Nintendo partnering with Universal to make attractions.

[celluloid]

This is kind of the minimum, is it not?

I mean, more is always better, but as said, it is opening with more attraction venues than any other added theme park to an established resort.

 

[BrianLo]

I mean, more is always better, but as said, it is opening with more attraction venues than any other added theme park to an established resort.

You are overlooking Epcot and Disney Sea and even Islands of Adventure. It’s either 3 or 4 out of 7. With possibly the worst state a resort has ever been in as it looks to add its newest gate.

Which I’ll again reiterate

I don’t need examples of how other parks were underbuilt before, those were largely below minimum standards.

The company knows this. Which is why there is already chatter for imminent additions and attendance limiters being put into place. I think it’s enough and they are probably miscalculating.

 

[celluloid]

You are overlooking Epcot and Disney Sea and even Islands of Adventure. It’s either 3 or 4 out of 7. With possibly the worst state a resort has ever been in as it looks to add its newest gate.

OLC makes Disney Sea and outlier and it is Incredible. Number of attractions were really not higher than EPIC.

And I LOVE Epcot...bhmut it's opening was not full by any means. Many things were not ready or there yet.

As said before, IOA had no more than EPIC. I think it just had a better throughline of a theme.

Funny you don't mention Disney's third because we all know MGM situation.
EPCOT and IOA were park 2 for their properties. They proved it could expand beyond one theme park.
EPIC is park three and fair to argue offering just as much and more venues than opening IOA and more than Disney's third and fourth.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

And I’m also including Beijing here… which let’s just call it what it is, a bad park with one successful impressive new ride. Epic would be hard pressed to not beat that benchmark.

I’m a USB apologist but something I find funny is that Jurassic World Adventure is not particularly popular with the local crowd. Most of its praise comes from Westerners who have only watched povs.

The two major headliners, for whatever reasons, are Jurassic Flyers and Forbidden Journey.

 

[Disneyhead'71]

Review: Nintendo’s Donkey Kong theme park adds extra a-peel to Super Nintendo World | VGC

Universal Studio’s Nintendo World expansion delivers its best ride, but misses some classic elements…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[Tom Morrow]

Roller coasters are pretty much always a guaranteed success with the general public, but I think part of the reason we're seeing more of them is the bean counters are less enthusiastic to greenlight other rides if they end up failing. But I wish they would look at Rise of the Resistance and see that a good dark ride experience is still massively popular as long as it is executed well.

Here’s my issue with this line of thinking. We always say this about Universal. Don’t worry, the next thing will for sure be great…

Occasionally it is, often it isn’t. I find cynicism on Disney is so high on these forums my expectations are in the basement. Universal has the opposite problem around these parts.

Been saying this for a while on here and elsewhere. Disney receives vitriol for just about anything they do, and sometimes its warranted but sometimes it isn't. Universal is always, still, treated with kid gloves by the theme park enthusiast community, despite the fact that they've also been in this business for a long time now and are also backed by a mega media corporation.

I also do not think Epic Universe is going to be this jaw-dropping explosion of theme park perfection that theme park enthusiasts are letting themselves build it up as. There's already several things I see that I think are going to be glaring flaws, and the DK coaster is one of them.

 

[celluloid]

I also do not think Epic Universe is going to be this jaw-dropping explosion of theme park perfection that theme park enthusiasts are

I don't think it will either because that is so subjectively different for individuals in definition of theme park perfection.
Just like how as much as I love what IOA was/is. It was never the "Most technological theme park" buzz that made it succesful.

The new park just needs to entertain and fill another day while the hotels get booked.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I don't think it will either because that is so subjectively different for individuals in definition of theme park perfection.
Just like how as much as I love what IOA was/is. It was never the "Most technological theme park" buzz that made it succesful.

The new park just needs to entertain and fill another day while the hotels get booked.

Yeah. And don't get me wrong, Epic Universe will clearly be an impressive park and at least a few of the attractions are sure to be S tier. But I still think there are going to be capacity issues, lots of dealing with virtual queues and reservations to see everything, the layout of the park leading to bottlenecking and uneven crowd distribution, and it is lacking in A, B, and C ticket tier attractions to fill things out.

