2. Jaws
Jaws was a great little ride which closed last year to be replaced by the Harry Potter-themed Diagon Alley, which will be a part of the feature that links Universal Studios with Islands of Adventure via the Hogwarts Express. The ride was built in a mocked-up version of Amity from the original Jaws movie and was themed around a harmless boat tour that would ultimately go very wrong. As guests entered "Captain Jake's Amity Boat Tours", they walked through a series of boathouses located near Amity Harbor, which held various fishing supplies, nautical artifacts and featured numerous overhead television monitors that were tuned to Amity's local TV station, "WJWS13: The Station That BITES". The station featured a low-budget local talk show entitled "Hey There, Amity!", children's and news programming, ads for local businesses and promos for classic movies and television shows - many of which were from the Universal library. Upon reaching the end of the queue, guests were loaded onto one of Captain Jake's tour boats. After boarding the tour boat, guests learned that they were taking a guided scenic cruise to visit the actual locations of the shark attacks that occurred during that fateful summer of 1974, which were made famous in a big Hollywood movie that was made not long afterwards. The tour boat was piloted by one of Captain Jake's skippers and was protected by an army surplus 40mm grenade launcher. However, guests were reassured by their skipper that they wouldn't need to use it because the last time anyone had seen a great white shark in the area was back in 1974. Of course, a shark DID appear and it was a big one. It attacked the boat relentlessly, causing explosions and causing guests to scream in terror. The skipper hid in Quint's old boathouse but the shark got in and continued its attack. Even the grenade launcher didn't fend it off - but it was finally halted when it electrocuted itself by biting down on a submerged power cable. It attacked one more time, burnt to a crisp (as the scent of roasted shark filled the air), but the skipper finished it off with a grenade. Riders were then asked not to tell anyone about the attack, because Captain Jake doesn't want to go out of business! Great experience with cool effects and one to scare the kids with! It's very disappointing that it's no longer there.