Update on possibilites of Transformers

[Planogirl]

Close Spiderman? No way!

I agree!

I'm sorry but no way would Transformers make up for Spiderman. Plus they'd better not touch the Mummy.

 

[kenban]

I agree!

I'm sorry but no way would Transformers make up for Spiderman. Plus they'd better not touch the Mummy.

Mummy was just being used as an example of a ride which is different between Orlando and Hollywood. No one is saying something might happen to Mummy.

 

[RayaniFoxmur]

The drop on Transformers is basically required. The reason the building is so small is that it is two stories and the ride vehicle is on an elevator at this point. It has been a few months since I rode Transformers so I can't remember where in the story the first elevator is used.

The other problem is one of time. Mummy is mostly a simple attraction. You pretty much have a coaster which causes certain show elements to trigger when the coaster train gets to specific spots on the track. Totally changing the design could be done in a few weeks.

Transformers is just too complicated to make story modifications easily. I think going back and changing the plot of Spiderman would be easier then changing Transformers. But totally changing the plot of a ride and leaving the entire layout the same has been done before. Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom and Indiana Jones at Disneyland are the exact same ride layout just different vehicle motions and theme. But I don't know anyone who thinks Disney did a good job of it.

If this is Transformers I still believe there is a very good chance that Spiderman will close. At that point I don't think anyone will care if the two rides had similar elements.

A permit for a new staging area was filed. Looks like this is Project 609.

Considering the constant popularity and lines for Spiderman I seriously doubt it would close, even after a Transformers ride came in. The rides would still be in two separate parks and considering the large amount of people that choose to only go to one park at a time my guess is that many people wouldn't even notice.

I also would like to see something different than Spiderman recycled into Transformers but if it would be that I think it would help distribute people between the parks which have been very unbalanced in attendance the last 2 years.

 

[kenban]

Considering the constant popularity and lines for Spiderman I seriously doubt it would close, even after a Transformers ride came in. The rides would still be in two separate parks and considering the large amount of people that choose to only go to one park at a time my guess is that many people wouldn't even notice.

I also would like to see something different than Spiderman recycled into Transformers but if it would be that I think it would help distribute people between the parks which have been very unbalanced in attendance the last 2 years.

I am not arguing that it is a good thing to keep Spiderman, it is one of my favorite rides at IoA. But given what I know so far it makes the most sense to me at least.

Either the different departments at Universal are not talking or this is VERY last minute. The day before the order to destroy this building came down contractors were working inside the building on a house for HHN. They had one day to clear out of the building. When the building was being demolished they were working all day then bringing out work lights to continue into the night. Then after the building was down, the park was closing pretty significant sections of the walkways in the park to let dump trucks in and out during the day. This continued even during a concert on Saturday night. The only time they appear to stop is to let the parade through.

I have never seen Universal or Disney willing to be this disruptive to the guests before. So far it appears the time table this project has is very aggressive.

My best guess is that either Disney found a loop hole which they can force Universal to give up the Marvel license or Disney has offered a large amount of money to get the theme park rights back. Why else would the park be in such a rush? But then that all assumes this is even Transformers, there is currently no proof it is.

 

[Rip]

I am not arguing that it is a good thing to keep Spiderman, it is one of my favorite rides at IoA. But given what I know so far it makes the most sense to me at least.

Either the different departments at Universal are not talking or this is VERY last minute. The day before the order to destroy this building came down contractors were working inside the building on a house for HHN. They had one day to clear out of the building. When the building was being demolished they were working all day then bringing out work lights to continue into the night. Then after the building was down, the park was closing pretty significant sections of the walkways in the park to let dump trucks in and out during the day. This continued even during a concert on Saturday night. The only time they appear to stop is to let the parade through.

I have never seen Universal or Disney willing to be this disruptive to the guests before. So far it appears the time table this project has is very aggressive.

My best guess is that either Disney found a loop hole which they can force Universal to give up the Marvel license or Disney has offered a large amount of money to get the theme park rights back. Why else would the park be in such a rush? But then that all assumes this is even Transformers, there is currently no proof it is.

If that were the case, they would just use the existing ride and re-theme it to Transformers. I don't believe for a second that they would replicate it in the Studios and then tear the other one down.

 

[DCTooTall]

Again... Spiderman isn't closing to make way for Transformers.

