Studio TourTourAbout Studio TourThe heart of Universal’s Theme Park. Started in 1964, the back lot tour, now named “The Studio Tour” has given visitors a glimpse of one of Hollywood’s earliest movie pioneers, Universal Studios. With the aid of your tour guide, helped by on-ride high-definition video monitors, you get to learn how and where movies where made, as well as demonstrated special effects. The Studio Tour includes many demonstrations, such as Earthquake: The Big One, simulating a 8.3 Earthquake, Jaws, The Mummy, as well as other attractions during the tram. The Studio Tour lasts about 45 minutes. Some effects on The Studio Tour may be too intense for the young ones. A fire on June 1, 2008 destroyed some sections of the Studio Tour, including King Kong and the Back to the Future Courthouse Square sets. Courthouse Square has reopened, with a new Kong attraction slated to debut in Summer 2010. -- Last edited by Robert Niles [Update this description | Read previous versions] Photos from Studio Tour
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Readers' Opinions
The heart of the park, albeit campy and a little outdated. - Jacob Sundstrom Without the King Kong attraction and consistently uninspired tour guides, who mearly are now ride operators giving safety spiels and pressing on endless video clips throughout, this tour has really declined in value and entertainement every year. - John Towers I went when the King Kong portion was still in. Yes, it has been a while. Great ride, although the Jaws seemed corny... A definite, maybe 8/10. - JL Salaz 10/10 I literally think I've been on this 30 times. It's the original tram ride. It made me laugh, my friends cry, and my brother sit on the edge of his seat. It seams like they update it with new props once every two years. It always seams like a new ride whenever you go on it. You also get to see where they film the best movies in the whole world. - Jack Borgeson it is a good way to relax if you like seeing things explode, giant sharks trying to get you and most of all Norman Bates trying to murder everyone in the tram. thats what i call relaxing. - mark lunod I'm 22 years old and I hadn't been to USH since maybe 17. USH has always been my favorite theme park because I'm a huge movie fan and the Studio Tour is always my favorite experience because of the history it shows...but I was a little disappointed that this tour hasn't really been updated at all since my last visit. The cheesiness of the Access Hollywood hosts and Whoppi Goldberg segments during the tour kind of hamper the tour, but if you're lucky enough to get a good host, they're almost a non-factor. The Fast and the Furious stunt segment is unnecessary and a waste of time. Sundays are always the best days to take the Studio Tour because there's no filming on Sundays, so you usually get the full tour without detours and closed sets due to filming. On Sundays, you'll get to see Wisteria Lane, which is rare during the weekdays when they're usually shooting. However, if you must go during the week, hit the Studio Tour right when it opens. If you go on one of the first tours of the weekday, you might be lucky enough to get the full tour before filming starts up for the day. - Richard LaCuesta Our host was hilarious!!! We love this tour! Its so much fun and interesting! We loved it!! - Sarah E Amazing. Always different each time you go through due to the constant filming of movies, tv shows, etc. Due to an agreement with the New York Film Academy, there are workshops and classes to train and use the Back Lot for films etc. Only downside for repeat visits is that the constant use of sets can disrupt the Tour where some "Sets" aren't visited. last time I went, Earthquake was skipped, and a few years ago, King Kong was missed. Too bad the Fast and the Furious set didn't burn instead of King Kong. Honestly, no one cheered or laughed the last time I visited. That's probably the worst section of the Tour. - Brandon Mendoza This is INCREDIBLE i wish universal orlando had this. IT'S AMAZING. - Katie Michaels The studio tour continues to be the heart of USH. The attractions within the tour(Jaws, War of the Worlds, flash flood, the mummy, fast and the furious,and especially Earthquake) are classic and make the studio tour great. The guides are real knowledgeable of the sets and the history of the site. The bad thing about the studio tour is that some sites like the famous courthouse square from the greatest movie of all time(Back to the Future) are almost never accessible. Anyway the studio tour is a great attraction that is a must ride for any visitor to USH. Since each tram holds a large amount of people at the same time waiting times are never really that long. Avoid getting on the studios tour first thing in the morning as the wiser option would be to head down to the lower lot and experience the rides that do tend to develop longer lines throught the day. UPDATE- As most of you should know King Kong will never show up on the tour because of the backlot fire. It was one of the most detailed sets on the tour as well as a top highlight. I will definetely miss it.RIP Kong(1986-2008) - Manny Barron Believe me, around a year or two ago, this tour was fantastic, and I usually rode it two to three times. The problem started when they hired the Access Hollywood hosts to interrupt the tour every once in a while, which was extremely irritating and unnecessarily loud. Then they got rid of Ron Howard as one of the hosts and instead hired who? Whoopi Goldberg, who tries to seem humorous in every encounter, but will have you rolling your eyes instead. Also, since they're always shooting "Ghost Whisperers", we can never go into Courthouse Square anymore, which is my favorite part of the tour; same with Wisteria Lane. You can ride it once, but that's it. The tour's spoiled. - Bingley Lee The Heart Of Universal Studios! A must see! - Dan Rosenberg
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