Universal's Epic Universe Wish List & Speculation

[belloq87]

Hasn't @Alicia already basically said that the land's attractions are, essentially, more Potter-centric than FB-centric? If so, it could be fairly simple to further reduce any direct FB connection.

That said, I'd still very much be interested in a dark ride through Newt's menagerie, with lots of creature AAs, but it doesn't appear to be in the cards.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Pokemon/Zelda are kinda evergreen-ish. All HBO has to do is do a Potter Series on HBO Max to really get Potter going again (and people love the IP anyway), Monsters will never be out of date. HTTYD is what I worry about. Replace that with Lord of the Rings though and you've got yourself a park full of pretty safe and solid IPs.

Or or orrrrr, Pokémon and Zelda replace SNW and HTTYD in this park. Yes it’s double gaming/Nintendo but, makes up for lost time, SNW to kidzone, IOA gets HTTYD.

If any Universal park in Orlando is going to be fine without a variation of a Nintendo land, it’s Islands. They have the Jurassic franchise, Hogwarts, and Marvel. They have draws for 5+ years imo. KFP and HTTYD replacing LC and TL I think re-invigorates the park a bit but just my take.

Good thing they have some options moving forward at least, better to be having these discussions then worrying about projects being built whatsoever. Positive times are coming

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Dragons is an old IP....but Dragons will appeal to children regardless if connection...but Comcast investors will want the parks to leverage most popular IP as a guarantee that their investment will go well....but Nintendo and Potter negate that concern....but there are better Dreamworks IPs they could use for the kid-friendly area.....but who really wants to see a Trolls or Shrek land and idk about that Kung Fu Panda land....but why does there have to be a kid-friendly land in that spot when they could do something awesome like LotR.....new IPs will come in the time intervening...x obscure IP would personally be cool but I doubt it will come...etc....etc...

I don't know it's got flat rides for variety, a cool aesthetic, maybe even a Camp Jurassic level play area :shrug: . Seems alright.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Simple. If it’s Potter proper they’re planning, it’s timeless and therefore negate JK’s wackiness for the vast majority. If it’s FB, it’ll feel dated. I guess HTTYD will to, but we still have Dudley Do Right and Popeye for crying out loud.

 

[Nick]

HTTYD should not get a land imo, especially if the park is going to get put off significantly. A ride, definitely, but I just think it would be a poor decision to do a land on the franchise.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

HTTYD should not get a land imo, especially if the park is going to get put off significantly. A ride, definitely, but I just think it would be a poor decision to do a land on the franchise.

Definitely should pivot to making lands for the two most popular Dreamworks franchises of the modern era:

I am, of course, referring to The Road to El Dorado and The Boss Baby, two perennial classics of the animation medium.

 

[Nick]

Definitely should pivot to making lands for the two most popular Dreamworks franchises of the modern era:

I am, of course, referring to The Road to El Dorado and The Boss Baby, two perennial classics of the animation medium.

Or - here me out - They don't have to devote an entire land to what will be a pretty old franchise that doesn't have a future and only had moderate box office success. Tbh, I think more people would be excited to see Far Far Away built than Berk. Shrek is an older, but much more popularized franchise and they are planning on future movies.

 

[OhHaiInternet95]

Or - here me out - They don't have to devote an entire land to what will be a pretty old franchise that doesn't have a future and only had moderate box office success. Tbh, I think more people would be excited to see Duloc built than Berk. Shrek is an older, but much more popularized franchise and they are planning on future movies.

Nah, give me Far Far Away like in Singapore.

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

Or - here me out - They don't have to devote an entire land to what will be a pretty old franchise that doesn't have a future and only had moderate box office success. Tbh, I think more people would be excited to see Duloc built than Berk. Shrek is an older, but much more popularized franchise and they are planning on future movies.

Honestly, I think we have no clue what's popular. Shrek is old and Dragons had a movie two years ago, but one seems to have had more of a cultural impact. Then again, my brother has never seen a Shrek movie in his life, but has seen all the recent Disney movies. It's kind of iffy gauging the popularity of Dreamworks amongst the young-ins when we're mostly asking a bunch of over-20s about their nostalgic opinions of films that don't have the same cultural permeation as anything Disney will do. I think people who generally count themselves as film-fans, even casually, probably have more love for these films than the general public does (which extends to Dragons/Panda and not just the cult films like El Dorado and Megamind). But then again, I have no clue. I would have thought Dragons was more broadly popular but perhaps it's Kung Fu Panda and Shrek, which most agree had its last good entry in 2004.

To be honest, I don't think most of Universal's animated franchises have much staying power, but they're still paying dividends as inspiration for some good attractions (i.e SLoP). Maybe that only indicates that these properties are not "land-worthy" but then very few of the animated properties are, and if you have to choose, why not choose what most consider to be your most classy and high-brow animated franchise whose premise offers you lee-way to do a bevy of unique flat rides (Hiccup's inventions) and has a hook that transcends the confines of the IP (Vikings and Dragons).

Of course, you could use the justification that the IP doesn't matter to choose another marginally popular IP with a broad thematic hook, but at that point the choice of land just comes down to personal preference. And since this land is already completely designed, I don't see why they would bother changing it.