1. They just spent a massive amount of money to create a whole new digital film.

2. They just upgraded all the projectors in the place.

3. If they were going to close spidey to allow for Transformers, they wouldn't be closing a ride in one location just to practically rebuild it in the 2nd park. For all intents and purposes, the 2 rides are identical minus the thematic overlay.


If they really were working in the building right up to the time the demolision was fasttracked, I would almost be willing to say that it's confirmation that HHN house work discovered or confirmed a situation within the structure that would've prevented it's being a viable HHN house location. (the Structural or other damage to the building from the hurricanes/extended vacancy hinted at earlier in the thread, or potential difficulty/expense issues in getting the place brought back up to code in a timely and cost effective manner, etc). If that's the case, The fast track demolision and site clearing could simply be to get the site cleared and a temp structure of some sort put up quickly to allow the HHN house slotted for that area of the park to still be put into place before the delays become too massive to overcome before HHN's open.

With both Jaws and the Parade Staging building not available for houses this year, I can see them going to a bit more of an extreme in order to avoid going down yet another house for the event this year.

 

[truck1]

I am not arguing that it is a good thing to keep Spiderman, it is one of my favorite rides at IoA. But given what I know so far it makes the most sense to me at least.

Either the different departments at Universal are not talking or this is VERY last minute. The day before the order to destroy this building came down contractors were working inside the building on a house for HHN. They had one day to clear out of the building. When the building was being demolished they were working all day then bringing out work lights to continue into the night. Then after the building was down, the park was closing pretty significant sections of the walkways in the park to let dump trucks in and out during the day. This continued even during a concert on Saturday night. The only time they appear to stop is to let the parade through.

I have never seen Universal or Disney willing to be this disruptive to the guests before. So far it appears the time table this project has is very aggressive.

My best guess is that either Disney found a loop hole which they can force Universal to give up the Marvel license or Disney has offered a large amount of money to get the theme park rights back. Why else would the park be in such a rush? But then that all assumes this is even Transformers, there is currently no proof it is.

If that were the case, they would just use the existing ride and re-theme it to Transformers. I don't believe for a second that they would replicate it in the Studios and then tear the other one down.

Again... Spiderman isn't closing to make way for Transformers.

1. They just spent a massive amount of money to create a whole new digital film.

2. They just upgraded all the projectors in the place.

3. If they were going to close spidey to allow for Transformers, they wouldn't be closing a ride in one location just to practically rebuild it in the 2nd park. For all intents and purposes, the 2 rides are identical minus the thematic overlay.


If they really were working in the building right up to the time the demolision was fasttracked, I would almost be willing to say that it's confirmation that HHN house work discovered or confirmed a situation within the structure that would've prevented it's being a viable HHN house location. (the Structural or other damage to the building from the hurricanes/extended vacancy hinted at earlier in the thread, or potential difficulty/expense issues in getting the place brought back up to code in a timely and cost effective manner, etc). If that's the case, The fast track demolision and site clearing could simply be to get the site cleared and a temp structure of some sort put up quickly to allow the HHN house slotted for that area of the park to still be put into place before the delays become too massive to overcome before HHN's open.

With both Jaws and the Parade Staging building not available for houses this year, I can see them going to a bit more of an extreme in order to avoid going down yet another house for the event this year.

I doubt that Disney is offering cash for Marvel. After a meeting on the Fantasys Maiden, with Bob Iger speaking at a design question and answer, someone asked ( I know this is the dark side coming out but wait for it) was DCL going to build more ships. Bob Iger, the head of Disney corp, was there and answered, and it was backed up in the news with a financial disclosure, and stock holder meeting notes, Disney is not spending money on anything that is absolutely necessary. Im not sure where they article is but Ill try and find it, but basically Bob Iger out right said that that Disney has spent a lot in the last few years, with 2 new ships, improvements to the island, the Fantasyland expansion, expansions in California, France and the new park in Singapore, etc. (figure roughly 10-15 billion as my estimate in the last 5 or 6 years just in what was mentioned)The new budget for the next 2 years basically is a maintance budget, and finishing out the capital projects already underway. Nothing new is in the works or planned as of about 2 weeks or so ago.

So, I did a little digging on the internet. Theres a couple of interesting things that I did find.

