The Complicated History of JAWS at Universal Studios Florida

Creating a Nightmare

On paper, a Jaws ride was a perfect fit for the upcoming Universal Studios Florida. A movie theme park wouldn’t be complete without a blockbuster franchise—especially a thriller, considering Universal’s horror roots.

Development for JAWS: The Adventure, a name later simplified to JAWS, began in early 1987 with an estimated budget of $20 million. This was a massive budget compared to previous investments; Universal Studios had never built a single attraction on this scale.

The boat ride was planned to have underwater animatronic sharks. Infamously, the shark animatronics for the Jaws film were mechanically problematic when in salt water. Turning the book into a movie was a nightmare in itself. Turning the movie into a theme park ride was—well, we’ll get into it.

Even with Steven Spielberg on as a creative consultant, Universal needed outside help with JAWS.

Industry legend Bob Gurr has hinted he was offered the opportunity; Gurr had “no reluctance” to decline the job, despite his previous experience on major Universal Studios projects, citing it was “too risky.”

“I had no reluctance to decline to bid on giant job if I thought the idea was too risky. I no-bid on a monstrous job in Florida that had sharks in it.”

— Bob Gurr, industry legend

The Early Development of JAWS

The job instead went to Ride & Show Engineering. The firm not only had a good track record with Universal Studios—having previously worked on complicated attractions like Earthquake—but also won the bid by proving they could build shark animatronics that could operate underwater.

Ride & Show Engineering would be responsible for the technical aspects of JAWS, such as the ride system and robotic sharks.

The ride was developed in partnership with MCA’s Planning and Development department, headed creatively by Peter Alexander.

JAWS, similar to Disney’s Jungle Cruise, was going to be a boat ride headed by a live skipper spieling a script. The attraction would have a spoof local radio program playing in the queue. In concept, the unsuspecting boat tour would come across several shark attacks. An early draft even had a blatant jab at Disney with a pair of floating Mickey ears among wreckage in the water—a gag later used on Jurassic Park: The Ride.

One notable scene in an early draft of the ride took place in a boathouse—a concept by Tom Reidenbach. It originally implied an unseen Jaws that bumped into a ship from where a dead sailor’s body fell out of a hole.

The concept was coming together, but the story needed an impactful scene halfway through. A show-stopping moment like completely sinking the boat would be unforgettable, but not realistic to actually build for the ride. Instead, the idea came about to have Jaws attack the boat and pop it.

“If we were going to trump Disney in Orlando, Jaws had to bite the boat.”

— Bob Ward, senior vice president for Design and Planning

The concept of Orlando’s JAWS ride was becoming much more advanced than Hollywood’s—and certainly more serious than its old carrot-toothed Bruce.

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Doubts in Development

Florida’s JAWS ride was a technical feat, reaching a cost of $30 million—among the most expensive attractions in the park. It took 850 feet of track, 2,000 miles of electrical wire, and 7,500 tons of steel to build the ride. It was impressive, but many involved were losing confidence in its reliability.

Major effects were failing to work repeatedly. The manufacturer and Universal worked long hours to resolve these issues as the park’s opening day neared. Their backs were up against the wall. They cycled the ride countless times making adjustments, but it still couldn’t perform reliably.

The ride couldn’t even run at full capacity with executives and Spielberg on board. During tests, someone in management commented how the ride needed some work. Spielberg allegedly replied with something to the extent of, “You’re going to have to do a lot more than that,” implying the ride needed heavy creative improvements.

The large design and its troublesome elements made it an “engineering nightmare,” in the words of an anonymous former MCA executive. Some from Ride & Show Engineering saw JAWS as a flawed concept, but development continued.

Disappointment was brewing. Out of all the ride’s early issues, the worst was its tight deadline; opening day was getting closer and closer.

Universal Studios Florida was originally set to open in 1989, but the park’s debut was pushed back to 1990 because of its state-of-the-art lineup and significant workload.

Anticipation was growing as elaborate advertisements for the park were popping up, including a 3D JAWS billboard sculpted by Michael Davy.

Even with a year delay, the park probably still opened too early, but the show must go on.