The Future of Lost Continent

[PerceptiveCoot]

Either way, no way anything big is opening here until then, at the earliest, in my view.

Don't care when it opens, just want to know when I can get my aerial construction photos. I yearn for the 2016-2020 years when construction was everywhere.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

“Complaints”

From families with younger children. Their only "decent" options are Minion Mayhem and Animal Actors at the moment.

Sure, ET and Kang & Kodos, but their not memorable for them unfortunately.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Don't care when it opens, just want to know when I can get my aerial construction photos. I yearn for the 2016-2020 years when construction was everywhere.

Well lucky for you they’re building an entire new theme park!

 

[Casper Gutman]

A question for our insiders: outside of Universal’s vague public statements, is there substantial, genuine movement on getting a parade and nighttime show back by 2025 at the latest? Is it a lock?

 

[Nico]

A question for our insiders: outside of Universal’s vague public statements, is there substantial, genuine movement on getting a parade and nighttime show back by 2025 at the latest? Is it a lock?

This was from 2 days ago, so at minimum they have drained some of the lagoon.



And this was from @Joe a few minutes ago.

They ended the parade because they sent the floats out for reuse for the new parade. It’s the same reason why Cinematic went down and Nighttime Lights.

 

[DodgsonHere]

Sure, ET and Kang & Kodos, but their not memorable for them unfortunately.

ET Adventure was probably my introduction to the movie as a kid and I really enjoyed it. I'd be surprised if kids today aren't enjoying it the same way even if ET is an older movie now.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

From families with younger children. Their only "decent" options are Minion Mayhem and Animal Actors at the moment.

Sure, ET and Kang & Kodos, but their not memorable for them unfortunately.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

ET Adventure was probably my introduction to the movie as a kid and I really enjoyed it. I'd be surprised if kids today aren't enjoying it the same way even if ET is an older movie now.

I think I went on the ET Adventure at USH when I was 3. I must have liked it enough.

To be fair, I first saw it when it was closer to a 20 year old movie than a 40 year old movie.

 

[Mad Dog]

Universal isn't known for parades, so guests don't care that they are missing out. But... they do care when Minion Mayhem is currently working overtime as the sole provider of children's attractions at USF for the time being and wait times are high. I do agree that it was shortsighted of Universal to cancel the parade before Villain-Con opened.

Closing Poseidon before the busy summer and hot/rainy season for a park that only offers 4 indoor attractions is an odd choice.

Yeah. Good points. If nothing else, the mgt. co ordination on capacity, during the highest attendance in USO's history, has been lacking. Their only real temporary response was a minor one, one single street show that probably normally draws 50 to 100 people per show on a good day. Heh, there's a ton of musicians and actors out there that would give their eye teeth to get a full time , or even a part time, gig. Never a shortage there like in the labor categories. But like I said in an earlier post, seems like they basically surrendered 2022, 2023 and half of 2024 and are content with loading up when Epic opens, or soon before. When they temporarily lost capacity when they shut down Twister & Disaster for new builds, Universal added four street shows and one band to help alleviate the capacity issue. Why didn't they do that when they shut so much down this past year?

 

[JungleSkip]

The narrative that Uni is "coasting into EU" is also a real baffling one to me. At this moment they are:
-Refurbishing the USF nighttime show equipment for a new show
-Building a new ride in USF
-Retheming/updating a restaurant in USF
-Building a new kids-centered area in USF
-Working on a new parade
-Working on enhancements for Hogwarts show
-Theoretically going to start work on a Lost Continent replacement (yes, this one is at this moment informed speculation more than anything)

This is on top of building a fully-built new theme park, 3 resorts, and the accompanying infrastructure.

I don't know how to call that "coasting". It may not be things you personally want, but it's not like they're sitting around watching the clock.

 

[Grabnar]

The narrative that Uni is "coasting into EU" is also a real baffling one to me. At this moment they are:
-Refurbishing the USF nighttime show equipment for a new show
-Building a new ride in USF
-Retheming/updating a restaurant in USF
-Building a new kids-centered area in USF
-Working on a new parade
-Working on enhancements for Hogwarts show
-Theoretically going to start work on a Lost Continent replacement (yes, this one is at this moment informed speculation more than anything)

This is on top of building a fully-built new theme park, 3 resorts, and the accompanying infrastructure.

