What's scariest at Universal? The slow decay

[WadeJ]

I agree with him 100%

Disney is on a big time rebound while Universal is suffering a slow decay.  It also shows just how huge of a task Mark Shapiro has of fixing the Six Flags image when a columnist even mentions "This column is intended as a wake-up call to save them from becoming Six Flags over Orlando."

This is from the Orlando Sentinal - http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/columnists/orl-miket0306dec03,0,6470951.column?coll=orl-dp-classifieds

What's scariest at Universal? The slow decay
Published December 3, 2006

Jaws has lunged out of the water yet again here at Universal Studios. Alas, I am not terrified.

Poor old guy.

Maybe it's just because I'm old, too. But his skin looks worn. Teeth that had been white daggers of death now appear decayed with gingivitis.

Jaws is a Walter Brennan shark these days, impotently yelling at the tourists to stay out of his front yard.

Meanwhile, over at Back to the Future, more tourists bounce around in aging DeLoreans, chasing Biff around on a screen that has what looks like holes in it.

This is sad indeed. The once mighty Universal Studios, the park that put Disney-MGM Studios to shame, is being neglected to death.

It not only has fallen far behind Disney's movie park, it has slipped to second-tier status among all the major parks. I fear it is only a matter of time before neighboring Islands of Adventure is dragged down with it.

My purpose here is not to denigrate Universal. I have long trumpeted these parks. This column is intended as a wake-up call to save them from becoming Six Flags over Orlando.

Universal has had too many owners, none of them committed to the theme-park business. And so it seems there has been no long-term strategic planning, no continuing investment in upgrades.

Consider these movies on which rides are based: Earthquake came out in 1974 and Jaws in 1975.

Back to the Future, which featured Michael J. Fox as a teenager, came out 20 years ago. Terminator 2 came out 15 years ago.

This is your dad's theme park.

Once, its rides were top-of-the-line. But now when you go in Twister, the cables that swing a cow through the air are painfully visible. It looks like an Ed Wood production.

The only major ride Universal has opened in five years is the Revenge of the Mummy roller coaster.

The big new show, Fear Factor Live, is based on a television series slipping into the abyss of ratings.

It is no surprise that attendance has been steadily declining since 2004, despite numerous ticket discounts.

Meanwhile, down I-4, Disney is decked out in all its Christmas splendor with new attractions galore.

The Osborne Family's Spectacle of Lights at MGM-Studios is stunning. The Fantasmic show is the best I've ever seen. The Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show is a blast.

A new production at Animal Kingdom, Finding Nemo -- The Musical, is ingenious. It is Broadway quality. This follows the addition of a top-notch new coaster, Expedition Everest.

After adding the popular Soarin' ride at Epcot, Disney followed with a Nemo ride for the kiddies.

Combined with all this new stuff are multiday passes that basically give tourists free admission after four days so they can see it all.

Why leave Disney property?

Disney is out to bury Universal, and Universal is not fighting back.

Universal can surrender, put in a Publix at CityWalk and convert its parks to a new urbanism, condo/roller coaster mixed-use development.

Or it can overhaul the Studios park and upgrade Islands of Adventure, bringing both up to 2006 standards.

Cutting back and extracting more profits is not a viable long-term strategy, not when there is a Mouse nearby that is much scarier than any shark.

Mike Thomas can be reached at 407-420-5525 or mthomas@orlandosentinel.com.

[ChuckR]

Wow, it seems like the guy is 100% right. They really should upgrade the rides, I mean they have Terminator 2 there when Terminator 3 is the most recent one and that came out 2-3 years ago. Who knows..

[WadeJ]

/\  The scary part is, while T3 did in fact come out 3 years ago (2003), T2 came out in 1991!

[GADVwow]

Yep....if Universal is serious, they need to get back to the future.

[WadeJ]

bad... that was so bad LMAO

[GADVwow]

More, but in California (so perhaps there is hope):

Published Wednesday, December 6, 2006
NBC Universal unveils ambitious building plan for Universal City

By GARY GENTILE
AP Business Writer
UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.
NBC Universal on Wednesday unveiled an ambitious plan to revamp the unique 390-acre complex that includes movie sets, office space and a theme park.

The 25-year master plan envisions an 80,000-square-foot expansion of the theme park, new high-tech soundstages and a residential development called "Universal Village."

The studio has been hampered in recent years by complex zoning and environmental regulations from building new rides at the park or developing its vast back lot. A succession of corporate owners with conflicting business plans also stunted the studio's growth.

Universal City, in the Hollywood Hills overlooking the San Fernando Valley, was founded in 1915 by Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Studios.

The then 250-acre ranch was used to make silent movies. Laemmle created the first studio tour, which consisted in its earliest days of people standing on a platform or on bleachers while filming took place below.

A poster made to commemorate the opening of Universal City proclaims it, "The strangest place on earth - an entire city built and used exclusively for the making of moving pictures."

The plot expanded over the decades to include the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park and a shopping and retail area called CityWalk.

Universal was purchased in 2004 by NBC, a unit General Electric. The company soon began developing a master plan for the entire parcel, consulting nearby homeowners as well as Los Angeles and county officials.

The new plan calls for selling off 124 acres of mostly undeveloped land to a builder for a new residential community. Some movie sets and soundstages would be moved while new state-of-the art facilities would be built.

The theme park particularly has suffered from being unable to add rides and attractions to compete with nearby Disneyland and Six Flags Magic Mountain. Under current regulations, old rides have to be scrapped to make way for new ones.

The new plan would allow for expansion, including a revamp of its venerable tram studio tour.

Any construction is at least two to three years away as the company secures the permits and approvals needed for the entire project.

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061206/APF/612062364

[WadeJ]

Very interesting.  Although regulations like that just blow my mind - needing to scrap a existing attraction in order to build a new one? 

I'm also not sure about selling off land and building homes right next door.  Even when the neighbors know what they are getting into they still manage to complain and win on various issues.

And finally, didn't they learn anything from that HUGE OOPS when they sold all that land in Florida???

Regardless, good to know that GE is at least even working on master plans.  Obviously, the FL property would have one as well.

[Dubya91]

Disney is out to bury Universal, and Universal is not fighting back.

That line right there says it all to me!

As for the second article, NOTHING good comes out of residents living right next to a theme park, it is not worth it

^Those regulations are mind boggling, i dont see why they would have a regulation like that in place...

[GADVwow]

Why would they have regulations like that?  It's California...it's a whole different world out there...for good and ill.

[rjholla2003]

California is truly it's own place.  If you want to be as unique as possible, that's the place to be.  It's like crazy-land out there, and I love it.

[GADVwow]

Indeed, but know that people in the Midwest see New Jersey as the California of the east...and in many ways it is....look at the ride inspection program, the many regulations and the cost of auto insurance!