Universal Studios Beijing (Now Open)

[quinnmac000]

CCP (China Communist Party) is main investor/financier/planner for this park not Comcast....with that I'm 75% certain some attractions will not be cloned for X number of years (I.e similar to Mystic Manor at HKDL) especially with USJ and USS possibly pulling anyway attendance if either got similar attractions.

 

[Nick]

You don't believe the PotC Shanghai ride system will be cloned around the world?

It will and is actively being looked at. But the Ride system is what will get cloned, the chance of a 100% clone of Ride system AND PotC is much slimmer based on everything i'm hearing, which then keeps PotC unique to Shanghai.

 

[Magic-Man]

CCP (China Communist Party) is main investor/financier/planner for this park not Comcast....with that I'm 75% certain some attractions will not be cloned for X number of years (I.e similar to Mystic Manor at HKDL) especially with USJ and USS possibly pulling anyway attendance if either got similar attractions.

I believe that they'll make exceptions for parks in the US, especially with the new Orlando park so close on the horizon. The Jurassic World and KFP rides are going to come in some fashion, 100%.

 

[Disneyhead]

It will and is actively being looked at. But the Ride system is what will get cloned, the chanced of a 100% clong of Ride system AND PotC is much slimmer based on everything i'm hearing, which then keeps PotC unique to Shanghai.

But that is because all the other parks already have PotC except Hong Kong and it won't be cloned there because of 2 Gov'ts wanting differentiation. If none of the other parks had PotC they would be cloning as fast as possible. Like the 3 planned Battle Escape rides in the works now. Or FoP which looks like will be cloned in the park that is being held up as an example of "look ! no clones, unique!"

 

[Nick]

But that is because all the other parks already have PotC except Hong Kong and it won't be cloned there because of 2 Gov'ts wanting differentiation. If none of the other parks had PotC they would be cloning as fast as possible. Like the 3 planned Battle Escape rides in the works now. Or FoP which looks like will be cloned in the park that is being held up as an example of "look ! no clones, unique!"

No one's saying that Disney doesn't clone things too.

But Disney at least has enough unique to it's parks that it's worth visiting pretty much every resort they have around the world if you're a fan. As a Universal fan in Orlando, I have zero interest in Hollywood because there's very little in the park that I can't experience in FL for me to justify the price.

Fans, while small, are still a large enough base that if you can convince them to go to your other parks it'll increase attendance. The way Universal is operating gives fans no incentive to go to any other park but the one closest to them. Meanwhile, a case can be made that all of Disney's different theme park resorts are worth a visit because of the unique elements within the respective resorts. However i'll single out TDLR and DLR as the two that are clearly worth it even if you live in Orlando. Shanghai is also very unique in many respects (beyond rides), but I think that it's still too young of a park.

 

[quinnmac000]

Whatever piece of concept art was released in the report from a few days ago is ugly...supposedly Transformers or JW but it doesn't remind me anything of either.

 

[Nick]

I believe that they'll make exceptions for parks in the US, especially with the new Orlando park so close on the horizon. The Jurassic World and KFP rides are going to come in some fashion, 100%.

I'm sure there will at least be a 5-year exclusivity deal, which is fairly standard in China. I'm pretty sure TRON couldn't open before 2021 in MK as the ride had a 5-year deal starting in 2016. Mystic Manor had a 5-year exclusivity clause with the Chinese gov't as well and in Paris, Ratatouille had a 5-year Exclusivity.

Headliner attractions get locked down by these countries (especially China who has controlling interest in the parks).

 

[Magic-Man]

I'm sure there will at least be a 5-year exclusivity deal, which is fairly standard in China. I'm pretty sure TRON couldn't open before 2021 in MK as the ride had a 5-year deal starting in 2016. Mystic Manor had a 5-year exclusivity clause with the Chinese gov't as well and in Paris, Ratatouille had a 5-year Exclusivity.

Headliner attractions get locked down by these countries (especially China who has controlling interest in the parks).

I just don’t see them waiting to clone KFP and Jurassic World. They’ll work something out.

 

[Magic-Man]

Whatever piece of concept art was released in the report from a few days ago is ugly...supposedly Transformers or JW but it doesn't remind me anything of either.

Which one are you looking at? I haven’t seen that concept art yet.

 

[quinnmac000]

Which one are you looking at? I haven’t seen that concept art yet.

if you go through the themeparx links and go through there was one.

 

[JungleSkip]

Fans, while small, are still a large enough base that if you can convince them to go to your other parks it'll increase attendance.

But even the vast majority of "fans" who want to go to the other resorts don't. It's just not a viable market to worry about.

However i'll single out TDLR and DLR as the two that are clearly worth it even if you live in Orlando.

Here's a hot take: I don't agree. If you're in those areas on a trip and have a day or two free? Yea, definitely go check out the parks. But to go specifically to see those parks? Nah. The experience just isn't all that different. It's just a slight variation on the same themes you see in Orlando.

 

[Disneyhead]

No one's saying that Disney doesn't clone things too.

But Disney at least has enough unique to it's parks that it's worth visiting pretty much every resort they have around the world if you're a fan. As a Universal fan in Orlando, I have zero interest in Hollywood because there's very little in the park that I can't experience in FL for me to justify the price.

