Universal's Epic Universe Wish List & Speculation

[shiekra38]

What phrase would best capture the spirit of Universal Studios then? They’ve essentially gutted its original soul and replaced it with countless simulators.

The Ride the Movies thing has been debated and the cause for argument for years and years

Bringing it up always seems to stir the pot a bit

 

[Alicia]

The Ride the Movies thing has been debated and the cause for argument for years and years

Bringing it up always seems to stir the pot a bit

No one ever remembers the whole slogan was “Ride the movies... see the stars”

 

[Nick]

No one ever remembers the whole slogan was “Ride the movies... see the stars”

Yeah, that slogan is definitely outdated. But I don't feel like ride the movies is. For instance, Riding The Simpsons or any of the Potter rides, it's like stepping into the world of Potter inside of Springfield and into a short episode of The Simpsons. TF and Fallon feel like you'd expect them too as well.

IMO, Ride The Movies doesn't have any sort of meaning of stepping behind the curtain and holds up to this day. The see the stars part aged very poorly though.

 

[shiekra38]

Yeah, that slogan is definitely outdated. But I don't feel like ride the movies is. For instance, Riding The Simpsons or any of the Potter rides, it's like stepping into the world of Potter inside of Springfield and into a short episode of The Simpsons. TF and Fallon feel like you'd expect them too as well.

IMO, Ride The Movies doesn't have any sort of meaning of stepping behind the curtain and holds up to this day. The see the stars part aged very poorly though.

IMO 'Ride the Movies' is just a slogan and holding the parks to a slogan is not necessarily helpful

 

[Alicia]

IMO it is just a slogan and holding the parks to a slogan is not necessarily helpful

Nautazu!

 

[shiekra38]

Nautazu!

...Name calling will get you reported

 

[Disneyhead]

Nautazu!

Bless you.

 

[redy2468]

Hmm well the last page or so of this discussion has been interesting! Allow me to offer my own worthless opinion
haha.

So I agree with others on the fact that the “literature” theme of IOA is made up by fans. The park is clearly influenced by literature and mythology, but is not defined by it. Remember that IOA was originally planned as “Cartoon World”. The final design of the park reflects that. When the park opened we ended up with 2 islands based off of Cartoons/Comics, and an island based off of a famous Children’s writer and illustrator. Jurassic Park was originally intended for the Studios, however it got its own land. Lost Continent seems like their attempt at a semi-original land.

IMO, Islands of Adventure has a very clear theme: Islands of Adventure. The name explains it all!

While not all the lands are perfect islands, that is only a fraction of the theme. IOA is about adventure, exploration, and travel, exploring lands of fictional culture and themes. This thesis is relatively obvious at entry. The icon of the park is a giant lighthouse*, beckoning you to the Port of Entry. A port that serves as your last stop before your adventure. Many of the shops in the port reference travel or hint at the "Islands" you will visit. One of my personal favorites being Confisco Grille. The restaurant is full of CONFISCated items that adventurers have tried to sneak out of the islands.

The set up of IOA has a loose theme, yet a coherent theme! Allowing for a majority of changes to not impact its overall theme.

In regards to Epic Universe. Honestly we have very little official info. We have even less info now that the park is on an indefinite pause. However, past rumors, speculation, and concept art hint at a celestial theme.

Starting with the name: Epic Universe. Hearing the name creates images of stars and infinite space. This is reflected in the logo art, with the logo placed on a starry background. As for the logo itself, it appears to be modeled after an astrolabe. An astrolabe is an old school tool used to map the skies or solve astrological problems.

I believe at one point @Alicia dubbed the hub "Celestial Gardens". If you google "Celestial Theme" you will find pictures of parties with a similar theme. The color scheme and style has a similar look to the concept art.

For the longest time there was a rumor involving the EU having an open hub design. The literal center hub being open to the public with the lands charging admission. Basically taking a hub and spoke design to its most extreme, with the lands only being connected via the hub. I believe the intent being that each land becomes its own separate "universe" or "galaxy". Lands that are isolated and run into minimal sightline issues unlike some of the other parks.

I think others in the past theorized that entrances to lands would serve as "portals" to their respective Universes. The hub serving as a terminal to these worlds.

So like IOA, EU is connected by a loose theme. The theme being exploration of the universe, by traveling to different worlds.The parks hub serving as its thesis. All of this is probably bound to change due to the current state of the world.

As for the Studios. I believe its theme started out by making YOU the star of the movie, while learning the secrets of cinema. The park being set up in a similar manor to a traditional backlot. I do believe at that time Universal and Disney were trying to make a "Hollywood East". They truly believed their FL parks, their FL facilities, as well as Orlando as a whole, would become the second film capital of the USA.

