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Dark Universe - General Discussion Thread

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brian G.
  • Start date Start date Jan 30, 2024
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Brian G.

Brian G.

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  • Mar 19, 2025
  • #1,501
ParadoxPortals said:
This isn't concept art. It's an officially-published visual render of the whole park, created towards the end of the park's construction, meant to be accurate to the final version of the park, so that Universal Creative can do digital flythroughs to figure out sightlines, attraction placement, guest flow, ETC. If you look back at actual concept art from 2019 or later, you will see differences (IE the cancelled Dark Universe theatre show, different building placements, ETC).

Disney does this exact same thing internally too, they just don't often publish it for marketing. We see their domed screens Imagineering uses for digital park flythroughs in Disney+'s The Imagineering Story. It's disingenuous to knock Disney and praise Universal as if they operate differently and one is somehow more competent than the other.

People forget concept art is supposed to be "concepts" of what a planned attraction could be like, and are not the final product, though I do share grievances at how some art reveals how budgets and lack of ambition can lead to worse products than promised.

I keep seeing *some* Epic fans misinformed about how the themed entertainment industry works and seemingly wilfully obtuse about themed entertainment criticism; I see a continued narrative perpetuated by people like Wallin Ballin on Twitter that somehow Epic Universe is gonna be a game-changing, world's best theme park. Don't get me wrong, Epic is gonna be *really good* and fun when it opens, but I don't see how by any conceivable metric that it's supposed to be artistically more impressive and grand in scale than legendary parks like the Efteling and Tokyo DisneySea.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, the hyperbole is going to get worse. There’s going to be tribalism on both sides, and goal posts will be moved heavily.

I expect Epic to be awesome, but also have shortcomings, because no park is perfect, especially at opening. Even the “holy grail” of DisneySea had some.

At the end of the day, what matters is did you have fun?
 
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Alicia

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Really curious is Unchained opens today, or if it will remain closed again like yesterday. I’m rooting for ya buddy.
 
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ParadoxPortals said:
This isn't concept art. It's an officially-published visual render of the whole park, created towards the end of the park's construction, meant to be accurate to the final version of the park, so that Universal Creative can do digital flythroughs to figure out sightlines, attraction placement, guest flow, ETC. If you look back at actual concept art from 2019 or later, you will see differences (IE the cancelled Dark Universe theatre show, different building placements, ETC).

Disney does this exact same thing internally too, they just don't often publish it for marketing. We see their domed screens Imagineering uses for digital park flythroughs in Disney+'s The Imagineering Story. It's disingenuous to knock Disney and praise Universal as if they operate differently and one is somehow more competent than the other.

People forget concept art is supposed to be "concepts" of what a planned attraction could be like, and are not the final product, though I do share grievances at how some art reveals how budgets and lack of ambition can lead to worse products than promised.

I keep seeing *some* Epic fans misinformed about how the themed entertainment industry works and seemingly wilfully obtuse about themed entertainment criticism; I see a continued narrative perpetuated by people like Wallin Ballin on Twitter that somehow Epic Universe is gonna be a game-changing, world's best theme park. Don't get me wrong, Epic is gonna be *really good* and fun when it opens, but I don't see how by any conceivable metric that it's supposed to be artistically more impressive and grand in scale than legendary parks like the Efteling and Tokyo DisneySea.
Click to expand...
I think the hyperbolic tribalism is super annoying but there's a real discussion to be had over the decision to hold off on major marketing pushes until construction has actually started. It's less that Disney doesn't build their concept art 1:1 and more that Disney sells out stadiums for overproduced combination press conference/concerts where they unveil concept art that won't end up looking anything like the final product. It's good for them to have those blue sky pitch documents and early renderings, but it's useless at best and disappointing at worst for us to receive that as marketing material.
 
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OrlLover

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Brian G. said:
Unfortunately, the hyperbole is going to get worse. There’s going to be tribalism on both sides, and goal posts will be moved heavily.

I expect Epic to be awesome, but also have shortcomings, because no park is perfect, especially at opening. Even the “holy grail” of DisneySea had some.

At the end of the day, what matters is did you have fun?
Click to expand...
It’s extremely exhausting as an Orlando theme park fan to see both sides go at each other throats for no other reason but to score points on social media.

At the end of the day we should be happy to see the two giants investing into their parks and continue the friendly competition.
 
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Alicia

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What's funny is you can go see the model in the preview center, which was built in late 2019 / early 2020 and see that there are definite differences for the manor, and especially the ride's exterior queue.

Now, the model isn't always the best for comparing, as Curse of the Werewolf, Meteor Astropub, and the final Chronos were added in just last year to match the changes to the park. But all the other structures are still set as their 2019 interpretations. Statues in Celestial Park are very different. Names for multiple things are changed. The animatronics on the Dragons coaster are very different. But overall, it still looks very much like what we got.
 
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Ryuniversal

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Alicia said:
What's funny is you can go see the model in the preview center, which was built in late 2019 / early 2020 and see that there are definite differences for the manor, and especially the ride's exterior queue.

