The Future of Lost Continent (Poseidon Fury closing May 9)

[JungleSkip]

Kidzone died so TL Theater could live.

KidZone at least has had constant rumors about things replacing it and actual, concrete plans for Nintendo at one point.

TL just sits there. Waiting.

 

[Jake S]

KidZone at least has had constant rumors about things replacing it and actual, concrete plans for Nintendo at one point.

TL just sits there. Waiting.

kidzone is remembered, but toon lagoon never dies.

 

[Alicia]

If anything, Dreamworks was pushed forward.

Correct. The last plans I had heard were going to do the KidZone in phases, and over time, but like I said, all plans got shook up and it looks like rather than waiting they’re doing it all at once now to have something new for 2024. But also, it’s smart to modernize the kid area ahead of Epic opening, because it’s one thing that’s been lacking at Studios.

 

[Rhian]

Let's really think about this.

No, that's far too reasonable and only ends in slow threads. How's that fun?

What if they installed that hoping it would correct long-standing issues, but it didn’t?

Was that really one of the issues? I hadn't thought about it before, but having that much water/humidity indoors probably makes the A/C system work hard on top of the usual FL heat and humidity. Were mold issues/preventative measures ever a serious issue? I'm mildly curious about that.

A lot of attractions in Universal and Disney were the gateway to the movies for me. I probably wouldn’t have cared to look into movies like Jurassic Park, the Mummy, E.T. and Men in Black of it wasn’t for the rides. The same goes for several horror movies even though I never went to HHN.

Hey maybe the rumored Zelda land may entice me to check out Zelda.

You could definitely say the same of Harry Potter as well.

Time and again a good quality land/attraction will win people over better than an IP alone. A particular IP may get a guest to show interest enough to visit but if the final result is lackluster (is the F&F horse dead yet?) you may end up having that person never return; guests can be fickle too. I'm sure they exist but I don't believe there are many people who walk out of Diagon Alley without being somewhat impressed on their first visit by something there even if HP isn't their cup of tea.


Whatever does finally replace this area I hope it's done well. Not to say I expect it to turn out bad, but in this case I'd rather they rip the bandaid off entirely and level the land than to try and retheme everything using the old layout. The poor "island" has been through enough, just bury it all and start anew and give the new area a better design. And I write that as someone who loves going through that area during my visits!

There are plenty of Zelda fans. I think their fanbase is quieter than you might expect from other IPs but that doesn't make them fewer. It'll also be a lot easier for the general public (or at least Universal's non-video game guests) to approach Zelda since they would be used to SNW by then, making the threshold to approach, or "get", Zelda much lower.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

They're also spending literal billions of dollars on a new park. I can understand being a bit gun-shy at dumping a whole new themed land's worth of cash into the parks while they're still burning cash at EU. Once they get revenue going there (and have the ability to pull people from the already overcrowded USF and IOA) it becomes a lot easier to justify to board members that you need further investment.

Yeah, I was happy like everyone when they announced EU was starting back up but I figured that in the aftermath of the beer bug that some budget cuts to the existing parks were coming. Which was my main reservation against building a new park in the first place, even if there's plenty to be excited about there. Win some, lose some.

 

[Casper Gutman]

A lot of the disagreement is centered on a clash between folks focused on what has already happened and those looking to what may happen in the future. What has actually happened is massive cuts to entertainment across the existing two parks, removing just about all of the most high profile entertainment offerings. This has taken place over several years - Sinbad went five years ago, the parade a year ago. Additionally, a major entertainment offering has been cut from the plans for EU and replaced with a short coaster. This has all happened in parks that were already weak in entertainment, and much of it has coincided with the ascent of a major executive with an apparent reputation for slashing entertainment (I don’t personally know if this reputation is fair or not).

Now, what may be true, perhaps is even likely to be true, is that all that entertainment will return, bigger and better, for the opening of EU. But given Universals track record regarding entertainment, a tiny bit of skepticism here seems understandable, if not fair. It also means that, even in that scenario, two full price parks will be operating with dramatically reduced entertainment offerings for two years. Beyond that, it means IOA will have several massive attraction spaces sitting empty for, at the least, four years.

