Universal Epic Universe (South Expansion Complex) - Now Open!

[Poseidon Quest]

I think the problem is that the majority of guests likely aren't riding these rides more than once or twice on a trip, and then may not be back for years. That's really the audience that matters for ride design; not people who visit regularly.

Not that I think people who only ride once dislike these attractions, though.

Why is it not relevant to people who visit regularly? Repeat people who like Universal and travel from afar still spend quite a lot of money, right? Universal has also fostered a much stronger culture among passholders and locals. I guess Disney perceives them as lower spenders, but myself and others will still spend money frequently in the parks. Universal has done a much better job of making their parks into "third spaces" than Disney has.

 

[Stripes]

I always feel that way about a lot of Universal attractions, but I end up warming up to them over time. Once past that initial overwhelming first handful of ride-throughs, and I begin to process what's occurring among the chaos, I start to look forward to certain lines of dialogue or the punchy sound design. I see why people would be angry waiting for 3+ hours for something like Ministry, but I've come to know the beats of the ride and think that it gets better with repeat ride-throughs.

As a massive Harry Potter fan that has read the entire series 10 times, Ministry doesn’t evoke much emotion for me. 95% of the emotion is in the queue, and the 5% on the ride is the adorable vacuum cleaner. I’ve been on the attraction 3 times, and while I’ve become more comfortable with the attraction, I also found it more irritating. The dialogue is poorly written and feels extremely forced. The sound design is irritating after being blessed with the wonderful film soundtracks in the queue.

Universal has also fostered a much stronger culture among passholders and locals. I guess Disney perceives them as lower spenders, but myself and others will still spend money frequently in the parks. Universal has done a much better job of making their parks into "third spaces" than Disney has.

I mean, UOR is quite a bit closer to the typical Orlando resident than WDW is. In fact, UOR is often located “on the way” to WDW, which probably explains why UOR caters to locals more than WDW. UOR’s location gives them an unbeatable advantage when it comes to attracting locals, which they have reinforced with better passholder perks (although I know a lot of passholders are very upset about the Epic situation). On the other hand, WDW likely sees no point in getting into a perks competition with UOR for locals when they don’t have to and, again, they are further away from most locals. However, in terms of culture, I have to say I see a heck of a lot more cars in Orlando with Florida plates that have WDW stickers/magnets than I do Universal stickers/magnets. In any event, the locals situation is undoubtedly Disney’s territory in LA.

 

[sedati]

I laughed months ago when those green beams in the background were somehow projected to create this massive wall.

And here's the easily expected real-world result. It's nice that they did something, though Universal is lauded for putting up a green wall when Disney would be lambasted for such a thing.

 

[UNCgolf]

Why is it not relevant to people who visit regularly? Repeat people who like Universal and travel from afar still spend quite a lot of money, right? Universal has also fostered a much stronger culture among passholders and locals. I guess Disney perceives them as lower spenders, but myself and others will still spend money frequently in the parks. Universal has done a much better job of making their parks into "third spaces" than Disney has.

This doesn't really make sense as a response to what I said.

Most visitors don't visit regularly or ride something several times in one trip. You suggested that Universal's rides maybe don't work as well as they should the first time you ride it, but get better with repeat rides -- I'm pointing out that's backwards from a design standpoint.

It's good that there's more to see/experience on multiple rides -- that's why rides like Pirates of the Caribbean are all-time classics -- but they shouldn't be underwhelming/hard to understand on a first ride, because that's the main audience.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I laughed months ago when those green beams in the background were somehow projected to create this massive wall.

View attachment 894511

And here's the easily expected real-world result. It's nice that they did something, though Universal is lauded for putting up a green wall when Disney would be lambasted for such a thing.

View attachment 894512

It does seem like it should be a bit taller.