KidZone Replacement Rumors & Speculation (Pt 2)

[Nick]

It's not an owned ip. Yes they have the store but the new direction is to mainly go with what they got so don't expect it.

2 of the 4 IP lands at EU they don't own the IP...

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

2 of the 4 IP lands at EU they don't own the IP...

Wait till Pokémon and LOTR get added then they only own 1/3 of the park lol

 

[Nick]

This is like saying Disney is competing for the thrill seeker crowd because Rockin Roller Coaster exists.

And all anyone was ever saying about Kidzone was it'd be cool to have ONE ride aimed at the whole family. No one was saying some big land that was nothing but rides. One ride, which tbh, I don't think is much to ask for, considering a major ride that the whole family can ride doesn't exist between IOA or USF except HE and if you're gonna do one, this is the place to do it.

No one was getting hopes up for any of that stuff that obviously wasn't coming. It was a discussion of what we would've liked to see as opposed to what we are likely to get. There's a level of nuance there that everyone seems to have glossed over.

 

[Captain Tragedy]

My nieces will be roughly 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 years old around when this opens. I know my brother and sister in law will be appreciative of an area they can let them tire themselves out. They did that when they took them to Busch gardens Williamsburg last weekend to see the Sesame Street area and kids Halloween stuff. Side note: older niece dressed as Cookie Monster and younger was a cookie. It was adorable.

It’s okay to have a colorful, updated land for that. It’s a perfectly fine upgrade before EU opens. Also ET (my good time boi) still lives.

And now for a little levity. Wanted to post this in the HHN review thread, but it works here too.

 

[shiekra38]

Something like ASS would be great in Kidzone tbh

 

[quinnmac000]

I'm 80% sure one of the IPs for updated kidzone will be Gabby's Playhouse....that was Dreamworks #1 toy selling IP during the pandemic and this year, its also a streaming giant.

These shark fins of performance hint at the series impact across the whole of 2021. It’s fair to say that Gabby’s Dollhouse had a stunning show, particularly given it was running a mere 10 episodes of content until August. In US Nielsen Streaming Ratings it came out as the Top Original for Kids 2–11, beating Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous and even the more established Boss Baby: Back in Business. Within the overall ranking, it rubbed shoulders with household franchises like Peppa Pig and Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, trumping Bluey and PJ Masks.

It holds similar bedfellows in the FlixPatrol Kids Trending Top 10. Here it ranked 2nd for 2021 globally, behind PAW Patrol but ahead of Peppa Pig and even the viewing behemoth that is CoComelon. Looking internationally, FIGSUK data from Digital i has Gabby’s Dollhouse as Netflix’s most popular Kids Original, second only to Peppa Pig in the overall ranking.

 

[Nick]

Yeah, thinking of the likely path they are going to go down with this project, if they just added two flat rides to the area on top of the coaster and then really made the play area something special, then you have a nice and well done redo that does it's job. Parents do go to Kidzone now, but there's just not much to do, which is why one of these flat rides would do so much.

Tbh, i'm not even expecting to get those, but i'd be nice. I think in the end the area will at least look appealing, which you certainly can't say about it right now.

I'm 80% sure one of the IPs for updated kidzone will be Gabby's Playhouse....that was Dreamworks #1 toy selling IP during the pandemic and this year, its also a streaming giant.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Dreamworks has a lot of more notable IPs to get to before they put a Gabby's Playhouse area in the parks. It sold a lot of merch in 2020, great. We'll see how it's doing in 2024. Maybe it gets a spot in the gift shop.

 

[JoeCamel]

So does this mean they put the merry go round in Central Park to fill in during construction?

 

[Nick]

So does this mean they put the merry go round in Central Park to fill in during construction?

I've actually always thought putting a Carousel in the CP area would be a good idea. There's room.

 

[JoeCamel]

I've actually always thought putting a Carousel in the CP area would be a good idea. There's room.

There has been talk in the past

 

[Nico]

I keep thinking about the Universal social media employee that’s had to read this thread today.

 

[Casper Gutman]

I genuinely thought the most recent plans for KZ had a Trolls dark ride in the back spot. When did that get the axe?

