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Epic Ride: The Story of Universal Theme Parks - Season 1 Episode 2 -
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00:00I think for a long time people talked about theme parks as like a tourism endeavor you
00:23know it's a business operation but I really like to think of theme parks as a work of art
00:30the park creation is absolutely an art form and incredibly challenging as well between the
00:42architecture and the landscape and the lighting and the music the question is how do you create
00:48compelling places that will give people a sense of belonging people go to theme parks for a lot of
00:55reasons they want to laugh they want to cry they want this sense of surprise and a sense of awe to
01:04be put into that story that captivates their entire being so our job is to create environments in which
01:14this is likely to happen it takes hundreds of disciplines beautiful all right lighting designers
01:26concept designers programmers animators costume designers filmmakers so much more natural already
01:33it is a thing of wonder watching the theme park team build the physical manifestation of what we create
01:42in film we are building upon our legacy of silent films and monster movies and old Hollywood that's
01:49where the universal legacy all begins for me but it's a lot easier to make a movie than it is building a
01:56world with brick and mortar and steel this park the scale of it is just incredible
02:05it's a huge task on a scale of 1 to 10 this is a 15 right so there are challenges there will be
02:15problems there are things we have to overcome we're several months away from grand opening one down 200 or
02:23so to go at a certain point you cannot buy time and we're at the point where the last 10 percent takes
02:3090 percent of the effort you know he's in this vice grip oh you know how to get the pieces to come
02:36together but we can't compromise the product otherwise what have we done it is a big risk what happens if it
02:48doesn't pay up the audience is going to tell you every time whether it's worth their time and money or
02:53not when people show up at a theme park they have very high expectations how we doing folks everybody
03:01happy so you you better over deliver
03:04this is fire
03:31can you reach back in your memory and think about the first story that really meant something to you
03:44well you know my father told me stories
03:47stories was a way you would engage the imagination stories is something you you told to each other
03:57either they were scary true story or they were stories to escape the realities of the real world
04:08and take you into a kind of fantasy realm when i was younger i remember my mother giving me a book
04:18a book called ferdinand the bull growing up in new york city in the 70s there was the necessity to be strong
04:32and i remember that book being a permission slip to be creative
04:39story telling has always been very much part of my upbringing of my childhood i come from malaysia and
04:51we have a lot of our own folklore about tarzan learning about the animal kingdom and i think that's very
04:59important to trigger that imagination it sparks off something in us
05:04to me story means you go on a feeling adventure being afraid cracking up bursting into tears it's all about
05:17oh you know you feel swept away
05:21we had this idea with epic of transporting you into the story in such a way that you're
05:39really convinced you're there epic universe is five unique worlds celestial park this is the place in
05:50the middle wrapped around this celestial theme and then there's super nintendo world where you are
05:58immersed in a video game environment and the wizarding world of harry potter ministry of magic including
06:051920s paris and fantastic beasts next is how to train your dragon isle of berk an entire world built
06:13around the emotional journey of meeting dragons and finally the dark universe where these classic
06:21monsters are all coming to life this is the first park ever made exclusively of what we call feature
06:32like immersive stories
06:37how's it going okay okay everybody set good okay while we have time uh tell me your name and what you do
06:46okay
06:52okay
06:53there hasn't really been an emergency
07:00we are definitely an active construction site
07:09i don't know what that sound is i don't know if it's fire they're testing the fire alarms or what but that'll be interesting
07:15universal orlando resort announcing the opening date for its highly anticipated new theme park it's called
07:22epic universe it's set to open on may 22nd hello hey um i'm with andrew and we're starting to figure out
07:29the plan the countdown is on for the grand opening of epic universe it's the first major u.s theme park
07:35to open in america in a quarter of a century okay give me a minute i'll be right down there all right
07:41then it's hard to tell what's going to go wrong you just got prepared for anything we're aiming for
07:46ridership by next thursday i need blood signature otherwise i don't know none of this
07:51it's all part of a 750 acre development that will more than double the size of universal's footprint
07:56in orlando how's the site looking this morning like we have a lot of work to do still
08:01because it's real dangerous too that's why so it's haunted here
08:15going into the park throughout the entire construction phase you only get to see some
08:20of these things in these states once i tell everybody if you get a chance to do it you're
08:25very lucky because it doesn't happen very often we don't build parks very often no one does
08:34i have a clear memory of day one and that was a sheet of paper and that sheet of paper was blank
