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

P. 625: Harry Potter Ministry of Magic revealed!

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Yep, 100% agreed. And even Arthur, which IS a decent ride and a great ride system, still says "not an edgy Universal ride" to me. Which you're right, it's absolutely ironic that their most recent ad campaign is "come to the grown up parks" and their latest ride offerings are some of the weakest they've produced to date.

 

Looking forward with Nintendo (which is intended to be a family friendly zone), Secret Life Of Pets (ditto), the only thing I've heard of that might actually be legit thrilling is the Dr. Doom replacement in a bajillionty years from now. And honestly, if numbers of international tourists keep trending down, it'll probably never happen.

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It's a shame the park seems to be aiming so much at getting in rides for the whole families lately. One of the reasons I always want to go back to USJ is the park seems so well balanced in it's options and they seem to balance it just right as well in new additions for families then older groups etc. Indoor Sesame rides/Backdrop trains/Harry Potter/Flying Dinosaur/Minions/Nintendo Land.

 

Contrast that with USS which has aimed at families since opening with their new rides. I visited once and have very little interest in revisiting for a while. I thought the rapids was a weaker ride than the originals and Galactica I personally thought was alright but overall forgettable which I didn't think would be my reaction to dueling launched coasters. That only really leaves Mummy and Transformers which can be found at other parks. Although even the for family rides were kinda meh. Madagascar was quite bland. For USS that's fine when it's the only park in the area but for Universal when Disney is so close by, seem's kind of strange to me.

Edited by Garet
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Let me know when we have a specific time frame so I know how much time to put KT on the stretching rack every day to get her to 54".

 

Honestly, this has been the strong rumor for a long time, it's finally just getting some more legitimacy. I don't even know how I feel. Dragons have been dead to me since potter, and even more dead to me since the metal detectors. It's just so upsetting as I have such wonderful memories of riding those coasters in the early 2000's but since those riding conditions will never be duplicated there again they might as well put something else in its place.

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I am quite shocked that the Dragons might be leaving and I'm getting tired of these screen based rides!

 

I like Hogwarts/Hogsmeade, but they should not replace the Dragons with another Potter-3D-Ride.

A nice forceful Flyer or Launcher would be my first choice.

 

I guess I might visit Sea World and Busch for their excellent coaster lineup instead.

 

The decision to remove the coaster might be the time when Universal goes finally downhill (at least for me)....

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I don't have any issue with Spider-man as it is a very good balance between screens and actual sets. But once the entire ride's main focus is screens, it gets really annoying. Plus I don't like how every story line consist of roughly the same elements. And to be honest, 3D glasses isn't that necessary on lots of the rides.

 

"Hey you shouldn't be here"

Villains found you and tries to kill you

Spray water on your face

Villain make you fall over a cliff/edge of a building

Hero saves you right before you hit the ground

The end, you save the world even if you didn't do crap

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I think one day we will look back and rue the day Universal didn't just devote a whole new theme park to Harry Potter, particularly with the potential of the Lockheed Martin site. Universal have been spending and building like it's going out of fashion, yet with every announcement I feel more jaded. It's a strange feeling.

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Some mid-size park in a foreign country would love to have Dragon Challenge!

 

For a DC replacement, I'd like to see a large (single-track) invert, similar to Banshee. In a perfect world, I would like to see Universal fit both a new major coaster and a family ride in that plot. However, I'm not sure if that is possible. On a side note, it appears that Universal doesn't have much space for new rides without taking out existing rides.

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I think one day we will look back and rue the day Universal didn't just devote a whole new theme park to Harry Potter, particularly with the potential of the Lockheed Martin site. Universal have been spending and building like it's going out of fashion, yet with every announcement I feel more jaded. It's a strange feeling.

Honestly, from a business perspective, I think that they played it perfectly. It gets people to buy a two-park ticket.

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Let me know when we have a specific time frame so I know how much time to put KT on the stretching rack every day to get her to 54".

 

Honestly, this has been the strong rumor for a long time, it's finally just getting some more legitimacy. I don't even know how I feel. Dragons have been dead to me since potter, and even more dead to me since the metal detectors. It's just so upsetting as I have such wonderful memories of riding those coasters in the early 2000's but since those riding conditions will never be duplicated there again they might as well put something else in its place.

 

This, Dragons has been dead to me since Harry Potter as well. I know it was convenient because HP happens to have Dragons in it, but since I'm not a HP fan, that theming transformation was lackluster in every way.

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How did we go from talking about the overwhelming number of screen based rides (a valid point for sure) to wishing death upon one of the only non screen based rides in the Studios park?

 

You all know that if they replace it they'll just replace it with a dark ride that relies heavily on screens and then everyone will lose their collective sh*t about how they removed a ride with physical sets for another screen ride.

