The fight for Universal Studios’ identity: Why the Florida theme park must define itself over the next decade

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Transformers: The Ride 3D opens June 20. Kang and Kodos’s Twirl ‘n Hurl will more than likely be open by July. Despicable Me Minion Mayhem has been up and running since last summer. When this trifecta goes fully on-line, it will join the likes of Revenge of the Mummy, The Simpsons Ride, and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit (which have all been operational for the past several years) to create a theme park lineup that is, literally, world-class – and this is even before Gringotts Wizarding Bank and Hogwarts Express are unveiled at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley. By the end of next summer, Universal Studios Florida will be in serious contention of being one of, if not the, best parks in the world.

Diagon Alley, Transformers & The Simpsons.
Diagon Alley, Transformers & The Simpsons.

What this means for USF is that it will have finally and definitively ended its gradual transformation from film studio backlot to traditional theme park, replete with different lands centered around dedicated themes or properties (a process which was thoroughly detailed in a previous post). There is not a hint of the filmmaking process in the slightest with Despicable Me, Transformers, or the Simpsons expansion; Fast Food Boulevard and Diagon Alley will take up entire swaths of the park instead of being confined to single “soundstage” buildings. Universal is now just a stone’s throw away from being Islands of Adventure or, even, Magic Kingdom.

This allows Imagineers more freedom to whip up future attractions or dream up more immersive experiences (such as Despicable Me’s after-the-ride dance party or the Fast Food Blvd-exclusive Duff beer), and it allows more opportunities for park guests to be whisked away on a multitude of adventures. But it also provides some potentially serious drawbacks, mostly centering around the simple fact that USF will be a hodgepodge, patchwork collection of rides that may or may not be part of a larger unifying footprint; nearly the entire northern half of the park will be two large(ish) lands, with just one or two single attractions sticking out like a theming sore thumb, while the southern half will be almost exclusively devoted to single rides still dominated by the soundstage motif.

Universal Studios Florida courtesy of Google Maps.
Universal Studios Florida courtesy of Google Maps. Source

What’s the problem with such an ad-hoc layout? It’s – well – weird. Imagine Magic Kingdom being comprised of only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, with the rest of the park being a willy-nilly explosion of random rides, shows, and gift shops. And besides being disorienting, it’s off-putting in a design or thematic sense. What constitutes which license is important enough to warrant multiple locations or features? At what expense of other potential rides do these burgeoning areas continue to expand? Just what is Universal Studios Florida’s identity, anyway, if it’s no longer a film studio but still not really a traditional park?

Whether overtly or subtly, Universal Creative will have to address these questions, as a park without a coherent, organizing identity is a sad and schizophrenic mess – just ask Disney’s Hollywood Studios. It may be that the current area overlay will have to be revised, removing the “World Expo” name and simply replacing it with “Springfield (Also: Men in Black)”. Production Central is a designation that no longer makes any sense whatsoever, as the series of filmmaking and television production attractions that originally opened with the area have all been ripped completely out and replaced with traditional rides: Shrek 4D, Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, Despicable Me, Transformers. (And Universal took its first step towards more-theming-specific lands all the way back in 1999, with the creation of Woody Woodpecker’s KidZone out of the boring half of World Expo that housed only a recreation of the Psycho mansion and an earlier, gaudier version of Orlando’s Hard Rock Café.)

Of course, this just may be the inner theme park nerd in me speaking; the average guest may never think anything of USF’s puberty phase, if she even bothers to notice it. It may be that Universal won’t need a grand redesign or new design ethos – or that there will be any further lands to be wedged into the pre-existing status quo, for that matter.

I’m hopeful for Universal Studios Florida’s next decade, though to continue its current rise to the top of the theme park world will require a remarkable amount of forward thinking.

 

[sws_author_bio user=”msunyata@yahoo.com” size=”105″ authorposts=”More OI posts by Marc” name_format=”About the author”] [/sws_author_bio]

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NickCorjay
NickCorjay
June 4, 2013 3:38 am

Your MK (FL and TL) analogy is a little off in comparison to what you are talking about. WWoHP and Springfield are highly themed lands based on one IP. Fantasyland and Tomorrowland ARE hodgepodges of rides and shops (even FLE to an extent), which is exactly what you were arguing against. I get the point, but the analogy simply doesn’t work.

KevyB
KevyB
June 5, 2013 7:09 am

Springfield can – and should – spread. Forget Springfield (and Men in Black). It’s Springfield and then Krustyland featuring The Simpsons Ride and The Treehouse of Horror (they can just theme it to one of the thousand stories they’ve had instead of aliens)! Nobody cares about the Men in Black movies anymore. And then when they build the dreadful Lord of the Rings stuff over where Toon Lagoon is, they can move Dudley and Popeye over and plop them on either side of the Treehouse of Horror. Dudley’s track can be rethemed inside Mt Krustmore, which is featured in The… Read more »

andrew marcou
andrew marcou
March 22, 2014 3:26 am

So…this article is perfect. One thing uni needs..that billion plus dollar makeover we all want. Uni is generic, cheap looking, and haphazardly laid out. Why didnt they build the Springfield moutain behind fast food blvd? Visually that land is dead. Seems obvious that theyre missing that classic Springfield sign to fill that dead space above the land. Why doesnt uni utilize screen wrapping technology to hide their ugly show buildings (fj building, amongst others)? There is an entire skyscraper that mimics the color of the sky in real time, effectively making the building vanish by covering it w durable lcd… Read more »

About Marc N. Kleinhenz

Marc N. Kleinhenz is the former editor of Orlando Informer.

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