I totally get this sentiment, but it feels pretty non-unique. Static stuff taking up space covers a lot of theme park lands called the best in the world, including the Potter lands and some of Cars. I guess I just don’t feel it’s any different.
The Potter spaces are full of shops and restaurants and have the interactive elements with the wands. The new one at Epic does feel excessive but that's because one side was built to accommodate the entrance to a phase two attraction on an expansion pad behind it.
I missed the Berk comparisons, but I think Berk might be the point of comparison because it feels the most like a traditional theme park land at Epic? There’s actually some depth to the land and it feels like it would have been right at home at IOA.
you weren't the one making those comparisons but a number of people for some reason, have been.
Yeah, unsure. I imagine the fear is guest congestion and guest damage. Though you mention the Berk dragons which I think is actually the same deal as the little droids —over-engineered and no real guest interaction, and they only appear in this haphazard almost-backstage area at unscheduled times, so you gotta be lucky to see them. I think these things are just hard to figure out.
You haven't been to Epic yet, have you? The dragons are
ALL OVER the land, operating the entire time the park is open and they're nothing
remotely like Disney's freestanding droids. There are dozens of them of various sizes and levels of animation/effects.
Here's what I'm talking about:
... and I don't mean the Toothless meet-and-greet.
For Disney, it would be even easier - a droid up a pole perpetually fixing wiring at a box with overhead cables (like power lines) and the occasional spark of electricity. Just the most basic single-servo arm movement in one arm with the other static, "holding" onto the pole and an R2-like head that only needs to rotate with some beeps or an endless loop of self-talk dialog. A droid on a balcony beating out a carpet 80%-90% statue/mannequin to look like it
could walk even though it just stands there and does the same thing all day. Basically a lot more of things like the one they have over the spit in the restaurant section. They wouldn't need anywhere the level of animation or detail that Universal put into some of the dragons, wouldn't need paint that'll fade in the Florida sun, wouldn't need to be in arm's reach of any guests. Wouldn't even need fluid movement - they're pretend robots doing pretend basic tasks.
Stuff that would literally take somewhere between one and a handful of servos or motors to power and many that wouldn't even need programing - just continuous motor or hydraulic movement controlled mechanically, similar to how some of the older effects in the Haunted Mansion operate cheaply with rock-solid reliability.
Nothing remotely over-engineered. If anything,
way simpler than it's intended to appear. Things that could be entirely constructed off-site brought in, bolted down and plugged into power or connected to compressed air overnight, controlled by a remote circuit breaker/power switch.
I myself have built something more complicated than I'm talking about. (with less durable construction but that's because I don't have the tools to machine aluminum)