08:47our vision is a big one we want to create a level of experience
08:51that frankly forever changes the theme park landscape as you know it today you must first
08:57conceive the map because that is the architecture the foundation of your decision making but it is
09:04only a map until you fill it with emotional design everything that we're thinking about is what does the
09:12future demand that we do the decision to move to epic was a big decision you're well aware of the
09:27competitive nature of this orlando marketplace the market has a lot of parks between disney us
09:34sea world bush garden over in tampa building a new park is an incredible capital investment it's billions
09:43of dollars and you never really understand the full risk of what you're doing so it's a long-term bet
09:51i just admire their guts because i know what kind of courage and commitment it takes to build something
09:58like that and i can't wait to see it i can guarantee you it's going to be epic and the last i heard
10:05a universe is a little bit bigger than a world so take it for what it is
10:17when you come into the park the question become okay well where do you go first
10:29the origins of that were really what we built around creating celestial park as the center element
10:35of it celestial park is brand new we created it from scratch dispatch
10:42with a lot of our universal properties we bring movies to life well celestial park is one of those
10:49that there is no movie that people can watch
10:54we knew that the intense immersion that was going to happen in our worlds needed the calming of a natural
11:03actual park in the middle of a theme park and that small nugget of an idea is the design behind
11:12all of celestial
11:15so we are very close to starting to install our final speakers in the ride dome starting next week
11:20how many speakers do we have on the inside here we have 42 speakers in there so 38 speakers
11:26and four subwoofers so i think we should have enough we might have enough i think i think this
11:31is the best sounding carousel i've ever worked on everybody thinks that once the design's done and
11:38we go into construction that it's just building it and then we finish i'm in i'm in
11:46that real world environments change things is it behaving thomas come on right system you can do it
12:05the carousel is a lot of people have a preconceived notion of what the carousel is
12:12this is the underside of the carousel most carousels are a single turntable that spins
12:18and the horses move up and down this is the complete reverse of that
12:23there's one massive 70 foot diameter turntable and then three small turntables can spin independently
12:29forwards or backwards the ride vehicles all can fully rotate around they all can go six feet in
12:36the air so it's an unprecedented amount of control to be able to really make a show out of it and not
12:42just a ride move move move make some adjustments change the timing on the color a little bit
12:54celestial park is what we refer to it as the fabric of epic universe it's what allows guests to go from
13:02world to world
13:11you as a guest in this vast epic environment are going to be an explorer you're the hero of this
13:19journey and you're going to navigate via stars some of the inspiration is from the 1920s
13:27the story behind it is that the residents of celestial park they have figured out a way to harness the
13:37energy of the universe and open up these portals to other worlds and if you look at the portals it looks
13:46like it's a big dial the premise is that they've been fine-tuned to a certain frequency in the universe
13:53that then opens up to these worlds i'm so excited for the epic universe because it has these elements
14:02inspired by the very work that carl lemley did so long ago i do like to imagine what it must have
14:10been like to be here at the turn of the century with all of that great innovation going on where
14:17people like carl lemley were pioneering different ways of storytelling different ways of capturing
14:23cinema that's where the universal legacy begins carl lemley started everything motion picture
14:32pioneer carl lemley senior was presented by the testimonial how could one person have accomplished
14:38so many things and basically be forgotten by history
14:53i ask myself a lot why carl lemley doesn't get remembered the way other studio heads do you know
14:58he didn't name the studio after himself
15:01my name is antonia carl lemley i am the great grand niece of carl lemley who's the founder of
15:08universal studios and i've been on a little bit of a mission to just keep the memory of carl lemley alive
15:21uncle carl was a german jewish immigrant he had moved to the united states away about 50 bucks in his pocket
15:27and didn't know what he was going to do he was just in search of the american dream
15:34he worked all sorts of odd jobs and he decides he wants to go into business for himself in something
15:40but he doesn't know what so he goes to chicago he thinks at first maybe he'll get like a five and ten
15:47cent store and while he's scouting locations he stumbles on his first nickelodeon
16:01for many people the nickelodeon would be the first time they'd seen that images can move
16:05and that whole concept was a magic trick
16:15as an immigrant lemley realized that this was something that could communicate to people from
16:22wherever they came from
16:32so he leases a store converts it into a theater and it is such a success that in just a few weeks he's
16:38able to open up a second theater but at some point he realizes there's not a lot of quality control
16:53with the film prints that you're getting to your theaters you might get the same one as last week
