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Jaws
[[Image: |200px|center|]]
the logo for the Jaws ride
Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Japan
Land	Amity (Florida) Amity Villiage (Japan)
Theme	Jaws
Opening date	June 7, 1990 (Florida) March 31, 2001 (Japan)
Hosted by	Skipper
Ride duration	5 minutes

Jaws is an amusement park attraction based upon the film of the same name. The attraction places guests aboard boats for what should be a leisurely tour of Amity Harbor, but instead becomes a harrowing chase between your craft and a very determined great white shark. "Jaws" is an expanded version of a famous scene on the long-running backlot tour at Universal Studios Hollywood, also inspired by the movie, and can be found at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando. A near-duplicate version can also be found at Universal Studios Japan near Osaka.

Contents 1 Attraction Story 2 Earlier Versions 3 Trivia 4 See also 5 External links

After the shark attacks portrayed in the 1975 film Jaws, the tourism industry of Amity Island, Massachusetts had almost died out. Years later, some wealthy tourists asked an old seaman named Jake Grundy to take them out to see the places where the shark attacks occurred. Grundy decided to offer the same tour to others, creating a new business enterprise: Captain Jake's Amity Boat Tours. Due to the popularity of Captain Jake's, the town decided to embrace the shark attacks. Now, Amity is "Shark City" with a booming tourist economy.

Tourists will be taking one of Captain Jake's Amity Boat Tours out to see the locations of the various events during that fateful summer, which were made famous in a big Hollywood movie not long afterwards. The boats are piloted by one of Captain Jake's skippers, and all are protected by an army surplus 40 mm grenade launcher. However, Jake is confident that his skippers won't need to use them because the last shark anyone has seen was in 1974.

The tour begins with a quick visit to Chief Brody's home. Suddenly, as the boat rounds the lighthouse, the guide hears a distress call from a fellow skipper, Gorden. His call for help degenerates into screams of terror, then an eerie silence. The skipper contacts the base to figure out what is going on with Gorden and seconds later, the tour group discovers just what happened, as the remains of Gorden's tour boat sink beneath the surface of the harbor.

Suddenly, a dorsal fin rises out of the water ... the dorsal fin of what appears to be a very large shark! The shark submerges and passes under the boat. The tour guide pulls out the now-handy grenade launcher and shoots a grenade at the shark, but it misses. A second shot also misses. The tour guide then decides to hide out in a boathouse that was formerly owned by the grizzled old shark hunter, Quint. Inside the pitch-black boathouse, the skipper turns on his flashlight and scans around. Something rocks the shack, knocking boats into the water. Attempting to escape, the skipper struggles to get the boat's engine into gear, succeeding just as the giant shark surfaces and lunges at the boat.

The skipper contacts the base to get help, and is told that Chief Brody will be there in 10 minutes. Thinking the boat—and its passengers—will be shark bait in 10 minutes, the skipper decides to take the offensive if the shark attacks again. Unfortunately, the next grenade shot manages to hit a gas dock, which erupts in flames, threatening the boat. As a last resort, the skipper decides to unload in an old fishing dock. The shark attacks yet again, but bites into a live electrical cable. Its burnt and scarred corpse then surfaces, and the latest menace to the tranquility of Amity Harbor is eliminated.

Today's "Jaws" is actually the second version of the attraction. When Universal Studios Florida opened in 1990, the attraction featured different effects and a different ending. For instance, where the gas dock is today, Jaws would bite onto the front of the boat and pull the boat around. To eliminate the shark, the skipper shot a grenade into its mouth before he swam underneath the boat. Bubbles would form and finally a bloody explosion would surface, showering the boat in shark "pieces" and "blood."

Due to the complexity of the effects, the attraction broke down frequently, resulting in an extended closure as Universal Studios attempted to repair it. Eventually, Universal scrapped the entire concept and rebuilt the attraction from scratch, re-opening in 1993. The version today, with slight modifications from time to time, is the 1993 version.

• There are over 20 'business facádes' on Amity Island.

• Throughout the streets of Amity you will see red, white and blue triangles hanging from the light poles, the year says '76, which is still a mystery - the ride takes place in present day, but the JAWS attacks took place in 1975. Sources say the triangles were left from the original 1990 version of the ride, which took place two years after the attacks.

• Steven's Cannery is named after Steven Spielberg who directed the original film.

• Throughout the queue and attraction you will see shoes of JAWS employees who have left throughout the years.

• There is over 1,140 feet of track used in the attraction.

• Amity Harbor holds approximately 5 million gallons of water.

• Amity 3 is one of the only remaining parts of the original 1993 JAWS attraction. Although the body structure has changed a bit, and it actually comes down.

• The voices that are heard over the speakers on the boats were recorded by skippers when the ride was opening.

• Amity 3 is dunked into the water and pulled back to its normal "sinking" position over 800 times a day, the diesel from the boats cause the canopy to be discolored.

• The grenade launcher's water explosions are not set off by the Skipper, they are timed and the Skipper must memorize when they are set off. The trigger of the grenade launchers do send a signal to the computer on the back of the boat to set off the sound, though.

• The two shark fins used to have their back tail fins move back and forth to imitate a real shark. This effect is now turned off because it would occasionally knock the sharks off track.

• During a shark's attack, the shark moves through the water at speeds of 20 feet per second and thrusts with power equal to a 727 jet engine.

• Universal Studios Florida

• Universal Orlando Resort - JAWS
• Amity Boat Tours - Unofficial website

• Jaws (ride) is at coordinates 28°28′48″N 81°28′12″W / 28.479877, -81.469869Coordinates: 28°28′48″N 81°28′12″W / 28.479877, -81.469869