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Universal Orlando (Studios/IOA/Epic Universe) : General Discussion

Back to the 'doesn't belong' point. How can a Main St USA not fit in a French park? That's why it's a THEME park! Frontier land isn't very French either
 
EuroSatch said:
Back to the 'doesn't belong' point. How can a Main St USA not fit in a French park? That's why it's a THEME park! Frontier land isn't very French either
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Exactly this!

My goodness, imagine a theme park that actually takes you outside of the normal, it's like Alton building an area themed around a bizarre alien force in a post-apocalyptic world of scattered shrapnel, that'd never work! ::)
 
Well I can sort of see how it doesn't fit when you consider it in terms of what Main Street means. In the original Disneyland the area represented the old town main streets of California (hence the name). This was significant to Disney as it reminded him (and many of the guests) of their childhood memories when their own towns used to look like that. So it made a good starting zone as an area people felt familiar with unlike the other zones which represent worlds of fantasy or places beyond most guests reach.

Now for the same to be true at the other Disney parks the area should represent their home, In Paris's case probably a French market village (something much closer in style to our own Towers Street).but instead they've used the same cookie cutter American design. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; it is after all a theme park. But it does mean that the area that’s meant to feel like home is as much of a foreign place to us as the western frontier or jungles of adventureland.
 
I am fairly certain that 1950s USA did not resemble Main Street USA, more like 1850s! The familiarity is more for a nostalgic and idealistic view of the glory days of America, which is a popular view that extends well beyond the states.
 
Main Street is famously a nostalgic version of an America that never existed. That idyllic image of old-world architecture, quaint independent shops and horse & carts bustling up and down main street is a fantasy. But it's been collectively planted in the minds of generations of Americans to the point where they genuinely feel nostalgic for something that never actually existed.

The historical settings of the park, particularly Main Street, are examples of what cultural geographers call a “field of care”; a place, like the neighborhood drugstore, or corner bar in a community, loaded with associations of familiarity and affection for the people who live there. But the Disney version of the turn of the century main street… is an idealized, caricatured setting—one which doesn’t exist outside the Disney parks (although the Disney parks themselves are “fields of care”); not an imitation of a main street anywhere in the US but a “kind of universally true Main Street—it's better than the real main street of the turn of the century could ever be.” (pp. 129-130)
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Well yes that's what I'm getting at. It's an idyllic image of what they think of as home; therefore it makes a great gateway into other realms of fantasy.

Likewise Towers Street at Alton, Germany at Europa Park, Berlin at Phantasialand or... (I think you get the idea) is an idyllic version of home for the people that most commonly visit these parks.

But Main Street in Paris or one of the other Disney parks (that includes Florida to a degree) is not an idyllic version of their home but of an unspecified American town. Like I said that’s not necessarily a bad thing but while Main Street in Anaheim is meant to resonate with the local cultures the others are pure theme.
 
According to Screamscape, a construction wall has gone up between the NBA restaurant and IoA. Nobody knows why so far.

Also, Behind the Thrills has some photos of the Transformers merchandise.


Finally, here's an article on WFTV about a 45 yera old woman who was arrested for making a joke about her purse containing a bomb at the baggage check area before the crossing to City Walk.
 
Screamscape said:
2016 - Tolkien’s Middle-Earth and Jurassic Park Attractions - Rumor - (1/19/13) Rumor has it that members of NBC/Universal’s top brass were seen touring Islands of Adventure with members of Warner Bros and Comcast top brass this week, with a heavy focus on looking over every inch of Toon Lagoon, as well as showing off the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Early Middle-Earth talks maybe?
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Looks like Toon Lagoon is up for the chop. It's a shame, both the water rides there are really, really good.
 
Shame IOA cannot EXPAND rather than just refresh existing areas. Nothing wrong with Toon Lagoon as it is.
 
It's a shame they can't use the land beside Alien Attack and The Simpsons area for Middle Earth as there's much more land there. Couldn't they turn the staff car park behind the Studios backlot area into a multi-story so that some of the land can be used for theme park expansion? They could half the amount of land used by it and then build behind Diagon Alley / London.

