Universal Creative

In December 1958, MCA Inc. purchased the Universal City Studio Lot in California. After MCA and Universal merged in 1962, MCA-Universal expanded into recreation.{{Cite web|url=https://www.universalstudioslot.com/about-us|title=About Us|website=Universal Studios Lot|access-date=2020-04-29}} In 1964, MCA-Universal officially opened Universal Studios Hollywood.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thestudiotour.com/ush/chronology.php|title=Universal Studios Hollywood - Chronology|website=The Studio Tour|access-date=2020-04-29}} As the park grew, Universal Creative was founded in 1968 under the name MCA Planning, and Development as part of MCA-Universal's recreation division.{{Cite web|url=https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201702/5449/|title=A brief history of Disney's and Universal's theme park design divisions|website=Theme Park Insider|access-date=2020-04-29}}

Universal Creative continued to operate through 1996 as MCA Planning and Development, opening Universal Studios Florida in 1990 and creating attractions such as Jaws and E.T. Adventure. In 1996 MCA was sold to Seagram, which changed the company name to Universal Studios, Inc. In 1997, MCA Planning and Development was renamed Universal Creative. Two years later, Universal Creative opened Islands of Adventure at Universal Orlando Resort.

The company moved to Universal Orlando Resort in 2001, the same year it opened Universal Studios Japan. In 2011, Comcast purchased NBCUniversal, incorporating Universal Parks & Resorts and Universal Creative into its portfolio.{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-comcast-nbc-idUSTRE70S2WZ20110129|title=Comcast completes NBC Universal merger|date=2011-01-29|work=Reuters|access-date=2020-04-29}} Universal Studios Singapore, a joint venture with Resorts World Sentosa on Sentosa Island, was opened by Universal Creative in the same year. The company opened the world's first "Water Theme Park" in 2017 with the opening of Universal Volcano Bay. In 2021, Universal opened Universal Beijing Resort, which was the first ever theme park to achieve a LEED Certification. The company's latest project is Universal Epic Universe, which will become the fourth park at the Universal Orlando Resort. Universal Creative also has offices in Osaka and Beijing.{{Cite web |title=Universal Creative Careers |url=https://www.universalcreativecareers.com |website=Universal Creative Careers}}

{{Update section|date=November 2023|reason=The section previously said "As of December 13, 2022, the following information is outdated" in the prose}}

By December 13, 2022, several individuals had retired from Universal Creative as part of an NBCU-wide retirement initiative.{{Cite web |date=2022-12-13 |title=Universal Creative Gutted After Execs Take Early Retirement |url=https://www.thewrap.com/universal-creative-gutted-early-retirement-packages/ |access-date=2022-12-23 |language=en-US}}

• Molly Murphy: President, Universal Creative Universal Destinations & Experiences
• Modesto Alcala [retired]: Senior Vice President, Global Restaurant Development{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/modestoalcala/|title=Modesto Alcala|website=LinkedIn}}
• Steve Blum: Senior Vice President, Ride Safety & Engineering{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-blum-87004510|title=Steve Blum|website=LinkedIn}}
• Brian Robinson: Executive Vice President, Chief Creative Officer{{Cite web |last=Jill |first=Goldsmith |author-link=Jill Goldsmith |date=March 28, 2023 |title=Universal's Rebranded Parks Division Taps Brian Robinson & Eric Parr As It Fires Up Creative Unit |url=https://deadline.com/2023/03/universal-theme-parks-creative-studio-brian-robinson-eric-parr-super-nintendo-world-1235311614/ |website=DEADLINE}}
• Eric Parr: Senior Vice President of Creative Studio
• Russ Dagon: Senior Vice President, Resort Development{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/russ-dagon-3884839|title=Russ Dagon|website=LinkedIn}}
• Gene Dobrzyn: Senior Vice President, Project Management Office{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/gene-dobrzyn-9a31b8b/|title=Gene Dobrzyn|website=LinkedIn}}
• Brawner Greer: Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/brawner-greer-18a9b575|title=Browner Greer|website=LinkedIn}}
• Charlie Gundacker: Senior Vice President, Executive Project Director{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-gundacker-0a57206|title=Charlie Gundacker|website=LinkedIn}}
• Caryl Lucarelli: Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Universal Creative, and International{{Cite web|url=https://honors.ucf.edu/person/lunch-with-legends-universal-studios-caryl-lucarelli/|title=Distinguished Speaker Luncheon: Universal Studios' Caryl Lucarelli|website=Burnett Honors College}}
• Daniel Memis: Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer{{Cite web|url=https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-memis-44273a21|title=Daniel Memis|website=LinkedIn}}

