Sharkweek – Jaws the Ride

I’m a huge fan of theme parks, and whilst I’m very fond of fast rollercoasters, my favorite rides are the “on rails” styled rides that take you on cool adventures. Well this week we are celebrating Sharkweek (oohh aaahh) and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to look back at one of the coolest rides that ever lived at Universal Studios Florida , The JAWS ride.

Inspired on the classic Universal Studios Backlot Tour, “Captain Jake’s Amity Boat Tours” is a sequel of sorts to the original 1975 film, which sees guests attending a lovely calm boat ride tour of Amity Harbor, the location of the now legendary JAWS attacks. Except…it does look like there is another shark looking for revenge!

After the shark nicknamed as Jaws was eventually destroyed by Chief Brody, Matt Hooper and Quint in 1974, Brody became a legend in Amity Harbor, and the “Jaws” incident inspired Steven Spielberg’s big Hollywood movie. However, the tourism on Amity Island strongly decreased following the incident due to fear of sharks. However, resident seaman Jake Grundy decided to open a new boat tour on the island which would take guests out to the historic areas where the shark attacks actually occurred, which ultimately brought back tourism to the island.

The ride opened, alongside the entire park, on June 7, 1990, but sadly closed it doors  on January 2, 2012, to make room for the second second phase of The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter (damn you Harry!). However you can watch the ride in all its glory below.