"Old School" Universal Orlando

[PerceptiveCoot]

"USF should go back to the classics like...F&F..."

Boy would I really feel out of touch if I ever hear that.

Trust me, there are people out there who will argue that the grungy, early 2000s LA style of the first films represents classic F&F more than the polished, CG, superheroics of the last few films, even if there are more of the latter than the former.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

Well, this goes against not just what the parks were in the past but what they are now. If there is a park that looks to the past, maybe it's the one with comics and cartoons from the 1920s? Or a whole land about mythology? If anything USF should be the bleeding edge park with the most modern IPs and attractions while the other parks can support more timeless things.

Back in the 90s it was the Disney fans making fun of USF being too modern with Beetlejuice, ET, Ghostbusters, BTTF, and Nickelodeon. The park had "too many thrill rides" and "nothing worked". One of the strengths of Universal, for better or worse, is the fact that they will make those hard decisions to replace things. 30 years from now there will be people making your same post but instead "USF should go back to the classics like Jimmy Fallon, F&F, Simpsons, and Minions".

True…Scooby Doo, Earthquake, King Kong, and Jaws were all super modern in 1990. Not 10-20 years old or anything.

 

[Ahmanet]

Now I'm getting worried that the Mummy renovation will get rid of all of its 'movie set experience'.

A big part of the early Studios was it being like taking a trip to a working Hollywood studio lot.

Maybe the City Walk Escape Rooms are to appeal to the retro fans, ha.

 

[belloq87]

A big part of the early Studios was it being like taking a trip to a working Hollywood studio lot.

Especially when it still had the tram tour and the Bates Motel set.

 

[Brian G.]

Now I'm getting worried that the Mummy renovation will get rid of all of its 'movie set experience'.

A big part of the early Studios was it being like taking a trip to a working Hollywood studio lot.

Maybe the City Walk Escape Rooms are to appeal to the retro fans, ha.

They've moved away from "Ride the Movies" for quite some time. Even oldies like Jaws and BttF had nothing to do with the movie set experience. IMO, a non-movie set storyline would benefit Mummy.

As far as the future of what is deemed "Classic"... I will say I saw a lot of comments during our coverage about how upset fans were Shrek was getting canned - so I can see Joe's point. Now, I don't think F&F will get to that, but stranger things have happened.

True…Scooby Doo, Earthquake, King Kong, and Jaws were all super modern in 1990. Not 10-20 years old or anything.

I'd put that in the wheelhouse of "modern" during 1990.

 

[Alicia]

I'd put that in the wheelhouse of "modern" during 1990.

JAWS had a sequel open 3 years before the park, and lots of props from that film were on display in The Boneyard and in the ride’s queue. Back to the Future Part 2 even made a joke about how the franchise would still be going forever in the future, and that came out the year before the park opened. Video games kept the franchise relevant as well. By the late 90s in high school, many of my close friend’s still cited JAWS as their favorite film. So yea, definitely relevant and still modern in 1990.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

True…Scooby Doo, Earthquake, King Kong, and Jaws were all super modern in 1990. Not 10-20 years old or anything.

Scooby Doo didnt' have a ride, Earthquake was a joke, Kong was based on the 76 movie, and ok yeah sure Jaws. All of those were just expansions of the USH studio tour from when they started designing the park in the 80s. My points still stand.

 

[SpyderDan]

Maybe the City Walk Escape Rooms are to appeal to the retro fans, ha.

They're doing escape rooms?

 

[Tbad556]

They're doing escape rooms?

Looking that way.

CityWalk Orlando Updates & Changes General Thread

I'm not expecting anything more detailed than the tribute stores, I could see this opening for summer. The Escape Game in Orlando has some fantastic rooms which Universal better beat.

forums.insideuniversal.net

 

[belloq87]

Earthquake was a joke

Not to get sidetracked here, but... clarify?

If you're talking about the movie, it was one of the highest-grossing films of the year when it came out, received two Oscars, and was nominated for three more. It's not a particularly good film (it has good things in it), but it was a very solid success in its time.

If you're talking about the attraction... I hope you're not talking about the attraction.

 

[Jushin Thunder Liger]

True…Scooby Doo, Earthquake, King Kong, and Jaws were all super modern in 1990. Not 10-20 years old or anything.

To this point, I recommend the oral history, Adventures in Amity: Tales from the JAWS Ride; in it, one of the people interviewed says that Universal was banking on its tentpole opening attractions being evergreen in a similar fashion to those of Disney; they weren’t counting on those stories falling out of fashion, and a few of them doing so fairly quickly.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

To this point, I recommend the oral history, Adventures in Amity: Tales from the JAWS Ride; in it, one of the people mentioned says that Universal was banking on its tentpole opening attractions being evergreen in a similar fashion to those of Disney; they weren’t counting on those stories falling out of fashion, and a few of them doing so fairly quickly.

Jurassic and Monsters are the only evergreen Universal-owned properties I can think of, sadly.