I think most will agree that the movie studio theme, to a certain extent, fell apart. The park can only loosely be tied together by the sections being themed to cities around the world.

I think the Studios themselves are suffering a bit of an identity crisis. However, that is okay! I think it's a common issue among theme parks, the publics interests change. I have confidence that at some point USF will find a simple sustainable loose theme that ties the park together.

Thank you for reading my ramblings, hope they made sense! Lol just realized that USF, IOA, and EU all have navigational tools for logos! I NEED TO GO TO BED, TOO MUCH THINKING

*Modeled after the ancient wonder of the world the Lighthouse of Alexandria aka the Pharos Lighthouse. A reference to another Wonder of the World is found at IOA(Not Kong). I'll let y'all figure that one out haha.

 

[Nick]

IMO 'Ride the Movies' is just a slogan and holding the parks to a slogan is not necessarily helpful

I agree. The park can be whatever they want it to be.

 

[tielo]

In my eyes Epcot Center was a wonderful failure as a concept and a theme. Looking at a world fair, a place we learn about technical advancements in the world and about cultures, that without a doubt needs to be rebuild every year and updated to the latest stand of tech and never fail to loose money, isn't a sustainable theme. The same goes for "making movies" as in reality it's very boring and more in-depth information can be found on dvd extra's, so there is no need for the "peak behind the movie magic" anymore. I think Universal Studios transitioned well, DHS is slowly moving there but Epcot still insists to uphold their theme and fail miserably. I thought they would "let it go" when they updated Norway into Noway but Guardians is going to fit the mold if we can believe Disney. I rather they went the whole way and just lost the "educational light" thing as it is holding attractions back.

The biggest problem I see for Epic Universe is that is bets on one, very highly theme(=expensive) ip per "universe". As soon as the falls of the radar or misses to connect with guests it's not just putting something else to things that don't work but a complete(=expensive) overhaul of that whole "universe".

 

[TheDecemberists]

The biggest problem I see for Epic Universe is that is bets on one, very highly theme(=expensive) ip per "universe". As soon as the falls of the radar or misses to connect with guests it's not just putting something else to things that don't work but a complete(=expensive) overhaul of that whole "universe".

Some IP’s stand the test of time (Mario, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park)

I’m not too sure about How to Train Your Dragon’s lasting power. (Although at least they are good movies!) I really wish they could get a hold of Pokémon. It’s still fairly popular after 20 years.

Actually I’m a little concerned that they feel like they need to shoehorn HP into every park. And that’s coming from one of the nerds who lined up at several midnight book releases.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

The sell for HTTYD is, Dragons. Dragons are timeless, and these are really f'ing cute Dragons so even more of a sell.

 

[tielo]

Some IP’s stand the test of time (Mario, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park)

The sell for HTTYD is, Dragons. Dragons are timeless, and these are really f'ing cute Dragons so even more of a sell.

That is not what I meant. Sure some ip's will go a long way, like Star Wars for instance and what ever you think about the ip now or the theme park land, it's not a hit anymore as it was back in the days. That doesn't mean that sci-fi (or low-fi as Star Wars rather is) won't have a future in theme parks but as a land it's not a huge hit like Potter is at the moment. But Potter, due to Rowlings Twitter failures this could result in a less than favorable outcome for the ip.
In the end there will always be the next best thing guests want to visit and nothing is (or should be) forever. Betting on 1 theme for a very expensive land makes it impossible to take the less favorable rides out and replace them with that next best thing. Look at Kong, amazing ride, but people lost it when it was on "their" JP island. Now Islands isn't EU but in EU that would be a problem.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

That is not what I meant. Sure some ip's will go a long way, like Star Wars for instance and what ever you think about the ip now or the theme park land, it's not a hit anymore as it was back in the days. That doesn't mean that sci-fi (or low-fi as Star Wars rather is) won't have a future in theme parks but as a land it's not a huge hit like Potter is at the moment. But Potter, due to Rowlings Twitter failures this could result in a less than favorable outcome for the ip.
In the end there will always be the next best thing guests want to visit and nothing is (or should be) forever. Betting on 1 theme for a very expensive land makes it impossible to take the less favorable rides out and replace them with that next best thing. Look at Kong, amazing ride, but people lost it when it was on "their" JP island. Now Islands isn't EU but in EU that would be a problem.

The last 3 Star Wars films all made over a billion and one of them is the highest grossing US domestic film ever until Endgame soo...... not sure I'm understand your point here. Star Wars is still insanely popular and a multi-billion dollar IP. Im losing interest in it after the Disney films, but I think thats a poor comparison tbh.

