Hey guys and gals! For all that haven't seen or heard about this yet, here is the story from the Orlando Sentinnel.

By Jason Garcia and Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel
3:20 p.m. EST, December 2, 2011

Jaws, the classic Universal Studios Florida ride in which tour boats full of guests are attacked by a robotic great white shark, will close permanently on Jan. 2 to make way for a new attraction, Universal Orlando announced Friday.

The ride, based on the 1975 movie directed by famed director and Universal theme-park consultant Steven Spielberg, was one of the original attractions in Universal Studios when the park opened in 1990.

The Amity-themed area surrounding the attraction, named after the fictional resort island in the movie, will also be closed "to make room for what will be an exciting new attraction experience," Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said.

"Jaws has been an amazing attraction and an important part of our history. We know that Jaws holds a special place in the hearts of our guests," Schroder said. "But we always have to look to the future and dedicate ourselves to providing new, innovative entertainment experiences for our guests."

Universal said employees who work on the attraction or in the surrounding environment will be moved into other areas of the resort. Two other attractions in the area — Disaster! and Beetlejuice's Graveyard Revue — will not be affected.

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In a message posted on Facebook, Universal sought to soothe fans who might be upset that Universal Studios is losing another of its original attractions. Earlier closures have included the "King Kong"-based Kongfrontation in 2002 (to make way for the Revenge of the Mummy indoor roller coaster) and a "Ghostbusters"-themed stage show in 1996 (replaced by a "Twister"-themed experience.)

"We've got a couple of things planned to ensure we always remember and honor" Jaws," Universal said on its Facebook page, though it did not elaborate.

The move comes as Universal Orlando tries to inject fresh life into Universal Studios, its original theme park. Universal Studios has in the past 18 months been leapfrogged in popularity by Universal's second park, Islands of Adventure, which has been drawing record crowds since opening the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in June 2010.

Another new Universal Studios attraction — a 3-D ride based on the 2010 animated film "Despicable Me" — is scheduled to open next year.

Universal declined to discuss any details about what will replace Jaws or when it might open.

"We can't wait to share details of our plans — in due time," Schroder said.

Now there are a lot of rumors floating around already with this, and one of them includes an expansion of Harry Potter, that would take you by Hogwart's Express from the other part of Harry Potter land in Island's of Adventure to this part of the land. However, my thoughts with this are that they are NOT going to be able to do it. Why you ask? Well, since they have two parks with separate admission to both, I don't see how they could let you go from park to park by train and not have a gate for you to go through. I guess we will have to wait and see what they announce as far as what the change might be.

Whoa, hold the phone here? Are you serious? They had a scare before a few years back, but ended up re-opening Jaws again. I really hope they have something epic to replace this, because it'll take them a lot of work to re-theme that whole area and fill in the lagoon . . . unless they turn it into Waterworld, Amity style?

I know it should be really interesting to see what happens with this area. I think it is really happening this time, as they announced it with just a little over a month before it will close. I can't think of anything that they might put in there, but I guess with the expansion of Fantasyland at the MK, the coming Avatarland at AK, and the changes Sea World has recently announced, they felt they needed to make more changes. What a great time to be living near all of this stuff!

It will be sad to see it go but I believe that it's time for Universal to update because it really is being left behind in comparison to the other parks even it's own sister park Islands of Adventure. We spend a whole day at all the parks but for Universal we only take a couple of hours and the only thing that takes us there is The Mummy ride.