Universal Orlando August 1 Press Conference

[jrn14]

Are we thinking Uni might be announcing a Magical Express type service or something I'm seeing people talking about it everywhere.... I was just lamenting the fact that it doesn't exist yet.

 

[Magic-Man]

Universal's New Orlando Theme Park To Be Named Universal's Epic Universe - Theme Park University

For the love of God, please no.

 

[jrn14]

Epic Universe is fine with me I think it sounds like a good time. :clap:

I really don't see what all the negativity is about...

 

[JungleSkip]

I really don't see what all the negativity is about...

Have you ever been on this site before?

 

[Bobharlem]

Where is the rumor about a rail station from the airport as part of this announcement coming from?

 

[JungleSkip]

Where is the rumor about a rail station from the airport as part of this announcement coming from?

Speculation

 

[RFRees]

I mean, I consider the LOTR movies to be some of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time. But there's nothing in LOTR that translates to a ride naturally, while Nintendo has so many built in ride concepts.

I disagree. For Mario, what ride is completely obvious other than Mario Kart?

Let's take a look at the comparisons:

Mario: Yoshi ride where you are traveling through a Yoshi adventure on the back of your own 'yoshi' vehicle.
LOTR: LOTR ride where you are traveling through a LOTR adventure on the back of your own 'mythical creature' vehicle.

Mario: DK ride through jungle/caves where you are on a cart.
LOTR: Hobbit ride through goblin-town where you are on a cart.

There's dozens of other potential concepts, including a Poseidon-clone, dragon roller coaster, Hagrid clone, a Spider-man clone, a FJ clone, boat ride(s), etc. I mean honestly, LOTR lends itself to theme parks just as well as Harry Potter does.


That being said, I don't think LOTR will be at Epic/Fantastic Worlds. I think it'll be at Dry Park 4 in 2033.

 

[AstroOwl52]

Have you ever been on this site before?

Hey, look on the bright side. At least we haven't reached "4Chan" levels of toxicity yet. Once we get to that point, we're :x:.

 

[JungleSkip]

I disagree. For Mario, what ride is completely obvious other than Mario Kart?

Let's take a look at the comparisons:

Mario: Yoshi ride where you are traveling through a Yoshi adventure on the back of your own 'yoshi' vehicle.
LOTR: LOTR ride where you are traveling through a LOTR adventure on the back of your own 'mythical creature' vehicle.

Mario: DK ride through jungle/caves where you are on a cart.
LOTR: Hobbit ride through goblin-town where you are on a cart.

There's dozens of other potential concepts, including a Poseidon-clone, dragon roller coaster, Hagrid clone, a Spider-man clone, a FJ clone, boat ride(s), etc. I mean honestly, LOTR lends itself to theme parks just as well as Harry Potter does.

All of these are things you can make fit into LOTR. Meanwhile they are directly lifted from Nintendo. It's all just more natural when it comes to Nintendo.

 

[Magic-Man]

I disagree. For Mario, what ride is completely obvious other than Mario Kart?

Let's take a look at the comparisons:

Mario: Yoshi ride where you are traveling through a Yoshi adventure on the back of your own 'yoshi' vehicle.
LOTR: LOTR ride where you are traveling through a LOTR adventure on the back of your own 'mythical creature' vehicle.

Mario: DK ride through jungle/caves where you are on a cart.
LOTR: Hobbit ride through goblin-town where you are on a cart.

There's dozens of other potential concepts, including a Poseidon-clone, dragon roller coaster, Hagrid clone, a Spider-man clone, a FJ clone, boat ride(s), etc. I mean honestly, LOTR lends itself to theme parks just as well as Harry Potter does.


That being said, I don't think LOTR will be at Epic/Fantastic Worlds. I think it'll be at Dry Park 4 in 2033.

Personally, I don't get this line of thinking. That park might never happen, and LOTR is will be 20 years old by then. It's coming to Dry Park 3 (either on opening day or an expansion shortly afterwards) or it's not coming at all.

 

[OLSinFLA]

Disney has always been good at ‘perceived value’

A hotel that would cost $75 offsite is $200 onsite. But hey, transport is "free" LOL

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I’m not sure if I should believe TPU or not but that article is extremely defensive. “If you don’t believe me you blindly follow other bloggers or I don’t know what to tell you” like what??? Whether or not their correct with this information this alone leads me a lot of room to doubt them. No need to be so defensive out of the gates if you have the correct info

 

[RFRees]

Personally, I don't get this line of thinking. That park might never happen, and LOTR is will be 20 years old by then. It's coming to Dry Park 3 (either on opening day or an expansion shortly afterwards) or it's not coming at all.

