WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO WOODY WOODPECKER'S KID ZONE??
On November 2, 2022, Universal announced that it was closing half of Woody Woodpecker's Kid Zone. The Universal Orlando Resort announced in a tweet today that January 15th, 2023, will be the last day to enjoy Woody Woodpecker’s KidZone as we know it today.
Fortunately, iconic opening day attraction E.T. Adventure as well as Animal Actors on Location, SpongeBob StorePants and its greetings, and KidsZone Pizza Company will remain open.
But the rest of the area has been announced to be closing 01/15/23. The area started seeing changes after the park's closure due to the pandemic. But when the park reopened, Barney did not and neither did the Curious George Play area. Eventually, the Barney pavilion was transformed into a Dreamworks Destination dance party. Barney and his sidekicks BJ & Baby Bop have been in their spot since the mid '90's and was led by a lovable character Mr. or Mrs. Peakaboo. They sung popular songs from the Barney TV show in a nice park.
Being honest though the Dreamworks characters were cool to see, it didn't have the charming feel of Barney. It's just a come & go as you please attraction where Dreamworks characters take the stage 3 at a time and dance. Shrek & Donkey also moved their Swamp meet & greet just next door, after their spot was taken over by the minions.
Another casualty is Woody Wookpecker's Nuthouse coaster which funny enough is Universal Orlando's first roller Coaster. The Hulk & Dueling Dragons opened a couple of months later in Islands of Adventure. It opened in 1999 and was a short roller coaster ride but was cool for young ones just getting their feet wet.
Curious George goes to town is a water park and also a ball pit play area. I've had a lot of fun in this area. One year my family stayed 3hrs in the ball pit area waging a war against each other. Even the attendants got into the action. But this area will get you wet & on either side of the area are 2 500 gallon buckets of water that is dumped on the people in the water area.
Fievel’s Playland opened in 1992 and is themed after the classic animated film “An American Tail.” It also has a wet area including a 200 foot-long water slide. There’s massive props all over, as well as a 30 foot-tall spider web crawl and rope bridges.
There has not been an announcement of what will replace these rides & attractions or if it will be rethemed or totally rebuilt. Rumors are that it will be a new Dreamworks area. Which is highly possible. I would like to see Bikini Bottom move in. Especially, since they kept the Spongebob Storepants. Also they still have Nickelodeon characters in their parade. The Dreamworks Destination building could be Spongebob live show with all the songs from the TV show. The Woody Woodpecker Nuthouse Coaster could be a Mrs. Puffs boating school coarse. And the Curious George area would make a great Bikini Bottom w/Goo Lagoon. The one fast food place could obviously be the Krusty Krab. But who knows what Universal has in store for the area. There had rumor to this being transformed into a Legend of Zelda area, but keeping some of the things just doesn't make sense. I know Universal wants the new land opened by 2024, a year before Epic Universe opens, so a retheming rather than a total makeover is more likely. I'll definitely keep my ears open for anything that comes out about this area. Stay tuned.