Epic Universe Expansion Speculation

[Parkscope Joe]

I think this is pretty unfair. I think there are two strains of criticism that get lumped together:

• Universal doesn't build as many non-thrill dark rides as some fans want
• Universal doesn't build many attractions that the entire family can enjoy together

I think the people who want more dark rides built are pretty explicit that they want them to be built because they enjoy them. And I'm not even sure my second point is even a criticism so much as it is a statement of fact. I've done multiple trips to Orlando in the past few years with young kids or people who were pregnant at the time and there was tons to do at Disney World compared to Universal Orlando.

At this point, do I think it's reasonable to expect Universal will do either of these things? Not really. But I don't think it's a problem that some people want to see what Universal could do if they built more Secret Life of Pets and fewer screen-based, thrilling dark rides.

There's a lot to unpack, but I don't think it's unfair. People want Haunted Mansion, Pirates, etc style rides and Universal has never made those kids of rides. This can be for many reasons: they didn't start with parks till after the 80s amusement insurance crisis so they never had the no-restraint rides that Disney did, they never had the WED and Walt design style of the parks so they never made recreations of the animated films, they never had a culture and design principle of "child to grandma" for the parks. Universal parks have always been restrictive, over the top, loud, ornery, and stubborn. This is the company of Jaybangs not closing musical numbers. The parks have always aimed for a tween to late adult audience. The earliest they aimed for was kids just exiting the Hanna Barbara and entering Nickelodeon age, lets say 11, which puts their heights around 55 inches, which is enough for Hulk the highest requirement ride.

So lets cover your bullet points

• Universal doesn't build as many non-thrill dark rides as some fans want

I agree, but see above. And when they do build the non-thrill dark rides people complain because what they want are 1960s - 80s Disney dark rides. Not going to happen.

• Universal doesn't build many attractions that the entire family can enjoy together

What is "the entire family"? For some that's baby to grandma. Others it's the main four. I know families who visit Cedar Point and ride the huge rides all the time, do they not count?

For a lot of theme park fans they want old school Disney rides to come back but since for a long time Disney wasn't building it was thus on Universal to supply that. Now that Disney's building again hopefully we can let Disney be Disney and Universal to be Universal.

Disney has a market down pat, Universal has spent the past 16 years carving out a new, older market for Orlando. As for:

But I don't think it's a problem that some people want to see what Universal could do if they built more Secret Life of Pets and fewer screen-based, thrilling dark rides.

I think it's a problem because people are applying personal demands on a consumer transaction! Should I demand Disney build a giga coaster and a response to Hulk? No!

The unrealistic request of "no height requirement."

The "no height requirement" request has come up several times on this forum.

Which comes back to the 100% containment and restraints conversation. When was the last time someone got out of a Universal restraint?







Finally, to come back to my main point: folks will say they want family rides but have no family nor any intention to ride with one. They want a certain type of ride and just saying that would do well for discussions.

 

[belloq87]

It’s kind of dispiriting to see people ready to consign the classic dark ride artform to the dustbin. SLOP is only a few years old in Hollywood. Little Mermaid is a little over a decade old. Encanto and Coco are (presumably) going to be more of that ilk than anything else.

I reject the concept that the form is dead. Dead at UOR? Very possibly, the next five years will tell me a lot.

Finally, to come back to my main point: folks will say they want family rides but have no family nor any intention to ride with one. They want a certain type of ride and just saying that would do well for discussions.

I think this is a misrepresentation of those of us who want to see more dark rides that don’t jostle you around in front of screens (of which there is an overabundance). Any of us who are in that camp would always acknowledge it’s a personal desire. There's not some sinister, hidden agenda.

 

[Jake S]

Finally, to come back to my main point: folks will say they want family rides but have no family nor any intention to ride with one.

this is what’s unfair. you’re assuming bad faith when i just don’t see any evidence of it on this forum. people are saying what they would like to see at a theme park they like. you can think whatever you like about what they want or how reasonable it is to expect it, but just dismissing the opinion outright doesn’t seem fair to me.

