After 22 years of thrills, Universal Studios Hollywood announced today that the fan favorite Jurassic Park attraction will close later this fall. “Jurassic Park – The Ride” will officially become extinct on September 3, 2018, says the press release encouraging fans to visit “one more time” before it closes for good. However, there is good news. The ride will be replaced with something even bigger and better.
“‘The one thing that the history of evolution has taught us is that life finds a way’ was famously uttered by Jurassic Park’s Dr. Ian Malcom. In the spirit of this pledge, Universal Studios Hollywood is rallying guests and fans to visit The Entertainment Capital of L.A. as it celebrates this epic ride and prepares for the arrival of the ‘Jurassic World Ride,’” says the theme park.
The new ride, which will open sometime in 2019, will be reimagined with a whole new storyline for a new “next-generation experience.” While the new ride will play homage to the current Jurassic Park -themed flume ride, the new Jurassic World ride is expected to be quite different and will be inspired by the later dino movies. Universal Studios describes that the new experience will be part expedition and part water ride, where the Indominus rex will star.
“On this river-raft adventure, get doused as a colossal Mosasaurus dives for its great white shark snack. But the real danger lies ahead when the brutal Indominus rex escapes its enclosure. Be prepared when a 50-foot Tyrannosaurus rex comes to your rescue… right before your final plunge down a treacherous 84-foot waterfall,” says the press materials for the new ride.
Universal Studios Hollywood opened “Jurassic Park – The Ride” in 1996, which was based on the Steven Spielberg film of the same name. It featured mechanical robots in the form of dinosaurs (some over five stories high) including Stegosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Dilophosaurus, Velociraptors, and the Tyrannosaurus rex. Currently, the ride sits next to The Jurassic Cove restaurant and the Jurassic Outfitters retail shop, but all will close in September for the dino-sized remodel. An opening date for the new attraction has not been announced at this time.
The fifth Jurassic movie, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom , opens in theaters on June 22, and a sixth movie has been planned to open sometime in 2021.