An 'Attraction' Every Year?

[Ryan]

Just a thought here, but if those rumors are true about sound stages going where WoTW and the Square of Warriors, maybe they could use those as replacement sound stages. That way, they can re-purpose the sound stages by the lower lot for new rides. It's be a good place to bring back the E.T. Adventure in 2.0 form.

Hey, maybe they could even use Stage 28 for the expanded and relocated "Universal Experience" museum. That could also open up a new venue for HHN.

That should be the other way around. There's no way they'd fit a maze in that teeny, tiny space.

 

[Freak]

That should be the other way around. There's no way they'd fit a maze in that teeny, tiny space.

I was saying that they could use the stage for a house venue and for a museum at the same time. It's pretty large.

 

[Allen The Actor]

If they do make new Sound Stages elsewhere on the property, I'd love for USH to take over the adjacent soundstages by the Mummy and Transformers for new rides.

 

[William]

I think they should do something about evening out the attraction count in the Upper and Lower lots. Right now we have 3 major rides in the Lower Lot, and only 1 in the Upper Lot. By the time Potter comes to town, we'll have 3 in the Lower Lot, and 5 in the Upper Lot (and that's excluding shows and HoH). I realize it's tough given the park's footprint, but it can be an inconvenience for guests to have to go up and down the StarWay several times.

 

[Ryan]

 

If they do make new Sound Stages elsewhere on the property, I'd love for USH to take over the adjacent soundstages by the Mummy and Transformers for new rides.

I doubt it. Stage 28 is sacred, and the SS to the right of Transformers were just remodeled last year as a revolving place to shoot television pilots, and currently hosts Parenthood as well as the dressing rooms for Sean Saves the World. (you can see the added balcony and dressing rooms when you climb down to the trams during HHN) Next to it is the digital stage, with contains a massive green screen that stretches all around it. (the UDS logo is visible, this just past the prior ones)

There are a couple ones by Jurassic, including SS 12 which is one of the world's largest and currently contains The Voice... not sure if they'd dump that one. And of course, CSI films on the soundstages next to 28, visible from the TF extended queue.

I'm not saying its impossible, but from my vantage point Universal has not made an effort to dump those specific stages. I think there is a few fairly unimportant ones that if they wanted to, they could use, right behind Jurassic Cafe.

 

[Allen The Actor]

Well, my idea was of course LONG term. Like...in the next 20 years. Universal has enough to space within the existing footprint of the park right now to work with I think. And I forgot to mention, I obviously wouldn't touch SS28 But everything else can be replaced/moved elsewhere with a better and larger SS in the distant future to allow for park expansion on the lower lot. I know the surrounding Sound Stages are important, but besides SS28, I can see them building bigger and better soundstages elsewhere on the property, as is (I believe) outlined somewhere on the expansion plan a few times.

 

[Jon Fu]

I know the surrounding Sound Stages are important, but besides SS28, I can see them building bigger and better soundstages elsewhere on the property, as is (I believe) outlined somewhere on the expansion plan a few times.

I really don't. I mean, in the end, it's a soundstage. There's not much you can improve upon, and I don't think the market is looking for bigger buildings. If you want to look at the future of film-making, take a glance of UVS1. Brover mentioned the soundstage in his post, but should Universal retrofit its soundstages, this is probably what they're going to look like.


http://www.entertainmentdp.com/projects/uvs1-los-angeles/


Remember, while sets excluding the Metropolitan area don't see as much action as they used to, the soundstages themselves are still used on a daily basis. For Universal Studios, the benefit is already there. Why bother building new structures when their existing setup is already making a return?

 

[Allen The Actor]

Ok, well, I'm going off of what's on the expansion plan, which calls for new and improved studio facilities. The new sound stages don't have to be bigger. Make them the same size if you'd like...the improvement would be the location of the soundstages. Making them updated would help as well.

The point is that it would be a double win. Put the sound stages elsewhere on the property, as is apparently planned, and use the current stages next to and around JP and Transfomers for theme park expansion. Not all of them, but a few.

