Would you enjoy universal if you werent familiar with the story lines?

[tripletsmama]

No one in my family has read or seen Harry Potter. We're not Simpsons or Hulk fans. My kids are past the Dr. Seuss stuff. I was thinking in terms of Disney since we've been there many times, but never to Universal. If I didn't like Mickey Mouse and my girls didnt enjoy princesses, I'm not sure we would love Disney the way we do. What does everyone think? Can we still enjoy Universal?

 

[Granny square]

I like hp but that is it. Not Jurassic park or Spider-Man or hulk or the Simpsons or the mummy...

But their rides are wonderful. So if you line a good ride then you will.

Lol, dh doesn't like most disney stuff but likes wdw because of the good rides also.

 

[damo]

You sure will. That is the good thing. I have never seen a Mummy movie and it is one of my favourite rides.

I've also never seen Song of the South and I love Splash Mountain! I'd never seen anything related to Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean either and I loved those. Add in Space Mountain and pretty near everything else there.

Most rides are based in some genre, like fantasy. As long as you like dragons and magic wands, you'll enjoy Harry Potter. As long as you know about Dinosaurs, you enjoy Jurassic Park, etc. etc. etc.

Oh and no one is every past Dr. Seuss, lol. Cat in the Hat is always fun no matter how old you are.

 

[Metro West]

Sure you can. Just because you don't know the characters/stories, that doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourselves. The rides are just fun both to look at and ride. Check out ride videos on YouTube and see what I mean.

 

[Granny square]

I'll take it a step further and say I despise the Simpsons. One of my favorite rides anywhere.

 

[shoney]

I don't think it is a requirement but it does help.
Our first trip to us/ioa was when the boys were 4 and 6. They loved curious george, shrek, sponge bob, superheroes, dr. suess, etc They had not seen ET, Jurassic Park (but loved dinos), or Jaws (not there anymore!) but still enjoyed the rides.

There was a thread recently on things to watch. You could go through it and decide what is age appropriate for them.

On the reverse, when they were little, they weren't into princesses or mickey mouse but still loved disney!

They preferred taking pics with their "guys" at US/IOA more than at Disney....when they weren't too cool

 

[DryCreek]

I am not up to speed on "Pottertalk". My wife and grown son have seen all of the movies and/or read the books. I may have sat in on some of the movies, but the overall storyline still escapes me. Guess I should brush-up on the basics before we go....

 

[damo]

I am not up to speed on "Pottertalk". My wife and grown son have seen all of the movies and/or read the books. I may have sat in on some of the movies, but the overall storyline still escapes me. Guess I should brush-up on the basics before we go....

Here ya go. Bad guy, Voldemort, wants to kill good guy, Harry Potter. It is just the typical story of the battle of good vs. evil.

 

[Tramp68]

You definately do not need to be familiar with the source material to enjoy the rides. It will help you get some of the references and inside jokes, but the rides will still be entertaining.

I have never watched the Simpsons but love the ride. Even though Jimmy Neutron is now gone that was another that I never saw and still enjoyed.

As for the person who talked about PotC and HM (Country Bears)...the rides came BEFORE the movies, so they were designed to be a ride and therefore are not good examples to prove this point. That would only make sense if you were asking if you can enjoy the movies without ever being on the ride before! (Soon to include Jungle Cruise and BTMRR)

Better Disney examples would be Star Tours, ToT, Tom Sawyer Island and the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse etc etc etc . Again, all enjoyable without the source material but better when you can link the references to the source.

 

[damo]

You definately do not need to be familiar with the source material to enjoy the rides. It will help you get some of the references and inside jokes, but the rides will still be entertaining.

I have never watched the Simpsons but love the ride. Even though Jimmy Neutron is now gone that was another that I never saw and still enjoyed.

As for the person who talked about PotC and HM (Country Bears)...the rides came BEFORE the movies, so they were designed to be a ride and therefore are not good examples to prove this point. That would only make sense if you were asking if you can enjoy the movies without ever being on the ride before! (Soon to include Jungle Cruise and BTMRR)

Better Disney examples would be Star Tours, ToT, Tom Sawyer Island and the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse etc etc etc . Again, all enjoyable without the source material but better when you can link the references to the source.

That was the whole point of those examples. You don't need a movie or book to have a good ride. You don't need to have a previous relationship with any characters.

