Universal Studios And Islands Of Adventure Fail To Come Up With Anything New In 2012
Some of you may have seen the recent webcast video that Universal Studios held, if you have you will notice that there is a distinct lack of attractions coming to the parks this year. Lets take a look at what was announced and exactly what it will mean for the parks.
Despicable Me Minion Mayhem
Although it might sound like Universal are going all out on a brand new attraction that is focusing on the Despicable Me franchise (new movie is on the way) in actual fact it looks like Universal are doing exactly what they did last time with this ride space.
I am not expecting anything special to come out of this attraction and it will likely end up being a re-skinned Jimmy Neutron attraction with nothing new other than the décor and film that is playing during the attraction. If I am proved wrong when I ride this in the latter part of this year then I will openly admit to being wrong.
Universals Cinematic Spectacular
A night-time event hosted on a regular basis at Universal Studios, that sounds fantastic right? Surely based on what the press release states this is going to be something brand new and unique to the Universal Studios Park:
“Relive Universal Pictures’ most beloved films during this multi-media nighttime show that projects legendary movie clips onto cutting-edge waterfall screens. Narrated by award-winning actor Morgan Freeman, the experience will take you on a journey through epic cinematic moments filled with heroes, horror, laughter, good, evil and triumph.”
STOP! This sounds like it is going to be a lot like World Of Color and Fantasmic! (performed at California and Hollywood Studios Disney parks).
Surely you can come up with a idea of your own Universal? At least it can’t get any worse right?
Universals Superstar Parade
Oh… it just got worse. Now Universal are planning on running their own parade, one that looks to be a complete copy of the Pixar Block Party Bash at Disney’s Hollywood Studios… notice any similarities in the two?
Not only is the parade a blatant rip off of what Disney are already doing but the costumes look awful, the dancing is terrible and too cheesy and who on earth has even seen the movie Hop? Why are they making this one of the four major parts of the parade?
Added Effects In Spider-Man
The one good thing to come out of 2012 seems to be that Universal are updating the film on the Spider-Man to improve the graphics and make the ride more awesome than it already is. I am tempted to say this is a copy of what Disney did with the Star Wars attraction in 2011 but the changes don’t seem to be anywhere near as detailed as what Disney were up too and as far as I can see, the ride itself is not changing.
The Verdict
Overall it looks to be a very disappointing year for new attractions at the Universal Studios and Islands Of Adventure theme parks. Since the launch of The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter in 2010 I really don’t think that Universal have come up with something original, even Harry Potter is mostly based on what’s already there in the films and books.
Come on Universal Studios, pull your finger out and starting working on something new that people are going to want to ride, how about a new Back to the Future attraction?
What Is Happening With The Jaws Space At Universal Studios?
Now that the Jaws ride at Universal Studios has been closed for nearly a month it is time to look into exactly what is likely to replace the fan favourite. There have been some interesting theories over the past few weeks, here are just a few of them.
Transformers Attraction
Although Universal are opening a Transformers attraction in two of their other theme parks across the world there are currently no plans at all for an attraction to open in either of the Orlando parks. This does seem incredibly stupid when you think of how popular the franchise now is and considering a fourth movie is likely to happen (even if Bay steps down as director).
Replacing Jaws with a Transformers attraction could well happen but it is far more likely that Universal will close E.T and replace with Transformers (Spielberg is executive producer on the Transformers movies).
Harry Potter Expansion
Out of all of the ideas and rumours that have been put out on the forums I think that this is by far the best. Rumours have it that Universal are planning a Harry Potter expansion, one of the ideas that has been suggested is that Diagon Alley will be placed where Jaws is (imagine a Gringotts Bank “underground” attraction) and that the Hogwarts Express will take guests from “London” to Hogwarts castle.
Although this would be fantastic it would involve a lot of building into an area that is otherwise restricted to guests (the train would need to go through here to get from IOA to Universal and back again) and would be a multi-million dollar project. Due to the success of The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter this project isn’t impossible but it is far more likely that Universal will simply expand further into The Lost Continent which is already located in IOA and really has nothing of interest at this current point in time.
Something New
The most likely thing to happen is that Universal will announce a new attraction (something water based as the atraction is already in place) that will open in 2013.
If you have any thoughts on what Universal plan to do with the Jaws space then please let me know in the comments or Tweet me @ryanogs.
Universal To Replace Jimmy Neutron & T2:3D?
It would seem that at least one of the most popular and well-loved rides is rumoured to be closing at Universal Studios (I am of course talking about T2:3D here) along with Jimmy Neutron and replaced with new franchises and new rides. So what are the rumours, are they likely to happen and will it have an impact on the guests of the parks?
Jimmy Neutron
Although I think this ride is pretty good I can understand why Universal want to shut it and do something better with the area. It’s good but it really doesn’t compare with some of their newer attractions such as the Simpsons Ride and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. The danger of closing this ride is that there will not be many rides left for the kids at the parks which will then just push more and more families to stay at Disney World and only Disney World. The ride has been confirmed to close this month (April 2011) and will reopen occasionally until August when the ride will be closed for good!
The strongest of the rumours are pointing in the direction of an attraction based on Despicable Me or How To Train Your Dragon which actually do make sense. The last thing they want to do is close a kids attraction and put another adult themed one in instead. Other rumours include a new Back to the Future attraction which would certainly please a lot of the fans who were rather disappointed to see the Simpsons ride replace it. Back to the Future is one of my favourite movie franchises of all time and I would love it if they put something like this in.
My personal opinion is that the ride will be based around Despicable Me as it is a movie that has been proven as a very successful movie and it will suit the kids.
T2:3D
This is the one I am most shocked to hear about and although Universal have not actually gone as far as confirming this yet there are very strong rumours to suggest that this is going to close. Personally I think this would be a massive mistake on Universal’s part as the franchise is one that is still very popular and even when I was out in one of the quieter months of the year (September) the theatre was still well over half full.
Rumours have it that another James Cameron attraction based around Avatar will be opening up in T2’s place. Although Avatar is technically the most finically successful movie of all time I do not think it is going to prove popular as a replacement to T2 unless Universal really do something special with it.
What do you think of these changes? Jimmy Neutron’s closure has been confirmed but I seriously hope they don’t think about closing T2 anytime soon!
