- 19 hours ago
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Short filmTranscript
00:00I hope this cuts.
00:27Go for it.
00:28Ladies and gentlemen, Universal Studios Florida is now officially open to the public.
00:34Congratulations!
00:38Universal Studios Florida has opened its gates after 20 years in the making.
00:42Universal is about to take on the mouse.
00:45We got a big turnout that day. We had a lot of guests that day.
00:48But I knew we weren't ready.
00:50We had made commitments to plane loads of dignitaries and actors and actresses.
00:58So this was a risk I was willing to take.
01:06Did you like the part?
01:08Three-hour wait. Gene broke down twice. Very disappointing.
01:13Universal Studios' star-studded grand opening is marred tonight by hundreds of fuming fans.
01:18Easy was broken down. The Kong one isn't open.
01:23Earthquake was up a short time ago. It's now back down again.
01:29The crowds and the lines are totally mismanaged.
01:32This park and this grand opening has been 20 years in the making.
01:36They spent a hundred million dollars on this grand opening day.
01:39But you know what?
01:44The grand opening day was a flop.
01:48Tom Williams had to deal with my mess.
01:53Tom Williams, vice president of Universal Studios, is joining me now.
01:56All the news networks wanted to interview me at the end of the day.
01:59Universal said that it's all going to be up and running today. What happened?
02:03They gave a lot of refunds that day. It was a disappointment to all of us.
02:06It didn't go the way we wanted it to go. Not even close.
02:09I hope that Epic Universe can avoid the mistakes I've made.
02:17Over those days and weeks leading up to grand opening, it is a very steady increase of pressure.
02:24I know it's really hard right now and it's tense, but the last time we opened a park in Orlando was 25 years ago.
02:32This is a very rare occurrence.
02:34It's not easy to make an opening day of certainty. Things do go wrong.
02:43They still have to get over that hurdle.
02:47I'll say a little prayer for him.
02:52Oh, the smell of grinding and welding.
03:17Did you see the chandelier?
03:19These are coming together.
03:24We'll start doing practice smell detection already, calibrate the machines.
03:28Uh-oh.
03:30We've come in to take a look at the condition of the site as we are preparing for team member previews.
03:37Are these getting set up?
03:40In two days, we are bringing team members in as guests to test food, retail experience,
03:48attractions, just as guests were.
03:50And we do that to learn as much as we can.
03:53And then after we get through that mode, we'll go into what we call soft opening, where we have actual guests that can buy tickets.
03:59Then once that's done, that will lead us all the way up to May 22nd of the grand opening.
04:04All right, so my biggest concern is making sure that this is clean.
04:09A lot of tire tracks gone by tomorrow, I hope.
04:12There's still a lot of cleaning that's got to be done in the next day or two.
04:15We saw a few things today where we've actually moved some equipment into position that has revealed a view of a back of house building that we would like to not have.
04:27I feel like we need some trees.
04:30Yeah.
04:31But those are the types of things that I'm really starting to take note of.
04:34During construction, it's so hard to know exactly what final state is.
04:39Trash cans.
04:40This one got scuffed too.
04:42That's a werewolf mark.
04:44I'm not buying it.
04:46That is not the mark of the werewolf.
04:48That is a mark of a high reach.
04:50That's what that is.
04:51We've got a great team that's been working a long time.
04:54So this is a, you know, seven, eight years of work.
04:57All coming together at a point.
04:59And that's what I'm thinking about.
05:01Not thinking about all the other little details, because if I do, I won't go to sleep.
05:08Epic Universe really goes all the way back to Universal Studios Florida in 1990.
05:15I had been with the company at that point for probably three months.
05:18I was 25, and I remember there was a lot of frustration and difficulty through that period.
05:27Universal Orlando not only had the negativity of nothing working right, everything falling apart.
05:35Universal also had the stigma of, you know, the Walt Disney Company had figured it out.
05:41And so there was the sense of, can they even do this?
05:45None of our competitors up to that point had ever gone off on a limb the way that we went out on a limb.
05:52To bring guests into the experience instead of passively watching something as they floated by.
05:58Shark! And it's the biggest one I've ever seen!
06:12Amity six to base.
06:14Missed again!
06:15The Jaws ride was ambitious. The technical complexity was extreme. And when the stuff worked, it was glorious. Great stuff.
06:40When you have a ride that's going to be open for 12 hours a day.
06:47Shark!
06:49And we're ideally putting somewhere between 1,500 and 2,000 guests an hour through it all day long.
06:57And so all those effects have to work. All the mechanical systems have to work. All the software programming. Everything has to work.
07:03So we ended up closing the Jaws ride within the first two months after we opened because we determined that it was just going to be too difficult, as configured, to maintain it and keep it operating.
07:21I'm a big believer in adversity as the mother of invention.
07:27But often times in that process, you come up with something that was better than the original.
07:34I was a fairly junior person at the time of the opening in 1990, but witnessing it and learning from that is really something that was very formulative for me personally.
07:48That was a challenging time. You know, you had a whole bunch of people with a lot of expectations and now you had to sort of make it right.
