Universal's World of Creatures

Universal Metazoa (or shortly known as Metazoa, and formally known as Universal Studios Metazoa) is a largest zoological, marine and amusement park located at Universal Baton Rouge Resort, next-door to Universal Studios Louisiana. It is owned by NBCUniversal (a Comcast company) and operated by Universal Parks and Resorts. The park is Universal's equivalent of Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World in Florida, which makes it the first Universal theme park to be themed around animal conservation.

It was originally owned and operated by Universal & Venture Group, Inc., a joint venture between Universal Parks and Resorts, The Blackstone Group, Busch Entertainment Corporation and Merlin Entertainments until 2004 where it then got fully-owned by Universal, and as well as the Universal & Venture Group, Inc. is fully owned and folded into Universal Parks and Resorts.

It was opened on March 21, 2002, as the first theme park to be built at Universal Baton Rouge Resort, before Universal Studios Louisiana opened in 2012.

Universal Metazoa is accredited by the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) and Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

Promotional info
It's Wild Outside at Universal Metazoa, located next door to Universal Studios Louisiana. It's an adventurous theme park filled with discoveries and thrills unlike any other, home to 10 different themed lands, showcasing animal exhibits, wild rides, attractions, entertainment, fun shows and interactive areas, dining, shopping and characters you'll meet throughout. All of this will make you feel like you're on an amazing safari experience.

Areas
Universal Metazoa theme park consists of 10 themed areas, in clockwise order like Islands of Adventure, which surrounds the lagoon called “Discovery Lagoon”. The areas features animal exhibit attractions (and few of the areas and most sub-areas are also animal exhibit attractions (with exceptions of SpongeBob LandPants, The Croods' Land, Kaiju Region, Angry Birds Island, Pokémon World, Animal Crossing, Garfield's Play Fair, and The Secret Place of Pets  which don't have animal exhibit attractions), rides and other attractions, that are some original and some that're based on Universal works and licensed intellectual properties.

