Universal Epic Universe (South Expansion Complex) - Opens May 22 2025

S

some other guy

Well-Known Member
Jedijax719 said:
Not sure what that even means? I know what "resting on laurels" means but have no clue how that applies.
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yeah nobody's been laruel-izing Disney for a while lololol

but yeah I could see LotR sorta working but being something of a tight squeeze. There's already Harry Potter and How To Train Your Dragon, and Zelda is strongly speculated. Obviously there's a difference in the literary aspects of those IPs and LotR, but that would be loading really heavy on monster/sword fantasy type stuff.

on the other hand Snooty Elf Waiters at the Rivendell restaurant might be fun
 
trr1

trr1

Well-Known Member
bioreconstruct
@bioreconstruct

Aerial overview of the dual-racing roller coaster in Epic Universe, and most of How to Train Your Dragon land.
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Aerial look at the station and front track of the Epic Universe dual-racing coaster.Interesting that some of the track under the roof frame is not protected by tubing.Tiny arrows at ends of green track. There will be bunny hops on the right side, similar to those on left.
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Aerial overview of the station and front track of the Epic Universe dual-racing coaster.Green track will run alongside the station, similar to the yellow track on the far side. Tiny arrows at the current current ends of the green track.
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In this photo of the dual-racing coaster in Epic Universe1 Dark track is the How To Train Your Dragon coaster2 Green track not yet spanning North side of station3 Track staged for back half4 Section being moved to yellow crane at right5 Yellow crane about to place a section
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Jedijax719

Jedijax719

Well-Known Member
some other guy said:
yeah nobody's been laruel-izing Disney for a while lololol

but yeah I could see LotR sorta working but being something of a tight squeeze. There's already Harry Potter and How To Train Your Dragon, and Zelda is strongly speculated. Obviously there's a difference in the literary aspects of those IPs and LotR, but that would be loading really heavy on monster/sword fantasy type stuff.

on the other hand Snooty Elf Waiters at the Rivendell restaurant might be fun
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Those are all good. I just hope they can keep them all connected with current pop culture. They are hoping to revitalize HTTYD like I said, but it's not a huge franchise as it is. Zelda is a video game only and, while I am sure it will probably become a movie at some point, I hope it is enough to make any park presence relevant. HP will be remade but there is SO much else to do with it and other wizarding schools, a deep history, etc. At the moment, the only one with a clear path to the future is Nintendo/Mario Brothers. Everything else (besides HP which, for the time being, still rests on its OWN laurels) is a gamble, clinging to hope for a future that is only rumored/in development.

Oh and they NEED to KILL it with night time shows. We are going to Universal next week for 5 days and are disappointed that they have not replaced the discontinued night shows with anything.
 
S

some other guy

Well-Known Member
Jedijax719 said:
Those are all good. I just hope they can keep them all connected with current pop culture. They are hoping to revitalize HTTYD like I said, but it's not a huge franchise as it is. Zelda is a video game only and, while I am sure it will probably become a movie at some point, I hope it is enough to make any park presence relevant. HP will be remade but there is SO much else to do with it and other wizarding schools, a deep history, etc. At the moment, the only one with a clear path to the future is Nintendo/Mario Brothers. Everything else (besides HP which, for the time being, still rests on its OWN laurels) is a gamble, clinging to hope for a future that is only rumored/in development.

Oh and they NEED to KILL it with night time shows. We are going to Universal next week for 5 days and are disappointed that they have not replaced the discontinued night shows with anything.
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it's impressive what a theme park can do with an otherwise dead franchise
I recall when Star Tours opened at MGM the IP was at such a low that they didn't even have enough merch to fill Endor Vendors without stocking very deep-cut stuff like the West End Games books and miniatures.
They were cool enough from my perspective, but Star Wars was so bad off at that point they had to sell RPG books and tiny lead figures at Disney World because there was so little in production.
 
Jedijax719

Jedijax719

Well-Known Member
Was thinking about how they could make a night time show with connectivity that brings all (or most) of Universal's IP's at the parks together. So I had an idea of spotlighting either Link, or maybe Mario, a lost Minion, or Hiccup (or someone) as they go on a quest. During that quest, they cross into different IP's and avoid capture, danger, and demise in order to show growth during their journey. Like Disney has the theme of "happily ever after" and "dreams", etc., the theme of Universal's show could be one of imagination, adventure, self-discovery and/or achieving goals despite obstacles. I'd exclude Potterverse in this show as they will likely be coming up with a brand new and (hopefully) full night time show for the wizarding franchise.
 
My95cobras

My95cobras

Well-Known Member
some other guy said:
it's impressive what a theme park can do with an otherwise dead franchise
I recall when Star Tours opened at MGM the IP was at such a low that they didn't even have enough merch to fill Endor Vendors without stocking very deep-cut stuff like the West End Games books and miniatures.
They were cool enough from my perspective, but Star Wars was so bad off at that point they had to sell RPG books and tiny lead figures at Disney World because there was so little in production.
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it wasn’t the theme park that turned the franchise around, quite the opposite.
 
