Universal Studios Florida: What Do We Think About It?

[Brian G.]

As I think THE LAST WISH is possibly DreamWorks' best animated film not called THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, I am 100% in favor of this.

Parting of the Red Sea ride confirmed.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I actually kind of like that USF is what it is. IOA is beautiful, sure, but at the end of the day it’s a ride park—the streets are just so tight and crowded that your day there ends up amounting to being shuffled from queue to queue. The rides are high quality and it’s absolutely worth it, but that’s how I’ve always seen that park.

USF is more of a vibes park. The rides aren’t the best, but they don’t have to be when you’ve got IOA next door and Epic coming online soon. There’s merit in having a more spacious and event-heavy “chill” park. Especially in Orlando where things are so suburb-heavy and spread out, I think there’s a lot of merit in having a go-to place to grab a beer, walk around, and just kind of relax (which is also why I disagree with a lot of comments calling for nothing but rides at Animal Kingdom or Epcot).

That’s not to say I disagree that USF could be better, because it absolutely could be. But at what point would you be afraid of losing that more laid back atmosphere in favor of turning it into the third “rides park”?

 

[belloq87]

That’s not to say I disagree that USF could be better, because it absolutely could be. But at what point would you be afraid of losing that more laid back atmosphere in favor of turning it into the third “rides park”?

I mean, it's still a "rides" park, if we're talking about quantity. I just think a lot of those rides could/should be better.

To me, IOA is far more a vibes park because of the cohesive nature of the lands. I can enjoy the atmosphere of any of them while standing around or sitting with a beverage. I don't think I would really say the same for USF. I like most of USF's lands on an aesthetic level (and certainly Diagon Alley is exceptional), but much of that is rooted in my nostalgia for what the park used to be like.

And even if we agree that USF has a more laid-back atmosphere, I don't necessarily think that would be in jeopardy if a dark ride, for example, was going into DreamWorks land, or the Fear Factor plot, or replacing Race Through New York/Supercharged/Simpsons (take your pick).

 

[Mad Dog]

IOA and Studios complement each other. IOA has great rides, maybe the best of any park. But it has issues when it rains, since just about everything is outdoors, and there's very little entertainment. USO has mostly indoor attractions, lots of street shows, and a festive atmosphere plus major events. The Universal management says that 80% of all tickets are two park tickets, so this is essentially 'one gigantic park' for most guests. So what one park lacks, the other makes up for it. Could the Studios park use a bit more balance and D/E replacements for the F twins, F&F and FF theater. Definitely yes.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I mean, it's still a "rides" park, if we're talking about quantity. I just think a lot of those rides could/should be better.

To me, IOA is far more a vibes park because of the cohesive nature of the lands. I can enjoy the atmosphere of any of them while standing around or sitting with a beverage. I don't think I would really say the same for USF. I like most of USF's lands on an aesthetic level (and certainly Diagon Alley is exceptional), but much of that is rooted in my nostalgia for what the park used to be like.

And even if we agree that USF has a more laid-back atmosphere, I don't necessarily think that would be in jeopardy if a dark ride, for example, was going into DreamWorks land, or the Fear Factor plot, or replacing Race Through New York/Supercharged/Simpsons (take your pick).

Agreed, they’ll both always have an emphasis on rides. I’m more addressing your issues with the investment strategy when it comes to IOA vs USF. You’re saying (I think) it should be tit-for-tat alternating mass expenditures between the two, I’m saying I don’t see a problem with USF getting the smaller stuff to free up capex for your Velocicoasters and Hagrids’ next door. Like @Mad Dog said, the two parks complement each other and their post-Diagon additions reflect that.

I will say, I agree with you about the aesthetics of the two. But what USF lacks in elaborate theming it makes up for in places to just chill. IOA is not a relaxing place, pretty as it may be—like I said, the paths are too tight, plus the entire place from how it’s built visually to how the music is played emphasizes nonstop sensory overload. Meanwhile you’ve got Finnegan’s, Duff’s, Knockturn, Chez Alcatraz, the music stage, Central Park, etc. to just hang out in at USF…that seems pretty deliberately designed to me.

 

[soilsigh]

Yeah not really a fan of the current USF. Huge fan of the USF of the 90s and 2000s. Sure, there are aspects of the park I like and some of the very recent additions like the street shows and the minion land are great, but as a standalone park it is far from being great!

Imagine being one of the 20% who just buys a ticket to USF. I met someone on my travels as a nurse that had gone to Universal Orlando Resort thinking it was just one park and bought a ticket to USF. She didn't understand why I loved Universal so much. I had to explain to her that she missed a whole other park and the great rides she missed. Sure, she liked the Mummy, she thought ET was cute(but sensed the age of the ride), and she was impressed with Diagon. At the end of the day, she thought the park was overpriced for what it offers.

