Universal Studios Fall From Grace

[Frankenstein79]

I saw a video on a Fast and the Furious coaster. Hopefully it will replace the dreadful FF attraction currently there.

 

[Jon81uk]

I think the pandemic related delays to Epic Universe is part of the issue too. If that park was on the original schedule of 2023, then we would be looking at USF additions in 2024/25. but now Epic Universe is 2025 I don't expect there will be anything huge at USF until 2027.

 

[UpAllNight]

We've seriously considered doing just IOA and Volcano. Heck, I could do a full vacation at IOA.
This is what got me wondering what will happen when Epic opens, which (looks so far) like it will be a close equal to IOA quality. Will this new park pull more from Disney or USF, if USF is in its current state?

Gringotts makes the park still worth a visit. That's a ride which somehow impresses me more and more every ride. My major issue with it was the lack of end coaster portion but I feel Hagrids has come along and filled that gap, so I'm easy with it now.

I'm hugely nostalgic to Universal Studios I was fortunate enough to visit it as a kid, so I've been on Kong, Jaws, BttF. It still feels like a great park, but the lineup lets it down. We blitzed through rides in the morning then got drunk haha - it was a great day all in all. But a day was enough.

I'd knock Rip Ride out & build something from Mack Rides. Update ET & MiB.

Cut losses on F&F. Use the station and pre-show rooms & maybe rip out everything else, the ride system is quite boring, but used better on Kong.

Guessing Minions is turning into a mini-land with Monsters Cafe closing and the new walk through attraction.

Think the kids area is a lost cause it's needed changing for 15 years. Maybe they've figured kids don't care, they just get to have a splash around and they're happy with that.

Feel like IoA has rides you'd happily go on all day if you could, like Veloci, Hagrids. USF needs a big massive, re-ridable draw.

 

[jpinkc]

Gringotts makes the park still worth a visit. That's a ride which somehow impresses me more and more every ride. My major issue with it was the lack of end coaster portion but I feel Hagrids has come along and filled that gap, so I'm easy with it now.

I'm hugely nostalgic to Universal Studios I was fortunate enough to visit it as a kid, so I've been on Kong, Jaws, BttF. It still feels like a great park, but the lineup lets it down. We blitzed through rides in the morning then got drunk haha - it was a great day all in all. But a day was enough.

I'd knock Rip Ride out & build something from Mack Rides. Update ET & MiB.

Cut losses on F&F. Use the station and pre-show rooms & maybe rip out everything else, the ride system is quite boring, but used better on Kong.

Guessing Minions is turning into a mini-land with Monsters Cafe closing and the new walk through attraction.

Think the kids area is a lost cause it's needed changing for 15 years. Maybe they've figured kids don't care, they just get to have a splash around and they're happy with that.

Feel like IoA has rides you'd happily go on all day if you could, like Veloci, Hagrids. USF needs a big massive, re-ridable draw.

Yes but I think they are having Coaster Madness phase right now. I still enjoy a coaster, but my wife with her motion sickness now hates them. They do need more diverse rides and SCREENS need to DIE a horrible death. I liked old Kong better than the new one.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

With the success of the latest Minions movie, I don’t see that IP going anywhere

 

[jonnyc]

I think USF will probably get a big overhaul in the years following the opening Epic Universe - at the moment its a bit disjointed with some overly packed areas and then some dead spots but a lot of potential.

There is a whole side of the park that could be due an overhaul. In particular, I could imagine the following happening:

• Harry Potter expansion in the Fear Factor area.
• A Krusty Land replacement - I think the rights are rumoured to expire in 2028 and i'd be surprised if they get renewed on a long term basis (if at all). I'd like to see a complete demo here and a new land rather than another ride retheme.
• MIB Alien Attack replacement - now personally this is one of my favourite attractions and i'd be sad to see it go, but this area could be included in any Krusty Land replacement. The original MIB films are dated and the 'requel' didn't take off as well as well hoped - and as we know Universal aren't afraid to replace attractions!
• KidZone update - You'd have to find a way to fit E.T. into it or move the entrance to it somehow, but this could be another new land. I think people have blue skyed a Pokemon area here.
• Another attraction or show in the Hollywood section.
• And for good measure, a F&F replacement.

If the above was all done to the same level of immersiveness and detail as the Wizarding World lands, then I think you'd have a worthy companion to IOA and EU.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

If it weren't for Diagon Alley, in its present state, I wouldn't go back to the Studios next visit.

 

[Rich Brownn]

I wish they could have put the Harry Potter Expansion where Men in Black is and put the Mummy where Back to the future was.

