So, You Want to be an Imagineer Season 15: Uniting Universal (Official Hub Thread)

[spacemt354]

I'd like to see.

It's right here

We're talking here about the Magic Kingdom's mission statement, and how that allows you to travel from the Caribbean to the Frontiers of America in about 100 feet, and nobody bats an eye. It also allows different IPs such as Winnie the Pooh and Snow White to exist parallel to each other, even though neither are related, because it all fits under the umbrella of the land they are designed for.

Universal rarely does this unless the land itself is based on a property that has multiple sub-properties. Most exist on their own Islands, not like that is a bad thing, but the transitions could be improved, and we have so many ideas here that building a land or 'island' for each IP while still intending to have good transitions might not be feasible.

Taking the Magic Kingdom model we have lands that theoretically, could mold into a model for a Universal park.

'Main Street'
- The toughest nut to crack. Originally I was thinking the Victorian land concept, but I think that is a bit too dark for an introduction into the main park. It'd be much better suited for the 2nd Disney Sea style concept we were working on I think. However, what about a Streets of America style entrance? Yet rather than false fronts, have it be modeled after the Art Deco designs of NBCUniversal/Comcast's headquaters in Rockefeller Plaza, NYC.

The park is being placed in Australia, so the proximity issue to NYC that DCA faced with Hollywood is null and void. Imagine that the entrance to the park comes to a central hub location, with the weenie being a Universal Great Movie Ride inside a miniature, forced perspective art deco 30 Rockefeller building.

Off the hub - you enter through art deco portals into the different film genres. While many films overlap in Adventure, Fantasy, Futuristic, etc - the landscapes are a pivitol factor in determining where they would be placed.

'Adventureland'
- Jurassic Park
- King Kong
- other jungle/forested/tropical environments.

'New Orleans Square/Liberty Square'
- Looking for a quaint village aesthetic. Possibly the Cape Cod seaside village of Jaws and further horror film genres more inland?

'Frontierland'
- Possibly a continuation of the horror genre set up in the seaside village?
- Bates Motel Haunted Mansion, The Shining Haunted Mansion, etc
- Old Europe Village for classic Universal Monsters?
- Transition from The Shrieking Shack into Hogsmeade Village and Harry Potter as a separate land towards the back of the park.

'Fantasyland'
- Suess Landing
- Despicable Me
- Hop idea from brb
- Shrek
- Secret Life of Pets

'Mickey's Toontown'
- updated/better Toon Lagoon
- Possibly Nickelodeon
- Nintendo if we decided to have two lands with transport between the parks as Brer Oswald suggested

'Tomorrowland'
- Back to the Future
- E.T.
- Men in Black
- Transformers

Obviously we wouldn't call these lands by their Magic Kingdom inspirations -- but just for the sake of keeping things comfortable as possible for people not as familiar with Universal parks.

For the Disney Sea style park -- I think it could be a very similar set up to IoA and TDS combined, with a Victorian Village entrance, then branching off into more themes that evoke lands that are embedded with story and unique purpose similar to the ports of TDS like Mysterious Island and such. A Parisian village with Les Mis, an ancient Gladiator attraction, Westeros, The Mummy, and perhaps the 2nd Nintendo Land towards the back of the park mixed in with other more kid friendly properties to balance the park.

Would love to hear some feedback on this and what everyone thinks!

 

[Suchomimus]

IT Seuss

 

[Daveeeeed]

It's right here

Oh! This formula should work out great! I've never understood why Universal has felt the need to use only 'hot-IPs'. Bates Motel or classics that can be made into rides like Mystic Manor would keep people piling in, and really help diversify the park's line-up. My parents can only do like 5 rides because of motion sickness.

 

[spacemt354]

UniMK is good to soak up all excess IPs while UniSea can focus on more comprehensive design. @spacemt354's genre lands are a brilliant division. Perhaps for each genre, we can create a generic setting which could conceivably lead to any property, even future ones. But let's make those settings fully immersive anyway, like say a really cyberpunk neon street for Sci-Fi with elements of a spaceport, all distinctly grittier than Tomorrowland, and able to transition inside show buildings to the distinctive worlds of say Men in Black or Back to the Future.

Some genres:

Sci-fi
Action (we need a Fast & Furious ride)
Adventure
Horror
Animation
Video games (Nintendo)

Western is a genre I like, but Uni likely won't ever need any western IPs.