16:59you might get a broken worn out print there's not a lot of surety there that you're going to be able to
17:03keep your business running with the prints coming lemley felt that they were getting the bad part of the
17:10stick because they had to rent films from edison thomas edison as we all know created the light bulb and
17:20many other things product of thomas a edison's invented genius he also is responsible for really
17:26beginning the film industry thomas edison had patents over parts of cameras parts of projectors
17:33and he combined to create this thing called the trust
17:40so if you wanted to make distribute or exhibit films you would have to pay
17:44a membership fee to the trust and then you'd have to follow all of their rules
17:50and i think sometimes uncle carl saw himself as the underdog in a western trying to become the victor
18:03he decides that he's going to go independent and fight against thomas edison it was a huge risk
18:15but nothing amazing happens in this world no true achievement happens without risk
18:19carl emily produced his first great epic hiawatha in the wilds of fort lee new jersey
18:31uncle carl is trying to produce and put out as much as he could so that he could gather the data
18:36on what worked and what didn't work so when uncle carl's trying to think of a name for this production
18:44company he doesn't know exactly what he wants and while he's looking out a window he sees a truck go
18:49by that says the universal pipe fitting company and he has this aha moment
18:57those are the types of movies i want to make universal movies that everybody can relate to
19:02so universal was born
19:12shortly thereafter a war erupted with edison it was dangerous to go against thomas edison
19:21and they would ruin your sets and destroy your business and then edison would also
19:39bog you down in the legal system thomas edison sued carl only 289 times hoping that that would just
19:47drown him out of the business entirely but lemley stood his ground
19:55now during this trust fight uncle carl decides he's going to put as much physical distance as
20:00possible between him and thomas edison so he decides he's going to go to california
20:09he has heard the weather is better he's heard there are a lot of landscapes for filming
20:14carl emily had his ways of thinking bigger and more comprehensively he's not just going to do this
20:22halfway but he's going to make not just a studio but an entire movie making city
20:31he bought 250 acres of land in what was then the country and now is the center of los angeles
20:39he wanted to be a full service place where there was the fire department and police and carpenter
20:47shops and everything was there there were people in california and in the film business who thought
20:53that carl emily was crazy for this that he was just throwing his money away
21:01at the same time the fight against thomas edison went all the way up to the supreme court
21:09and after this fight that went on for eight or nine years
21:19uncle carl won the entire thing
21:29universal city opens up in 1915.
21:32the first of the great studios in the motion picture industry was universal the creation of carl lemley
21:46carl lemley was really this fantastic entrepreneur which i think kind of kicked things off ultimately
21:53is about how you get to the audience you know and in this case he figured out a number of ways to do it
21:58he essentially invents the studio tour for a quarter you could go to the back lot at the time these
22:07are silent films so they would get to watch a movie be made
22:12this is the beginning of these amusement parks and involved with the filmmaking
22:17there was a romantic mystique about how the magic was made
22:27there's something beautiful
22:29the collective storytelling experience that there's nothing like the studio is a pageant in itself
22:38and it has made a lot of screen history they were inventing a world that didn't exist yet they were
22:44trying to figure out what it looked like and what it meant carl emily planted the seed that's still
22:51growing we were a movie studio who grew into a studio tour who grew into an attraction that grew into a theme
23:00park at universal studios florida it is the spillover effect of an idea being launched and how it spreads
23:11to a whole community of artists
23:27we're gonna go to catwalks all right let's do it
23:33my name is gregory hall i've been at universal creative for over 15 years
23:38i've worked on several projects transformers the incredible hulk coaster
23:45haggard's magical creatures motorbike adventure dress world velocicoaster
23:52what's up everybody i work with a team of geniuses that always create new ideas on a daily basis
24:01we want to make sure that you are immersed into a story in this dark universe
24:07so when you go to dark universe that environment is informed greatly
24:16by the work that was done at universal on the back lot in the early days
24:28i think a lot of people really just enjoy you know that dark brooding sort of gothic horror
24:33monsters unchained the frankenstein experiment what i would say is our tentpole attraction
24:43and this is where we get to go into the frankenstein manor we see all of dr henry frankenstein's work
24:51and then we also see that there's someone new in the matter victoria frankenstein henry's great
24:57great-granddaughter and she's beginning to conduct experiments of her own
25:06this is the most complicated ride of all time
25:11we're setting up all these elements from all these years of monster movies
25:15his profile right now you can see the hands aren't there we have 15 animated figures in the ride alone
