A Spirited Perfect Ten

[truecoat]

I'm at a loss for words as to how people are going to react when the new World of Color is showing one or two shows a night and requiring people to show up at 8AM at DCA and wait 30-45 minutes for a "fastpass" in order to see that evenings showing. It blows my mind that people wouldn't prefer to book that same fastpass ahead of time and avoid all of that garbage that DLR now deals with regarding their night shows.

Sounds like hearsay evidence. I was at the DLR Xmas 2012 and got my fast pass to WOC with no line so try again.

 

[Skippy]

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.

Don't forget Star Trek. I think there's a difference between solid IPs and ones with a crazed fanbase willing to schedule entire trips around a theme park presence. Potter (today at least), Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Disney (as a whole) definitely fit that bill. I'm not quite sure Nintendo does. It will still be a great addition. And maybe it will surprise me, I'm okay with being proven wrong.

 

[Bairstow]

Don't forget Star Trek.

Did anyone get a chance to see the Star Trek experiences Gary Goddard cooked up for Las Vegas? I heard those were pretty spectacular and had some pretty unique never-attempted-again illusions in them.

Also, there was this thing...

 

[FigmentJedi]

New Muppet Show has officially been greenlit for ABC! And just a few days from Kermit's 60th birthday to boot
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/07/muppets-abc-greenlit

Everybody start your arm-flailing!

 

[mahnamahna101]

Don't forget Star Trek. I think there's a difference between solid IPs and ones with a crazed fanbase willing to schedule entire trips around a theme park presence. Potter (today at least), Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Disney (as a whole) definitely fit that bill. I'm not quite sure Nintendo does. It will still be a great addition. And maybe it will surprise me, I'm okay with being proven wrong.

I'm sorry but Mario is definitely above Doctor Who and Star Trek. I'm a major Whovian by the way so I'm not personally attacking the show! Same goes for Star Trek. It's just that Doctor Who and Star Trek are definitely not what would get the average Joe to book a vacation. Both scream 'geek' to the average person, unfortunately (the stereotype is thankfully changing). Mario appeals to little kids, women and older adults in a way other video game franchises simply can't. He's the Marvel/Star Wars of video games - everyone knows who he is.

Mario, Pokemon and Zelda definitely have crazy fanbases who would book trips solely to go experience these things, much like Potterheads. I know this, because a good portion of my friends love these franchises. More importantly, the people who like Nintendo are the ones who will buy park-exclusive merch.

I agree that Pokemon and Zelda and the smaller franchises are iffy, but Mario is easily the best IP for Universal right now except for LOTR. Star Trek and Doctor Who would be the decent grabs you mentioned above and perform a role similar to F&F, Transformers, DM and Kong - to give people excellent attractions to do beyond what they originally wanted (to see Hogwarts, to see the Mushroom Kingdom, to catch a Pokemon, etc)

 

[Cesar R M]

Well, if we're going to use annecdotal evidence to make conclusions for all parents and kids, then you are wrong. My son, 10, doesn't play Minecraft. At all. What he does play, though: Lots and lots of Pokemon and Mario Kart DS. Literally everyone in his class has a DS (a fact we learned at a recent birthday party). Even the Pokemon TCG is quite popular in his after school program.

While no one can deny that the Wii U was DOA and that Nintendo isn't the same as it was 10-20 years ago, there are signs things are starting to turn around once more. FY results were just announced and they posted a profit for the first time since 2011. Now that Wii U had a few decent games (MK 8, SSB U), console sales increased dramatically and only missed sales projections by a few hundred thousand units. 3DS sales are still strong but softening, likely caused by more focus on phone and tablet gaming. I also contend my son's class could also represent a trend: many of those who want one already have one. Also of note, they are developing a low-cost console for emerging markets (ie, China) and are still the global console market leader.

One area where Nintendo is NOT hurting, though (and most relevant in this discussion) is software sales. In the US, they had the top-selling title of 2014 (Pokemon OR/AS) and own 2015 so far (Zelda majora mask). There is nothing wrong with Nintendo's stable of characters or brand awareness, and provide ample fodder for engaging theme park attractions.

agree with what you said.
Minecraft isnt exactly "for kids". Id say its a hipter building game that got popular due of the videos posted. a Fad.
I do not see Minecraft having that cultural and retaining power as the Nintendo franchise characters.

After all, people STILL play Nintendo. Specially the handhelds.

 

[Skippy]

New Muppet Show has officially been greenlit for ABC! And just a few days from Kermit's 60th birthday to boot
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/07/muppets-abc-greenlit

Awesome news. Now if only people (like EW) would stop calling it a 'grown-up version' of what was always a show that appealed to adults, that'd be great.

 

[Cesar R M]

The piece of the equation that is missing is that as the wait time gets higher, there will be a certain percentage of people who will just decide to skip the ride. Now if you increase capacity the wait time comes down and those people now decide it is worth it which drives the wait time back up. The wait times won't go down until capacity far outweighs demand.