Musical and comedy are good too, but they don't really suggest a unique setting. Instead, could we fold elements of those into the entry land?

About that entry land. The Victorian land is a good idea for UniSea, but for UniMK I think something closer to Uni's classic studio model - but classier - would be great. Something like DHS's vintage Hollywood streetscape, more timelessly period-set and romanticized. Perhaps we could recreate Laemmle's Universal Studios circa the 1930s, when the studio was in its monster movie heyday. Inside the assorted soundstage buildings (weathered and textured to feel more inviting) we can still include all the random seasonal attractions and "flash-in-the-pan" stage/screen attractions Uni likes to do. Entry is by studio gates alongside a replica of the theater where Dracula premiered. Thoughts?

Working on some visuals - here's the Dracula premiere theater

Perhaps a stage show on the main street?

And here's some old hollywood architecture that Universal has used before - I'm thinking we can make this much more kinetic than what amounts to a facade here. Double the street with buildings of varying heights on both sides, mixed with a side street or alley as well.

 

[spacemt354]

Stephen King land
His books are already a shared universe. Main setting (Maine setting ) could be a small forest town like Derry, with a mountain road leading to the Overlook Hotel. King is big right now with IT. Picture a log flume through Derry's sewers encountering Pennywise! Granted, most of the good King movies are by WB, but Uni has a good relationship with them (see: Potter, lots of Horror Nights stuff). Could potentially overlap with the "contemporary horror" stuff.

H.P. Lovecraft land
Okay, there are barely any good Lovecraft movies so far. Still, he has a unique coastal New England setting for stuff like Innsmouth, which can tie in easily with Jaws (a unique setting which I fear will otherwise be hard to place).

Not to dismiss your other options in the post (it's all great suggestions!) but just to focus on these two for a second, perhaps these could be the 'Frontierland'?

I believe the film actually took place in Oregon and not Colorado where King wrote the novel, but how cool would it be if the Overlook was perched on a hill surrounded by hills and forestation (something that Uni doesn't do as often as Disney and I wish they did) Rockwork and foliage really immerse you in the setting, and what a neat dark ride that could be!

Then like you said it could transition into Derry and a flume ride to the sewers, including indoor dark ride scenes.

Possibily even throw in a projector scene? (if you've seen the new film you'll know what I'm referring to)

A water lagoon or lake could then break up the 'Frontierland' Stephen King land from Amity and a Jaws attraction in the water? Plenty of potential there!

 

[D Hulk]

Working on some visuals - here's the Dracula premiere theater

Perhaps a stage show on the main street?

And here's some old hollywood architecture that Universal has used before - I'm thinking we can make this much more kinetic than what amounts to a facade here. Double the street with buildings of varying heights on both sides, mixed with a side street or alley as well.

Adding to this, here's some vintage imagery of the Universal entrance and backlot in the 1930s. Doing something in this vein could be a neat new wrinkle to the Studios Park format.

In addition to all that, redoing the classic entrance globe icon in an old-fashioned style might also be a neat way to distinguish this park:

 

[D Hulk]

Not to dismiss your other options in the post (it's all great suggestions!) but just to focus on these two for a second, perhaps these could be the 'Frontierland'?

I believe the film actually took place in Oregon and not Colorado where King wrote the novel, but how cool would it be if the Overlook was perched on a hill surrounded by hills and forestation (something that Uni doesn't do as often as Disney and I wish they did) Rockwork and foliage really immerse you in the setting, and what a neat dark ride that could be!

Then like you said it could transition into Derry and a flume ride to the sewers, including indoor dark ride scenes.

Possibily even throw in a projector scene? (if you've seen the new film you'll know what I'm referring to)

A water lagoon or lake could then break up the 'Frontierland' Stephen King land from Amity and a Jaws attraction in the water? Plenty of potential there!

For UniMK, I too prefer this King approach. These are all solid ideas your including here. Won't be seeing IT until I return to the States, so I'll take your word on the projector scene.

Love the notion of a more naturalistic, forested area for Uni. We could include something like a haunted trail to the Pet Semetary.

It's not King, but I really, really want to include the Bates Motel on the town's outskirts if at all possible (maybe overlooking the Jaws lagoon). Thoughts on this?

Another sudden idea...though it's neither King nor Uni. How about a upgrade of the E.T. flying bicycle ride based on Stranger Things? That would really fit Derry's feel nicely, even if it's a different fictional universe.