As I’ve said repeatedly, if the entertainment roars back in 2025, I’ll apologize for doubting Comcast. But even then, the way they’ve gone about doing things will deserve a bit of criticism.

And on the most personal level, I’m a bit nervous because two of my favorite attractions- the male-up and animal shows - are entertainment.

 

[pablo_es]

Hello! Sad about the goodbye of Poseidon's Fury although the possible Zelda land sounds incredible. In Spain, in PortAventura we have the sibling of Poseidon's Fury, Templo del Fuego, built by Universal when they were the owners. The following owners of the park lowered the opening hours of the attraction due to the high economic cost of the effects (especially gas) in relation to the interest it aroused. Over the years they were closing whole months until it was 3 years completely closed. Now it only opens the 2 summer months, July and August. I imagine it has little time left standing and sadly will follow Poseidon's Fury's destiny.

 

[Brian G.]

As I’ve said repeatedly, if the entertainment roars back in 2025, I’ll apologize for doubting Comcast. But even then, the way they’ve gone about doing things will deserve a bit of criticism.

And on the most personal level, I’m a bit nervous because two of my favorite attractions- the male-up and animal shows - are entertainment.

Well, thankfully, we won't have to wait til 2025.

Horror Make-Up is safe. Animal Actors probably isn't, but that's not til after the KidZone re-do.

Also - I think the disagreement may come from your use of entertainment in a broad sense.

 

[Nico]

A lot of the disagreement is centered on a clash between folks focused on what has already happened and those looking to what may happen in the future. What has actually happened is massive cuts to entertainment across the existing two parks, removing just about all of the most high profile entertainment offerings. This has taken place over several years - Sinbad went five years ago, the parade a year ago. Additionally, a major entertainment offering has been cut from the plans for EU and replaced with a short coaster. This has all happened in parks that were already weak in entertainment, and much of it has coincided with the ascent of a major executive with an apparent reputation for slashing entertainment (I don’t personally know if this reputation is fair or not).

Now, what may be true, perhaps is even likely to be true, is that all that entertainment will return, bigger and better, for the opening of EU. But given Universals track record regarding entertainment, a tiny bit of skepticism here seems understandable, if not fair. It also means that, even in that scenario, two full price parks will be operating with dramatically reduced entertainment offerings for two years. Beyond that, it means IOA will have several massive attraction spaces sitting empty for, at the least, four years.

As I’ve said repeatedly, if the entertainment roars back in 2025, I’ll apologize for doubting Comcast. But even then, the way they’ve gone about doing things will deserve a bit of criticism.

And on the most personal level, I’m a bit nervous because two of my favorite attractions- the male-up and animal shows - are entertainment.

Ohh. Then at the simplest level of the argument, you are upset PF closed, others are not. That makes sense.

 

[Magic-Man]

A lot of the disagreement is centered on a clash between folks focused on what has already happened and those looking to what may happen in the future. What has actually happened is massive cuts to entertainment across the existing two parks, removing just about all of the most high profile entertainment offerings. This has taken place over several years - Sinbad went five years ago, the parade a year ago. Additionally, a major entertainment offering has been cut from the plans for EU and replaced with a short coaster. This has all happened in parks that were already weak in entertainment, and much of it has coincided with the ascent of a major executive with an apparent reputation for slashing entertainment (I don’t personally know if this reputation is fair or not).

Now, what may be true, perhaps is even likely to be true, is that all that entertainment will return, bigger and better, for the opening of EU. But given Universals track record regarding entertainment, a tiny bit of skepticism here seems understandable, if not fair. It also means that, even in that scenario, two full price parks will be operating with dramatically reduced entertainment offerings for two years. Beyond that, it means IOA will have several massive attraction spaces sitting empty for, at the least, four years.

As I’ve said repeatedly, if the entertainment roars back in 2025, I’ll apologize for doubting Comcast. But even then, the way they’ve gone about doing things will deserve a bit of criticism.