File:Volcano Bay (36829605694).jpg

Universal Volcano Bay is Universal's first attempt at developing a water theme park. This project, the third park at Universal Orlando Resort, replaced Wet 'n Wild Orlando in 2017. At the center of the park is "Krakatau", a {{Convert|200|ft|m|-tall|adj=mid}} volcano. Its slides include water coasters, capsule plunge slides, and slides that drop riders four feet above the pool below. Similarly to Disney's MagicBands, Volcano Bay uses TapuTapu wristband technology, which was later used in the Super Nintendo World areas.{{cite web | url=https://orlandoinformer.com/universal/taputapu-volcano-bay | title=TapuTapu at Universal's Volcano Bay – complete guide }}

VelociCoaster is said to be Florida's fastest, tallest, and most intense launch coaster, traveling at speeds up to {{Convert|70|mph|kph}}, and reaching a maximum height of {{Convert|155|ft}}.{{cite web |date=September 28, 2020 |title=70 mph in 2.4 seconds: Universal Orlando reveals new Jurassic World ride |url=https://www.wfla.com/entertainment-news/70-mph-in-2-4-seconds-universal-orlando-reveals-new-jurassic-world-ride/ |access-date=November 8, 2022 |website=WFLA}} VelociCoaster features two high-speed launches powered by linear synchronous motors, a top hat, four inversions, and an over-water heartline roll dubbed the "Mosasaurus Roll."

Universal Studios Japan contains the world's first Super Nintendo World area. This area contains dozens of interactive elements, as well as two rides that let guests experience the world of the Super Mario franchise. Universal Creative worked closely with Nintendo, including Shigeru Miyamoto, to create the area. The rides in this land include Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge, an interactive dark ride with augmented reality based on the Mario Kart spin-off franchise. Super Nintendo World uses "Power-Up Bands" that allow guests to interact with certain elements in the land, such as the "Power-Up Band Key Challenges", and track high scores through the official Universal Studios Japan smartphone application.

Universal Creative's Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure has 7 launches, more than most coasters, and contains the longest coaster track in Florida, measuring approximately {{convert|1|mi|km}} in length. The ride has a free-fall vertical drop of {{Convert|17|ft}}, and it catapults guests {{Convert|65|ft}} in the air at more than a 70-degree angle before immediately dropping them back down in one movement. The construction of this attraction also included planting a forest of 1,200 trees.{{Cite web|url=https://corporate.comcast.com/press/releases/universal-orlando-hagrids-magical-creatures-motorbike-adventure|title=Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure: Universal Orlando Resort's Most Thrilling Coaster Experience Yet|date=2019-05-20|website=Comcast|access-date=2020-04-29}}

Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure won the Thea Award from the Themed Entertainment Association for outstanding achievement, the Best New Roller Coaster Award from Theme Park Insider, and was named "best new attraction installation of 2019" from the 2019 Golden Ticket Awards.{{Cite web|url=https://www.wizardingworld.com/news/hagrid-s-magical-creatures-motorbike-adventure-wins-outstanding-achievement-award|title=Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure wins 'outstanding achievement' award|website=Wizarding World|access-date=2020-04-29}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202001/7203/|title=Hagrid's casts a spell to capture top roller coaster honors|website=Theme Park Insider|access-date=2020-04-29}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/os-et-golden-ticket-awards-seaworld-millennium-falcon-20190916-kijwxiidsrf4xggj33sqa2f33y-story.html|title=Hagrid ride, Horror Nights, SeaWorld, Millennium Falcon are Golden Ticket Award winners|last=Bevil|first=Dewayne|website=Orlando Sentinel|access-date=2020-04-29}}