08:01I think to do anything great, one must take risks.
08:04Sometimes that goes your way and sometimes it doesn't.
08:09But at the end of the day, I would say you can have everything in front of you. You can have all the data that you can assemble. It really does come down to your gut.
08:19You have to be prepared to fail.
08:22And then if you do fail, you have to be prepared to get back up again and get on your feet and do it all over again.
08:30When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're going to see some serious .
08:39There are certain movies that were made to be rides.
08:57In fact, the future was definitely one of them.
09:04The attraction was cutting edge and nobody had seen anything like it before.
09:10OmniMax Dome came up like a big shell around you.
09:14So no matter where you looked, it was fully synced up with this ride vehicle that came up and was in full motion.
09:19I remember when people would come off the ride when it first opened, they would come outside and they would be looking around the building to see, you know, where they went and how did it all happen?
09:35Because it was just so groundbreaking and so immersive.
09:38Being able to bring Michael J. Fox here and have a flawless grand opening moment after a year of criticism, it was a huge moment for us.
09:56Back to the Future became actually our savior and that kind of relaunched us.
10:01And by that time, we got ET going.
10:06We got King Kong going.
10:10Jaws, we got it going again in tip-top shape, ran perfectly.
10:14Awesome!
10:16This one screamed all the way through.
10:18Oh man, it was fabulous.
10:19This is the best I have seen yet.
10:31We were on a mission now to become a very dominant force in the theme park industry.
10:39This is a whole new park, not just an attraction.
10:43Islands of Adventure opened in 1999.
10:48Featuring total immersion entertainment, Universal Studios' Islands of Adventure is the most technologically advanced theme park in the world.
10:55Jurassic Park became one of the anchors of Islands of Adventure.
11:06I used to joke that the Jurassic franchise was actually making the movies felt like a theme park.
11:13They literally like built a roller coaster for a gyrosphere sequence in Fallen Kingdom.
11:20I was like, wait, what? How am I on a roller coaster right now?
11:23And the irony is when we were first talking about doing the first Jurassic, Steven said, I need a dinosaur to run.
11:34The first people I went to were the people in the park because we knew they were the experts.
11:39If anybody was going to figure out how something full size was going to run, it was going to be the parks.
11:45And then very quickly after the opening of Islands of Adventure, we were off and running on expansion.
11:51Now let's build another theme park. Let's build CityWalk. Let's build a park in Japan.
11:58We've got the biggest theme park market in the world.
12:00So with Epic Universe, we now have to deliver something at a heightened level that goes beyond anything that anybody's ever seen.
12:09As we were discussing this morning, will the fountains be ready and running by next weekend?
12:25It wouldn't be programmed. It would be testing.
12:28I mean, this is obviously the big showpiece.
12:30Yeah.
12:31So as much as we focus on getting the front gate to look really nice, this is going to look spectacular.
12:37All right?
12:38All right.
12:39No pressure.
12:40No pressure.
12:41We're all counting on you.
12:43Over the next few weeks, we're doing team member previews.
12:46It's really the first time we have an opportunity to exercise the park with guests.
12:53For so many months now, there's a lot of construction teams, equipment, dust, dirt.
12:58And what we're really looking forward to now is people walking into the park for the first time and actually exploring on their own.
13:06So we seem to have them queuing up pretty well.
13:09We're holding here, and then they're going into the metal detectors.
13:16OK.
13:17Good deal.
13:18All right. Let's take a look.
13:19I'm going to go ahead and call the park open.
13:21Ain't nothing to it but to do it.
13:23That's it, baby.
13:24Open them up. Let them in.
13:25Open both feet.
13:28Hello.
13:29Good morning, everyone.
13:30Good morning.
13:31Good morning.
13:32Exciting times.
13:33Exciting times.
13:34Very.
13:35Good morning, everyone.
13:36Just calling to let you know that Universal Epic Universe is open for technical rehearsal
13:40at 10 a.m.
13:41Oh, my God, coming.
13:43Good morning, everyone.
13:44Zaid.
13:45Hi, Stephanie.
13:46You good?
13:47Nice to look.
13:48There is a limited amount of team members in the park, so they can come in and be our mock guests. So we're facilitating ride-throughs. We're treating this like it's an open park, as you probably hear. We have trains going through the park.
13:55Oh, my God, come here.
13:56Good morning, everyone.
13:57Zaire.
13:58Nice to meet you.
14:00Good.
14:00Nice to meet you.
14:01There's a limited amount of team members in the park,
14:04so they can come in and be our mock guests.
14:07So we're facilitating ride-throughs.
14:10We're treating this like it's an open park,
14:12as you probably hear.
14:14We have trains going over top of us right now.
14:17Good.
14:18Yee-haw.
14:22Four and five.
14:22Four and five.
14:23Ride one has RVs one and two on it.
14:25No ridership.
14:26Ride two has RVs seven and eight on it.
14:28No ridership.
14:28Gotcha.
14:29Cool.
14:29Tech Services gets a great training tool,
14:32as well as our operations partners.