25:24the most advanced figures ever created
25:30what you working on uh the protectors of the flame effects we have fire we have water electric effects
25:37projection mapping everything you possibly think of is in this attraction this is the fastest acceleration we
25:44have on anything in this building and it's just shaking this massive weight back and forth so
25:50there's a lot of worlds first in this ride and it's only going to be a world first if everything works
25:56together arguably the most dangerous figure in the ride yes the wolf man
26:01oh there's mommy
26:11these are a bit more grime yeah you also don't want the overall scene happening where the show lighting
26:16flattened the entire experience with the frankenstein monster you know mary shelley wrote a book and she
26:24describes the monster in her book but it was really universal pictures that came up with this iconic look
26:29i mean frankenstein with the bolts out of his neck that's that's universal pictures frankenstein
26:36same with dracula the kill man the mummy
26:39i think these monsters are in the collective consciousness of everyone there's a reason they
26:44call them classic monsters there was a time in the history of universal studios where studios
26:50were struggling a bit and carl emily jr you know started producing these monster films
26:59an economic cold wave is descended upon the land the nation's sense of security has been shaken and is
27:05in danger of being shattered the depression was a very precarious time for everyone
27:12and the industry just wasn't quite sure how it was going to make it through or what that was going to
27:16look like at the same time carl emily dunn jr became head of production as a 21st birthday present
27:30junior had grown up on the universal studios lot his full life and he's always had a little bit of
27:35a fascination with the macabre he loved earlier films like the hunchback of notre dame or the phantom
27:41of the opera which were universals first dabbling into movies that might be scarier so junior tells
27:50his dad that he wants to start making more of these monster movies and uncle carl is not so sure
28:00he doesn't know if horror films are universal movies that everybody's going to want to see
28:05but junior really pushes for it he thinks it's what's right for the studio
28:14and of course carl emily senior was always taking risks
28:21mr carl emily feels it would be a little unkind to present this picture without just a word of friendly
28:27warning they make dracula i think it will thrill you it may shock you it might even horrify you
28:39followed by frankenstein
28:40and that's really the birth of the universal monsters and it is incredible audiences love the films
29:02they do really well they are often credited as reviving the film industry and creating this renewed interest in movies
29:18after frankenstein then we get the mummy the invisible man the bride of frankenstein and the legacy that we have today
29:26these films stopped the bleeding of the company thank goodness for the monster era of universal it kept
29:33the company going into the modern era
29:38all of universal's classic monster movies i saw on tv they were truly frightening
29:46i remember the image of the mummy you know dragging his bandages behind him but the shot where the camera
29:52pans down you see the bandages you know with each jerky step the mummy took the bandages are being pulled
30:02that really compelled me i mean those are the little things that i want to be able to do myself
30:07and then my earlier little eight millimeter films you know i would use my sisters as mummies
30:13or they would be cowering in a corner and i'd cast my shadow against the wall to have my hands coming down
30:18and that was all influenced by these movies that i was seeing on television and they stuck with me my
30:27whole life i think that they actually were universal movies after all because they have these traits that
30:39you can really relate to if you look at frankenstein's monster what is his story
30:45frankenstein's monster is an innocent he was created in the laboratory he does not have an antagonistic
30:53bone in his body what is frankenstein's monster want you must please excuse me but i'm blind
31:01he wants to be loved that's all that he wants he wants a friend
31:06kurt seodmak who wrote the wolfman he was from germany and when the nazis came to power he had to flee
31:19he comes to the united states and he wrote the wolfman essentially about his own story
31:25he once said he was the wolfman he had been cursed to this fate by forces beyond his control
31:36the wolfman he was in the sea it was the sheriff in the arena and he reminded me of the
31:42the wolfman he was the man of the higitalia he was the man of the witchcraft he started in the
31:46wildfire and in his life he said he did it and he was the man who then became a man of the
31:49greenож 슈versy and the world that they could not be the one that they had in the world
31:52came to the world and that they were both in the world and they discovered the world and they knew that he had it
31:54Most of them are tragic characters,
31:57and I think we feel empathy and sympathy for them,
32:00while at the same time being terrified.
32:03All right, now can you go the most open aperture
32:06with the brightest setting?
32:09We just want to make sure that this ride feels iconic.
32:14Whatever decisions we make in the next few weeks
32:18will last 20 years.
32:20And what scares me is not being able
32:23to get everything that we have planned in there.
32:28With Dark Universe, one of the greatest parts
32:30about being universal is that no one else in the world
32:34could build a park and have a monster land.