1. Just before the demo of bldg 44, there were height ballon flown over the bldg. Height ballons are used to see how a proposed structure will fit in with its surroundings. If it were to be a 1 story bldg, they already know what that would look like. From the several mentions of the balloons, they were at least 2 stories tall.(Technically the ballons would have been about 30-40 feet in the air, as most of the bldgs in Universal, and the old bldg 44 in particular was at least 20-30 feet tall)

2. From what I have learned just playing on this site, and also from other sites, Transfomers (assuming that the same basic show would go into Orl in 1 of the parks) would not fit into the Spiderman ride, because the existing Spiderman bldg is only 1 story. Unless they make some major plot/show changes.

3. If I read it correctly, and I think it was posted on this thread also, that the demo permit, also contained a new build permit, and interior build out. So what ever is replacing 44 is already planned.

4. For arguments sake, lets say that Disney did find a way around or that Universal turned over the rights to Marvel Comics east of the Miss. A lot of times, if things are already in prgoress, like the update on the Spiderman ride, groups will let that go thru, becuase the money has already been transferred from Unversal for argument sake, to the contractor. If for what ever the reason that Spiderman does leave, the projectors can easily be used for something else.

5. If I remember correctly, the Spiderman upgrade, was done earlier this year. Which would put it before anything that involved bldg 44 came to light. That project would be something that would have been a year or 2 in the works, since you cant just run to a local camera store and say I want these projectors. Theres usually a wait time, that also involves testing, contracts, bids, installation etc.

I cant think of anything else, movie wise that Universal could put in bldg 44s location, that is popular today. Going back a few years, there could be a Backdraft type of ride, or even another indoor coaster.

 

[ChrisFL]

5. If I remember correctly, the Spiderman upgrade, was done earlier this year. Which would put it before anything that involved bldg 44 came to light. That project would be something that would have been a year or 2 in the works, since you cant just run to a local camera store and say I want these projectors. Theres usually a wait time, that also involves testing, contracts, bids, installation etc.

I'm not going to disagree with your assessment, because not many people outside of the company know what is going on...

However the sources that are familiar with the projects have all said that this demolition wasn't on the radar at all, if it was planned for 2 years it wasn't exactly greenlit until right before the tear down.

 

[Rip]

I'm not going to disagree with your assessment, because not many people outside of the company know what is going on...

However the sources that are familiar with the projects have all said that this demolition wasn't on the radar at all, if it was planned for 2 years it wasn't exactly greenlit until right before the tear down.

I think what he's saying is that the Spiderman upgrade was planned, not the demolition. I have to agree with a PP that they likely got in there and saw some type of damage or other issue that would require longer to fix than to demolish and rebuild.

 

[truck1]

I'm not going to disagree with your assessment, because not many people outside of the company know what is going on...

However the sources that are familiar with the projects have all said that this demolition wasn't on the radar at all, if it was planned for 2 years it wasn't exactly greenlit until right before the tear down.

I think what he's saying is that the Spiderman upgrade was planned, not the demolition. I have to agree with a PP that they likely got in there and saw some type of damage or other issue that would require longer to fix than to demolish and rebuild.

Thats exactly what I was saying. If (big if) Disney offered money for Marvel and Universal took them up on it, it came after the Spiderman upgrade, but before any issue with bldg 44. Kind of in between the 2 events.

 

[DCTooTall]

I think what he's saying is that the Spiderman upgrade was planned, not the demolition. I have to agree with a PP that they likely got in there and saw some type of damage or other issue that would require longer to fix than to demolish and rebuild.

not Necessarily longer.... It could also have been just more costly then justified.

True, Knocking down an existing structure and building a new one ain't exactly cheap... But there is a good possibility that the cost of bringing it up to current codes couldn't be justified for a building with limited usage potential.

While the building was built the same time as the Soundstages, and the Shrek, Despicable Me, Disaster, ET, RotM, and Twister Show buildings.... It was also much much smaller which could easily impact it's future usage potential. While it worked fine for the original Murder She Wrote attraction, and later the Herc/Xena attraction.... Both where relatively simple theater based attractions. I doubt the building would've had enough room for anything more complex..... or anything which could've had enough capacity, to truly be of much use with the expected HP2.0 crowd levels in the park.