14:34They get a chance to see, in real time,
14:36what it feels like to put guests through the attraction.
14:39Yeah, it looks awesome.
14:41Yeah.
14:42Remain seated with your head firmly against the headrest.
14:46Sounds like the race is about to begin.
14:48Enjoy the ride.
14:53It's interesting because people are aware that we aren't done.
14:59And that's what I was really worried about.
15:01As an artist, you don't want to show anyone your work until it's 100%.
15:05So you get paranoid.
15:06You get nervous.
15:10It's like the dress rehearsal.
15:12It's really exciting because I get to see the team members all wearing the wardrobe we developed.
15:18I get to see all the entertainment starting to be out there in the costumes we created
15:22and start to see the life breathed into the land.
15:26They're so young, so they can strike at any moment.
15:29Max, you're going to come here through the forbidden dome.
15:32All right, good morning, folks.
15:42We're going to go ahead and get started.
15:43We're ramping up quick this week.
15:45We don't have, I'm going to call it an orientation period like what we had in the beginning.
15:49We're going to have, we're going to ramp up quick.
15:51That being said, it is raining today, so let's just try and get ahead of it.
15:55And please call stuff in and take notes because we want to know leaks and where water isn't necessarily leaking,
16:01but it's going in the wrong direction.
16:03Driving into work this morning, I went, oh, man, raining today.
16:06I'm like, no.
16:07It's actually good.
16:08It's good, yeah.
16:09It's good.
16:10Glad this is happening.
16:15That's that light right there.
16:19That's the kind of stuff that I want to make sure the team is looking at today
16:22because obviously we've got leaks coming from here that go onto the panel.
16:26So if we can work with someone to get an umbrella,
16:27I think that's probably going to be our best case scenario for today.
16:30It doesn't rain like this every day,
16:32and we're going to learn things that we wouldn't normally learn without it.
16:39Each day we're putting out a report that says,
16:41here's how it went the day before,
16:43and each day we're improving something.
16:45We will actually purposely break the rides in the middle of the day
16:49to evacuate them so that we get experience actually practicing the evacuation.
16:54We don't tell anybody because we don't want everybody to know when it's going to happen.
17:04We want it to be a surprise both for the team members who are on the ride
17:07as well as the ones that are operating the ride.
17:10I am Dr. Victoria Frankenstein.
17:13Today, you chosen few.
17:16And the goal today is we're not waiting for any bubbles.
17:19You can just press it whenever you feel like it
17:21because we're supposed to test all the red zones.
17:23All right.
17:24Hi, y'all.
17:25What we're doing today is we're actually setting ourselves up
17:29for an evacuation at Monsters Unchained.
17:31Can you guys let Brad through really quick?
17:35You're going to hit the ride stop?
17:37Yep.
17:39I'll tell you when to hit it.
17:42Yeah, if you just wait for, like, RB6.
17:44RB6.
17:45Yeah, RB6.
17:46Come around and that's where Horny is now.
17:48Stop in there.
17:50Hit it right now.
17:52No.
17:53There.
17:54Please remain safe.
17:55All right, you're 11 deep.
17:57We'll actually stop vehicles throughout the entire ride course.
18:00And then we send our team out to do an actual practice evacuation.
18:04Say that one more time.
18:06They're rocking out right now.
18:07Yes.
18:08No one's in those zones.
18:10You are going to go sit in the zone.
18:12Yes, you are good to go.
18:14Please let controls know when you are starting evaping your zone
18:18and how many guests you are taking off.
18:20All right.
18:23Two riders over there?
18:24OK.
18:25I'm good, too.
18:26Oh, hold on a second.
18:29Hi, guys.
18:36These railings are actually for the guests.
18:39So that's going to be their fall restraint as they work towards the exit pathways during an evacuation.
18:44You know, we call ourselves sometimes chaos coordinators because we're constantly, you know,
18:48it's changing every single day.
18:50We always want to make sure that we're practicing these kinds of things as we get closer to soft opening.
18:54There's a little bit of space, and I've done the little head snake that it came off on before a few times.
19:11Are you not putting anything in there?
19:13There's actually, this is the only small one that would go over my head,
19:16and they haven't put a horse here in it yet.
19:18But they need to.
19:19Yeah.
19:20Just go to the wardrobe.
19:21OK.
19:25Look at how great you look.
19:28Hello.
19:29Hello.
19:30We need horse hair because last time it fell off, and there's nothing in here.
19:36Today we're doing a dress rehearsal, so tomorrow we can actually have cast member previews.
19:42So it's really exciting, but it's also like we are just ready to go.
19:46Automation garage door, go.
19:50Standby potions for the enable at NCP3 on the LL open.
20:01All right, hold please, hold please.
20:03Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, stop, thank you.
20:06You couldn't get to your button in time?
20:09All right, folks, we're going to reset Kelpie curtain off stage.
20:14With their agreement for your...
20:16So this was the last time we ran this Kelpie.
20:20It didn't work.
20:21This is the first test run since the weekend, right?
20:25Unless they used it yesterday in the OIT.
