Jurassic World VelociCoaster Construction Thread (Opening June 10)

[Mad Dog]

I don't think the sky is falling. Hager's coaster will help right the numbers for the near term. But I bet Comcast Executives are concerned about the flat growth of the past year. And, I'm sure they're watching growth numbers like a hawk.

 

[Andysol]

"Obscurity"? Come on now.

I'd welcome a change in UOR management as much as anyone, but the idea that Universal is going to revert to pre-Potter status is ludicrous.

Not to the point that they're irrelevant. It's still clearly a world class theme park. But with what little they have in the pipe, attendance will flatline and WDW will get all the press.

My point is, they have such little planned in between Hagrid's and FW to say "We're still here" (if the rumors or lack thereof are true). And I think attendance, revenue and perception will flatten; if not decrease. Even though Hagrid's has me personally more excited than any 2 WDW rides coming up combined, the reality is that the reception over at Disney is going to be something we haven't seen in a long, long time.

I've seen your posts on the management before, and I agree with you wholeheartedly. After KZ and then F&F, I don't see them surviving with the onslaught Disney is about to put forth. The indecisiveness of the management will eventually be their downfall. And long-term I think that will actually be a good thing.

 

[JungleSkip]

I don't disagree with anything you said there...but, as far as I've been led to believe, attendance is kinda where they want it to be, so I'm not sure attendance flattening out would be a fire able offense to the powers that be.

I'm also not sure if KZ not getting redone will be seen as a negative, considering, I assume, the funds were diverted to the new park.

EDIT: I also agree that the lineup that TPU released, if real, is terrible and embarrassing compared to the past 9 years.

 

[Andysol]

I'm also not sure if KZ not getting redone will be seen as a negative, considering, I assume, the funds were diverted to the new park.

I hope so.

The post was just a response to people who were wondering why 2021 vs 2020 as it made little construction sense for the timeline. And the likely fact of the matter is, if it's 2021, it's because they have nothing else significant planned and they can't try to combat WDWs 50th with a new parade... lol.

 

[Mad Dog]

I'd guess attendance isn't the key, the present level may well be what they're comfortable with. . Revenue flattening out is what's more problematic. With way more hotel rooms, which should translate into higher guest spending, plus higher ticket/food/hotel/merchandise prices, 'Revenue' should be increasing more. That may be the key issue with the flat growth.

 

[zg44]

Yeah, I think Comcast execs are comfortable with the theme parks underperforming relative to the past 5-8 years over the short term.

Is that optimal? No, but given Disney is rolling out all of its big hits at WDW while Universal is waiting for FW to bring out Nintendo, there's not much that can be done.


If we see big attendance decreases, that'd be a problem, but I doubt we do. Reality is, there's nothing that can really counter the mind share that SW is going to get for the next 2-3 years until SNW is ready to go. Once FW opens, that's when they should be back in growth mode.

 

[lowbudget]

On the other side of this conversation why would you expend $ or resources to compete with SWGE. There is nothing reasonable UOR can do to compete with SWGE, so why even try. Save the dollars and resources, dump them in the new park and resort, then become king of the mountain so to speak after the honeymoon period is over for SWGE.

 

[Alicia]

False alarm. Trike is still here, just behind walls now.

 

[Teebin]

I would love to see some new aerials of the south property to see if they moved any of the large specimen plants from the trike area down to the nursery.

 

[zg44]

On the other side of this conversation why would you expend $ or resources to compete with SWGE. There is nothing reasonable UOR can do to compete with SWGE, so why even try. Save the dollars and resources, dump them in thenew park and resort, then become king of the mountain so to speak after the honeymoon period is over for SWGE.

Yeah I think that's why Comcast/NBCU execs have slowed things down at UOR.

Once SNW is ready to go, Universal will have a new area (and new park) that can match the mindshare of what WDW is rolling out right now. I think it's the right play, but only time will tell. This is a marathon, not a sprint; the goal is to build a sustainably growing set of parks over a 10+ year horizon. The best way to do that is to roll out FW/SNW and then start doing major work on UOR.

