Normally It's Bad News When A Universal Studios Ride Comes Down, But The Clever Way Rip Ride Construction Walls Went Up Has Ghostbusters Fans Talking About What's Next

Generally speaking, when it comes time for a theme park to close something, anything, and replace it with the next new thing, fans get upset. No matter how exciting the new attraction might be, fans build emotional connections to what they grew up with. One need only look at the Disney World double whammy of the recently closed Muppet*Vision 3D and the Rivers of America that is set to close in less than a month.

However, a strange thing is happening over at Universal Orlando Resort. One of the major roller coasters at Universal Studios Florida is about to close. In fact, it was recently confirmed that the ride will close earlier than previously announced. And yet, fans don’t seem to be upset, they’re actually getting quite excited thanks to some rather interesting construction walls.

The construction walls surround the facade of the Ghostbusters Firehouse at Universal Studios Florida, the former home of the Ghostbusters Spooktacular stage show. The area is now home to part of the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster, which is set to close in August to be replaced by an as-yet-unspecified new attraction.

Due to the signs that advertise a “restoration” of the Firehouse facade, fans are wondering if this is part of some upcoming new Ghostbusters attraction, or perhaps if the upcoming replacement for HRRR might actually be a Ghostbusters coaster. Comments include…

• OMG! Ghostbusters coaster confirmed??? - @bak3dd
• “Restoration” fingers crossed, or shall I say streams crossed! - @Hockeyman55
• This is like when Universal posted the video of the onion being replaced by a Banana and people still didn’t accept that it was Minion replacement. - @KennyandthJets
• GHOSTBUSTERS COASTER WE WON - @corvettehorizon

It’s certainly possible that fans are exactly right and Universal is planning to use the existing Firehouse facade as part of a new Ghostbusters roller coaster. One of the prevailing theories is that the new coaster will be a version of the Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift coaster currently under construction at Universal Studios Hollywood. But even if the coaster construction is identical, it’s still possible it could be built with a different IP attached.

Of course, considering that the roller coaster won’t be closing for another couple of months, it can’t even be confirmed that these construction walls are connected to the ride’s replacement. While it’s possible, and even likely, that some early work that won’t interfere with current ride operations is being done, these walls could be unrelated.

Also, even if these changes are related to the coaster, it doesn’t mean that the work being done has anything to do with the Ghostbusters being used more, in this attraction or any other. The signs could simply be there because the work being done is on the Ghostbusters facade, so the construction becomes thematic.

Considering Universal Orlando previously had the Jurassic World Velocicoaster mostly finished before they ever confirmed the ride was happening, there’s no telling when we may actually find out what the plan is for the Rip Ride Rockit Replacement. If it does turn out to be Ghosbusters-themed, a lot of people will clearly be very happy.