Current

 * Exotic Entry - The first section as an entry of the park. In there, guest can walk around the wildlife village with shops, dinning, entertainment and as well as attractions. Theme: “Wildlife” village. Opening date: March 21, 2002. Map info: You'll first enter the best village of wildlife in the world, where TBA
 * Tropical Biomes - The second and one of the largest sections themed to jungles/rainforest and grasslands. Theme: jungles and grasslands.
 * Africa Safari - Tropical Biomes' sub-section themed around Africa with replicas of real-life African village. Theme: Africa
 * Madagascar - a second sub-area within Tropical Biomes section based on DreamWorks Animation's film franchise of the same name and themed to wildlife of Madagascar. Theme: DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar film series and Madagascan wildlife. Opening date: September 15, 2009.
 * Asian Kingdom - A third sub-section at Tropical Biomes themed to Asian jungle. Theme: Asia. Opeining date: March 21, 2002.
 * Latin Wilderness - Tropical Biomes' fourth sub-section themed to the rainforest and wildlife of Central and South America. It is also an animal exhibit walkthrough attraction with jaguars, giant anteaters, Brazilian tapirs, South American monkeys, macaws, toucans, sloths, etc. Theme: Central and South American wildlife and rainforest. Opening date: March 21, 2002.
 * Wild Seas - A third section themed to marine wildlife. Theme: marine wildlife. Opening date: March 21, 2002.
 * Amity Village - A sub-zone located within Wild Seas section inspired from Universal Pictures’ Jaws franchise. Theme: Jaws trilogy. Opening date: March 21, 2002
 * SpongeBob LandPants - A second sub-zone located within Wild Seas based on Nickelodeon’s long-running animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants. Theme: SpongeBob SquarePants. Opening date: August 16, 2011. Map info: Enter to the undersea world of Bikini Bottom, home to SpongeBob SquarePants and his friends.
 * The Lost Kingdom - A fourth section themed to wildlife of prehistoric times. Opening date: March 21, 2002. Map info: Travel back in time to 65 millions of years of the making, home to dinosaurs and other prehistoric species.
 * Jurassic World - (formerly named Jurassic Park until 2019) The section's sub-section inspired by Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster film franchise of the same name. Theme: Jurassic Park/Jurassic World franchise and dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. Opening date: March 21, 2002. Map info: Step through gate to discover the world inspired by the hit film trilogy of Jurassic Park.
 * Skull Island - A third sub-section within Animal Starland section consists of two attractions based on King Kong films. Theme: King Kong. Opening date: May 15, 2021. Replaced: Land of Ice Age
 * The Croods' Land - The third sub-section of The Lost Kingdom based on DreamWorks Animation's The Croods. Theme: DreamWorks' The Croods. Opening date: July 2, 2016.
 * Wild Woods of America - (formerly named Wild Woods until 2017) An fifth section and an animal exhibit walkthrough themed to wildlife of woodland forests of North America. It is home to American woodland animals like deer, elks, moose, beavers, badgers, foxes, rabbits, American bald eagles, lynxes, pumas, skunks, raccoons, woodpeckers, bears, wolves, rams, etc. Theme: American woodland wildlife. Opeining date: March 21, 2002. Formerly name: Wild Woods. Trivia: Wild Woods was used to be themed to woodland forest which contianed two sub-areas such as North America and Europe, before the Europe area within a land was closed to make way for Metazoa version of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter section.
 * The Berenstain Bears – Bear Country - A sub-section of Wild Wood of America based on The Berenstian Bears children's book franchise. Theme: The Berenstein Bears. Opening date: March 11, 2010
 * The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Forbidden Forest - A sixth section based on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series and Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter film series. Opening date: August 14, 2017. Replaced: the Europe section of Wild Woods
 * Forbidden Forest - A sub-area themed around the series’ fictional forest of the same name. Theme: Harry Potter book and film series
 * Ilvermorny: The World of Fantastic Beasts - A second sub-area based the Harry Potter spin off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
 * Animal Starland - A seventh section which is inspired by animals in worldwide popular culture and homed to old and modern animal stars, characters and icons both real and fictional. Theme: animals in popular culture and entertainment industry. Opening date: September 2002
 * Eric Carle's World of Bugs - A first sub-section within Animal Starland inspired by Eric Carle's children's book involves bugs, such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Quiet Cricket, The Grouchy Ladybug, etc. It is an interactive mini-section which aimed younger children, age 0-7 with families, which contains attractions based on Eric Carle's bug-themed stories and as well a small exhibit of real insects. Theme: Eric Carle's bug-themed storybooks and insects. Opening date: September 2002.
 * Kaiju Region - TBA. Opening date: June 14, 2010. Replaced: Planet of the Apes.
 * Angry Birds Island - A fourth sub-section in Animal Starland based on the Angry Birds franchise and as well as The Angry Birds Movie. Theme: Angry Birds franchise. Opening date: Spring 2018. Replaced: Spyro's Kingdom and Crash's Island
 * Super Nintendo World at Universal Metazoa - An eighth section which is a second half of Super Nintendo World, with two sub-areas. Opening date: July 4, 2023
 * Pokémon World - A first sub-section based on Nintendo/Game Freak’s Pokémon franchise. This section is also a popular spot for fans of video games, anime, etc. Theme: Pokémon. Opening date: July 4, 2023
 * Inkopolis - A second sub-section inspired by Splatoon franchise. Theme: Splatoon. Opening date: July 4, 2023
 * Animal Crossing - A third sub-section based on Nintendo's franchise of the same name. It has a similar theme to Hogsmeade in other Universal theme parks. Opening date: August 1, 2023
 * PETopia - (pronounce: pet-topia) An ninth section inspired by the public's general curiosity about domesticated and livestock animals. Theme: domesticated and livestock animals. Opening date: March 21, 2002
 * Garfield's Play Fair - A small sub-area at PETopia hosted by Garfield. Theme: Garfield. Opening date: June 10, 2009
 * The Secret Place of Pets - TBD. Opening date: November 11, 2019.
 * Desertlands - A tenth and last section of the park which is themed to wildlife in the deserts and is consists with three sub-sections such as Outback, Wild West, and Sahara. Theme: wild deserts. Opening date: March 21, 2002
 * Outback - A section’s first sub-section and an animal exhibit which is themed to Australia. It contains Australian animals such as kangaroos, crocodiles, kookaburras, koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils, emus, cockatoos, bearded dragons etc. Theme: Australia. Opening date: March 21, 2002
 * Wild West - A section’s second sub-zone and an animal exhibit/walkthrough themed to the Old West of United States of America and is homed to roadrunners, coyotes, bobcats, rattlesnakes, armadillos, hawks, buzzards, prairie dogs, gila monsters, etc. Theme: American Old West. Opening date: March 21, 2002
 * Sahara - A section’s third and last sub-zone themed to the Sahara desert. Theme: Sahara desert. Opening date: March 21, 2002
 * Discovery Lagoon - A man-made lake that surrounds Universal Metazoa park. Theme: lagoon. Opening date: March 21, 2002

