A Spirited Perfect Ten

[ford91exploder]

Doesn't UNI already have Dr. Seuss? If they couldn't leverage that market penetration, breadth of well known characters, and generational appeal into something like what you describe across all their parks then Nintendo won't help in the family demo. I think Nintendo is a nice get, but they already have the Grinch, Sam I Am, Cat in the Hat and all the rest which are a better family IP than anything outside of Disney.

Nintendo grabs the 'tween and teen demographic, Now UNI has a full spectrum of IP for kids of all ages unlike Disney 'all toddler all the time' vibe.

 

[BrianLo]

Doesn't UNI already have Dr. Seuss? If they couldn't leverage that market penetration, breadth of well known characters, and generational appeal into something like what you describe across all their parks then Nintendo won't help in the family demo. I think Nintendo is a nice get, but they already have the Grinch, Sam I Am, Cat in the Hat and all the rest which are a better family IP than anything outside of Disney.

Absolutely, Seuss meets the bill! But we are talking a replacement for Kidzone here, and Seuss is already in use.

It's not a failure on Seuss' behalf, but you can hardly expect to really attract a demographic if you only offer them one thing.

 

[bhg469]

That's like being the tallest person in Munchkin land...not a very high bar on the "cool" meter.

While I somewhat agree I did not say JRPG, which should all die in a fire.

 

[Nemo14]

While I somewhat agree I did not say JRPG, which should all die in a fire.

You've been hanging around with @PhotoDave219 too long.

 

[khale1970]

While I somewhat agree I did not say JRPG, which should all die in a fire.

My perspective is likely skewed by my one experience with D&D in 1983 or so. What a freak show that was...

 

[Hakunamatata]

Cant speak to girls but the boys in our crowd - 8-13 call WDW 'A park for little kids' and they want to go to UNI instead.

My 11 yo boy is ed we are "wasting" two days at Uni. Although my 16 yo girl is excited we are going to Uni, it's only for the potter stuff. If given the choice, one over the other, Disney would win hands down.

 

[khale1970]

Absolutely, Seuss meets the bill! But we are talking a replacement for Kidzone here, and Seuss is already in use.

It's not a failure on Seuss' behalf, but you can hardly expect to really attract a demographic if you only offer them one thing.

I don't disagree that another IP helps, but no doubt for the family demo Seuss better meets the standards you outlined than Nintendo. UNIs failure to properly exploit that IP might have led to this deal, but that failure doesn't make Seuss the lesser IP.

 

[StageFrenzy]

My 11 yo boy is ****ed we are "wasting" two days at Uni. Although my 16 yo girl is excited we are going to Uni, it's only for the potter stuff. If given the choice, one over the other, Disney would win hands down.

Has he been to Uni before?

 

[Hakunamatata]

Has he been to Uni before?

Nope. Point taken, however when we tell him about what they have, watch YouTube vids, etc, he does not get excited. But you are correct, he doesn't have a basis to judge from, like me, who is ed we are wasting two days there.

 

[Rteetz]

Muppets are going prime time

http://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2015/05/07/abc-picks-up-series-for-15-16-season/

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Nintendo's issues with the Wii U are many, the name being only one of the many issues. Another huge issue is that since the Wii era, the market (casuals) that helped drive sales so high have since moved on to mobile devices instead. And since Nintendo ignored their loyal gamer audience in that era, many gave up on Nintendo as well (and to be fair the first problems with their core audience began all the way back in the mid 90's). But they came across a largely untapped market with Wii and decided to put all their chips on that audience, who abandoned them as soon as something else arrived to catch their eyes (the casual market is fickle and short attention spanned like that). And during the casual chasing era, Nintendo lost even more of their prior audience due to further ignoring them. So they're in a shaky situation right now (the 3DS somewhat helped them to stabilize). It doesn't help that the Wii U is a lot less powerful than the PS4 and Xbox One (opting for technology more similar to PS3 and Xbox 360 instead), quite different and more difficult to program for as well. Nintendo has driven away a lot of developers from working on the Wii U. It's also reported in the industry that Nintendo is a kind of troublesome company to work with for outside developers.