 

[sonoma15]

Saying that the DK coaster is a glaring flaw is crazy! It's going to be one of, if not the most popular ride in the entire park, and for a good reason too, because it looks awesome and is a huge crowd pleaser! The whole general look of the area too is also amazing and top-notch, people are going to love it for sure. The low height requirement also ensures that families can ride and I think it'll be a lot of kids first bigger coaster, which will be exciting for a lot of people!

 

[Disney Analyst]

Saying that the DK coaster is a glaring flaw is crazy! It's going to be one of, if not the most popular ride in the entire park, and for a good reason too, because it looks awesome and is a huge crowd pleaser! The whole general look of the area too is also amazing and top-notch, people are going to love it for sure. The low height requirement also ensures that families can ride and I think it'll be a lot of kids first bigger coaster, which will be exciting for a lot of people!

I don’t agree with this assessment at all.

 

[Loose Pebble]

Yeah. And don't get me wrong, Epic Universe will clearly be an impressive park and at least a few of the attractions are sure to be S tier. But I still think there are going to be capacity issues, lots of dealing with virtual queues and reservations to see everything, the layout of the park leading to bottlenecking and uneven crowd distribution, and it is lacking in A, B, and C ticket tier attractions to fill things out.

I agree with this completely. I feel like at Disney and Universal, they either go all out or they put in a cheap flat ride, but there isn't really much in between. But having more mid-tier dark rides like the classic fantasyland ones would be great. (obviously with different themes)

 

[Schmidt]

Saying that the DK coaster is a glaring flaw is crazy! It's going to be one of, if not the most popular ride in the entire park, and for a good reason too, because it looks awesome and is a huge crowd pleaser! The whole general look of the area too is also amazing and top-notch, people are going to love it for sure. The low height requirement also ensures that families can ride and I think it'll be a lot of kids first bigger coaster, which will be exciting for a lot of people!

I think DK looks fine and it will be fun but calling a bunch of gold painted bricks well themed. I’m not sure about that. It does look a little on the cheap side to me today.

If this was a Disney attraction we would be talking about how value engineered it looks. I’ll wait to see the attraction open before completely judging though.

I’ve also been on the Mario ride. Meh sums up the experience for me. Now do I think the area looks nice? Sure. The attractions are another question. With that said we all have different levels of expectations.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Saying that the DK coaster is a glaring flaw is crazy! It's going to be one of, if not the most popular ride in the entire park, and for a good reason too, because it looks awesome and is a huge crowd pleaser! The whole general look of the area too is also amazing and top-notch, people are going to love it for sure. The low height requirement also ensures that families can ride and I think it'll be a lot of kids first bigger coaster, which will be exciting for a lot of people!

I think we are talking about different rides. You are talking about the one with four seats per vehicle and theming at the level of Ripsaw Falls?

It may have the longest lines, I’ll give you that. But for the wrong reasons.

 

[JT3000]

lots of dealing with virtual queues and reservations to see everything

This isn't Disney.

I'm pretty sure Universal is finished with the whole virtual queue experiment.

 

[sonoma15]

I think we are talking about different rides. You are talking about the one with four seats per vehicle and theming at the level of Ripsaw Falls?

It may have the longest lines, I’ll give you that. But for the wrong reasons.

Theming at the level of ripsaw falls . Have you rode either ride?? The theming in the entire Donkey Kong area is excellent, and is among some of the best work either Universal or Disney has ever put out. Sorry that one awful POV ruined your opinion of an entire land before you even got a chance to experience it for yourself!

 

[ToTBellHop]

Theming at the level of ripsaw falls . Have you rode either ride?? The theming in the entire Donkey Kong area is excellent, and is among some of the best work either Universal or Disney has ever put out. Sorry that one awful POV ruined your opinion of an entire land before you even got a chance to experience it for yourself!

Unthemed ceilings, painted flats, cheap animated figures, jumping track gag that doesn’t work, awful track layout. C’mon.

 

[sonoma15]

Unthemed ceilings, painted flats, cheap animated figures, jumping track gag that doesn’t work, awful track layout. C’mon.

The jumping track gag absolutely works! I don't see how those animated figures are cheap at all (we haven't even seen all of them yet so idk how you can even say that). The track layout seems fine too me, idk what problems you have with it but it seems like a pretty good layout that is not too thrilling but also provides a lot of fun! Also I don't know what you are talking about regarding unthemed ceilings, I feel like most rides have unthemed ceilings? Usually it doesn't affect the experience because people aren't usually looking straight up or it's simply too dark to see. I can think of very few that actually do have themed ceilings (ROTR being the most obvious example).