Former

 * The Great Valley: The Land Before Time - A defunct sub-area located next-door to the Jurassic Park area as part of The Lost Kingdom section and based on The Land Before Time series. Opening date: March 21, 2002. Closing date: December 31, 2014. Replaced by: The Croods Land and one attraction is replaced as Prenadon Flyers at JP sub-area
 * The Land of Ice Age - A second sub-section of The Lost Kingdom inspired by 20th Century Fox/Blue Sky’s Ice Age animated films. Theme: Ice Age movie series. Opening date: June 12, 2013. Closing date:  December 31, 2019.  Replaced by:  Skull Island
 * Europe - The Europe section was used to be part of Wild Woods which featured the animal viewing areas and two attractions. Opening date: March 21, 2002. Closing date: May 31, 2015. Replaced by: TBA
 * Planet of the Apes - Opening date: September 2002. Closing date: 2007. Replaced by: Kaiju Region. Trivia: TBA
 * Spyro's Kingdom - TBA. Opening date: September 2002. Closing date: Summer 2014. Replaced by: Angry Birds Island
 * Crash's Island - TBA. Opening date: September 2002. Closing date: Summer 2014. Replaced by: Angry Birds Island
 * U.S. Acres: Welcome to the Farm - A sub-area at PETopia hosted by Orson Pig and his friends. Theme: U.S. Acres/Orson's Farm. Opening date: June 10, 2009. Closing date: November 5, 2016. Replaced by: The Secret Place of Pets

Current
A Celebration of Harry Potter - a three-day weekend fan event held at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter sections in two Universal theme parks, Universal Studios Louisiana and Universal Metazoa, which is theme to Harry Potter book and movie series. It occurs in first weekend of January. Opening date: 2018.

Year of the Animals - a lunar new year event occurs February 8 - 28. Opening date: 2018.

Pokemon Go: The Training Experience - A annual event allows users of Pokémon Go app in their mobile to have their challenge to capture every Pokémon that can be found in every location of the park in their mobile devices and tablets. It occurs the first week of March, July, November. Theme: ''Pokémon Go. ''Map info: TBA. Opening date: TBA.

Green is Universal: Nature Fest – a Earth Day event which is dedicated to helping to keep earth clean. Presented by Green is Universal. Occurring dates: every Earth Day season from late-March to April 22. Sponsored by: Green is Universal. Opening date: 2012.

The Kennel Club Dog Show Championship - an annual dog show shows at the Petopia Arena. It occurs April 29th - June 21st. Opening date: 2006.

Otakunami - taking place in Super Nintendo World at Universal Metazoa, this festival focuses mostly on animals appearing in anime and manga series, like Yo-Kai Watch. It occurs every first Tuesday of August. Presented by: AnimExpo. Opening date: 2013.

Halloween events


 * Spooky Safari - a weekend-only family-orientated Halloween event, as part of Universal's Halloween Spooktaclaur Weekends. Occurring dates: Weekends of October. Opening date: 2016.


 * Savage Safari - a nightly weekday-only Halloween event aimed at guest age 13 to adult, as part of Universal Resort Louisiana's Halloween Horror Nights. Occurring dates: late-September-November 2. Opening date: 2016.

Holly Jolly Safari – a Christmas event. Occurring dates: late-November-December 24. Opening date: 2016.

Kwanzaa Nights - an after Christmas event celebrated at the Africa Safari section of Tropical Biomes, aimed at African-American guests. Occurring dates: December 27 - January 1. Opening date: 2016.

Former
TBA

Annual Animal Adoption Week - located exclusively at the Petopia Dome in the Petopia section, it is a festival that allows guest to adopt abandoned pets. It occurs from March 7 - 20 Sponsored by: ASPCA. Opening date: 2005. Closing date: 2017.

