Epic Universe Expansion Speculation

[HHN Maddux]

Screamscape is reporting that Creative has been given the directive to give Wicked the Harry Potter treatment, i.e. freedom to create whatever, wherever.

 

[RFRees]

Screamscape is reporting that Creative has been given the directive to give Wicked the Harry Potter treatment, i.e. freedom to create whatever, wherever.

That's exciting news! Hopefully Creative is somewhat far along rather than just starting this week. I'd imagine they had several Wicked concepts, from small projects to large scale. But this greenlight allows them to choose the most "epic" version of what they've been cooking up.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Screamscape is reporting that Creative has been given the directive to give Wicked the Harry Potter treatment, i.e. freedom to create whatever, wherever.

I love IAAPA week. So many people love talking IRL.

 

[AustinT]

Screamscape is reporting that Creative has been given the directive to give Wicked the Harry Potter treatment, i.e. freedom to create whatever, wherever.

If true, this almost guarantees it goes into Epic. No size constraints, and much more freedom. But that may also mean it's many years away at this point unless they are willing to have several large expansions in the works at the same time.

But this greenlight allows them to choose the most "epic" version of what they've been cooking up.

Indeed. Seems like you may be getting your wish of it taking that Epic plot

Now I'm wondering about that person's suggestion of connecting the land to a future land and the future neighboring park...Big enough of an IP to split between two parks? They could always go the Hogsmeade train route and eventually have that Emerald City train connecting parks to sell their beloved park hopper tickets.

 

[illumination]

Screamscape is reporting that Creative has been given the directive to give Wicked the Harry Potter treatment, i.e. freedom to create whatever, wherever.

That’s incredible! Thanks for sharing. I think this has the potential to be just as big of a draw as the Harry Potter, avatar, and Star Wars lands in Orlando if they go big enough with it.

 

[soilsigh]

I don’t think that would work in Florida due to the water table? But also, the tunnel system in Vegas is a huge flop. Slow, low capacity, riddled with issues that has kept it from expanding. Other systems in Vegas such as the monorail have higher use, more stops, and actually generate money. Here’s a video with all the detail:

Been covering the loop for a while initiallly I estimated the loop was doing 240/hour then i saw the video a while back its not even half. The current EV Bus system gets 600 ppl/hour in each direction at peak. So total capacity downgrade with a huge price tag. I am planning to go in options for this at some point but personally I have a sense the answer is obviously and they may have future proofed Kirkman when they built it

wow, thank you for sharing. Yeah with those numbers doesn't make it worth it at all. Had no idea. I used the loop while in Vegas seemed busy and it was a cool concept, and with further expansion to the other hotels thought it would be successful. But the numbers clearly counter that assumption.

 

[queenmetroid]

I still think you run a slight risk of the unfamiliar-with-WICKED crowd being confused why the Wicked Witch is now a good guy (gal).

Just to offer an alternate perspective: I go to the parks. I am not familiar with the Wicked movies or the musical. I have no idea what the story is. I know the Wizard of Oz movie and that's it. I don't know how many of us there are, but we do exist.

And I get that. I don’t think everyone who goes to Universal even knows Potter that well (my first trip to UOR I had never seen the films before, no joke), my point more is that it’s clearly popular and not niche, so I don’t want them to temper the land to appeal to people who’ve only seen the Wizard of Oz. There’s a lot more with a theme park ride story that they could gather from the Wicked films including the remarkable score.

I don't see Universal tempering the land in the slightest. Battle of the Ministry is almost completely inaccessible to anyone who hasn't seen Harry Potter. As a casual Potter fan (at best), I enjoyed the ride, but there's no question that it's fast-paced and would be incredibly confusing to someone without the knowledge of Dolores Umbridge, the Death Eaters, Time Turners, or the Ministry of Magic. You absolutely need a baseline level of franchise knowledge to understand the ride (especially in a franchise where the line between good and evil is pretty muddy).

Both Universal and Disney have proven that for a large franchise, they are willing to assume you know the story.