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00:00I think great work has to come with risk.
00:18If it is not risky, then why are you doing it?
00:22If you're too comfortable, you probably haven't dug as deep as you can
00:26in order to really mine the idea for something fresh.
00:30There are no guarantees that what you're doing is going to work.
00:40It is a massive, massive undertaking to have all of these different disciplines
00:45have to come together and actually get it done on time.
00:50We are approaching a very significant milestone in the development of this park,
00:54so we're getting to the end of the active construction phase.
00:58And once that is all in place, we turn over to our operations team.
01:03Just see us popping in and out of your operation, trying to learn, but we don't know, so just be patient with us on that.
01:09The operations team will take over running the park, and we're still going to be testing rides and finishing up.
01:16It's incredibly complex.
01:19Everyone's doing what it takes to bring this thing to life.
01:22Everyone at some point has a deadline.
01:24There aren't enough hours in the day, right, to get everything done.
01:27It's like, why am I dreaming about anchor bolts?
01:29Oh, okay, because we've got to check the anchor bolts.
01:33It's kind of a long dance that happens.
01:36These are very technologically advanced attractions, and so there's kind of a learning curve.
01:42We should be very well polished, and from a guest standpoint, look like we've been doing it for years.
01:47All right, well, welcome.
02:17So, if you carefully climb up here, this is the best view.
02:23Wow.
02:24My first impression looking at that is, do you have a lost child megaphone or a PA system?
02:31I mean, this is a huge, huge sprawl.
02:35It's a big sprawl.
02:36One of the great experiences of my career has been the opportunity to work with Steven Spielberg.
02:42And we could use those actual assets, and then Steven Spielberg is a very special consultant
02:47that has been involved in all of the Universal Studios theme parks for many decades.
02:52And he's been a consultant on this park.
02:55All right, let's get you geared up, and we'll go out and tour around.
02:59He's been a great source of inspiration for us.
03:02Okay, ready?
03:03Steven is a legend, particularly here at Universal.
03:08From the first day, I stepped foot onto the Universal lot.
03:12I've been thinking about Steven Spielberg and his legacy and what he means to Universal.
03:17All right, let's just walk up here and get a good look.
03:20In many ways, Universal in recent history is the studio that Steven built.
03:26Yeah, so you would have come through the portal, and this is the big reveal.
03:30This is gobsmacking, jaw-dropping.
03:36God.
03:37I don't think you can sense the scale on my camera at all, what you can see with the eye.
03:42That is incredible.
03:44Let me get a picture of that, too, if I could.
03:46Hold on one second.
03:47I'm going to get both.
03:47Here we go.
03:48Just to show progress.
03:50Wow.
03:51He's a movie director.
03:52What do you expect?
03:53I had to do that.
03:54I was a fan of Spielberg's movies, I think, going back to Duel.
04:01I was just so captivated by how he would create that kind of intensity with very little dialogue.
04:09I couldn't wait to see Jaws.
04:12It drove an hour, which was a long way for me as a kid to go see it, and scared the living crap out of me.
04:19It is as if God created the devil and gave him Jaws.
04:29The only person that still terrorizes me is, thank you, Steven Spielberg.
04:35Every time I walk into the sea, I suddenly hear, dun-dun-dun-dun.
04:41It wasn't a horror film in itself.
04:45It was a psychological thriller to me, and the use of the tools of cinema to do that were so powerful.
04:53It cuts even closer to your experience as a human being, and he was so good at that.
05:00It was huge, and it was the beginning of these films that were just huge box office hits in lots of theaters at the same time.
05:08Smoking loge is sold out. Seats downstairs in the first seven rows only.
05:14Jaws was a global phenomenon, and it was universal property.
05:21So Jay Stein had this ingenious idea.
05:24With Jaws, we wanted to do something different.
05:30He had the foresight to be like, can we put this on the tram tour?
05:33And Steven Spielberg was game.
05:36This had never been done before.
05:39You had never had a film be a massive global hit, and then replicated in a theme park within 12, 14, 16 months.
05:49We really got to tell a story.
05:53It took a while to unfold.
05:56And you could experience what you can from the film.
06:01When they built the Jaws ride, I learned a big lesson.
06:13And that is, if an audience really wants to participate in something and get really emotionally involved,
06:18they are going to suspend their disbelief.
06:22When that shark comes out of the water and scares people,
06:25that's really fake.
06:29It's really fakie, but it works.
06:31Because people come on that ride expecting to be scared,
06:34and they're going to look past the flaws of a big steel polyethylene monster,
06:41somewhat resembling a great white shark,
06:43that suddenly comes out of nowhere and surprises all of them.
06:46They allowed us to get away with it, because they wanted a bang for their buck.
06:50And they got it with Jaws.
06:56This is what made us unique.
06:59We wanted to change the theme of theme parks
07:03by enhancing the realism of a ride experience.
07:09Now, today, some of these rides are done so realistically,
07:16with all the mixed media they use.
07:19The mixed digital media, the analog rides, transportation vehicles,
07:24the combination of lighting, art direction, smoke.
07:28It's incredible how realistic it is.
07:31And, of course, it makes it easier for the audience
07:33to completely buy into the experience.
07:35My name is Katie Pacitti,
07:46and I am the executive producer
07:47of How to Train Your Dragon, Isle of Berk.
07:51It's just a great film, right?
07:53The storytelling is great.
07:55It is a story about Hiccup finding his own path and his own way.
08:01I'm not one of them.
08:02I've worked for Universal Creative for almost 20 years.
08:08And when the movie first came out in 2009, 2010,
08:11I went into work the next day,
08:13and I said to my boss at the time,
08:14I want to build Berk.
08:17My name is Dean Deblois,
08:18and I am a writer and director of How to Train Your Dragon.
08:22The aim is always to make a film
08:23that I and my colleagues would find entertaining and fulfilling.
08:27So, very early on, we went to Scotland,
08:31specifically to the Isle of Skye,
08:33and filmed the coastlines
08:35and these towering sea stacks and rock formations.
