Universal's Epic Universe Construction Thread

[Tyc00n96]

Construction trailers?

 

[OrlLover]

More disappointing is the budget-hacked theming on the mansion facade compared to the model.

Fill me in.

What’s the biggest difference ??

 

[belloq87]

Fill me in.

What’s the biggest difference ??

Look at the pictures in the tweets I quoted.

Large windows facing into the extended queue area, and much more theming on the covered section of that extended queue connecting to the facade.

 

[Steptwice]

Just a random thought, but I REALLLY hope Uni did there best to hide their show buildings. My “concerns” are looking at the Dark Manor to the right, walking to SNW from celestial park and seing the MK building to the left and then lastly the theater building of Dragon. I hope I am all completely wrong !

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Hopefully it rarely gets used…

*looks at Gringotts*

Yeah if something needs to be downsized for budget reallocation I'd rather it be an extended queue.

Just a random thought, but I REALLLY hope Uni did there best to hide their show buildings. My “concerns” are looking at the Dark Manor to the right, walking to SNW from celestial park and seing the MK building to the left and then lastly the theater building of Dragon. I hope I am all completely wrong !

Let's wait till we're standing in the park before we're writing it off. I'm having flashbacks to the "the paths around Hagrid will ruin the ride" based only on bio's pics.

 

[Mad Dog]

Yes. Let's give time for foliage to grow in....and remember that ground view is a hell of a lot different than view from above. Foliage in Florida grows fast.

 

[OrlLover]

Just a random thought, but I REALLLY hope Uni did there best to hide their show buildings. My “concerns” are looking at the Dark Manor to the right, walking to SNW from celestial park and seing the MK building to the left and then lastly the theater building of Dragon. I hope I am all completely wrong !

I definitely believe the MK show building is hidden from inside the park.

 

[Scott W.]

Just a random thought, but I REALLLY hope Uni did there best to hide their show buildings. My “concerns” are looking at the Dark Manor to the right, walking to SNW from celestial park and seing the MK building to the left and then lastly the theater building of Dragon. I hope I am all completely wrong !

Standing in front of the entrance, you'll see this:


Given all the trees there already, I think it will be mildly visible. Give it a year and you'll really have to look for it.

As for the MK building, it would be currently but this is a major access point into CP as construction continues. Throw a few trees in there and it should be fine.

Sight lines and back of house stuff, HTTYD is going to be rough in places.

 

[Steptwice]

*looks at Gringotts*

Yeah if something needs to be downsized for budget reallocation I'd rather it be an extended queue.



Let's wait till we're standing in the park before we're writing it off. I'm having flashbacks to the "the paths around Hagrid will ruin the ride" based only on bio's pics.

Of course. Dont think my post was “writing it off” Just hoping for the best, based on Uni’s track record.

 

[Rhian]

It's going to be nice not baking in the sun!


Love the ivy being painted on the BoM ride facade. Really cool to see how large the buildings are when someone's standing in it.


On the subject of model vs reality I wish the roofs here were more like frosted glass. Kinda feels like it's heavy on the green color. I wonder if they're still planning on putting trees in the center of the doughnut holes?


The shiny orbs near the coaster are cool. Interesting observation from Bio here. No idea if there's a way to fix that because the track is going to look rough there by the end of the the year since it looks like the rest of the paint isn't wearing down the same way. I think this means that we're going to feel some positive Gs in this spot.


There was concern sometime ago about the black tarps put around the werewolf coaster and it looks like they were temporary. New themed nets are going in! Looks great!

-


It looks like there might be a lot of vehicular traffic through this backstage area? I noticed the painted area the looks like it's meant to tell people to walk on that section of the road. It doesn't look like it shows up in other areas, or at least that I found at the moment.

Sight lines and back of house stuff, HTTYD is going to be rough in places.

I think some of those trees will get to be quite tall, just needs time. I agree there are a few spots that won't be perfect though.

Look at the pictures in the tweets I quoted.

Large windows facing into the extended queue area, and much more theming on the covered section of that extended queue connecting to the facade.

It could be in a few years that it's not used as much and as great as it would be to have that detail, it'll be a waste if a majority of visitors never see it.

I hope the show building gets painted up though! It would feel incomplete if it's left like that.

 

[DrStarlander]

Yes. Let's give time for foliage to grow in....and remember that ground view is a hell of a lot different than view from above. Foliage in Florida grows fast.

Totally agree the foliage will help, but the current light beige color of the Monsters Unchained building will "pop" visually behind foliage for years...even at night it will reflect overall ambient light and be unnecessarily visible whereas a dark gray wouldn't.

The use of "go away" colors for show buildings is so common, and based on the model, it really makes me think a trope l'oeil texture/mural is still coming. This land and attraction is so highly anticipated it's hard for me to imagine them letting this detraction slide.

Maybe they've been holding off because putting scaffolding around the show building would block access needed while finishing the attraction interior. Just wildly speculating and hoping.

