 Today we're back in Florida as we take a look at the Holidays at Universal Orlando Resort. Both parks are decked out for the Holidays and look amazing. Let's take a look!! Written by Renée Girard Stopping by Universal Orlando this afternoon for some holiday entertainment.  The old Terminator building is all decked out for Christmas.  It’s snowing in Diagon Alley!  Christmas decorations are up in the London area outside of Diagon Alley.    The holiday additions to Diagon Alley are pretty subtle but nice.     Fast & Furious Supercharged construction progress.    It’s time for the all new Universal’s Holiday Parade featuring Macy’s.   The minions and the rest of the gang from Despicable Me kick off the Universal Holiday Parade. 
Characters from Madagascar and Shrek featured in balloons and floats for the parade.     Santa Claus comes to town for the grand finale of the Universal Holiday Parade, and the tree lights up for the evening.     I loved Puss in Boots’ Santa costume!  We didn’t make it in time for a Grinchmas show, but still took in the sights of Seuss Landing.    Oh, and the lines today? Super short to non existent. It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  Took in another viewing of the holiday show on Hogwarts Castle, and it’s such a wonderful addition.   
    It’s been great to see new things for the holidays this year at Universal Orlando!  Related Updates:
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 Happy Tuesday everybody and welcome to some fun early week speculation. Just like we did with NintendoLand last year (or was it earlier this year) we're going to have some fun with some park stuff that may or may not happen (let's face it, it's probably not going to happen). But that's not going to stop us. Written by Gregg Condon A couple of things have inspired this, so we're not TOTALLY coming out of left field. First, reports that a TV series based on The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings is in development. Which means only one thing, the suit between Warner Brothers and that of the estate of Tolkien that was resolved in July has led to a softening of the relationship and they are ready to work together again. This had to do with characters in The Hobbit Movies used in online slot machines and other games which led to the Tolkien estate not trusting Warner Brothers anymore. And who could blame them.  So let's look at that aspect of it first. I think anybody who's a fan of Tokien's work could tell you the Hobbit Movies were a HUGE disappointment. For me, The Hobbit is my favorite all-time book. It's the first book I remember reading growing up and I've read it every couple of years since. I was very excited about these movies, and even re-watched them over the weekend once this news broke, just to refresh myself with them. Now I will say, on this recent re-watch I actually enjoyed them more than I had before. Sure, the movies aren't close to the book AT ALL, but a few scenes such as "Riddles In The Dark" are perfectly done. But at the end of the day, there was way too much added, too much from the book not in the movies, WAY too much CGI and WAAAAAAY too much color correction done for these movies to be part of my yearly rotation. In fact, this was a problem we all could have seen coming with the release of Return of the King which suffered from the same over-use of CGI and color correction. But I digress ...  So all that being said, I'm actually interested to see where a Hobbit and/or Lord of the Rings series could go. A lot more time for character development for sure. Because we all know why all those battle scenes were added to The Hobbit, because there aren't many in the book, it is a children's book after all. Still, I'd love to see a straight book adaptation of both stories. And then have the side stories created with the input from the Tokien estate. That would be the perfect scenario for me, as a fan of the books. So why is a theme park site writing about this, and why is it in the Universal Studios section of the site?  Well in Orlando, it's been rumored for a LONG time that Universal Studios is planning on building a third park in the future. They've been buying land like crazy as we've written about quite a few times. And last week, they added another 100 acres of land in the proposed area of the third park where they already had purchased 450 acres in 2015. And today they announced 2 new hotels being built on the former site of Wet and Wild. So the expansion is coming, they are getting ready for it before they announce a 3rd park. (imagine that Disneyland Resort)  So what if the softening of the WB/Tolkien relationship happening the same week that Universal purchases even more land isn't a coincidence at all? Universal has worked with WB to bring theme park worlds to life, to the benefit of all. A theme park based on Tolkien's work has been rumored and thought of since long before Peter Jackson's movies made their debut in 2001. So maybe now is the time? The property is so rich in character, so steeped in literary history it'd be hard to pass up the chance to turn this into a themed environment.  The possibilities are endless. In the Tolkien works you have the possibility for both thrill and family attractions. Dining with the Dwarves. Drinking with the Hobbitses. Singing with the Elves. Do we think there will be a complete park based on Lord of the Rings? No. But a fantasy park with a Tolkien based land as one of the main anchors, it's definitely something that could happen. And that trip to visit Middle Earth may be as close as Orlando in the very near future. What do you think? Is it finally time for the world of Middle Earth to come to the world of Central Florida? Would you be excited to have Middle Earth as an anchor of a 3rd Universal park? Related Updates:  Our Halloween coverage continues today with opening weekend of Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando. The Frequent Fear Pass is a thing of beauty which means we should have a few updates from this amazing event this season. Check out Renée's opening weekend fun. Written by Renée Girard Heading into Universal Orlando for the opening night of Halloween Horror Nights!  If you can do the Stay & Scream it's totally worth it!  American Horror Story is our first house of the night. It features Asylum, Coven & Roanoke from the series. Loved it!   Next up is Dead Waters. Very cool house with a voodoo theme. I just wish it was longer!  The Fallen wasn't one of the best houses, but maybe our timing was off and missed some scares.  I like the addition of the Tribute Store from last year, and how there are displays for some of the houses. #     The Purge scare zone is back once again, and it's always a crowd pleaser.     At Orlando HHN, where alcohol has always been served, it seemed like the options were more limited this year.   Really loved the Trick R Treat scare zone! Definitely the most elaborate and fun of those we experienced     Caught a performance of Bill & Ted tonight too, in their final HHN appearance. They will be missed. Be excellent to each other!  And it wouldn't be HHN without Mel's Die-In. That's all for tonight in Orlando, but we'll be back for more soon!  Back at HHN Orlando tonight!  Some of the houses are already getting longish wait times. So worth it to get here early!  Trying one of the signature drinks, Midnight Madness. Anyone know where to get the pumpkin, s'mores & candy corn drinks?   Characters from all the houses gather in the Alters of Horror scare zone at the front of the park.   Students of Hogwarts support the Purge.  Enjoyed visiting the vampires of The Hive. Creepy and cool house, really long too!   Walking through the Invasion scare zone, for terror that is out of this world.    Blumhouse was one of the ones I was looking forward to the most. So much fun!Featuring scenes from Sinister, Insidious & The Purge.   Lower crowds at HHN tonight than last night. Loving having a Frequent Fear Pass again. Be back in a few days I'm sure!   Related Updates: |
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