I have said in the past that I've been a frequent visitor at Universal Studios in Orlando and that I might write a blog about it. That day has finally come. I will talk about what rides, areas, and parks might be coming to Universal and what I want from them. This is also pretty good timing since their newest ride, Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure released at Islands of Adventure.
There is also big construction going on in the Jurassic Park area of Islands, they are cutting out the area in front of the visitor center, the abandoned Triceratops Encounter area, and through the park to make what is said to be a Jurassic Park roller coaster. They are also allegedly going to change the kids play area from Camp Jurassic to Camp Cretaceous to coincide with the new ride and an animated Jurassic Park Netflix series that is releasing with the same name. They could also change the Jurassic Park ride to Jurassic World as they did in Hollywood, but I really hope that doesn't happen.
Over to Universal Studios, ever since Terminator 2 shut down there has been speculation on what may replace it. Highest among that speculation is Jason Bourne or some other spy series. But right now there doesn't appear to be any work going on with it. The exterior is still mostly the same (just the ride indication is gone) and the exit is still the same in the gift shop.
Some things in the park that are rumored to be leaving are Shrek 4D for the Dreamworks Theatre as happened in the Hollywood park. The theatre doesn't have any specific theming, so they can play Shrek 4D again. All of the kid area is rumored to be going away, Barney, Fivell, Woody Woodpecker, and Curious George. The only one of those that is really relevant and that I would keep is Curious George. Nintendo was going into the area but opted not to at the last second. Some properties that could go in are Hello Kitty, Secret Life of Pets (the stupid slop that it is), Pokémon, and Nintendo.
The Fear Factor area is a huge part of the park that isn't very popular, good, or relevant and it will probably leave eventually. They might put in more of the Harry Potter area in or a Stranger Things attraction or something else entirely. The Animal Actors show has the same deal. They could maybe replace it with some sort of show about Universal's monsters.
Back over to Islands of Adventure and to a big area that has lots of potential, but isn't really living up to it is the Lost Continent. The Sinbad show is already shut down and is currently just taking up space. Poseidon's Fury has a good layout, but the show is pretty cringy. And the entire thing really isn't even based off of an IP. My idea for this is that they retool the area to work for The Legend of Zelda. The area already looks sort of like it could be Hyrule, it just needs some work. The Sinbad area is where you could make a ride, maybe some boat ride for the Wind Waker or a more modern 3D ride about Breath of the Wild or its sequel. The Poseidon's Fury's show and design just need to be fixed and be made less bad. You could make it into a dungeon that you explore and somehow get involved with a crazy history-spanning conflict between Link and Ganondorf.
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| Link vs Ganondorf by YamaOrce on DeviantArt |
Next will be a big section about what could be at a possible 3rd major Universal Orlando theme park. I'll be calling it Fantastic Worlds or Site C for now.
We can get one thing out of the way right now, Harry Potter. That is destined to be there, it's their bread and butter, no question that they'll have something. The question is what will it be. I'm thinking that they might go more recent and use Fantastic Beasts and do the Ministry of Magic, which has been rumored for the longest time. What we'll get is most likely going to be a 3D ride. Also,the park is rumored to be named Fantastic Worlds, likely deriving its name from Fantastic Beats.
Next up is Nintendo, Universal acquired the theme park rights to them in 2015 and said that they will make a Nintendo area in Orlando, Hollywood, and Japan. So far they have only done construction in Japan. The fact that they were planning an area in Kidzone and halted it shows me that the have plans for Nintendo elsewhere. It's also one of the best pieces of evidence for them making a 3rd park. From the plans that we've seen for Japan it looks like it will heavily focus on Mario. Possibly featuring some sort of interactive game, a Mario Kart ride, a Yoshi kids ride, and a Donkey Kong area. Personally, I'm just crossing my fingers for something StarFox.
Then onto Jurassic World, a huge money-maker for Universal, it should probably be somewhere in Site C. A Gyrosphere ride would be great with actual dinosaur animatronics, you could control your Gyrosphere and maybe the Indominus Rex attacks you. They could definitely get Jimmy Fallon for the safety video, like in the movie, considering he has his own Universal ride and he works for them on his show. Another possible Jurassic ride is an MIB-like shooter ride in the Jurassic Park Jeeps. It could be sort of like the Jurassic Park arcade game. You would go through Jurassic World shooting dinosaurs.
Next up is one that is something very likely but would be very cool, Warcraft and Blizzard. I don't know if it is mainstream or connected to Universal enough to include it, even though Universal produced the 2016 Warcraft film. I know that there are millions of World of Warcraft fans that this would make very happy. It could also beat up on that ripoff unofficial Warcraft theme park in China. They could have areas like Pandaria or The Bitter Reaches. I don't know too much about Warcraft, so here's a quote from Blizzardwatch.com about what could be included, "a dark portal-themed park entrance, a Karazhan haunted house, a Stormwind Keep to rival Disney’s Cinderella Castle, a gryphon and/or windrider-themed roller coaster, a real-world Darkmoon Faire, a Booty Bay water park, A zeppelin ferris wheel, a Deeprun Tram from one end of the park to the other, a Hemet Nesingwary shooting gallery, [and] a Grizzly Hills log ride." I highly doubt that all of those things would be included. But who says that Warcraft is the only Blizzard franchise that can be included. Heroes of the Storm showed that Blizzard's franchises can crossover just as well as Nintendo's do with Smash Brothers. So, they could also have Overwatch, Starcraft, Diablo, and more in the park. Dreamworks would probably have a presence in the new park. I'm not sure what franchises they would use, possibly something with Megamind or copying over a really cool Puss in Boots roller coaster that they have in Sinapore.
Then, we're on to Star Trek. Universal used to have a show called Star Trek Adventure that got taken out. But given the popular reemergence of Star Trek in the new movies and tv shows, it should be a popular attraction if they make a ride. I'm thinking something aboard the Enterprise, like a bridge commander, kind of like that Star Trek VR game or the Millennium Falcon ride at Disney.
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| Mines Tirith |
Last but not least is Lord of the Rings. This could be a huge franchise for Universal. It would be up there with Harry Potter. I think they could make a Minas Tirith and/or The Shire.Then have a 3D ride of the battle at Mount Doom. Lord of the Rings would be a pretty cool area. That wraps up the areas that could be at the next park and all of the upcoming rides. I'm excited for the future of Universal and I can't wait to go back in a few years to see what's new. Thank you for reading and stay connected.
Sources:
https://m.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2018/02/20/super-nintendo-world-in-orlando-might-not-be-going-where-everyone-thinks-its-going