08:38Those tended to be the lands that the Vikings did settle.
08:42It's just such a spectacular place
08:45where the scale feels almost unreal.
08:48What separates Berk from the other themed lands
08:53is one, we're the largest land.
08:54We have six attractions.
08:59And I think it's the scale of everything,
09:02because for us, everything has to be Viking size.
09:06I always tell my team,
09:08Stoic was 6'9", weighed 350 pounds.
09:11He needs to look like he's in scale to everything.
09:13So when you walk around Berk,
09:15you'll notice that everything is huge.
09:18I didn't think that a world could happen.
09:21It's too big of an undertaking.
09:25But then, all of a sudden,
09:26they were showing us plans for what they were doing,
09:29and they gave us a whole presentation.
09:30I thought, this seems incredible.
09:32Guests will keep you honest.
09:34They want to see what they've seen in the films.
09:37So we've got the mountain
09:39and Mead Hall within the mountain,
09:41just like you see in the films.
09:42And from the third movie,
09:44we brought in all of the dragon houses.
09:46People grew up with these movies,
09:49and you need to deliver.
09:53Do you need me to help you?
09:58Byron, you're caught on some.
09:59Yeah.
10:01Our engineering team came to me, like, in 2017, 2018.
10:06It's like, hey, you're doing a Dragon's Land.
10:09If we were going to do a drone,
10:10how fun would that be?
10:11And I'm like, let's do it, right?
10:14This is our Monstrous Nightmare drone.
10:17There's the Monstrous Nightmare.
10:19They have this nasty habit of setting themselves on fire.
10:24You're making this world where you've got dragons.
10:27They just sort of fly around every day.
10:29Why wouldn't you want to try and recreate that?
10:31Well, it's a little hard.
10:35Right now, he's not flying
10:37because we're putting in larger battery packs.
10:41But then we wanted to sort of push the envelope a little bit
10:44and have a drone that actually has flapping wings
10:48so that it seems more lifelike.
10:53They're going to fly around the flight field.
10:57It's sort of in the back of our land,
11:00so you're going to be able to see them
11:02from every part of the land.
11:07So what is the next step for this guy?
11:10Trying to make it not so loud.
11:15They're loud.
11:16It's like a helicopter above.
11:17I mean, this is a...
11:19It's an industrial drone, right?
11:21It's not something that you're going to get
11:22under the Christmas tree.
11:23So it's quite...
11:25It's just loud.
11:27We're just trying to get this whole program together
11:30considering that it is probably a little bit more difficult
11:33than we anticipated.
11:36A lot of stress sometimes
11:38depending on what type of testing we're doing.
11:42There's still a lot to do.
11:44The end of a project is usually the most hectic.
11:51We are imminently turning the space over to operations.
11:55We have what we call a handover.
11:57And that is when Universal Creative,
12:00which is the team that builds everything,
12:02we hand that over to operations
12:04who will operate it on a daily basis.
12:06The parks have to operate 365 days a year,
12:1016 hours a day.
12:11Still a few bucks to work out.
12:13It's a lot of moving pieces.
12:14There's a lot of components.
12:15Right now, everything is glitchy.
12:17And so we just have to make sure that everything works
12:20before we have to hand over.
12:22This is our only working unit right now,
12:24so the risk of flying it non-tethered
12:27and not mounted to anything
12:28is a little bit of a stressful situation,
12:31but it's going to be very rewarding once it all works.
12:34People are very excited about it,
12:35which I think kind of probably puts more pressure
12:37on these guys to make it as real as possible.
12:47I'd like to welcome you all
12:49on behalf of Universal Studios Florida,
12:52which will be open in Orlando next year.
12:57Now, the folks at Walt Disney World
12:58may well have put Orlando, Florida on the map,
13:01but soon theirs won't be the only game in town.
13:03It was a major move on the company's part,
13:07the initial step into Orlando,
13:09to say, we're going to go after this
13:11and do something bigger than we've ever done before.
13:14And I credit Jay with being able to sell that vision.
13:18If we wanted to grow and compete,
13:22we needed to locate in Orlando.
13:26The risk was right next to Disney World,
13:29a proven commodity
13:32that was not going to take kindly
13:35to any competition in the neighborhood.
13:38Florida, you have to give
13:39the Walt Disney Company credit.
13:40Walt went there and turned Orlando
13:42into, like, a theme park hub.
13:44So it made sense to go there.
13:46This is where people are already going
13:48to experience a theme park.
13:50But Universal starting to enter that space in the 80s,
13:54there were a couple decades behind.
13:56At that point,
13:57the Walt Disney Company had had multiple theme parks.
13:59In 1988 or so,
14:09I was one of the three architects
14:11and part of this small team of people
14:14that were building the park.
14:16And Jay Stein was the chairman.
14:20It became apparent to me very quickly
14:23that Jay was a force to be reckoned with
14:27in terms of vision and discipline
14:30and drive to succeed in what we were doing.
14:34We came in knowing how formidable
14:36and powerful Disney was.
14:39They've never had any competition before.
14:42We're going to give them some.
14:44Jay was a guy that you kind of feared.
14:46He was very direct.
14:49You didn't want to ever upset Jay.
14:51Pressure was a constant.
14:54There was always pressure to be successful.
14:57The idea of failure is not an option.
15:00It was pretty clearly impressed upon you
15:03that we're going to succeed at this.
15:06We're going to build things
15:07that the world has never seen.
15:08And ultimately,
15:10that became part of the evolution
15:13and the revolution that is now epic.
15:26Every day there's challenges.
15:29But one of the great things
15:31is that we have this amazing team
15:33that comes together
15:35and can figure out anything.
15:36Happy morning!
15:38Within Celestial Park,
15:40we have Stardust Racers,
15:42which is the dual racing roller coaster.
15:50So you have two ride vehicles.
15:54They race each other over the course.
15:59It's a three-minute ride,
16:01and it's one of the longest roller coasters
16:04Universal has ever created.
16:05One of the unique things about it
16:08is that at night,
16:10the vehicles have this beautiful,
16:12intricate lighting pattern.