 

[Happytycho]

The one thing that doesn't make sense to me about having only Bourne for 2020 is that they are also scheduled have 2000 new hotel rooms open at Dockside in 2020. I worry that not having JP or something else major opening then could make filling those rooms (and maintaining pricing power) a challenge for the first year.

Or is there a chance that the second half/tower of Dockside has been pushed back as well?

 

[SpatulaShack]

Oh great, the sky is falling. Talk about an overreaction.

Everything he said is accurate and is not an overreaction. I get the same feedback from the same exact people on these forums every time I discuss current management. Rationally discussing why UOR's current plans post-Hagrid are awful isn't an overreaction at all given what we know currently. Can all this change? Sure. But as of now, management needs to be fired. The amount of indecision and cancelling of plans has grown comical at this point. After Supercharged everyone said, "management got the memo!" but it appears they have actually gotten worse somehow. Their solution to Supercharged is just.... not building attractions in USF anymore, giving IOA two E-ticket attractions back-to-back, and delaying everything else. What an awesome idea! Give management a raise!

Don't worry though! We have TODAY CAFE!!!!! OH MY GOD!!!!! SYNERGY!!!!!! We're turning into the WDWMagic forums circa 2004.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

The last couple pages is pretty much every day in the Disney community. Now THAT'S a "sky is falling"-minded bunch.

 

[SpatulaShack]

The last couple pages is pretty much every day in the Disney community. Now THAT'S a "sky is falling"-minded bunch.

The difference here is that for once Disney actually has E-ticket after E-ticket coming online between now and 2023 and Universal has a coaster that will apparently take nearly 3 years to construct, a stage show that will take a whopping three years to open, and... a parade.

Meanwhile Volcano Bay expansion is cancelled, SLOP is cancelled, Pokemon Land is cancelled, Ministry of Magic is cancelled, Zelda is cancelled, Nintendo is delayed to the new park, etc. How exactly is this not a genuine "sky is falling" scenario? In the grand scheme of things, all of this doesn't look good and speeding up construction of the new theme park by one year doesn't justify cancelling every single major project at the 11th hour like this and just pushing back timelines so they can pretend they have new additions each year like Six Flags.

 

[Andysol]

The amount of indecision and cancelling of plans has grown comical at this point. After Supercharged everyone said, "management got the memo!" but it appears they have actually gotten worse somehow. Their solution to Supercharged is just.... not building attractions in USF anymore, giving IOA two E-ticket attractions back-to-back, and delaying everything else.

Just my guess, but I would wager the following happened:

- Hagrid's was on tap to counter SW. And while it won't "beat" Star Wars, having a fresh Potter attraction was 100% the correct move as it keeps Potter top of mind and will get a great boost because of such.
- Of course, Universal also had an idea of how to counter WDW's 50th in 2021, and that was with SNW in KidZone. When they made the (I believe correct) decision to push that off to FW and have it anchor that park, it left them scrambling for something to stay top of mind. They tossed and turned some ideas for KidZone and ended up scrapping them and we are getting a JP coaster in lieu of it.

I believe the main screw up was KidZone not being addressed. Changing the 2021 counter from KZ to JP was not the right move. The JP coaster simply wasn't needed and I think it was a panic move. "We need something for 2021 and we have no concrete or good ideas for KZ. Quick, what's our next best IP we can prop up like we're doing for HP with Hagrid's? JP? Approved!" I'm excited we're getting it, but I (and I assume most others) would have much rather seen KidZone be redone.

