I've wondered if part of the reason Universal has gravitated towards screens is that, unlike Disney, they don't have "the blessing of size." Neither Universal park is all that big, and with Skull Island, Universal is building on what looks like their last piece of expansion room within the current park areas. Screens allow rides that "feel" big without taking up huge amounts of real estate. Compare Transformers (which I didn't know was two stories when I rode it) to Dinosaur. The latter's show building covers much more real estate (I'd say three times as much), but has to cloak much of the ride in darkness to give the illusion of depth to scenes (the Indiana Jones ride solves the problem in a different way, by having a large central chamber that is visible from several locations). Transformers feels big, even though it isn't.
For myself, I definitely prefer sets over screens whenever possible, but I can understand Universal's thinking. What I'd love is to see more rides that use screen to extend the depth of foreground sets with AAs. That's what I'm hoping to see on Pandora's Magical Mystery Boat Ride. Fingers crossed.
