State of USH - What's Next?

[TheUniC6]

counterpoint: we don't know that. it has been speculated, perhaps with sound logic, but we really don't know what the contract looks like nor do we have a good sense of what disney and universal will do when it expires.

At the very least the ride system needs a total overhaul.

 

[chris.g]

At the very least the ride system needs a total overhaul.

I've said it before, I truly believe the ride will be long gone before the actual land.

 

[wutisgood]

Unless comcast is going to figure out a second park Hollywood really needs a fantasy springs type expansion at once. Maybe we could get this for the Olympics? It just seems like crazy to take down any attractions for replacements at this point in Hollywood. I feel like Hollywood is actually a terrible value compared to most days at Disneyland probably due to the fact that Disneyland just fits way more people and has longer hours and is in an area with vastly affordable lodging.

 

[TheUniC6]

Unless comcast is going to figure out a second park Hollywood really needs a fantasy springs type expansion at once. Maybe we could get this for the Olympics? It just seems like crazy to take down any attractions for replacements at this point in Hollywood. I feel like Hollywood is actually a terrible value compared to most days at Disneyland probably due to the fact that Disneyland just fits way more people and has longer hours and is in an area with vastly affordable lodging.

I think USH will get that but not in 2028. IMO 2026 might see an expansion to SNW and 2028 will be a Simpsons replacement. A Fantasy spring esq like expansion if it were to happen would probably be 2030 or beyond. That would also involve IMO removing Mummy and the soundstages to the left of it.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Unless comcast is going to figure out a second park Hollywood really needs a fantasy springs type expansion at once. Maybe we could get this for the Olympics? It just seems like crazy to take down any attractions for replacements at this point in Hollywood. I feel like Hollywood is actually a terrible value compared to most days at Disneyland probably due to the fact that Disneyland just fits way more people and has longer hours and is in an area with vastly affordable lodging.

Sadly It wont be before 2028. They'd need to start now on a project that big and even then I don't think they need to do a BIG thing. I if after the coaster and hopefully DK land they redo the Tram and also move the entrance so in the 2030's we have room for new lands like Zelda, lord of the rings, a second potter land, Pokemon, maybe shrek etc at the old Tram entrance/falls lake.

 

[TheUniC6]

Sadly It wont be before 2028. They'd need to start now on a project that big and even then I don't think they need to do a BIG thing. I if after the coaster and hopefully DK land they redo the Tram and also move the entrance so in the 2030's we have room for new lands like Zelda, lord of the rings, a second potter land, Pokemon, maybe shrek etc at the old Tram entrance/falls lake.

I predict Pokemon could be a replacement for the Simpsons. As I have touched on, I also hope they demo Mummy and the soundstages next to it for. huge land. I think that might come first (if they do it) before falls lake. As for the tram stop, unless they can do a virtual land like SNW, I think the best option would be to use the plot of land for a large scale dark ride.

 

[Jerroddragon]

I predict Pokemon could be a replacement for the Simpsons. As I have touched on, I also hope they demo Mummy and the soundstages next to it for. huge land. I think that might come first (if they do it) before falls lake. As for the tram stop, unless they can do a virtual land like SNW, I think the best option would be to use the plot of land for a large scale dark ride.

I think either Transformers or Simpsons could be used for Pokemon.

But with rumors of the the studio not wanting to give up more land for the park, we will wait and see. I mean I thought after how much Money Mario Land and Movie have made for Universal you'd think these would be easy wins but life can never be simple

 

[Clive]

I predict Pokemon could be a replacement for the Simpsons. As I have touched on, I also hope they demo Mummy and the soundstages next to it for. huge land. I think that might come first (if they do it) before falls lake. As for the tram stop, unless they can do a virtual land like SNW, I think the best option would be to use the plot of land for a large scale dark ride.

Once again: We have heard your wishful thinking that Pokemon will replace Simpsons, Mummy/the adjacent soundstages will be demo'd, and you'd like a large-scale dark ride. Please keep it to the blue sky threads.

 

[Jerroddragon]

With new leadership as well

I kinda have no expectations for USH past the coaster and maybe Shrek/HTTYD coming to Dream works theater.

I'd love DK, Pokemon, Zelda, more potter, and would not mind HTTYD or Shrek getting a mini land but witht he rumors of the studio not wanting to give up land behind SNW....it becomes a who the heck knows whats coming in 3 years even.
I also hope Mummy doesn't go unless DK or another family coaster comes to the park, I dont love love the mummy but its fun and would rather it not just go because its old.
I also hope they can find ways to start removing older rides and expanding park like slowly taking land up to falls lake.


