I just can’t get excited for this. I’ve read all the arguments for this. I completely understand them. I still have to disagree. This is just my opinion.
Jurassic Park is one of the most beloved films of all time. All of the sequels, especially JW, aren’t as well regarded and aren’t as memorable as the first, and that has nothing to do with “the first is always the best”. I’ve seen JW twice and I still can’t remember much from it. Granted this is my opinion but I can’t see how, even fans of the film, would say it’s fine to replace the original with JW. Imagine if they replaced the original Star Tours and have it only be about the prequels, then you’d understand my feelings here.
The ride desperately needed an upgrade, especially the animatronics, I won’t deny that, but JW’s color scheme is just so ugly to me. It was already weak enough when they replaced the dinosaur skins to make them look more like JW but to have that be a reference to what the rest of this will look like will just be disappointing, especially if they will add screens to this, which could work, I guess, since that Shanghai Pirates ride looks pretty cool but I doubt they can integrate them well here but admittedly, we’ll see.
But hey, I could be wrong and look like a fool. I still have the right to be skeptical. If it’s good, it’s good. I’m just surprised there’s not much uproar over this like for Mission Breakout.
A ride based on a cult TV show and cloned from the superior original gets replaced by a ride based on a recently beloved franchise? Disney needs to burn to the ground!
A ride based on one of the most famous films ever gets rethemed to an HIGHLY inferior sequel? Meh, it happens.
Just my &0.02
No worries my man, I know that we all love rides that were cherished upon us since our childhood. Let's face the facts, the JP ride is still the surviving classic ride attraction in the L.A. park, along with Jaws and Earthquake at the Studio Tour. However, the fact also remains that the original Jurassic Park was terribly neglected by Universal for almost a decade and there was no significant amount of divestment of resources to keep the ride the same way it was before. The animatronics are old, the falling jeep does not have the heart to do things effectively anymore, the animatronics keeps on breaking down often, etc, and so on. And it's not even that old, it's a 22 years old attraction that needs serious repairing and refurbishment to get the ride back on track as usual, and Universal doesn't want to want time to spend new money on animatronics that would likely break down with a few weeks or months due to the pacing of the ride just to get a storm of criticism again.
As far as the Guardians of the Galaxy vs JW retheming comparison goes, well, I could think of many reasons why. For many people, the GOTG ride took place in a California Adventure park, where it's supposed to be about California. It felt out of place, especially the Tower of Terror at DCA was hugely popular among Disneyland guests, and fits well in the Hollywood theme. So it wasn't a retheming or anything like that, it was the replacement of IP with another.
Jurassic World is part of the Jurassic Park franchise, so it's the same IP, and is located in the park where you can "ride the movies". JW also made a bunch of money far more than the first Jurassic Park, and they decide to retheme it in order to stay relevant to the guests. It's also to replace the aging and badly maintained animatronics that the guests/fans constantly complain so much. JW is also not that bad of a movie, despite the character/plot flaws, and it was an improvement over the two previous JP movies, which are very mediocre and sloppy in terms of character flaws and were being put just to keep the franchise going due to the popularity of the first movie.
Jurassic Park ride finally have the answer and that is to retheme and reconstruct the match with the scenes from the Jurassic World franchise instead of the first one. I'm the big fan of the first movie, but with the way it is now, I have no problem being replaced doing whatever it can to make the ride more exciting and hope to long-ever lasting practical effects. Hopefully, it will put most of the complaint about the practical effects not working as it used to be.