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See inside the new 'Jurassic World VelociCoaster' in Orlando

Rollercoaster set to open to the public Thursday at Universal
Thursday morning Universal Studios in Orlando will open 'Jurassic World VelociCoaster' to the public.  They have been letting some guests ride during a technical run.
Posted at 11:58 AM, Jun 10, 2021
and last updated 2021-06-10 11:58:20-04

ORLANDO, Fla. — Thursday morning Universal Studios in Orlando opened 'Jurassic World VelociCoaster' to the public. They have been letting some guests ride during a technical run.

It's Florida's tallest and fastest launch coaster and even has the blessing of 'Jurassic World's executive producer Steven Spielberg.

T.A. Walker tries out the new coaster

"You launch at 50 miles per hour right alongside those raptors into this beautiful, immersive habitat," said Shelby Honea the coaster's Show Producer.

"I mean it's just this immersive environment where you're not just on a coaster it's while you're being chased by Raptors you're on a hunt, it makes it that much more fun," said Deb Buynak, VP of Entertainment.

New Jurassic themed food offerings at Universal Orlando

The ride's theme is based on 'Jurrasic World's Raptor's Paddock. "We see this in the first Jurassic World Film, so it gave us as designers, a really fun world to play in," said Honea.

The team worked with the movie studios that created the films to understand the Jurassic creative canon. "Yeah [it was] very unique because you know, we, there's not a roller coaster film," said Gregory Hall the coaster's Art Director.

"So we got with the filmmakers and we spoke to them a little bit about, would it be crazy if they put a roller coaster in the raptor paddock and it made perfect sense in the cannon. It definitely feels like a deleted scene just the sort of tension you expect out of a Jurassic franchise," said Honea.

Getting up close with a Raptor

And got the endorsement of an A-list celebrity producer. "Steven Spielberg himself he gave a blessing, you know when we talked to him, and, you know, showed them everything that we had going on and you know he was excited about the new things that were in the queue," said Hall.

And when Hall told his family that his work received Hollywood praise. "Oh, they jumped up and down like you're like scoring a goal at a soccer game, your mom just crazy."