About The Universal Vault

I’m Steven Johnson. I run The Universal Vault.

It started in 1992, on the first family trip to Universal Studios Florida.

Ghostbusters was the movie growing up, so the park that had Ghostbusters Spooktacular was the one we were going to. Back to the Future was there too, and JAWS, which unfortunately wasn’t running while we were there.

Jurassic Park arrived the next year. New favourite movie, and a new plan: work in the movies. John Williams is also the reason I learned piano.

We went back in 1995. That was my first ride on JAWS, along with a little bit of Jurassic Park behind the scenes at the Pantages Theatre.

I liked going back and seeing what had changed.

The thing I kept checking was the Jaws: The Revenge shark in the Boneyard. Not Bruce from the original film, but still a piece of that world, and you could walk right up to it.

After a while, it became the first stop.

In 2002, I tried to take the same photo of it I’d taken before.

In 2003, the shark was gone.

So I took the photo anyway.

Same frame. Nothing in it.

That’s when it stopped being just a trip and started becoming a record.

The parks were going to keep changing. Attractions would close, props would disappear, buildings would be replaced. If I wanted to remember the earlier version of Universal, I was going to have to keep some record of it myself.

Years ago, I put up a site called The Evolution of Universal Orlando, organized year by year with photos, video, and whatever else I had collected.

The domain eventually expired.

The pile of tapes didn’t.

The Universal Vault is that idea again.

JAWS. Back to the Future: The Ride. Kongfrontation. Ghostbusters. Nickelodeon Studios. Dueling Dragons. The Lost Continent. Old maps, signs, props, photographs, home video, memorabilia, and the little things that disappeared without much ceremony.

Most of the early material comes from before everyone had a camera in their pocket.

I bought a Sony Digital8 camcorder because it gave me the best picture I could afford, and because my interest in filmmaking was getting serious.

Someone eventually left this comment on one of my old uploads:

“This guy had a really good camera, especially back in the 90s.”

I’ll take it.

Then the sets took over.

I started working in film as a production assistant, with long days and not much free time. I eventually moved on from being a PA, but Universal dropped off the calendar for years.

I had no idea that my 2007 trip would be my last ride on JAWS, Back to the Future: The Ride, and Dueling Dragons.

A friend of mine, Russ, eventually told me I hadn’t been to Universal in a long time and asked when I was coming back.

I told him if they booked February, after the show I was working on finished, I’d meet them there.

He booked.

So did I.

Twelve years had passed.

Amity was gone. Back to the Future was gone. Half of The Lost Continent was gone. Harry Potter had arrived. Everybody had a phone out.

Different park.

And that made the older material feel more important.

About the archive

Some of what you’ll find here is mine: photographs, video, scans, memorabilia, and things I’ve collected over the years.

Some of it comes from other people, old websites, home video, promotional material, and other surviving pieces of Universal Orlando history.

If I can identify where something came from, I credit it.

If something on the site is yours and the credit is wrong or missing, please write in. I’m always happy to correct it.

This isn’t about claiming ownership over Universal Orlando’s history.

It’s about preserving it.

Everyone films the parks now. Between phones, cameras, social media, and YouTube, today’s Universal is being documented constantly.

This site is for the years when fewer people did.

Hopefully, years from now, someone who never got to walk through Amity, ride Kongfrontation, wander The Lost Continent, or see that shark sitting in the Boneyard will still be able to see what was once there.

And for those of us who did experience it, maybe something in the Vault will bring back a memory we haven’t thought about in years.

See you in the movies.

Steven Johnson