20:27Oh, for the OIT.
20:29Yeah.
20:32The Kelpie curtain, it's really the end of the show.
20:35The Kelpie is a beast, and that Kelpie comes in, almost swims, and it's beautiful looking.
20:42But what it trails behind is really the act curtain.
20:45The act curtain shows the final scene.
20:48So it's the end of our story, really.
20:51So it's much more important than just the curtain.
20:54Kelpie moving?
21:00Oh, no.
21:06That did not sound good.
21:07That was not good.
21:09Oh, no.
21:11That sound was really scary.
21:18That sound makes me really nervous.
21:23This is crazy.
21:29Oh, boy.
21:42So, um, there was contact between the Kelpie curtain and the corner of the lift.
21:47You can sort of see the sad part.
21:49I don't want to take the time right now to investigate that, so...
21:52It means we can't perform.
21:53The Kelpie curtain is not working.
21:55If we have no Kelpie, then we have no show tomorrow,
21:57because we don't have the contingency.
21:58Do you want to take the time to have them in?
22:00We need to take the time, because then we'll want to run,
22:02but then we're not being able to open tomorrow.
22:04Okay.
22:05So I think we have to, unfortunately, take the time.
22:07Take the time.
22:08Okay.
22:09I mean, we obviously can't do a show tomorrow.
22:12Our Kelpie curtain got stuck on a piece of scenery which stopped everything.
22:17Now we have to fix that, but, of course, the impact is that our cast did not have a dress rehearsal,
22:24and we pretty much lost a day, which, of course, is very disappointing.
22:28Okay, everyone.
22:29Thank you for your patience.
22:31You look fabulous, but we're going to let you get out of costume,
22:34because this is going to take some time to resolve.
22:36Remember life before Muggles and Hogwarts, Harry Potter and Hermione?
22:51The magic started when the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,
22:55was published on this day in 1997.
22:58Three, two, one!
23:01I think I was chairman and CEO for about five minutes
23:05when the head of the creative studio came to me and said,
23:08we need to do a Harry Potter attraction.
23:10The first three volumes of Harry Potter sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.
23:14One of the biggest events in publishing history hit the shelves at midnight.
23:17The biggest grossing film of the millennium opened in London.
23:20We were persistent over years.
23:23The second Harry Potter movie casting a spell.
23:26I anticipated fourth Harry Potter book.
23:28Potter Mania.
23:29Harry Potter Mania.
23:31Just finding the right time and arranging a meeting for us to share what we thought we could do.
23:41And that meeting took place in a small hotel in Scotland.
23:45With Warner Brothers and J.K. Rowling and her team,
23:48we brought all our wares with us and our best dancing shoes,
23:52polished them all up, and we told our story.
23:56That we wanted to build Hogsmeade and we wanted to build Hogwarts.
24:00And in Hogwarts, we wanted to take you on a unique Harry Potter journey.
24:07Then we were, you know, excused from the meeting so they could have the, you know, the real talk.
24:13I happened to be in the creative offices when they found out.
24:22Warner Brothers go this.
24:23Yeah, she wants to do it.
24:24Just an explosion of emotion.
24:30It was a moment of pure, you know, we were elated.
24:35For us to get something like that, of that caliber and of that importance to the world at the time was huge.
24:45But once that happened, then the pressure was on.
24:52It was raising their own bar to a level they had never played at.
24:58I always wonder if they actually knew what they were getting into.
25:02Everybody had their own impression of who Harry Potter was
25:07and what Hogwarts looked like because it was words.
25:11It wasn't until the original movie production designer, Stuart Craig,
25:15made it real in the movies that now Hogwarts and Hogsmeade had a visual vocabulary.
25:23So we were contemplating, okay, how do we expand this next?
25:28That evolution of place making and world building.
25:34We put a stake in the ground in terms of this kind of entertainment
25:39because we knew we were building not just an attraction, not just a themed area, but an entire world.
25:46And we wanted it to be very real.
25:50We wanted people to believe they were and to feel like they were in Hogsmeade.
25:56Our executive chef, Steve Jason, put us through a tasting of reading about it
26:01what he thought Butterbeer would taste like.
26:03And Joe loved it.
26:08We built almost 800 original unique products that we developed and designed
26:13because we want it to be the product that you would buy if you found yourself in Honeydukes.
26:19The candies, you know, nobody's had them before because they were just on film.
26:24And so we worked very closely with Warner Brothers and with J.K. Rowling
26:29to design these things that nobody had ever had.
26:32They have gone to the dedicated end to try and make these things as accurate,
26:38this feeling of fully immersed.
26:44All of the Harry Potter fans, they had read the books, they had seen the films.
26:48We wanted them to live the experience.
26:52That's what they were craving.
26:54That's what they wanted.
26:57So the moment of truth with Harry Potter really came at opening day.
27:01We knew that the fan base was huge and global.
27:06And we knew we were going to get a big turnout.
27:09I walked out to the front of the park.
27:13There's a very famous picture of the bridges in front of the park,
27:16completely filled with guests waiting to get in.
