A real-life disaster

Disney had promised to open Disney-MGM Studios in 1989, and it was as good as its word – the park’s grand opening took place on May 1 that year. Over at the Universal site, things were progressing more slowly. The strain of producing a host of cutting-edge attractions on a company that lacked Disney’s experience had left MCA’s project behind schedule, if indeed the original intention of opening in late 1989 had ever been realistic. Instead, MCA was now targeting an opening date exactly one year after Disney, on May 1, 1990.

By January 1990, MCA was forced to concede that construction work on Universal Studios Florida had slipped even further behind schedule. The May 1 opening date would not now be met, with the park more likely to open to the public in June of that year. By now, delays and cost overruns had caused the budget for the project to balloon to around $630 million. Even with this level of investment, there was widespread speculation in the press that the park’s rides would not be ready in time for its opening day. In reality, all three of the headline attractions – Jaws, Kongfrontation and Earthquake: The Big One, were facing major issues.

In Jaws’ case, the robotic shark was still struggling with his big scene. Timing the gyrations of the pontoon boats such that they matched the shark’s actions was proving to be difficult. If the timing was off, Jaws simply appeared to be thrashing around in the water for no reason – making the experience unintentionally hilarious, rather than terrifying. The adjustments were complicated by the location of the ride’s machinery, much of which was 20 feet below the surface of the lagoon.

With celebrities booked and the peak summer tourist season looming, MCA opted not to delay the grand opening any further. At 8am on June 7, 1990, Steven Spielberg led more than 50 well-known stars from stretch limousines down a red carpet towards Universal Studios Florida’s entrance. Among the line-up were Sylvester Stallone, Michael J. Fox, Bill Cosby, James Stewart, Linda Blair, Charlton Heston and Jane Seymour (“My god, it’s Rambo!” squealed one fan, according to the Orlando Sentinel, after catching a glimpse of Stallone).  Spielberg joined Jay Stein at the head of the line, cutting a filmstrip ribbon with an oversized pair of scissors.

Things began to go wrong even before the first guests arrived for the grand opening. At 4.30am, just hours before Spielberg cut the ribbon, a power outage knocked out the software that managed the special effects for headline attraction Earthquake: The Big One.

Things didn’t improve once guests were inside the park. The “talkback” software that managed the interaction between King Kong and the tram holding his victims on Kongfrontation was still not operating properly, and technicians were forced to trigger the enormous animatronic creature’s movements manually in order to ensure that Kong didn’t snap his hand off.

While Kongfrontation and Earthquake were suffering, Jaws fared even worse. The ride operated sporadically for just two hours before thunderstorms in the afternoon forced it to be shut down for the day. Spielberg and his family were reported to have been among those trapped on the ride.

Disgruntled visitors stormed the park’s Guest Relations department. More than 1,000 received either cash refunds or free tickets for a return visit. The following day, Universal was forced to offer a similar deal: everyone that bought a ticket would automatically receive a free ticket for a future visit.

Universal was optimistic that Earthquake and Jaws would be working on the day after the grand opening. Kongfrontation, they said, would be out action for at least a few days. Their optimism was misplaced.

Universal Studios Florida’s grand opening took place on a Thursday, and as it reached its first weekend, Kongfrontation and Earthquake: The Big One were both closed. Although signs warned that it too would be out of action, Jaws did finally open on the Saturday afternoon. Staff, though, were keen to stress that the runs were mere “technical rehearsals.” At one point, a boat’s skipper was forced to say: “Imagine explosions over there.”

Universal began to adopt an approach of “under-promising and over-delivering”. When guests arrived at the park, they would be informed that Jaws, for example, was not operating even if it was. Television, newspaper and radio ads were adjusted to avoid mentioning Jaws, Kongfrontation and Earthquake.

When Jaws did work, it was pretty special. You can see footage of the original ride in this training video:

Admitting defeat

In public, at least, Universal had insisted that Jaws was the most reliable of its three major attractions, suffering from significantly less downtime than Kongfrontation and Earthquake. In private, though, management had begun to accept that the problems with the water ride were so severe that there were no quick fixes. Minor tweaks would not solve its problems, which were resulting in more-or-less daily evacuations.

Not all of Jaws’ problems were mechanical. During its brief run of operations in July 1990, guest Anthony Salamone had the rare experience of being in the water with the ride’s shark. His lawyer, Michael Diamond, claimed that a railing had broken, causing him to fall into the ride’s lagoon. “The shark’s gonna eat daddy!” cried one of his children, as the mechanical monster approached. Universal employees pulled the man out of the water, but he slipped and fell in a second time, apparently suffering a scraped leg and bruising. When he was finally hauled back into the boat, the other riders applauded, thinking that the spectacle was part of the show.

By August 22 – just two-and-half months after opening – Universal Studios Florida admitted defeat. Jaws was closed completely to undergo a major overhaul, with Steven Lew announcing that it would not reopen until the following year. A 40-page lawsuit was filed by Universal against Ride & Show Engineering, with Lew commenting: “We are angry. We are disappointed. There are numerous design flaws…compounded by poor workmanship.” The ride would only operate for a few hours at a time before requiring repairs, claimed Lew. Consultants would now be hired to undertake a complete redesign that would lead to the “re-engineering, rebuilding and reopening of Jaws in 1991.”

Ride & Show Engineering responded angrily to the lawsuit. Joseph B. McHugh, its vice president of marketing and administration, told the Orlando Sentinel: “We strongly disagree with Universal's claims. Except for the expense of litigation, we welcome the chance to vindicate our company.” The firm claimed that it would consider filing a counterclaim against Universal.

By December 1990, Universal was forced to admit that Jaws might not reopen until 1992. “We are undergoing a comprehensive engineering effort that will translate into an opening that has yet to be determined,” said Tom Williams.

The following April, Universal reached an out-of-court settlement with Ride & Show Engineering. The agreement barred both parties from discussing details of the case, with Universal claiming that the settlement was “amicable”. Ride & Show Engineering, though, would not be involved in the redesign of Jaws.

Despite the vow of silence, both sides eventually weighed in on the Jaws debacle. Universal’s Tom Williams claimed that the major problem with the ride was overcoming drag caused by the water when the sharks lunged forward. Director of design Mark Woodbury commented: “It was a series of things with the first ride. The biggest one being they just couldn't get it to work reliably.”

Ride & Show Engineering’s chief executive Eduard Feuer insisted that the blame lay with Universal itself. He said that management pushed to open the ride when more time was needed for testing, and that Universal took control of the ride before his company could correct a problem with speed-control mechanisms on the boats. “Basically, Universal didn't have any experience with a ride like this," Feuer said. “If we had built something like this for Disneyland, Disneyland maintenance would have taken it over and made it work.”

The Jaws saga continued to rumble on. In January 1992, Universal was forced to once again push back the ride’s reopening date, this time into 1993. “The process of coming up with a design we liked from a creative standpoint, as well as the technical side, and moving forward on a cautious and prudent basis [led to the delay]”, said Ron Sikes, Universal's vice president of legal and business affairs. Having suffered through a torrid opening period, Universal was determined that when Jaws returned, all of its problems would be ironed out.