Are Shows Universal?

[MAC]

I think only producing highly technical, expensive to run shows, is a recipe for failure. You should and can mix smaller / simpler productions, with bigger.

I think in a perfect world, sure. However, those of us on these forums can appreciate the balance and the history that comes with some of these shows. Your standard guests who come once every five years is going to say ‘I have seen Beetlejuice and that was fine, but Untrainable Dragon is something else and I must see that again’

I don’t have access to the guest satisfaction scores, but I can see when you compare Bourne to AA, Bourne is through the roof in comparison and thus, has higher repeatablity scores.

 

[Evan]

I think in a perfect world, sure. However, those of us on these forums can appreciate the balance and the history that comes with some of these shows. Your standard guests who come once every five years is going to say ‘I have seen Beetlejuice and that was fine, but Untrainable Dragon is something else and I must see that again’

I don’t have access to the guest satisfaction scores, but I can see when you compare Bourne to AA, Bourne is through the roof in comparison and thus, has higher repeatablity scores.

I want to be clear, I am not saying just bring back Beetlejuice. I meant bring back entertainment like that. Smaller stage shows absolutely have value. One plus is they are cheaper and easier to update/replace seasonally.

You can keep your big "everyone must see Untrainable" shows, and also offer smaller theatrical experiences, that are continuously changing every few years.

 

[Jwhee]

Yeah, having the FFL stage exist solely to be a venue for Nightmare Fuel at HHN is pretty sad ngl. I mean, they never even touched the set. It's a huge venue and has the potential to be a big draw. I suppose they've been so busy with their other projects Uni hasn't had time to touch it yet. Hopefully, it's next on the menu followed by AA.

At the HHN Media event, I did give Mike Aiello my thoughts on running the Wild West Stunt Show as a seasonal summer attraction

They can absolutely look at Animal Actors and say it doesn’t draw a crowd. They can look at Bourne and say the same thing. They can look at any of their hotel restaurants that aren’t fully booked every night. They can look at Movie Escape or their karaoke bar. I shouldn’t be able to walk into Bar Helios or Bar 17 at nearly any time and get a table.

IMO, the larger problem at UOR is how difficult they make it to actually find information. The app sucks. The lack of good signage, physical maps, and a proper times guide puts a damper on things. Their barrage of signs along the road advertising Bourne and Animal Actors is a joke.

Universal historically never had a major problem filling their shows, and now here we are.The problem isn't the product itself, but rather how poorly they’re communicating that the product even exists

 

[DOOMBOT]

I think ideally you'd want a show that can draw people in and wow them without a near constant risk of a prop or performer or curtain faulting the system and needing to show-dump for the fourth time today.

 

[Mad Dog]

At the HHN Media event, I did give Mike Aiello my thoughts on running the Wild West Stunt Show as a seasonal summer attraction

They can absolutely look at Animal Actors and say it doesn’t draw a crowd. They can look at Bourne and say the same thing. They can look at any of their hotel restaurants that aren’t fully booked every night. They can look at Movie Escape or their karaoke bar. I shouldn’t be able to walk into Bar Helios or Bar 17 at nearly any time and get a table.

IMO, the larger problem at UOR is how difficult they make it to actually find information. The app sucks. The lack of good signage, physical maps, and a proper times guide puts a damper on things. Their barrage of signs along the road advertising Bourne and Animal Actors is a joke.

Universal historically never had a major problem filling their shows, and now here we are.The problem isn't the product itself, but rather how poorly they’re communicating that the product even exists

Excellent points. Bring back the paper maps and paper show time schedules. The app is clumsy, confusing and takes forever to find some of the stuff. Paper maps and time schedules are faster and easier. They're good enough for WDW. Not everyone wants to have their faces in their phones all day at the parks. To combat that, I've handwritten the show times from Universal's site in advance and taken that to the parks for quicker easier access. Guess what happened though. On my June vacation they did, day of, schedule changes of some of the shows, cutting down the number of shows. Universal has this bad habit of not committing fully to shows, making it difficult to get times, and then moan when they don't have a full house.

 

[MAC]

I want to be clear, I am not saying just bring back Beetlejuice. I meant bring back entertainment like that. Smaller stage shows absolutely have value. One plus is they are cheaper and easier to update/replace seasonally.

You can keep your big "everyone must see Untrainable" shows, and also offer smaller theatrical experiences, that are continuously changing every few years.

Understood. Was just using that as an example. As much as I wouldn’t mind Beetlejuice show every now and then

I think HMU fills that smaller theatrical experience. So it’s a matter of, can we do something more with it. And I don’t think AA could. If you’re going to go away from cutting-edge show, which is fine, you’ve got to have something that is just as enjoyable for the guests. HMU does that quite well and those would fit very well compared to AA.

 

[Mad Dog]

I hope the Animal Actors scenario doesn't play out like PF at Lost Continent (IOA). PF had to be shut down due to complications from the hurricane that had hit a few months earlier. I recall saying that I feared this would be a long gap before a replacement, and the area would sit idle for some years. I got a lot of pushback from posters who said I was being overly pessimistic and they were confident that Zelda, or something similar, would soon start construction to replace it. Well, PF was just finally leveled last month. LC was a hole in the park's lineup all this time and is probably three more years until the replacement, rumored Pokemon, opens. Hope something replaces AA soon, but Universal has a pretty bad MO when it comes to live entertainment closings, Thus my concern and lack of trust..

I love the Universal layout, and especially the Loews hotel resorts. I probably spend more money at Universal Orlando than just about anyone on this site. But I'm not going to be a Universal cheerleader and wave the pompoms like a few here do. Sometimes I really doubt their judgement and sincerity. Of course, businesses will be businesses, but some value their customers more than others.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Do they not understand it’s weird for customers paying these prices to see a ton of things closed??? No work walls, no tease of the future replacement (cause often times, nothing is soon), it’s weird as a consumer. I’d rather half a park be a construction site than just seeing empty buildings, that at least makes me excited for the future.