32:38No one would take that risk.
32:40It's pretty much taking what he's currently doing
32:42and trying to push his arms so that I think you're feeling
32:45a little bit more of them coming down.
32:47Yeah.
32:48It still looks a little conservative.
32:51We might as well take it to the next level,
32:53and see how far we could push it.
32:54No.
32:55This is a huge bet.
32:57We don't know the demand of what it's going to be,
32:59or data or rankings that can tell us what people want.
33:03We just have to believe that people love monsters.
33:07I think to be an artist, you have to have passion.
33:21You have to love it.
33:23It can't just be a job.
33:25When you make a character come to life, if you don't have that love and care for it,
33:33it doesn't grow.
33:34If you don't feel it, the audience won't feel it, and they can see.
33:39You need to be able to believe with your heart and soul in the project you're working on.
33:50When something grabs me by the throat, I go with it.
33:54And that's what I've done from film to film.
34:01I equally got lost in the excitement, in the kind of drunken state of euphoria,
34:06that I can't wait to share this story with everybody.
34:09But I have to lose myself first before I expect anybody else to get lost in whatever I'm about to make.
34:19Anybody that's involved in this project, I feel, has a very heightened sense of passion
34:25for finding a way to bring about something that nobody's ever seen or experienced before.
34:35I'm Maggie Baker.
34:36Do you want to wear it?
34:37Me and my team, we're in charge of all of the costumes in Epic Universe.
34:41I got the shoes dyed this weekend.
34:43You got red fingers.
34:44I got red fingers all over.
34:45Oh, awesome.
34:46Nice.
34:47Yeah, those look really, really good.
34:48They're cute.
34:49Costume design is, you know, the language that speaks without speaking.
34:55Because everybody, every day, is telling a story of themselves and what they choose to wear.
35:02So we've got a big pile of Igor's undershirts.
35:09I think maybe what gets misunderstood is how much thought and detail is put into every single choice any designer makes.
35:15The best part about being the costume designer is that you get to play every single role.
35:26So you really have to think, like, who is this person and why?
35:30How do I bring this person to life?
35:32And so the moment I found costume, I was like, that's it.
35:35And I'm done.
35:36And that's my medium.
35:41We have over 10,000 independent costumes passed through this warehouse.
35:46If you come through here, you can see just how many racks deep we are.
35:51Part of this here is how to train your dragon show.
35:54We've got dark universe atmosphere.
35:57We have still quite a bit to unbox.
36:00Every role you see in the park has at least 8 to 15 people that play that role.
36:06Now you multiply that by as many pieces as is on a person.
36:09You've got your leotard.
36:10You've got your tights.
36:11You've got your shoes.
36:12You've got your tutu.
36:13You've got your cage.
36:14You've got your neck piece.
36:15Arm pieces.
36:16Every single one of those pieces multiply by 20 to 40.
36:18This is just fur capes.
36:20And this is just fur capes for one role.
36:25Each land is so unique with such an intense design style.
36:30Like in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
36:33Everything is velvet and silk and gorgeous and all that kind of like high-end fabric.
36:41I encourage all of our creatives to think about what is the superfan?
36:46What's going to delight the superfan?
36:48What's going to surprise the superfan?
36:53We were lucky enough to collaborate with Warner Brothers and we together have created something new.
37:00How you doing?
37:01Good, good.
37:02My entire life I've wanted to design theme parks.
37:16And then also the Harry Potter series was something that I was such a big fan of growing up.
37:23I attended the midnight releases.
37:25I read all the books.
37:26My friends and I were comparing notes and where we were in the franchise.
37:30What house are you?
37:32I am a Ravenclaw.
37:37We know that Harry Potter has a very passionate fan base.
37:41Audience expectations for this are huge.
37:44And the pressure is high.
37:46Good, good.
37:47We're making one match.
37:48Yeah, it looks so good.
37:49Yeah, it'll be good.
37:52We are building full-scale Paris.
37:57Magical Paris of the 1920s from the Fantastic Beasts films.
38:04We have a form of Wizarding Mass Transit.
38:07The Metro Flu is themed after French Metro stations.
38:11And as the guests walk through these mantles, that's where they're engulfed in the green flames from the film.
38:17And they traverse from Paris to London for the British Ministry of Magic.
38:21Hi.
38:35How are you?
38:37Ladies and gentlemen.
38:38There is also a live show.
38:40Good to see you, my dear.
38:41Good to see you.
38:42She's directing our show here.