It's actually interesting, because there are comparisons to how Disney is treating their core audience in favor of chasing a newer and less quality conscious audience. In Nintendo's case, the consequences have come back to bite them. As stated by many intelligent people here, it may just be a matter of time before the same thing ends up happening to Disney.

Spirit's going to be mad about how offtopic this is getting. Sorry about that. I will say in regards to the topic that I do not think Nintendo's problems in the gaming industry is going to negatively affect this theme park deal. Unless the land is of poor quality (which is unlikely apparently). It's probably a good move in fact as it will stir up some interest in Nintendo's games again. We'll see, but my interest is up as both a theme park AND Nintendo fan. Heck my mom is even interested in the land, and she has never been into video games. Even today i'd still say Mario and other Nintendo properties are some of the most recognizable game IP's in the world. Even with massively popular games like Call of Duty. Nintendo is still massively ingrained in our culture.

 

[bhg469]

Nope. Point taken, however when we tell him about what they have, watch YouTube vids, etc, he does not get excited. But you are correct, he doesn't have a basis to judge from, like me, who is ****ed we are wasting two days there.

MIB should fix that! By far the best shooting game in Orlando. Granted I can't be 11 again but Universal orlando didn't exist back then. I'd like to think that they're both pretty cool for him once he sees it.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Maelstrom had an OHRC of 900 per hour, and they are keeping the same ride system for the new Frozen attraction.

The public ride capacity of Maelstrom has been quoted at a range from 900-2000.

 

[RSoxNo1]

Ride systems don't mean anything in regards to capacity. Dispatch intervals do though...

Does anyone HONESTLY think that Frozen's capacity will have any affect on the queue times? Can someone tell me, with a straight face, that Frozen wouldn't have a 150 minute queue even if they doubled or tripled the capacity? It's going to be a 2-3-4 hour queue regardless of the capacity. If guests are going to pitch a fit over a 150 minute queue, who cares what the capacity is going to be- it's still going to be a 150 minute queue. Frozen is going to accommodate most guests per day than Toy Story Mania will even after they expand it. Radiator Springs Racers still has a huge line years later and it's got decent capacity.

Besides, if Frozen truly is a "passing fad" like so many Disney fans desperately want to occur (for some insane reason), then perhaps the ride doesn't need a massive capacity.

Little Mermaid is an overbuilt elaborate queue for a C/D ticket Fantasyland dark ride that has monster capacity, so the queue times fluctuate between short and reasonable. Because of that, some say that Disney wasted too much money on the queue/facades/capacity comparative to the sort of ride it is. Since Frozen is intended to be in the same vein as Mermaid in terms of quality (thought projections are going to be amazing), then I guess those people are going to get their wish.

Seriously, I'd bet that "Maelstrom: Featuring Olaf from Frozen" and a single static Olaf character at the end would garner a 4 hour queue.

Load/Unload may not be the issue with Frozen. The bottleneck very well may be at the track switches. If those can be updated/improved upon than capacity can increase.

 

[Skippy]

I think @CaptainAmerica is on to something with his speculation that the gaming community and the theme park community are pretty intertwined.

Who is this CaptainAmerica you speak of?

Understood. But they [the video game market] make their money from a different crowd than the folks who do family vacations to Orlando.

 

[mahnamahna101]

I know it won't happen, but I would love to see these little guys.

I'd say all of the following have a relatively decent chance at coming to Universal Orlando:

Mario
Donkey Kong
Pokemon
Zelda
Kirby
Star Fox
Metroid
Animal Crossing
Pikmin

With the likelihood being
Mario - 110%
Donkey Kong - 100%
Pokemon - 95%
Zelda - 90%
Star Fox - 75%
Metroid - 65%
Kirby - 60%
Animal Crossing - 55%
Pikmin - 40%

I think people also forget that while we have nostalgia in the Nintendo brand, it's also very current. In the past ten years, they have sold over 200 million DS-family handheld consoles. They entirely own the handheld market, which is largely kid-based. Kids know very well all about Nintendo - just as well, if not better, than a lot of classic Disney properties.