We'll see where LOTR is in 10 years.

I'd rather Universal add to their existing "worlds" in Epic/Fantastic Worlds rather than adding another IP. Something like Luigi's Mansion in 2026.

If I were Universal, I'd start nailing down some IPs we could use long term which have lasting name recognition (something which will be around for decades), while building upon the existing IPs at the current parks.

 

[Andysol]

I mean, I consider the LOTR movies to be some of the greatest cinematic achievements of all time. But there's nothing in LOTR that translates to a ride naturally, while Nintendo has so many built in ride concepts.

The bottom line will be the rides. If the rides come out lackluster from USJ, the hype will be much less for Nintendo at USH/UOR. If the rides come out with responses like Shanghai Pirates received, then the hype will be immense.

We'll actually know the answer this time next year.

Personally, I think a LOTR land would be incredible and agree with Skip that Mordor would be a terrible location vs something like the Shire. A ride can take you to Mordor, but not the land.
Then again, I also think Oz would make one of the greatest lands in Theme Park history. So what do I know?

 

[OLSinFLA]

Depends on your definition of "primary". I think the new park has a chance to beat out IoA for the best at the resort, but I don't think USF will lose its station as the park where HHN/Christmas/Mardi Gras and the like are centered around.



No. I don't think anything can match Nintendo for ride potential.

A dark ride through the Mines of Moria with a Balrog encounter at the end

 

[ParkRumors]

Universal's New Orlando Theme Park To Be Named Universal's Epic Universe - Theme Park University

For the love of God, please no.

That article is silly. Condescending tone aside, they're claiming the basis for the name "change" is that the "Internet figured it out" and that it'll cause brand confusion with Fantastic Beasts. While I will concede the latter may be true to an extent, I don't think there's enough of an issue to warrant a complete rename.

Additionally, the trademarks for Epic Universe and Fantastic Worlds are different, so they're not exactly interchangeable in their use. Now, I'm no trademark lawyer, but I'd imagine if you file trademarks with different goods and services, clearly you have different uses planned for each of them and aren't doing it just in case "the internet figures it out and gets confused".

Lastly, one thing I'm surprised they didn't mention is that the Epic Universe trademark has been pending opposition since late last year, and Universal is still actively trying to settle the dispute - they filed yet another extension of time request on June 11th in hopes they can settle before it goes to trial:

Anyway, if you couldn't tell, I still believe the name of the new park will be "Fantastic Worlds" - but I don't have any sort of inside source to back that up so this whole post might blow up in my face come Thursday.

 

[RFRees]

All of these are things you can make fit into LOTR. Meanwhile they are directly lifted from Nintendo. It's all just more natural when it comes to Nintendo.

I don't understand what you mean by lifting vs natural. I think a lot of us have an idea for Luigi's Mansion, but you could suggest that it's 'lifted' from other existing theme park concepts (Haunted Mansion and/or MIB).

I'm on your side as far as Mario being a bigger brand/more name recognition, just not on board with the LOTR 'doesn't fit for a theme park' idea.

 

[Andysol]

Epic Universe is fine with me I think it sounds like a good time. :clap:

I really don't see what all the negativity is about...

Eh, because 'Epic' is a stupid, trendy name. So much so that we've been making fun of it/it's become a meme on this forum for a good part of a year now.
But now that it could potentially be the name, we're supposed to pretend like it hasn't been a joke/meme? Ok.

Have you ever been on this site before?

Fantastic Worlds has been touted here as the name for quite a long time and I don't recall seeing any "That name is stupid" posts. If you can dig a couple up, I'd love to see them.

 

[JungleSkip]

I don't understand what you mean by lifting vs natural. I think a lot of us have an idea for Luigi's Mansion, but you could suggest that it's 'lifted' from other existing theme park concepts (Haunted Mansion and/or MIB).

I'm saying, when you look at Nintendo's properties, the rides are obvious. They stare you right in the face. Everyone dreams of a real Mario Kart race, a Donkey Kong mine cart coaster, a Pokemon safari, etc. There aren't *obvious* rides that jump out at you when it comes to Lord of the Rings. There are things that you could probably make work. But there's nothing in the fiction that make people think "I've always dreamed of that ride!"

I'm on your side as far as Mario being a bigger brand/more name recognition, just not on board with the LOTR 'doesn't fit for a theme park' idea.

I literally never said LOTR doesn't fit for a theme park.

 

[Teebin]

Has anyone heard any rumors of some never-before seen ride system along the lines of the Scoop 1999 or Kuka 2010? Groundbreaking stuff?