I love when theme parks get aggressive competing with each other, whether it be on new attractions, price, service - or all of those. The winners in those battles are always the fans. Whether you like Avatar (the movie), or not, I hope that you'll at least get excited that Disney's optimistic enough about the future of its theme park business to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in a richly themed new land for one of its U.S. theme parks.
Avatar skeptics also should remember that theme park designers sometime out-do their source material. Universal's Waterworld show, for example, provides far more excitement than the Kevin Coster bomb of a movie it was based upon ever did.
I also hope that fans will be excited at the possibility that Universal Orlando won't just take this lying down, but accept Disney's challenge and come up with another blockbuster attraction to build upon the momentum it earned with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
But what, specifically, should Universal do? Should it announce a major new expansion of Harry Potter? Should Universal bring Transformers to Orlando? Or should it secure the rights to a major new franchise, such as Lord of the Rings? (Or Ice Age? Or Kung Fu Panda? Or whatever else you can imagine.)
That's our vote of the week.
In the comments, I'd love to hear some specifics about what new attractions you want to see from the Orlando theme parks. What are you most looking forward to, and what more do the Orlando-area theme parks need to offer to get you to plan another vacation?
Thanks for voting, and thanks for reading Theme Park Insider.
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But, really, I kinda want to see them expand more on Potterland. I know that the whole point of Potterland is to be small and have that sort of rustic familiarity, but having more surface area to spread out all those people and more shops to sell things in is only a smart deal. I haven't even had the chance to visit the shops yet since I can't justify sitting in line for twenty minutes for Dhaka, Bangladesh: The Experience.
How about universal do a sell/trade and give the rights to marvel to Disney and retheme marvel island to a much anticipated Star Wars land that would be great for both companies since Disney dosent really have an area right night to accomplish such a themed land
However, LOTR would be amazing as well (I do not care for any other franchise), especially if it is done to the same level of care and detail as WWoHP. At the same time though, having a mass of tourists roaming through Rivendell or Lothlorien would just ruin the atmosphere, and Hobbiton wouldn't be practical if you build it to the scale it should be.
I guess I'm sticking to expanding WWoHP!
(1) Pay down their debt.
(2) Maintain the same corporate owner for more than ten minutes.
Seriously, there is no denying that the team at Universal Creative has consistently outpaced WDI since the opening of Islands of Adventure. Universal Creative is the GOLD STANDARD for innovation in theme park design.
"The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman," "Men in Black: Alien Attack," "Revenge of the Mummy" "Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey." There is not a single WDW attraction that is anywhere near as innovative.
Even "Twister" demonstrates how Universal Creative is more committed to take an extraordinary risk at creating the (apparently) impossible theme park experience.
With the sole exception of the "Jungle Cruise" at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom the team at WDI has not even come close to the productions listed above.
NOT EVEN CLOSE!
When Islands of Adventure opened, Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas described the launch of the "Incredible Hulk" as "the best two seconds in theme park history" (maximum kudos to Joe Casey). I can't think of any Disney attraction that has opened in the previous ten (or maybe twenty) years that has earned (or deserved) that level of praise.
Someone on another thread referenced 'Avatar' as Disney's effort to "sustain" its audience. And that's fine. That's just fine. Fine for the Central Florida economy and fine for Walt Disney World’s business model which will (until my ashes are scattered across the world's "rivers of adventure”) remain head and shoulders ahead of any other Central Florida theme park.
But if success and achievement in attraction development is to be measured beyond clicks at the turnstiles, then the (so I am told) brilliant Chief Creative Officer (and former Jungle Cruise skipper) named John Alan Lasseter needs to step up and midwife a ride system and compatible concept that re-invents the theme park experience.
I am hoping that FULLY EMERSIVE attractions related to ‘Avatar’, an EPCOT showcase devoted to Brazil and an expanded Star Wars presence at Disney Hollywood Studios will elevate WDI to Universal Creative’s level of excellence.
And while he is brain-storming that burden, Mr. Lasseter should send a couple of maintenance workers out in an ironically named “john boat” to scrub the heads of the pachyderms in the elephant squeeze play. The rings of pond scum are just humiliating to the attraction, the park and the man behind the company name.
Universal needs another big ride to counter Avatar. I would think it wouldn't be too difficult. Just dust off Transformers and put it in Orlando at the same time Avatar opens. Add a transformers land to create a much bigger experience. Harry Potter would work too, but I see it as more of a near term add-on, which is more likelier to open well before Avatar. Harry Potter could benefit with another E-Ticket quality ride and not merely another repurposed attraction from the Lost Continent.
After Transformers and Harry Potter, Universal should open more franchises. Certainly, Lord of the Rings comes to mind, but I don't think it would work as a theme park attraction. Look at this chart. After Batman, Harry Potter, and Pirates, the pickings get very slim. Except for Batman, HP, and Twilight, it funny how Disney owns most remaining franchises.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/grossbydays.htm?days=5&p=.htm
So should Universal get rights to Batman from DC Comics?
Another thing, Universal needs to better cater to the emotional and sentimental crowd. Disney does this in spades. No one has an actual attachment to Universal. There is a lack of heart. Harry Potter does bridge this gap, but not enough.
At the same time, the Studios side of the park really needs more love. On any given day, the crowds are on the IOA side. They need to spread that crowd out again and a major addition to USO would do.
The Superheroes island at IOA draws a significant crowd. Why throw that away?
I think that A Tolkein area would be a brilliant move. It draws a different group than Potter. It has tons of potential merch sales to help support. As to where, I'd put it in the SF/Amity/Whatever is in the big theatre near Jaws (which generally sits empty.
The best part of Tolkein? It will irritate the daylights out of Disney.
Adding Potter to Islands of Adventure cost Universal a considerable amount, but the land will already be on it's way to recouping it's initial outlay, as demonstrated by the major increases in attendance seen at the resort.
But J.K Rowling's (and Universal Creative's, for that matter) obsession with perfection means that any expansion to the land would once again mean a major outlay of cash, and I'm finding it hard to believe that an expanded Wizarding World would lead to any significant increases in attendance or in-park spending compared to leaving it in it's current state.
Potter is a huge crowd draw as it is, leave it at that and move on the the next big project that will further add to Universal's staggering attendance increases.
The great shame of that condition is that Mr. Disney's name is associated with the second organization listed above.
Whilst Universal 360 is okay, it's certainly not a crowd draw, and Universal could really do with a new show at the Studios and Islands of Adventure, with the latter potentially using the huge lake (if that's possible) and of course, Hogwarts,
If my name rhymed with WHY-GER, I would give advancced notice via press release that the attraction would be closing on whatever date for the purpose of repairing the attraction so it would meet the standards that the company's namesake demanded.
Avatar? Can I ride a big nasty attack ship and blow up a big tree? That would be a cool ride.
Or they could put us all in little booths with 180-degree imaging, and pretend we were riding a ride while it showed us pictures.
I think they should add to Harry Potter. No theme park has produced any high-tech live shows in quite some time - something from Harry Potter in the form of, say, the Triwizard Tournament could potentially be excellent.
However, A major night time stunt show featuring the Triwizard Tournament would go down a treat. USO have it them to pull it off (Those of us old enough to remember the Stunt show with the speed boats can attest to this) and it would draw a crowd easily comparable to Fantasmic. Maybe the boffins over at Uni have a 10 year development plan for these issues but one things for sure, given the money they make from that land alone, they will expand it at some point.
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