I don't know how to call that "coasting". It may not be things you personally want, but it's not like they're sitting around watching the clock.

They're also spending literal billions of dollars on a new park. I can understand being a bit gun-shy at dumping a whole new themed land's worth of cash into the parks while they're still burning cash at EU. Once they get revenue going there (and have the ability to pull people from the already overcrowded USF and IOA) it becomes a lot easier to justify to board members that you need further investment.

 

[Clive]

I really think it comes down to people being frustrated by a lack of substantial non-ride-based entertainment. Losing Poseidon's Fury with no imminent replacement when now have three other high-profile empty venues across both parks is frustrating, no matter how you slice it, even as an unprecedented expansion (along with a smattering of meaningful smaller offerings) is only two years away.

 

[JungleSkip]

They're also spending literal billions of dollars on a new park. I can understand being a bit gun-shy at dumping a whole new themed land's worth of cash into the parks while they're still burning cash at EU. Once they get revenue going there (and have the ability to pull people from the already overcrowded USF and IOA) it becomes a lot easier to justify to board members that you need further investment.

I don't think money is the issue, tbh. I think it's that they need everybody they can get working on EU around the clock, and something like demolishing/replacing Lost Continent is just too much manpower until EU is at a more complete state.

I really think it comes down to people being frustrated by a lack of substantial non-ride-based entertainment. Losing Poseidon's Fury with no imminent replacement when now have three other high-profile empty venues across both parks is frustrating, no matter how you slice it, even as an unprecedented expansion (along with a smattering of meaningful smaller offerings) is only two years away.

I guess from my perspective, that's been true for like 2 decades at UOR. Yes, there were shows, but by and large none of them were any good. Bourne is the first show they've had in recent memory I would ever willingly do again. It's just not something they've exceled in previously.

 

[Clive]

I guess from my perspective, that's been true for like 2 decades at UOR. Yes, there were shows, but by and large none of them were any good. Bourne is the first show they've had in recent memory I would ever willingly do again. It's just not something they've exceled in previously.

Totally, it's been an advancing status quo for a while. But we always had Horror Make-Up Show and Poseidon's Fury to balance out each park's ride-heavy slates... and losing Islands' one remaining significant non-ride experience feels like a blow, even if it means that something significantly better will eventually come.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

I don't think the issue is that Universal historically can't do shows. They've shown that they can...during special events.

 

[Grabnar]

I don't think money is the issue, tbh. I think it's that they need everybody they can get working on EU around the clock, and something like demolishing/replacing Lost Continent is just too much manpower until EU is at a more complete state.

This is a fair point as well; there aren't that many contractor firms that are at Disney/Universal caliber for construction of themed areas anyway. EU has to be eating up a large chunk of them.

 

[Nico]

The show discussion seems important to some, so maybe a good time to bring up this thread.

Are Shows Universal?

We all know expansion is Universal, and with all these expansion projects we don't ever hear about new shows coming to the park. Apparently BJ is leaving for Furious and FFL would be leaving down the road for ministry of magic. That leaves me wondering, do you think Universal has any plans to...

forums.insideuniversal.net

 

[Parkscope Joe]

This is a fair point as well; there aren't that many contractor firms that are at Disney/Universal caliber for construction of themed areas anyway. EU has to be eating up a large chunk of them.

Even HHN is stretched thin. The pandemic hurt the industry in many ways including skilled artists and labor leaving.

 

[Grabnar]

Even HHN is stretched thin. The pandemic hurt the industry in many ways including skilled artists and labor leaving.

I think that a lot of companies are regretting offloading their internal design and construction capabilities to contractors back in the 80s and 90s. We're seeing the results in the chemicals industry as well, and design and construction firms are making a killing as a result.

 

[biggerboat16]

I think what they’re doing is cleaning up all the parks in preparation for EU. The crowds for EU won’t just go to EU for the day and leave. They’ll be at the other parks and in the hotels too. The entire resort needs to be firing on all cylinders for this. I think this is why we’re seeing so many small projects taking place. They won’t dive into a major E-ticket right now but they’ll spruce things up, do a few rethemes, and add a new C or D ticket. Not really sure where PF fits into this but I think this is their current approach to the parks.