It still still eat more people. But yeah.. in a park with barely anything to do.. people will again jam the new "extended" ride they used to skip (that had gigantic wait times).

When capacity is measured, and by no means am I debating your stats above, just quoting you as a way to jump into this conversation, do they include exiting the ride?
Rides like Small World and Pirates appear to have a decent capacity, but the unload sure as heck stinks on both of them. I keep reading in the past few pages here how the load/unload will be combined on the new Frozen attraction and how that will magically increase throughput. But I'm sure on paper, no one assumed we'd be stuck reading Good Bye in 10+ languages for 10 minutes or watch Cap't jack sitting on his throne for 12 minutes. They can plan to pack boat upon boat into the flume to increase capacity, but if you can't get out of the boat timely, the best laid plans will not come to pass.

I was wondering the same on this.
Because while ONE boat is loading, the other is unloading.
They cant unload that fast unless the other boats are unloading before.

Or unless they use a "push" (like test track) loading style.
Where the new passengers pretty much force the guys in the car to move out of it faster.

 

[Cesar R M]

No... Trolls implant a controversial topic and then leave. They make no attempt to explain things, just say it and let the rest of you "clever folk" fight over the carcass. Ignore Systems are the classic escape route for those that don't want to be questioned and just want to see what agrees with their own opinions.

Goofyer.. as an IT who has dealt with trolls way more times than I should have.. I cant stop shaking my head at your definition of troll.
You're WRONG.

The majority of times they do not leave, they watch and try to rile the place until it ends with big open insults and angry people.
This "phase" is then when they proclaim their "lol u mad".

Plus there are different kind of trolls.. there are even ones who claim to be "educated" but only give incorrect, illogical or conflicting information just to confuse or anger established posters.

Not quite. There's respectful debate and then there's JT.

We've had respectful debates and conversations. JT is just a tool.

Wasn't he banned on many sites?
Also, If wdwmagic had tougher rules.. I bet he would have been banned already forever ( Wasn't he tolerated to have double or triple accounts too?)

 

[Cesar R M]

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.

Pretty sure a lot of adults still play with Nintendo. Specially those who grew with the Pokemon/Mario Kart/Smash Bros franchise.

 

[Bairstow]

Mario, Pokemon and Zelda definitely have crazy fanbases who would book trips solely to go experience these things, much like Potterheads. I know this, because a good portion of my friends love these franchises. More importantly, the people who like Nintendo are the ones who will buy park-exclusive merch.

Small point, but didn't Trekkies pretty much of invent the concept of buying every associated piece of merch and traveling across the country because of your love of a franchise?

 

[PhotoDave219]

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

I'm leaning more in the lower end of that range. All depends on how fast they can load/unload.... which depends on how fast guests can see down and shut up.

 

[Skippy]

I'm sorry but Mario is definitely above Doctor Who and Star Trek. I'm a major Whovian by the way so I'm not personally attacking the show! Same goes for Star Trek. It's just that Doctor Who and Star Trek are definitely not what would get the average Joe to book a vacation. Both scream 'geek' to the average person, unfortunately (the stereotype is thankfully changing). Mario appeals to little kids, women and older adults in a way other video game franchises simply can't. He's the Marvel/Star Wars of video games - everyone knows who he is.

As far as populist appeal, I completely agree with you, much more people will recognize and understand Mario and Nintendo.

My posit was that there are less people who would book a vacation solely based on Nintendo than there are who would book it solely on Potter, Star Wars, Doctor Who, or Star Trek. Which you disagree with below (and that's fine )

Mario, Pokemon and Zelda definitely have crazy fanbases who would book trips solely to go experience these things, much like Potterheads. I know this, because a good portion of my friends love these franchises. More importantly, the people who like Nintendo are the ones who will buy park-exclusive merch.

Maybe you're right. Maybe it's differences in social circles in this case. Personally I've heard multiple people (who have never mentioned theme parks to me) fawn over HP in Universal since it opened. But I would be shocked if I heard anything at all once Nintendo makes its presence known.

 

[Cesar R M]

Get yourself an Uber over to Player 1 when Lauren is bartending. You will not be disappointed.

Kinda confused?
Player 1? where?
whos Lauren?

 

[StageFrenzy]

New Muppet Show has officially been greenlit for ABC! And just a few days from Kermit's 60th birthday to boot
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/07/muppets-abc-greenlit

Awesome news. Now if only people (like EW) would stop calling it a 'grown-up version' of what was always a show that appealed to adults, that'd be great.

The muppets have something for everyone even @Magenta Panther
hut hut hut

 

[FigmentJedi]

Don't forget Star Trek. I think there's a difference between solid IPs and ones with a crazed fanbase willing to schedule entire trips around a theme park presence. Potter (today at least), Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Disney (as a whole) definitely fit that bill. I'm not quite sure Nintendo does. It will still be a great addition. And maybe it will surprise me, I'm okay with being proven wrong.