I mean Toon Lagoon is so outdated no matter how much I genuinely love it. Kids these days, or hell when I was a kid, have no clue who they are or what their purpose is. Its a cartoon land, thats all. Its not Dudley's and Popeye's for most people, just cartoons. Same with HTTYD, its not that Toothless is gonna be a major push for ticket sales in 2034, its that Dragons have been engrained in culture forever and heres a theme park land you can come play with Dragons. That will be a sell for a long, long time.

But of course there's always new things but however, in Hollywood, most of the major $$$ makers are remakes or non theme park material. Unless Illuminations/Dreamworks come up with a new film soon, like next 5 years soon, I don't see really any other IPs they can go with at this park or their current parks than what was planned for EU. Unless they can secure Pokemon but if they haven't already then id presume thats pushed back even further since its not an in-house IP and that is naturally more expensive.

 

[tielo]

The last 3 Star Wars films all made over a billion and one of them is the highest grossing US domestic film ever until Endgame soo...... not sure I'm understand your point here. Star Wars is still insanely popular and a multi-billion dollar IP. Im losing interest in it after the Disney films, but I think thats a poor comparison tbh.

I mean Toon Lagoon is so outdated no matter how much I genuinely love it. Kids these days, or hell when I was a kid, have no clue who they are or what their purpose is. Its a cartoon land, thats all. Its not Dudley's and Popeye's for most people, just cartoons. Same with HTTYD, its not that Toothless is gonna be a major push for ticket sales in 2034, its that Dragons have been engrained in culture forever and heres a theme park land you can come play with Dragons. That will be a sell for a long, long time.

But of course there's always new things but however, in Hollywood, most of the major $$$ makers are remakes or non theme park material. Unless Illuminations/Dreamworks come up with a new film soon, like next 5 years soon, I don't see really any other IPs they can go with at this park or their current parks than what was planned for EU. Unless they can secure Pokemon but if they haven't already then id presume thats pushed back even further since its not an in-house IP and that is naturally more expensive.

Yeh, I fail to explain what I mean. Whenever it occurs I will point at the problem I see in the EU "philosophy".

 

[Alicia]

Yeh, I fail to explain what I mean. Whenever it occurs I will point at the problem I see in the EU "philosophy".

Other than a few outliers like Runaway Railway And Transformers, hasn’t pretty much every new ride added to the parks come with its own immersive land over the last decade. Not just Epic Universe.

The biggest problem I see for Epic Universe is that is bets on one, very highly theme(=expensive) ip per "universe". As soon as the falls of the radar or misses to connect with guests it's not just putting something else to things that don't work but a complete(=expensive) overhaul of that whole "universe".

Imagine if Pandora hadn’t connected in DAK! Or Carsland in DCA. Talk about expensive to overhaul.

 

[Mad Dog]

Hmm well the last page or so of this discussion has been interesting! Allow me to offer my own worthless opinion
haha.

So I agree with others on the fact that the “literature” theme of IOA is made up by fans. The park is clearly influenced by literature and mythology, but is not defined by it. Remember that IOA was originally planned as “Cartoon World”. The final design of the park reflects that. When the park opened we ended up with 2 islands based off of Cartoons/Comics, and an island based off of a famous Children’s writer and illustrator. Jurassic Park was originally intended for the Studios, however it got its own land. Lost Continent seems like their attempt at a semi-original land.

IMO, Islands of Adventure has a very clear theme: Islands of Adventure. The name explains it all!

While not all the lands are perfect islands, that is only a fraction of the theme. IOA is about adventure, exploration, and travel, exploring lands of fictional culture and themes. This thesis is relatively obvious at entry. The icon of the park is a giant lighthouse*, beckoning you to the Port of Entry. A port that serves as your last stop before your adventure. Many of the shops in the port reference travel or hint at the "Islands" you will visit. One of my personal favorites being Confisco Grille. The restaurant is full of CONFISCated items that adventurers have tried to sneak out of the islands.

The set up of IOA has a loose theme, yet a coherent theme! Allowing for a majority of changes to not impact its overall theme.

In regards to Epic Universe. Honestly we have very little official info. We have even less info now that the park is on an indefinite pause. However, past rumors, speculation, and concept art hint at a celestial theme.

Starting with the name: Epic Universe. Hearing the name creates images of stars and infinite space. This is reflected in the logo art, with the logo placed on a starry background. As for the logo itself, it appears to be modeled after an astrolabe. An astrolabe is an old school tool used to map the skies or solve astrological problems.

I believe at one point @Alicia dubbed the hub "Celestial Gardens". If you google "Celestial Theme" you will find pictures of parties with a similar theme. The color scheme and style has a similar look to the concept art.