 

[Jushin Thunder Liger]

Jurassic and Monsters are the only evergreen Universal-owned properties I can think of, sadly.

I think Despicable Me/Minions is getting there now. First one came out in 2011, is actually quite funny, and is still popular along with its offspring.

If you wanna go with TV, you got SNL, Law & Order, and Meet the Press gives them the longest-running show of all time.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I think Despicable Me/Minions is getting there now. First one came out in 2011, is actually quite funny, and is still popular along with its offspring.

If you wanna go with TV, you got SNL, Law & Order, and Meet the Press gives them the longest-running show of all time.

Jaws was 15 years old when USF opened. So don't think you can say that about DM.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

Now I'm getting worried that the Mummy renovation will get rid of all of its 'movie set experience'.

A big part of the early Studios was it being like taking a trip to a working Hollywood studio lot.

Maybe the City Walk Escape Rooms are to appeal to the retro fans, ha.

They've moved away from "Ride the Movies" for quite some time. Even oldies like Jaws and BttF had nothing to do with the movie set experience. IMO, a non-movie set storyline would benefit Mummy.

As far as the future of what is deemed "Classic"... I will say I saw a lot of comments during our coverage about how upset fans were Shrek was getting canned - so I can see Joe's point. Now, I don't think F&F will get to that, but stranger things have happened.

It’s also important to note that the whole “it’s totally like Hollywood” idea for USF (like what’s now known as Disney Hollywood Studios) was because Universal planned to make it an ACTUAL movie studio in Orlando where they would shoot stuff. And just like Disney’s Hollywood Studios, nobody really wanted to film in Orlando.

 

[DodgsonHere]

Jurassic and Monsters are the only evergreen Universal-owned properties I can think of, sadly.

I’m sure I’ve stated my preference for Universal’s older properties enough to sufficiently annoy people on the forums, but I do truly think that Jaws and E.T. are great evergreen properties. E.T. himself is one of the most well known movie characters of all time, and if Monsters is evergreen so is Jaws, the film has literally become synonymous with anything to do with sharks. Both being directed by the most well known director in the world doesn’t hurt either.

Universal’s really no worse at making timeless properties than Disney, they’re just worse at marketing them, with the exception of Jurassic and probably Despicable Me.

 

[GA-MBIT]

Here's some properties that are listed on the Universal Brand site that I would qualify as evergreen.

-E.T.
-Classic Monsters
-Jaws
-Jurassic Park
-Back to the Future
-Fast and the Furious
-King Kong
-Shrek
-Despicable Me
-SNL

All from very different time periods and genres. I think the issue with Universal is that they did come out the gate with a lot of their own heavy hitters, but the nature of having a theme park with limited space necessitates getting rid of stuff to bring in new attractions to bring in more guests. And when the most pressing attractions for replacement are with some of the only attractions representing your biggest franchises, I get why there is desire to bring stuff back.

I get why the original Jaws, BttF, Kong, Shrek attractions are gone, but that doesn't mean that a Shrek dark boat ride or a Back to the Future coaster or Peter Jackson-inspired Kong Party Bus would be a bad idea in the slightest. Even representing these franchises in something like the Epic Movie Ride idea would go a long way in building identity for Universal Studios as a brand. Most of the major attractions at Uni theme parks are outside IPs, that doesn't have to be the case. There is a lot to work with here.

To be fair to Universal, they have been investing in additions to this core lineup with Kong, Velocicoaster, Monsterland, Villaincon, HTTYD Land. Fast was a flop that would've been on the list had they put effort into it, but hey! They seem keen on preserving E.T. for the time being, that's nothing to sneeze at! I think we'll see a lot more movement in this direction that we think. Nintendo and Potter will still be a priority, but Uni is making strides here.

 

[universal_fanatic]

Somewhere on social media (or possibly this thread) someone was talking about the old school photo ops around the park (Hollywood sign at the Pantages, space shuttle on BTTF etc.) I had mentioned that there was another one from the NY section of the park and people wanted to see it but despite all my googling I couldn't find it. I thought that maybe I had it saved somewhere...
Well today I was tidying up and found some old hard drives and the photo!
Clearly it's from the time Twister was around as you can see the corner of the Aftermath gift shop but I can't find any other examples of this photo op online.

 

[Alicia]

Somewhere on social media (or possibly this thread) someone was talking about the old school photo ops around the park (Hollywood sign at the Pantages, space shuttle on BTTF etc.) I had mentioned that there was another one from the NY section of the park and people wanted to see it but despite all my googling I couldn't find it. I thought that maybe I had it saved somewhere...
Well today I was tidying up and found some old hard drives and the photo!
Clearly it's from the time Twister was around as you can see the corner of the Aftermath gift shop but I can't find any other examples of this photo op online.


View attachment 16532

Yea it was at the corner of the Boneyard. There’s a snack stand there now. Great pic! So rare to see this one for sure!

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Debuting tomorrow, a new 90-minute documentary on the Nick Studios at USF.