Oh great…you’re back……
CityWalk Orlando Updates & Changes General Thread
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- Feb 15, 2012
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I was expecting to have to answer why complaining about a shop that stayed open longer than designed is not bad and actually good progress but I'll keep that in my back pocket.
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- Nov 9, 2019
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I think it’s sad to see the Legacy store go for sure, but everyone needs to understand how important that preview center is to exposing GP to Epic Universe.
I think we’ll likely see it again someday, (although maybe a different iteration.) it was a nice place to stroll through from time to time.
Also, yeah I fully expect them to push Epic Universe “Preview Merchandise” in the Preview center. Similar to HHN’s preview merch situation, everyone will find value in any preview they care to show through merch, models, etc.
If they are planning on opening the center in June-July of 2024, that means they will likely have to start dropping announcements and unveil most of the park in order to have the Preview Center show off a good variety of the offerings available at EU.
I think we’ll likely see it again someday, (although maybe a different iteration.) it was a nice place to stroll through from time to time.
Also, yeah I fully expect them to push Epic Universe “Preview Merchandise” in the Preview center. Similar to HHN’s preview merch situation, everyone will find value in any preview they care to show through merch, models, etc.
If they are planning on opening the center in June-July of 2024, that means they will likely have to start dropping announcements and unveil most of the park in order to have the Preview Center show off a good variety of the offerings available at EU.
Another thing just hit me with the Legacy Store, and it's why I haven't been too bummed it's closing. As far as I recall, the store was always marked as temporary. Ever since it opened, it was always in the back of my head this is temporary, so it's gonna' eventually go and it's time has finally come.
And a very important thing to remember is Universal can very well treat temporary as temporary, it's not Disney's form of temporary which is more of a suggestion. (Lookin' at you, Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the BatB show in DHS.)
And a very important thing to remember is Universal can very well treat temporary as temporary, it's not Disney's form of temporary which is more of a suggestion. (Lookin' at you, Voyage of the Little Mermaid and the BatB show in DHS.)
I bring this up a bit on here but for those who haven't heard it; I work with people literally building set pieces for the new park and have no clue any actual details about Epic Universe and probably don't even know the park's real name (just internal code names). People like us on this forum are WAY more plugged into the upcoming park than the regular person.
I'm sorry, I know @Brian G. essentially asked to move on, but I think this is way, way out of line and totally unnecessary.
If you have a problem with me, @Parkscope Joe, I would much prefer you take it up with me in private instead of resorting to this.
I’m sorry, Belloq. The Holidays kinda side tracked the mods and I today and we should’ve handled it better.
It is funny, I gave my kids their gift of annual passes this morning for Christmas and my 13 year old goes "They are building a new park which will have How to Train a Dragon". Ummm... how they heck do you know that? I guess a Universal creative person was in their Engineering class. Surprised they would talk about unannounced lands. I really need to ask her more questions of what this person said to their class. It was during present opening so I couldn't really get a lot of info from her. So I guess some do know about the new park 
ETA: on the way to universal I asked more questions and she said he didn't actually say the lands. He went over a bunch of technology they are using in the parks including Epic and stuff on VR and other stuff since this is a technology class that she is taking (this year focuses on electrical engineering, last year was biology and next is robotics), but that she and other researched the new park afterwards to then discover what is in it.
ETA: on the way to universal I asked more questions and she said he didn't actually say the lands. He went over a bunch of technology they are using in the parks including Epic and stuff on VR and other stuff since this is a technology class that she is taking (this year focuses on electrical engineering, last year was biology and next is robotics), but that she and other researched the new park afterwards to then discover what is in it.
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But when told directly by the folks building it, love itIt is funny, I gave my kids their gift of annual passes this morning for Christmas and my 13 year old goes "They are building a new park which will have How to Train a Dragon". Ummm... how they heck do you know that? I guess a Universal creative person was in their Engineering class. Surprised they would talk about unannounced lands. I really need to ask her more questions of what this person said to their class. It was during present opening so I couldn't really get a lot of info from her. So I guess some do know about the new park
- Dec 28, 2009
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There's something irreplaceable about being physically in a place. Being able to say "I was there when…" is a lot better than saying you saw something online. You may not feel the same but there's certainly a sizeable chunk of people who do. That said, unless they regularly follow theme park entusiasts many vacationers usually won't find out anything new about the parks until the time they're getting ready to book their trip. (There's also something to be said about today's social media atmosphere and growing reluctance to interact with it on top of algorithm filtering, but not the point I'm trying to make.)