This would have left Kong, Earthquake and Jaws - classic attractions that just needed some updates.

I don't know about the others but Disaster! was in such bad shape it would have needed to be completely rebuilt from scratch. Since the attraction wasn't drawing crowds anymore (Most days we ran shows every 20 minutes rather than the 8 minutes it could do) it wouldn't have justified the cost. I'm not saying F&F was an acceptable replacement, but Disaster! had run its course and was EOL. (At the time of closing, the train broke down 50% of the time and more than half of the effects no longer worked.)

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I don't know about the others but Disaster! was in such bad shape it would have needed to be completely rebuilt from scratch. Since the attraction wasn't drawing crowds anymore (Most days we ran shows every 20 minutes rather than the 8 minutes it could do) it wouldn't have justified the cost. I'm not saying F&F was an acceptable replacement, but Disaster! had run its course and was EOL. (At the time of closing, the train broke down 50% of the time and more than half of the effects no longer worked.)

Eh... that’s the Ellen’s Energy Adventure excuse. Let the thing rot and never update it and naturally it “needs to be replaced.”

 

[JoeCamel]

Eh... that’s the Ellen’s Energy Adventure excuse. Let the thing rot and never update it and naturally it “needs to be replaced.”

The scale of the effects in Disaster! were such that it was expensive to repair. Think of all those cycles over the years and what kind of wear a wet environment can put on machinery. I rode at the beginning and at the end of it's life (Earthquake was very cool) and I'm not sorry to see it go.
The replacement is hot garbage and needs to go, maybe the "family" can do a drive by on it and put it out of it's misery.

 

[Rich Brownn]

Eh... that’s the Ellen’s Energy Adventure excuse. Let the thing rot and never update it and naturally it “needs to be replaced.”

No, the issue was the tech was so old and had been run so long, it was simply EOL. The train had been patched endless times, but it was becoming more costly to fix and not many people were interested anymore in the ride/show. In fact, I would say the ride had already been pushed beyond it's EOL in order to keep it running. (Ellen could no longer get replacement parts so it would have needed a new ride system anyways).

Sometimes things just get to a point where you just can't salvage it. (Remember, it had been already updated once in an attempt to get attendance back up).

The issue is the replacement, which was just awful.

 

[JT3000]

No, the issue was the tech was so old and had been run so long, it was simply EOL. The train had been patched endless times, but it was becoming more costly to fix and not many people were interested anymore in the ride/show. In fact, I would say the ride had already been pushed beyond it's EOL in order to keep it running. (Ellen could no longer get replacement parts so it would have needed a new ride system anyways).

Sometimes things just get to a point where you just can't salvage it. (Remember, it had been already updated once in an attempt to get attendance back up).

The issue is the replacement, which was just awful.

Technically speaking anything can be salvaged, if you're actually willing to take the sometimes expensive steps necessary to salvage it. Hulk was supposedly nearing its EOL. What did they do? Build an entirely new one. They let Disaster die because they wanted to, not because they needed to, just like Dragon Challenge and a number of other rides.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Technically speaking anything can be salvaged, if you're actually willing to take the sometimes expensive steps necessary to salvage it. Hulk was supposedly nearing its EOL. What did they do? Build an entirely new one. They let Disaster die because they wanted to, not because they needed to, just like Dragon Challenge and a number of other rides.

Exactly. Im certain that Disney could have had a new fleet of Steam outline Locomotives built for the WDW Railroad but they thankfully chose to restore the 100 year old historic engines.

At Disneyland they eventually had to replace the flumes and boats for small world didn’t they? Eventually everything gets replaced if it’s kept in good order.

 

[lazyboy97o]

No, the issue was the tech was so old and had been run so long, it was simply EOL. The train had been patched endless times, but it was becoming more costly to fix and not many people were interested anymore in the ride/show. In fact, I would say the ride had already been pushed beyond it's EOL in order to keep it running. (Ellen could no longer get replacement parts so it would have needed a new ride system anyways).

Sometimes things just get to a point where you just can't salvage it. (Remember, it had been already updated once in an attempt to get attendance back up).

The issue is the replacement, which was just awful.

Nobody is just making parts for unique, custom ride system. They have to be made. Even with more standardized and “off-the-shelf” rides it’s not unusual for a park to be stuck waiting for a part to be manufactured because it is one that is not made and replaced frequently enough to just have a stash of them sitting in a warehouse.

Exactly. Im certain that Disney could have had a new fleet of Steam outline Locomotives built for the WDW Railroad but they thankfully chose to restore the 100 year old historic engines.

