Adventures in Amity: Tale from the Jaws Ride Book—on Sale Now!




When movie fans think of the Jaws franchise, most think of the first film and its three sequels. Yet as many die-hard Jaws “finatics” will tell you (including yours truly), the amusement park rides that are based on Jaws have been just as crucial to the popularity of franchise as the movies. Of the three Jaws rides that have been made, the one at the Universal Orlando Resort in Florida was shut down in 2012. Yet for those of you who never experienced the Florida Jaws ride, fear not—Dustin McNeill has got you covered in his new book, Adventures in Amity: Tale from the Jaws Ride.

Here’s a description of the Adventures in Amity from the official press release:

Set sail with author Dustin McNeill as he goes behind the scenes of Captain Jake’s Amity Boat Tours! Adventures in Amity is the ultimate guide to the legendary attraction that once stood at Universal Studios Florida. The book contains over thirty new interviews with the ride’s designers, engineers, and skippers for unprecedented insight into its creation and operation. Hear the untold story of the Jaws ride for the first time ever from those who were actually there!

Points of interest:

* Introduction by filmmaker J. Michael Roddy (“The Shark Is Still Working" documentary)

* Featuring never-before-seen photos and concept art from the ride’s 1989 construction

* Hear from park execs about the disastrous opening of both Jaws and Universal Florida

* Read about the seldom seen 1990 Jaws ride that closed shortly after the park opened

* Trace the evolution of the ride script starting with its original and vastly different 1987 pitch

* See rare images of the Jaws lagoon without water

* Learn how engineers guaranteed the ride’s reliability upon its 1993 re-opening

* Read stories from the 1990/1993 opening teams as well as the 2012 closing team

* Hear from skippers about working with the often temperamental mechanical sharks

* Contains additional stories about other classic Universal Studios Florida attractions, including Kongfrontation, Earthquake: The Big One, Back to the Future: The Ride and the E.T. Adventure

* Read tales of breakdowns malfunctions, pranks, celebrity guests, and falling overboard

* Contains coverage of the Jaws ride still operating in Osaka, Japan




I previously reviewed Amity 6 to Base: A Jaws Ride History (a.k.a. The Sharks are Not Working) by Mick Jones, which is also about the Florida Jaws ride. While that book is good, McNeill’s book is much more comprehensive in its coverage of the ride’s history and is thus the must-get book for Jaws fans. Furthermore, McNeill has cut his teeth (pun fully intended) in covering horror movie franchises with two previous books, Phantasm Exhumed: The Unauthorized Companion and Slash of the Titans: The Road to Freddy vs Jason, so I’m glad to see that he’s contributing his talents to preserving the memory of a significant part of the Jaws franchise.




It should also be noted that Adventures in Amity and Amity 6 to Base are both “unauthorized” accounts of the Florida Jaws ride. What on earth would it take for Universal to endorse an “authorized” account?

The amusement park site Coaster101 recently interviewed McNeill about Adventures in Amity, which you can read here. Visit the official book site here to place your order today!





Related Products:

Jaws Bruce Shark Stainless Steel Bottle Opener Jaws Amity Island Deep Sea Charters Travel Lithograph Print Cable Bites Grey Shark Cable Accessory

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