Peppa Pig: The School Fete - Held exclusively at the in the Petopia Arena, taking place in PETopia section, it's festival aimed at young children, which consists playgrounds, activities, petting zoos, and character meet-n-greets based on the preschool animated franchise Peppa Pig. It occurs from January 20th to February 3rd. Opening date: 2013. Closing date: 2015

Universal Metazoa: 5th Anniversary - TBD

Furry Fan Night - TBD

'''Universal Metazoa: 10 Years to be Wild! '''- TBD

15 Wild Years Celebration of Universal Metazoa - TBD

20 Years o the Making: A Jurassic Park Fan Celebration - TBD

Park's anti-plastic policy
Like other animal theme parks and unlike the rest of Universal Studios theme parks, Universal Metazoa does not allow to use plastic materials, such as plastic bags, plastic straws, balloons, and others, due to that they will harm animals. So they only use paper straws.

Monday to Friday
7am to 10pm

Saturday to Sunday
6am to 11pm

Controversy
TBA

Annual Animal Adoption Week
During the lifetime of Annaul Animal Adoption Week, TBA

Pre-2002
The logo of Universal Studios Metazoa Adventure Park was designed to be similar to the Jurassic Park logo, but with the add of various animals.

2002-2003
TBA

Promotions
See: Universal Metazoa/Promotions

Food promotions
See: Universal Metazoa/Food promotions

Toys
For Kids' Meal Toys: Universal Metazoa/Kids' meal toys

Trivia
Universal Metazoa/Trivia

Successor parks

 * Universal's Lost World Adventure

Incidents

 * July 10, 2002: The first incident occurs at Metazoa where a an animal keeper was entering a lions exhibit at the Out of Africa Journeys attraction, about to clean around the enclosure when suddenly, he was unaware that the door to the lions' shelter was accidentally left open. As the result, one of the lions appeared out from the shelter and spotted a the animal keeper. Then it pounced him to the attack causing the keeper to scream out for help, until the other employees came a rescued him from the lion just in time, but the lion's victim was badly injured from its attack and sent to the hospital for stitches. After this incident, the lion enclosure was rebuilt for more safety for the keepers and the animals.
 * May 2, 2003: A 9-year-old child broke her leg while trying to climb over the fence, although she's not allowed to do this.
 * April 13, 2004: Some people were burned inside the Jurassic Park: The Ride. The building was sent on fire but was put out hours later.
 * March 26, 2008: The coaster at the African elephant section at Engaging Pachyderms got derailed causing the riders to be injured and some of them died.
 * June 22, 2011: A raccoon from Wild Woods of America managed to escape its enclosure, but was spotted at the neighboring mink enclosure. Luckily, the raccoon was caught and brought back to the exhibit.
 * September 2, 2014: A man suffered from a heart attack and died while riding the Quetzalcoatl coaster.
 * May 17, 2016: A 19 year old college-age woman worked at Metazoa during her college years in order to get a job. The woman worked at the Bears exhibit at Wild Woods of America. While trying to feed the bears, one of the bears went berserk and severly injured the woman. After the incident, the safety of the zookeepers got increased.
 * June, 2017: TBA
 * May 2, 2018: An orangutan escaped its enclosure and was seen wandering around the park. Later, it was caught at the neighboring Universal Studios Louisiana park.

Related names

 * Universal Metazoa Development Group, a division of Universal Creative responsible for designing animal exhibit attractions mainly for Universal Metazoa theme park and other Universal theme parks.
 * Universal Metazoa Educational Experience (UMEX), the series of educational programs exclusively at Universal Metazoa, which is aimed at guests, from preschool to up, to experience the knowledge of conservation and environments of wildlife and nature.

Non-theme park properties
Outside of Universal Metazoa theme park, there are other NBCUniversal-owned brands which named after the park.
 * Universal Metazoa Conservation Fund, a fountain encourage people for helping and caring for animals worldwide.
 * Universal Metazoa Pictures, a film production studio which is a division of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, which the latter is producing original nature/wildlife documentary feature films.
 * Universal Metazoa Channel (UMC), a television channel of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group which airs wildlife documentary programs, and as well as other television shows and as well as movies all focuses on animals, both licensed and original alike.
 * Universal Metazoa Rescue Team, TBD
 * Universal Metazoa Productions, a TV production subsidiary of Comcast for wildlife documentaries

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