of the biggest haunt events in the nation.
Tracks from the official Universal Studios Escape (as it was known back then) Islands of Adventure theme park have been posted to the official Universal Orlando Resort (as it is known today) YouTube channel:
The soundtrack was released for the 1999 opening, I believe, but these tracks are listed as being from a “2000 reissue” version. I may have the original disc somewhere, and I know it had many more tracks than what have been shared so far.
I am just hoping the crazy track from Toon Lagoon makes it. The custom soundtracks were one of the best things about Islands of Adventure. Toon Lagoon especially stood out with its massive multi-track arrangement with speakers all over the land playing parts of the looping soundtrack. (This would be done two years later with the opening of Disney’s California Adventure when it had something similar for the Paradise Pier section of the park.)
I have seen so many videos taken at Universal Orlando Resort on attractions that specifically forbid photos or video recording. I wondered if there was some kind of exception for video bloggers, so I asked…
Please know that Universal Orlando Resort does not condone the behavior you described of these YouTube vloggers. For the safety of our Guests, as well as show quality when applicable, we do not allow filming, flash photography, or Go-Pro style mounted cameras on our attractions.
Universal Orlando Resort Guest Communications
So, yeah. I guess all the signs that say don’t do it actually are there because you aren’t supposed to do it.
2024-04-25 -Over on my Facebook Page, Jeremy O’L.point out that “Aventura is connected multiple ways as well.” There is an official way to walk north out of the Aventura lobby and reach the Garden Walk, or you can walk across the parking lot an in to the lobby of Sapphire Falls and continue walking to the Garden Walk from there, or down to the Sapphire Falls Water Taxi dock. Google limits how many layers I can have on a map (which is why I had to split them up in to West and East maps), but I’ll see what I can do about adding this. Thanks, Jeremy!
2026-06-16 – Also noting the Stella Nova walk to Epic Universe.
2026-08-11 – Google Street View available between Cabana Bay and Citywalk.
I created some Google Maps layers that show the walking path (called “Garden Walk”) between the on-site hotels and the park entrances. It includes markers for the boat docks, bus dropoffs and security checkpoints, as well. You can enable just the items you want to see. (For example, you only care about the walking route from Aventura to Universal Studios Florida.)
West Side – Cabana Bay, Sapphire Falls, Royal Pacific (for Aventura, you can walk across the parking lot to Sapphire Falls and then use their map)
Enable the “Legend” to see the different layers you can turn on.
Please comment if you find any mistakes, or if you have items that should be added.
Google Street View
If you want to see the West Side route, you can go to Google Maps and turn on the Street View layer. I have uploaded the path between Cabana Bay and Citywalk so you can see that section of the Garden Walk.
I have uploaded similar Street View footage between Stella Nova and Epic Universe.
See Also: Stella Nova to Epic Universe
In Google Maps, check out Street View to see my upload of the sidewalk walk from Stella Nova to Epic Universe. This will let you virtually walk from that hotel to the park entrance and see what it is like. Just start on the sidewalk by dragging the little yellow street view character onto the sidewalk. (Look down and you will see me.)
When I got my first digital camera in 1996, I never could have imagined there would be a time when I’d be updating photo galleries with over 150,000 photos in them. Initially, all my theme park photos were able to fit in one master “DisneyFans Photos” gallery. Today, the number of files in that gallery far exceed what my web host account can allow. Because of that, I had to split the gallery up in to multiple accounts – Disneyland, Disney World and non-Disney Theme Parks.
Due to how much time it takes to update the non-Disney gallery each time I return from Universal and SeaWorld (due to having to go through all the other theme park photos), I am finally going to split off Universal Studios (Hollywood and Orlando) and SeaWorld in to their own sub-gallery.
This will group photos as follows:
Disneyland
Walt Disney World
Universal Studios & SeaWorld
…other Theme Parks
I am in the process up creating the new US/SW gallery (over 31,000 photos just from those parks) and will begin uploading it later tonight. I will then redo the Theme Parks gallery to remove Universal and SeaWorld. Hopefully folks will find them at their new location.
