Why Jaws is the Greatest Theme Park Attraction Ever Created
In 1975, 50 years ago today, Jaws was released into theaters, becoming the highest-grossing film of all time for a spell. In 1976, Universal Studios Hollywood decided to capitalize on the film’s success by adding a short Jaws section to the studio tour.
The tram would stop by a small lake surrounded by Amity-themed buildings, with a fisherman in a boat sitting in the water. Suddenly, a shark fin pops up and begins swimming towards the fisherman. The fin goes down into the water before the fisherman gets pulled down too, with dyed water shooting out to simulate blood. The tram pulls forward to a small pier and stops again. A yellow bait barrel is tied to the pier. The shark grabs the barrel, taking the whole pier with it, ripping part of it off and causing the part with the tram on it to tilt towards the water. After a few seconds of suspense, the shark pops out of the water, lunging at each car of the tram as it drives away.
It wasn't anything grand, but the success of this short section of the studio tour, in part, fueled the addition of more show scenes on the tour, including the 1986 addition of the King Kong Encounter (then called Kongfrontation), which is what gave Universal the confidence to pursue their own Florida theme park.
Version 1
Rather than bringing over the studio tour from Hollywood, it was decided that Universal Studios Florida would include stand-alone attractions based on the short segments from the Hollywood tour. Earthquake would be given a three-part walkthrough show ending in the studio tour scene, King Kong Encounter was given a suspended tram ride through destroyed New York, and Jaws would be given a new boat ride that places guests in Amity Harbor as the great white shark attacked their boat. The park was set to open on June 7th, 1990, and when it did, nothing worked. Kong and Earthquake went through a number of issues throughout the day, but Jaws was hit the hardest. After two months of trying to get it to work properly, the ride was closed for a complete rework that ended up taking over two years!
When the ride reopened, a lot had changed. The original ride saw guests boarding pontoon boats operated by the Amity Boat Tours company for a scenic cruise around Amity Island. After passing the wreckage of another boat, a shark fin appears and goes under the boat. The skipper tries to shoot it with a grenade launcher but misses, and decides to hide the boat inside a boathouse. While inside the boathouse, the shark bursts in, charging the boat as it makes it out just in time. Once outside the boathouse, the shark appears again. This time, it grabs the front of the boat and pulls the boat in a sort of half circle before letting go. The shark fin appears again on the right side of the boat before going under the boat. Popping back out on the left, the skipper shoots a grenade into the shark as it swims under the boat. The shark explodes on the right side of the boat, sending blood and "shark guts" into the air.
While the basic sets would stay the same, nearly everything on the technical side of the attraction was changed. Along with this, the last two scenes were completely changed, as the shark biting the boat would sometimes actually damage the boat, and the shark exploding effect would frequently break down. The boathouse scene also received a major rework, as well as the ride's script, soundtrack, and even the boats themselves. In 1993, the new version of the ride was finally ready—the version that entertained guests all the way until the ride closed in 2012.
Jaws: The Reopening
The ride's story begins in the Amity area of Universal Studios Florida. Guests enter Amity during their Fourth of July celebration. Carnival games and boardwalk snacks are all over the place, and everyone seems to be obsessed with sharks. This is the first thing I find really fun about this ride. Most attractions place you inside the movie, like Rise of the Resistance and Men in Black. But Jaws actually takes place in a world where the movie does exist, but is based on real events that happened at the "real" Amity Island. This is reflected in the (slightly renamed) Captain Jake's Amity Boat Tours boat tour, as you are visiting the locations of the actual shark attacks that inspired the movie Jaws.
Guests enter the queue themed to the boathouses of Captain Jake's. Overhead are TV screens playing Amity's local TV station, WJWS. This 50-minute preshow video is amazing. It has just the right mix of exposition to explain the ride's storyline, world-building to make Amity feel like a real place, and chaos that makes you wonder if there really was a guy holding a shark puppet hostage with a water gun in the queue for that one ride on your family vacation 10 years ago (there was). After waiting in the ride's queue though, it's time to board your boat, get introduced to your skipper and the grenade launcher, and get ready for a scenic cruise around Amity Island.
Once you board the boat and are given clearance to go from base, your skipper instructs everyone to wave goodbye to the dock as the voyage begins. This ride script is probably the best script in a theme park attraction. It's not high art or anything, but the transitions from scene to scene work really well, and it has some really great lines. Above all else, it manages to get all the storyline information across to guests quickly and in a natural way that doesn't take you out of the story.