I'm sorry, but on what planet is Doctor Who a bigger draw then Nintendo? Americans only really started latching onto Doctor Who with Tennant and its still pretty damn niche compared to the rest of your list.

 

[Skippy]

I'm sorry, but on what planet is Doctor Who a bigger draw then Nintendo? Americans only really started latching onto Doctor Who with Tennant and its still pretty damn niche compared to the rest of your list.

I was trying to highlight it on a case of rabidness, not size of the audience. I realize I was unclear.
I do feel the fanbase for Doctor Who is more (rabid/fully-committed/engaged) than the wider fanbase for Nintendo.

Just as I think the fanbase for Nintendo is much larger than the fanbase for Harry Potter.
And many do not think it will gain the same attendance boost.

 

[Cesar R M]

I cant compare it to anything other than resident evil meets..... the coolest rpg ever? I can't describe it but it plays like the episodic games that telltale is putting Out only it's a solitary game. You play from several characters and different time periods and even through some historical events and figures.

One of the coolest features of the game is the sanity meter. when it drains the game actually messes with you in ways you'd never expect. One example is that the game locks up and suddenly it jumps to the save game menu and deletes your save While you fumble with the controller to stop it. There are other examples that are pretty brilliant but I won't ruin them if you really play it.

hang on.. since when Resident evil counts as "RPG" ?

I think as long as Nintendo is around they will be a major player. Handhelds are a big boost for them, but I see more kids turning to tablets or smart phones for their games. If Nintendo can produce a few big hits for phone and tablet systems it could very well be a huge profit.

Microsoft and Sony put much more emphasis into their console systems and IMO, its due to DLC (downloadable content). It has emerged as major profit boost for almost every game. The latest Call of Duty retailed for $70 and they release around 4 DLC packs throughout the year that are appx $15-20 each or you can buy them all for $50. That practically doubles profits for the game and there is also one time purchases as well that avg a few bucks each. You can easily spend over $100 per game nowadays.

unless you do the Valve game in the Steam store..
where you constantly see games at 20% to 75% discounts

specially the summer and christmas sales..

Take that CONSOLE PEASANTS!

Yea but I also keep brain cells from dying by reading such childish rubbish. if I want to kill brain cells, I'll make sure I have some fun along with it.

If people survived watching the Kardashians.. people will survive reading dumb things in a forum.

Exactly. Nintendo made a killing with the launch if the wii, even without many good games. The handheld market shouldn't even try to compete because there is the gameboy, then there are gimmicks.

Their IPs are definitely worth more than anything they put out hardware wise though. Mario, Zelda and Pokémon are all iconic and are a huge money maker.

Because nintendo still follows the basic of what a game should be.. a game should be FUN.
and Addictive.

Most Playstation and Xbox (and PC ) games are all "lol amazing graphics lolololol". Graphics that in the final edition are insanely cut down for "performance" purposes.

You just stepped into murky waters. Since the fiscal year beginning March 2010, Nintendo has sold 77,180,000 handhelds. That sounds impressive until you hear Apple sold nearly 74,000,000 mobile devices just last quarter.

Do you want me to talk about how Apple isn't even the biggest smartphone maker?

Nintendo is miniscule compared to some of the other smartphone players. Tiny. Let's not forget that some analysts are expecting gaming revenue from mobile platforms to surpass consoles by 2018.

The people have spoken. In the same way they said they wanted an MP3 Player that could do more then listen to music, they also said they wanted a gaming device that could do more then game. Nintendo missed it.

Hopefully they're able to reassert themselves moving forward, but they've got a lot to contend with. Especially among kids, where Universal is aiming for too. We'll see.

consoles are not phones, phones are not exclusive for gaming.

different markets.

Thats like calling the PC the best gaming system ever.. just because everyone has a PC or a laptop!
even if 80% of them cant even run a basic game because they arent built for that!

 

[FigmentJedi]

I was trying to highlight it on a case of rabidness, not size of the audience. I realize I was unclear.
I do feel the fanbase for Doctor Who is more (rabid/fully-committed/engaged) than the wider fanbase for Nintendo.

Just as I think the fanbase for Nintendo is much larger than the fanbase for Harry Potter.
And many do not think it will gain the same attendance boost.

Nintendo fanbase and the subgroups within are one of the more rabid communities within gaming fandom. Have you even seen what's been happening when Amiibo preorders start? All those hype train/money printing memes? Nintendo's fanbase is vocal to the point where it starts getting annoying, especially to those who are into other systems or PC.

 

[Captain Neo]

Link?

I never lie but here is your link:

http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_c...y-world-postpones-fantasyland-s-facelift.aspx