And while more green screen soundstages would be good, that's not the point of what Universal is trying to accomplish. The reason that the physical sets and sound stages have been used less recently is because of the bad tax incentives for studios and production companies to film in California/LA recently. That's why they're filming so much out of state, especially in Canada. There's going to (apparently) be more new laws and incentives in place to get productions to come back to Los Angeles. Universal is going to be helping that movement, with newer and better facilities and new sets. As an actor, I really hope this gets off the ground more and more, as I really want filming to take place here in LA.

 

[William]

There's clearly a tough war here between filming and entertainment. That's the curse we got when we decided to be a theme park attached to a movie studio!

 

[Allen The Actor]

Yeah, absolutely, but if Universal is clever enough, I feel that over time, they could be more evenly split between the park and the studio. Over time, of course.

 

[William]

That's why I got a bit excited when I first heard of the rumor regarding them acquiring the golf club. That would allow more space for the movie studio portion to move down a bit, and enable the theme park to expand some more. Then again, there are several other issues that would've come along with that.

 

[BehindTheTheme]

Expansion in the lowerlot would only work if th UE was removed and TF vault was moved next to the ride building, with out that bottle necking would happen and the layout would be horrible. I do hope for that to happen and even thought sound stages are currently making money so was Gibson even though it wasnt as great as it used to.

 

[William]

Expansion in the lowerlot would only work if th UE was removed and TF vault was moved next to the ride building, with out that bottle necking would happen and the layout would be horrible. I do hope for that to happen and even thought sound stages are currently making money so was Gibson even though it wasnt as great as it used to.

The Transformers Supply Vault is placed the way it is so that riders exiting the Transformers building can't miss the entrance to the Supply Vault. If it were placed beside the show building, guests exiting probably wouldn't spot it.

 

[Red Carpet]

Here is my updated version of my five year prediction.

2014: Despicable Me and Sringfield

2015: Studio tour makeover that includes three new tram animations plus new sets

2016: Harry Potter

2017: New show to replace Shrek

2018: New ride to replace Mummy

 

[Allen The Actor]

Three tram animations? That's very ambitious! Would be wonderful, but I won't expect more than 1 or two Kong sized additions.

And I think I can confidently say Mummy won't be going anywhere. Anything is possible, but the Mummy is a much needed thrill and coaster ride, And Universal won't give up it's one major coaster ride. I can only see them retheming it to something else or updating it based on the new Mummy movies, but the actual ride won't leave.

 

[William]

I wouldn't even expect a retheme in the near future. Like Allen mentioned, the reboot of the Mummy movies make it even more likely that ROTM will still be staying for awhile. Whether or not the reboot sucks, it'll just serve as more advertising for the new ride (and vice versa).

 

[Red Carpet]

The argument that the new Mummy movie would prevent the Mummy ride from going away would be stronger if the movie is a sequel rather than a reboot. A sequel is a sign that the studio thinks current series is fine the way it is. A reboot indicates that that the studio thinks a franchise needs to go in a different direction to stay relevant with the current audience.

 

[Allen The Actor]

Not necessarily... The previous Mummy movies were a trilogy....it was pretty successful for Universal, and very popular. Yes, they can keep the current series alive (let's have a Mummy of Lenin or Hitler. Talk about scary), but a reboot just means they'd like to go in a different artistic direction with the topic. And whatever the new movie portrays, I'm confident they can incorporate the existing coaster.

 

[Miss Betty Juice]

The argument that the new Mummy movie would prevent the Mummy ride from going away would be stronger if the movie is a sequel rather than a reboot. A sequel is a sign that the studio thinks current series is fine the way it is. A reboot indicates that that the studio thinks a franchise needs to go in a different direction to stay relevant with the current audience.

Not necessarily true. Sometimes they just want to breathe new life in with a different cast. But I think the ride is safe for quite some time.

 

[UniversalStudiosGeek]

Three tram animations? That's very ambitious! Would be wonderful, but I won't expect more than 1 or two Kong sized additions.

And I think I can confidently say Mummy won't be going anywhere. Anything is possible, but the Mummy is a much needed thrill and coaster ride, And Universal won't give up it's one major coaster ride. I can only see them retheming it to something else or updating it based on the new Mummy movies, but the actual ride won't leave.

Well there could be a possibility it would go because by 2018 they'll have FJ and Hippogriff and figure they can do something else for Mummy.