(Rumor) New Potter Attraction to Replace Fear Factor Live?

[Imperius]

Sinbad weird?

Probably IMO. They just gonna have sparklers at the end of their wands?

 

[Nico]

I find it hard to believe that UC was blindsided by this though, I think it was released in Mar/April that VR rides would be in the store. It was shared, liked, commented on over and over so many times online by folks that work all over the parks, in every division including UC. I suppose the answer to the park switch though is that Uni is so spooked about the store "experience" opening now that they shouldn't wait for 3/4 years to debut theirs?

This was my exact thought when reading the article. The move definitely makes sense. I think UC is quite aware of the perceived (or actual) attraction imbalance at Studios. I think they simply had to take a “one problem at a time” mentality. Get this out asap, figure out the screen issue over the next 10 years. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but my hope is that Studios looks like a completely different park after EU opens.

Probably IMO. They just gonna have sparklers at the end of their wands?

I think for a wand show, the set needs to utilize elements like Rise does with the blaster effects.

 

[Alicia]

It is my understanding that this was already designed and ready and they want an expansion for the park before Epic so this was a good candidate. It also means they can think up something new for Epic.

As far as I can tell the move had nothing to do with NY or any outside forces. Just a business decision to make the best of the gap between now and Epic opening.

 

[soma27]

Alicia is saying rumored capacity is 144 total VR setups....6 per room....24 rooms

Given these stats, it has to have terrible capacity. I will be generous and say they can get a new group on every ~8 minutes (4-5 min experience, 1-2 to both load and unload). That shows capacity at under 1,000pp an hour.
Building a low capacity ride - bad. Building a screen based ride in a screen heavy park- bad. Doing both just seems like an easily avoidable mistake.
Between F&F, Fallon and now this - seems like three moves that just don’t make sense.

 

[belloq87]

This was my exact thought when reading the article. The move definitely makes sense. I think UC is quite aware of the perceived (or actual) attraction imbalance at Studios. I think they simply had to take a “one problem at a time” mentality.

I guess my genuine question would be this: what is the "problem" they think they'd be addressing by adding the VR ride?

 

[Legacy]

Given these stats, it has to have terrible capacity. I will be generous and say they can get a new group on every ~8 minutes (4-5 min experience, 1-2 to both load and unload). That shows capacity at under 1,000pp an hour.
Building a low capacity ride - bad. Building a screen based ride in a screen heavy park- bad. Doing both just seems like an easily avoidable mistake.
Between F&F, Fallon and now this - seems like three moves that just don’t make sense.

*sigh*

The moves do make sense though. Fallon is a well-received C-ticket that replaced an outdated, passive “show” with an actual ride. It also increased capF&F is (an attempt at) a space-efficient application of a huge-IP that drastically increased the capacity of the what was there.

This VR ride is a supplemental D-ticket that replaces an underused show space that currently has a capacity of about 1,000 people an hour. When the show is running.

If the VR attraction is a 3-4 minutes of actual ride time, plus 2 minutes to cycle guests (so 6 minutes total), you now have a capacity of 1,440 an hour.

 

[Alicia]

Given these stats, it has to have terrible capacity. I will be generous and say they can get a new group on every ~8 minutes (4-5 min experience, 1-2 to both load and unload). That shows capacity at under 1,000pp an hour.
Building a low capacity ride - bad. Building a screen based ride in a screen heavy park- bad. Doing both just seems like an easily avoidable mistake.
Between F&F, Fallon and now this - seems like three moves that just don’t make sense.

Half the set up is done in the preshow room (including sizing headsets) before entering the main room. Ride time is less.

 

[knoxmyers]

Only way a trial show works is with screens. Watching actors try and fight with “magic” would be weird.

And that would be fine of course, a screen can be a powerful tool, as are AA's, as is fog, as is lighting, as is sound...Simply using a screen (I'm thinking of Bourne at one end and Poseidon's Fury at the other for show comparisons) in it does not make a ride/experience/show "screen based". As @JoeCamel pointed out though, screens aren't necessarily a necessity.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

If EU is to open in '25, then it seems a touch late for them to still be designing attractions for Potter yeah? Unless they already had multiple options for attractions, and are merely signing off on which ones go where, and which ones get consigned to the waste bucket.