16:17No matter where you're at in the park,
16:19you can look over and see
16:20what look like shooting stars
16:22through the night sky.
16:23Tito, are you on channel?
16:32Go ahead.
16:33Once RV2 launches,
16:34we are going to dispatch RV4.
16:38Copy that.
16:40My name is Christian Gomez.
16:43I work in the Department of Ryan Show.
16:45I'm a mechanic.
16:46I normally start at 6 a.m.
16:50until 2.30.
16:52My job is doing inspection.
16:54I make sure the ride is operational,
16:57fixing any problem,
17:00make sure that it's safe
17:01for the riders.
17:04Go ahead.
17:04Safety is always number one on our minds.
17:17Safety of our workers,
17:19safety of ourselves,
17:20safety of our guests.
17:21None of this happens
17:22if it's not done safely.
17:24So we have people whose job it is
17:25to monitor the safety
17:26so we can address any safety concerns.
17:29Go ahead.
17:29We are getting close
17:31to the operational handoff.
17:36So we're cycling attractions
17:38and then we cycle them again a lot
17:41to make sure they're going to work.
17:44They're going to work reliably
17:45and our guests are going to be assured
17:48of a flawless experience.
17:51How did they look
17:53when you guys ran it on track 1?
17:54Good.
17:55Yeah?
17:55Yeah.
17:56No problems.
17:58And the dummies, no problems?
17:59No, this side is good.
18:01All right.
18:01I'm going to let it go
18:03to the other side.
18:04All right.
18:06Today I'm going to be
18:07checking the water dummies.
18:09Perfect for this, man.
18:12These dummies,
18:14they seem like persons,
18:16but nobody gets hurt
18:18if something wrong happens.
18:21We check the dummies
18:22every cycle
18:23because, like, they move
18:25so we make sure
18:27that everything's safe.
18:29We're just going to do cycling
18:30with RV2,
18:30so that way it gets lapsed.
18:32And then once this train is done,
18:33we're going to put it back out
18:34and run more tests.
18:35Let's do it.
18:36So...
18:37A lot of tests, bro.
18:37A lot of tests.
18:38Not the way.
18:41When a guest walks in,
18:42they're not only assuming
18:45that everything is safe,
18:47they're not even thinking about it.
18:49They're just walking in
18:50and in some cases
18:51really transporting themselves
18:54into a completely different place.
18:57It's our job, then,
18:59to spend a lot of time
19:00trying to outthink our guests
19:03in terms of how they're going
19:05to use the facility
19:06without our guests
19:08actually even knowing
19:09that it's happening.
19:12We've got a really nice
19:13afternoon and evening setting up,
19:15but a busy breeze.
19:16It's just going to be
19:16a real windy time,
19:17so as you're driving around,
19:19both hands on the wheel...
19:21Do you want me in there
19:21or do you want me
19:22at the computer with...
19:23The computer.
19:24Sunny.
19:24Okay.
19:25Today we're working
19:26on a drone
19:26of the monstrous Nightmare Dragon,
19:29and we will be performing tests.
19:31I think the biggest challenges
19:33we've encountered
19:34are trying to hit that target
19:36where we can find
19:37a safe wind speed,
19:39safe conditions,
19:40so that we can continuously
19:41run the show for guests.
19:43The wind is the big issue
19:45right now.
19:46Oh, these gusts.
19:48I know.
19:49All right,
19:50so is everybody ready?
19:51Yep.
19:51Yep.
19:52All right.
20:06Yeah, Alec,
20:09that definitely seemed
20:09a little more wobbly.
20:10Okay.
20:11I agree.
20:12One of the biggest challenges
20:13we've had is its shape.
20:15We have wings that go off
20:1710 feet,
20:185 feet in each direction,
20:19and then we have head,
20:20neck, tail,
20:21all moving all
20:22at the same time,
20:23so moving that with a drone
20:24that we're already trying
20:25to program has brought
20:26a little bit of challenge
20:27in with the winds,
20:28with the weather,
20:29with the schedule coming down
20:31to a very close end.
20:34We're going to have to ground
20:35it for a minute
20:35because we can't have
20:37these gusts.
20:39Yeah, this wind.
20:41I know.
20:41I don't know.
20:42It's a bummer.
20:43The wind is picking up.
20:46The gusts have to be immersed
20:47in this world,
20:48and we need to give it
20:50that extra oomph
20:51that it's not just
20:52a flying drone.
20:53It's actually a dragon
20:53that looks real to everybody.
20:57So, unfortunately,
20:58we won't have the final product
20:59ready for opening day.
21:02All right.
21:03But we're trying to get
21:04up in the air
21:04as soon as we can
21:05to start showcasing this
21:06and surprising the guests
21:07in the park.
21:25I don't have so much
21:27a creative team
21:28as I have a creative family.
21:29Making movies
21:33is a collaborative art form.
21:35That's the key,
21:37and I think that's
21:37what's so attractive
21:38for people who love
21:39this kind of existence.
21:43You get caught up
21:44in the making of something
21:45with all these other people,
21:47and I think that philosophy
21:48carried over in the way
21:49that we worked with Stephen
21:50over the years.
21:52We're so close to each other.
21:54We all show up on the set
21:55in the morning.
21:55We can kind of read
21:57each other's minds.
21:58You're working so hard
21:5924-7.
22:01It really becomes a family.
22:04In the context
22:06of theme parks,
22:08that sense of collaboration
22:09and trust and partnership
22:11is critically important
22:13to do what we do.
22:15It's folks
22:16from very different walks of life,
22:18folks who have
22:18very different skill sets,
22:20having a shared vision,
22:22moving toward it together.
22:23You can't actually do it alone.
22:27Like, there's literally
22:27no possible way.
22:29I always felt that
22:31to compete with Walt Disney,
22:33you needed a credible,
22:36creative mind
22:38that would be on a par
22:41with Walt Disney,
22:42and that kind of narrows the field.
22:46Steven Spielberg
22:47is the most successful
22:49movie maker in history.
