All things Universal Studios Hollywood

[Californian Elitist]

I don’t believe USH is seriously trying to compete with the DLR, Six Flags, Knott’s, or any of the others. If anything, they’re competing with other nearby and popular/typical L.A. tourist attractions. USH is in its own lane and attracts a particular type of guest, especially during the summer.

 

[CaptinEO]

With this coaster, USH is still in No man’s land. Not enough attractions or quality attractions/ theming to compete with DLR and not enough thrill rides to compete with Magic Mountain.

What Universal needs to do at USH with its limited space is just go heavy on popular IP we can’t get anywhere else and make them fully fleshed out themed lands. They did that with Harry Potter and Super Nintendo land is another step in the right direction even if its another sceen ride that looks lackluster. But the park needs more of that. I guess at this point they just view USH as West Coast Islands of Adventure with the Real Studio Tram Tour.

Id love go see the DK family coaster and land come out here.

I think USH is making the mistake of creating giant "lands" instead of attractions. Springfield and Potter Land are so huge and so is Super Nintendo World. All to host one ride each.

Potter I get should have the castle and maybe a restaurant and shop, but that's about it. The amount of real estate these themed lands take up is nuts for a small scale theme park.

Universal has so much more they could offer. Also Springfield is ugly. It's like if Six Flags built 2001 California Adventure.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

I think USH is making the mistake of creating giant "lands" instead of attractions. Springfield and Potter Land are so huge and so is Super Nintendo World. All to host one ride each.

Potter I get should have the castle and maybe a restaurant and shop, but that's about it. The amount of real estate these themed lands take up is nuts for a small scale theme park.

Universal has so much more they could offer. Also Springfield is ugly. It's like if Six Flags built 2001 California Adventure.

Potter and Nintendo lands are cash cows, doesn't matter how many attractions there are. Losing Hogsmeade would take countless millions in retail and food sales away from the park. Nintendo will be the same way. Springfield is profitable but obviously not quite as much so.

 

[mickEblu]

I think USH is making the mistake of creating giant "lands" instead of attractions. Springfield and Potter Land are so huge and so is Super Nintendo World. All to host one ride each.

Potter I get should have the castle and maybe a restaurant and shop, but that's about it. The amount of real estate these themed lands take up is nuts for a small scale theme park.

Universal has so much more they could offer. Also Springfield is ugly. It's like if Six Flags built 2001 California Adventure.

Mistake to fans like us. But not a mistake to execs trying to squeeze every cent out of their limited real estate. An immersive land based on a beloved IP with multiple shops and themed eateries gives them a nice return on their investment.

 

[J4546]

Springfield will be gone sooner than later now that disney owns it. Thankfully imo, that area is pretty bad

 

[Californian Elitist]

Springfield will be gone sooner than later now that disney owns it. Thankfully imo, that area is pretty bad

You’re making an assumption.

 

[J4546]

You’re making an assumption.

Yep. But it's based on the fact that disney owns Simpsons ip, why would US want to keep a land based on a competitors IP and also its the weakest area of the park. I thinks it's safe to say that universal is probably looking at retheming those areas. But these are just assumptions.

 

[mickEblu]

Springfield will be gone sooner than later now that disney owns it. Thankfully imo, that area is pretty bad

Too bad they won’t wait to theme that terrain coaster to whatever the new land is going to be. Could have gone through a show building on the upper lot before heading down the hill and back.

 

[mickEblu]

You’re making an assumption.

I’ve heard rumors but it also just makes sense.

 

[GiveMeTheMusic]

Yep. But it's based on the fact that disney owns Simpsons ip, why would US want to keep a land based on a competitors IP and also its the weakest area of the park. I thinks it's safe to say that universal is probably looking at retheming those areas. But these are just assumptions.