 

[Grabnar]

Let's be realistic though, if we're building a land you're ultimately looking for something that you can build attractions/rides around; there's just flat out a lot more and varied action that you can draw from in HTTYD than there is from Shrek. I'd also argue that despite HTTYD being less entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist, HTTYD has a sort of timeless feel to its visual language that doesn't rely on the movies to explain, whereas Shrek can come across as chintzy and dated due to its incessant pop culture references.

HTTYD will age better with less upkeep than Shrek will, full stop.

 

[Nick]

Nah, give me Far Far Away like in Singapore.

Yeah, that's more what was on my mind, I just typed the wrong thing

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I don’t see why a Dragons and Vikings land based on a well done animated series aimed for children doesn’t do well. Espeically if they open it post Nintendo and hopefully already have increased their family draw, good stuff.

But realistically? I think we just get the show and a mini area. TL theatre screams this thing. Seemed to somewhat anchor the land and the building was not small from I remember so I feel it’s worth something. I think we absolutely get that in the States somewhere at some point

 

[Mad Dog]

Highlights of Dreamworks land instead of just one Dreamworks IP.

 

[Nick]

Yeah, I guess dragons will always be "cool". The IP really doesn't matter. Flight of Passage is a perfect example of this.

Highlights of Dreamworks land instead of just one Dreamworks IP.

I'd much prefer this, but Universal doesn't seem to have any interest in those types of lands anymore. All lands have to be on singular IP, thus shrinking the park imo as there's less variance.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Yeah, I guess dragons will always be "cool". The IP really doesn't matter. Flight of Passage is a perfect example of this.


I'd much prefer this, but Universal doesn't seem to have any interest in those types of lands anymore. All lands have to be on singular IP, thus shrinking the park, imo as there's less variance.

Their ideas/plans may change if they don’t have Epic Universe relatively “soon”. They likely want Dreamworks to be integrated in the parks, same w/Nintendo and EU was supposed to open in 2023. Leaves lots of room for lots of IPs and lands to be discovered imo.

Now without EU or more certain future prospects, I think they could do something like this to get their goods out there in any way. I prefer the single IP lands but I can sort of see why people wouldn’t.

 

[Nick]

Their ideas/plans may change if they don’t have Epic Universe relatively “soon”. They likely want Dreamworks to be integrated in the parks, same w/Nintendo and EU was supposed to open in 2023. Leaves lots of room for lots of IPs and lands to be discovered imo.

Now without EU or more certain future prospects, I think they could do something like this to get their goods out there in anyway. I prefer the single IP lands but I can sort of see why people wouldn’t.

I like single IP lands for their immersiveness, but there's realistically only a select few IPs that deserve to have a singular IP land. For the rest, it's just not necessary and it takes away from other potentially IPs getting representation. What I picture for a Dreamworks land that would have say Shrek, HTTYD and Trolls (just to name a few) would be multiple themed minilands within a larger land.

 

[JungleSkip]

I'd much prefer this, but Universal doesn't seem to have any interest in those types of lands anymore. All lands have to be on singular IP, thus shrinking the park imo as there's less variance.

IMO I'd build something like a smaller version of what they have at Motiongate Dubai. A small-ish Main Street leading to a nice fountain representing the big DreamWorks properties, and from that fountain a small HTTYD section with the coaster and the show, a small Shrek's swamp area with some flat rides and maybe a short Fantasyland like dark ride, and a Panda section with another flat and a big play area

 

[PerceptiveCoot]

I'd much prefer this, but Universal doesn't seem to have any interest in those types of lands anymore. All lands have to be on singular IP, thus shrinking the park imo as there's less variance.

It's possible, but it would be difficult under current priorities. Universal would either have to be find a robust unifying aesthetic or create mini-lands for each of the properties. The first option is difficult (even Fantasy Springs at DisneySea is a bit of a stretch). The second option means your forgoing a completely developed lands for lesser versions of what could have been complete lands.

I'm not necessarily in agreement that certain IPs don't befit single IP lands. I think any IP can work for a whole land if designed correctly, and can fail if designed poorly. Just look at Star Wars Land and Pandora.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

I like single IP lands for their immersiveness, but there's realistically only a select few IPs that deserve to have a singular IP land. For the rest, it's just not necessary and it takes away from other potentially IPs getting representation. What I picture for a Dreamworks land that would have say Shrek, HTTYD and Trolls (just to name a few) would be multiple themed minilands within a larger land.

Idk huge part of the reason I go to the parks is also for the environement and immersive ness of the parks, really great use for an escape. If Universal is taking essentially what they did with Potter and pumping lands out like that, heck ya I’d take it for any IP that makes a great land/environment.

Not all IPs do that obviously, but Berk in particular I feel did so that’s why I’m so strongly for that land in particular.

 

[Nick]

It's possible, but it would be difficult under current priorities. Universal would either have to be find a robust unifying aesthetic or create mini-lands for each of the properties. The first option is difficult (even Fantasy Springs at DisneySea is a bit of a stretch). The second option means your forgoing a completely developed lands for lesser versions of what could have been complete lands.

I'm not necessarily in agreement that certain IPs don't befit single IP lands. I think any IP can work for a whole land if designed correctly, and can fail if designed poorly. Just look at Star Wars Land and Pandora.

As I mentioned in my follow up post to that, I like the idea of mini-lands that are immersively themed within a larger land.