The fact nobody at UC or the board saw this coming has led to serious questions about their ability to deliver a great none-HP project. It’s all so misguided...the fact they announced this with Fallon. Removing 2 practical experiences for more of the same. It’s resulted in a seriously unbalanced park which I feel is worse than it was 20 years ago.
Take me back to the twister / Kongfrontation / Jaws / Eathquake / Back to the future era. Only Gringotts & the Mummy have added value since 1999. We’re worse off now....Disney are correcting their issues with their Studio Park, which is (finally!) getting to the stage where it’s just about better than 2 decades back. Universal are playing catch up. By 2021 when Epcot has saw changes, Universal Studios will be the most regressed park in Florida.
There’s a large debate to be had about Universal’s ability to make a word class ride outside of the HP franchise but it’s not something I’m worried about with EU.
Nintendo is probably going to be working on Universal’s ass just as hard as Rowling was and everything in development sounds great.
I get the impression that Monsters is going to be worked on by a B team which allows for wild creativity and bigger risks to be taken. I’m not a fan of HHN at all but they seem to be knocking it out the park consistently that I think when they’re given a chance to make permanent attractions, they’re going to do something special.
Fantastic Beasts will be more of the same with Potter and everything they’ve done so far with the franchise has been top tier.
HTTYD lends itself so well to a theme park environment that it would be harder to mess it up than being a success.
As for the main hub, I think IOA is one of the best most cohesive theme park layouts that I’m not worried.
With Bourne, I’m not sure what to expect and I think the JP coaster might not be greatly themed but a good coaster is always going to be a fun and welcome addition.
Everything else between then and EU opening is up in the air in terms of how good it could be but I think F&F’s poor reception couldn’t have came at a better time. Universal now know what everybody wants, we’re looking at more practical rides no doubt about it and they never want a repeat of what happened. That’s the silver lining here.