I think one of the big problems with KZ is unlikely to be changed by all this - its quite an obscure corner of the park, an almost-hidden cul-de-sac. Even ET suffers from this a bit, and the rest of KZ has it much worse. Without an attraction that draws families in its going to remain a relative backwater even with retheming, doomed to stay an underutilized area based on its geography alone.

 

[Legacy]

I genuinely thought the most recent plans for KZ had a Trolls dark ride in the back spot. When did that get the axe?

I think one of the big problems with KZ is unlikely to be changed by all this - its quite an obscure corner of the park, an almost-hidden cul-de-sac. Even ET suffers from this a bit, and the rest of KZ has it much worse. Without an attraction that draws families in its going to remain a relative backwater even with retheming, doomed to stay an underutilized area based on its geography alone.

We don’t know if it’s gotten the ax. It may be a later addition.

My expectations are in somewhat in-line with the Screamscape rumors. A massive refresh. Maybe some structural changes but no drastic departures from the current layout. More specifically, I don’t expect them to take advantage of the space available where B79 is. Not because nothing is planned, but because it’s not necessary in 2024.

2023 - VillainCon
2024 - Destination DreamWorks redo of KidZone
2025 - EU
(Speculation beyond 2025)
2026 - Something in IoA
2027 - New ride in Destination DreamWorks.
2028 - Phase 2 at EU

Think big picture.

 

[Alicia]

We don’t know if it’s gotten the ax. It may be a later addition.

My expectations are in somewhat in-line with the Screamscape rumors. A massive refresh. Maybe some structural changes but no drastic departures from the current layout. More specifically, I don’t expect them to take advantage of the space available where B79 is. Not because nothing is planned, but because it’s not necessary in 2024.

2023 - VillainCon
2024 - Destination DreamWorks redo of KidZone
2025 - EU
(Speculation beyond 2025)
2026 - Something in IoA
2027 - New ride in Destination DreamWorks.
2028 - Phase 2 at EU

Think big picture.

Yea I mentioned the rumored anchor ride as a possible future expansion today too. It may never happen, but nothing’s stopping them from being to do it if they want to eventually.

 

[Casper Gutman]

We don’t know if it’s gotten the ax. It may be a later addition.

My expectations are in somewhat in-line with the Screamscape rumors. A massive refresh. Maybe some structural changes but no drastic departures from the current layout. More specifically, I don’t expect them to take advantage of the space available where B79 is. Not because nothing is planned, but because it’s not necessary in 2024.

2023 - VillainCon
2024 - Destination DreamWorks redo of KidZone
2025 - EU
(Speculation beyond 2025)
2026 - Something in IoA
2027 - New ride in Destination DreamWorks.
2028 - Phase 2 at EU

Think big picture.

Hey, I'll take that in a second.

On a personal level, I'm just a little wary because for many years Universal seemed to be firing on all cylinders, improving steadily and making every right move. Hagrid - Boom! Bourne - Boom! Velocicoaster - Boom! Then suddenly it seems like the decisions become a lot less inspiring. Villaincon... OK, its a screen-based ride, which the park needs to move away from, and its not really a ride, and its taking up some of the best real estate in the park... but heck, EU is coming, and Shrek is awful, and its something. Then the parade goes away without an immediate replacement... well, losing content is never good, and it was nice to watch over a sandwich at the Today Cafe... but it was old and never spectacular and word is it will eventually get a better replacement. Then the show in Monsterland becomes a small coaster... then the Prop Shop, one of my favorite spots in the park closes... and then the Kidzone announcement, which sees a huge area that had been linked to genuinely exciting makeover plans for years gets an uninspiring redo. Add in the management change, and its enough to make me raise an eyebrow.

Universal spoiled me for years. It did everything right. I freely admit that I'm very prone to jump the gun, having seen my first theme park love, WDW, collapse into mediocrity. I'm almost certainly being unfair, but its hard for me not to hear faint echoes...

 

[Mad Dog]

Hey, I'll take that in a second.