38:43Down the street is a circus tent for Le Cirque Arcanu, which is a traveling, visiting circus from the second Fantastic Beasts film.
38:52It's the first time we've ever done a full-scale indoor show for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
38:59Yeah, I would say if this is the Gwendolyn desk, Steve, this is the one I would be, like, not right here, but I would be, like, to here.
39:06Yeah.
39:07Because she has to make room for the Demi guys to get out.
39:09Yeah, yeah, okay.
39:10My name is Sylvia Hasse, and I'm the creative director for Le Cirque Arcanu.
39:16I grew up in Germany, in Stuttgart, and I was a dancer.
39:19Oh, that's great.
39:20But I was always more curious about the other side than being on stage.
39:24It just feels like there's so much going on, and there's nothing here.
39:27Okay.
39:28And then when I moved here, that was my point where I wanted to really go into production or into theater.
39:33Can I pass this to you?
39:34Can I pass this to you?
39:35Yeah.
39:36This could go under the cart.
39:37Now it's already much better.
39:38I just feel like it's a little bit more organized.
39:40I don't think he would be such a slob.
39:42Yeah, he definitely wouldn't be wearing this little outfit.
39:44So...
39:46Perfect.
39:47I love what I do, and I think as a leader, I see this show like a beautiful painting.
39:56And now it's my job to break this painting into all those different puzzle pieces.
40:01All right, we're going to attempt one more time.
40:04Thanks, everyone.
40:05Some are really big, some are really small, but each is important.
40:12The show has never been done.
40:14This is the first time you're staging it.
40:17So now we're meeting the cast.
40:20This is the first time I really met them.
40:22Welcome to your first day of EPIC.
40:26What is an exciting thing, as a creative, to come to Universal and to create an original
40:37story based on The Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter movies is an incredible gift.
40:42I look forward to collaborating.
40:44Let's get to work.
40:50Right now, it's a symphony of activity.
40:53It makes you happy, excited, proud, nervous.
40:57You are a little bit in the very beginning of act two together.
41:00We're about to open our gates to the world.
41:02And we absolutely feel the clock ticking.
41:08Yes, it looks great.
41:17Movies are bigger than ever, and so is the Universal Pictures lot.
41:21So rapidly is Universal City expanding that it's spilling over into Los Angeles proper.
41:27In the 1960s, there was a big publicity campaign at Universal that they were reconstituting the tour.
41:34The village will offer visitors glimpses into movie making that haven't been possible before.
41:39Their studio space was so big, I mean, to walk it is a hike.
41:44So basically what they did was they got trams.
41:52Universal's approach in the early 60s with its tour was, let's do it a little bit more historical.
41:59Then aboard the studio train or a swing through the permanent sets where one can be in the Midwest and the next moment in London or Paris.
42:06Let's show people the studio, the sound stages.
42:11Everyone wants to see how movies are made, so the next stop is the set up.
42:16Maybe you might glimpse a movie star of that era.
42:18It was that simple, you know, up until the mid-60s when this guy, Jay Stein, realized that they're going to have to change this thing if it's going to be a long-term success.
42:31Mr. Jay Stein.
42:33Thank you, RJ. You're doing a great job.
42:37Jay, he was a visionary.
42:38He was kind of the guy that started it all.
42:41Jay Stein is a theme park legend.
42:44This project has had some world-class ups and downs.
42:49He had passion beyond belief.
42:52At times I personally felt that I was walking up a gangway and there was no ship.
42:58He's a character.
43:00You know, he loved an argument. He loved to fight.
43:01And if you talk to Jay today in his 90s and you bring up the Walt Disney Company, it'll still ruffle his feathers.
43:13What made Universal different than Disney in these days?
43:18Yeah, Disney was the unchallenged leader in theme parks.
43:27To all who come to this happy place, welcome.
43:32Disneyland is your land.
43:34Here age relives fond memories of the past.
43:40But there was a new sheriff in town.
43:47My name is Jay Stein.
43:49I started my career at Universal in 1959 in the mailroom.
43:55Worked my way up in the company to television production.
44:02About 1967, they wanted me to become president of my own division, which was the studio tour.
44:15He was given this job to sort of make sure that the studio tour didn't interfere with productions.
44:19When I was given the job, I didn't know anything about the theme park business.
44:28Jay really wanted to be in television production.
44:31Probably in his mind to some degree, got saddled with the responsibility of building up this tour.
44:36Over time, I think he started to realize there is something that the studio isn't seeing that I'm seeing.