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I'll never forget being a high school kid following the construction of IoA. It seemed "too good to be true" as a theme park/coaster fan boy. Being from Missouri and traveling there seeing the Hulk peaking out of the tube on construction wondering "what is that place gonna be???" and seeing the mini-park model. All the thrills you could imagine while being immersed with such impressive queueing detail and execution to story lines. Spidy was the ONLY place you had 3d glasses and it was cutting edge mixing sets with 3d and then all the coasters and Dr Doom and the list goes on! Now, being 31, and seeing this historical and perfectly executed park be replaced with simulators, screens and glasses truly does make me sad. If Dueling Dragons (sorry, is and always will be) gets the boot...I'm not sure I could go back. I loved that old entrance, the old queue with the frozen knights, the incredible story line, the "Choose Thy Fait" and everything else that WAS DDs. I'm afraid that if it's replaced, it will be identical to a Kong type ride. And that's sad. I also loved that IoA had SO many cutting edge ideas back in the day; and espeically the unique Poseidon experience. Man, those were the days. I wish Jurassic Park could get a thrilling Jeep ride like rumored with no glasses....or that woodie I heard was supposed to happen and that the Dragons will get a newer aged, cutting edge coaster. BE INNOVATIVE like you used to be, Uni! STOP WITH THE FKING SCREENZZZZZZZZZ

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The problem for universal is not that they are not being innovative with what they do---it's just that they keep innovating new ways to use screens. Forbidden Journey, Gringotts, and Spiderman/Transformers are incredible ride systems. But delivering content on screens gets repetitive, no matter how many unique ways they find to do it.

 

I think one day we will look back and rue the day Universal didn't just devote a whole new theme park to Harry Potter, particularly with the potential of the Lockheed Martin site. Universal have been spending and building like it's going out of fashion, yet with every announcement I feel more jaded. It's a strange feeling.

Honestly, from a business perspective, I think that they played it perfectly. It gets people to buy a two-park ticket.

 

I would agree with that. A full theme park with the detail the two lands they have so far would easily be a multi billion dollar undertaking. There's no doubt given the success of the lands in all the parks it would have still given them a return on their investment, but that is A LOT of money to put up front. For comparisons sake, Disney sold $1.1 billion worth of bonds to reboot DCA starting with the Mermaid ride through Carsland.

Edited by Jew
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As many others have said I agree with the too many screens problem. Universal Studios slogan use to be "ride the movies" now it just feels like watching more movies instead of actually experiencing anything. I had gone to both parks in Jan 2016 and while I had fun I see no reason to go back anytime soon. I'm in Orlando visiting again now and I'm skipping those 2 parks and just going to SeaWorld, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Aquatica and fun spot.

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How did we go from talking about the overwhelming number of screen based rides (a valid point for sure) to wishing death upon one of the only non screen based rides in the Studios park?

 

You all know that if they replace it they'll just replace it with a dark ride that relies heavily on screens and then everyone will lose their collective sh*t about how they removed a ride with physical sets for another screen ride.

 

Because Universal utterly massacred the original concept of the ride. The theming: gone. The Dueling: Sayonara. And the less said about the metal detectors the better.

There are some, myself included, that believe the attraction would better be served elsewhere where it could duel, or split up and rethemed. And there's always the hope that there's a new themed coaster that better fits the area. Though a screen-based attraction is more likely.

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If Dragons does get removed, I will feel better if that park that gets the coasters does it justice and duels them again. Its sad seeing them travel the course one at a time after knowing what once was .

 

As for Univeral's screen based rides, its almost a narrative of the time we are living in. People no longer what to live in the real world or experience anything real. As long as its a screen based attraction of a popular movie they will continue to add them.

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If Dragons does get removed, I will feel better if that park that gets the coasters does it justice and duels them again.

Let's not make the assumption that it will get "moved" to another park. Remember that Universal deemed Hulk at the end of it's lifecycle and Dragons is probably not too far behind it consider it has run almost every single day since 1999. That ride has probably had more cycles than most other B&Ms in existence so I'm sure if it were to get moved it may need as much of a rehab as Hulk got, or more likely it will just get scrapped.

 

Dragons have been dead to me since potter, and even more dead to me since the metal detectors. It's just so upsetting as I have such wonderful memories of riding those coasters in the early 2000's but since those riding conditions will never be duplicated there again they might as well put something else in its place.

These are my thoughts exactly. I know I haven't even ridden it since they put the metal detectors in (I refuse to ride any coaster where I have to walk through a metal detector to ride) and it may have even been since 2014 that I was last on them.

 

If they want to put a ride of equal caliber (without metal detectors) as Dragons, I'm fine with that. But any screen based ride or something that doesn't stack up, I'll honestly shake my head. Dragons has consistently been ranked one of the best roller coasters in the world and why any park would want to replace that is beyond me. But then again, I would also not be surprised as well...

Edited by robbalvey
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There has been a rumor around for a few years that JK Rowling absolutely hates Dueling Dragons and originally wanted it removed but Universal was not willing at the time. Obviously Rowling was talked out of the demand but I have heard she has required that other Universal parks are not allowed to build anything similar within their Wizarding World areas. Rowling wants everything to be perfect, the show buildings have to be completely hidden from within the land for instance. The problem to Rowling at least is a pair of big visible coasters in the middle of Hogsmeade.

 

The rides take up a large area and it should be possible to build a dark ride and still have enough room for a major coaster the size of one side of Dueling Dragons. When I was looking at a satellite view I was guessing the location is large enough to fit two copies of forbidden journey. But getting approval for a new coaster without putting it inside a show building or building a lot of theming will be difficult.

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