The only point I want to make, and this goes for both Disney and Universal. The thing that captured me as a kid when I first visited Disneyland was how I could not figure out what the heck happened. How did the Blue Fairy disappear at the end of the Pinocchio ride? How were the ghosts so see through and could appear and disappear in Haunted Mansion? How did a fire breathing dragon appear on a stage in the middle of the show, set a river on fire, and seemingly vanish? How the heck did I dodge that boulder in Indiana Jones?!
I was 11, and it blew my mind. It made me fall in love with theme parks, and the things they created.
I remember riding the tram tour and USH, and the Kong section was terrifying, but seeing that beast up close after the helicopter somehow crashed was incredible. I understood they were animatronics, or at the time I thought robots, but I still couldn't figure out how all those things worked. It was as if all of it came out of a fantasy world I had never experienced.
This was what made me seek out message boards such as this when I was 15 (10 years ago), to figure out how everything works, how the heck they created such amazing things.
Then I finally visited Disney World, and USO... And wow! Spaceship earth?! How the heck did that ride work inside a dome! Forbidden Journey? WHAT THE HECK?! Spider-Man blew my mind, it was the first I had ever experience a ride like this, and honestly Spider-Man is the perfect blend and use of the technology to date, especially with the updates.
My point is, I personally believe attractions should have aspects that make you scratch your head, that leave your wanting to re-ride to see what ever magic happened, happen again. They should fill your imagination with wonder, even as an adult. My issue with this new reliance on screen-forward rides Universal is pumping out, is that if I was 11 now, I could figure out how it was all working... instantly. Kong, as quality as it is, does not leave me scratching my head. It just doesn't. Gringotts doesn't leave me scratching my head. Spider-Man and Transformers are great blends of the technology, and very successful for the most part. There are elements of Spider-Man that really make me wonder how it was achieved, like the climbing of the building when the walls are sliding down around you. Took me so long to figure out what was happening. Star Tours is a simulator, it was cool when I rode it at 11, but it doesn't leave me with a sense of wonderment.
I don't have high hopes for Fast and Furious or Fallon, they could prove me wrong... but I want to leave an attraction feeling like I have no clue what just happened, not like I rode through a movie with motion aspects.