Now, the model isn't always the best for comparing, as Curse of the Werewolf, Meteor Astropub, and the final Chronos were added in just last year to match the changes to the park. But all the other structures are still set as their 2019 interpretations. Statues in Celestial Park are very different. Names for multiple things are changed. The animatronics on the Dragons coaster are very different. But overall, it still looks very much like what we got.
Click to expand...
Wasn’t there a huge stage show in the concert art for du initially that we never got
 
UniversalRBLX

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There's a difference between concept art being exaggerated (mostly a Disney issue - original SWGE concept art, Tiana's, etc. ), changes from concept to reality (smaller things like name changes & minor modifications), and then just outright poor, or excellent, execution (Volcano Bay lazy river being themed) as a result of budget actions or change in creative direction. .

ParadoxPortals said:
I see a continued narrative perpetuated by people like Wallin Ballin on Twitter that somehow Epic Universe is gonna be a game-changing, world's best theme park. Don't get me wrong, Epic is gonna be *really good* and fun when it opens, but I don't see how by any conceivable metric that it's supposed to be artistically more impressive and grand in scale than legendary parks like the Efteling and Tokyo DisneySea.
Click to expand...
Agree - there's a lot to be excited about (drones, M&G's, etc.) but there's also concern elsewhere (reliability, thematic choices, etc.).

Don't even have to bring up Tokyo DisneySea, as DAK is still the gold standard for theming in Domestic US parks (ignore the lack of attractions and Dinorama which is now, no pun intended, extinct).


For Dark Universe, I'm a bit disappointed at the scale of the village portion of the land (half the size of Hogsmeade) and hope that it's corrected over the years through expansions.
 
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Rhian

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Alicia said:
Worried some fans are taking it to mythic levels. And it won’t live up to those expectations. It’s a new park, and that’s super exciting, but let’s not get too crazy.

Click to expand...

it's just a theme park
Click to expand...
IMG_4486.jpeg

Alicia said:
Really curious is Unchained opens today, or if it will remain closed again like yesterday. I’m rooting for ya buddy.
Click to expand...
Last week it was down for what seemed like couple of days. It was fine Wednesday but when it goes breaks down it breaks down hard.

Honestly when you ride it a few times and get a good idea of just how many moving parts there are to that ride it's difficult not to be impressed. I know Ministry may be the most technically advanced but Monsters packs a punch in it's own category. It's amazing how they get it all to function together when it's up.
 
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OrlLover

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Alicia said:
see that there are definite differences for the manor, and especially the ride's exterior queue.
Click to expand...
The notorious extended queue I really wish we got closer to that design but I understand it probably wasn’t the most practical.
 
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Alicia

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Ryuniversal said:
Wasn’t there a huge stage show in the concert art for du initially that we never got
Click to expand...
The stage show space in the old art is technically where we got the Curse of the Werewolf coaster. It replaced a theater in the early permits.
 
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Parkscope Joe

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ZachPL said:
Click to expand...


I really dislike that persona.
 
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OrlLover

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Parkscope Joe said:
I really dislike that persona.
Click to expand...
I use to like their posts but now they are going overboard and it’s annoying.
 
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UniversalRBLX

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Parkscope Joe said:
I really dislike that persona.
Click to expand...
Wow, I can't believe I agree with you.
 
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haloPrism

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I'm already imagining the "TAKE THAT DISNEY!!" or "Universal EPICALLY DESTROYS Disney" clickbait when Epic opens. I don't want that negativity to overshadow what Universal has created, especially after years of waiting. Anyways, has anyone heard anything about Danny Elfman's supposed music in this land?
 
belloq87

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haloPrism said:
Anyways, has anyone heard anything about Danny Elfman's supposed music in this land?
Click to expand...
I've been curious about this, as well, but don't want to go into the spoiler threads to find out!
 
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MagdolHauntsMe

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haloPrism said:
I'm already imagining the "TAKE THAT DISNEY!!" or "Universal EPICALLY DESTROYS Disney" clickbait when Epic opens.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, that's already begun.
 
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Brian G.

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Parkscope Joe said:
I really dislike that persona.
Click to expand...

UniversalRBLX said:
Wow, I can't believe I agree with you.
Click to expand...
IMG_0579.jpeg
 
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GAcoaster

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Interesting to see Danny Elfman will be around the corner at Spooky Empire in June. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him stop by Dark Universe:

IMG_7680.jpeg
 
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haloPrism said:
I'm already imagining the "TAKE THAT DISNEY!!" or "Universal EPICALLY DESTROYS Disney" clickbait when Epic opens.
Click to expand...
This is just about every other post on Twitter right now lol
 
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Parkscope Joe

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haloPrism said:
I'm already imagining the "TAKE THAT DISNEY!!" or "Universal EPICALLY DESTROYS Disney" clickbait when Epic opens. I don't want that negativity to overshadow what Universal has created, especially after years of waiting. Anyways, has anyone heard anything about Danny Elfman's supposed music in this land?
Click to expand...

MagdolHauntsMe said:
Unfortunately, that's already begun.
Click to expand...

Speed said:
This is just about every other post on Twitter right now lol
Click to expand...

This sucks. I'm so tired of this, we can't even celebrate a new park opening without dunking on a competitor.
 
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