Recently, Universal Studios announced its major decision to open a major park in New Jersey by replacing the entirety of Hoboken. The citizens of Hoboken are outraged (and in Hoboken, of course) about this major decision, as this is going to impact their everyday lives. However, Universal announced plans to relocate all the citizens of Hoboken to a newly built hotel for the theme park, though living in the hotel will be more costly than before. This is not helped by the fact that all the currently existing stores and restaurants will remain as Hoboken transforms into Universal Studios Jersey, decreasing the pay rate of those working by half.
Stevens Institute of Technology and a small plot of land extending to the Hoboken Montessori School will be replaced with a new area for Universal Studios Jersey called Learniversal, dedicated to helping children learn and STEM students earn a college degree. For students at Stevens Institute of Technology, this involves multiple rides, including Back To The Future, to learn about world history, and Jurassic Park, to learn about geosciences. There is a new ride known as Revenge of the Dummy, where a lazy student who gets zapped by lightning after flunking his class tries to get revenge by placing a magical Egyptian curse on the school. In addition, students will apply their newly learned information about various STEM subjects on a new coaster that is mandatory for them to ride, known as the Test. It is divided into two trains: Thrill-Lovers and Thrill-Haters. On the Thrill-Lovers train, those who answer questions correctly will ride a thrilling section of the coaster, and those who don’t will ride a mild section of the coaster. The Thrill-Haters train is the opposite. For younger children, there are new attractions such as Despicable Me: Minion Math Mayhem, Curious George Goes To School, Shrek’s Guide To Fairy Tales, Internet Trolls World Tour, The Cat in the Hat, and Woody Woodpecker’s Schoolhouse Coaster.
East of Learniversal will be a new section dedicated to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, containing Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, and the new Hagrid Ride. South of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is a Super Nintendo World containing a Mario Kart ride, a Donkey Kong ride, and new experiences themed to Kirby, Pokemon, and the Legend of Zelda. North of Learniversal is the entrance to Universal Studios Jersey, where guests can enter and visit a studio tram tour that can teach them about making movies. Currently, it is up for debate on who the new mayor of Hoboken will be after Universal takes over Hoboken.
The main reason why Universal is choosing to build a new theme park in Hoboken is due to wanting to compete with Disney, who are in the process of buying out the entirety of New York City to create a brand new theme park known as Disneyland New York. Disney plans to replace all the buildings and monuments currently in New York City and create five new theme parks as a replacement for the boroughs. However, the public is not happy with the new theme parks being built that are replacing major cities and are planning to overthrow the Disney and Universal theme parks in both California and Florida. This leaves the potential future of Universal Studios Jersey and Disneyland New York in question, as both companies have noticed the enormous backlash to their decisions. Now it is up to you: would you want Hoboken and New York to turn into resorts, or are you happy keeping it the way it is? If you choose to keep both cities the way they are, just be glad this is only an Off The Press article.