22:50Now, he is helping
22:52to design a tour
22:53at the new Universal Studios
22:55in Florida,
22:55scheduled to open
22:56to the public next year.
22:59The beauty of a theme park
23:01is that people are looking
23:03for a way
23:04in which they can become
23:05immersed further
23:06in a story.
23:08And I think Steven's interest
23:09is that he was world-building.
23:13People like Steven Spielberg
23:14that have so much passion
23:15in the art world
23:16bring that passion
23:18to the park space.
23:20He encouraged us
23:22to keep trying to get better.
23:24They asked for my imagination,
23:26and I gave it to them
23:27because, to me, it was fun.
23:29It was fun creating things
23:30that people had only seen in 2D,
23:33and now they were going
23:34to enter a fourth dimension
23:36to be able to, you know,
23:38ride the movie.
23:39I thought of this line,
23:40ride the movies,
23:41which is what this is really
23:42all about.
23:43You come here,
23:43and you ride on the movies.
23:44My first encounter
23:45with Steven
23:46was walking into his office
23:48at Amblin
23:49with a big roll of drawings.
23:53Well, they presented me
23:54with some ideas, storyboards,
23:55just like in a movie.
23:57Laying out the drawings
23:58on the floor,
23:59and the three of us
24:00sitting around on the floor
24:01talking about how people
24:03were going to move
24:04through this environment.
24:06And I would say,
24:07well, why don't you do this?
24:08And they'd say,
24:08that's a good idea,
24:09then we can do this.
24:10And I'd say,
24:10and on top of that,
24:11why don't you do this?
24:12And go around that corner,
24:13and we can see ETs.
24:14We can see what little
24:15baby ETs look like.
24:16I left that meeting thinking,
24:18I am in a different world.
24:20And it's a pretty cool one.
24:24Michael Eisner,
24:25the CEO of the Walt Disney Company
24:26at the time,
24:28was watching Universal Studios
24:31and what Universal was doing
24:32with the same parks
24:33very closely.
24:35And one obvious example of that
24:36is Universal had its association
24:39with Steven Spielberg
24:40and had its association
24:42with Steven Spielberg's films.
24:46The Disney Company,
24:47at the time,
24:47was struggling
24:48with its animated films,
24:49didn't necessarily have
24:50a major movie hit.
24:52The Disney Company said,
24:53who is the only filmmaker
24:54of this era
24:55who rivals Steven Spielberg?
24:57And that would be George Lucas.
24:58So the Disney Company went
25:00and was able to strike a deal
25:01with George Lucas.
25:01And now at Disney,
25:02I'm able to tap his mind
25:05and his creativity
25:05in art of theme parks.
25:08This led to Disney
25:09working with Star Wars properties.
25:11Roger control.
25:12All status go.
25:13Indiana Jones properties.
25:15And then the Walt Disney Company
25:16said,
25:17we're going to build
25:17a movie park in Florida.
25:19Another piece of the Disney empire
25:21is now open.
25:22Lights!
25:23Camera!
25:24Action!
25:25Our movie park
25:26is going to have a tram tour.
25:27And our movie park
25:28is going to be
25:28a working studio.
25:30You're going to see animators
25:31work on our animated films.
25:34We're going to film
25:35television series there.
25:36This didn't fit well
25:38with Jay Stein.
25:39I think you'll find
25:39that we're a very
25:40formidable competition.
25:41Universal may be
25:42in Disney's backyard,
25:44but the message
25:45from its executive
25:46seems to be,
25:47we ain't afraid
25:48of no mouse.
25:49In entertainment news
25:50this morning,
25:51you guessed it,
25:51a big lawsuit.
25:53The folks here
25:53claim Disney stole the idea,
25:55copied the plans,
25:56and got there first.
25:58He believed this was
25:59his idea for a theme park.
26:01He believed this is
26:02what differentiated
26:03what would become
26:03the Universal theme park
26:04from everything
26:05Disney had built.
26:07At Universal's Jaws ride,
26:08the 24-foot shark
26:10devours a boat,
26:11and among the debris
26:12floating to the surface
26:13is a pair of mouse ears.
26:16I decided that
26:17when we opened
26:18Universal, Florida,
26:20our rides wouldn't be nice.
26:22We tried to surprise them
26:25with unexpected
26:27and thrilling experiences.
26:33As the executive consultant
26:43for all the theme parks,
26:45I've been advocating
26:46for a monster ride
26:47to rival Disney's
26:49Haunted Mansion
26:50in Anaheim.
26:52It had to be
26:5310 or 15 years ago.
26:55I was sitting
26:56with Stephen somewhere,
26:58and he had an idea
27:00for a monster attraction.
27:05And every time
27:06I would see him
27:07over the years,
27:07he'd always ask,
27:08you know,
27:09what about that horror attraction?
27:11And I called him
27:13when we were getting
27:14ready to do Epic,
27:15I said, Stephen,
27:16remember that attraction
27:17we talked about?
27:18It's going to be
27:19Dark Universe.
27:20When we set out
27:29to create Dark Universe...
27:31Oh, thank you.
27:32Yeah.
27:32We wanted to create
27:33a world that was built
27:35on the foundation
27:36of all the classic
27:37Universal monsters.
27:39We've got Mileva.
27:40Hey, guys.
27:40Hey.
27:41How you doing?
27:41All right.
27:42So that the Universal monsters
27:43can live on
27:44for another 100 years.
27:46All right, let's get her
27:47over to Darkmoor.
27:48Got her.
27:49My name is Peter Carcillo.
27:53My role here is
27:53as the Senior Creative Director
27:55of all of Dark Universe.
27:56Go straight, go straight,
27:57go straight.
27:58Now turn left.
27:59The other way.
28:00Other left.
28:01So we've had Mileva
28:02ready to go
28:03for a couple months now
28:04and she's been
28:04in our warehouse.
28:06Today is the day
28:07that we are bringing
28:08her to site
28:09and setting her up
28:10inside the attraction
28:11Curse of the Werewolf.
28:13A lot heavier
28:13than she looks.
