And let's not forget the dueling red and blue dragons on the skyfly in the shadow of the new dueling/racing coaster.Yeah, I agree from a business perspective, Harry Potter was the right move that ushered in a new golden age for Universal...but at the same time, I also agree that IOA lost a lot of its soul when Merlinwood/Lost Continent got taken out back. Such is especially the case with Dueling Dragons, it absolutely made sense to retire it in its state as of 2017, but I was still really sad to see it go and get demolished like that, in its prime it was such a unique and iconic attraction and it felt like the first major loss IOA had in its years of operation.
Definitely feels like Universal Creative know that they lost something special there, that's why they've been making all of these tributes to it like the HHN house and even creating an all new dueling/racing coaster at Epic Universe as sort of a successor to it.
There are walls up at the entrance and exit to Poseidon's Fury, queue is roped off but you are free to walk all the way up to the exit and pretty close to the facade if you wish. Notable to me is that there is no on-stage access to the building whatsoever, the walls are solid and don't contain a door or anything. Beyond that, nothing.Is there any noticeable movement on this area? I figured not but haven’t heard much about this for months. I’d assume a solid 2-3 year build if they’re theming it to Zelda. Especially if they bulldoze the land and start fresh.
Good to know, thank you! If it’s eventually getting torn down it makes sense to totally block it all of.There are walls up at the entrance and exit to Poseidon's Fury, queue is roped off but you are free to walk all the way up to the exit and pretty close to the facade if you wish. Notable to me is that there is no on-stage access to the building whatsoever, the walls are solid and don't contain a door or anything. Beyond that, nothing.
I don't think that's the case at all, once demo starts I would expect bigger walls pushed further out. I think these are just to discourage anyone from walking in there and poking around. I have to imagine Universal is well aware that this has become a popular thing to do when a theme park attraction sits SBNO (Wonders of Life, Triceratops Encounter, etc.)Good to know, thank you! If it’s eventually getting torn down it makes sense to totally block it all of.
Not sure if this was discussed here at announcement or not, but what I had gathered from asking around was that they made the decision to close because the operating/maintenance costs were outweighing the benefit of operation (to generalize). It never closed because they were ready to start with a replacement immediately, it closed because they knew it was on borrowed time and decided it was best to pull the plug early.I never expected them to start redoing this area right away. They wanted it empty for now, for whatever reasons, so that's the way it is.
Yeah, that's what it always sounded like. They still ran it for a month or so after they said they were shutting it down for good, so it wasn't so bad they couldn't run it. They probably, as you said, didn't want to keep spending more money than they wanted to on maintenance.Not sure if this was discussed here at announcement or not, but what I had gathered from asking around was that they made the decision to close because the operating/maintenance costs were outweighing the benefit of operation (to generalize). It never closed because they were ready to start with a replacement immediately, it closed because they knew it was on borrowed time and decided it was best to pull the plug early.
They have an entire theme park to drum up hype for opening in the next 18-20 monthsI do think it would be in their best interest to start teasing, maybe even if construction/announcement is still far off just so they can drum up hype. Maybe just paint a triforce on one of the construction walls
You know Universal. We’ll see LC demolished, new buildings go up, obvious references to Zelda visible over the walls during construction, THEN the announcement.I do think it would be in their best interest to start teasing, maybe even if construction/announcement is still far off just so they can drum up hype. Maybe just paint a triforce on one of the construction walls
I don’t even mean something super obvious that would take away from epic, just something like when cedar point started putting up a few really vague posters around frontiertown before they announced steel vengeance. More of a little nod of things to come for those paying attentionThey have an entire theme park to drum up hype for opening in the next 18-20 months
I almost wonder if they're starting to change a bit though with these things. Kidzone closed and they immediately had Dreamworks characters on the walls. When Shrek closed, there was Minions on the walls.You know Universal. We’ll see LC demolished, new buildings go up, obvious references to Zelda visible over the walls during construction, THEN the announcement.
With LC redo being Nintendo, I expect we’ll see an announcement sooner rather than later.*
Remember, the only thing actually announced for EU is Nintendo
*As in not “soon” but “sooner than Universal’s normal MO”