I'm also waiting and seeing but I might take a year off of USH Ap if we don't have anything new in 2024

 

[TheUniC6]

So with the plaza wrapping up construction, hopefully that means ground can be broken on F&F coaster. But on the F&F thread @ethanuniversal mentioned that would be a 18 month timeframe for construction to happen. That would now put the opening in the latter portion of 2025. Which begs the question, how will this effect other upcoming projects in the pipeline at USH? Conventional wisdom was that after F&F was originally going to open in 2024, the crews would move on to construct an expansion to SNW, DK or something else for 2026. Then you have the LA olympics in 2028 and the Simpsons contract expiring the same year, possibly in May 2028 as that would have marked 20 years since the ride first opened in May 2008 and it is unclear if the contract would allow them to extend it until after the olympics. If the Simpsons contract cannot be extended does that mean any expansion to SNW gets put off until after the Olympics and a Simpsons replacement is prioritized depending on the situation for construction crews? Universal would love to have a major attraction in 2028 to market alongside the olympics and I know they would not want to have any part of this tiny park walled off when tourism levels will be high. Plus, as it was mentioned on the DK thread Universal seemingly has gone back to the drawing board on what they want for the SNW expansion on the ground they felt like DK was not good enough capacity wise. Prioritizing Simpsons would allow them to figure out what Nintendo IP would be a good fit for actually adding capacity.

 

[Brian G.]

So with the plaza wrapping up construction, hopefully that means ground can be broken on F&F coaster. But on the F&F thread @ethanuniversal mentioned that would be a 18 month timeframe for construction to happen. That would now put the opening in the latter portion of 2025. Which begs the question, how will this effect other upcoming projects in the pipeline at USH? Conventional wisdom was that after F&F was originally going to open in 2024, the crews would move on to construct an expansion to SNW, DK or something else for 2026. Then you have the LA olympics in 2028 and the Simpsons contract expiring the same year, possibly in May 2028 as that would have marked 20 years since the ride first opened in May 2008 and it is unclear if the contract would allow them to extend it until after the olympics. If the Simpsons contract cannot be extended does that mean any expansion to SNW gets put off until after the Olympics and a Simpsons replacement is prioritized depending on the situation for construction crews? Universal would love to have a major attraction in 2028 to market alongside the olympics and I know they would not want to have any part of this tiny park walled off when tourism levels will be high. Plus, as it was mentioned on the DK thread Universal seemingly has gone back to the drawing board on what they want for the SNW expansion on the ground they felt like DK was not good enough capacity wise. Prioritizing Simpsons would allow them to figure out what Nintendo IP would be a good fit for actually adding capacity.

You need to stop bringing the same conversation up across multiple threads. Consider this the last warning.

 

[wutisgood]

I have been saying for a while that technology like the volume from industrial light and magic is going to greatly shrink the need for physical studio sets. My thought was expansion from universal was going to come from getting rid of the backlot. I am sure universal at this point is using their own version. That backlot becomes more valuable for attractions if they can utilize partial digital sets instead on better soundstages.

 

[SnideRemarksDept]

I have been saying for a while that technology like the volume from industrial light and magic is going to greatly shrink the need for physical studio sets. My thought was expansion from universal was going to come from getting rid of the backlot. I am sure universal at this point is using their own version. That backlot becomes more valuable for attractions if they can utilize partial digital sets instead on better soundstages.

I'm not really seeing that happen for a couple of reasons.

First, physical sets like in the backlot are way more practical for most productions. The Volume seems to do really well for things like Sci-Fi and Fantasy where you can't exactly go out and film on location, but you would still need digital artists to create those environments to then put up on the screens. For something like a city scene or a small, suburban community, it would be so much easier to just use the backlot sets that already exist. Not to mention that, while larger productions may use things like The Volume, it may not be in the budget for smaller or mid-tier productions to utilize something like that, whereas using the backlot for filming would be much more economical. Plus, and you can pretty clearly see this in the latest Antman film, that sort of filming can create a disconnect between the actors and the environments that their characters are supposed to be in.