27:19And there was a very long line sneaking up into the park
27:22and around towards the Wizarding World.
27:28And I'm thinking to myself,
27:29oh my gosh, if the line's that long, I wonder if the ride's okay.
27:32Is it running? Is it not running? What's happening?
27:34I'm walking, I'm walking, I'm walking.
27:40I was thinking about June 7th of 1990.
27:43So now I'm starting to get a little panicked.
27:54I get into the Wizarding World.
27:56I'm going, oh gosh, this is terrible.
27:58What are we going to do?
28:00I took 15 more steps.
28:03And the line stopped at the Butterbeer cart.
28:07Today, Harry Potter fans can finally taste
28:10the much-talked-about Butterbeer.
28:13That was awesome.
28:16They weren't in line for the ride.
28:18The ride had a 45-minute wait and it was running great.
28:24They were in line for the Butterbeer cart.
28:26And then I looked left and they were in line
28:28for Honeydukes, for the candy store.
28:30And then I looked right and they were in line
28:32at another retail shop.
28:33They were in line at all these things
28:36that we had never had lines for, ever.
28:38I think the first Harry Potter Land
28:41changed the landscape of big theme park design.
28:45Lumos!
28:46Up until that point,
28:47I had always expected guests,
28:48when they come into a new park,
28:49they're going to check the box on each ride.
28:50The mission is to go on the rides.
28:53Nothing else.
28:54Ride to ride to ride to ride to ride.
28:59And I think probably one of the pleasant surprises
29:02was that people enjoyed the environmental experience
29:06as much as they enjoyed the rides and attractions.
29:10If you've seen the movies, you know what you're in for,
29:13but you don't know until you're there
29:15and you're going like,
29:16this is incredible.
29:18I love those stories and I would love to have magic.
29:23What we started to realize was,
29:25if we spend this much time on all of these details
29:29in all of these other spaces,
29:30not just at the ride,
29:32look how much more rich the experience is for the guests.
29:35That became the template for what ultimately led us to Epic.
29:44This will be cool.
29:45What I'm thinking is when we enter the park,
29:49we're going to take a right.
29:51Ooh, character meet and greet.
29:53Frankenstein's monster, his bride.
29:55Igor, the Invisible Man.
29:57Oh, okay.
29:58Nice.
29:59That'll be super cool.
30:01And we're going to go over the Stardust Racers.
30:05That looks crazy.
30:06Look how long it is.
30:07That's why I'm excited for it.
30:08I feel like it's going to go upside down many times.
30:10Ooh, cool.
30:11Ooh.
30:12This will look real cool.
30:14I'm like, so excited.
30:15I'm like, I want it to be here already.
30:18We actually started planning our trip to Epic Universe
30:21almost immediately after coming home
30:23from our last trip to Universal.
30:25Do you consider yourselves to be super fans of these parks?
30:28Yes, that is an accurate description.
30:31We are definitely super fans.
30:33The day we go to Epic, you're going to wear...
30:38Black skirt with shorts, so it's safe to ride on the rides.
30:43That's key.
30:44Normally with shoes, we try to aim for, like, thicker soles,
30:48but with Converse, they have thinner soles,
30:51but I have inserts for those long walks around the park.
30:55And you like these ones because they, like,
30:57hold your ankle tighter?
30:58Yeah.
30:58Yeah.
30:59I have inserts because I was born with juvenile arthritis
31:03and I was diagnosed right around when I was three.
31:10She had a lot of difficulty walking.
31:12I actually carried her in, like, one of those, like,
31:14backpack carriers probably until she was almost five,
31:17until she was able to really move around more.
31:19I think by kindergarten, she had had one of the last procedures
31:23where she was really starting to be able to walk more.
31:26Over the years, you know,
31:28she's had different medication treatments and things like that,
31:30which also impacts her.
31:31So it's just really nice to be able to go somewhere and be a kid.
31:36She's in her wheelchair at Hogwarts Castle,
31:39but she was there and she got to experience it,
31:42and so it's always been,
31:43we're not going to let anything stop her.
31:44Like, we're going to go to all the places.
31:47It's gotten to the point where I'm on very good medication,
31:50so I don't honestly need my wheelchair all that much.
31:57Today is my birthday and I'm turning 14.
32:02We're going to have dinner with grandparents just to celebrate.
32:05What do you want to do when you're going to do?
32:07What do I want to do when I'm 14?
32:09Go to Orlando.
32:11We're going kind of as a graduation gift,
32:15so I'm super excited.
32:16Happy birthday to you.
32:19What I think we're trying to do most is give people the opportunity
32:24to create a memory with their friends and families.
32:27We're trying to bring to life these great characters,
32:32great stories, and great places
32:34that they've always wanted to be part of.
32:36So for tomorrow,
32:51soft opening is a major transition.
32:54We've talked about this day for a long time.
32:57This is really where we're going to transition now from team members
33:00who I think have been very gracious with us over the past several weeks
33:04to a group now that is paying money.
33:07It's very different when you let the general population in.