This has been an astonishing about-face for Nintendo - I guess the tanking of Wii U really kicked them in the Goombas. Both this and the expansion into the smartphone marketplace (though, that has been much overstated and misinterpreted almost universally - you will not be playing Super Mario Brothers on an iPhone) have really gone against long-held company beliefs.

I welcome it - yet another exciting property, and I'm just tickled that Universal got it - that means they'll actually spend money and build cool things! And it won't be ten years in the future before we see anything. Just like Harry Potter, it was totally the right choice to marry the two. Disney simply is not willing to put the money in that these properties require.

If Comcast actually manages to get the following into Universal Orlando by 2021/2022 (a good portion is plausible):
Avengers/Iron Man
Fast and Furious
Ghostbusters
Wicked/Oz
Warcraft (not sure if Nintendo would be okay with this. Unless it was solely tied to the movie)
the Classic Monsters
Mario
Donkey Kong
Pokemon
Zelda
LOTR

AK, DHS and Epcot would be on their way to becoming toast (not the French kind, either). And MK wouldn't be the best Orlando has to offer anymore without a doubt.

By MK's 50th, Universal Orlando will only be equaled by Tokyo Disney in quality.

All TDO has in the making is... Pandora.... a couple loosely themed Toy Story flat rides... Frozenstrom... possibly Star Wars Land?

I wouldn't be shocked if the Nintendo replacement for KidZone is done at the same time as Pandora at this point. Nothing is stopping Comcast's monster truck!!!

Not at all. But instead of making simply kiddie attractions, if you can call the Casey Jr Play While You Pee Fountain an attraction (and it must be because my outlet store is liquidating pins from it for $1.99), like Disney, UNI is making a family area with multiple attractions that all ages should be able to enjoy.

UNI is finally waking up that it needs family attractions. Disney used to be king of family attractions. Now, they like to segregate age groups. Unless, Jake and the Neverland Pirates Dance Party is aimed at my demo and I'm missing something big.

Universal only really needs its equivalents for POTC, HM, Spaceship Earth, Great Movie Ride, Jungle Cruise, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Sinbad, Mystic Manor, etc. before it becomes the all-ages destination.

Reworking Cat and E.T. to have all-ages, no height requirement RVs as an option is the first step.

And here's hoping USF gets the water ride it desperately needs!

That is a weird one. I'd point to Seussland's problem of a lack of family rides. Cat spins too much. (and has a height requirement?) The trolley/train loads too slow and is a downer/annoying. Fish you get wet and the carousel is well a carousel. Some things could be changed for the better but for now that is what is there. The execution of the Seussland has no impact on the final iteration of Nintendo world. That was a completely different company than the Universal today.

Cat has a 36" height requirement and Seuss Trolley has a 40" height requirement. Those two things automatically hurt it with the toddler/preschool demo Seuss targets.

Think about this... Kong, one of the scariest E-tickets ever designed according to insiders, is going to have a 34" height requirement.

Cat and the Trolley need lower height requirements before anything else. Cat should have none if done properly, while the Trolley should be reworked to return to the original 34", if not 32".

The land also lacks Fantasyland's substance. Even Hong Kong has 2 dark rides in theirs. Disneyland's has 6 plus 3 more tracked rides with outdoor segments, MK's has 4 plus 2 coasters, Tokyo's will soon have 8! Paris' has 4 plus 2 outdoor tracked rides. All have at least one show, too.

Seuss has 1 dark ride and 1 outdoor tracked ride. Bulldozing NBA City and a couple soundstages for a nice-sized Seuss expansion would help. Another dark ride, a yearround stage show, a walkthrough and a family coaster/thrill ride (36"-40") would do wonders to make Seuss Landing a worthwhile family-friendly area.