 

[mccgavin]

Many of us who are asking for more dark rides are not suggesting that Universal completely change their strategy or target demographic, just that having one or two high-quality family dark rides would be a good way to round-out and balance the offerings of the parks that lack them. This is similar to how Disney has a handful of higher thrill attractions despite their focus primarily being on accessible family rides.

 

[Tbad556]

Which comes back to the 100% containment and restraints conversation. When was the last time someone got out of a Universal restraint?

I agree with some of your points, but as for this one, the answer is unfortunately, all the time. I used to work one of the lapbar based attractions and it absolutely happened an annoying amount. It just often avoids the news/social media. There's even a frequently used radio code for jumpers.

 

[OrlLover]

Universal sucks at those types of rides though.

Granted they were kids rides, but things like the Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar boat rides just aren’t very enjoyable.

Cat in the Hat is a great classic style Fantasyland like ride and yet Universal fans constantly complain about it “needing to be updated”.

I’d say maybe we leave those types of rides to Disney, but reality is, maybe we leave those types of rides to the 1960s, cause even Disney ain’t building them anymore.

Unfortunately.

I also think people need to go look at 1990s USF and see what attractions were opened with the park.

Asking for Universal’s take on Pirates and HM is very unrealistic and not true to the history of what rides Uni has created in the past.

Thrill/Edge are the words I would use to describe most Universal rides. Disney had a very different philosophy when it came to designing their parks so we need to understand those nuisances and appreciate the differences.

They are not catering to the same demographic groups and that’s okay. I would love for Uni to build more dark rides and if you see my posts I’m fairly against any more coasters for Epic.

 

[Tobias]

Cue six more pages talking about yea but what about height requirement

For me, SLoP has a bit of a conundrum...

It's definitely the high-quality family dark ride that folks say they want more of. I get that, and I agree with it! I would love to see this ride in Orlando or elsewhere.

But it's also hard to ignore that the vibe around the ride was Hollywood was getting it first, and they're gonna' wait and see how it was received before thinking about building it elsewhere. After all, there were plans to have it in Orlando. The ride opens annnnddd....it's yet to be cloned anywhere else with no signs of it happening. That just stings no matter how you look at it. You can have the thing you want, but that's never a guarantee it's going to succeed.

 

[mccgavin]

But it's also hard to ignore that the vibe around the ride was Hollywood was getting it first, and they're gonna' wait and see how it was received before thinking about building it elsewhere. After all, there were plans to have it in Orlando. The ride opens annnnddd....it's yet to be cloned anywhere else with no signs of it happening. That just stings no matter how you look at it. You can have the thing you want, but that's never a guarantee it's going to succeed.

There were some internal issues with the ride itself, but it sounds like the IP losing momentum also played some role in it not getting cloned.

 

[belloq87]

I also think people need to go look at 1990s USF and see what attractions were opened with the park.

I’m mean... I’d be absolutely thrilled to see a 2020s version of Kongfrontation or Jaws or Earthquake, but I don’t hold out a ton of hope that we’ll ever see fully/mostly practical ride experiences on that gigantic scale at Universal again.

Hence the expressed desire for a more “family friendly” (which has apparently taken on negative connotations) dark ride... because it seems like a more plausible template for something that wouldn’t require a bunch of screen segments (like a more thrilling ride might).

(And I know we're in an Epic Universe thread... but I'm mostly talking about this stuff in the context of USF. I do think, given Epic's attractions roster, that it's due for a dark ride -- of some kind -- before another coaster.)

 

[Freak]

I agree with some of your points, but as for this one, the answer is unfortunately, all the time. I used to work one of the lapbar based attractions and it absolutely happened an annoying amount. It just often avoids the news/social media. There's even a frequently used radio code for jumpers.

In past years, you would be really surprised how many people have jumped out of the car for the Simpsons Ride because they were scared.