33:10They will go where they want to go and do what they want to do,
33:13and so it gives us an opportunity to learn how that's all going to work
33:16and what we might have to do to better prepare.
33:20Over the past several weeks,
33:22it's been a very steady increase of pressure on the park and our staff
33:27because we're still doing a little work in the park.
33:30Why aren't we running the boat ride?
33:32I guess they need like four boats up,
33:34and we don't have four boats up.
33:36Why don't we have four boats up?
33:38We have been working nights, days, weekends,
33:43and working really hard to make sure that it's perfect for the guests.
33:47There's a lot of energy in the air right now.
33:49Oh, easy.
33:51Nervous at the same time, but very, very excited.
33:54A little sprucing, right?
33:55A little spruce, a little zhoosh.
33:56Yeah, exactly.
33:57They went to the werewolf salon.
33:59We're really going to get to a point tomorrow
34:01where every little thing we do is going to be really scrutinized
34:05and every little experience we deliver
34:08is going to really mean something to somebody.
34:10All the elements working together create a huge moment.
34:14That's the difference between something that's good
34:17and something that's timeless.
34:18We're trying to go for timeless,
34:20something that we could come back 20 years from now
34:23and it's just as good as the first time we wrote it.
34:26Do you think they're going to have the curtain installed
34:28before 3,000 people are here?
34:31I can pray.
34:33So all these things that we have been getting a lot of leeway
34:36on the past several weeks.
34:37Oh, we're testing things.
34:38Excuse us.
34:39It's partner dust kind of mode.
34:41That time stops today.
34:45And then encourage if you're here tomorrow,
34:47we have our third shift breakfast, so.
34:493 a.m.
34:503 a.m.
34:51We'll be there.
34:56Tonight will be the first night where we've told
34:59the construction teams no work overnight
35:02without prior approval.
35:04We can't do that anymore because that brings with it
35:07risk that something might not be available the next day.
35:11Let the park be the park.
35:13We'll be there again.
35:36I've been walking since 7 o'clock in the morning,
35:50and quite honestly, there's a lot of work going on in the park still,
35:53a lot of things that have to be finished out.
35:55Good morning.
35:55Good morning. Welcome in.
35:56Oh, this fountain's not on.
35:58Call Brandon.
36:00Hey, the Apollo fountain's not on.
36:03Thanks. Bye.
36:04A lot of the teams are just starting to come to work.
36:07In fact, if they had seen this place two hours ago,
36:10they wouldn't have believed it.
36:11Good morning.
36:12There's a lot of chaotic movement in here,
36:14trucks and landscaping.
36:16These trees were put in about two hours ago.
36:20There's Kit.
36:22If we're clear, do we care if we open 410?
36:25But there's still, like, this type of stuff going on.
36:27That's called beautification.
36:29That is not beautification.
36:30Oh, we still have these covers missing.
36:35Uh, do you know about these caps?
36:36We're working on it right now to see if we can find the pieces.
36:39Hopefully get them on in, uh, the next 45 minutes.
36:46There's always a sense of risk
36:48because we've planned a lot of things over a long period of time,
36:50and so there's always this element of uncertainty
36:55about how everybody will interpret everything
36:57that's in front of them once they're here.
36:59Lauren's here, right?
37:00All right.
37:01Good morning, everybody.
37:02Welcome to Epic Universe.
37:04This is our new day one.
37:07It has been an awesome time working with you guys
37:09through these previews.
37:11This is the real thing.
37:12As you guys all know,
37:15we are welcoming our first paid guests.
37:18There are people who've been waiting and waiting and waiting.
37:21They have very high expectations for this part.
37:25Some changes from yesterday.
37:27Seat numbers, it's going to be facing the RV.
37:29One, two, three, four, five, six on the front.
37:31So front row is first, back row is second.
37:33Any questions about that?
37:36Cool.
37:36You know, we're excited to finally be at this first landmark.
37:42All of you guys were hand-chosen to be here for a reason,
37:45and we've had nothing but good things
37:47from everybody that's been coming in,
37:48so let's just keep it up.
37:49Everybody ready to have a great day?
37:57Siri, call Bill Adeloff.
37:59Call Karen.
37:59Okay, thank you.
38:01Bye.
38:01Siri, call Natalie Campbell.
38:03Morning.
38:04Perfect, you got it.
38:05Can you do me one more favor?
38:06Call Brandon.
38:06Morning.
38:07That's not needed.
38:09Morning.
38:09Oh, it's a little snail.
38:12Are you saving him?
38:13Yeah.
38:16Careful.
38:16There you go.
38:18Let's go right away.
38:19Perfect.
38:23Awesome.
38:27Good morning.
38:28Welcome to Epic.
38:29Do you have your park ticket?
38:31You're going to open both colonnades?
38:33All right, do it.
38:34I'm walking to you.
38:35Hello, good morning.
38:36Are you heading to 15 parks today?
38:38Yes.
38:40Yeah, if we're ready.
38:42All right, bye.
38:53Congratulations.
38:53How are you?
38:54Good morning.
38:54Good morning.
38:55Good morning.
38:57Good morning.
