Tram crash injures 15 at Universal Studios Hollywood

Published: 21 April 2024 at 11:15

Travel

Fifteen people were injured and hospitalized due to a tram crash at Universal Studios Hollywood, attributed to a brake issue on a four-car tram. The incident occurred at a parking structure in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. The theme park, known for attractions like The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, utilizes trams for transportation and tours covering over 400 acres. Operations' impact remains uncertain, pending investigation by the California Highway Patrol. Universal Studios Hollywood was originally a movie studio in 1915, later incorporating a theme park in 1964.

DEEP DIVE

Universal Studios Hollywood (Wikipedia)

Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. About 70% of the studio lies within the unincorporated county island known as Universal City while the rest lies within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. It is one of the oldest and most famous Hollywood film studios still in use. Its official marketing headline is "The Entertainment Capital of LA". It was initially created to offer tours of the real Universal Studios sets and is the first of many full-fledged Universal Studios Theme Parks located across the world.Outside the theme park, a new, all-digital facility near the Universal Pictures backlot was built in an effort to merge all of NBCUniversal's West Coast operations into one area. As a result, the current home for KNBC, KVEA and NBC News with Noticias Telemundo Los Angeles Bureaus with new digital facility is on the Universal lot formerly occupied by Technicolor SA. Universal City includes hotels Universal Hilton & Towers, the Sheraton Universal Hotel, and Universal CityWalk, which offers a collection of shops, restaurants, an 18-screen Universal Cinema and a seven-story IMAX theater. In 2017, the park hosted 9.056 million guests, ranking it 15th in the world and 9th among North American parks.

Universal Studios Florida (Wikipedia)

Universal Studios Florida is a theme park located in Orlando, Florida, that opened on June 7, 1990. Owned and operated by NBCUniversal, it features numerous rides, attractions, and live shows that are primarily themed to movies, television, and other aspects of the entertainment industry. Universal Studios Florida was the first of two theme parks to open at Universal Orlando Resort, joined later by Islands of Adventure in 1999. In 2019, it ranked eleventh in the world – sixth in North America – for overall attendance among amusement parks with approximately 10.9 million visitors. A third park, Epic Universe, is expected in 2025.The success of its sister location, Universal Studios Hollywood, in the 1980s fueled the desire to build a similar park in the Orlando area to compete with Walt Disney World. Two of its early projects were partially developed by famed Hollywood director Steven Spielberg, and many themed attractions over the years were developed in close collaboration with the directors, producers, and actors of the films they are based on. An early layout and design of the park also incorporated active production studios, similar to the Hollywood location, which provided guests a behind-the-scenes look at film and television. As the interest to produce films in the Orlando area quickly faded, the design of the park transitioned to a more immersive, first-person perspective.Universal Studios Florida operates a well-known annual event during the fall season called Halloween Horror Nights, where the park transitions to a Halloween theme featuring haunted houses and scare zones on select nights. One of the park's biggest draws is Diagon Alley, a Harry Potter-themed portion of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter that opened in 2014. E.T. Adventure, another notable attraction, is the only remaining ride in the park which debuted with the park's grand opening in 1990.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal Studios Hollywood) (Wikipedia)

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a themed area at Universal Studios Hollywood theme park near Los Angeles. The area is themed to the Harry Potter media franchise, adapting elements from the film series and novels by J.K. Rowling. The attraction—the second Harry Potter-themed area to exist at a Universal resort—was designed by Universal Creative from an exclusive license with Warner Bros. Entertainment.After the successful debut of a similarly themed area at Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Parks & Resorts announced the construction of a second Wizarding World of Harry Potter on December 6, 2011. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood officially began operation on April 7, 2016.This attraction suspended operations on March 14, 2020, on grounds of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Universal Studios Japan (Wikipedia)

Universal Studios Japan (ユニバーサル・スタジオ・ジャパン) is a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the United States. The park is owned and operated by USJ LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of NBCUniversal. The park is similar in layout to Universal Studios Florida and contains selected attractions from both Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood, in addition to a small number of unique attractions.Over 11 million guests visited the park in its opening year, making it the fastest theme park to reach the 10 million guest milestone at the time. In 2022, USJ hosted 12.3 million visitors, making it the third-most visited theme park in the world behind Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, and the most visited theme park in Asia.

List of former Universal Studios Hollywood attractions (Wikipedia)

This is a list of former Universal Studios Hollywood Attractions.

Universal Orlando reveals details for new theme park

Universal Orlando Resort has released details for its new theme park, Universal Epic Universe, set to open in 2025. The park will feature a central multi-acre space called Celestial Park, which will serve as a gateway to four additional lands. Celestial Park will include a dual-launch racing coaster, a cosmos-themed carousel, dancing fountains, a Super Star Store, and multiple restaurants. At the end of Celestial Park, there will be a 500-room integrated hotel. The other lands in the park will be Super Nintendo World, Dark Universe, How to Train Your Dragon Isle of Berk, and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Ministry of Magic.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal Orlando Resort) (Wikipedia)

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a themed area spanning three theme parks—Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios Florida and the upcoming Universal Epic Universe—at the Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida. The area is themed to the Harry Potter media franchise, adapting elements from the film series and novels by J. K. Rowling. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was designed by Universal Creative from an exclusive license with Warner Bros. Entertainment.The first phase was officially announced for Islands of Adventure on May 31, 2007, and after a two-and-a-half-year construction period, the area officially opened to the public on June 18, 2010. The area's flagship ride is Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, which exists within a re-creation of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It takes riders on a journey through Harry Potter's wizarding world. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter also contains Flight of the Hippogriff, a family roller coaster, and formerly included Dragon Challenge, a pair of inverted roller coasters, which was replaced in 2019 by a new roller coaster, Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure. The area also features a re-creation of Hogsmeade containing many gift shops and restaurants from the novels including Dervish and Banges, Honeydukes, Ollivanders, Zonko's Joke Shop (though it houses Honeydukes), the Three Broomsticks, and the Hog's Head.The second phase was initially announced on December 6, 2011, as a significant expansion of the existing Wizarding World of Harry Potter. On May 8, 2013, it was officially announced that a substantial portion of phase two would be constructed in the adjacent Universal Studios Florida theme park with a full scale working replica of the Hogwarts Express taking guests between the two lands. This phase's flagship ride is Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, a 3D dark ride/simulator based on Gringotts Bank, the wizarding bank that appears in the book and film series. Its design is similar to Transformers: The Ride and the Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man rides but built on a roller coaster track. The remaining features are themed around London and Diagon Alley. Diagon Alley officially opened on July 8, 2014.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Wikipedia)

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a chain of themed areas at Universal Destinations & Experiences based on the Harry Potter media franchise, adapting elements from the Warner Bros.' film series and original novels by J. K. Rowling. The areas were designed by Universal Creative from an exclusive license with Warner Bros. Entertainment.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Universal Studios Japan) (Wikipedia)

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a themed area based on the Harry Potter series built at Universal Parks & Resorts' Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka, Japan. Not to be confused with Warner Bros. Studio Tour London - The Making of Harry Potter at Leavesden Studios, it is a collaboration of Universal Parks & Resorts and Warner Bros. Entertainment. It opened to the public on July 15, 2014.It contains the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride and the Flight of the Hippogriff roller coaster that debuted at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Resort in 2010. The village of Hogsmeade is also recreated. Two features in the Japanese park not found in Orlando are Hogwarts's Black Lake and live owls.