Absolutely, Seuss meets the bill! But we are talking a replacement for Kidzone here, and Seuss is already in use.

It's not a failure on Seuss' behalf, but you can hardly expect to really attract a demographic if you only offer them one thing.

When 75% of your kiddie areas are flat rides and playgrounds, you can't expect teens and adults to enjoy themselves Cat and E.T. are the only two things worth doing if you're over the age of 8 in either of Universal Orlando's kiddie areas. The Grinch coaster and Lorax dark ride should have happened a while ago, I'd even say a permanent stage show, too.

Both need to be overhauled to appeal to the entire family. Although Seuss will always skew slightly towards 2-8 yr olds. Nintendo is the perfect all-ages IP where there could be a little something for everyone.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

Makes me sad that so few people give Kirby a thought...

But boy would I LOVE a Donkey Kong Country Mine Cart coaster, I can wish (it's practically begging to be turned into a ride). Especially if they take inspiration from the Wii and Wii U DKC games with their crazy layouts and weaving in and out of different environments (mines, caves, jungles, tropical beaches and even sawmills). One level even had a hybrid of both a mine cart coaster, as well as a log flume section. Would make an amazing ride if done right.

Tell me you wouldn't think these would be amazing rides (these aren't even including the original ones from the SNES DKC trilogy, or the even more blatantly coaster like minecart minigames from Donkey Kong 64)-



Bet Spirit is good and annoyed with all the video game talk. Lol, at least it's now somewhat relevant though!

 

[mahnamahna101]

My 11 yo boy is ****ed we are "wasting" two days at Uni. Although my 16 yo girl is excited we are going to Uni, it's only for the potter stuff. If given the choice, one over the other, Disney would win hands down.

Spider-Man
Hulk
the Fantastic Four
the X-Men
soon to be Avengers
Popeye (best rapids ride in the world)
Jurassic Park
soon to be King Kong
Harry Potter
Poseidon
Sinbad
Dr. Seuss (since your son is excited to go to WDW, I'm assuming he likes the storybook stuff?)
Despicable Me
RotM (even if he doesn't know what it's about, the ride itself is excellent)
soon to be F&F
Transformers
MIB: AA (best shoot 'em up in the world. Buzz and TSMM can't compare)
the Simpsons
soon to be Nintendo
Terminator

It has to be the PERFECT place for an 8-12 yr old boy. Has he been before or no?

 

[Skippy]

There is so much excitement for Nintendo and hyperbole for the effect it will have on Orlando theme parks here.. probably because the demographics of the gaming conscious and those likely to go to an internet message board are greater than average. Still crazy.

A DK mine train and/or a Pokemon Snap interactive ride would be amazing. But people are acting like it's the second coming.

 

[mahnamahna101]

There is so much excitement for Nintendo and hyperbole for the effect it will have on Orlando theme parks here.. probably because the demographics of the gaming conscious and those likely to go to an internet message board are greater than average. Still crazy.

A DK mine train and/or a Pokemon Snap interactive ride would be amazing. But people are acting like it's the second coming.

Mario and LOTR are the only non-Disney franchises currently unrepresented in theme parks that could reach Potter-level sales of food/merch if executed properly. DisneySea-level theming required.

Nintendo as a whole could definitely contribute to Potter-level sales. Since Tolkien is adamantly against theme park attractions, recreations of the Mushroom Kingdom, Hyrule, Pokemon Tower (easily the perfect equivalent to ToT... get that 1998 Lavender Town theme pumping), DreamLand, Corneria, etc. are the best we can hope for.

Mario is huge though... easily above TMNT, SpongeBob, My Little Pony, Dora and the other family-friendly IPs that had been discussed on OU and here. Only LOTR is bigger among non-theme park represented IPs. Personally, I'd say DC Comics and Looney Tunes aren't really represented since their rides are almost completely bare-bones