On a personal level, I'm just a little wary because for many years Universal seemed to be firing on all cylinders, improving steadily and making every right move. Hagrid - Boom! Bourne - Boom! Velocicoaster - Boom! Then management changes and it seems like the decisions become a lot less inspiring. Villaincon... OK, its a screen-based ride, which the park needs to move away from, and its not really a ride, and its taking up some of the best real estate in the park... but heck, EU is coming, and Shrek is awful, and its something. Then the parade goes away without an immediate replacement... well, losing content is never good, and it was nice to watch over a sandwich at the Today Cafe... but it was old and never spectacular and word is it will eventually get a better replacement. Then the show in Monsterland becomes a small coaster... then the Prop Shop, one of my favorite spots in the park closes... and then the Kidzone announcement, which sees a huge area that had been linked to genuinely exciting makeover plans for years gets an uninspiring redo.

Universal spoiled me for years. It did everything right. I freely admit that I'm very prone to jump the gun, having seen my first theme park love, WDW, collapse into mediocrity. I'm almost certainly being unfair, but its hard for me not to hear faint echoes...

It will be interesting to see what the new management regime does over time. I believe the Minions attraction was conceived before their time. But some of the other stuff, especially not addressing capacity issues and closing the parade down before they needed to, bear watching. It's too early to castigate them, but they obviously need to correct the capacity issues, and opening those closed theaters would help. And, why shut down the parade, during a tremendously crowded 2022, before a new one was ready is a bit baffling.

 

[Nico]

Hey, I'll take that in a second.

On a personal level, I'm just a little wary because for many years Universal seemed to be firing on all cylinders, improving steadily and making every right move. Hagrid - Boom! Bourne - Boom! Velocicoaster - Boom! Then suddenly it seems like the decisions become a lot less inspiring. Villaincon... OK, its a screen-based ride, which the park needs to move away from, and its not really a ride, and its taking up some of the best real estate in the park... but heck, EU is coming, and Shrek is awful, and its something. Then the parade goes away without an immediate replacement... well, losing content is never good, and it was nice to watch over a sandwich at the Today Cafe... but it was old and never spectacular and word is it will eventually get a better replacement. Then the show in Monsterland becomes a small coaster... then the Prop Shop, one of my favorite spots in the park closes... and then the Kidzone announcement, which sees a huge area that had been linked to genuinely exciting makeover plans for years gets an uninspiring redo.

Universal spoiled me for years. It did everything right. I freely admit that I'm very prone to jump the gun, having seen my first theme park love, WDW, collapse into mediocrity. I'm almost certainly being unfair, but its hard for me not to hear faint echoes...

See I just read that list and my immediate thought was, damn they are really making an investment into Studios.

Replacing a 20 year ride, remodeling a row of stores in a land, new restaurant, Mummy updates, now, Kidzone. That’s a pretty good list sprucing up the place before EU gets online.

 

[Nick]

It will be interesting to see what the new management regime does over time. I believe the Minions attraction was conceived before their time. But some of the other stuff, especially not addressing capacity issues and closing the parade down before they needed to, bear watching. It's too early to castigate them, but they obviously need to correct the capacity issues, and opening those closed theaters would help. And, why shut down the parade, during a tremendously crowded 2022, before a new one was ready is a bit baffling.

A new parade is not planned as of now. Management is a much bigger fan of using entertainment money on street entertainment/shows around the park.

 

[Nico]

It will be interesting to see what the new management regime does over time. I believe the Minions attraction was conceived before their time. But some of the other stuff, especially not addressing capacity issues and closing the parade down before they needed to, bear watching. It's too early to castigate them, but they obviously need to correct the capacity issues, and opening those closed theaters would help. And, why shut down the parade, during a tremendously crowded 2022, before a new one was ready is a bit baffling.

Is it that baffling though? Capacity Issues = the Parks are packed. Having a parade run through that amount of people causes crowding and further logistics issues. We saw what removing it did for HHN. The same philosophy applies for day guests

 

[Mad Dog]

A new parade is not planned as of now. Management is a much bigger fan of using entertainment money on street entertainment/shows around the park.

They did add one street show, that probably attracts 50 to 100 people a showing.,and credit to them for that. But that was just a small drop in the bucket concerning capacity problems. A Parade ties up a huge number (thousands) of guests for about an hour if you add in getting a seat and waiting time......(Nico) Capacity issues=attraction lines are long. A Parade takes people out of those lines. Though the attraction lines are long during the day, generally streets aren't clogged like they are for HHN.