At Disneyland they eventually had to replace the flumes and boats for small world didn’t they? Eventually everything gets replaced if it’s kept in good order.

Heck, Baldwin wasn’t even around anymore when the Walt Disney World Railroad locomotives were first acquired.

The boats at “it’s a small world” were having buoyancy issues due to the weight they were carrying more than mechanical issues.

 

[Rich Brownn]

Technically speaking anything can be salvaged, if you're actually willing to take the sometimes expensive steps necessary to salvage it. Hulk was supposedly nearing its EOL. What did they do? Build an entirely new one. They let Disaster die because they wanted to, not because they needed to, just like Dragon Challenge and a number of other rides.

Yes but the Hulk was (and is) still popular. Disaster! was not. When you have 25 people in an attraction designed to hold 210, there's not much incentive to spend millions on it. Plus so much of it wasn't made anymore they required Universal to build custom pieces to make things work. Think of it as a Model T in a Telsa world. It reached a point where there was no longer a reason to have it - it wasn't popular, it broke down constantly, it was expensive to keep running. All those added together made it obsolete.

 

[Tom Morrow]

Hulk was rebuilt more to reduce the noise than because of "EOL" stuff. The new ride is like 75% quieter. If the EOL stuff were true, multiple other older B&Ms would have needed to be rebuilt by now, even accounting for the fact that Hulk has more cycles per year than those.

 

[Jon81uk]

Hulk was rebuilt more to reduce the noise than because of "EOL" stuff. The new ride is like 75% quieter. If the EOL stuff were true, multiple other older B&Ms would have needed to be rebuilt by now, even accounting for the fact that Hulk has more cycles per year than those.

Nemesis at Alton Towers UK is getting most of the track replaced next year, opened in 1994 its coming up to 30 years old and therefore time for replacement. There has been discussions about Kumba at Busch Gardens getting removed (although the park later confirmed its not going anywhere), but not heard anything about Batman at Magic Mountain as that is also from 1994.

So yes there are some B&Ms which are getting rebuilt.

 

[Krazyjoe]

This is not a Universal bashing thread. This is a Universal Studios bashing thread.

Personally I think IOA is easily one of the top five theme parks on the planet. I also think Volcano Bay is a top tier water park that ranks among the best.
So what has happened to Universal Studios Florida, the east coast flagship of Disney's biggest competitor? I remember the glory days well, where rides like Jaws, Kongfrontation, Earthquake, and ET took animatronic filled practical set designs to a new level, and took guests into the movies, not just movie screens. Sadly only one of those remains.
While the park still has highlights, Mummy for example being a brilliant example of practical, thrill, and screen elements combined, I feel the park has lost what made it put Uni on the map. I also feel that if not fleshed out better in the couple years ahead, once Epic Universe opens, which seems to be as top tier park like IOA is now, it will take more from the Studios crowds than the Mouse. All of this is my personal thoughts. I know there are people who prefer the Studios park of today. I know it is not all bad. But when you hear the mockers cry too many screens, this isn't IOAs fault. IOA is fleshed out, and like I said at the beginning, one of the best on earth.

I want to see the Studios become that again. I want the variety of great simulators and screens mixed with themed adventures and setting that we know the company is capable of making if you look across the lagoon to the lighthouse.

Just some thoughts I wanted to vent.

I have no complaints. I love it. I mean, I wish we could have Kong, Jaws and BTTF back (if I could only have one, it would be BTTF). And I wish Bourne and Shrek would be replaced with actual rides as opposed to shows with moving theaters. Still, it's hard to complain about a park as awesome as Universal.

Of course my jackwagon friend, Cinemasickness, thinks that Universal Studios is far superior to Islands of Adventure and writes off Islands as "another Six Flags". Yeah....he's a dumb-dumb. (I'm allowed to mock him, he's my friend)

 

[Krazyjoe]

I concur, they replaced Classics, which were different from one another with Screens. At least now they are going through a Coaster phase. Maybe it will extend over to Uni in the future.

Hard to beat screens, though. They are just more immersive.

 

[Rich Brownn]

I have no complaints. I love it. I mean, I wish we could have Kong, Jaws and BTTF back (if I could only have one, it would be BTTF). And I wish Bourne and Shrek would be replaced with actual rides as opposed to shows with moving theaters. Still, it's hard to complain about a park as awesome as Universal.

Of course my jackwagon friend, Cinemasickness, thinks that Universal Studios is far superior to Islands of Adventure and writes off Islands as "another Six Flags". Yeah....he's a dumb-dumb. (I'm allowed to mock him, he's my friend)

Bourne is a great show, and a real people eater. Some people like shows. Shrek is already gone