The other big reason I don't see them giving up backlot space for attractions is that it's really impractical from a theme park perspective. Even setting aside the fact that the Studio Tour is a huge draw to the park which would have a lot of its value reduced by the reduction or elimination of backlot sets, the backlot sets are just pretty far away from the rest of the park. It's a quarter mile to get from the lower lot to the metro sets, and that's assuming that they plop down the theme park expansion as close to the park as possible. What seems more likely (and what they're already doing/have done to some extent), is that they might trim away at the edges of the backlot to have more room for additional soundstages, which them allows them to remove soundstages closer to the park itself.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

I'm not really seeing that happen for a couple of reasons.

First, physical sets like in the backlot are way more practical for most productions. The Volume seems to do really well for things like Sci-Fi and Fantasy where you can't exactly go out and film on location, but you would still need digital artists to create those environments to then put up on the screens. For something like a city scene or a small, suburban community, it would be so much easier to just use the backlot sets that already exist. Not to mention that, while larger productions may use things like The Volume, it may not be in the budget for smaller or mid-tier productions to utilize something like that, whereas using the backlot for filming would be much more economical. Plus, and you can pretty clearly see this in the latest Antman film, that sort of filming can create a disconnect between the actors and the environments that their characters are supposed to be in.

The other big reason I don't see them giving up backlot space for attractions is that it's really impractical from a theme park perspective. Even setting aside the fact that the Studio Tour is a huge draw to the park which would have a lot of its value reduced by the reduction or elimination of backlot sets, the backlot sets are just pretty far away from the rest of the park. It's a quarter mile to get from the lower lot to the metro sets, and that's assuming that they plop down the theme park expansion as close to the park as possible. What seems more likely (and what they're already doing/have done to some extent), is that they might trim away at the edges of the backlot to have more room for additional soundstages, which them allows them to remove soundstages closer to the park itself.

That's what I thought Barham was for--considering that added over 8 new soundstages (Soundstages 40-47), alongside the six soundstages built at Metro and Park Lake (25-26 & 30-33). That already puts them at 14, which is more than what was originally proposed when they announced the Park Lake soundstages (which had 14 already planned from the start).

Wouldn't that be enough for them to knock down the cluster in-between Mummy and Transformers, as planned back in June of 2016? Or are they waiting on taking down the 9 stages and rehearsal hall until the remaining Park Lake stages are complete?

EDIT: To also add on a small bit (my apologies when you post your response), but Stagecraft is as good as it is, when you have directors and artists on hand that know what to and to not do with the technology that is present currently. And I agree that it should not be what is striven for right now due to the lack of real experience outside of those that got to harness it as well as they did early on.

But I also see where it's potential lies in the future, when that time comes (Even if I think we are a half-decade off)

 

[TheUniC6]

That's what I thought Barham was for--considering that added over 8 new soundstages (Soundstages 40-47), alongside the six soundstages built at Metro and Park Lake (25-26 & 30-33). That already puts them at 14, which is more than what was originally proposed when they announced the Park Lake soundstages (which had 14 already planned from the start).

Wouldn't that be enough for them to knock down the cluster in-between Mummy and Transformers, as planned back in June of 2016? Or are they waiting on taking down the 9 stages and rehearsal hall until the remaining Park Lake stages are complete?

EDIT: To also add on a small bit (my apologies when you post your response), but Stagecraft is as good as it is, when you have directors and artists on hand that know what to and to not do with the technology that is present currently. And I agree that it should not be what is striven for right now due to the lack of real experience outside of those that got to harness it as well as they did early on.

But I also see where it's potential lies in the future, when that time comes (Even if I think we are a half-decade off)

I've also long been pining for the Soundstages wedged between Transformers and Mummy to come down. That is a ripe plot of theme park expansion. Heck maybe Mummy goes along with the soundstages. But any expansion to USH in this spot would likely be in 2030 or beyond.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

I've also long been pining for the Soundstages wedged between Transformers and Mummy to come down. That is a ripe plot of theme park expansion. Heck maybe Mummy goes along with the soundstages. But any expansion to USH in this spot would likely be in 2030 or beyond.

With all due respect, they need it now. Especially with how seemingly broken Lower Lot is, they need to fix the congestion now with how much of a safety risk it looks to be.

I will remain on my hill in that Mummy closing now would mean a lot more if they can open up the pathways around Jurassic and the Midway, to allow more people the ability and access that could be helpful on. Even if it’s an open air plaza with a theater show, they need to fix that problem. Be it after Fast, or by LA2028.

 

[SnideRemarksDept]

That's what I thought Barham was for--considering that added over 8 new soundstages (Soundstages 40-47), alongside the six soundstages built at Metro and Park Lake (25-26 & 30-33). That already puts them at 14, which is more than what was originally proposed when they announced the Park Lake soundstages (which had 14 already planned from the start).