And on the most personal level, I’m a bit nervous because two of my favorite attractions- the male-up and animal shows - are entertainment.

It's worth noting here that three of Epic's big attractions are rumored to be big shows. One in Potter, one in Dragons, and a giant fountain show in the middle of the park. Another Monsters show could have been seen as redundant. Entertainment isn't going away, if anything it's getting stronger.

 

[HHN Maddux]

It's worth noting here that three of Epic's big attractions are rumored to be big shows. One in Potter, one in Dragons, and a giant fountain show in the middle of the park. Another Monsters show could have been seen as redundant. Entertainment isn't going away, if anything it's getting stronger.

Still disappoints me could've had Wolfman AE

 

[Nico]

It's worth noting here that three of Epic's big attractions are rumored to be big shows. One in Potter, one in Dragons, and a giant fountain show in the middle of the park. Another Monsters show could have been seen as redundant. Entertainment isn't going away, if anything it's getting stronger.

And there’s a rumor for one of the expansion pads out there. I personally don’t want to believe it, but it’s out there.

 

[King_K.]

It's worth noting here that three of Epic's big attractions are rumored to be big shows. One in Potter, one in Dragons, and a giant fountain show in the middle of the park. Another Monsters show could have been seen as redundant. Entertainment isn't going away, if anything it's getting stronger.

Entertainment has been getting leveled for a few years now.

Beetlejuice, Fear Factor, Sindbad, Superstar Parade, Cinematic Spectacular/Celebration, Barney, Dreamworks Destination, Marquee Event cuts and now Poseidon's Fury. Whether you liked the offerings or they weren't your main priorities, it's still a big chunk of performers and techs that have lost roles and jobs.

I'm hopeful the resort will offer bigger and better opportunities in the future, but it's still disappointing to see just how much they've taken away as well. I'm all for new attractions and experiences, but like Thanos, I like a little balance too.

 

[tielo]

There are plenty of Zelda fans. I think their fanbase is quieter than you might expect from other IPs but that doesn't make them fewer. It'll also be a lot easier for the general public (or at least Universal's non-video game guests) to approach Zelda since they would be used to SNW by then, making the threshold to approach, or "get", Zelda much lower.

So true, I know Zelda is not the playable character, that is Link. He's like Peter Pan with mister Spock ears and has weapons that are poorly made.
See I never played a Nintendo game but I know Zelda.

 

[Brian G.]

I truly am at a loss for words...

 

[Gartooth]

I'd be happy to see Zelda get added in to Lost Continent if that happens even though I understand the land and attractions had its fans.

I also get that Nintendo taking over more park space has been a heated topic as of late, and if you arent into Nintendo its annoying to hear people who won't shut up about it. How I feel though is that right around now would've been the natural time a Phase 2 of Nintendo should've been moving forward anyways if it wasn't for the several years the original Super Nintendo World got delayed at this resort.

Nintendo coming to the parks was announced around 2015 and then got hit by the 1-2 punch of first moving it from USF to EU and then the pandemic happened which caused a long pause on the EU project. So if phase 1 opened around 2021 then a phase 2 around 2026/2027 is a fair length of time. But since Mario opens in 2025 now it may look really fast for an expansion without looking at how long it took to get here. That's just my thoughts on it anyway.

 

[OLSinFLA]

I don't think the issue is that Universal historically can't do shows. They've shown that they can...during special events.

When they opened they had some real fun shows (Hitchcock and Murder She Wrote)

 

[Jake S]

When they opened they had some real fun shows (Hitchcock and Murder She Wrote)

my earliest memories of going to universal Hollywood mostly revolve around show-type attractions (Beetlejuice, Backdraft, Wild West Stunt Show).

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I truly am at a loss for words...

In 2021 when people thought nothing new would be added between VelociCoaster and Epic (or that Epic was canceled) they would be ecstatic if they leaned Shrek, KidZone, and PF were being replaced in addition to new entertainment.

 

[Captain Tragedy]

Apparently this applies to theme parks too now.