As one of the longest running theme park sites on the Internet (from my pre-domain days back in 1996, to the DisneyFans.com days and now this site), I hate to make big changes like this. Apologies in advance for the links that will be broken…
Over 4200 new photos will be added to the gallery in coming weeks. They include photos along the Disney World Skyliner route (the resorts and area with stations), a half day visit to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and a trip to Universal Orlando for this year’s Mardi Gras event.
We also visited the Universal Great Escape Back to the Future experience, which was a cool technical achievement. Actually, the higher end bar there is worth a look if you partake in adult beverages.
Blog posts coming, as soon as things are caught up…
NOTE: I believe I may be incorrect about the dates here. I think these photos are actually from 1999. I am not sure why I have a bunch of Universal Studios photos that are off by one year, but from looking at my Disney trips, I see I visited in November 1999. With that in mind, assume that “1998” below is probably actually be “1999.”
Today I am quite familiar with Halloween and Christmas events at Disney, but there was a time “not too long ago” (but longer than many of you reading this have even existed) when Halloween wasn’t really much of a thing in the parks.
Back then, there was a small Fall transition where you’d start to see some pumpkins or Fall decorations before Christmas would take over later. I went through my photo gallery trying to see if I captured any of this “before Halloween” stuff, but I find that the first trip I made in November with a digital camera was in 1998.
I found some photos from Universal Studios Florida, back when it was just Universal Studios (long before Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and before Islands of Adventure opened).
Universal was already in Christmas mode by November at that time. Let’s take a look.
The original movie-themed park had different areas representing different big cities. As such, they put up traditional city-style decorations.
Christmas decorations at Universal Studios Florida on November 17, 1998.
As a kid in the 1970s, I have fond memories of seeing the Christmas decorations like these candy-stuffed stockings on light posts.
Christmas decorations at Universal Studios Florida on November 17, 1998.
I don’t recall seeing any of these “across the street” decorations, though. I suppose it’s easier to decorate fake streets that don’t have actual traffic (other than parades).
Christmas decorations at Universal Studios Florida on November 17, 1998.
I *think* these “shooting star” decorations may have been from the Hollywood Boulevard area of the park.
Christmas decorations at Universal Studios Florida on November 17, 1998.
Of course the park has a Christmas tree.
Christmas decorations at Universal Studios Florida on November 17, 1998.
Christmas decorations at Universal Studios Florida on November 17, 1998.
Since Universal Studios was based on a movie backlot, its “lands” were supposed to be backlot filming sets based on different cities and such. Thus, the attractions were often placed in buildings that usually didn’t make sense. King Kong was an exception, since it was a public transportation ride located in a public transportation station building. It was decorated for happy holidays, in spite of giant gorilla inside…
Christmas decorations at Universal Studios Florida on November 17, 1998.
As I keep digging through my archives, I expect I may locate some photos of the in-between decorations the Disney parks had (Main Street and Frontierland, I think). Today, though, I think they go straight from Halloween to Christmas, with no room for anything in between like Thanksgiving or Fall.
As I go through my galleries, sometimes I find surprising things. For instance, I have evidence that I visited Universal Studios Florida in January 1999. I then have evidence that I returned in November to visit the newly-opened Islands of Adventure. Oddly, I didn’t go to the Universal Studios side during that trip. I just wasn’t that much into Universal Studios much back then. Today, with both sides having so many new attractions (and cool Harry Potter areas), I can’t imaging not visiting both!
But I digress.
After touring the preview center earlier in the year, I returned on November 16, 1999 to experience this new theme park. Unfortunately, my digital photos from that trip lost all date code information, so I can’t tell you the time in these photos, only the day.
My first view of Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
There were no crowds. It was very different than showing up to a Disney park early in the morning where people are lined up for rope drop.
No morning crowds at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
And no waits at any of the rides either!
No waits for rides at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
The lack of crowds continued as I walked through the park. The frustrating thing was that many of the rides were down during that morning, and it was actually a challenge to find something to do! Eventually they got them all running, but I was still able to ride everything in the park by the afternoon.