Universal Creative, in partnership with Oceaneering International and Industrial Light & Magic, created Transformers: The Ride - 3D at Universal Studios Singapore, Universal Studios Hollywood, and Universal Orlando Resort. The attraction blends computer-generated imagery with reality, using 14 screens and physical props.{{Cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/transformers-roll-universal-studios-ride-151048091--finance.html|title='Transformers' roll out in Universal Studios ride|website=Yahoo|access-date=2020-04-29}} Universal Creative opened this attraction in Singapore in 2011, Hollywood in 2012, and Orlando in 2013. Due to space constraints, the Orlando ride was placed on two stories.{{Cite web|url=https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201108/2603/|title=Interview with Universal Creative's Mark Woodbury: On Harry Potter, King Kong, and Transformers|website=Theme Park Insider|access-date=2020-04-29}} Transformers: The Ride - 3D has won numerous awards, including the Thea Award for outstanding achievement, the International 3D Society Lumiere Award, and was named "best new attraction" from Theme Park Insider.{{Cite web|url=https://orlandoinsidervacations.com/transformers-the-ride-3d-universal-orlando/|title=Transformers: The Ride-3D at Universal Studios Orlando|work=Orlando Insider Vacations|access-date=2020-04-29}}

Universal Creative's The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man is a dark ride using advanced audio, with the sound accurate to {{frac|1|5}} of a video frame.{{Cite news|url=https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20170519/32767/modern-marvels-amazing-adventures-spider-man|title=This Amazing Adventure May be One of the Best Rides Ever Built. Here's the Inside Scoop.|date=2017-05-21|work=Theme Park Tourist|access-date=2017-09-20}} Universal Creative partnered with Oceaneering International to create a 12-passenger motion-base simulator pod capable of six degrees of freedom (heave, sway, surge, yaw, pitch, and roll), and 360-degree rotation (achieved with a ring and pinion gear system), all contained in an angled shell to direct riders' view. Universal Creative's Phil Hettema and William Mason received inventor credits on the ride system patent, known as the SCOOP.

Universal Creative employees Scott Trowbridge and Thierry Coup storyboarded a scene-by-scene breakdown of the ride that would be projected onto thirteen 30-foot-tall projection screens integrated with physical sets. Since guests would be moving toward, away from, or past these 3D screens, animators had to consider the perspective shift that viewers would actually encounter if these really matched. They developed a new process they called "squinching", used to account for a viewer's moving sightline and distorting the animation to match.

Created for the Islands of Adventure theme park that opened on May 28, 1999, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man won Amusement Today{{'}}s Golden Ticket Award for Best Dark Ride for twelve consecutive years from 1999 through to 2010. In 2000, the ride won a Thea Award from the Themed Entertainment Association for outstanding themed entertainment, and experience design. It has also won numerous public-voted Theme Park Insider Awards, and Screamscape Ultimate Awards. The ride has been duplicated at Universal Studios Japan, which opened in January 2004.

File:The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal Studios Hollywood) Castle (2).JPG

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey opened in June 2010 as part of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade at Islands of Adventure. It features robotic arms as a ride vehicle which are mounted on a track, to travel through the attraction while performing their movements in synchronization with the ride's show elements (animated props, projection surfaces, and so on).{{Cite news|url=https://parkpedia.wordpress.com/harry-potter-and-the-forbidden-journey/|title=Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey|date=2012-02-23|work=Parkpedia|access-date=2017-09-20}} In Amusement Today's annual Golden Ticket Awards, Harry Potter, and the Forbidden Journey debuted as the best new ride of 2010. It won the Best Dark Ride category for five consecutive years from 2011 to 2015. Due to the popularity of the ride, it was duplicated at Universal Studios Japan (which opened on July 18, 2014), and Universal Studios Hollywood (which opened on April 7, 2016).

The Universal Creative Resort Development team designs, and develops resort, hotel, restaurant, and retail experiences for Universal Parks & Resorts. Universal Orlando Resort's long-standing partnership with Loews Hotels led to the development of Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Hard Rock Hotel, Loews Royal Pacific Resort, Cabana Bay Beach Resort, Loews Sapphire Falls Resort, Universal's Aventura Hotel, Universal's Endless Summer Resort – Surfside, and Universal's Endless Summer Resort – Dockside.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hotelmanagement.net/development/loews-partners-universal-orlando-two-new-resorts|title=Loews partners with Universal Orlando on two new resorts|website=Hotel Management|date=8 November 2017 |access-date=2020-04-29}} Universal Creative's other resorts include The Universal Studios Grand Hotel, and the NUO Resort Hotel – Universal Beijing Resort at Universal Beijing Resort.{{Cite web|url=https://corporate.comcast.com/press/releases/universal-beijing-resort-innovative-experiences-china|title=First Look: The Creative Vision of Universal Studios Beijing|date=2019-10-14|website=Comcast|access-date=2020-04-29}}