44:44Now the next place we visited was Lana Turner's dressing room.
44:48I never seen so many people having so much fun in all of my life.
44:55I spent a lot of time listening to customer complaints.
45:06And they told us the back lot was dead, dull, too static, too quiet.
45:16And that motivated me.
45:23Jay Stein realized we're going to have to add some excitement.
45:27We're going to have to add some quote-unquote theme park-like tricks to this tour.
45:31I wanted to differentiate from what Disney was doing.
45:40And make our rides not only more realistic, but I wanted to kick some butt.
45:46He wanted to make a bang, explosion, point of impact in the storytelling.
46:00And I don't know if he started saying it or we started saying it.
46:03That's a J-bang. That's a J-bang, you know.
46:05Do you know the term J-bangs?
46:07I do.
46:08A J-bang is a moment that shocks.
46:13Look! It's a flash flood!
46:20But that tree can really hurt you, look out!
46:23They put you face to face with a rush of water.
46:26They'll put you face to face with a rushing train.
46:29But come on! But let's move it!
46:31But this car is going to get out of it!
46:33You would feel the heat, you would feel the wind, you would feel the rain, you would feel the water, you would feel the ground shake.
46:50It wasn't overdone, but it was enough to catch you off guard.
46:54It served two purposes. It was a J-bang and then it provided a thrill.
46:58But it also provided you with a sense of how movie special effects are done.
47:02Red sea open, you ready?
47:11And that is what he did.
47:13And that revolutionized Universal.
47:15And that revolutionized the tour.
47:17And that tour led to the creation of what would become Universal Studios Theme Park.
47:23Have fun!
47:27I find myself often when I'm standing in the park saying like, I wonder what would Uncle Carl think of this, right?
47:35Could he even conceive of what Universal has become today?
47:41And I think he would be really proud. I think he'd be really excited.
47:45I mean, I think his mind would be absolutely blown.
47:51I didn't expect that.
47:56It's like a bomb.
47:57This has been two, three years of a long journey.
48:10Also, when you think about it, opening a brand new theme park and a brand new facility and a brand new show, things will have ups and downs, right?
48:23Now we're actually in production.
48:28The team is getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
48:33Sylvia.
48:35Corey.
48:36Nice to meet you.
48:37To be honest, I feel the pressure.
48:39I'm probably as nervous as the cast members.
48:41So the whole stilt mechanism can pull away from this hoof.
48:45Because with the puppetry, there's going to be things which are going to be learning curve after learning curve.
48:51So we can make this perfect.
48:52So this is the Lucrata character.
49:05This costume is unique because, you know, there's a lot of pre-training involved, pre-conditioning, to train the proper muscles to actually be able to perform this character 24 shows a day.
49:15They have stilts in front and stilts in their back for their hoofs.
49:20So their hoofs can become really beautifully thin and designed.
49:26So ultimately, you don't go boom, boom, right?
49:29You would do it at the same time and lean into it.
49:32Boom.
49:33Yes.
49:34Now I believe you more.
49:35So you would never do the hand before your leg.
49:38Yes.
49:41Yes.
49:42Now I'm getting it.
49:43Yes.
49:44You walk, but it's almost like you walk and you kind of go a little bit more in.
49:48So it's like, boom, like a pillow, right?
49:50Boom.
49:51Because it's like such a big beast that it needs to look like, boom, I'm heavy and I'm walking, right?
49:57But it's the feeling there's this, like, elk-like animal.
50:02It's really about the puppeteers to make this come alive.
50:07This is a very complicated show to cast, because our cast is mostly doing two skills.
50:17They are the dancers, but then they're switching for the menagerie and they're becoming puppeteers.
50:22Just think that's the reason you guys are dancers, because this is what you would do naturally.
50:26So at some point, it's going to become your new body.
50:29Is there a way to go any sense?
50:31Oh, pretty much.
50:32Most of us in the shop have found it easiest to kind of climb in backwards.
50:36Have you ever been in a giant cat before?
50:38Yeah.
50:39The Sao Wu is one of the fantastic beasts.
50:42Proportionally, it's a giant puppet.
50:45So the idea is to have a puppeteer almost like in a cockpit in the head of the Sao Wu.
50:52Watch your head as you go in.
50:55And you can play around in there with the head.
50:57Keep looking around, feeling what you can do with the controls.
51:01And then we have two puppeteers on a counterbalance in the back.
51:05We're going to go into it.
51:06We're going to put all our weight.
