Should Universal Parks be more Nostalgic?

[Nick]

Putting aside things built in the last decade--because too soon to tell--the iconic Disney rides are not IP based. Most of the IP rides are forgettable rehashes of the movie. The one exception may be Mr Toad, a long-forgotten movie much better known as a theme park attraction.

UOR did not have the luxury when it chose the path it did. Virtually everything they do is IP based. I think it's telling the one ride that isn't--RRR--is arguably the most iconic in the park, despite its lackluster reputation as a coaster. There's a double level of nostalgia--you have to be nostalgic for the movie, and then for the ride. Very few rides at any Orlando park can make that claim.

Also, I think the most iconic IPs are those that embody cultural archetypes. Sleeping Beauty was never a hit movie for Disney, yet castles, a dragon and a prince with a sword are easy to understand even if you've never seen the film. Similarly, as much as I like Jurassic Park the novel and the film, it only works as a land because dinosaurs are a primal interest to children, not because of Chrichton's scintillating plot. Original Star Wars checks off those archetypes, but I'd argue Madagascar does too (not the first time a cowardly lion has entered the public conscience). That doesn't mean both are equal as entertainment, but it does mean both are better suited to theme park attractions than, say, Shrek or 101 Dalmatians, both record-breaking hits in their day.

You're forgetting Splash Mountain as an iconic IP-based ride. Whether anyone knows it's based on an IP isn't really relevant. And Tower of Terror.

 

[SeventyOne]

You're forgetting Splash Mountain as an iconic IP-based ride. Whether anyone knows it's based on an IP isn't really relevant. And Tower of Terror.

Yeah, Splash similar to Toad, IP better known as a theme park ride than a movie at this point. I don't really consider ToT an IP-based ride, Serling intro and Easter eggs aside. No one says "Let's go ride Twilight Zone."

 

[jtsalien]

Yeah, Splash similar to Toad, IP better known as a theme park ride than a movie at this point. I don't really consider ToT an IP-based ride, Serling intro and Easter eggs aside. No one says "Let's go ride Twilight Zone."

Especially because Tower is unrelated to any actual Twilight Zone episodes anyway. It's not at all a "ride the movies" type ride. Just an asthetic being used.

 

[IHateJumpScares]

I think this thread has been an interesting discussion from all sides. I *loved* BTTF even though it was so much rougher than Simpsons my back was sore every time I rode it. But the introduction of ET the ride into this discussion is interesting - I personally think that ride blows once you leave Earth. Stupid story, and it basically becomes "It's a Small World" in space. We ride it every time we go, but even my kids feel the same way. I never rode ET more than once in any trip, but I rode BTTF every day, sometimes twice, and looked forward to it. I never look forward to ET. The highlight is giving the attendant a dumb name to see if ET will say it at the end. The highlight of BTTF was the whole ride.

I wish we could keep some classics around (Jaws, BTTF, SpiderMan), ditch some others that don't age as well (original Kong), and add new ones that jazz up the park (Despicable Me, Gringotts).

Why they based a ride on a truly horrendous franchise (Fast and Furious) is beyond me. Wow, those films are bad.

But back to nostalgia, my 11 and 13 yr old ALWAYS want pics with the train and delorean, and if Doc Brown is out they always want to wait. He's always engaging and dare I say "Disney-like" in his guest interactions. He yelled at me once for asking about the future, and I got this whole "Doc Brown on Red Bull & Coffee" intense scolding about the dangers of knowing too much about the future, and ripping the fabric of time and all that. I think BTTF definitely has staying power, but at the time it was a space limitation thing for them.

 

[Frank Drackman]

Around ‘84, I went to USH. That was my first experience with Universal. I recall meeting Frankenstein while waiting on the tram.

I saw a real backlot for the first time in my life. Watched water part, then our tram crossed the waterway, water magically staying out of the way of the tram...crossed some bridge or something with a great white attacking us...that HHN tunnel thing that can make you feel like you are tilting, they had something crazier than that, the tram went into this cave where Lee Majors battled Aundry the Giant (6 million dollar man verse big foot) on TV, didn’t see anything about it we were told that is where they filmed it...they did something that made it feel as if the tram flipped upside down or something.

I guess that was a public tour of a real movie studio, a lot with a lot of tradition and the site where many incredible movies were captured on film.

I went to USF when it opened. I’ve never ridding Jaws, never saw it operating. I recall ET being a three hour wait...Kongfrontation was cool as was Earthquake...loved Hanna Barbara...enjoyed seeing Nick Studios....loved seeing the Motel...first time ever going to a Hard Rock Cafe...learning about Hitchcock was cool....Ghost Busters...it was a fun day, cool effects...a taste of Hollywood magic.

I did not visit USF that many times. I recall seeing Terminator during HHN (think it was 7)....other visits were when IOA was open, even went there when Express worked like WDWs old paper fast pass.