38:58All right.
38:59There you go.
39:00There you go.
39:01You got it.
39:02Good morning.
39:03Good morning.
39:04Good morning.
39:05Good morning.
39:06Good morning.
39:07Good morning.
39:08Good morning.
39:09Good morning.
39:10Good morning.
39:12Good morning.
39:13Good morning.
39:14Almost there.
39:15You're almost there.
39:16You're almost there, you're almost there, you're almost there.
39:23Oh, wow.
39:25Oh, my gosh, it's so big.
39:27You can see all the way and then the height.
39:30Morning.
39:32How we doing, folks, everybody? Happy?
39:40Good morning. How you doing? Good to see you.
39:42Very good. How are you? I'm doing great.
39:44You have an amazing day, you too.
39:46I know you will.
39:48That's a healthy lawn.
39:50Wow.
39:56We're so excited for people from the outside
39:58to come in and experience Super Nintendo World,
40:00because cameras have not been allowed
40:02in Super Nintendo World until today.
40:09Oh, my good Lord.
40:11Holy cow.
40:12Holy cow.
40:14What is happening?
40:18This is insane.
40:19I want to ride in a pink one.
40:21I want to ride out of Yoshi.
40:23Oh, my God.
40:24Let's do Yoshi.
40:25You want to Yoshi?
40:26Okay, where's the entrance?
40:27Right here?
40:28Down there. Okay.
40:29What is happening?
40:30It's been happening for 10 years.
40:32It's been here.
40:34It's been here.
40:35It's been here.
40:36And here we go.
40:38And here we go,
40:39the game world is real.
40:41It feels like it's been real.
40:44It's been the first time.
40:45It's been the first time.
40:46It's been the first time.
40:47It's been the first time.
40:48It's been the first time.
40:49It's been the first time.
40:50Wow.
40:51Oh, my God.
40:52Nintendo is a beloved company.
40:53This is a really big day for all of us as everyone gets to come in and take pictures with their friends and family in front of all the hard work they've been doing.
40:59Hey, come on.
41:00That's right, man.
41:01That's right.
41:02That's right, man.
41:03Excellent.
41:04All right.
41:05There you go.
41:06That's what we want to hear.
41:07Yeah, I think Nintendo is a great experience.
41:09Wow.
41:10Wow.
41:11Oh, my God.
41:12Nintendo is a beloved company.
41:13This is a really big day for all of us as everyone gets to come in and take pictures with their friends and family in front of all the hard work they've been doing.
41:16Hey, come on.
41:17That's right, man.
41:18Excellent.
41:19All right.
41:20There you go.
41:21That's what we want to hear.
41:22So, Nintendo is a big part of it.
41:24Nintendo has a big big part of it.
41:29They want us to be able to have a big part of the park.
41:32So, they want us to succeed in the park.
41:37The first step is behind us, and it's behind us.
41:41Just a bit of a big part of the park area.
41:43One, two, three, four, and four.
41:46Whoa.
41:53What?
41:54Oh, you!
41:56Oh, my gosh.
42:04Isn't he gonna cry?
42:05Isn't he great?
42:09Oh.
42:12This is spectacular.
42:14This is truly spectacular.
42:17Wow.
42:21Seeing people experience it for the first time is really humbling.
42:26They have the emotion that sometimes we can't have ourselves.
42:32We've worked on it.
42:33We know what's going to happen.
42:35So you're like, man, I wonder what it's like experiencing this for the first time with no expectations.
42:41There's literally millions of decisions that go into making something like this, and you can't begin to remember every one of them.
42:48There's literally millions of decisions that go into making something like this, and you can't begin to remember every one of them.
43:05Out of Igor's way. Someone has to move. It won't be Igor.
43:18Ah!
43:20A thousand experiments.
43:28So what happens at the end is you kind of look at it like with fresh eyes, and it just feels amazing.
43:34What's up, guys?
43:39I appreciate it. I'm awesome.
43:41What's up, Crunch?
43:42Here's my brother. You know my brother Gray.
43:43Yeah, I just took a thing. I thought it was David Winston for us.
43:45Everybody thinks he's David was...
43:47Everybody thinks he's him.
43:52Today I'm bringing my brother to the manor. First time ever seeing it.
43:56Yeah, level two. Oh, yeah. Appreciate it.
44:03It means the world to me, and he's seen all the attractions I've worked on since I was an intern here.
44:11Y'all did y'all thing, my boys. Y'all did y'all thing, my boys.
44:15Hey, my boy.
44:24It's really exciting, and of course also kind of sad, a little sentimental to be now at this point,
44:30because it always felt so far away. It always felt like, oh, there's so many years, and all of a sudden it's here.
44:36Back to where it's rolling.
44:37It feels really good. It will never leave me, because it will be here for myself and my family and friends to enjoy, and so I just feel joyful.
44:59I mean, it's exciting. It's a little bit bittersweet. It's like letting your child go, right?
45:09It's on its own two feet now, and kind of walking away from me.
45:15I'm glad that my brother's here. Family's gone a little smaller lately.
