Universal came conquered and will wait another 15 years to go back!!!

GLaDOS

Well-Known Member
Pirates and the Haunted Mansion co to us to be the best rides ever made not because of the effects or crazy motion the vehicles make but because they use the tech to tell an engaging and immersive story - something I think the new Universal sorely lacks.

Uhhh...neither of those attractions have an engaging or immerisive story. They experience rides, not narrative rides.
 

kap91

Well-Known Member
Uhhh...neither of those attractions have an engaging or immerisive story. They experience rides, not narrative rides.
I'm in a Haunted Mansion, on a tour that naturally proceeds from room to room, until I fall out the attic and join the jamboree. The mansion seems completely real and the story starts off with an exposition, has rising action, rises to a climax, then has a small denouement at the end. Pirates (especially Disneyland's) has the exact same thing. More to the point - they both make sense and flow logically.

A ride's story doesn't have to be a literal narrative like Dinosaur, Star Tours, or Men in Black, in order to be engaging and immersive.
 

GLaDOS

Well-Known Member
I'm in a Haunted Mansion, on a tour that naturally proceeds from room to room, until I fall out the attic and join the jamboree. The mansion seems completely real and the story starts off with an exposition, has rising action, rises to a climax, then has a small denouement at the end. Pirates (especially Disneyland's) has the exact same thing. More to the point - they both make sense and flow logically.

A ride's story doesn't have to be a literal narrative like Dinosaur, Star Tours, or Men in Black, in order to be engaging and immersive.

Well in that case Forbidden Jounrey, Transformers, and all the other Universal rides are perfectly fine too. I never didn't understand what was going on.
 

kap91

Well-Known Member
Well in that case Forbidden Jounrey, Transformers, and all the other Universal rides are perfectly fine too. I never didn't understand what was going on.
Well then you have far better powers of intuition and concentration than I and we'll have to agree to disagree.
 

dkosdros

Active Member
I think it comes down to this... Whether you are the HUGE Disney fanboy or the Huge Universal fanboy that is your personal opinion. But what it really comes down to the attendance #'s. The masses decide who is #1 and well while I have a love for both parks for different reasons. I have to say that Disney brings in more attendance year after year. So the masses agree that WDW is #1. They wouldn't keep coming if the parks wasn't great. Instead they would go to UNI and then UNI would be #1. The argument can be made that this park has better employees over that one, this park has better rides, food, etc.. but at the end of the day the overall experience is what keeps bringing people back to back and clearly Disney is winning in that arena since their attendance #'s squash UNI's.

So Uni can still be your personal favorite. but you have to come to terms and accept the fact that to the WORLD. DISNEY STILL RULES! :)
 

BryceM

Well-Known Member
You mention the issue of sight lines being almost perfect in New Fantasyland, when the Tangled tower is a harsh contrast with the eerie appearance of the Haunted Mansion and the buildings of Liberty Square.

And Forbidden Journey has as much of a story has Haunted Mansion or Pirates do... Little to no story. An attraction doesn't really need a good story to be great.
 

danlb_2000

Premium Member
Don't know for sure but would those 2 robots in Epcots innovation pavilion be like the Harry potter ride just attached to a moving skid?

Yes, they are made by the same company, but that attraction is quite simple by comparison. Forbidden Journey has 47 arms running at one time, each on a moving base and interactive with various show elements including the moving dome projections screens. All of this makes for quite a complex ride system.
 

HTF

Well-Known Member
Another useless Disney vs Universal debate thread because someone prefers Meet and Greets and Omnimovers over the FJ and Transformers.... To think I actually got to the second page. Btw sounds to me like you went in expecting things to not impress you. I call that Pixie paralyzation. Everyone has opinions and i respect that, you will never hear me pipe up if someone prefers NFL over Potter because thats there cup of tea. But to read this review where your literally picking apart everything shows me you never even gave it a chance and that I have no respect for. Even with me being on the Universal sidelines I'd be ecstatic if you don't come back for another 15 years. That way I don't have to read this nonsense again for many many moons.
 

kap91

Well-Known Member
You mention the issue of sight lines being almost perfect in New Fantasyland, when the Tangled tower is a harsh contrast with the eerie appearance of the Haunted Mansion and the buildings of Liberty Square.

