JayBangs: How Jay Stein, MCA, & Universal Invented the Modern Theme Park and Beat Disney at Its Own Game

by Sam Gennawey

Jay Stein Builds a Better Mousetrap

After years of sitting fat and happy atop the theme park totem pole, Mickey Mouse discovered a big cat in his backyard named Jay Stein. Against stiff odds, corporate politics, and fierce opposition from Michael Eisner's Disney, Jay Stein founded Universal Studios Florida. This is how he did it.

Starting in the mailroom of MCA (now NBCUniversal), where his duties included delivering messages to stars like Alfred Hitchcock and Ronald Reagan, Jay Stein soon found himself in charge of the Universal Studio Tour, reporting directly to MCA chairman Lew Wasserman. He became a keen observer of what Walt Disney had accomplished in Disneyland—and how one day he might do even better.

That day came when Wasserman gave Jay the go-ahead to build a Universal theme park in Orlando, Florida. With help from Steven Spielberg, Jay got to work, in Jay no excuses, no retreats, no failures. Despite Disney's relentless attempts to sabotage the project, and ruinous infighting among members of his own team, Jay did not give up.

When the new theme park opened in 1990, it was full of Jay's patented "JayBangs"—rides and attractions that stunned, shocked, and surprised guests, dousing them with water, blasting them with air, heat, or cold, and giving them what the Disney parks of that time fear and visceral delight.

It was beating Michael Eisner at his own game. It was catching Mickey in a trap he couldn't aw-shucks his way out of. It was Jay Stein's triumph. But the man who went from delivering messages to building theme parks wasn't done yet...

Kindle Edition

Published October 23, 2024

Reviews

[Jeremy Herbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book should come with an asterisk for the theme park faithful - it's more of a secondhand memoir than a history lesson. That would be a more tragic missed opportunity, given the dearth of Universal archaeology out there, if Jay Stein didn't have such a compellingly close seat to so many of the company's growing pains. Disneyland had Walt Disney. Universal Studios Florida had Jay. The closer the book gets to the parks, the juicier the stories, but there's a lifetime of corporate chess to wade through around them, often recounted with warranted if weary Told-You-So hindsight. An easy five stars for the pieces and three for the way they're stitched together, making a four straight down the middle, though the audience for something like this should already know whether or not they need to read it.

[Max Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book gives us a detailed view on the guy who build up the idea of bringing a simple Studio Tour to the next level and compete against Disney. We follow his career over decades while Jay is busy developing, bulding up ideas and starts pitch after pitch to his bosses. Really a motivating story and a great behind the scenes view of a new business growing up and the guys behind it. It has quiet a lot spelling errors (I know, I do a lot myself in writing critics, shut up) and the book gets a little confusing in the later story because it rushes trough the MCA Business History with a lot of Excecutive Names no one can remember. But if one is interested in the theme park business, he/she/ it should read it.

[Brad Linden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essentially a companion to Sam Gennawey's book "Universal Vs. Disney": where that book told the story of Universal's growth in California, establishment in Florida, and modern progress, this book told those stories from the perspective of the executive offices. Interesting background on the people pushing ideas through, their workplace dynamics and conflicts, and ways that their dreams came to fruition. Jay Stein is undoubtedly the linchpin of Universal's theme park legacy. The stories of his vision for Islands of Adventure (and how his plans fell through) was particularly interesting.

[melissareadshorror · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend. Especially with this year being the 60th anniversary of the Universal Studios Hollywood Studio Tour 🎬☺️

[Steve Moudry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read, especially enjoyed the Universal Florida stuff about the pressure they put on Disney when creating MGM Studios.