Toon Lagoon was one of my favourite areas and the theming there was great. Bilge Rat Barges was absolutely fantastic and Ripsaw Falls was great too. I could cope with the removal of Ripsaw Falls, but Bilge Rat needs to stay. Could it be incorporated into the Jurassic Park area? The Jurassic Park water ride at Universal Singapore is a Hafema rapids ride, so they've already done a JP rapids once already.
 
Screamscape said:
2016 - Tolkien’s Middle-Earth and Jurassic Park Attractions - Rumor - (1/31/13) According to this interesting news article, the Saul Zaentz Company who owns the worldwide rights to the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchises has now filed for a new trademark for the phrase, “Middle-Earth”. What makes this more interesting is the fact that the trademark application, filed on January 22, covers “Amusement arcades, Children’s entertainment and amusement center shows; Entertainment services, namely, arranging and conducting specical eents at an amusement park; Providing amusement parks; Providing recreation facilities; Providing theme park services.”
So is this a true sign that the world’s of Middle-Earth are being discussed for a possible theme park project, or did the rumors hitting the Hollywood trade papers give them a reason to go ahead and file their trademarks anyway, just in case? Either way, it does seem to move the rumored discussion of such a project from the realm of rumor and into the world of reality.
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Some news for Universal, courtesy of Screamscape:

General Resort News - (2/4/13) Universal Orlando will lose another interesting attraction soon… one that a good number of people might never knew existed. Since 2004 TNA Wrestling has been shooting TNA Impact, aired on Spike TV, from one of Universal Orlando’s soundstages. I believe their typically would tape a pair of episodes one evening about every two weeks or so, and guests at Universal Orlando were allowed in for free to serve as the live studio audience.
TNA will tape their last regular show at the Impact Zone in Orlando on March 7th before taking TNA Impact on the road for all future shows, touring around the nation much like WWE does with their show schedule. From time to time TNA may return to the Impact Zone for the occasional show, but for now wrestling fans in Orlando will have to get their last regular fix on March 7th before bidding TNA “Bon Voyage!”
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Potential bad news for anyone excited for the Middle Earth area being planned:

?? ?? - Tolkien’s Middle-Earth - Rumor - (2/4/13) Before anyone starts to try and plan a trip to Orlando to see the creation of a Tolkien’s Middle-Earth land at Universal, it seems there is a major road-block to be dealt with first that will likely keep any and all Middle-Earth theme park plans in limbo for the time being. To tell the story, a little history lesson is also required, as the ownership issues are a little complicated.
Back in 1968 J.R.R. Tolkien sold the basic rights (stage, film and merchandising) to United Artists, who later resold them to the Saul Zaentz Company in 1976, who licensed them out as Tolkien Enterprises, later renamed as Middle-Earth Enterprises in 2010. They have the rights to the both sagas, the characters, places, objects and events that transpired within these works.
Over the last few years as Tolkien’s works were translated to the big screen in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and now followed by the Hobbit trilogy, the Tolkien family has made it clear that they were not fans of these new works, as well as the series of video games that have also followed as gaming rights have moved from Vivendi to E.A. and now at Warner Brothers. In November the Tolkien family actually filed a lawsuit against Warner Brothers over their use of the property, as they felt they are stretching things too far.
The family is asking the court to establish and better define the contractual limits WB has available to them for the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The family claims the original marketing / merchandising agreement from the 60’s was only to include “tangible property”, and today WB has extended those rights into realms that never existed or were conceived possible back in the ‘60s such as themed slot machines, console video games and now online only MMO games like WB’s Lord of the Rings Online. I’m sure the talk of a possible theme park project are also right there in the heart of it all as well, just as the trademarking filing this past week by Saul Zaentz for the amusement park rights to the term “Middle-Earth” can be seen as a preemptive strike attempt to claim the rights.
In the end, unless Universal Studios can get the blessing of both WB, Middle-Earth Enterprises and the Tolkien family estate, we are unlikely to see the realm of Middle-Earth in theme park form until the lawsuit is settled and there is a clear owner who can sign off on the IP rights for such a project. Universal isn’t going to invest a dime into actual construction until this is settled.
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Finally, there's a construction update on Behind the Thrills regarding the construction of the Transformers ride and new Wizarding World area, as well as the upcoming Mardi Gras festival.
 