For the longest time there was a rumor involving the EU having an open hub design. The literal center hub being open to the public with the lands charging admission. Basically taking a hub and spoke design to its most extreme, with the lands only being connected via the hub. I believe the intent being that each land becomes its own separate "universe" or "galaxy". Lands that are isolated and run into minimal sightline issues unlike some of the other parks.

I think others in the past theorized that entrances to lands would serve as "portals" to their respective Universes. The hub serving as a terminal to these worlds.

So like IOA, EU is connected by a loose theme. The theme being exploration of the universe, by traveling to different worlds.The parks hub serving as its thesis. All of this is probably bound to change due to the current state of the world.

As for the Studios. I believe its theme started out by making YOU the star of the movie, while learning the secrets of cinema. The park being set up in a similar manor to a traditional backlot. I do believe at that time Universal and Disney were trying to make a "Hollywood East". They truly believed their FL parks, their FL facilities, as well as Orlando as a whole, would become the second film capital of the USA.

I think most will agree that the movie studio theme, to a certain extent, fell apart. The park can only loosely be tied together by the sections being themed to cities around the world.

I think the Studios themselves are suffering a bit of an identity crisis. However, that is okay! I think it's a common issue among theme parks, the publics interests change. I have confidence that at some point USF will find a simple sustainable loose theme that ties the park together.

Thank you for reading my ramblings, hope they made sense! Lol just realized that USF, IOA, and EU all have navigational tools for logos! I NEED TO GO TO BED, TOO MUCH THINKING

*Modeled after the ancient wonder of the world the Lighthouse of Alexandria aka the Pharos Lighthouse. A reference to another Wonder of the World is found at IOA(Not Kong). I'll let y'all figure that one out haha.

I agree with most of what you say. I especially like your IOA explanation, "The Name explains it all". Simple, and to the point. :thumbsup:

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Other than a few outliers like Runaway Railway And Transformers, hasn’t pretty much every new ride added to the parks come with its own immersive land over the last decade. Not just Epic Universe.



Imagine if Pandora hadn’t connected in DAK! Or Carsland in DCA. Talk about expensive to overhaul.

Or having to tear down what I believe is a 2 layered, largest area based at EU land, HTTYD? So expensive. Its a big bet but it seemed at one point it was one they were willing to take on.

 

[shiekra38]

That is not what I meant. Sure some ip's will go a long way, like Star Wars for instance and what ever you think about the ip now or the theme park land, it's not a hit anymore as it was back in the days. That doesn't mean that sci-fi (or low-fi as Star Wars rather is) won't have a future in theme parks but as a land it's not a huge hit like Potter is at the moment. But Potter, due to Rowlings Twitter failures this could result in a less than favorable outcome for the ip.
In the end there will always be the next best thing guests want to visit and nothing is (or should be) forever. Betting on 1 theme for a very expensive land makes it impossible to take the less favorable rides out and replace them with that next best thing. Look at Kong, amazing ride, but people lost it when it was on "their" JP island. Now Islands isn't EU but in EU that would be a problem.

I see what you're saying about IPs becoming outdated

I would argue that even an outdated IP land is still a step above an original land in terms of guests connection and interest

IPs, for the time being, will be king in Orlando

 

[redy2468]

I agree with most of what you say. I especially like your IOA explanation, "The Name explains it all". Simple, and to the point. :thumbsup:

Haha thank you! Feel like the rest is a lot of rambling. I definitely think about the parks way too much.
An anthology of Adventure. The islands all offer different adventures. The islands encourage exploration with their layout. Park has a lot of secrets, details, shortcuts and a lot of walking trails, encouraging you to explore.
Even though Kong is not a land it is themed around exploration. Of course this is my own interpretation of something that was probably never intended
———
Which is better IP’s or Originals? The age old question. A question that I will not answer because it all comes down to opinion.

Outdated IPs? Whatever IP you choose it runs the risk of being outdated. Sometimes IPs don’t matter as long as you have a great attraction *ahem* WaterWorld.

Toon Lagoon is in rough shape when it comes to relevancy. Popeye is the only character in that land that children probably know. Still it’s not like he is the most relevant character. (All the rides in the land, are fun though!)

I often see a call from the GP to modernize MSHI. I often agree that it has a very 90’s look (Mainly coming from the designs on the cutouts and the neon). However, I don’t think they should modernize it. I think they should go back in time and use the likeness of the golden/silver age of the comics. To me, that’s the most timeless. It will also match the architecture of the buildings much better.

———

Ever think Kong should be an attraction at Jurassic Park/Jurassic World? Like have the attraction sponsored by InGen similar to Disney sponsorships. Too high concept? Probably.