That said, I think this park is on the way to greatness! For me, minion land has left so many clues of its potential. It seems strange that the sign on the Transformers building would include Illumination characters when the only thing outside of minions is the Sing characters meet and greet. It also seems strange that HRR would be forced into New York when it says Hollywood. They have opened the door for more phases, and they must have it in mind to add or repurpose attractions to include those characters on the wall.

Dreamworks land has to be the first phase of many more inclusions of those characters in the park. One thing great about illumination and Dreamworks characters is that they are for kids, which means any rides would have to be a dark ride of some sort.

Then you have Nintendo already going into IOA, and Epic. I'm sure Universal wants to attract Nintendo fans to all three parks to spend that money; Another Nintendo land has to be coming within the next 15 years to USF.

Sure, USF kind of sucks now but by 2035 there should be more than one dark ride added to the park, and may have the same if not more variety in attractions than IOA. USF is prime for greatness, because it already has things not found in IOA, like street shows. It may become the favorite park down the line.

 

[belloq87]

You’re saying (I think) it should be tit-for-tat alternating mass expenditures between the two, I’m saying I don’t see a problem with USF getting the smaller stuff to free up capex for your Velocicoasters and Hagrids’ next door.

I think my point is more that I feel like IOA has an abundance high-caliber (new) attractions, and I would like to see USF get its first E-ticket since 2014 and Gringotts (a ride I don't particularly love, but it's certainly an E) even if that means IOA doesn't get anything new for a while.

Meanwhile you’ve got Finnegan’s, Duff’s, Knockturn, Chez Alcatraz, the music stage, Central Park, etc. to just hang out in at USF…that seems pretty deliberately designed to me.

There are nice individual places to be in USF, certainly.

Knockturn is some of Universal Creative's finest environmental work.

 

[belloq87]

Sure, USF kind of sucks now but by 2035 there should be more than one dark ride added to the park

That soon?

But I hear what you're saying.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I obviously agree with the vast majority of what you say. Still am baffled at the narrative that Universal was Six Flags tier before Potter when Studios at least was so much better before.

At the end of the day, more than two parks means that one will get the short end of the stick.

 

[Casper Gutman]

USF is actually my favorite park in Orlando - I spend a good bit more time there than in IOA. That said, I understand that my opinions about it are… unique. Some thoughts:

1) I disagree that the park’s biggest waste of space is F&F - I’m the only person, apparently, who enjoys that ride, dumb as it is. Even if I didn’t enjoy it, however, I think the Fear Factor stadium and Simpsons are in much greater need of replacement. Now the controversial bit - I also think that Minions Blast is a more egregious waste of space then F&F, sitting in a much more valuable spot and utilizing a much more theme-park-friendly IP. The great Minion Cafe block just highlights what a waste Blast is.

2) Relatedly, the entire entry area needs a rethink. I really like Mayhem (I’d be fine with seeing it moved) and the Today Cafe, but the entry area lacks the “oomph” you’d want from the first thing guests see, and with the Studio theme largely abandoned the warehouses are archaic.

3) With many back-of-house functions moving to the new campus, I’d hope Uni could find room for a new Diagon style semi-separate land, either behind New York or replacing F&F and stretching even farther back. Kidzone would have been ideal for this, but they went in another direction.

4) Speaking of Kidzone, Uni needs to start offering more substantial family-friendly attractions across the resort. It’s very, very silly that the major HP attractions are all thrill rides and there isn’t a single family dark ride in the bunch. Dreamworks land should have been akin to Diagon in scope with a couple dark rides, not a reskinned playground.

5) The Studio’s secret weapon is the entertainment, particularly the very rewatchable animal and make-up shows. Those need to be preserved. The street entertainment is also great and needs to spread to IOA. When the parade and lagoon show return, the Studios probably just needs one big stadium spectacle show to be the only park at the resort with a full entertainment slate.

6) Fallon needs a replacement.

 

[pumpkinbot343]

This is a great topic and I’ll need to flesh out my thoughts later. But I’ll say this, I really care about the theme of a park. Islands has it, Epic has it. At some point, to me, Studios lost it. I grew up in the 90s era and I really felt the movie theme. Heck, one of my favorite attractions was Hitchcock.

Today, the park has less of a theme and more of a perception. Publicly, it feels like it’s known as the screen park. I don’t love that. I wish a lot of recent replacements kept the style of the ride the same. Practical to practical for example. But I get why they didn’t; it was rumored that ‘screens’ was a philosophy. Supposedly, that has changed with the new leadership.