Wouldn't that be enough for them to knock down the cluster in-between Mummy and Transformers, as planned back in June of 2016? Or are they waiting on taking down the 9 stages and rehearsal hall until the remaining Park Lake stages are complete?

Oh, definitely! The Barham expansion is exactly what that's for. I was just referring to, specifically, the removal of the backlot sets (Little Europe, Courthouse Square, etc.) in favor of something like StageCraft like wutisgood suggested. The new Barham stages just replaced parking lots and a childcare center that had been empty since sometime in 2018. No backlot sets were harmed in the making of those soundstages. Honestly, I think they've pretty much abandoned the Park Lake stages for now.

I will remain on my hill in that Mummy closing now would mean a lot more if they can open up the pathways around Jurassic and the Midway, to allow more people the ability and access that could be helpful on. Even if it’s an open air plaza with a theater show, they need to fix that problem. Be it after Fast, or by LA2028.

I don't think Mummy is going to go until at least the new coaster opens. As of right now, Mummy is the only high-speed thrill ride that USH has to offer. Without Mummy, the only rollercoaster is Flight of the Hippogriff which, well, isn't exactly the most pulse-pounding adventure. I don't think Mummy will be long for this world after the new coaster opens, but I strongly doubt that it'll go any time before that.

 

[AlexanderMBush]

Oh, definitely! The Barham expansion is exactly what that's for. I was just referring to, specifically, the removal of the backlot sets (Little Europe, Courthouse Square, etc.) in favor of something like StageCraft like wutisgood suggested. The new Barham stages just replaced parking lots and a childcare center that had been empty since sometime in 2018. No backlot sets were harmed in the making of those soundstages. Honestly, I think they've pretty much abandoned the Park Lake stages for now.

Understood on that front! Given the nature of the cluster in-between Mummy and Transformers, it does become a hot topic due to that of the soundstages in question. Even if Mummy has to wait, I do hope they find a way to use those stages for the park soon (regardless of the repainting that occured); as even when I was on property last year--the tightness of the Lower Lot is very much a problem.

 

[wutisgood]

I'm not really seeing that happen for a couple of reasons.

First, physical sets like in the backlot are way more practical for most productions. The Volume seems to do really well for things like Sci-Fi and Fantasy where you can't exactly go out and film on location, but you would still need digital artists to create those environments to then put up on the screens. For something like a city scene or a small, suburban community, it would be so much easier to just use the backlot sets that already exist. Not to mention that, while larger productions may use things like The Volume, it may not be in the budget for smaller or mid-tier productions to utilize something like that, whereas using the backlot for filming would be much more economical. Plus, and you can pretty clearly see this in the latest Antman film, that sort of filming can create a disconnect between the actors and the environments that their characters are supposed to be in.

The other big reason I don't see them giving up backlot space for attractions is that it's really impractical from a theme park perspective. Even setting aside the fact that the Studio Tour is a huge draw to the park which would have a lot of its value reduced by the reduction or elimination of backlot sets, the backlot sets are just pretty far away from the rest of the park. It's a quarter mile to get from the lower lot to the metro sets, and that's assuming that they plop down the theme park expansion as close to the park as possible. What seems more likely (and what they're already doing/have done to some extent), is that they might trim away at the edges of the backlot to have more room for additional soundstages, which them allows them to remove soundstages closer to the park itself.

There are people on YouTube using unreal engine to fix cheap effects from recent productions or make entire realistic shorts with no sets at all. I think you are greatly underestimating technology as a cost savings that would make the physical sets of the backlot an additional expense. The technology is moving so fast universal has to be thinking about this. Accelerated AI development is only going to make things happen sooner. For now the backlot itself is a draw but If universal wants to increase attendance long term they will either need to build another park at a different location nearby or find a way to repurpose a ton of space for attractions. There may be a point where it is more profitable for universal to build physical sets somewhere else and have more space for attractions.

 

[TheUniC6]

There are some office buildings and soundstages behind the MK showbuilding. According to Google maps they are labeled Stage 14, Building 2160, KNBC and Telemundo studios, Universal Studios gate 1, and a parking deck. While there appears to be a consensus on this thread that the soundstages wedged between Transformers and Mummy (maybe Mummy as well) will go eventually for USH park expansion thanks to more soundstages being constructed sway from the park, is it also possible that the buildings I listed above behind the MK showbuilding are also being considered to be removed for USH expansion as well?