From Affordable Housing to a House on Fire – Universal News and the Tram Tour’s Burning Past (Ep. 84)

The Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Places & Travel, Society & Culture, Tv & Film

4.7 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 2 January 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Recording on New Year’s Eve for a show that drops just as 2026 begins, Jim Hill and Eric Hersey cover a full slate of Universal news, rumors, and unexpected updates before shifting into a classic Jim Hill history lesson. The episode starts in the present with major developments at Universal Orlando and ends in the late 1960s on the Hollywood backlot, tracing how one clever Tram Tour gag eventually led to one of Universal’s most iconic fire-based attractions. NEWS • Universal Destinations and Experiences begins construction on Catchlight Crossings, a 1,000-unit affordable housing community near Universal Orlando • What’s included in the development - retail, medical offices, community space, transportation hubs, and a tuition-free Bezos Academy preschool • How Catchlight Crossings fits into Universal’s long-term Housing for Tomorrow initiative and who the community is designed to serve • Rumor watch - could Stephen King’s It become a headline house at Halloween Horror Nights 2026, and how that would fit alongside Universal’s existing horror icons • The planned reimagining of Universal Orlando’s Horror Make-Up Show is delayed, keeping the attraction open longer than expected • Universal’s seasonal Backlot Club holiday card game wraps up and whether it could become a recurring collectible • Wicked: For Good debuts as the most-watched PVOD title in the U.S. in a single day, with a breakdown of pricing and bonus features FEATURE • The surprising origins of Universal Studios Hollywood’s Burning House and why it was added to the Tram Tour in the early 1970s • How Jay Stein, under Lew Wasserman’s direction, searched for cheap, repeatable, four-minute-resettable spectacle after the success of the Flash Flood • A short-lived and controversial gorilla gag inspired by Tarzan that generated complaints from parents • The evolution from jungle sight gags to the Snow Cottage, movie magic illusions, and the push to let guests feel heat instead of cold • How the Burning House eventually paved the way for Backdraft and future flame-based Universal attractions HOSTS • Jim Hill - IG: @JimHillMedia | X: @JimHillMedia | Website: JimHillMedia.com • Eric Hersey - IG: @erichersey | X: @erichersey | Website: strongmindedagency.com FOLLOW • Facebook: JimHillMediaNews • Instagram: JimHillMedia • TikTok: JimHillMedia SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at Patreon.com/JimHillMedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey - Strong Minded Agency SPONSOR This episode is brought to you by Be Our Guest Vacations. From Universal Orlando and Hollywood to Disney parks, cruises, and beyond, their Platinum-level concierge service takes the stress out of vacation planning. Learn more at beourguestvacations.com. If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the Epic Universal Podcast. I'm entertainment writer Jim Hill, and this is the podcast where we cover the latest universal news, rumors and history. And as always, I'm joined by Eric Hersey. What kind of makes this show different folks is, well, it will be posted on the second day of the new year, 2006, but Eric and I are actually
0:24.7	recording this on the afternoon of New Year's Eve. So as we were pre-gaming, I had questions
0:31.0	about what goes on in the Hersey household on New Year's Eve.
0:34.9	Well, the countdown is on. It's, it's what, countdown almost 12
0:39.1	hours until we're marking the new year. But it's funny, Jim, that our plans are very universal
0:47.3	and Disney related. And it's happened, it's an odd one. And it's funny enough, my daughter,
0:51.9	who's now 15, was getting invited to actual real parties. And she was telling all her teenage friends not a chance yeah she was say because
0:58.9	what we do is is like it's it's it's it's about seven or eight years in the making now so in my
1:05.2	office or basement or whatever you want to call it there are pictures surrounding the walls that
1:10.3	are all homemade uh paintings that we've pictures surrounding the walls that are all homemade
1:11.4	paintings that we've created over the years. And it all started that we were going to make
1:15.9	posters, you know, the Disneyland posters, attraction posters. And I got these big canvases. And I said,
1:23.7	all right, everybody's going to paint one. And we started that oddly enough on New Year's Eve, and we've been doing it for the last seven, eight years.
1:30.3	So we all collect. We basically all pick a Disney or Universal over the last couple of years.
1:36.3	We picked some universal stuff to paint. And we have a whole bunch of attraction posters all up my walls.
1:41.3	So that is, we need to collect five more. So everybody has their item selected
1:46.0	what they're going to paint tonight. And we start that. And this was a challenging year because
1:50.6	we are also going to watch Stranger Things, the series finale tonight. So it's a matter of like,
1:57.9	all right, we got to get the painting done in time. So not so much ball dropping.
2:02.1	We know we're all old enough now to know like when the time has changed.
2:07.1	So like watching the ball drop isn't as important for us.
2:10.2	What we want to see is the stranger things and make sure that we get that done before the end of the year.
	...

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