And Forbidden Journey has as much of a story has Haunted Mansion or Pirates do... Little to no story. An attraction doesn't really need a good story to be great.

Touché on the tower, I wasn't really thinking about that being part of FLE but I guess it is, my hope/guess is that within a few years the tree's will have largely grown back to block it-still its not a show building and its at an entrance to a land.

I think people are throwing around the term "story" with different meanings. My point was essentially that HM, and indeed most if not all disney rides, have a logical flow to the story/progression of scenes that makes sense, and most of the new Universal rides don't - at least not one that's easy to discover.
 

BryceM

Well-Known Member
I will agree that recently Universal doesn't seem to care about thematic intrusions. Smaller things like the FJ extended queue being very visible from Jurassic, to larger things, like the entire show building. Even entering Jurassic Park from The Wizarding World is just as bad, as the castle is very visible from just behind the gates. Though I can also understand because The Wizarding World was crammed into a tiny space. These thematic intrusions were almost destined to happen, due to it's location.

Islands of Adventure is still my favorite theme park, and I think it is wonderfully designed and themed, but these "little" things do bother me. What bothers me even more is the dead zone between Marvel and Toon Lagoon. Agh!
 

BryceM

Well-Known Member
Another useless Disney vs Universal debate thread because someone prefers Meet and Greets and Omnimovers over the FJ and Transformers.... To think I actually got to the second page. Btw sounds to me like you went in expecting things to not impress you. I call that Pixie paralyzation. Everyone has opinions and i respect that, you will never hear me pipe up if someone prefers NFL over Potter because thats there cup of tea. But to read this review where your literally picking apart everything shows me you never even gave it a chance and that I have no respect for. Even with me being on the Universal sidelines I'd be ecstatic if you don't come back for another 15 years. That way I don't have to read this nonsense again for many many moons.
If you can tell, I was trying to be nice about it at first...
 

kap91

Well-Known Member
So you're telling me that Disney never gets it wrong with their themes? I guess that someone should tell that to whoever put Dinoland USA into place....
Well before Chester's and Hester's opened, it wasn't half bad - just small.

This is completely subjective and I'll admit as much but to me it seems that Disney certainly gets stuff wrong (Imagination, Spaceship earth descent, Toy Story Land in HK, Chester's and Hester's, the whole Disney Parks thing, etc.) but it just seems like Universal hardly ever gets stuff right.-Wizarding World and possibly Spiderman being the closest they've ever gotten with a whole other 90% of the parks not making it even close. Clearly this opinion is not shared by the majority. I go to both resorts regardless - I just enjoy WDW more. The same way that I enjoy both WDW and Disneyland but enjoy Disneyland more (and unfortunately get to go to it a whole lot less)
 

draybook

Well-Known Member
Yeah, don't get me wrong, I'd choose WDW over Universal ANY day of the week. But it's because Disney gives that feeling of being away from the real world. With Universal, I know I'm in a concrete jungle but I still have fun.
 

BryceM

Well-Known Member
but it just seems like Universal hardly ever gets stuff right.-Wizarding World and possibly Spiderman being the closest they've ever gotten with a whole other 90% of the parks not making it even close.
Closest to what? Good theming?

I'm sorry, but Universal DOES get theming right. IOA's Port of Entry, Lost Continent, Seuss Landing, Marvel Super Hero Island and Jurassic Park are shining examples of some great theming. Then you go over to USF and you've got New York, Hollywood, Springfield, San Francisco and the soon-to-be London/Diagon Alley. They get more right thematic-wise than not.

And if you're talking about good attractions that are close to whatever you're referring to, Universal also has many more attractions that are "right". Men in Black: Alien Attack and Revenge of the Mummy immediately come to mind, along with a few others.
 

Pumbas Nakasak

Heading for the great escape.
The best thing about Uni is that it annoys the hell out of ubber Disney loyalists. The fact that the rush to denigrate it sort of confirms what a good job Uni have been doing in advancing theme park entertainment while Disney focuses on8 year old girls and menopausal women.
 

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