Florida\'s Islands of Adventure Universal

Florida's Islands Of Adventure

Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure: Helping to Support Florida's Economic Recovery

Universal Studio's Islands of Adventures theme park opened in 1999 to share in Orlando's $17 billion annual tourism market (Hirsch 1999, n.p.). This was the first time that a company created a park that was as advanced as the Disney company in its use technology, architecture and storytelling. Attendance at Islands of Adventure lags behind Disney, recording 4.5 million visitors in 2009 compared to Walt Disney World's 17.2 million. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which opened in 2010, boosted attendance by 36%, closing the gap but still allowing Disney to claim the title of most popular theme park (Brigante). Combined, however, Walt Disney World and Universal's Islands of Adventure make Florida one of the top destination spot for vacationers in the United States. The mild temperatures make the theme parks accessible year-round and the city of Orlando, with its expanded airport, has done much to make the city visitor-friendly.

A Brief History of Florida

Ponce de Leon was the first European to land on the Florida Peninsula, in April 1513. He hoped to find the Fountain of Youth, which he believed was hidden in the interior (McGill, 2009, n.p.) He tried to set up a settlement, but it was destroyed by Indian attacks. The British set up colonies in northern Florida in 1607, while Spain attempted to colonize the south. They eventually gained control of the entire state. Americans who wanted to settle the area had to fight both the Spanish and the native Americans. U.S. forces were sent into Seminole territory twice, first in 1817 and then again in 1835, when the Seminole people refused to be relocated to lands west of the Mississippi River.

Florida became a state, the nation's twenty-seventh, on March 3, 1845. Slavery was a dominating issue, culminating with the decision by Floridians in 1861 to secede from the Union and join other southern states to form the Confederacy. Florida provided supplies such as salt, beef, pork and cotton to aid Confederate troops, 15,000 of which were Floridians. An estimated 2,000 Floridians, both white and African-American, fought on the side of the Union. Although no major battles were fought on Florida soil and the state was not ravaged as was the case in other southern states, life after the Civil War was very different. Plantation owners were unable to sustain pre-war levels of production and much of the land was put to use under the efforts of sharecroppers, both white and African-American (Brief History of Florida).

The state was a swampy rural backwater, the poorest and emptiest state in the South (Grunwald). At the end of the nineteenth century, however, commercial agriculture grew rapidly, as did a new tourist industry as technology evolved. By the turn into the twentieth century, Florida's population and per capita wealth were expanding and the potential of the "Sunshine State" appeared to be boundless (Brief History of Florida). Swamplands were developed and canals were added to what had once been dry land. Developers enjoyed handsome and inflated profits until Florida's economic bubble burst in 1926, when money and credit ran out. Whereas the rest of the nation felt the effects of the Great Depression in 1929, Floridians had had a three-year start. An invasion of the Mediterranean fruit fly was another devastating event, cutting citrus production by nearly sixty percent (Brief History of Florida).

Prosperity After World War II

Fortunately, the state rebounded with the rest of the nation after the second World War. Visitors returned and, because of its year-round mild climate, the Department of Defense chose Florida as a locale for a number of training centers. The population of the state grew when several major U.S. corporations moved their headquarters to Florida. The state has an expansive university system and is home to Cape Canaveral, an important site for the nation's space program. The citrus industry has rebounded and tourism has flourished, particularly in the Orlando area. Disney opened a version of its Anaheim-based park in 1971, which encouraged the development of other tourist attractions. Disney is still the most popular attraction by far. "Ask children where they're heading, and they don't say Orlando; they say, with an almost desperate glow, 'Disney'" (Corliss).

Universal Studios hopes to get children to say "Universal" instead. Universal Studios opened in Orlando in 1990 and nearly a decade later added its Islands of Adventure theme park. By 1999, thirty-seven million visitors a year were coming to Orlando, spending in excess of $17 million (Beddingfield & Silver). No wonder Universal Studios was eager to be a part of it. Tourism is the number one industry in Florida, helping to create jobs and keep tens of thousands of Floridians employed.

Theme Parks: An American Institution

Theme parks are somewhat of a national obsession in the U.S. with attendance in 1999 reaching 165 million at the nation's top fifty parks (Beddingfield & Silver). According to Tim O'Brien, an editor for the trade magazine Amusement Business, as long as theme parks keep coming up with a bigger and better mousetrap, there's plenty of room for more.

Room was made on one hundred acres for the Islands of Adventure, a park made up of five themed areas surrounding a lake. The park Adventure is home to five attractions based on the works of children's favorite, Dr. Seuss: The Cat in the Hat; the Caro-seuss-el, which is billed as the world's most unusual merry-go-round; the High in the Sky Seuss Trolley Train Ride; a ride for young children called One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish; a showed called Oh! The Stories You'll Hear; and a play area called if I Ran the Zoo. Other attractions are based on Jurassic Park, Spider-Man, and Sinbad the Sailor (Universal's Islands of Adventure). Islands of Adventure, with its $2.7 billion price tag, was designed primarily to appeal to children in the pre-teen and teen years of 10-15 who often consider themselves beyond Disney's warm-and-fuzzy attractions (Kaplan & Corie). By building Islands of Adventure, Universal also sought to rectify deficiencies in its original theme park, the lack of hotel accommodations and nighttime activities. Without them, Universal Studios "was neither destination nor resort" (Kaplan & Corie). Universal opened a $600 million deluxe hotel, added a City Walk of restaurants and nightclubs, and a parking garage that could accommodate 22,000 cars.

A visit to the Islands of Adventure website [http://www.universalorlando.com

/Amusement_Parks/Islands_of_Adventure/islands_of_adventure.aspx] allows one to plan a vacation by providing a planning video and links to details of a visit such as rides, hotels, vacation packages, special events, nighlife, dining, shopping and ticket information. People planning a vacation can book a hotel or package right on the website. A "hot deals" link provides information on the latest ways to save money on tickets, hotels, packages, and special events. One can sign up for email alerts that will provide information about new offerings. If a vacation at Islands of Adventure is only wishful thinking, there is a plethora of theme items for sale, including "hot sellers" like an authentic Gryffindor scarf and "recommended buys" such as an E.T. plush beanie doll. A click of the mouse ensures that no one with a credit card has to miss out on the fun of Universal Studios. Even without plastic,, one can enjoy a bit of Islands of Adventure through the links to virtual tour videos. The videos are filled with the sights and sounds of the theme park and show enough to appeal to all ages. One of the trademarks of the theme park is its exciting rides, designed to be more heart-pounding than typical Disney fare and thus appealing to slightly older groups of children who, it is hoped, will be persistent in asking their parents to book an Islands of Adventure vacation.