Here is how the script starts: "Welcome aboard Captain Jake's Amity Boat Tours, the BEST — and only — scenic cruise on the island. My name is _______ and I'll be your skipper today, as we take a look at the actual spots where, back in 1974, that bad ol' shark Jaws devoured those poor, innocent islanders." This short section explains a lot, even if you had no idea up until this point what was going on. The script explains that this is a boat tour taking you to where the Amity shark attacks happened.
Right after, the skipper points out the home of Chief Brody, saying, "Brody really did blow up that shark and became a legend in his own time. Roy Scheider played him in that movie they made of our little shark episode." In the story, this is just pointing out the home of someone important to Amity's history. But in the ride, what it's actually doing is introducing the character of Chief Brody. Even if you haven't seen the film, you now know he's the chief of police, as well as the one who killed the original shark. That way, when Chief Brody comes up later, you know who that is and why calling him is so important to this specific situation. The line about Roy Scheider playing him is also important, as it's a reminder that this universe isn't the one from the movie, but one where these are real events that inspired a movie.
Keep in mind, this is all in the first 45 seconds of the ride. This ride is only about 5 minutes, so any time spent explaining stuff is time lost for more action, so getting it all out of the way so fast allows for better pacing later in the ride.
Of course, this is when your happy boat tour ends as you hear the distress signal of Amity 3 over the radio. The skipper calls it into base, who says he's going to call Brody and instructs Amity 6 to keep an eye out for him. The boat turns a corner and is immediately met with trouble. Amity 3 is sinking into the water, and there are no survivors.
This scene does something I wish more rides did: use your ride vehicle in the story. Amity 3 is another tour boat, just like yours, and you see it destroyed, chopped up, sinking into the water. This, of course, shows that if it can happen to that boat, it can happen to yours, and that raises the stakes a lot. If you thought you were safe because you're on a boat, think again. The skipper, of course, doesn't know what could've done this—except a shark. Right on cue, the shark rises out of the water, swimming right under the boat.
Now is a good time to mention the attraction's soundtrack. When the 1990 version opened, it just used sections from the John Williams soundtrack of the original movie. That is a great soundtrack, but it didn't really fit what was going on in the ride that much—at least not as much as an original soundtrack would have. But when the 1993 version opened, the ride had an all-new original soundtrack inspired by the movie's soundtrack.
When the boat departs, the music is a very triumphant-sounding tune inspired by the “Out to Sea" track from the movie, as well as others. This cuts out during the distress signal, leaving you in silence as you turn the corner. The music kicks back in as you find Amity 3, and right before the shark appears, you hear a hint of the iconic shark theme. The soundtrack manages to add so much. It's there in all the right moments, but also knows when to go away and just let the scenes happen on their own. Especially in such a short ride that lacks time to build suspense like the movie could, the soundtrack allows just that little extra touch to truly turn the ride from a simple boat ride into a Jaws experience.
Back to the ride, as the shark swims under the boat, the skipper asks the base what to do. Base tells them to try the grenade launcher, which they do twice, missing both times. The skipper decides to hide in the boathouse, turning on the boat's flashlight to see once inside. As mist fills the air, the skipper calls out, asking if anybody is there. The sound of the doors closing behind you is incorporated into the ride by having the skipper nervously ask if you heard anything, right before a bunch of suspended boats fall into the water as the sound of the shark trying to break in is heard.
The skipper decides that they've got to get out of the boathouse, but the boat won't start. The darkness, mixed with the soundtrack and slight movements of the boat, really adds to the suspense as a set of chum barrels and harpoons are knocked over on a dock. The boat finally gets working again, right as the wall breaks, allowing for light to leak in under the water. The shark pops out on the right side of the boat, with water and the darkness somewhat blocking the view. While you can very much see it, it still makes it harder to get a good look, especially when the boat is rocking and moving out of the boathouse.
Now, back outside, the boat gets a call from Chief Brody, stating that he is on his way and will be there "in 10 minutes." The skipper responds with, "10 minutes?! We'll be shark bait in 10 minutes!" Easily the best line from any Universal attraction, in my opinion.
The skipper pulls out the grenade launcher and tries looking for the shark on the right side. The shark, however, pops out on the left, causing the boat to rock violently and the skipper to whip the grenade launcher around to try and shoot the shark—but misses. The missed shot instead hits a nearby gas dock, causing a giant explosion, ending in the underwater gas lines leaking and causing a wall of fire on the water, blocking the boat's path.
