Character meets might be the most divisive attractions in any theme park. For some visitors - usually those with small children - characters meets can be must-do experiences that become the highlight of a visit. But for other fans, character meets are the easiest attractions to skip in the park.
Yet even those in the second camp should appreciate character meets. After all, anything that draws people out of the queues for the experiences you like into the queues for those you don't is a win, right? So I cannot imagine a theme park with access to character IP not including opportunities to meet and pose for photos with those characters. Heck, even parks without outside IP can do well to create their own characters for meet and greets. (Hello, Whittles, Miss Lillian, and others.)
Universal Orlando's new Epic Universe will feature character meet locations for its classic monsters in Dark Universe and Nintendo characters in Super Nintendo World. This week, Universal released photos of the "How to Train Your Dragon" character meet that the new park will feature in its Isle of Berk land.
Meet Hiccup and Toothless in the Haddock Paddock.
Let's give Universal credit here. That photo is as close to the concept art for this attraction as any other I have seen for a new theme park location. I can think of at least one rival theme park company that could learn a lesson from Universal about creating concept art that inspires without misleading potential guests.
The highlight here will be the life-sized, animated Toothless, the Night Fury dragon. Toothless is the emotional heart of this franchise, and his expression comes almost exclusively from his eyes. Yet unless skillfully executed, puppetry and animation design can lead characters such as this into the uncanny valley that leaves kids crying in fear and grown-ups posting mocking videos online.
But for what I have seen so far, Universal has stuck the landing on its work with Toothless.
Even for fans who typically skip character meets, this one might just work its way onto your Epic Universe to-do list. Universal Epic Universe opens officially on May 22. It is now in previews for Universal team members and we already have one trip report up on our Discussion Forum. Stay tuned to Theme Park Insider for more preview reports from inside the park in the weeks to come.
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i think this marks a change, we will see the real lands in no time. i promise
Is this really a game changer though? Universal has been working on this since triceratops encounter, and perfected it with the raptors. A reskin of a raptor into a dragon doesn’t seem like anything more than a remix of an old hit.
Not saying it’s not cool, just asking if it’s a big deal.
The game changer aspect is that it ia boston robotics robot. And unlike disney this isnt something corny that no adult besides the disney adult wouldn even consider doing. epic is halloween horror nights versus mickey not so scary. Not a single thing is this park is cringe worthy. all the ip outside of monsters is contemporary and not cringy stuff from decades ago.
Are you sure this is a robot? I would have to imagine there’d be quite a liability concern over a bunch of kids running up to advanced machinery.
Kids are always a liability - jumping into animal enclosures and such. I'm just stoked that a complex animatronic is being used in an area that otherwise doesn't usually get a lot of complex animatronics. Disney, take notes.
I usually write off character meets, but I've typically been impressed with what Universal has been doing recently, particularly with their Jurassic Park/World characters, Transformers characters, and Shrek/Donkey. The Blue meet and greet at both parks is pretty amazing, and the triceratops encounter at USH was obviously a prelude to these new HttYD characters coming to Epic. I think what irks me most about meet and greets is the line, which naturally moves so slow because it's one party at a time, for an experience that doesn't really move me. I love to marvel at the artistry and technology of the character costumes/design, but I would rather just do that from afar, and don't feel the need to put myself in the picture.
Nonetheless, I understand how powerful these experiences can be, and how with more realistic encounters can make memories for guests that last a lifetime. As Robert stated, the more people waiting in line for these experiences, the fewer guests in lines for the rides and other experiences, so I think everything works together to make a well-rounded park experience.
@James - "Are you sure this is a robot? " - Yes, it's been widely reported that all of the dragon characters are robots, but are not moving autonomously with TMs usually pretty close by working the remotes. For the Toothless/Hiccup meet and greet, guests have reported that the TM controlling the dragon is easily visible in an open window/door not more than 10 feet away from the character. This really isn't different than other interactions, including the Magic Fountain at Lost Continent, Galaxy's Edge droids, or the old talking trash can (Push) in Tomorrowland with an operating disguised, but readily observable in close proximity to the character at the controls.
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Yeah, I'm definitely in the market for a photo pass at this park. It is one of the newest parks with those kind of considerations pre-construction. I'm sure the Donkey Kong and HTTYD coasters might have multiple on-ride photos.
The right personality for the Dark Universe characters might be of high quality if they can leverage some of their stars from Halloween Horror nights. They should have had a permanent scare house installation for Halloween Horror Nights for 365 scares, especially since they have their property in Las Vegas. Bonehead move to be honest.
It may be news to you guys that there is a live action HTTYD movie coming out in June (?) so they really are scaling up pretty well to get this park quality mindshare.