28:14I'm glad we didn't
28:15make her bigger.
28:16All right, we'll
28:20see you over there.
28:21Okay.
28:21We've been working
28:22on Curse of the Werewolf
28:23for about three and a half,
28:25four years now.
28:27You know, we really wanted
28:28to retell the whole story
28:29of the Wolfman
28:31where you go out
28:32into the woods
28:32and you meet up
28:33with this mystic
28:35named Mileva.
28:36Go inside.
28:37And she warns you
28:39that you bear
28:40the Curse of the Werewolf.
28:42Oh, I'm sick
28:43of the whole thing.
28:43I'm going to get out
28:44of here.
28:44Whoever is beaten
28:47by a werewolf
28:48and lives
28:49becomes a werewolf
28:50himself.
28:51And so the chance
28:52to kind of reinvent
28:53that, create a new
28:54character from Mileva
28:55and keep moving
28:57this story forward
28:58was just super exciting.
29:00Yeah.
29:01All right, you got her
29:01by the shoulders?
29:02I got her by the shoulder.
29:03All right, hold on.
29:03I'll grab that.
29:04All right?
29:05Mileva is such
29:06a special piece
29:07of this entire attraction.
29:08All right, I got it.
29:09Today's the day
29:09when we complete it
29:10and make it perfect.
29:11And you tell us
29:12where she needs to go.
29:13Curse of the Werewolf
29:18is an outdoor
29:18spinning coaster.
29:26And Mileva,
29:27she kind of runs
29:28things around here
29:29because she immediately
29:31sends you out
29:32into danger
29:33where you're attacked
29:35by two of the most
29:35humongous,
29:36ferocious werewolves
29:37that you've ever seen.
29:40And Mileva gives you
29:41the bad news
29:41that you are now
29:42a werewolf.
29:44So just beware
29:45of the moon, right?
29:48All right.
29:49Okay, gently.
29:49I haven't seen her
29:50in person yet.
29:51Wow.
29:52She looks great.
29:54All right.
29:55Wow, her eyes fall at you.
29:59That's what you want.
30:00Perfect.
30:00That's a good thing, right?
30:02That's good.
30:03All right.
30:03All right.
30:04Let's mark her.
30:06I grew up loving monsters.
30:09I have pictures of me
30:10as a kid
30:10making myself up
30:11as all these monsters.
30:13Dracula, Frankenstein,
30:14the Wolfman.
30:16And so
30:16to be able to contribute
30:18to the world
30:18of Universal Monsters
30:19and to grow
30:20new characters
30:21and new stories
30:22is just
30:23the greatest
30:24privilege ever.
30:26Yay!
30:27Yes!
30:30I know.
30:32Wow.
30:33Oh, my gosh.
30:34Yeah?
30:34Yeah.
30:35Fantastic.
30:35She looks awesome.
30:38What are you doing?
30:39What is this pose?
30:52There's so much work
30:57that all this stuff
30:58just needs to get
30:59cleaned up a little bit.
31:00Yeah.
31:01My name is Kim Greitzer
31:02and I am the creative director
31:04for Harry Potter
31:05and the Battle at the Ministry.
31:07I love Harry Potter.
31:08I love all
31:09of the Harry Potter movies.
31:11The moment
31:12when Harry first
31:13steps into the Ministry,
31:15that's the first time
31:17anybody ever saw
31:18the Ministry.
31:18he has this
31:22odd face.
31:25You had it one day
31:26yesterday.
31:27There's a lot of
31:27galleons trading
31:28on the post.
31:28Daily cross.
31:29I was like,
31:29this is what
31:30we want everyone
31:31to feel.
31:32Doors and dump.
31:33Doors and dangerous.
31:35Harry steps
31:37into the Ministry
31:37and it's magical.
31:46The first time
31:46anybody is going to
31:47walk into Ministry of Magic
31:48whether you're a Potter
31:49fan or not
31:50it takes your breath away.
31:53You look up
31:54and it looks like
31:55the offices
31:55go on in infinity
31:57and you have that
31:59moment of wish fulfillment
32:01that every Harry Potter
32:02fan wants to see
32:03where they're standing
32:05in the Ministry of Magic.
32:08The Ministry of Magic
32:10is a great addition
32:12and we are
32:14very excited
32:15and working really hard
32:16to make sure
32:17that it's perfect
32:18for the guests.
32:20So to catch you up,
32:21we've been testing
32:22quite a bit.
32:23The goal is to get
32:24the entry side
32:24fully tested
32:25so we can turn it
32:26over fully to operations
32:27so it's ready
32:28for them to go
32:29and use.
32:29Okay.
32:31I'm going to take
32:32a look at the lighting.
32:34Today,
32:34Jeremy and I
32:35are going to look
32:36at the remaining work
32:37that we have to do.
32:38We're going to take
32:39a look at the flue.
32:40We're going to look
32:41at the overall painting
32:42and just little touch-ups
32:44here and there
32:44to make sure everything
32:46is fine-tuned and done
32:48before we hand it over
32:49to our operations partners.
32:51Jeremy,
32:51do you know
32:51if there are spacers
32:53that go in here at all
32:55or no?
32:56It is an ongoing
32:56discussion facility.
32:57It's important
32:58that the handover
32:59to operations
33:00goes smoothly
33:01and thoroughly
33:02so that they can
33:04start taking care
33:05of the attraction.
33:06That way,
33:07they can get it
33:08up and running.
33:09And then the other
33:10thing that I want to do
33:11is bring some
33:11of this black soot
33:12kind of like
33:13through the grate.
33:14Understood.
33:15Yeah.
33:16The handover
33:16to operations
33:17puts a lot of pressure
33:18on our team
33:19because we have
33:21to make sure
33:22that those last-minute
33:23fixes need to get done
33:25in a very timely manner.
33:26It's just the time
33:27it takes
33:27to dial in
33:28those details.
33:29That's right.
33:30The clock
33:31is definitely ticking.
33:45There's a lot
33:45of similarities,
33:46I think,
33:47between the movie
33:48production business
33:49and the theme park
33:50production business.
