On a recent trip to Universal's Islands of Adventure, I comented about the empty train rails hovering dustily above Seuss Landing. A supposed train ride through the island that never officially opened. I was eating crow about a minute later when we saw and empty car speed past. It wasn't until today, two weeks later, that I got the official scoop.

From The Orlando Sentinel:

After a seven-year wait, Universal Orlando on Thursday finally opened its elevated children's ride snaking above Seuss Landing, delivering vistas and Seuss story scenes that were intended for the park's 1999 opening but held off because of technical problems.

Apparently, one of the biggest concerns was making sure people would have a safe and fast way to exit in case of a breakdown. Who wants to have acute acrophobes stuck in mid-air over a crowded restaraunt for 3 hours?

Several elevated platforms with stairs were installed at various points to evacuate riders if the ride breaks down. The vehicles were changed to trains from individual cars that could be partially controlled by riders. More Seuss story scenes were added on rooftops and hidden locations. Audio was piped into the trains to direct riders into the stories.

Apparently there is a great scene featuring Sneeches on Beaches that the kids love. You also get to ride through the middle of the Circus McGiurkus restaraunt, as well as getting a view of everything in Seuss Landing and a bit of a view over the lake I'm sure.

I don't think of this blog as being themed towards Attractions, but there has been an empty train track 15 feet above the walkways at Islands of Adventure for seven years now: this is significant. Plus, I have always wanted to ride that thing.

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Have you ever felt more at peace out in the middle of an open field, with no electricity or machines nearby? This may be an actual reproducable feeling - to be in tune with the vibrations of the Earth.

Taken from We Make Money Not Art, 10 May 2006

…Schumann Resonances are quasi-standing electromagnetic waves that exist in the Earth’s “electromagnetic” cavity (the space between the surface of the Earth and the Ionosphere). Many researchers believe that the wide spectrum of artificial man-made EMF radiation masks the natural frequency of the Earth, acting as a kind of electro-smog or pollution, which affects living entities. This discrete device generates a field of the 7.83 Hz frequency, the pulsing rhythm of the Earth itself – effacing all other frequencies within a range of nearly 300 feet – viewers may unconsciously sense something within the halo of this effect.