Jaws! The ride And Amity Area Tribute

Its been 27 days since Universal Orlando Closed for good the Jaws ride and The whole Amity Area, but we decided to pay a little Tribute to This awesome ride that made us laugh and Cry, So here it is, our Jaws Tribute.

First, here are some Facts of the ride and Amity. (Thanks to AmityBoatTours.com for the Facts, for more information and backstage secrets, visit http://archive.amityboattours.com/backstage/) 

  1. As you walk through Amity Island you will see over twenty (20) business façades. Each hold a specific themed game, food service window, or backstage purpose.
  2. The JAWS attraction coves over seven (7) acres of the Universal Studios Florida Front lot.
  3. The JAWS lagoon holds five (5) million gallons of water, all of which can be controlled by the attraction Ride Technicians throughout the day.
  4. Each of the four "shark heads" are thirty-two (32) feet long and weigh over three (3) tons individually.
  5. To build the attraction, the construction crews had to pour ten (10,000) thousand cubic yards of concrete, reinforced with seven thousand five hundred (7,500) tons of steel.
  6. The estimated cost of the JAWS attraction at Universal Studios Florida was forty-five (45) million dollars.
  7. Nearly two thousand (2,000) miles of fiber-optic cable run throughout the JAWS attraction.
  8. The fiber-optic cable throughout the attraction relays power and communication throughout the ride/area.
  9. Many props found in both Amity Harbor and Amity Island were actually taken from Gloucester, 
  10. Massachusetts and surrounding Northeastern fishing towns to ensure authenticity.
  11. When creating the attraction, the Universal Studios Creative Team learned that water causes five hundred (500x) times resistance to air. In doing so they calculated that the sharks animatronics used at JAWS must move through the water faster and more powerful than any other animatronic ever attempted at Universal Studios.
  12. The sharks animatronics are powered by the use of use pneumatics or pressurized liquid called "Hydraulic Fluid". This means that warm extremely pressurized hydraulic fluid are pumped through pistons within the shark animation to open and shut the shark's massive jaws and also any side motion.
  13. The hydraulic fluid is pumped from the center of the island, through pipes located above the ground and below the water.
  14. This attraction uses more hydraulic fluid than any other attraction on the Universal Studios resort and, in case you were wondering, hydraulic fluid is made from Canola Oil, the same oil movie theater popcorn is popped in but is dyed a greenish orange color so that it can be seen easier.
  15. It is believed that the '76 banners throughout the island were left over after the annual Amity Island Fourth of July in 1976 when the island reopened after it's infamous shark attacks.
Also, we have an Old Pictures of the Ride.


Now we have a Special Behind the Scenes look at the attraction, if you don't want to see how the ride used to work, this is not for you, Also, ThemeParksBuzz is not Responsible for these pictures, we didn't take them and we don't own them. they were found online at (http://cleaverb.info/retro/jaws/ride.html)




And Finally we have, the sad image that is now at the Park, Jaws and Amity Behind Construction Walls.






We will remember Jaws Forever, and we are sad but thrilled to see whats next for universal, but hope they acknowledge Jaws as the most amazing water ride ever.

 Thanks to Attractions Magazine (http://attractionsmagazine.com/) ThemeParkReview (http://www.themeparkreview.com) for photos and news about Jaws.

 Check out this TPR: Final Look of JAWS! http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/photo.php?pageid=78&linkid=11309&pageno=1

 -TPBnews Team