# @cowmissing on YouTube - **Type:** Video - **Original URL:** https://youtube.com/watch?v=8o4ZOtnr_j0 - **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/75901124-cowmissing-youtube - **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/08a67d290f.jpg - **Posted:** 2025-06-02T13:08:25.000+00:00 - **Account Owner:** Cow Missing (@CowMissing) — https://gondola.cc/CowMissing ## Caption Jurassic Park: The Ride inspired by Steven Spielberg’s 1993 blockbuster "Jurassic Park", itself based on Michael Crichton’s 1990 novel, Jurassic Park: The Ride was developed at Universal Studios Hollywood by Vekoma and Landmark Entertainment Group, with creative input from Spielberg. The ride’s lead designer, Neil Engel, began development in late 1990, before filming the movie, after being tasked with evaluating the novel’s potential for a theme park attraction. A scene involving a river raft escape from a Tyrannosaurus rex, which didn’t make it into the film, served as the basis for the ride’s water-based concept. Public discussions about the attraction began in 1992, although its development hinged on the success of the upcoming film. Following the movie’s box office triumph, construction officially broke ground on January 1, 1995. Budgeted initially at $67 million, costs rose to $110 million, making it the most expensive theme park attraction at the time, surpassing Disneyland’s "Indiana Jones Adventure." Plans for a pterosaur aviary were ultimately scrapped due to budget constraints. While the film used animatronic and CGI dinosaurs, only animatronics were suitable for the ride. Sarcos was brought in to build these lifelike, year-round-operating figures—some costing over $1 million each. Featured dinosaurs included a 45-ton T. rex, a five-story-tall Ultrasaurus, and a 40-foot Stegosaurus. Over a dozen sculptors and mold-makers worked on the project, with guidance from paleontologists Jack Horner and Don Lessem. The dinosaur designs were finalized digitally, and the attraction even reused sound effects from the film. Phil Hettema led the overall planning and construction, which included planting over 1,200 trees. The ride’s finale—a dramatic 84-foot drop—was the tallest ever built for a water ride at the time. Actor Richard Attenborough reprised his role as John Hammond in a pre-show video, and the ride narration featured Richard Kiley, as in the film. A televised preview event benefiting the Starlight Children’s Foundation was held on June 15, 1996, with Spielberg and other celebrities in attendance. Spielberg experienced the ride but exited before the final drop because he disliked such thrills. Jurassic Park: The Ride officially opened on June 21, 1996, drawing 20,000 visitors on its first day—a record debut for the park. Promotion for the ride included an online game, "Jurassic Park – The Ride Online Adventure", and a high-profile sponsorship of Jeff Gordon’s “T-Rex” race car in 1997, which was banned by NASCAR due to its performance advantage. On May 10, 2018, Universal announced that the ride would be reimagined to reflect the "Jurassic World" films. It officially closed on September 3, 2018, and reopened as "Jurassic World: The Ride" on July 12, 2019. Partial list seen in the video Steven Spielberg - Filmmaker Ron Bension - Chairman and CEO, MCA Recreation Ted King - Vice President, Senior Producer, Landmark Entertainment Gary Goddard - Chairman and CEO, Landmark Entertainment Charles Cancilier - Vice President, Design, Landmark Entertainment © 1996 Universal Studios. All rights reserved. (http://www.universalstudioshollywood.com/) Posted for entertainment and educational purposes only. No copyrights were infringed. All works are the property of the company listed above. Please do not reproduce without their expressed written consent. #JurassicParkTheRide #jurassicpark #universalstudioshollywood #universalcreative #universalparks #mcauniversal #universalstudios #JurassicParkRiverAdventure #trex #waterride #themeparkhistory #cowmissing ## Stats - **Views:** 2,772 - **Likes:** 60 - **Shares:** 0 - **Comments:** 8 ## Credits No public credits are recorded here. This does not identify who made the post. ## Tags trex, universalcreative, themeparkhistory, waterride, mcauniversal, jurassicparktheride, universalstudioshollywood, universalparks, jurassicpark, jurassicparkriveradventure, cowmissing, universalstudios --- Copyright (c) Gondola