Ive been very MIA as of late, for which I apologize, but over the next few weeks before a long hiatus trip to Wisconsin, I will be covering different topics, including HHN, a Despicable Me ride review, A look into Super Silly Stuff, and more. Today I am going to simply talk about the bizarre events that have surrounded soundstage 44 recently.
Last month, Universal surprised everyone by pulling a permit to put an HHN house in soundstage 44. The building has layed dormant in the park for eight years, with no activity whatsoever. Many have said the building had basically been left to rot. Well, a two days ago, a permit was pulled to demolish soundstage 44. According to some on the inside, this was a huge shock to those working on HHN, apparently they had already begun work on the house in SS 44, and were basically just kicked out of the building one day and were told this building would no longer be used for HHN and it was going to be demolished. So this is where it gets really bizarre. If your Universal, why cant you wait for five months before demolishing SS 44 until after HHN is over? Why NOW? They basically cancelled the HHN house last second, and decided to demolish the building ASAP without hesitation, after eight years of laying dormant, to being a new attraction. What is so urgent about this new attraction going in SS 44s place that they have to start working on it immediately, instead of just waiting until November 1st when HHN ends. Its so bizarre I cant even begin to guess, although some rumors have come up. One is that Universal had plans to demolish 44 after HHN, but they had no idea just how bad of shape SS 44 was in, and when they saw the awful condition of it decided it wasnt suitable to host a HHN house, and just canceled it ad decided to demolish it now. This sounds unlikely to me because work on the house had already begun, and to my understanding was moving along quite nicely. I just can get over the bizareness. The HHN creative team had plans to build a house in 44 for almost a full calendar year, and then BAM! one day this building is getting demolished, no more HHN house in this building. Its clear that something big has happened in the last few days causing Universal to go into top speed on construction of a new attraction. The only plausible rumor Ive heard for why they may be in such a huge rush, is that Disney has bought out Marvel from Universal, which means Universal is being forced to close Spiderman, arguably Universals, (Orlandos?) most popular ride, and they want to get a ride just like it (Transformers) built ASAP, so it can be open by the time they have to close spiderman. Problem is, I just cant imagine Universal so willingly agreeing to close spiderman forever. The outrage people had when crappy outdated rides like Jaws and Back to the Future closed, can you imagine the outcry if Spiderman, the ride that made universal what it is today, were to close? Maybe I just dont want to believe its possible, since Spiderman is my personal favorite ride Ive ever been on. (yes I prefer it over Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.) I just cant get over the intrigue of wondering why Universal is in a huge rush to get 44 demolished. Its bizarre to say the least. Only time will tell.