45:20I lost my stepdad, which was his dad, so moments like this is just way bigger than me.
45:28And even bigger than my family. There's other families going through other situations.
45:34And, you know, they're here to make a memory as well.
45:41You'll make a call.
45:48It holds the box office glory.
45:51Do you know your suitcase?
46:00Damn it.
46:02Goddamn it.
46:14Oh!
46:23Oh!
46:28That was good.
46:29I liked it a lot.
46:30I liked it a lot.
46:34I felt like I could touch the other ride.
46:36That was amazing.
46:37The front was really fun.
46:38We should go again.
46:40Now we have to do the green side.
46:41Can we do the green side?
46:42Yeah.
46:44A lot of people think of epic as meaning awesome or big or grand or cool.
46:51But epic is actually an ancient word for story or poem.
46:57These are the stories that have endured as long as people have been writing down stories.
47:04The epic hero who exists in these poems is larger than life.
47:09That epic hero takes on challenges that are supernatural.
47:13They confront monsters and dragons and beasts.
47:16And they end up being legends to their people.
47:26And they end up being legends to their people.
47:27And they end up being legends to their people.
47:33It's bittersweet because all of a sudden we know that's the end of the story for us.
47:46But really it's the beginning of the story for everybody else.
48:01There is nothing like opening day.
48:02There's nowhere else I would want to be.
48:14When you work on a project like this, the first thing you want to do is share it with somebody.
48:31I will sit in silence and watch the experience of the utter beauty of emotion that will pour into that park.
48:46I want to see them look at the person that they're with and share that moment.
48:56That's one of the biggest motivators ever.
48:59In its purity, we're all fans.
49:02And I will enter those gates as a fan on that day and live it all like I've never seen it before.
49:12The first time in 25 years, Orlando is welcoming a brand new major theme park.
49:18Now officially open.
49:19We got here at 4 a.m. and it was packed.
49:22We are live inside the park and after years of anticipation, it's finally here.
49:29We walked in through the portal and our jaws just dropped.
49:33You feel like you're in the movie.
49:44Who's ready to come face to face with a fire-breathing dragon?
49:48Oh, we're right.
49:49Who?
49:55Because a world of fantastic beasts and magical creatures awaits you all.
49:58Beyond this gate, find catapults deep, full of monsters and the secrets they keep.
50:08Congratulations.
50:10Happy opening day.
50:11Congratulations.
50:12Yeah, same to you, brother.
50:13All of that preparation over the past three months is really paying off.
50:16is really paying off.
50:17Soft opening, we were probably all the way down
50:20to 4,000 or 5,000 a day.
50:22Today, we'll be closer to 15,000.
50:25The culmination of an eight-year journey
50:27that involves the most creative people in the entire world,
50:31the greatest amount of innovation,
50:33the most technologically advanced theme park
50:35we've ever created.
50:46I want to do the first thing in the world.
50:48So, I really wanted to make this
50:51all of the people of Universal Creative,
50:54and I really wanted to be together.
50:57It was really fun.
51:00I'm Dean. I'm the writer and the director
51:02of the How to Train Your Dragon movies.
51:04Amazing. Thank you, Noah.
51:06We go way back, don't we?
51:08It's just so well done.
51:09You got to hit it out of the park, pardon the pun.
51:11You always think,
51:12how can they top what they've done before?
51:14But this is absolutely fantastic.
51:16It's like finishing a movie
51:17and then walking into the movie
51:19and going, hi, to all the characters.
51:24I just keep thinking back to how Uncle Carl started this as,
51:29I mean, almost a little family studio.
51:32Carl Lemley would feel so proud, so amazed
51:35if he saw this today.
51:36I really do feel like this is a version
51:39of what he was envisioning so long ago.
51:44Universal's been spinning since 1915
51:47because they have an appreciation of legacy
51:50and they don't forget their history.
51:52They bring the past into the present
51:54and they make it all one thing.
51:57I don't think that there's many other things
52:00other than a film on a massive theater screen
52:03or being in a world that's been created
52:05to emulate your favorite film.
52:07Those are incredible experiences that touch everybody.
52:17Any words of advice for Mark Woodbury and the team?
52:20I really don't have any advice.
52:24Whatever I was able to teach them, they've long surpassed.
52:29I look forward to that flame carrying on.
52:37This is the only place where you can do this kind of storytelling,
52:43this kind of immersion and this kind of visceral thrill
52:46with the people you love and care about
52:49in a way that you'll remember forever.
52:52You'll remember forever.
53:22You'll remember a Sicht of the most everywhere.
53:25But just now you come on and another one
53:26whoaja and Mich totalmenteale
53:28wrote about Ge Fatal jako проход
53:31and says,
53:32you don't have to gotta leave.
53:33And I'm supposed to know.
53:34You can do anything with audibleлавию.
53:38You have to do anything with maverini.
53:39Here is everything I know.
53:40Do you think some people do to China and your world's
53:40can speak verse surely?
53:43I hope that you…
53:45I know that I've always told you
53:47but I discovered the people that started
53:48in an sense to my family
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