EDIT: Also I'll reserve my judgement on the VR aspect till the ride comes out. I personally like VR. And maybe if enough people complain about it, Universal will see fit to add both this and a dark ride to Studios.

 

[soma27]

Half the set up is done in the preshow room (including sizing headsets) before entering the main room. Ride time is less.

So ride time in sub 4 minutes?
We did the Void last time, and I know that is apples to oranges (upcharge, no park admission needed) but our biggest complaint was how short it was.

Coming off negative here, which I know sucks.I am a big HP and Universal fan, we made specific trips after the opening off all 3 HP portions (Diagon, hogsmede and hagrid) and have loved it all (minus gringotts, which just bores me). Just wish the last batch of additions were more exciting.

 

[Nico]

I guess my genuine question would be this: what is the "problem" they think they'd be addressing by adding the VR ride?

Problems this solves (that doesn’t fix the imbalance like I talked about because they had more pressing concerns):
1. Gap fill between EU. (Like Alicia has mentioned)
2. If they want to not open their marquee new park, with an attraction that will draw comparisons to one that opened elsewhere 3-4 years prior. (The more I think about it, the less important this is because the percentage of people going to NY for this shop has to be small in comparison.

In my mind they had two issues.
1. A systemic problem at Studios with ride imbalance.
2. A pressing need to open a new attraction before EU.

They obviously chose 2 because of the immediacy/simple solution. A use of a slam dunk IP with a ride ready to go. We also just got a non media ride using Potter with Hagrids and if rumors are true of EU, we may be getting another. Both of which, based on ride type, take up huge plots of land - which studios doesn’t current have.

They have a better idea of where they want to take Studios past EU. Like gutting potentially everything from Kidzone to Fear Factor. That provides opportunity to fix the imbalance, but is a massive, expensive multi year fix. If the Shrek rumor comes to pass, we may also be getting a walkthrough attraction.

 

[Legacy]

So ride time in sub 4 minutes?
We did the Void last time, and I know that is apples to oranges (upcharge, no park admission needed) but our biggest complaint was how short it was.

Coming off negative here, which I know sucks.I am a big HP and Universal fan, we made specific trips after the opening off all 3 HP portions (Diagon, hogsmede and hagrid) and have loved it all (minus gringotts, which just bores me). Just wish the last batch of additions were more exciting.

The last batch of HP additions was Hagrid’s!

Since F&F, Universal has opened Hagrid’s, Bourne, and VelociCoaster in Orlando.

Like, I really don’t understand why people have such an issue with ANYTHING replacing Fear Factor.

 

[Alicia]

The last batch of HP additions was Hagrid’s!

Since F&F, Universal has opened Hagrid’s, Bourne, and VelociCoaster in Orlando.

Like, I really don’t understand why people have such an issue with ANYTHING replacing Fear Factor.

This.

 

[belloq87]

1. A systemic problem at Studios with ride imbalance.
2. A pressing need to open a new attraction before EU.

Yet they could have addressed both of these with the same attraction.

Like, I really don’t understand why people have such an issue with ANYTHING replacing Fear Factor.

Some of us (or maybe it truly is just me around here!) would like to see Universal Studios Florida move away from being so simulator-heavy. If USF only has one slot to add an attraction before EU, and the VR ride is it, that means it just pushes the prospect of a new, physical/practical-based dark ride off even further into the nebulous future, and it will take even more of an effort to start to re-balance things.

And I get it, plenty of people don't care. And I get that Universal's in the process of building an entirely new theme park. But I just find it frustrating, as somebody who used to love USF, to watch Universal Studios Hollywood open (to much acclaim) basically the exact sort of ride I've been asking them to build in USF for over 10 years, while USF takes another step in a direction that doesn't appeal to me.

 

[Alicia]

Thank god they aren’t taking away MiB for this. Let’s just agree on that.