Screamscape and Florida Thrills have a double whammy update for Universal Orlando today! Here's the first bit regarding the construction of the developments we know are happening right now:

2013 - Transformers The Ride: 3-D - (2/11/13) A new construction update from Universal has been posted to FloridaThrills this week that focuses on the new Donkey meet and greet next across from Shrek and Transformers. The Transformers building has had a lot of military style lettering and graphics added to the outside of the structure along with Autobot symbols and the NEST designation. So far it looks like they have not touched the entrance side of the building however.
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But there's another new ride rumour floating around now as well! A few pages back I put a map up showing the bottom of the Jurassic Park area. Just under the Thunder Falls Terrace is a reasonably large chunk of land which is currently unused and Screamscape has heard that the park may be adding something here very soon:

?? ?? - King Kong 360º 3-D - Rumor - (2/11/13) A very interesting rumor was sent my way has could have an interesting effect on the future of Islands of Adventure. Our source comes forward with rumors of yet another interesting new ride concept being pitched to the park… one that would see a new ride added into that big empty space between Ripsaw Falls and the tall Jurassic Park building, running behind the Thunder Terrace restaurant.
The interesting thing is that this new ride is not themed to Jurassic Park, not to Toon Lagoon… and not even to anything associated with Middle-Earth, but is distinctly a Universal creation. Breaking it down, this is essentially a ‘ride’ version of the King Kong 360º 3-D attraction added to the backlot tour at Universal Studios Hollywood. Guests would be loaded onto some kind of tram ride vehicle and taken for a tour through the jungles of Skull Island (I assume this part is outdoor) and then they would transition into an indoor building where the action finale scene would take place, as it does in Hollywood.
What do you think? Would this work in Islands of Adventure? Check out the video embedded below showing off the view on the left side of the tram in Hollywood and think about it. There are dinos in the attraction, but would it fit in next to Jurassic Park? Another possibility is, could they be considering transforming Toon Lagoon into Skull Island instead, possibly rethemeing Ripsaw and Popeye as well?
Or perhaps they may be taking a page out of the playbook from the Dubai park, where they planned an “Epic Adventures” themed land that would have featured a King Kong themed version of Dueling Dragons (Flying bats), a Jurassic Park River Rapids ride (like the one in Singapore) as well as a Dubai version of the Waterworld stunt show. I’ve got to admit, while I’m not sure how they will make the theme work, adding Kong and Skull Island to Islands of Adventure does seem like it might be a good fit, especially if added as just one phase of a project that could see many new attractions added to the park’s other islands.
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USD_Preview7_EpicAdventures.jpg


King Kong 360 3D on the Universal Studio Tour
 
Why ditch King Kong at the studios park only to reintroduce it at Islands of Adventure a decade or so later? I know the modern King Kong film came out in 2005, but that was 8 years ago!
 
Oh my, a very good advert that, simple and to the point. I love the shot of the train slowly coming out of the mist too, looks awesome!

It's nice that parks still feel the need to promote older rides in my eyes, shows that they're not forgotten. I think I prefer ride specific adverts to whole park/resort adverts actually, although I doubt they have more of an impact than collective adverts for the whole park :)
 
Looks like Universal Orlando is doing pretty well thanks to this investment. This is what Screamscape has written:

General Resort News - (2/14/13) Things are looking magical at Universal Orlando as reports of increased attendance and guest spending are released by by the resort and NBCUniversal. Cash flow has surged 9.9% in 2012 to $953 million, including a 9.7% increase just in the last quarter of 2012.Total revenue is up 4.8% for the year to $2.1 billion as theme park fans can’t get enough of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and according to Comcast, the theme park division will ramp up CapEx spending by 25% in 2013 as they work on finishing Transformers and the Potter expansion in Orlando, and the Potter and Despicable Me projects in California begin construction.
They see the wisdom in heavy investment in the company’s theme parks. "Investments in our theme parks over the last few years have actually reset the level of their performance," Comcast CFO Mike Angelakis said as all the new attractions added to the parks "are dramatically expanding the potential of our theme-park business."
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