 

[spacemt354]

For UniMK, I too prefer this King approach. These are all solid ideas your including here. Won't be seeing IT until I return to the States, so I'll take your word on the projector scene.

Love the notion of a more naturalistic, forested area for Uni. We could include something like a haunted trail to the Pet Semetary.

It's not King, but I really, really want to include the Bates Motel on the town's outskirts if at all possible (maybe overlooking the Jaws lagoon). Thoughts on this?

Another sudden idea...though it's neither King nor Uni. How about a upgrade of the E.T. flying bicycle ride based on Stranger Things? That would really fit Derry's feel nicely, even if it's a different fictional universe.

The Pet Semetary walkthrough would be so creepy! (But I'm all for it)

I too like the Bates Motel - only reason why I didn't include it here was because it wasn't King - but it could really be more of a 'horror' inspired Americano land from Derry, Maine to Amity Island, Massachusetts, to Estes Park, Colorado, to White Pine Bay, Oregon!

 

[Daveeeeed]

Working on some visuals - here's the Dracula premiere theater

Perhaps a stage show on the main street?

And here's some old hollywood architecture that Universal has used before - I'm thinking we can make this much more kinetic than what amounts to a facade here. Double the street with buildings of varying heights on both sides, mixed with a side street or alley as well.

A trolley too perhaps???

 

[Daveeeeed]

The Pet Cemetary walkthrough would be so creepy! (But I'm all for it)

I too like the Bates Motel - only reason why I didn't include it here was because it wasn't King - but it could really be more of a 'horror' inspired Americano land from Derry, Maine to Amity Island, Massachusetts, to Estes Park, Colorado, to White Pine Bay, Oregon!

I haven’f Read through the pages so pardon if this has already been answered, but how are these lands supposed to be connected? By genre/location too in America?

 

[D Hulk]

A trolley too perhaps???

LA and Hollywood back then had the Red Cars, so absolutely yes to this!

The only concern is that DCA's Buena Vista Street also has these.

 

[spacemt354]

I haven’f Read through the pages so pardon if this has already been answered, but how are these lands supposed to be connected? By genre/location too in America?

We're really just scratching the surface with some ideas right now - so that definitely hasn't been ironed out, but similar to Frontierland, I could see this land being one of the back corners of the park and designed similar to a map of America looking at it from above, or on an angle. Whatever best blends things together!

 

[spacemt354]

Hmm...ride vehicles for The Shining dark ride?

 

[D Hulk]

I haven’f Read through the pages so pardon if this has already been answered, but how are these lands supposed to be connected? By genre/location too in America?

Adding to space's comment, we're generally planning to divide lands by genre. Right now we're just playing around with horror, and specifically discussing a version which includes lots of Stephen King and maybe transitioning from there to Psycho/Jaws.

 

[StevenU]

Adding to this, here's some vintage imagery of the Universal entrance and backlot in the 1930s. Doing something in this vein could be a neat new wrinkle to the Studios Park format.
View attachment 231195
View attachment 231196
View attachment 231197
In addition to all that, redoing the classic entrance globe icon in an old-fashioned style might also be a neat way to distinguish this park:
View attachment 231198

Oh this would be amazing! If we do the land concepts that space was talking about, this would add in a touch of the Studio aspect to replace Main Street USA!

 

[Suchomimus]

What if we also did Sesame Street for UniMK?

 

[BigThunder26]

What if we also did Sesame Street for UniMK?

That could work. Maybe copy that Spaghetti Space Chase ride from Singapore.

One thing I'm pretty sure about: we'd have to avoid using attractions based on Dreamworks, on account of their presence at Dreamworld.

 

[Suchomimus]

One thing I'm pretty sure about: we'd have to avoid using attractions based on Dreamworks, on account of their presence at Dreamworld.

Let's not use those and Shrek 4D then.

 

[spacemt354]

A rough sketch of the park (all subject to change)

(just click once on the image to zoom)

Based on the suggestions so far - but I didn't go too in depth with the small items in each area. Just the main attractions and scenery so everyone can get a feel of the park. I'm picturing a lot of trees and unique styles of trees especially on the left side of the park -- transitioning into cartoon and video game foliage as you go into Suess and Nintendo, with the cyberpunk street being the gateway to the sci-fi land.

Thoughts and feedback welcome! Going to try and sketch the UniSea concept now.

 

[kmbmw777]

If Nintendo Misc was placed on the other side I would suggest a Metroid/ Star Fox Experience, as either of them treads between science fiction and fantasy.