All that said, currently I’m hopeful they will work to change that perception by listening to gp. And like @Cup_Of_Coffee said, I do believe that’s coming within the next 10 years.

I mean, it's still a "rides" park, if we're talking about quantity. I just think a lot of those rides could/should be better.

To me, IOA is far more a vibes park because of the cohesive nature of the lands. I can enjoy the atmosphere of any of them while standing around or sitting with a beverage. I don't think I would really say the same for USF. I like most of USF's lands on an aesthetic level (and certainly Diagon Alley is exceptional), but much of that is rooted in my nostalgia for what the park used to be like.

And even if we agree that USF has a more laid-back atmosphere, I don't necessarily think that would be in jeopardy if a dark ride, for example, was going into DreamWorks land, or the Fear Factor plot, or replacing Race Through New York/Supercharged/Simpsons (take your pick).

To be fair I haven’t been to the “Studios” park in a long, long while and always preferred Islands of Adventure; but all Universal Studios Florida needs is one simple change to the whole theme. The Magic Kingdom was a hodgepodge of random stuff thrown in but it worked as the theme can be excused as “childhood fantasies”. It just doesn’t work as a “studio theme” or “celebration of Hollywood” anymore (Disney’s Hollywood Studios also has this problem); especially with certain attractions (the entire Springsfield section) flying in the face of that.

And when they have something like Diagon freakin’ Alley as part of their park, it makes all their other lands look “eh” in comparison. At least some of the lands in IOA have that cheesy charm to them.

I can’t talk about rides though, there are rides I like and rides that I just can’t get on (most roller coasters frankly)

 

[belloq87]

I obviously agree with the vast majority of what you say. Still am baffled at the narrative that Universal was Six Flags tier before Potter when Studios at least was so much better before.

I think the Six Flags comparisons came about because of the general state of upkeep/cleanliness in the pre-Comcast period.

I didn't really experience that, personally, but I've heard from enough people who did.

In terms of the content of the park (its attractions), USF was world-class.

4) Speaking of Kidzone, Uni needs to start offering more substantial family-friendly attractions across the resort. It’s very, very silly that the major HP attractions are all thrill rides and there isn’t a single family dark ride in the bunch. Dreamworks land should have been akin to Diagon in scope with a couple dark rides, not a reskinned playground.

I am in complete agreement on this point. I understand budget considerations and resources being spread thin while a new theme park is being built, but I don't quite understand why more people don't at least seem to want more stuff going in there than is going in there.

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

USF is a great park that has seen slightly better days. Since Diagon opened nearly ten years ago, new issues have popped up over the years that make the park feel rougher than IOA:

• HRRR and The Simpsons Ride are slowly(?) deteriorating and getting worse by the month. Addressing these attractions is probably the park's most immediate need once Dreamworks is done.
• The Fear Factor stadium has sat empty for aside from HHN for multiple years, approaching 4 of being permanently closed and too many seasonal openings to count before that. Despite being close to a replacement recently with Potter VR, any chance of a new attraction is seemingly gone for several years. When Diagon opened, the stadium's status was hardly the pain point it is now.
• Fast & Furious somehow downgraded from its predecessor, which was already divisive to begin with.
• E.T. is still in need of a heavy refurbishment, but the ride is still in presentable condition unlike Simpsons.

On the plus side, Fallon and Villain Con are net positives for the park, increasing capacity and guest satisfaction from Twister and Shrek. Bourne seems to run more than T2 did towards the end of its life, so I'd also call that a win. After Mummy's refurbishment and Minion Land, the front quarter of the park is in great shape aside from HRRR.

Dreamworks will address one of the park's biggest issues since the 00s, even if many of us would've preferred new rides first. I feel confident that the park will reach new heights within 5-7 years as long as the frontburner issues are addressed before they get worse.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

I think the Six Flags comparisons came about because of the general state of upkeep/cleanliness in the pre-Comcast period.

I didn't really experience that, personally, but I've heard from enough people who did.

In terms of the content of the park (its attractions), USF was world-class.

That makes sense. I first went to Uni in the mid-aughts so I was too young to notice. However, I do remember around 2009-10 the threads on here about the resort wide upkeep (Hulk in particular)...wasn't pretty.

But from the way some people talk you'd think that Universal was all carnival rides before Potter (example).

 

[ultimateforce]

USF has a lot of incredibly special memories to me but if you don't count IOA, USF is a 2nd tier park. I don't think there's enough to do to fill a full day unless you are an extreme Harry Potter fan and have to see every store, try all the food, etc. If it still had the original theme of movie magic to hold it together there would be something but the current mix and match is really lacking.

