March 25, 2013 – Hey everyone – we’re back with another photo update from Universal Studios Hollywood, this time detailing continuing work on ‘Universal Plaza’ and the recent refurnishing of the NBCUniversal Experience.
We also take a small look at the ongoing Studio Tour restroom expansion project alongside some other minor construction updates. So let’s get started!
First things first, let’s start with Universal Plaza.
As you can see, new columns have arisen from two ends of the park – the first set near Universal’s Animal Actors (pictured here), and the second set located near Shrek 4D.
We’re guessing they’re probably for shade covers, since Halloween Horror Nights and Grinchmas are still expected to be held in this newly developed area.
Interestingly enough, it also appears they’ve dug up some piping that leads to Universal Plaza – again, in and around Shrek 4D and Universal’s Animal Actors.
Could these lead to a water feature within the plaza?
More piping alongside New York Street.
Meanwhile, here’s another look at the restroom expansion going on by the Studio Tour.
In the meantime, guests must either traverse to the entrance of the Studio Tour down the escalators, or head over to Universal’s Animal Actors for the closest restrooms.
Heading to the other side of the park: here’s a sneak preview of the progress developing over at the Terminator/Despicable Me construction site. You can see some more detailed photos of the construction site in our recent Hollywood Minute update.
Side note: the new Spongebob looks a bit odd.
Some small audio readjustments by the StarWay. The speakers placed alongside the barriers have been removed…
…and new ones have been installed at the entrance/exit of the StarWay walkway.
Heading down to the Lower Lot, they’ve introduced some new props at the NBCUniversal Experience.
Some storyboards from Back to the Future.
Marty’s costume from Back to the Future: Part III.
And the pizza cooker from Back to the Future: Part II.
The NBCUniversal crew also added some new costumes from various Universal movies.
Most notably, they’ve also introduced a costume from Universal’s recent hit Les Miserables.
…alongside this prop from Hellboy II.
Anyway, that does it for me. We’ve been a bit heavy with the photo updates this month, but the park – as you’ve probably guessed – has been bustling with construction and activity. We’ll have some more features and updates in the coming days, so stay tuned.
As always, you can always find us on USHForums.com, Facebook and Twitter. Thank you again for reading, and I’ll see you in the next post.
Jon Fu is the editor-in-chief of Inside Universal.
Jon originally founded InsideUniversal.net in 2006 as a summer hobby aimed at providing families and fans a resource for all things “Universal Studios Hollywood.” Since then, the website has taken him throughout the United States and around the world – including to places like Universal Orlando Resort, Universal Studios Japan and Universal Studios Singapore.
Jon currently resides in Santa Cruz, California with his bamboo plant. You can reach him at jon@insideuniversal.net.
