Springfield

[Miss Betty Juice]

I'm kind of the opposite, and I know I'm being a bit negative, but with all the changes I'm just not happy. I've decided to not renew this year, and may not renew again. The Universal I loved is dead. And I'm really not interested in seeing it change anymore.

 

[Jon Fu]

You can see larger images on our Twitter account: https://twitter.com/insideuniversal

 

[Allen The Actor]

Funny how the swirly and star patterns are still there, just greyed out now.

I'm kind of the opposite, and I know I'm being a bit negative, but with all the changes I'm just not happy. I've decided to not renew this year, and may not renew again. The Universal I loved is dead. And I'm really not interested in seeing it change anymore.

The original Universal I loved is mostly dead too besides for the Studio Tour and Jurassic Park. So I feel ya. I'm trying hard to embrace the new Universal. I guess what I love is that we're getting very immersive "lands" now with cohesive themeing, like Despicable Me and Simpsons, but what I don't like is that the actual attractions inside are inferior to BTTF and T23D. So it IS hard. Because once the newness wears off, nostalgia kicks in again and makes me miss the previous attraction. I'm very mixed about my feelings. Extremely excited about Potter no matter what. That'll be incredible. But beyond that I will always miss the previous look and feel of USH. It's hard to part ways with your childhood essentially, especially as abruptly as Universal did it.

 

[Ryan]

It's kind of bizarre because the park that I knew, the one that I worked for and walked through everyday is basically gone, and that was the same one I've been also going to since I was a kid. USH's upper lot felt bigger back then mostly because it was very haphazard, and a collection of assorted nonsense in a way. Much more green and shade... which yes I know all of that will be in place once the remodel is finished, but there is now a sense of bareness and cohesiveness to the upper lot that wasn't there before. It's a change for the good, granted, it just makes things smaller.

So I can totally understand a lifelong fan turning their back on the redo. Universal wants to get away from their kitsch days and move towards something more akin to its sister in Florida, and that will understandably bring a riff. I'm just glad the Studio Tour is still there.

Also Springfield looks fantastic.

 

[William]

Looks like the Nuclear Power Plant isn't bright purple after all. Not so sure if I like that periwinkle sort of color, especially since it's not accurate.

Also, they really need to work on the pavement between Krustyland and Springfield. Not looking so good right now.

 

[ItsAtrap]

I'm kind of the opposite, and I know I'm being a bit negative, but with all the changes I'm just not happy. I've decided to not renew this year, and may not renew again. The Universal I loved is dead. And I'm really not interested in seeing it change anymore.

I kinda agree. For me Universal was it's live shows. Conan, Wild West, Flintstones and Rug Rats, the uniqueness of T2. Now they're down to 3 and special Effects doesn't live up to what it could be. I love how Springfield is looking. But the Universal I loved is dead replaced by 3D movies.

 

[...]

They repainted the nuclear power plant this past week for some weird reason.

 

[Allen The Actor]

I kinda agree. For me Universal was it's live shows. Conan, Wild West, Flintstones and Rug Rats, the uniqueness of T2. Now they're down to 3 and special Effects doesn't live up to what it could be. I love how Springfield is looking. But the Universal I loved is dead replaced by 3D movies.

Doesn't help that there's such an over reliance on 3D and projections and animation. When I was little, I was terrified but in awe of King Kong. Because there he was, breathing, roaring, right in my face. I can tell he was "real". Same thing with Earthquake. BTTF also felt real because the ride film didn't use CGI and didn't feel cartoony. Same thing with everything else.

Everything feels too cartoony now. *shrug* I like the current/new themeing, but miss the previous attractions.

 

[...]

Everything Universal has done in the past 3 years has been a series of home run decisions IMO. From closing T2, fixing the horrible hodgepodge of the central Upper Lot, Universal Plaza, Despicable Me, etc; the park is doing great things. Other than an occasional visit pre-Transformers, the park never got my attention.

 

[Allen The Actor]

My issue hasn't been the new themeing and cohesion, which has been fantastic and absolutely beautiful. My issue has been that a few of the replacement attractions haven't been as state of the art or amazing as their predecessors. Oh well.