33:51I think we want
33:52to evoke the rush,
33:54the fear,
33:55the fun,
33:56the overcome,
33:57the, you know,
33:58all of that kind
33:58of stuff
33:59is what we get
33:59to play with
34:00and also the perks
34:01do too.
34:02Action, action, action!
34:05Action is propelling it,
34:07connecting the audience
34:09to it.
34:11Hello?
34:12When you can take
34:13those relationships
34:13and those stories
34:14that the audience
34:15have fallen in love with
34:15and immerse them now
34:17and physically touch them
34:20in those places,
34:21it stays with you longer.
34:22I am Dr. Victoria Frankenstein.
34:25I think that's one
34:27of the reasons
34:27these theme parks
34:29have been so successful.
34:30Because not only
34:32are you invited
34:33behind the scenes,
34:35but you get to experience
34:37your favorite cultural
34:39phenomenons
34:40as a participant,
34:42not just an observer.
34:45When you go on a ride,
34:47the story is alive.
34:49It's been activated
34:50within you.
34:52And it feeds back
34:53to the movie.
34:54You know,
34:54so it's all one ecosystem.
34:57You get lost to yourself.
34:59You forget for a couple
35:00of hours who you are
35:02and you go into that world.
35:04And then when you come
35:06out of your immersion
35:07back into the harsh
35:09light of day,
35:10you reemerge
35:11and you say,
35:13I've really been someplace.
35:15Wow.
35:16I was really taken somewhere.
35:30The last thing you do
35:31is the music,
35:33but it's incredibly important
35:34because it creates emotion.
35:38The music is a full
35:40sensory experience
35:41that puts you
35:42in someone else's shoes.
35:43And that alone
35:45can give you an empathy
35:46for a person
35:47or a culture
35:48that will change
35:49the rest of your life.
35:51I think music plays
35:53a big role for anything
35:54in our world
35:56because it is the background.
35:58It's also the mood enhancer.
36:01The soundtrack that was created
36:03by John Powell
36:04is just beautiful.
36:06It's a soundtrack
36:07that just sort of gets you
36:08right here.
36:10We wanted a score
36:11that still had whimsy baked
36:12within it,
36:13but a bit more
36:15of a sophisticated,
36:16sweeping,
36:17grandeur and breadth
36:18to it.
36:19And certainly,
36:20John delivered on that front.
36:21My name is John Powell.
36:23I'm allegedly a composer.
36:27My family comes from Scotland,
36:28so I was brought up
36:30with a lot of Scottish music.
36:31So playing with that style of music
36:34kind of was actually
36:35very easy for me.
36:37Sorry, can I hear the horns?
36:38A theme park came up
36:48and it was like,
36:49what, there's going to be
36:49a whole world
36:50that's like Burke,
36:51you know,
36:51and people are going to be
36:52wandering around
36:53and things,
36:54and this idea
36:54that all that music
36:55was going to be playing.
36:56I just,
36:57and I immediately said,
36:58well, I'd love to be involved
36:59in that
36:59because I felt a responsibility
37:00to try and get that world
37:03to sound
37:04with the feelings
37:06and the energy
37:06we had created
37:07for the film.
37:12Come on.
37:14Okay, trumpets,
37:15if you could be
37:16a little bit more
37:17legato 101, please.
37:19He was willing
37:20to come and work with us
37:22even with his busy schedule.
37:24For the coaster,
37:25he sculpted
37:27basically the soundtrack
37:28for it.
37:29It was
37:31just a really fun process.
37:33I do like coasters,
37:35but I never even thought
37:36about how music
37:37could connect with that.
37:39I mean,
37:39most coasters
37:40are just roaring noise
37:41and you just scream
37:42at the top of your lungs.
37:44This coaster's different
37:46in the sense that
37:47I think it's very much
37:48about sort of a story,
37:50and that's very unusual.
37:51I love that.
37:53Hello, new Vikings.
37:54We're almost ready
37:55for your dragon's eye view
37:56of the island.
37:57So just step...
37:58The whole story
37:58of the coaster
37:59is that Hiccup
38:00has created this ride
38:02that we get to see
38:04what it's like
38:04to fly on a dragon.
38:05To tell you the truth,
38:08that's where I really
38:09sort of started
38:10to understand things.
38:11It's like,
38:11okay, well,
38:12this is the same thing.
38:13It's just experiential.
38:14It's a different experience.
38:15And then trombones.
38:21So you're kind of
38:21almost over the hill.
38:23There.
38:23That was the trick.
38:46Fantastic.
38:47Great.
38:47Got that.
38:48And so we started
38:52to sort of piece it
38:53all together
38:53with this knowledge
38:54of what each zone
38:56of this world would be.
38:59My favorite theme parks
39:00are ones that invite you
39:01into a world,
39:02and every attention
39:04to detail
39:05is something to marvel at.
39:07So I hope that our theme park
39:09does that for people.
39:10I'm the luckiest person.
39:18I'm the creative director
39:19for both shows.
39:21In How to Train Your Dragon,
39:22The Untrainable Dragon,
39:23and for Le Cirque a Canoe,
39:25based on Fantastic Beasts.
39:28Since I'm the overall show director,
39:30I'm in charge of the lighting,
39:32the audio design,
39:33the choreography,
39:34the costumes,
39:35the scenic design,
39:36the automation.
39:37I mean,
39:37it goes on and on and on.
39:38It becomes pretty busy
39:40because it's a lot
39:42going back and forward,
39:44making sure I see each cast.
39:45Hi, Sylvia.
39:46And really give each cast attention.
39:55Why don't we first trim the beard?
39:57Yep.
39:57Right?
39:58Because it's for the proportions.
39:59Yes.
40:00When you think of
40:01how big these shows are,
40:03how extensive and complete they are,
40:05and that we have two
40:06at the same time,
40:07it has been absolutely incredible
40:10when Sylvia has been able
40:11to oversee all of it.
40:14Maybe it is an untrainable dragon.
40:17Pick up, you can't give up now.
