Before Islands of Adventure, guests could get a sneak peak at what was coming at Universal Studios Florida prior to the park opening. Located in the former Stat Trek Adventure space (now taken over by lockers for The Mummy and the Halloween Horror Nights tribute store). The Islands of Adventure Preview Center took guests through models, concept art and dioramas of what the park would look like when it opened in 1999.

The walk-through attraction brought you on a virtual tour of what the park was going to look once it opened. Each room represented a land on opening day.

Before guests entered the attraction, they were given a passport that could be stamped in each room representing a different land. I have vivid memories of this walk through as a visited it almost every time I visited the park.

I have yet to find a thorough walk-through of the Islands of Adventure Preview Center floating around until now! Dave Cobb, Principal of Creative Development at Thinkwell, recently uploaded a video of the entire attraction!

What we love most about the video is how much changed from what they were advertising to the public versus opening day reality. For example, check out these 3-D goggles for the Spider-Man attraction (which didn’t have the word “amazing” in the title just yet).

Or, how about these omen-mover “Doombuggy” shaped ride vehicles? These were also being advertised for the Spider-Man attraction! The entire video is really cool and is a nostalgic look back at Universal Studios Florida before it bloomed into a resort destination.

As a bonus, Dave Cobb also takes us on a small preview of the construction at Islands of Adventure as well! Stick around to the end of the video for that. Check out the video below and a big thanks to Dave for uploading this gone but not forgotten gem!

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