 

[Nico]

Yet they could have addressed both of these with the same attraction.

So you’re saying if Universal opened one purely practical ride, you’d consider the problem fixed and stop talking about it? Cause I think the problem is much larger than one ride.

 

[Legacy]

Yet they could have addressed both of these with the same attraction.



Some of us (or maybe it truly is just me around here!) would like to see Universal Studios Florida move away from being so simulator-heavy. If USF only has one slot to add an attraction before EU, and the VR ride is it, that means it just pushes the prospect of a new, physical/practical-based dark ride off even further into the nebulous future, and it will take even more of an effort to start to re-balance things.

And I get it, plenty of people don't care. And I get that Universal's in the process of building an entirely new theme park. But I just find it frustrating, as somebody who used to love USF, to watch Universal Studios Hollywood open (to much acclaim) basically the exact sort of ride I've been asking them to build in USF for over 10 years, while USF takes another step in a direction that doesn't appeal to me.

Except it’s been said they’re intentionally shifting a complete concept from EU to serve as a gap attraction. They’re doing it for the purposes of efficiency. They can’t drop Yoshi or Mario Kart or any of the practical attractions planned for EU into Studios because they either wouldn’t fit thematically or it would eliminate a key draw for EU. And re-theming something would take 2-4 years… which means it couldn’t fill the gap.

Like, the logical reasons aren’t even that deep.

 

[belloq87]

So you’re saying if Universal opened one purely practical ride, you’d consider the problem fixed and stop talking about it? Cause I think the problem is much larger than one ride.

No, the "problem" wouldn't be fixed by a single ride, but it would certainly help a lot.

I would absolutely stop harping on it for a while.

Except it’s been said they’re intentionally shifting a complete concept from EU to serve as a gap attraction. They’re doing it for the purposes of efficiency. They can’t drop Yoshi or Mario Kart or any of the practical attractions planned for EU into Studios because they either wouldn’t fit thematically or it would eliminate a key draw for EU. And re-theming something would take 2-4 years… which means it couldn’t fill the gap.

Like, the logical reasons aren’t even that deep.

I don't see how this is really a response to what I wrote. I never said I didn't understand the "logic."

 

[knoxmyers]

Like, I really don’t understand why people have such an issue with ANYTHING replacing Fear Factor.

I'm all for Fear Factor being replaced, just not with "this", I guess its a gut response, a visceral one at that.
I am very curious though, since this "screen/media" discussion has been going on heavily for the last decade or so, that Uni got the message after F&F. Using USF as the model, would they have at one point had non-screen based replacements "in the works" for Fear Factor, Shrek, KidZone, MIB, Mummy, expansion area next to MIB or was it all concentrated on Kidzone with Nintendo? So that once Nintendo went to Epic, Covid hit, jobs got eliminated, projects stopped and they were starting from scratch for USF again?

Hagrids, Velocicoaster and Bourne all homeruns, no doubt about it, so in my head, there is no reason to go the VR route. C/D's deserve more love then they get.

 

[Legacy]

I don't see how this is really a response to what I wrote. I never said I didn't understand the "logic."

You literally said, “If USF only has one slot to add an attraction before EU, and the VR ride is it, that means it just pushes the prospect of a new, physical/practical-based dark ride off even further into the nebulous future, and it will take even more of an effort to start to re-balance things.”

You’re focused on a problem that Universal isn’t focused on. They want a draw for the Studios between now and 2025. Lifting a theme-appropriate, finished attraction from EU accomplishes that. That is the immediate need. And it’s now an “immediate” need because EU construction has approximately 18 months because of the pandemic. If that hadn’t have happened, this need may not have really existed.

You want immediate solutions when solutions take years and, as a result, you miss the forest for the trees. The attractions since F&F have been predominantly practical (even Bourne is far more practical than T2:3D was). The rumored attractions for EU are, likely, heavily practical. The attractions in Beijing are heavily practical. But while all of these signs that Universal has learned its swirl, it’s somehow a “nebulous future” because you’re not seeing something immediate at one park.