No crowds at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.No crowds at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
I remember being very impressed with how the park looked. So many details! It sure had that “Disney quality” look to it.
Disney-quality details at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
Even the carnival games section in Lost Continent was highly detailed, even if I thought these high end parks shouldn’t have carnival games sections. (I’m lookin’ at YOU, Animal Kingom’s DinolandUSA and California Adventure’s Pixar Pier!)
Highly detailed carnival games at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
And I was blown away by this restaurant! It was absolutely amazing inside and almost perfect. Almost.
Oak Tree Restaurant at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
That restaurant was one of my all-time favorite spots in any theme park. But, inside, there were rough edges that kept it from being 100%. For example, their menu boards, while nice, were illuminated by clamp-on lights like you’d find at a local hardware store! There were actually a number of “rough edges” throughout the park where it seems like they just didn’t bother going all the way.
Still, the Dueling Dragons coaster was nice and had a great queue leading in…
Dueling Dragons at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
…but, as you were walking out, there were some nicely detailed towers with wooden “shutters” on the windows. They didn’t paint the edges of the wood, leaving bare wood exposed and clashing with the rest of the theme. Details, guys, details. I wasn’t much of an “observer” back then, so I only noticed the things that really jumped out at me. And there were a lot.
And perhaps a bunch of these little things kept it from dominating over Disney from day one (though not having Mickey and all those Disney characters will always be a challenge). Still, it was better than any non-Disney thing I’d ever seen! I knew I’d be back.
Jurassic Park had an absolutely amazing Triceratops Encounter where you could get up close and personal with a “real” Triceratops as the park doctor examined it. I don’t think they allowed photos inside the attraction at first (they were far more restrictive back then), but I have a picture from the queue… (That’s me running video in the below image. I have a hours of video from that trip, somewhere.)
Triceratops Encoutner at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
My favorite “attraction” of the entire visit was the talking Mystic Fountain. I probably spent more time watching it taunt visitors (and squirt them with water) than anything else in the park that day! It could do so much.
Mystic Fountain at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
While the fountain remains in the park to this day, the version you see now is far more anemic than it was back then. Perhaps it’s because everyone is carrying expensive cell phones and they don’t want to ruin them. But, in 1999, it was all out water-war from this thing! I really need to dig out my 1999 video of the fountain to share sometime. Great stuff.
Skipping around a bit … An earlier version of Poseidon’s Fury was there, but it seems to look the same as today, as does Suess Landing. Funny enough, Green Eggs and Ham wasn’t open back then, either (and wasn’t on my last three visits to the park!). I don’t think I’ve ever gone when it was open.
Closed Eggs and Ham at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
But you could at least meet the Cat in the Hat!
Cat in the Hat at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
But you could NOT ride this monorail thing! It sat dormant for years before finally turning in to the current trolley ride, using different racks. Back then, they at least had an animated vehicle slowly moving around the tracks. I wondered for years what it was going to be used for, and finally got to see it in 2019.
Suess Landing monorail at Islands of Adventure on November 16, 1999.
As far as characters, I saw Dudley Do Right, Popeye, Olive Oyl, Betty Boop and several others over in Toon Lagoon. And lots of parents explaining to their kids just who these characters were. (Really, Universal? Betty Boop? I’m old, and I only know of her because of syndicated programs on a local UHF station in Houston in the 1970s, before cable.)
Overall, it was a fun first visit, with so much potential, but there were just so many bits and pieces that didn’t feel completely done (and they remained that way for years). New pavement was already cracked. There was already mold growing around the bases of water rides. And just a general lack of spotlessness that Disney had conditioned us to.
But, it was clear Disney had it’s first real competitor and I was eager to see what would happen in coming years.
And since I recently bought my very first Universal Studios annual pass, I’d say they’ve done great work. And a huge portion of that work was ready to go back in 1999.
It’s not very often you get to visit a “new” theme park during it’s first season. I’m glad I was there.
Who would have thought that one day Harry Potter would come along and cause a large portion of this park to be ripped out and replaced with Hogwarts?
