Universal Studios Studio Tour celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, and when I was working on my blog post about the celebration, it got me thinking about how much has changed in the last couple of decades since my first visit back in 1997. Patrick and I recently cleaned out the garage and stumbled across photos from that trip, and I thought it might be fun to travel back in time. You’ll even get a glimpse at little me! So hop in the DeLorean and let’s travel back to 1997!

These photos are a mix of ones my parents and myself took. I love that it captures the chaos of the tram tour while shooting film. Also, ignore the “’89 6 29” in the corner of some of the photos. I’m pretty sure that’s when my mom got the camera she and I used and never changed the date.

Since these were taken in 1997, they feature the old New York Streets and the original 30 foot tall King Kong animatronic, both of which were lost in the 2008 fire.

I love this brief glimpse of Square of Warriors/Spartacus Square. Built in 1960 for Spartacus, they set was located near Little Europe. A fire in 1987 took out the set, but it was rebuilt. In 2002 the area was used for The Scorpion King, however it was demolished in 2013.

One thing I do miss is the parting of the Red Sea. It was a really neat effect. Located near the Red Sea gimmick was the set that was used in Tales of the Gold Monkey, one of the most severely underrated shows of all time!

In 1997 the Ice Tunnel, installed in 1975, was replaced by the Dante’s Peak volcano. A similar effect, just lava themed instead of ice. Dante’s Peak would last until 2001, when it was rethemed yet again to The Mummy’s Tomb. The tunnel shuttered in 2013 and was demolished to create the 4D Fast and Furious experience that occurs at the end of the tour.

I remember loving the Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show, which was demolished in 2002 to make way for the central plaza.

While present during my visit, I have no memories or photos of the American Tail show or Fievel’s Playland, which lasted from 1989 to 1997. It later made way for the Terminator 2 experience, and today is home to the Despicable Me attraction and the Super Silly Funland waterpark.

I hope you enjoyed this look back in time! I also came across photos of Disneyland in the early 90s. I think they also call for a blog post sometime in the future.