40:19The village needs you.
40:20The show is about
40:22an untrainable dragon.
40:24It's a very heartwarming,
40:25sweet story,
40:27and a beautifully produced show.
40:29Great job, you guys.
40:31I'm looking very forward
40:33to seeing everybody
40:34come in and enjoy it.
40:37I'm going to go now
40:38to see for the first time
40:40the performers
40:40in the puppeteer,
40:42the dragon, Stormfly.
40:44Oh, Stormfly.
40:46Like a girl.
40:49Come on down, come on down,
40:50come on down.
40:52Yep.
40:52You can bring your chin down.
40:54Stormfly, to be honest,
40:57is my most nervous concern.
41:02Hey, you are clear.
41:03It's an incredible,
41:06magnificent dragon,
41:07but it is very big
41:09for one human to carry.
41:10Now we're seeing the real thing.
41:14Yeah.
41:15It's a giant, right?
41:16It's a giant.
41:17It's like the whole room.
41:18You have to be very athletic,
41:20but you have to also
41:21have a perfect mindset
41:23to really embrace
41:25and to own this puppet.
41:28I think you have to go to him,
41:29pretending he's Astrid,
41:32and kind of go to...
41:33Over to your left tie?
41:34Yeah.
41:37And, yes.
41:38Lovely.
41:39Nice.
41:39Kind of a little nestling.
41:41Yeah, it's like,
41:41oh, look at this.
41:43There's Astrid.
41:44Working with the puppets
41:46is really exciting
41:47and probably the most
41:48important moment
41:49for the show.
41:50Are you hungry, girl?
41:55Because with puppets,
41:56you have to really
41:56bring the puppets to life
41:58so you feel like
41:59they're really there.
42:00So a lot of his eye line
42:01is actually going to be
42:03fairly high
42:04when he's looking at the...
42:05No, you know, to me,
42:06it should be fairly low.
42:08Okay.
42:08Because the audience
42:09is lower,
42:10seated lower, right?
42:11And to me,
42:12it's more about
42:12if the audience feels
42:14Stonefly looked at me,
42:16that's the emotional connection,
42:18right?
42:18Right.
42:19Because if they don't
42:19see those eyes,
42:20you lose 50% of their emotions.
42:22Yeah.
42:23Thanks, you guys.
42:24Good luck.
42:25Yeah.
42:25Good morning.
42:44As we get to the end,
42:46we are now turning things
42:48over to operations.
42:49Today was our first
42:50operation day
42:51with multiple worlds
42:52operating.
42:53There'll be kind of
42:54a dissolve
42:55between where we
42:57have ownership
42:57of the park
42:58and where the operators
42:59have ownership
42:59of the park.
43:00We have 4,000 team members
43:03on site
43:03and we are starting
43:04to train them
43:05on what it's going
43:06to be like
43:07to run the park.
43:09So they need
43:10to be engaged
43:11in the story.
43:12They need to understand
43:12the story.
43:13They need to understand
43:14our intentions.
43:14If there's little nuances
43:25that are close to your heart
43:26and from building this,
43:27we want to know those
43:28because those are the things
43:29we want to make sure
43:30with operational changes
43:31that happen
43:32that they stay intact.
43:33For now,
43:34I'm absolutely happy
43:35to talk about everything.
43:36So today we're walking
43:37the attraction show
43:38quality team,
43:39which is a part
43:40of the operations team,
43:41through the queue
43:42and what we're showing them
43:44is how it's supposed
43:45to look so that they
43:46can maintain that look
43:47throughout all of the years
43:49of operations.
43:51Let's talk about
43:52the graphics.
43:53You'll see the seams.
43:55That's actually intentional
43:56because in 1920s,
43:59how they would paste up
44:00the graphics,
44:01they would actually
44:01do it in sections
44:02and so that is part
44:04of the storytelling as well.
44:05Right, and so where
44:06the clean sweep,
44:08where it doesn't exactly
44:09line up perfectly,
44:09we want to maintain
44:10things like that
44:11to give it that authenticity.
44:13All right.
44:14Our flues.
44:16The goal for operations
44:17is that we're going
44:18to kind of figure out
44:18how we stage people
44:20so then they can walk
44:21directly through
44:22because that's really
44:23the best experience
44:24is just walking
44:25straight through.
44:26Got it.
44:27To hand this attraction
44:29over to operations,
44:31I do feel
44:32a little bittersweet.
44:34I've dedicated
44:34my whole life,
44:36well, for four years
44:37to this attraction
44:38and then to let it go
44:40is an exercise truly
44:42and just releasing
44:44the thing that you love
44:46to the wild.
44:48Let's walk through the queue
44:50and step into the ministry.
44:51She went fun.
44:52She went fun.
44:52My name is Brandon Wilton.
45:21I'm in the tech services department.
45:23I'm a riding show supervisor.
45:26I come in early in the morning.
45:28I'm here about 5 o'clock or so, 5.30 in the morning.
45:30So I get a chance to come in and coordinate with operations.
45:34We'll be up here to monitor and all that stuff.
45:36Yeah, we got you back, man.
45:38We'll take care of this.
45:39I mean, it just holds steam ahead from here, though.
45:41Absolutely.
45:42I think for me is that we're actually going to be, like,
45:44putting real people on this ride.
45:46Remember about six months ago when I told you
45:49that this was coming faster than you realized?
45:51It did.
45:52It did.
45:53To watch this come out of the dirt,
45:56this has been awesome.
45:58We're here to maintain the rides,
46:01to troubleshoot, repair, all that fun stuff.
46:04Once we get it to that spot,
46:08then we just hand it directly over to them,
46:10and then it's their venue.
46:12How you doing?
46:13Water.
46:14One in three are the only ones that have fallen so far, Jared?
46:17Yes.
46:18Good.
46:19So this morning we had some difficulty during startup
46:22with one of the tests.
46:23It's called a friction wheel test.
46:25We can tell that the motor's trying to turn,
46:28but it's not moving the train.
46:33Okay.
46:34We can always swap around and manually drive that if we need to.