Rich Brownn

Rich Brownn

Well-Known Member
Jedijax719 said:
Those are all good. I just hope they can keep them all connected with current pop culture. They are hoping to revitalize HTTYD like I said, but it's not a huge franchise as it is. Zelda is a video game only and, while I am sure it will probably become a movie at some point, I hope it is enough to make any park presence relevant. HP will be remade but there is SO much else to do with it and other wizarding schools, a deep history, etc. At the moment, the only one with a clear path to the future is Nintendo/Mario Brothers. Everything else (besides HP which, for the time being, still rests on its OWN laurels) is a gamble, clinging to hope for a future that is only rumored/in development.

Oh and they NEED to KILL it with night time shows. We are going to Universal next week for 5 days and are disappointed that they have not replaced the discontinued night shows with anything.
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It all depends on how well executed the attraction is. I don't remember everyone clamoring for a ride based on The Twilight Zone...
 
Jedijax719

Jedijax719

Well-Known Member
Rush said:
I think a LoTR land is very much in the cards for Universal. It's been heavily speculated to go in the expansion pad between HTTYD and WW.
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But licensing and rights can be a bear. Can they do it? Amazon (or whoever owns visual rights) would strike a deal, but would Tolkein's family?

Also, wouldn't that strip of land be designated for Zelda, or is that still rumored to replace the Greek mythology area at IOA?
 
S

some other guy

Well-Known Member
Jedijax719 said:
But licensing and rights can be a bear. Can they do it? Amazon (or whoever owns visual rights) would strike a deal, but would Tolkein's family?

Also, wouldn't that strip of land be designated for Zelda, or is that still rumored to replace the Greek mythology area at IOA?
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iirc rumors say current heirs are a lot less picky than Christopher was
but yeah, if Mario is closing in on top gross animated ever and my choice was "go out on a limb to establish a new business relationship" or "at worst we have a sword fantasy thing of some fame, at best we have the next Mario movie" then I'd go with Zelda since it seems Nintendo is okay with how things have gone so far
Rich Brownn said:
It all depends on how well executed the attraction is. I don't remember everyone clamoring for a ride based on The Twilight Zone...
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that's what I'm thinking
shoot arrows at Moblins, shoot arrows at Orcs, still gonna be the same basic idea
My95cobras said:
it wasn’t the theme park that turned the franchise around, quite the opposite.
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I recall Star Wars getting out of the post-Ewoks/Droids gutter from the Zhan books and Dark Empire?
I was just meaning that at the time when it opened the franchise was very "oh yeah, that was fun in the day" and was very cold pop culture wise, but it was a good ride that was popular regardless of the the zeitgeist of that moment
 
Jedijax719

Jedijax719

Well-Known Member
All of the new areas in Universal give me hope that they have a lot of movie concepts and ideas coming. We know we're getting a Zelda movie (they pretty much made the deal yesterday), there will be more Nintendo films, and HTTYD live-action. I assume that besides the HP reboot show, there will be more wizarding world movies on the horizon. Not sure what the plans are for the monsters. It would be cool if they did something space-related (that isn't compared TOO much to SW). All they need to do is join the underwater bandwagon. Too bad they are scrapping the whole mythology thing and too bad that mythology movies just don't grab audiences.
 
S

some other guy

Well-Known Member
Jedijax719 said:
there will be more Nintendo films,
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I'd assume that even if Zelda totally tanks they'll try at least a second Mario, but I dunno for sure that Nintendo Movies will have legs long term, or if just that Mario has been big because Mario's been one of the most recognized characters on the planet for decades, and as much as the... unique vision of the Bob Hoskins movie was, it really wasn't doing justice to what is commonly associated with the IP, to say the least.
So there _may_ have just been "oh wow actually mario actually movie" rather than "lolwat actually movie" or the variously cromulent tv/ova cartoon releases on both sides of the Pacific.
but like I said, it's certainly a limb worth going out on

also does the Uni HP license include the new theoretical show? for some reason I thought it was just the movies?
 
ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
some other guy said:
I'd assume that even if Zelda totally tanks they'll try at least a second Mario, but I dunno for sure that Nintendo Movies will have legs long term, or if just that Mario has been big because Mario's been one of the most recognized characters on the planet for decades, and as much as the... unique vision of the Bob Hoskins movie was, it really wasn't doing justice to what is commonly associated with the IP, to say the least.
So there _may_ have just been "oh wow actually mario actually movie" rather than "lolwat actually movie" or the variously cromulent tv/ova cartoon releases on both sides of the Pacific.
but like I said, it's certainly a limb worth going out on

also does the Uni HP license include the new theoretical show? for some reason I thought it was just the movies?
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Tears of the Kingdom is doing phenomenally as did Breath of the Wild. The issue will be the tone they strike for the film. The games aren’t particularly humorous and Link isn’t a doofus. They would be wise to go with a Spider-Man: Across the Multiverse tone and pace.
 
WDWFREAK53

WDWFREAK53

Well-Known Member
I know they are building a little Mattel theme park but I’d pass on all of this other sword and sorcery stuff for a well done Masters of the Universe land. The visuals of Grayskull and Snake Mountain, the uniqueness of the technology being interwoven into the sword and sorcery and not to mention the cool vehicles which would be perfect for attraction ride vehicles. I know the franchise is limping along while a movie sits in development hell but it would make an amazing theme park land.
 

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