I still want to be in the movies and I hope we get to do that one day.

Edit: Universal is my walk around on a Sunday park. I walk a lap, ride ET, and go home when I need to get out of the house on a lazy Sunday. I live close and I have the annual pass so I don't have to pay for parking for HHN so I go to get my money's worth. If I had to pay $100+ to ride ET you'd never see me there.

 

[MLevell]

So from the early 90's to the late 00's I visited Universal like a million times and consider them my 'Home Parks' but since then, for various factors that have nothing to do with my love for the parks, my visits have been much more rare and spaced out. To my eyes Studios has changed a lot more than Islands since I stopped being a regular and some of those changes have been to my liking and some not so much.

I think the big picture with Studios in particular is that it has been experiencing a fundamental identity change that has been ongoing for a while now. Theme Parks tend to be either A Park With A Theme or A Collection Of Themed Lands; I'd say that Islands of Adventure and Disneyland/Magic Kingdom are the latter and Universal Studios has been traditionally the former. It's theme was 'Behind The Scenes' but since the early 00's that theme has been eroding away with new attractions not embracing it and old attractions being replaced.

While not a bad thing this left the park with out an identity since while yes I know that Studios has always had Themed Lands I think it is fair to say that the average guest was not very aware of theme. If you asked the average family after returning home in say 2002 to name the lands at Universal I think they would have a lot easier time recalling the ones at Islands than at Studios. So without a park theme or themed lands Universal Studios became just a place with some more rides a few feet down from one of the best parks in the world.

The last decade had seen a slow but steady progress towards Themed Lands: Diagon Alley, Springfield, and Minion Land have helped the park find an identity and even Dreamworks Land, while obviously not nearly as good as it could be, will help. There is still a long way to go but I think the park is improving as a theme park even if the new attractions don't appeal to me as much.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

I want to preface this by saying I'm a relative newcomer to the parks (2016 was my first visit). I'm approaching this as a person who never got to do Jaws/Kongfrontation/Twister/etc.

While I think IOA is better in every conceivable way, for some reason, we find ourselves in USF much more often. IOA has the better lands and rides, but USF has the atmosphere imo.

My favorite ride at the entire resort is River Adventure (despite its current sad state) - and I acknowledge that Hagrid's is undoubtedly the best ride I've ever ridden.

But you know my favorite show? Horror Makeup.

Favorite quick service spot at either park? Bumblebee Man Tacos.

Favorite single thing to do at the resort? Sit at Duff Gardens with said tacos and take in the atmosphere of Springfield.

So while IOA has the better attractions and lands, I think it's still pretty much a fact that USF gets the edge in entertainment, food and atmosphere.

 

[HHN Maddux]

I want to preface this by saying I'm a relative newcomer to the parks (2016 was my first visit). I'm approaching this as a person who never got to do Jaws/Kongfrontation/Twister/etc.

While I think IOA is better in every conceivable way, for some reason, we find ourselves in USF much more often. IOA has the better lands and rides, but USF has the atmosphere imo.

My favorite ride at the entire resort is River Adventure (despite its current sad state) - and I acknowledge that Hagrid's is undoubtedly the best ride I've ever ridden.

But you know my favorite show? Horror Makeup.

Favorite quick service spot at either park? Bumblebee Man Tacos.

Favorite single thing to do at the resort? Sit at Duff Gardens with said tacos and take in the atmosphere of Springfield.

So while IOA has the better attractions and lands, I think it's still pretty much a fact that USF gets the edge in entertainment, food and atmosphere.

 

[Milla4Prez66]

I think my frustration is twofold:

1. If Universal (internally) knows USF still needs work, I kind of wish they'd just keep at it instead of turning attention back to the park that is already superior is pretty much every way (IOA). I get why they want to alternate a bit between the parks, but there's no law forcing them to keep adding to its embarrassment of riches in the short term (compared to USF).
2. They were this close to dramatically improving the park with Super Nintendo World. And while I'm not going to claim that decision will come back to haunt them (because I expect the land to do very well at Epic Universe), it's certainly going to haunt me!

I still think they should have just went ahead with Mario going in at USF and having Pokemon be the main Nintendo draw for EU. Though I’m not sure there would be space for the Donkey Kong stuff at USF.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Spongebob confirmed for USF? /s

I still think they should have just went ahead with Mario going in at USF and having Pokemon be the main Nintendo draw for EU. Though I’m not sure there would be space for the Donkey Kong stuff at USF.

As far as I know, the entire footprint with KZ + parade building was going to be big enough for Mario and DK.