Tag: Hollywood Studios

Is Universal Orlando Leaving Disney in the Dust?

On By Brent AbellIn Brent's Crossroads, Dark Universe, disney, Disney Adult, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Epic Universe, Haunted Mansion, Jim Henson, Magic Kingdom, Muppet*Vision 3D, Muppets, Rocking Roller Coaster, Travel, Traveling Writer, Universal Studios Orlando, Walt Disney, Walt Disney WorldLeave a comment

Hey gang, and welcome back to the Crossroads! The snow, ice, and prolonged power outages have created a world of havoc on my end, and I have found most of my work behind schedule. So, I’m back and ready to get the conversation going with you about the impending opening of Universal Studios Orlando’s Epic Universe park. The new park appears impressive, and I’m not sure Disney has been up to the task of combating the threat to their Orlando theme park dominance. What this means for the summer season at the parks is anyone’s guess, but I’ll give you my thoughts and have you weigh in.

First off, I want to start with Universal. They are opening a new theme park gate on May 22, 2025. Epic Universe looks like it will live up to its epic name. The park has three new hotels and is divided into five worlds. You can enter the Worlds of Harry Potter, Nintendo, How to Train Your Dragon, Celestial Park, and my most anticipated area, Dark Universe. I am a huge Universal Monsters fan, so a theme park world dedicated to them excites me. Universal decided to build a new park from scratch, allowing them to create something truly special. They also took some Disney Imagineers, which could be part of the Disney park problem.

Multiple YouTube channels have covered the construction, and there is some fantastic drone footage of the lands taking shape. I suggest checking out Theme Park Stop and Bioreconstruct for the best footage and updates. I feel Disney has been lacking the level of detail given to the Epic Universe lands lately. Look at Communicore Hall in Epcot or the DVC building at the Polynesian Resort for some examples of uninspired work.

I must admit, the theming around Epic Universe is something I always expected from Disney, but don’t feel like we’re getting any longer. Watching the footage of the illuminated Stardust Racer roller coaster cars streaking around the track at night is a testament to the care Universal put into making this park incredible. The immersive feel for Dark Universe is capped off with The Burning Blades Cafe, which features windmill blades that catch fire and burn at various times. I can’t wait to walk the streets of Darkmoor to explore the monster legends.

Now to Disney World…

The response to Universal and Epic Universe has appeared to be tepid. It feels like Disney was caught on their heels and can’t react fast enough to compete with the new park opening down the road. So far, all the announcements Disney has made about new attractions to the parks have been met with reservations, disappointment, and anger in some cases. Disney has announced some nice rides, but instead of building new ones and expanding the park’s capacities and footprints, Disney is destroying attractions instead.

A new Monster’s Inc. coaster and themed area in Hollywood Studios? Sounds good, but instead of tearing down the underused Animation Courtyard, they are destroying Jim Henson’s final Muppet project before he died in Muppet*Vision 3D. The kicker is that the ride isn’t taking over the building or being torn down; it’s just ceasing to exist. The same can be said about the new Cars area in the Magic Kingdom. Instead of building it behind Big Thunder Mountain as the Blue Sky Beyond Big Thunder project plans hinted at, Disney is tearing down Tom Sawyer’s Tree House and filling in the Rivers of America. This dramatically changes the landscape and ruins the peaceful and serene queue for the Haunted Mansion. Replacing water with concrete in the Florida summer doesn’t seem like a sound idea, and losing the River Belle will be ripping a wound in the heart of the Magic Kingdom that will never heal.

Imagine being in the extended queue for the Haunted Mansion. The once quiet and still waters of the Rivers of America, where you could peacefully contemplate the impending tour of a haunted estate, will be replaced by the noise of cars racing by. You lose the anticipation of the Haunted Mansion to loud motors and screaming riders. Next thing you know, they’ll tell us that Aerosmith’s Rocking Roller Coaster is being replaced by the Muppets.

Oh wait…

I won’t even mention what’s happening at Animal Kingdom in Dinoland today; I’ll save that for later this week. I will also talk a bit more about the Rocking Roller Coaster situation and how it doesn’t make a lot of sense to be made into a Muppet attraction. Be sure to stop back by and we can continue this conversation a little more about how Disney is being left behind.

I gotta go and catch up on stuff, so I’ll catch you all later at the Crossroads!

Brent

Picture Copyright NBC Universal

Disney Rides We’ve Loved and Lost Pt.2

On By Brent AbellIn Alien Encounter, Brent's Crossroads, disney, Disney Adult, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Lilo and Stitch, Magic Kingdom, Star Wars, Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser, Stitch's Great Escape, Tomorrowland, Travel, Traveling Writer, Walt Disney WorldLeave a comment

Greetings from the crossroads, my friends! I started down a rabbit hole that I didn’t intend to start down. My last article discussed rides I loved at Walt Disney World when I first visited as a kid. Well, I started thinking about everything I’ve enjoyed over the years that has been closed and was either revamped or destroyed. The list grew larger than one article could do justice to.

So, here we are in a growing series that we’ll touch on for a few weeks.

I see you looking at the picture of me on the Galactic Starcruiser. I know you’re reminding me it wasn’t a ride but an immersive experience. I believe the experience puts it in the same categories as a ride. I also wanted to take a step out of the Magic Kingdom. Don’t worry; we’ll get back to it soon enough.

The Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser was a two-day immersive experience hotel running in conjunction with Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. The hotel puts you in the action and intrigue of a voyage set during the New Republic era. This disappointed many fans because it focused on the First Order era, not the classic Empire era. I believe fans would’ve wanted the prequel era over the sequel one, but we’ll never know. The very steep price included your two nights at the hotel, food, the actors, and passes to go to Galaxy’s Edge to ride Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon Smuggler’s Run in the morning of your only full day at the hotel. The price was most likely the other colossal factor hastening the Halcyon’s demise.

The Galactic Starcruiser experience was terrific, but it closed before it had a chance to take off. The price and era worked against it, but Disney could’ve tried to alter the experience to lower the price or change the timeframe it took place. Once a guest went on the voyage, there wasn’t a real sense of needing to repeat the trip. Yes, some did take repeat voyages, but it was cost-prohibitive to go multiple times. Shutting down briefly to refresh the story could’ve gone a long way to saving the Halcyon. Instead of a cool hotel set in the Star Wars Universe, we now have a plain gray block building that doesn’t serve much purpose. Will Disney reopen the hotel as something else? Only time will tell.

Still with me? We’re running back to the Magic Kingdom for a ride that’s closed twice. One ride that stood out was the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter ride in Tomorrowland, which was inspired by the movie Alien. The ride put guests in a room where an alien was held in a containment unit in the center of the room. Horrifically, the alien breaks free, and the experience becomes a 4D attraction in the darkness. You feel the alien running along your chairback, hear it breathing down your neck, and get drenched in blood when the creature rips a company employee to pieces. The water sprayed on guests during that part of the show gave me a jolt of love for the twisted. Alien Encounter was dark, adult, and scary. It got many negative complaints and reviews due to the nature of the attraction being in Disney World. Plans to add it in Disneyland, Paris, and Tokyo were scrapped after the reviews became negative. Because the ride was so terrifying, it didn’t last. The ride ran from 1995 until closing in 2003.

But wait, the ride didn’t die…yet.

When Alien Encounter’s closing was announced, Disney also announced it would be replaced by a new attraction featuring Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. The latest version used the same show sets and effects but added some gross stuff, like Stitch belching behind you and releasing a foul stench instead of the alien breathing on your neck. This version would last longer, running from 2004 through 2018. The building now remains closed, and nothing has replaced Stitch’s Great Escape. You can say this ride counts as two-for-one in the dead attraction department.

Well, fellow travelers and Disney adults, I must pause our discussion for now and work on the new book some more. Don’t worry; we can meet back here at the crossroads again soon to talk about how much we’ve lost at Epcot and especially MGM…I mean, Hollywood Studios.

Until next, we meet my friends; I’ll see you out at the crossroads,

Brent

Bittersweet Goodbye, Muppet*Vision 3-D

On By Brent AbellIn Brent's Crossroads, Disney Adult, Disney's Hollywood Studios, Electric Mayhem, Jim Henson, Muppet Courtyard, Muppet*Vision 3D, Muppets, Rocking Roller Coaster, Travel, Traveling Writer, Uncategorized, Walt Disney WorldLeave a comment

Welcome back to the Crossroads! Today, I’m not here with happy news from the Disney landscape. A few days ago, word officially came down on something we knew was probably coming. The final announcement was about the future of Muppet*Vision 3-D and also the Rocking Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith. The news is both good and bad, depending on your point of view and fandoms.

First, Muppet*Vision 3D and the Muppet Courtyard area will be the future home of the Monster’s Inc. themed land in Hollywood Studios. The new location will feature the Monstropolis roller coaster, dining, shopping, and stage show. Since the original concept art for this new land was shown at D23 in 2023, it appeared the Muppet Courtyard was always going to be going bye-bye. What did surprise us in the announcement of Muppet*Vision 3D‘s closure was the retheming of Rocking Roller Coaster to the Muppets.

Next, so what about Aerosmith? The band was never the first or second choice for the ride-theming, to begin with. Add in the band’s retirement and the allegations against lead vocalist Steven Tyler; the days for this ride were numbered. Since Disney+ released the Electric Mayhem show, rumors about Dr. Teeth and the band taking over the attraction have swirled. Well, it looks like it will be happening. The Muppets are taking the roller coaster and making it their own. This wasn’t a surprise on the surface, but the timing seems like it was to lessen the sting of the Muppet*Vision situation.

Why is closing Muppet*Vision a bad thing? If you look at the wait times or visit the Muppet Theater, there never seems to be a wait, and the theater is rarely very full at all. The Muppets have a sizable fanbase, but since Disney bought Jim Henson Studios, they’ve criminally mismanaged the IP. This attraction was the final project Jim Henson worked on before his untimely death. This alone makes it something that should be culturally preserved. Disney has reported they digitally mastered the show and are looking for ways to put the visuals out for the public. I hope they’ll build another theater by Rocking Roller Coaster, but it will probably end up on Disney+. Disney+ would be a great disappointment because the film needs to be experienced in the theater with all the effects and mayhem.

Overall, I am saddened by the loss of Muppet*Vision 3-D, but I hope we can have a suitable replacement for Rocking Roller Coaster. It won’t have the same magic and memories of our times in Muppet Courtyard, but maybe we can love it too. I made a reaction video on TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@brent.abell/video/7440205287061081390), and you can check it out. These are my raw feelings on the day the news dropped. I’ve calmed down a little since then, lol.

Well, back to the grind my friends!

I hope to see you all out on the Crossroads,

Brent