Universal pays many of their competitors for theme park IP. They pay Disney for Simpsons and Marvel (Orlando/Japan), Warner for Potter, Paramount for Transformers, etc. They do not care who gets the licensing check as long as the attraction/land works for them and rakes it in. Springfield makes a lot of money on food/bev and the ride is very popular with guests. There is zero incentive to change it out any time soon.

These studios are all in business with each other normally anyway - they rent each other's lot space for shooting, they produce TV shows for other studios' streaming services, they buy TV shows from each other and co-produce/co-distribute TV shows/movies. All the major studios are incestuous. A NBCUni/Comcast exec would never blink an eye at having to cut a check to Disney for theme park licensing.

 

[CaptinEO]

Potter and Nintendo lands are cash cows, doesn't matter how many attractions there are. Losing Hogsmeade would take countless millions in retail and food sales away from the park. Nintendo will be the same way. Springfield is profitable but obviously not quite as much so.

Good point about retail and merchandise but I feel like these are Florida sized lands that take up too much real state in small California parks. Reminds of how Galaxy's Edge is clearly on the scale of Disney World but was thrown into Disneyland.

 

[CaptinEO]

Universal pays many of their competitors for theme park IP. They pay Disney for Simpsons and Marvel (Orlando/Japan), Warner for Potter, Paramount for Transformers, etc. They do not care who gets the licensing check as long as the attraction/land works for them and rakes it in. Springfield makes a lot of money on food/bev and the ride is very popular with guests. There is zero incentive to change it out any time soon.

These studios are all in business with each other normally anyway - they rent each other's lot space for shooting, they produce TV shows for other studios' streaming services, they buy TV shows from each other and co-produce/co-distribute TV shows/movies. All the major studios are incestuous. A NBCUni/Comcast exec would never blink an eye at having to cut a check to Disney for theme park licensing.

Lets not forget Disney was paying Lucasfilm for Star Tours, Indiana Jones, CBS for Twilight Zone, and was paying for The Ninja Turtles at Hollywood Studios at some point.

Like you said, these licensing agreements help the companies out and they all benefit from it.

 

[Phroobar]

I think USH is making the mistake of creating giant "lands" instead of attractions. Springfield and Potter Land are so huge and so is Super Nintendo World. All to host one ride each.

Potter I get should have the castle and maybe a restaurant and shop, but that's about it. The amount of real estate these themed lands take up is nuts for a small scale theme park.

Universal has so much more they could offer. Also Springfield is ugly. It's like if Six Flags built 2001 California Adventure.

Potter has two rides not one. Springfield was just an overlay for the existing food courts that were there before. I believe it was Bedrock ribs and Dr. Brown's chicken before.

 

[Phroobar]

Lets not forget Disney was paying Lucasfilm for Star Tours, Indiana Jones, CBS for Twilight Zone, and was paying for The Ninja Turtles at Hollywood Studios at some point.

Like you said, these licensing agreements help the companies out and they all benefit from it.

The Ninja Turtles were part of Saban makers of the Power Rangers. Saban was owned by Disney at the time. That is why there was Venus De Milo, the girl Mutant Ninja Turtle!

 

[CaptinEO]

The Ninja Turtles were part of Saban makers of the Power Rangers. Saban was owned by Disney at the time. That is why there was Venus De Milo, the girl Mutant Ninja Turtle!

Disney only owned Saban in the 2000s. Turtles were there in the late 80s.

 

[J4546]

I know Flintstones isn't a big ip now but a colorful bedrock area would be pretty chill imo.

 

[Phroobar]

I know Flintstones isn't a big ip now but a colorful bedrock area would be pretty chill imo.

It wasn't anything special. Springfield is a big improvement over the River Princess restaurant, company store, KITT meet & greet and shark.

 

[Phroobar]

I did enjoy talking to KITT back in the day.

 

[PiratesMansion]

To me, the Fast and the Furious roller coaster is a hands-down winner of an idea.

People will love this, both the look of the ride on the hillside and the interaction with the existing park elements (i.e. Escalatorland).