Fans, while small, are still a large enough base that if you can convince them to go to your other parks it'll increase attendance. The way Universal is operating gives fans no incentive to go to any other park but the one closest to them. Meanwhile, a case can be made that all of Disney's different theme park resorts are worth a visit because of the unique elements within the respective resorts. However i'll single out TDLR and DLR as the two that are clearly worth it even if you live in Orlando. Shanghai is also very unique in many respects (beyond rides), but I think that it's still too young of a park.

But Universal is still young in comparison to Disney and just like Disney opens new resorts with one greatest hits castle park, Universal opens their resorts with a greatest hits Studios park. When you look at a Universal second gate you have more originals like Spider-man, CitH, PF, Sindbad, Dudley's, and Bluto.

 

[Nick]

Here's a hot take: I don't agree. If you're in those areas on a trip and have a day or two free? Yea, definitely go check out the parks. But to go specifically to see those parks? Nah. The experience just isn't all that different. It's just a slight variation on the same themes you see in Orlando.

Well since I plan out my vacations like most people, there isn't usually just magically an "extra day". If i'm in Tokyo or LA, yeah, you bet your ass i'm gonna see the cities and everything there. But i'm also gonna spend some time at the parks. USJ I would argue is even worth it in Japan as the park itself I think is Universal's most unique.

However, if i'm in Hollywood, there's no way i'm wasting anytime going to USH when I can see a large majority of the stuff there in Orlando whereas Disneyland has a ton of stuff WDW doesn't.

 

[Disneyhead]

Well since I plan out my vacations like most people, there isn't usually just magically an "extra day". If i'm in Tokyo or LA, yeah, you bet your ass i'm gonna see the cities and everything there. But i'm also gonna spend some time at the parks. USJ I would argue is even worth it in Japan as the park itself I think is Universal's most unique.

However, if i'm in Hollywood, there's no way i'm wasting anytime going to USH when I can see a large majority of the stuff there in Orlando whereas Disneyland has a ton of stuff WDW doesn't.

Hollywood's stand out attraction that will never be duplicated is the tram tour. I would argue that the tram tour and Waterworld make it worth at least one visit for UOR fans if in the area.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Well since I plan out my vacations like most people, there isn't usually just magically an "extra day". If i'm in Tokyo or LA, yeah, you bet your ass i'm gonna see the cities and everything there. But i'm also gonna spend some time at the parks. USJ I would argue is even worth it in Japan as the park itself I think is Universal's most unique.

However, if i'm in Hollywood, there's no way i'm wasting anytime going to USH when I can see a large majority of the stuff there in Orlando whereas Disneyland has a ton of stuff WDW doesn't.

I agree. We visited DL /DCA + Knotts and did not care for Universal. I'm more interested in what Uni is doing than Disney but I had no reason to visit USH when DL/DCA (While some duplicate attractions) had enough for me to visit. The one thing I'd change about Uni is how many carbon copies the parks end up with. It's ok to have copies from a business perspective but at least offer something unique.

I know that people who visit more than one Uni/Disney resort is like 0.002% of attendance but at least some unique attractions should be created to make the park stand out from the rest rather than just be a standard Universal park.

 

[Nick]

Hollywood's stand out attraction that will never be duplicated is the tram tour. I would argue that the tram tour and Waterworld make it worth at least one visit for UOR fans if in the area.

It's certainly the only reason I visited the only time I have ever been. But now that i've done the tram tour and WaterWorld and the park is actually more cloned now than it was then, there's just no reason for me to see a reason to visit for the foreseeable future.

At least USH has a nice park entry though compared to USF, so it's got that. USF's entry is a disaster.

 

[OrlLover]

I’m really curious to see how this park develops. Fantastic Worlds is not a standard studios park however there is probably some ideas that are going to carry over.

 

[GAcoaster]

People make these same arguments with parks like Six Flags. They miss the point that the primary market for a park in China (just like a Six Flags here) is people who live within a certain radius of the park. It doesn't matter that every park might have the same things as every other park, most people who go to that park will only go there and have no idea whether a ride is unique or has twenty identical clones since they don't realize the other parks exist. It's only the 1% of the crowd who cares about these things ("enthusiasts") but they're not the bread and butter revenue stream for the park.

Many Americans (who have free access to information) have no idea that Disneyland and Walt Disney World are different places and have different attractions.

 

[UNIrd]

My issue isn't solely with the park being entirely made up of clones (and I know it won't be). It's that a lot of these attractions would be overlays of existing attractions or attractions designed with the limitations in place of moving into existing buildings. Yet given the choice, they would build the same attraction all over again? Minion Mayhem..really? A cheap overlay of Jimmy Neutron which was a cheap overlay of Hanna Barbera? Supercharged...don't even get me started... really?

The first taste I got of this was when I was surprised that Revenge of the Mummy built entirely from scratch in Singapore, which it was one of my favorite attractions but realize its shortcomings and always assumed it was because it had to be shoehorned into Kong's building... yet it was essentially no different from the FL version. So they think the FL version is perfect as it is? No plussing required... six years later and as the centerpiece of a new land?

But having these ride films in the bag is making Universal lazier than ever as it is.

 

[JungleSkip]

Well hey, good news, they can't clone anything to Park 3 because Orlando already has everything you don't like.