 

[...]

I have to disagree entirely on the attractions aspect as I believe DM:MM, F&F, TF, FJ, etc are superior to their predecessors, but that's an issue that has no reason to be debated.

 

[Alexshow.]

The Aztec Theatre Sign is up. Photos from SoCal

 

[mratigan]

Aztec Theater sign is up!

https://twitter.com/socalthemepk360/status/572911401053765632

 

[chris.g]

Hope it lights up at night! It looks great! 

 

[Aaron]

Looks like the neon tubes won't be covered up like the Krusty Burger sign.

 

[Allen The Actor]

I have to disagree entirely on the attractions aspect as I believe DM:MM, F&F, TF, FJ, etc are superior to their predecessors, but that's an issue that has no reason to be debated.

Uhhh...I didn't say ALL attractions lol, did i? No, I didnt. Reread my post. I said a FEW attractions. ET, BTTF, Kong, and T23D, in my opinion, were better, more innovative, more inclusive, and more state of the art attractions than their replacements. Despicable Me and Simpsons have light years better themeing than what they replaced, but the attraction itself is a step backwards in my opinion, especially Minion Mayhem. Same goes for ET.

Forbidden Journey, Supercharged, and Transformers are all around better in every way than their predecessors. We can agree to disagree if you'd like. This is the wrong thread for it anyway, but I mentioned it because the conversation started of Old vs New USH.

ANYWAY. Love the Aztec Theater sign! Springfield is gonna look fantastic at night.

 

[...]

Uhhh...I didn't say ALL attractions lol, did i? No, I didnt. Reread my post. I said a FEW attractions. ET, BTTF, Kong, and T23D, in my opinion, were better, more innovative, more inclusive, and more state of the art attractions than their replacements. Despicable Me and Simpsons have light years better themeing than what they replaced, but the attraction itself is a step backwards in my opinion, especially Minion Mayhem. Same goes for ET.

Forbidden Journey, Supercharged, and Transformers are all around better in every way than their predecessors. We can agree to disagree if you'd like. This is the wrong thread for it anyway, but I mentioned it because the conversation started of Old vs New USH.

I'm going to leave one final statement before I finish and if you want to continue in PM's, then for the integrity of thread, it's for the best. I never mentioned that you said all attractions so I suggest you read my post carefully as well. If I'm not mistaken, all the attractions replaced are mentioned in your comment (ET, BTTF, T23D) as I don't believe Transformers properly replaced an attraction in the traditional sense of the word and Kong simply burned down. I definitely agree to disagree as I did mention that my OPINION is that the New Universal (Simpsons, Mummy, DM especially) is leagues better than what was there before.

Back to the important topic: I believe FFB should be open by the 19th the latest as some private universities have spring break the week of the 9th and UC schools have spring break the week after.

 

[Imdbman]

Doesn't help that there's such an over reliance on 3D and projections and animation. When I was little, I was terrified but in awe of King Kong. Because there he was, breathing, roaring, right in my face. I can tell he was "real". Same thing with Earthquake. BTTF also felt real because the ride film didn't use CGI and didn't feel cartoony. Same thing with everything else.

Everything feels too cartoony now. *shrug* I like the current/new themeing, but miss the previous attractions.

I certainly do not agree more that the old Kong was better than the "King Kong 360: 3D."  It's pretty good 3D, but I certainly prefer the live sets plus the animatronic.  It would've been another thing if it was more like Fast and the Furious, combining real life and 3D sets, but it's JUST 3D so it's a little sad.  If only that beloved giant Kong animatronic didn't have to burn down

 

[William]

It's evident that there are differing opinions amongst us. Let's save that healthy discussion for another thread, and revert the conversation to Springfield.

It seems walls are, indeed, slowly being taken down around the food court. As seen in IU's Twitter photos from earlier today, Stu's Disco has been revealed with barriers in front of it. Some walls on the perimeter have been rearranged and will likely be taken down in the coming weeks.

 

[...]

If scaffolding starts coming down for the hills and Cletus, then I even think walls will come down this weekend. At least with barriers like the ones in front of Stu's disco.