The shark popping out in this scene is a genuine jump scare, and having the gas dock adds a nice bit of theming to the back side of the island (in the 1990 version, this was just a bunch of rocks only really existing to hide the view of the finale from those leaving the boathouse). The fire effects are huge. It is said that the way they were created was by anchoring a rowboat where the ride boats would be and running the gas dock explosion over and over again, turning up the heat each time. At the point where the fire became genuinely uncomfortable, they took it down a bit—and that's what they used in the ride. To cut costs, the fire effects were turned down a few times during the ride's operational life, but even when not shooting off at full force, the scene is still incredible. The skipper decides that with no other option, they have to drive toward the fire—and luckily, it dissipates right as the boat drives up to it.
The skipper notices a fishing dock up ahead, the perfect place to get everyone off the boat. They also warn to watch out for the high-voltage barge, as it is very dangerous. Before they get anyone off, though, a shark fin appears, swimming towards the boat. The skipper stops the boat between the dock and the high-voltage barge and gets ready to deal with the 25-foot great white. Right on cue, the shark pops out of the water. The skipper takes two shots as the shark bites a cable running from the high-voltage barge, electrocuting itself. Smoke and steam fill the air as sparks shoot off the barge, and the smell of burnt shark and burnt cable—a custom-made scent by Universal—is pumped out. The shark floats up, burnt and charred. It tries to attack the boat one more time, but the skipper shoots it down, causing it to sink below the surface. Base and Chief Brody call in, asking what just happened, as the skipper declares, "We're coming home!"
One thing a lot of attractions struggle with is making guests feel like part of the story. Sometimes it's obvious—like in an interactive attraction—but when someone is just sitting there the whole time doing nothing, it's hard to make them feel like they did something. Jaws gives it its best shot, and I actually think it works, as the skipper thanks everyone for their bravery. What really does it for me, though, is that the skipper also asks the guests to keep what happened to themselves, as if word leaked out, that'd be the end of tourism in Amity. And so the skipper encourages everyone: "So keep it to yourselves, all right? After all: We did get him, didn't we?" The skipper repeats their name before thanking everyone for helping them capture the menace of Jaws, as guests are free to leave the boat.
The Details
Before I wrap this up, I want to bring attention to the details of this ride. There are multiple tied-up boats around the ride that serve no purpose but set dressing. On the opposite side of Chief Brody's house is Steven's Cannery, possibly named after Steven Spielberg, which has its own audio loop of people working inside of it.
Off on the shore by the lighthouse is a church with a small graveyard. There are signs warning of the underwater fuel lines by the gas dock. The inside of the boathouse has all kinds of details. The ride has this whole world built around it that does not need to exist—but does anyway. Also, while I'm not one to get obsessed over sightlines, you cannot see anything of the rest of the park on the ride, aside from the MIB towers—and only from the exit.
The layout is also well designed, as stuff starts going wrong once the boat is far enough away that the people in line can't hear. And nothing is visually wrong until boats go around the corner, with the lighthouse blocking the view of Amity 3. There is also a bridge at the end of the ride that the boats go under, blocking the view of the high-voltage barge scene. The ride had a lot of thought put into it, and it shows.
Jaws is not the smartest ride ever built in terms of resources. Its closure, while sad, made sense. The ride was an outdoor water ride with underwater animatronics, massive fire effects, and a live spieler on each boat, all based on an old movie that, while good, lots of modern park guests—especially younger ones—probably haven't seen. Universal was struggling, but Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure turned the parks around. Of course they'd want to make more, and Jaws was an old ride that was very expensive to run. The ride took up a huge amount of room. The London section of Wizarding World is the only part that didn't used to be the actual ride. They fit pretty much an entire land with detailed shops, restaurants, interactive wand locations, a stage for shows, and an entire roller coaster/dark ride hybrid in the spot of one attraction. It makes perfect sense why they did what they did. But that doesn't change the fact that losing Jaws is one of the saddest things to have happened to that resort.
Very few rides are different during the day vs. at night. Very few rides manage to hit all the major beats of their source material—all in the span of five minutes. There is a reason Jaws is one of the most beloved attractions ever created. There is a reason people talk about and miss Jaws more than Poseidon's Fury, Twister, or Disaster. Jaws had a simple yet captivating story, larger-than-life effects, and a world that was so built out it felt real. I can't see Universal bringing back Jaws to Florida anytime soon, but I can see the love and support that the attraction has continued on for many years to come.
As memories of other attractions fade away, Jaws continues to live on and to get merchandise and support. A video of Jaws’ last day is the most viewed non-kids-channel theme park video on YouTube. As long as people continue to love theme parks, then the legacy of Jaws will live on. Or you can just go to Osaka and ride it at Universal Studios Japan—unless it's down for refurbishment…
Below is Gideon’s recommended video for Jaws, the first one he stumbled across.