 

[Legacy]

Now that there is an opening date (with tickets sold), all construction has to be focused on front of house to meet that deadline. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are numerous finishing touches getting worked back of house (including show buildings) for a couple of months after 22 May.

 

[Steptwice]

Totally agree the foliage will help, but the current light beige color of the Monsters Unchained building will "pop" visually behind foliage for years...even at night it will reflect overall ambient light and be unnecessarily visible whereas a dark gray wouldn't.

The use of "go away" colors for show buildings is so common, and based on the model, it really makes me think a trope l'oeil texture/mural is still coming. This land and attraction is so highly anticipated it's hard for me to imagine them letting this detraction slide.

Maybe they've been holding off because putting scaffolding around the show building would block access needed while finishing the attraction interior. Just wildly speculating and hoping.

Careful, this board may get ya for “writing it off” on Uni’s abikity to hide show buildings..

 

[Brian G.]

Careful, this board may get ya for “writing it off” on Uni’s abikity to hide show buildings..

C’mon now.

 

[fryoj]

Construction trailers?

I'd say they are going to start consolidating all the trailers in the expansion plot between Nintendo and Monsters into that spot so they can start cleaning it up. Could be a sign that they are going to start working in that area next, or just could be to make it easier to manage things from a central location as projects get wrapped.

However, considering they set this up on the Monster's expansion plot, I think that's a very strong indicator that that plot isn't planned to be going under construction any time soon.

 

[Alicia]

However, considering they set this up on the Monster's expansion plot, I think that's a very strong indicator that that plot isn't planned to be going under construction any time soon.

This was my first thought as well.

 

[DrStarlander]

However, considering they set this up on the Monster's expansion plot, I think that's a very strong indicator that that plot isn't planned to be going under construction any time soon.

Fine. They can put the trailers there for now. But eventually they'll have to move to make way for Dark Mountain

 

[DarkMetroid567]

Careful, this board may get ya for “writing it off” on Uni’s abikity to hide show buildings..

It’s ultimately not worth worrying about. We know from Beijing that Universal doesn’t care about sightlines, and expecting there to be some faults with Epic’s sightlines is probably the way to go so we can hopefully be pleasantly surprised in a few months.

 

[12th Man]

It’s ultimately not worth worrying about. We know from Beijing that Universal doesn’t care about sightlines, and expecting there to be some faults with Epic’s sightlines is probably the way to go so we can hopefully be pleasantly surprised in a few months.

We shall see. Some areas in particular look to have been very thoughtful in how they handle sightlines and back-of-house areas (walls of trees at the HTTYD/WWoHP portals, vegetation to the right of the Monsters facade, all of SNW, Butterbeer billboard in WWoHP, etc.), but others not so much. I don’t think it will be too much of an issue, as the creative teams have put years of planning and development into this, but some areas such as the backside of the WWoHP facades and MK show building from Celestial Park, the left side of the Monsters facade from the pathways around Wolfman/Burning Blade Tavern, and a couple of areas on the right side of HTTYD are a bit concerning to me. @Scott W. could we possibly get sat. ground view angles of these?

Obviously, the average guest will not even register most of the nerdy concerns we’re bringing up here, but I truly think the execution is what sets apart good themed design from great themed design. The park as a whole looks like an absolute home run in almost every way—let’s just see if they execute on these details.

 

[Frank Drackman]

We shall see. Some areas in particular look to have been very thoughtful in how they handle sightlines and back-of-house areas (walls of trees at the HTTYD/WWoHP portals, vegetation to the right of the Monsters facade, all of SNW, Butterbeer billboard in WWoHP, etc.), but others not so much. I don’t think it will be too much of an issue, as the creative teams have put years of planning and development into this, but some areas such as the backside of the WWoHP facades and MK show building from Celestial Park, the left side of the Monsters facade from the pathways around Wolfman/Burning Blade Tavern, and a couple of areas on the right side of HTTYD are a bit concerning to me. @Scott W. could we possibly get sat. ground view angles of these?

Obviously, the average guest will not even register most of the nerdy concerns we’re bringing up here, but I truly think the execution is what sets apart good themed design from great themed design. The park as a whole looks like an absolute home run in almost every way—let’s just see if they execute on these details.

I enjoy sightlines and such, but I really don't fault seeing show buildings and such (if there are other things drawing my eyes away from them). To me, I think if I look across a lake and the only thing catching my eye is a light blue building, well that is more poorly done than a building where I am peeking through foliage to see.

I think framing matters in art, if my eyes are naturally pulled away from a problem area is it really a problem or am I being too picky? I think the details in this park will draw my eyes away from the issues folks here seem to think will be present.

This park also seems like it will have a different look during the night than during the day. I mean maybe it is not cool to see the racers from Berk during the day, but what does it add when commits are flying around while dragons move around? I think the kinetics of the area will keep my eyes busy. I think I will be able to frame my photos to avoid an odd wall here or there.