For Universal Epic Universe (still find it weird writing it out without the 's but I digress) I hope they have something similar to what was done for Universal Island of Adventure.
For reference of the original preview center for newbies and lurkers:
There's also an IU IoA preview center thread here with a post from where the video below was linked:
Granted I'm local so I find it easier to say but I would absolutely make a trip to go see something like this in person. I can't imagine Universal won't be rolling out everything they have when they ramp up advertising. I really hope that includes another model of the new park in a more accessible spot.
Their official site still doesn't have anything about EU on it. When Universal's site updates with a banner saying "get ready for something epic" on the landing page more of the general public will start to catch on.
Shrek came back really fast. There's still hope for Jaws!
I passed through into the Legacy Store on a few different visits, specifically to look at the legacy stuff. I never got to visit the IoA preview center but seeing the construction photos and other memorabilia was always nice to see. What is a shame is that those items will go back into storage until who knows when.
This is wishful thinking: It would be cool to have the preview center be a walkthrough from past to present to future. Something like having the first room being dedicated to their legacy and present parks so it would include some of these things, and then lead into all the new stuff for EU. Construction photos on top of ground-level shots of the portals (can we call them Portals of Entry?
) would be a dream. I really hope they bring back the hourglass or something like it as a tease as well.In any case I'm looking forward to the new preview center more than I am sad at the loss of the Legacy Store. I'll definitely be there in person too!
If I were Universal, I'd almost be more concerned about having the preview center there in some form after Epic opens. Just in case visitors still don't get it (like Escape) having a huge walk-in advert/explainer on the main campus seems pretty smart to me.
Having the consumer take the proactive role of seeking out the information is not how marketing works.
- Jul 24, 2018
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IMO opinion, I always saw the legacy store as a temporary shop that overstayed its location. A legacy store is a great idea for an in-park location at USF, but at CityWalk it didn't feel natural to the CityWalk ambience.
As for the social media vs. physical presence, that's millions of visitors that would see this store and post online about it. As long as Universal associates Mario with the Epic Park in their marketing, they'll be fine. I'd imagine every single billboard in Orlando will have EU billboards in 2025. The new tribute store location at MCO would also do well as a mini-Epic preview/vacation center as well.
Sometime next year or in 2025 we should also be getting more concrete details on the Universal Brightline station, which could lead to a nice partnership between Brightline and Universal to create vacation/travel packages for SoFL residents.
As for the social media vs. physical presence, that's millions of visitors that would see this store and post online about it. As long as Universal associates Mario with the Epic Park in their marketing, they'll be fine. I'd imagine every single billboard in Orlando will have EU billboards in 2025. The new tribute store location at MCO would also do well as a mini-Epic preview/vacation center as well.
Sometime next year or in 2025 we should also be getting more concrete details on the Universal Brightline station, which could lead to a nice partnership between Brightline and Universal to create vacation/travel packages for SoFL residents.
- May 26, 2010
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My thought is if Mario, Toothless, Frankenstein, and Harry are allowed to be in the marquee for this preview center, people will absolutely take the time to go inside.
Not only will most take the time to go in, but many people will post on social media about it. I personally think a preview center is absolutely the way to go with social media because now not only will that one person find out about the new park, but every person that follows them will now know about the park.
- Jul 24, 2018
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Not only that, but ESPECIALLY vloggers.
Tim Tracker posts a video of this preview center, it's going to get a LOT of eyes on it for people that aren't going to the parks.
- Aug 7, 2018
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Tim Tracker and Resort TV 1 alone will get at least, I’d guess 250k people to even see the store online. Add in other vloggers, social media influencers, and normal hotel guests. It’ll be known what this is.
Luckily Google now exists, so people can easily go online and check that out if they wish.
Luckily Google now exists, so people can easily go online and check that out if they wish.