How many owners has UNI had since then? GE, NBC...others...Blackstone in the picture somewhere.

I dunno, what ‘nostalgia’ does USF really have? A good idea at its time, IOA, their take on a ‘theme park’.

In a connected world, is ‘movie magic’ as mysterious as it once was (now that anybody can create via you tube)?

I have no problem with what I have been seeing over the past 5 or 6 years. I see a company that believes the Orlando properties help them diversify from their cable business, I do not think they are replacing rides with rides they expect to redo every 10 years, I think they are just trying to make the Studios more of a theme park and less of a studio tour while hoping they can follow the WDW model of creating franchises of their own that have rides/lands, merch, movies....start creating nostalgia for the Minion generation (not meant to be a cut at any generation, just picked an IP that has done well for them in the past 6 years.

Edit, forgot to add...couldn’t help but compare to what I knew back then, I found Hanna Barbara and BttF way better than Star Tours and Body Wars...ET was better than Peter Pan (to me)...and MGM didn’t have much when it opened....based on what UC has done in the past, I look more forward to the future with USF than the past as they currently seem to have an owner that believes in them.

 

[Mr. EPCOT]

I have always been perplexed as to why Universal doesn't have Frankenstien, Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy, and Creature from the Black Lagoon out there everyday doing M&Gs. Most people don't have a clue about the history of Universal Studios even after spending a day in the parks. After a day in the Disney Parks you know exactly who and what the Disney brand is all about.

I think as a rule of thumb a truly great theme park has a balance of nostalgia and new. Universal leans too heavily on the new, Walt Disney World is the same with nostalgia. Disneyland was threading that needle perfectly for a while as they started introducing attractions based on Star Wars and Indiana Jones, hot and relevant properties that were clearly also iconic and timeless. Universal could only strengthen its identity by representing some of its core properties in the parks better. Have the culturally enduring stories like the Monsters, BTTF, Jurassic Park, Hitchcock, Jaws, Dr. Seuss, King Kong, Marvel, Harry Potter, and (maybe) Fast and the Furious be the foundational identity of the parks that props up things that are hot for a minute but whose relevancy ultimately probably have something more of a expiration date and rotated out eventually like Despicable Me, Shrek, Twister, Fallon, Transformers, Earthquake, Men in Black, Terminator, Fievel, Simpsons, etc.

With regards to the BTTF ride, I think people are missing an important factor: the ride itself. While I strongly agree that BTTF is still relevant and deserves a presence in the parks, the ride itself was dated and in need of replacement. Its setpieces were a dated vision of future 2015 and a dated tail-dragging stop-motion retrosaur, all on a dated ride system. Regardless of how evergreen the popularity of the IP is, that ride was in need of replacement. And, unfortunately, Universal can't just build a new BTTF ride. It's popularity is heavily based on its characters, who have aged quite noticeably (Michael J. Fox is even further impaired by Parkinson's) but can't really be recast. So if both the characters and interesting iconic settings have aged very poorly, what is left to adapt?

The issue of the aging actors may not be such a problem these days if Michael Douglas in the Ant-Man movies is any indication. Especially if it's for a five minute theme park attraction.

 

[tankart150]

Obviously yeah!!!!

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I’ve been attempting to eloquently say this but can’t figure it out so I’ll be blunt instead!

History is cylclical, what is nostalgic now was a fad before. What kids and first time visitors fell in love with in the 90s is happening now with the new attractions and properties. In 20 years I bet we see a “why doesn’t Universal keep around classic properties like Simpsons and MiB?”

 

[JungleSkip]

Honestly? No. I think they strike a great balance.

I think a lot of people confuse "original" with "nostalgic" in theme parks. IMO, USF is currently made up of just as many "nostalgic" properties as it did when it opened. Potter, MIB, Simpsons, ET, The Mummy, Transformers (the overall franchise, not the Bay movies), and Shrek are all "nostalgic" in one way or another.

 

[belloq87]

The properties represented in the park may have nostalgic value for some today (and that may increase as time goes on), but to over-generalize, save for E.T. and Potter, none of them are in the order of magnitude of quality and beloved-stature as stuff like JAWS, BACK TO THE FUTURE, GHOSTBUSTERS, the films of Hitchcock, the Monsters, and so on. There's a reason people still watch those movies decades after release; I doubt many people are going to be watching TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN or DESPICABLE ME 2 - or longing for Jimmy Fallon reruns - in 30 years.

So perhaps the question is not really "Should Universal Parks be more nostalgic?" but rather, "Should Universal Parks better represent all eras of their history instead of focusing almost exclusively on the last decade and a half of Hollywood entertainment?"

My answer to that question would be a resounding yes. Even with the limitations of space, I don't believe representing the present has to come at the expense of representing the past, ditto for the other way around.