It sounds very similar to me to Velocicoaster, which sounded similarly lame and unthemed when it was announced and being built, but the way they did it and the way it interacted with existing park elements (and the queue is fairly well themed), combined with the quality of the ride, made it one of my favorite things Universal Orlando has ever done.

That's what I'm envisioning here, and there's no reason they can't use the template of Velocicoaster and the topography to make something interesting. It's no mystery why they're doing this. Why shouldn't they exploit their geography and setting to do something that couldn't be replicated anywhere else?

It also adds more ride capacity, which they need, without removing much else (although it does seem like it might be replacing the Special Effects theater, the Animal Actors theater or both. THAT to me would be a bummer, but hardly something that would be impossible to rebuild elsewhere).

I could see why they would want a roller coaster that wasn't either for children or wasn't widely known as an inferior version of a coaster in Florida. One of the things that makes USH a hard sell for many used to Orlando is that there's almost nothing that's unique to people used to UO. Rightly or wrongly, USH acquired a reputation as being a park where you had no reason to visit if you had done Orlando, with the Studio Tour really being the only counter to that. This, SLOP, and (temporarily) Super Nintendo World will give those people a reason to care about USH.

And given that no one likes the Fast & the Furious Studio Tour scene, this will likely ensure that FATF will no longer be part of that attraction.

From where I'm sitting, almost everyone wins here.

 

[mickEblu]

To me, the Fast and the Furious roller coaster is a hands-down winner of an idea.

People will love this, both the look of the ride on the hillside and the interaction with the existing park elements (i.e. Escalatorland).

It sounds very similar to me to Velocicoaster, which sounded similarly lame and unthemed when it was announced and being built, but the way they did it and the way it interacted with existing park elements (and the queue is fairly well themed), combined with the quality of the ride, made it one of my favorite things Universal Orlando has ever done.

That's what I'm envisioning here, and there's no reason they can't use the template of Velocicoaster and the topography to make something interesting. It's no mystery why they're doing this. Why shouldn't they exploit their geography and setting to do something that couldn't be replicated anywhere else?

It also adds more ride capacity, which they need, without removing much else (although it does seem like it might be replacing the Special Effects theater, the Animal Actors theater or both. THAT to me would be a bummer, but hardly something that would be impossible to rebuild elsewhere).

I could see why they would want a roller coaster that wasn't either for children or wasn't widely known as an inferior version of a coaster in Florida. One of the things that makes USH a hard sell for many used to Orlando is that there's almost nothing that's unique to people used to UO. Rightly or wrongly, USH acquired a reputation as being a park where you had no reason to visit if you had done Orlando, with the Studio Tour really being the only counter to that. This, SLOP, and (temporarily) Super Nintendo World will give those people a reason to care about USH.

And given that no one likes the Fast & the Furious Studio Tour scene, this will likely ensure that FATF will no longer be part of that attraction.

From where I'm sitting, almost everyone wins here.

I agree with a lot of this and you make a good point about Velocicoaster. I’m warming up to the idea of a Coaster on that hill. Always thought it would be a great experience for the rider but not sure a steel coaster looping around that hill fits the vibe/theme of USH.

Here’s the thing though- FnF doesn’t translate well into theme park attractions so I wouldn’t expect a great queue. What it would be, some dark underground hideout that looks like you’re at the Mechanic?

I agree that it’s great to add ride capacity at USH and they did great that we’re not losing anything. Just wish they would hold off for something more ambitious for when Simpsons land is inevitably re themed. Imagine a coaster that went through a show building on the upper lot before launching down the hill and back. Maybe Monsters, Potter, anything sounds better than FnF.

I get the perception from someone who’s used to visiting Orlando but I don’t think this will really move the meter on its own. SLOP I don’t think does it all. But all of these additions together start to move it a little. SLOP, Super Nintendo, FnF coaster. I still feel like the park needs a lot more. Specifically non screen based family rides.