In summary, I think they're making the right decisions with what they have in front of them right now. But I fully believe their mishandling and indecisiveness (or I suppose it's possible there was a lack of creativity) of KidZone is why we're getting what we're getting at this point.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Just my guess, but I would wager the following happened:

- Hagrid's was on tap to counter SW. And while it won't "beat" Star Wars, having a fresh Potter attraction was 100% the correct move as it keeps Potter top of mind and will get a great boost because of such.
- Of course, Universal also had an idea of how to counter WDW's 50th in 2021, and that was with SNW in KidZone. When they made the (I believe correct) decision to push that off to FW and have it anchor that park, it left them scrambling for something to stay top of mind. They tossed and turned some ideas for KidZone and ended up scrapping them and we are getting a JP coaster in lieu of it.

I believe the main screw up was screw up KidZone not being addressed. Changing the 2021 counter from KZ to JP was not the right move. The JP coaster simply wasn't needed and I think it was a panic move. "We need something for 2021 and we have no concrete or good ideas for KZ. Quick, what's our next best IP we can prop up like we're doing for HP with Hagrid's? JP? Approved!" I'm excited we're getting it, but I (and I assume most others) would have much rather seen KidZone be redone.

In summary, I think they're making the right decisions with what they have in front of them right now. But I fully believe their mishandling of KidZone is why we're getting what we're getting at this point.

You make a lot of good points, but the JP coaster is ABSOLUTELY needed to make up for the lost thrill of Dragons.

 

[SpatulaShack]

- Of course, Universal also had an idea of how to counter WDW's 50th in 2021, and that was with SNW in KidZone. When they made the (I believe correct) decision to push that off to FW and have it anchor that park, it left them scrambling for something to stay top of mind. They tossed and turned some ideas for KidZone and ended up scrapping them and we are getting a JP coaster in lieu of it.

I believe the main screw up was screw up KidZone not being addressed. Changing the 2021 counter from KZ to JP was not the right move. The JP coaster simply wasn't needed and I think it was a panic move. "We need something for 2021 and we have no concrete or good ideas for KZ. Quick, what's our next best IP we can prop up like we're doing for HP with Hagrid's? JP? Approved!" I'm excited we're getting it, but I (and I assume most others) would have much rather seen KidZone be redone.

This is so accurate and just rings incredibly true to me. They threw out a bunch of ideas for KidZone, no one could get their act together to approve one, and then they randomly said, "let's build a coaster directly next to the other coaster that we are already building in the park that doesn't need anymore attention and leave USF to rot for 5 years!" APPROVED!!!!

 

[Brian G.]

Just my guess, but I would wager the following happened:

- Hagrid's was on tap to counter SW. And while it won't "beat" Star Wars, having a fresh Potter attraction was 100% the correct move as it keeps Potter top of mind and will get a great boost because of such.
- Of course, Universal also had an idea of how to counter WDW's 50th in 2021, and that was with SNW in KidZone. When they made the (I believe correct) decision to push that off to FW and have it anchor that park, it left them scrambling for something to stay top of mind. They tossed and turned some ideas for KidZone and ended up scrapping them and we are getting a JP coaster in lieu of it.

I believe the main screw up was KidZone not being addressed. Changing the 2021 counter from KZ to JP was not the right move. The JP coaster simply wasn't needed and I think it was a panic move. "We need something for 2021 and we have no concrete or good ideas for KZ. Quick, what's our next best IP we can prop up like we're doing for HP with Hagrid's? JP? Approved!" I'm excited we're getting it, but I (and I assume most others) would have much rather seen KidZone be redone.

In summary, I think they're making the right decisions with what they have in front of them right now. But I fully believe their mishandling and indecisiveness (or I suppose it's possible there was a lack of creativity) of KidZone is why we're getting what we're getting at this point.

Which is fair rationale, but I don't think it's a move to call for current management's heads.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

So...any more word on who this ride's manufacturer will be? Fingers crossed for Intamin.

 

[Andysol]

Which is fair rationale, but I don't think it's a move to call for current management's heads.

I’m not calling for it. I actually really like them (In particular, Mr Davis) all things considered. I’m just thinking it has a good chance of happening if things don’t break good for them. Had F&F not happened, I wouldn’t think that. But now?

I’m sure they’re sweating a bit...