File:Universal CityWalk - The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium and Savory Feast Kitchen (20210907124023).jpg]]

Universal Creative designs, and develops the restaurants inside Universal's theme parks, as well as their Universal CityWalk shopping, and restaurant areas. Restaurants within the parks include Mythos Restaurant, The Leaky Cauldron, and The Three Broomsticks at Universal Orlando Resort.{{Cite web|url=https://www.universalorlando.com/web/en/us/things-to-do/dining/mythos-restaurant|title=Mythos Restauarant|website=Universal Studios Florida}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202001/7199/|title=Universal's The Leaky Cauldron grabs restaurant honors|website=Theme Park Insider|access-date=2020-04-29}} Restaurants in Universal CityWalk Orlando include The Cowfish, Vivo Italian Kitchen, Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, and Savory Feast Kitchen. Other restaurants shared between several Universal CityWalk areas include Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, Bubba Gump, and Voodoo Doughnut.{{Cite web|url=https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201912/7139/|title=Toothsome Chocolate Emporium is coming to Hollywood|website=Theme Park Insider|access-date=2020-04-29}}

On January 11, 2023, Universal announced two projects: Universal Kids Resort, a "new concept"-styled theme park geared towards families with children in Frisco, Texas, and Universal Horror Unleashed, a "horror-experience" in Las Vegas.{{Cite web |date=2023-01-09 |title=Universal Brings Kids Theme Park to Frisco |url=https://corporate.universalparks.com/universal-parks-resorts-plans-to-bring-new-concept-for-families-with-young-children-to-frisco-texas/ |access-date=2023-01-11 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2023-01-11 |title=Year Round Horror Experience Comes to Las Vegas |url=https://corporate.universalparks.com/universal-parks-resorts-to-bring-entirely-new-year-round-horror-experience-to-las-vegas/ |access-date=2023-01-11 |language=en-US}}

On December 19, 2023, Universal confirmed it had "acquired land" near Bedford, UK, and is "at the early stages of exploring its feasibility for a potential park, and resort at this site".{{Cite web |title=Universal Studios confirms plans for first UK attraction - and buys huge site in Bedford to build it |url=https://news.sky.com/story/universal-studios-confirms-plans-for-first-uk-attraction-and-buys-huge-site-in-bedford-to-build-it-13034123 |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=Sky News |language=en}} In April 2025, the UK government gave the green light to the project, and that subject to planning approvals, the planned opening date would be in 2031.{{Cite web |date=9 April 2025 |title=Prime minister confirms new UK Universal theme park in Bedford that will open in 2031 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz95n2837vgo |access-date=9 April 2025 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB |archive-date=8 April 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250408235045/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cz95n2837vgo |url-status=live }}

{{See also|List of Universal theme park attractions|List of lands at Universal theme parks}}

Universal Creative files numerous patents for new technologies with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In 2019, Universal Creative filed 43 patents.{{Cite web |title=Universal Creative LinkedIn |url=https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6638107363733757952 |website=LinkedIn}} Some notable patents include the SCOOP ride vehicle designed for The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man in Universal Orlando Resort, interactive wand technology for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, and moving portraits for the queue of Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.{{Cite web |date=2017-05-21 |title=This Amazing Adventure May be One of the Best Rides Ever Built. Here's the Inside Scoop. |url=https://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20170519/32767/modern-marvels-amazing-adventures-spider-man |access-date=2020-04-29 |website=Theme Park Tourist}}{{Cite web |title=World Intellectual Property Organization |url=https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/57/04/d7/c63b02a4986512/WO2014130884A3.pdf |website=World Intellectual Property Organization}} "We actually had to create the technology which was used to make those portraits look like moving paintings," said Thierry Coup, Senior Vice President of Universal Creative's Creative Studio. "There's a whole portfolio of patents that Universal filed just with the creation of this attraction".{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Jim |date=2016-03-15 |title=Universal Orlando Has the Tech It Takes to Make "Skull Island: Reign of Kong" Trackless |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/universal-orlando-has-the_b_9470112 |access-date=2020-04-29 |website=HuffPost}}

{{further|Themed Entertainment Association}}

• Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney Parks' equivalent

{{Reflist}}

{{Universal Destinations & Experiences}}

{{Amusement rides}}

Category:Amusement ride manufacturers

Category:Design companies established in 1968

Category:Universal Destinations & Experiences

Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1968

Category:1968 establishments in California

Category:Companies based in Orlando, Florida