 

[Tom Morrow]

This isn't Disney.

I'm pretty sure Universal is finished with the whole virtual queue experiment.

Are there not strong rumors that for the first few years, guests can expect to have to reserve slots to enter each of the portals?

Theming at the level of ripsaw falls . Have you rode either ride?? The theming in the entire Donkey Kong area is excellent, and is among some of the best work either Universal or Disney has ever put out. Sorry that one awful POV ruined your opinion of an entire land before you even got a chance to experience it for yourself!

The land looks very good, but unless there's some surprises we haven't seen, nah I'd have to agree that the DK Coaster is somewhat minimalist themed and not very immersive. The ride and queue could really use an indoor show building section, but it doesn't have one. The temple is just a huge facade that you kind of go behind. You don't get the feeling of actually going in to a temple that a well-themed show building would provide.



Everyone take a poke around this video to see how cool the most recent Donkey Kong Country games' mine cart levels actually are vs. how lame this coaster looks.

Universal has made several missteps in expectations from the IP and concept vs. what the ride experience they deliver:

- Gringotts - if you've seen the films you anticipate a really wild cart ride. Instead you mostly stop and watch action happen. It's particularly frustrating because the ride system and ride vehicles totally lent themselves to the possibility of that type of experience.
- Fast & Furious: Supercharged - this one's obvious, but everyone expects race cars and an actual race and physical speed. This is the single biggest reason people hate the ride (with the second being how awful and long the party scene is). If you used the ride system for something else that didn't skew expectations, people end up liking it (the case with Kong).
- Mario Kart - again, you're expecting a wild race and a ride based on speed or the feeling of speed. Instead, they made it more like VR MIB with the emphasis being on shooting.
- This coaster - I think most people would anticipate a wild ride with a lot of effects and chaos, not a gentle ride that has to be very basic to attempt to simulate jumping.

I'm not saying the DK Coaster won't be fun at all, but I think its relatively basic experience combined with low capacity, it will be a letdown to many.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Are there not strong rumors that for the first few years, guests can expect to have to reserve slots to enter each of the portals?



The land looks very good, but unless there's some surprises we haven't seen, nah I'd have to agree that the DK Coaster is somewhat minimalist themed and not very immersive. The ride and queue could really use an indoor show building section, but it doesn't have one. The temple is just a huge facade that you kind of go behind. You don't get the feeling of actually going in to a temple that a well-themed show building would provide.



Everyone take a poke around this video to see how cool the most recent Donkey Kong Country games' mine cart levels actually are vs. how lame this coaster looks.

Universal has made several missteps in expectations from the IP and concept vs. what the ride experience they deliver:

- Gringotts - if you've seen the films you anticipate a really wild cart ride. Instead you mostly stop and watch action happen. It's particularly frustrating because the ride system and ride vehicles totally lent themselves to the possibility of that type of experience.
- Fast & Furious: Supercharged - this one's obvious, but everyone expects race cars and an actual race and physical speed. This is the single biggest reason people hate the ride (with the second being how awful and long the party scene is). If you used the ride system for something else that didn't skew expectations, people end up liking it (the case with Kong).
- Mario Kart - again, you're expecting a wild race and a ride based on speed or the feeling of speed. Instead, they made it more like VR MIB with the emphasis being on shooting.
- This coaster - I think most people would anticipate a wild ride with a lot of effects and chaos, not a gentle ride that has to be very basic to attempt to simulate jumping.

I'm not saying the DK Coaster won't be fun at all, but I think its relatively basic experience combined with low capacity, it will be a letdown to many.

The biggest issue is that it will inevitably have several-hour long queue waits and it's simply not that level of attraction.

The Mario section of the land looks great and I actually think the Yoshi ride is charming for what it is (and it should have minimal wait times).

I do hope they take a different theming approach with Luigi's Mansion.

 

[Tom Morrow]

The biggest issue is that it will inevitably have several-hour long queue waits and it's simply not that level of attraction.

From the Nintendo Direct video there was a part where they showed the station, and it looked like about 15 seconds between dispatches. At 4 people per car x 4 dispatches a minute, that's 960 riders per hour. It really needs to be at least 50% more than that.