Villain-Con Minion Blast (General Discussion)

[UniversalRBLX]

I'm not worried about the ride being delayed (which it isn't since summer pans out into October by theme park metrics), I'm just surprised by the way they decide to market/open things. (Obviously, some things don't go according to plan.) But the lack of any sort of promotional material at all this year, outside of a short blurb and the logo, shows they were running into problems months ago and weren't confident about hitting their summer target.

Not saying this thing won't be a success, but there are only 2 months left where this can truly be in the spotlight before HHN dominates the airwaves for the resort. Maybe I'm wrong, who knows, but I doubt you want to market an attraction at a theme park that closes at 5 PM for a solid 2 months for an upcharge event.

it's worth noting it's been summer for seven (7) days. let's see how this plays out.

Yes, but vacation plans are pretty much booked by now - that was what I was referring to by being "late" into the season. Very few people are willing to fork over thousands for a theme park trip over the next 2 months this late into the game.

I'm not claiming the ride is delayed or that the attraction is intentionally being delayed, it's just an interesting point to consider.

 

[Casper Gutman]

yeah, I'm not really seeing panic anywhere here (or feeling it) It's just interesting to follow and discuss, just as it is with something like the (far more egregious) Moana Journey of Water situation. This is a board full of people who find theme parks interesting, after all. If it takes a while to work out the kinks but the attraction ends up being fun, this will just be esoteric history.

That said, come on, summer starts June 1 in common parlance and sometime in mid-April for the entertainment industry.

 

[GAcoaster]

Universal is a year round park-- the worst case scenario is it doesn't open until peak summer is over in August. That's when they are trying to get more people to come to the park anyway. Or, if there REALLY is a delay, it's open for the busy holiday season...

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Yeah I mean. I'm not panicking - it would just make sense for them to push it back. I'm just hoping they don't lol

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I’ve heard July since around April or May, so take that for what it’s worth.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Universal is a year round park-- the worst case scenario is it doesn't open until peak summer is over in August. That's when they are trying to get more people to come to the park anyway. Or, if there REALLY is a delay, it's open for the busy holiday season...

September is no longer a slow season for the parks, especially Universal with HHN. The parks have been a marvelous job at spreading out attendance throughout the year. There’s no need to incentivize guests to visit during a specific point of the year anymore.

I’ve heard July since around April or May, so take that for what it’s worth.

Yes, but it’s odd that going into the 4th of July weekend we have zero confirmation/insight as to the status of it.

I’m not claiming to be an expert, but they must have been bothered about the attraction experience/status to forgo any sort of summer promotions with the Minions when attendance is down.

 

[Nico]

I don’t want a rehash of Mummy softs, or Hagrid. Open it when it’s ready.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I don’t want a rehash of Mummy softs, or Hagrid. Open it when it’s ready.

Nobody is talking about opening it before it’s even ready, we’re discussing the implications of opening it without much fanfare and rather late for Summer vacation planning without much promotional fanfare.

 

[Tbad556]

Yes, but it’s odd that going into the 4th of July weekend we have zero confirmation/insight as to the status of it.

I’m not claiming to be an expert, but they must have been bothered about the attraction experience/status to forgo any sort of summer promotions with the Minions when attendance is down.

Is it really that odd though? I kinda gestured at this a few pages ago, but Supercharged, Kong, & Springfield never really got an official release date, Bourne's was announced 3 days prior, Diagon Alley was 2 weeks prior, Mummy & Hulk's reopening kinda just... happened, etc.

They're still pushing Minion Land on social media in the mean time. Not here to defend their marketing at all, but it's not like they've gone radio silent on promoting it.

 

[Alicia]

Hagrid had a definite opening date due to the rights holders requiring it, and we all know how that turned out. Maybe it’s better they don’t lock themselves in.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

If the game aspect of this ride isn’t working, that’s the entire point of this attraction. Some rides can get away with an AA or two being in B mode because there is more going on. This is a stand-thru shooting game. No hiccups can really happen with this so I’d prefer they take their time.

 

[Disneyhead]

Hagrid had a definite opening date due to the rights holders requiring it, and we all know how that turned out. Maybe it’s better they don’t lock themselves in.

Let's not forget them opening Volcano Bay about a month too early. Haha.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Is it really that odd though? I kinda gestured at this a few pages ago, but Supercharged, Kong, & Springfield never really got an official release date, Bourne's was announced 3 days prior, Diagon Alley was 2 weeks prior, Mummy & Hulk's reopening kinda just... happened, etc.

No, it’s not uncommon for Universal to do it… it’s not a great practice and I’ve been pretty vocal about it. It’s just odd for them to not use the power of the Minion IP for promotional material during a soft summer.

Hagrid had a definite opening date due to the rights holders requiring it, and we all know how that turned out. Maybe it’s better they don’t lock themselves in.

I blame that more on Universal’s insistence on their rabid construction timeline and not planning a significant testing period. When they announced the opening date in February they still had cranes on site and infrastructure work was still happening. Half of the trees were still missing.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Hagrid had a definite opening date due to the rights holders requiring it, and we all know how that turned out. Maybe it’s better they don’t lock themselves in.

*looks at Gringotts*

 

[HHN Maddux]

*looks at Gringotts*

I remember Gringott's also had a lot of problems at opening.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

I remember Gringott's also had a lot of problems at opening.

It opened with four ride vehicles operational. Four.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

*looks at Gringotts*

Universal doesn’t give themselves a decent time for testing. They are a very aggressive company (which I adore) but I’d like for them to start giving themselves some breathing room.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Again, no one is saying it should open before it’s ready. The interesting issues are

1) when it’s completely ready, do they open as soon as possible or try to leverage the opening in PR?

2) while this attraction has kind of been seen as a compromise or stopgap (to some extent a fair assessment), it’s actually juggling a bunch of things we haven’t seen in a major theme park before, namely the moving walkway and blasters that aren’t physically attached to anything. How difficult will the fine-tuning period be?

 

[Alicia]

My guess is the issue is lag. Processing power. Too many variables for the computing power to handle. They will fix it, but I want to say—as surprising as it may be to some—the moving walkway is working perfectly. The issues are probably just computing power/real-time graphics rendering related, and will be fine tuned with more testing.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

My guess is the issue is lag. Processing power. Too many variables for the computing power to handle. They will fix it, but I want to say—as surprising as it may be to some—the moving walkway is working perfectly. The issues are probably just computing power/real-time graphics rendering related, and will be fine tuned with more testing.

I’ve never been worried about the walkway not physically working just the practicality of it. I feel if it isn’t physically working one day they can shove team members in or voiceovers to move people along.