 

[JungleSkip]

I doubt many people are going to be watching TRANSFORMERS

Nope, but they certainly will be playing with the toys as they have been for 30+ years

 

[belloq87]

Hence why I was careful to specify an atrocious movie series, which is where the ride's aesthetics and overall ethos come from, not the toy line.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

So perhaps the question is not really "Should Universal Parks be more nostalgic?" but rather, "Should Universal Parks better represent all eras of their history instead of focusing almost exclusively on the last decade and a half of Hollywood entertainment?"

My answer to that question would be a resounding yes. Even with the limitations of space, I don't believe representing the present has to come at the expense of representing the past, ditto for the other way around.

I agree on “yes”, the reason why it hasn’t been a focus in the past is the revolving door ownership and a consistent “forward facing” culture at the studio. If anything I think USF should always feature modern properties why IOA/Park 3 is timeless/past.

 

[belloq87]

If that's the dynamic moving forward once we have the next gate, I can live with that.

 

[Mad Dog]

I agree on “yes”, the reason why it hasn’t been a focus in the past is the revolving door ownership and a consistent “forward facing” culture at the studio. If anything I think USF should always feature modern properties why IOA/Park 3 is timeless/past.

Seems like that's been Universal's MO. Constant change at Studios, very little change at IOA. I would guess a part of it is the nature of the rides/attractions.

 

[Tim Lyons]

Some of you seem to have brought up the point that some classics should be featured in the new Universal Cinematic Celebration™ . While some of us seem to think that it is a step in the right direction to not include older properties

As we know, Universal was home to many great attractions when it first opened, and continues to grow and change as a destination

So, should Universal continue to include past attractions and the "Ride the Movies" days in their current offerings so as to build on nostalgia to attract people? or should they continue down the path of using brands that are "hot" to attract people?

So some of you don't like the great Universal properties of the past?

 

[mainejeff]

I'm a bit late to this conversation, but I quickly read through most of the posts. Universal just needs to make great experiences for their guests...period. The ones that bring a smile to our faces, goosebumps on our arms or a tear in our eye are the best and most memorable attractions. We all have our opinion on which ones those might be....but those feelings are pretty universal (no pun intended) ...and the majority rules with our wallets when it comes to theme parks. Bad attractions eventually get weeded out, and that process seems to move quicker these days due to competition and the insatiable appetite for profit.

 

[shiekra38]

Seems like that's been Universal's MO. Constant change at Studios, very little change at IOA. I would guess a part of it is the nature of the rides/attractions.

I see IOA changing quite a bit in the coming years...I think Universal was stuck in a tough spot years ago for studios...They needed to add hot properties to get attention and continue to attract people, while cutting costs due to terrible owners...I think IOA was spared because it was viewed as having a more robust set of offerings

I'll never forget the day I heard someone in the Hulk queue say that they did two days at IOA because the Studios is the "boring park"...I think that is changing

Come to think of it, I think two things may change how Universal views attractions...Comcast's synergy strategy and the new park....I think we may be seeing the first line of the new classics...Potter, Kong, Jurrassic Park/World/Universe, Illumination, Dreamworks, and Nintendo are all very much here to stay

 

[Mad Dog]

I see IOA changing quite a bit in the coming years...I think Universal was stuck in a tough spot years ago for studios...They needed to add hot properties to get attention and continue to attract people, while cutting costs due to terrible owners...I think IOA was spared because it was viewed as having a more robust set of offerings

I'll never forget the day I heard someone in the Hulk queue say that they did two days at IOA because the Studios is the "boring park"...I think that is changing

Come to think of it, I think two things may change how Universal views attractions...Comcast's synergy strategy and the new park....I think we may be seeing the first line of the new classics...Potter, Kong, Jurrassic Park/World/Universe, Illumination, Dreamworks, and Nintendo are all very much here to stay

Yes, but that "Synergy" strategy sure fell flat when they pushed to open sub par F&F attractions in Hollywood & Orlando instead of taking their time and putting a good attraction out there, something that UC actually wanted to do. ...But I do agree they will be using those new classics, but the Universal/NBC executives may be listening to UC's advice now, and avoiding putting junk out there just to coincide with a movie opening in the year or two window. Synergy only works when 'quality' new attractions coincide with the movie IP's.

 

[belloq87]

I'll never forget the day I heard someone in the Hulk queue say that they did two days at IOA because the Studios is the "boring park"...I think that is changing

I think that's debatable. USF has certainly seen dramatic change over the last decade, but I don't think it's been particularly for the better. And not because individual attractions aren't good, but because so many of them are so similar, either to each other or to better rides in IOA.

For me, USF still needs a lot of work to get it up to IOA's level. Nintendo would have dramatically helped in one fell swoop, but that's apparently off the table now.