Orlando's parks are just as family centric now....same company....
jmills, great post. There's ups and downs to how they decide what attractions get made. Before with Disney, they had an amazing stint of creating massive rides based on ORIGINAL WDI ideas, and some rides based on existing properties. That mix was amazing, as WDI had and has some of the most creative minds. Now, with the Disney Corporation, all rides (except for a few international ones and a few original ones like Soarin' and Expedition Everest), all new rides or shows are based on profitable entities that can sell merchandise and are guaranteed to be popular. Thats what they invest in. They don't think it's worth it to test the waters on original ideas any more and they aren't giving the public a chance. They assume that everyone only wants to "ride the movies". I personally want to go on an amazing adventure like Pirates or Haunted Mansion where it was a totally new idea! Hell, look at the new Hong Kong Mystic Manor. Pretty amazing! WDI still has it I'm them. The executives don't want to take the risk though, even though it's been proven that what is more successful is a fun immersive attraction that's ORIGINAL over a ride based on a franchise. Sometimes its a combo of the two, like Cars Land. I wish that Disney would bring that combo concept of having some original ideas back to its stateside parks.
As for Universal, it's interesting. I WANT to see attractions based on familiar popular movies and shows. Universal is great at that. I just wish that Disney didn't always do that. It's an easy cop out for Disney.
Although I WOULD be interested if Universal Creative could make an original attraction story.
One thing that I LOVE about Universal Creative though and Universal Parks is that even though 99% of everything is an existing property, almost EVERYTHING is a brand new adventure starring those characters, and most times is different from the original movie. At Disney, it's mostly book report rides. Some rare examples of unique adventure based on an existing property are Indiana Jones Adventure, Star Tours, and Radiator Springs Racers.
But with Universal, every ride is a NEW adventure starring the familiar characters. BTTF, Simpsons, Jurassic Park, Forbidden Journey, Spiderman, Transformers, King Kong, Jaws, Mummy, ET, and Despicable Me. All unique attractions! Even if you saw the movie, its a new adventure!