46:37I want to watch this test one more time, though.
46:39Ready when you are.
46:41Good.
46:42All right, RV in the place.
46:44Car go.
46:52Test started.
46:54It's just the morning dew.
46:56That's all it is.
46:57We may need to run it several times
46:59for it to slip in that area before it dries out.
47:02It needs to dry up.
47:05We cleaned the bottom of the ride vehicle off
47:07to facilitate the appropriate amount of friction
47:09to be able to move the train.
47:11Then reinitiated the test.
47:14Woo-hoo!
47:15It passed.
47:16No problem.
47:17So now we're good.
47:18So we just need a tech ride.
47:20Perfect.
47:22The final thing that we do is we tech ride it.
47:27Good to go.
47:30We're looking for overall operations.
47:31We're listening for anything that's unusual,
47:34anything like that.
47:35What a ride, baby.
47:37Here we go.
47:45I think that was rides 11 and 12,
47:47so I'm sitting right at a dozen.
47:48The ride's incredible.
47:51If we complete the tech rides and they're good,
47:54then we have officially handed over to operations,
47:56and it's their venue.
47:58They're ready to facilitate just daily operations.
48:00Good to go.
48:01Good job.
48:02Way to work through that.
48:03Thank you, sir.
48:04It's all yours, guys.
48:05Call us if you need us.
48:06Of course.
48:07Yeah, man.
48:08We don't have a lot of time.
48:09I'm glad you're here with me, man.
48:10Honestly, being in this situation and alone will suck.
48:11It will suck.
48:12It will suck.
48:13It will suck.
48:14It will suck.
48:15It's definitely more fun to have a team together,
48:16but the pressure's on.
48:17I'm real stressed out because we've been working late hours
48:20at night, cuz during the day,
48:21we're over the last minute we start parties.
48:22Oh well wait,ĐžŃĐž's ready for somebody's
48:22Think around what we did during the night?
48:23Yeah, man we're
48:25the fact that we're crazy.
48:26iba cool is something intense
48:27the time when we go out,
48:27get ready, big extinguish water,
48:29the school day 90 day,
48:30can we find out too late for the day.
48:31Ya man, we don't have a lot of time.
48:31I'm glad you're here with me man, honestly.
48:33Cool.
48:34Being in this situation and alone
48:36would suck.
48:37It would suck.
48:37It would suck.
48:38It's definitely more fun to have a team together,
48:39but the pressure's on.
48:41I'm real stressed out because
48:43we've been working late hours at night.
48:46Because during the day, the operations
48:48has been doing a lot of training.
48:51So that's a bit of a time difference
48:54in how you make decisions.
48:57Update is, we've got a few more shots to review.
49:01We have a lot of stuff to review today, actually.
49:02So we're going to take you through it.
49:04Let's check it out, man.
49:05So yeah, should we go to scene four, maybe?
49:06Yeah.
49:07Do you need time to get rid of the frustration
49:11you got bottled up?
49:13We really don't have that much time left
49:15to refine certain things, refine the media,
49:18refine the programming, and tweak it to 100%.
49:22The blacks look a lot more black.
49:24Yeah.
49:25Seems like it's almost acceptable.
49:26I would brighten it up a little bit
49:28and make it more, like, warm.
49:30So it just matches the other ones a little bit.
49:33OK.
49:33If you're making something that the world's never seen,
49:36it's going to be hard.
49:38And, you know, if it was easy, it's usually not impressive.
49:42That means anyone can do it.
49:43We're going to scene three right now to look at the drag scene.
49:48So it's expected that we're going to be in this situation.
49:52But it's never easy when you're actually in this situation.
49:54Say what you think.
49:56I don't know how much time we want to put someone on this,
49:59you know, versus everything else we have going on.
50:02But how do we make the first two seconds of this cool?
50:08It needs to be a hook.
50:09Yeah, yeah.
50:10So we have to hook them in on the first two seconds.
50:13Yeah.
50:14It's 100 days until the actual park's open to everyone.
50:18And, you know, once people are riding it,
50:20it's really hard to change the first impression.
50:23So we just want to finish strong.
50:28Well, let us in!
50:29Well, let us in!
50:31Well, let us in!
50:32Well, let us in!
50:34Well, let us in!
50:35Well, let us in!
50:36Taking an aerial look down here
50:38and you can see the parking lot's quite full
50:40as far as the Universal opening is concerned this morning, inside.
50:44ladies and gentlemen welcome to universal studios florida you know the marketers
50:51always are pressing for an opening date and we didn't want to miss the summer season
50:58and so we committed to june 7. june 7th yes we get the shivers when that data set so yeah
51:07i had been with the company at that point for probably three months and it was no secret that
51:15this was a moment in orlando theme park market to say hey we're gonna make a stand and put
51:22a different take on the theme park business i was like yeah here we go
51:27there was a lot of stars we had cashed in kind of all of our chips to say come on out this is what
51:37we're doing we're dipping our big toe in this mr charlton heston this is going to be a great day
51:42i spent you know that opening day primarily guiding i think michael j fox i think i stepped on walter
51:51cronkite's foot i don't know there were a lot of things going on that day this has been a herculean
51:55effort on the part of many talented dedicated and sometimes very weary people now with the
52:02opening of universal studios florida the highlight of my career has become a reality
52:08stephen together we will officially open universal studios florida ladies and gentlemen universal
52:15studios florida is now officially open to the public we got a big turnout that day
52:22we had a lot of guests that day it felt like the world's eyes were on us you guys ready
52:29it was an amazing accomplishment just to get where we were but we weren't ready right now all
52:34the grand opening day work continues to go on here at the park not everything was finished
52:40construction crews were putting finishing touches on after the park opened problems problems and more
52:44problems first opening of the florida park was quite challenged
52:49yes yes do you remember that uh do i remember opening day one has to wonder maybe they should
52:59have delayed the grand opening a couple of weeks till all the bugs were ironed out let me tell you
53:03universal has had some very major problems today good bye universal
53:16so
53:29so
53:35so
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