51:07We're going to try to push it down to the ground.
51:08Ready?
51:09Go.
51:10And I'll go down, right, left, or something.
51:14When we go up in the air, I just want you to push one leg at a time.
51:17There we go.
51:19All right.
51:20We're opening the room.
51:21Friends.
51:22Welcome.
51:23Please come in.
51:24Is that everyone?
51:25More.
51:26Excellent.
51:27I am Dr. Victoria Frankenstein.
51:28We have two technologies.
51:29We have a projected face and a physical face.
51:32The reason why we went with projected face is the same way.
51:33I am Dr. Victoria Frankenstein.
51:50We have two technologies.
51:53The reason why we went with projected face for Victoria is because she's a new character
51:59and we have to deliver a lot of emotion.
52:02Lower the lights, quickly.
52:06We used motion capture on it. We used performance capture.
52:10We have an awesome figures animated team.
52:12All these came together to come up with a new solution.
52:16Our greatest victory is just for you.
52:20I think the only small thing is on this side of her face, there's like a little light leak artifact happening.
52:27It would be an alignment thing if that's what it is.
52:29They're troubleshooting it.
52:31The alignment is a concern, but we need to work on it.
52:35I've seen that issue for a while, so...
52:38Don't forget that you can roll your head from side to side as well.
52:42We are pushing the limits on the execution.
52:45If the idea is really, really hard to accomplish and very challenging,
52:49we are pushing because we know it's the right thing.
52:52Okay, you have all the weight now.
52:55Because I want to see it always perfect.
52:57It has to be this beautiful, organic movement.
53:00Yeah, you want to give us a little bit of eye blink and ear wiggle?
53:03Yeah.
53:04Nice.
53:06You want to walk around Fresno for a little bit?
53:07But of course, this show will happen many, many times.
53:11And I think the risks are for me that we might not be able to be repeating it for like 20 times a day.
53:18Where you go like, this is not reality.
53:20And Skender comes in.
53:23Nice.
53:25Open the doors!
53:27Let's go!
53:29Our greatest victory.
53:31With this ride, we're pushing the boundaries.
53:35Please remain seated.
53:37We're doing what you think you can't do.
53:39These catacomps stretch for a mile.
53:45Oh, my God.
53:47That's not a good start.
53:48What?
53:54We want the guests looking at the entire experience feeling immersed into the story.
53:59And now if there's anything that's off, it wakes them up.
54:02And then they realize that they're in the show.
54:04They're looking at a device, and that's something we don't want to do.
54:15The audio dropped on this one.
54:18Andrew, did you have audio?
54:21We had audio.
54:22Yeah, ours dropped.
54:24Like, it didn't turn on until after the organ, so I got to figure that out.
54:28In terms of media, there's still a few that are missing.
54:30Something's off with track eight for sure.
54:31Yeah, yeah, yeah.
54:32The last screen at nine.
54:34When he's rising up, his lip sync is on.
54:36I feel like Igor was a little delayed.
54:38You thought he was late?
54:39So the system should be triggering them now.
54:41If there's issues, we got to fly.
54:42All right.
54:43But I do think we need to do a pass of tightening up the mouth on a number of figures, just because they're slow.
54:49Yeah.
54:50There's a lot of complicated things we have to figure out.
54:54And we're running out of time.
54:56It's sort of like Mike Tyson's best quote.
55:00Like, everyone always has a plan until you get punched in the face.
55:05So right now, we're all getting punched in the face with surprises.
55:08It's going to take some time to get that right.
55:10Because we've got to be able to ride to see what we do.
55:14We haven't solved it yet.
55:16And that's the truth.
55:17Best thing I know to do.
55:19Look what's solved on this.
55:20And it's ridiculously scary right now.
55:27What motivated you to keep innovating decade after decade?
55:33Fear.
55:37We wanted to challenge Disney and their dominance.
55:40But when you challenge a company like Disney, it's a battle that you have to win decisively.
55:52When they find out that their turnstiles are clicking a few million less people because we're here.
55:58Welcome to Universal Studios Florida.
56:00I think you'll find that we're a very formidable competition.
56:02I think you'll find that we're a very formidable competition.
56:30their friends.
56:32They're amazing.
56:38My favourite's out there.
56:39This one is the party for 4.
56:41One.
56:43I think they're all making the part.
56:45They're all making the party.
56:47They're not making the party for us.
56:49No one is making the party.
56:52We're just making the party.
56:56We're just making the party.
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