 

[shoney]

I took the OP's post as being through the eyes of their 8 year old triplets. Kids tend to be more character-centric. While the girls might not be spidey fans, the ride is that good that they would enjoy it.

my 10 and 12 year old boys did not "feel the love" on the pooh or snow white ride at Disney last year. They wanted to know why we made them wait that long for "that"!

I think loving or at least knowing the characters does help in some instances.

While US/IOA doesn't have the vast number of rides that Disney has, what they do have is fun!

I'm 40 and my husband and I used to watch the simpsons when we were young. My kids now watch them, but my parents never did. My kids and I got the all the jokes, my parents did not....but we all still loved the ride.

 

[BrinkofSunshine]

You don't need to be a fan or even watch the stories the rides are based on, but it does make them better. I've never seen Despicable Me but I found the ride to be very funny and cute! The rides do a good job in setting up story lines that are easy to follow (Hulk is an experiment gone wrong, Jurassic Park is a tour of dinosaurs... which goes wrong, etc.).

If you have time before your trip, I strongly advise you to watch (or even better, read!) the Harry Potter series. Honestly, it's really worth it. I had only seen the movies before visiting the WWoHP for the first time; I decided to spend the next couple of months reading the series and fell in love and passed it on to my mom who became a huge fan too! I wish I had been a huge fan when I first saw Hogwarts. I've seen people break down in tears. That must be a pretty awesome feeling!

 

[Bluer101]

Here ya go. Bad guy, Voldemort, wants to kill good guy, Harry Potter. It is just the typical story of the battle of good vs. evil.

^^^^^^

This, lol!

 

[Tramp68]

That was the whole point of those examples. You don't need a movie or book to have a good ride. You don't need to have a previous relationship with any characters.

No, you do not need a good book or movie to have a good ride, but when the ride is BASED on a book or movie, you may need the background knowledge to enjoy the ride. Based on rides often contain references to material or background that you should know to get the story of the ride. Rides like PotC were designed to tell a stand alone story. HM narrates the story for you...there is a huge difference.

 

[damo]

No, you do not need a good book or movie to have a good ride, but when the ride is BASED on a book or movie, you may need the background knowledge to enjoy the ride. Based on rides often contain references to material or background that you should know to get the story of the ride. Rides like PotC were designed to tell a stand alone story. HM narrates the story for you...there is a huge difference.

That was the OP's question. Do you need background material to enjoy the rides at Universal? The answer has overwhelmingly been no. Does it enhance the experience? Sure, just like POTC has been enhanced with the addition of Johnny Depp.

Each ride at Universal has a stand alone story. The rides use characters that were made familiar in the books or movies but the stories are often different. Not knowing the characters won't make you clueless about the story and make you not enjoy the ride. Knowing the characters will enhance your enjoyment but will not deter it.

 

[schumigirl]

Knowing the characters will enhance your enjoyment but will not deter it.

I didn`t know a lot of the stories or characters in several rides at Universal and Disney..........Never even heard of Song of the South till a few years ago.......Still never watched any of the Jurassic Park movies or knew who Dr Doom was, but a great ride is just that sometimes........a great ride.

Duelling Dragons.....that was never based on anything was it????

 

[damo]

I didn`t know a lot of the stories or characters in several rides at Universal and Disney..........Never even heard of Song of the South till a few years ago.......Still never watched any of the Jurassic Park movies or knew who Dr Doom was, but a great ride is just that sometimes........a great ride.

Duelling Dragons.....that was never based on anything was it????

My 4 year old niece's favourite ride at Universal and Disney was ET. She has no knowledge whatsoever of ET.

 

[ukool]

I have never seen Ice age, but enjoyed the 4D thing based on it at Alton towers when i went. Thiers many of the Universal films the rides are based on that i havnt seen, but i think if the rides good you can enjoy it.

 

[tripletsmama]

Thank you all! I guess I just started second guessing our trip. I don't want to spend precious vacation time and money on something we will just like. I want it to be something we LOVE! I know we love Disney, so I thought maybe we should stick with what we know, but it sounds like this will be a great experience too.

 

[TheAviator]

I definitely think I could, but it is true if you are familiar with the movies I do think you would enjoy it all the more. To save time you could just watch the first Harry Potter movie, Jurassic Park and maybe Men In Black. You don't really need to see the movie to enjoy the Mummy, or ET (I've never seen ET but love that ride). Spiderman is probably not necessary, everyone is fairly familar with the comics. Dr. Suess, you have probably already familiar with that. So with just the 3 you would be good to go.