Universal Orlando Resort has been having a better time of it of late after struggling as the resort began to reopen. While guests did return to the popular theme parks, the long-distance travelers that tend to make longterm vacations in the Orlando area have not yet come back. Perhaps what Universal needs is a brand new attraction, something exciting and fun, that nobody has ever experienced, in order to get people to make the decision to go to the park? The good news is that just such an attraction is on the way. What's strange is, Universal hasn't told anybody that yet.
In one of the more unusual moves in theme park marketing history, Universal Orlando Resort's Islands of Adventure theme park began construction on a brand new roller coaster months ago, and has just decided to not say a word about it. The track is largely complete, making it pretty hard for anybody to not notice that there's a brand new roller coaster going in. And yet, there's still been no official announcement. Now even the Universal Orlando Twitter account is talking about... the thing nobody is talking about.
More than likely, at least part of the reason that Universal Orlando has decided to forego any sort of official announcement is that one isn't really needed. Anybody who cares already knows most of the details. The roller coaster will have a Jurassic Park theme as that's where the ride is located, and based on the previous rumors as well as the track layout that you can now mostly, you know, actually see, it looks incredibly impressive. Thrill ride fans will almost certainly appreciate this one.
It's unclear why Universal has decided to not talk about the new attraction. While theme park fans are certainly excited, an official announcement would make the average vacationer aware the ride was coming. Several months ago that would seem to have been useful marketing, though admittedly today that's less important.
Now it's almost a game. Will Universal really wait until the last minute to make an official announcement? Will nobody admit to what's happening until it's done? If nothing else, an official announcement would at least tell us what the thing is actually called. Right now we're just all calling a bunch of interchangeable names like the Jurassic Park coaster or the Jurassic Coaster. It's almost certainly going to have a cooler name than that.Based on trademark applications, it's possible it will be called Velocicoaster.
One thing's for sure, the roller coaster is going to have some pretty cool raptors, which is to say some actual birds recently built a nest on the track, because even the wildlife knows what Universal is up to.
Without an official announcement, we don't know when the new roller coaster is expected to open, though all signs, especially now, point to some time in 2021. The coaster may help Universal compete with Walt Disney World during that resort's big 50th anniversary year.
