Universal Orlando Resort (USF, IOA, Epic) Discussion Thread

[BeemerBoy]

I think they are going to use the water again.

Just like Disney finally got around to using 20K's lagoon, right?

 

 

I'll take "Put a Potterville in each park, separate ticket system, and make kids force parents to take them to both" for $1000, Alex.

[alpengeist04]

You are all going to hate me when they announce TWILIGHT LAND.

 

 

Just shoot me now!!!! Again, how would they devote a whole land to Twilight?

[RoCo]

- Expanding into the rest of lost continent is much easier, cheaper, (occams razor) and continues to make IOA a destination, rather than a park the general public isn't familiar with because of the bad marketing in the early 2000's.

 

Yeah, see, this. I've changed my mind back; it's not Potter at USF.

 

But...

 

No. It's not. I think. And let me announce here and now that if it does turn out to be "Twilight Land," I will commit seppuku.

[Bryce232]

- Expanding into the rest of lost continent is much easier, cheaper, (occams razor) and continues to make IOA a destination, rather than a park the general public isn't familiar with because of the bad marketing in the early 2000's.

 

 

And let me announce here and now that if it does turn out to be "Twilight Land," I will commit seppuku.

 

I'll join you. If Twilight world ever comes anywhere near Universal, I will lose all of my faith in humanity.

[printersdevil78]

Honestly, what the heck would they do for a Twilight themed land and/or ride???

 

I don't know, but I bet all the male ride ops would be required to go shirtless.

[cfc]

It would be the Sparkliest Place on Earth--and Bela would spin in his grave.

 

[Buckeye_Ben]

I'm not sure how logistically feasible that would be, but I could easily see making HP land into a third gate. Whenever I hear anyone in the news talk about WWoHP, it's always referred to as a "theme park" and not a "themed land inside a theme park". So why wouldn't Universal take that idea and run with it? Maybe even put a gate to HP World in each of the parks to encourage park hopping. There are enough HP crazies to make this a monster hit for Universal (I consider myself a fan but not of the insane psychotic variety). I'd much rather see a third gate than lands in both parks, which just seems like overkill. I personally hope some other property takes over Amity (Lord of the Rings would be amazing, but I don't know if there is room).

 

I will miss Jaws. It was definitely not the "best" ride at USF, but something I had to ride when I was there, even though I've only been twice. But it showed its age, especially with all the new rides that have been put in.

 

I just hope Universal realizes not everyone wants to see all Harry Potter. But money talks, so I think more HP is coming.

[printersdevil78]

^^You mean Bela would dislike Bella?

 

That's actually a good ride concept for the new Twilight Land: the Grave Spinner. It could be a sparkly black Disko.

[Wes]

"Bella & Edward's Wedding Night" A Wooden version of Goudurix

[dandaman]

I'm just glad Twister: Ride it Out is still there. Maybe Amity will be themed to Wakita, Kansas? If a Harry Potter land did so well, imagine the success of a Twister land.

 

Oh sweet zombie Jebus yes.

 

/ An "Aunt Meg's home cooking establishment" would be lovely

[coastercrazy 9]

I think everybody who is pushing for a Test Track type ride needs to rethink that. Those rides are developed by Disney, so whay would they give their rivals permision to use their technology?

[Wes]

I think everybody who is pushing for a Test Track type ride needs to rethink that. Those rides are developed by Disney, so whay would they give their rivals permision to use their technology?

 

Literally one person posted that.

[BarryH]

With the closing of Jaws, I can only hope that Law & Order: The Ride will finally come to Universal.

[The SETGO Guys]

I think everybody who is pushing for a Test Track type ride needs to rethink that. Those rides are developed by Disney, so whay would they give their rivals permision to use their technology?

 

Also, The Test Track was not designed by Disney. An outside company (In fact the same company that designed the ride system for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey) desisnged the ride system for Test Track.

[Chroniq]

This space intentionally left blank.

Edited December 3, 2011 by Chroniq

[The SETGO Guys]

Has anyone seen this video? Its of Ellen DeGeneres piloting a Jaws Boat! Its really funny.

 

[robbalvey]

Also, The Test Track was not designed by Disney. An outside company (In fact the same company that designed the ride system for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey) desisnged the ride system for Test Track.

I don't know where or who you heard that from, but I personally know one of the guys who worked on Test Track when he was at Disney. Sure, they used many different vendors for certain parts of the ride (all rides do this), but that ride system was designed and produced by WDI.

 

Anyway, back to Universal now...

 

Personally, it's just a bummer that rides like Twister and Disaster, which I would certainly put well below Jaws, are allowed to live, and one of the more unique rides is getting the axe.

 

Eh... I'll just go ride it in Japan if I really care that much, I guess...

[Jew]

^I hope whatever replaces Jaws uses all the available space, which is the only reason I can think of that would justify taking out Jaws before those other two "classic" attractions.

[Skycoastin Steve]

I must ride this again before it disappears!

[cfc]

I had some time to kill before HHN in October, so I decided to check out Disaster because I'd never seen it before. After about one minute of watching Christopher Walken pull a paycheck, I figured that I would've been better off napping on a bench.

[dragonskeep]

In with the new. It's probably more of a cost issue than anything else. Running that thing and keeping it repaired has got to cost a fortune . I would be totally stunned if this had anything to do with Harry Potter, to me it makes no sense. Expanding Potter into the remaining Lost Continent area is a no brainer IMO. Universal got a new attraction before the previous Potter construction, this is probably the same thing.

[doom1001]

is it safe to assume that HHN will be at IOA next year? Even though there isn't usually a scare zone in that area, the back of the park gets way too packed. Can't imagine how bad it'll be if it's a dead end.

 

Also if the fear factor stage in demolished too, the only other place for Bill and Ted would be at the Toon Lagoon amphitheater or inside a sound stage.

 

The years they had 2 park HHN's were both pretty lame,because they didn't do it right.One of those years was 2004 (HHN XIV,What's your Breaking Point) all they had at IOA was a horrible 3-D house in Marvel Island and the Bill and Ted's show in Toon Lagoon.It's not a 2 park event if you're only using 25% of your park.Assuming that parts of Universal are out for HHN in the next couple of years is it true that the WWOHP is legally not allowed to have any kind of holiday displays(HHN,Christmas).If this is true then that would definitely have an impact on HHN if they were to go with Potter for the Jaws/Amity area,seems like they would have to create a bridge by Lombard's Landing to prevent access to this area for HHN,kinda like the bypass bridge they have at IOA.I also wonder if anyone knows the capacity on the Fear Factor theater versus the Toon Lagoon theater,I remember one year just having major issues getting to see Bill and Ted at the Toon Lagoon theater giving me reasons to think it's smaller.

[robbalvey]

See, and I think the years they had it in either IOA, or used both parks were my FAVORITE years of HHN. It offered such a different feeling to the venue, was a nice change, and even the way they mixed it up between the two years with the pathways being slightly different felt unique. I've been feeling that HHN has plateaued over the last 3-5 years, so something to mix it up again would be a welcome change, IMO.

 

HHN absolutely can be a 2-park event, especially with the crowds they have been pulling lately, even on off-peak nights.

Edited December 3, 2011 by robbalvey

[Aaronupsidasium]

I've never been inside the Toon Lagoon amphitheater but Universal says that holds 2000 people and looks like it has a lot more stage to work with than Fear Factor.

 

It would be interesting if they would be able to move the sprung tents to IOA (probably between Dudley and JP) since they would bring so many people into a bottle necked area during the Jaws demolition/whatever construction.

[doom1001]

2002 Islands of Fear,the first year they had it in IOA was absolutely one of my favorites,the houses were far from the best but the IOA atmosphere combined with cool things like 6 feet of foam in Toon Lagoon made it a memorable year.The second year they used both parks they used them better,the first year with 2 parks, 2004 wasn't too bad overall either as they had good houses like Castle Vampyr,I just didn't like how they used IOA,it was just technically saying the event is at both parks.I agree that the last couple of years HHN have felt the same with the houses and scare zones in the same exact location so a change due to the construction in Amity would be welcomed.Financially for Universal it makes total sense to add Potter to Universal,just look at attendance numbers for the two parks,I'm not a huge Potter fan but something like two Potter areas in two adjacent parks with a train connecting them would be major,something like a Transformers ride being added there just doesn't have that wow factor,I still can't see how they would fit a train back there.