Even if all they are doing is planning on building another indoor theater type venue, They could greatly increase the capacity of the structure within the same footprint by building a structure a similar height of the other Soundstage buildings which would allow more backstage and service areas to be moved off the ground floor, thereby increasing overall usable guest space.



IOW's.... using purely fabricated numbers.... say it would cost $50,000 to bring the building up to code... you would then have a building that can be occupied by guests, but not much usage beyond the current plans.

Now.... What if the cost was $100,000 to demolish the current structure, and build a new one? You spend twice the money, but you end up with a structure that can be occupied by guests AND can be easily repurposed for something in the future.





You know.... talking about this.... part of me wonders if maybe they might be building a new indoor theater? Something that could potentially in the future be used [HHN wise] as a new indoor Bill and Ted Theater...... and which would allow them to demolish the current Fear Factor structure in order to absorb that location into the Amity plot for whatever officially ends up there. Honestly.... other than Bill and Ted, it's not like that theater is really put to much use anymore.

(It might also allow Beetlejuice to be moved into a larger, indoor, location, which would then free up the current theater for something new..either another show, or something that requires more space since there is more room available behind the GraveYard Revue theater for a new show building than there is at the Building 44 location).... ooooo... totally random speculation can be fun.

 

[Eclpz314]

Does anyone else remember reading some sort of blurb about the possibility of US Transformer attraction adding an interactive shooting type thing similar to MIB or Toy Story Mania? I know I read it in one of the many articles from the past year or so, but cannot locate that article now. Anyway, something like that added feature would definitely set it apart from Spiderman. It would also make it different from the one in US Hollywood.

 

[truck1]

(It might also allow Beetlejuice to be moved into a larger, indoor, location, which would then free up the current theater for something new..either another show, or something that requires more space since there is more room available behind the GraveYard Revue theater for a new show building than there is at the Building 44 location).... ooooo... totally random speculation can be fun.

I like that idea. Though my wife keeps threating to turn in her ticket if they dont bring Spencer back.

 

[ChrisFL]

You know.... talking about this.... part of me wonders if maybe they might be building a new indoor theater? Something that could potentially in the future be used [HHN wise] as a new indoor Bill and Ted Theater...... and which would allow them to demolish the current Fear Factor structure in order to absorb that location into the Amity plot for whatever officially ends up there. Honestly.... other than Bill and Ted, it's not like that theater is really put to much use anymore.

That makes sense to me...I really think the FF theater is going to need to go with HP taking over that area.

 

[La2kw]

The drop on Transformers is basically required. The reason the building is so small is that it is two stories and the ride vehicle is on an elevator at this point. It has been a few months since I rode Transformers so I can't remember where in the story the first elevator is used.

The other problem is one of time. Mummy is mostly a simple attraction. You pretty much have a coaster which causes certain show elements to trigger when the coaster train gets to specific spots on the track. Totally changing the design could be done in a few weeks.

Transformers is just too complicated to make story modifications easily. I think going back and changing the plot of Spiderman would be easier then changing Transformers. But totally changing the plot of a ride and leaving the entire layout the same has been done before. Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom and Indiana Jones at Disneyland are the exact same ride layout just different vehicle motions and theme. But I don't know anyone who thinks Disney did a good job of it.

If this is Transformers I still believe there is a very good chance that Spiderman will close. At that point I don't think anyone will care if the two rides had similar elements.

A permit for a new staging area was filed. Looks like this is Project 609.

I'm not sure how you came up with your information, but I don't believe the drop has anything to do with the elevators. The elevator scenes are used for the larger city scenes. The elevators move so smoothly, you don't even notice them. The drop is simulated, just like in Spiderman.

Also, the track layout of Dinosaur is nothing like the layout of the Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland. IJA, is on multiple levels and moves through much larger set pieces. Dinosaur is a single level.

 

[StarWarsJez]

I'm in Univ today and spoke with a few people on-site there. ALL of them believe build 44 is going to be Transformers.

I suppose some people could say 'what do they know', but IMO it makes more sense than any other theory.

 

[DCTooTall]

I'm in Univ today and spoke with a few people on-site there. ALL of them believe build 44 is going to be Transformers.

I suppose some people could say 'what do they know', but IMO it makes more sense than any other theory.

The same rules apply for Universal as they do for Disney. The people on the ground (team members, guest relations, etc), are often the last the know about what's going on. The fact there has not been any sort of official announcement means that their information is on the same level of a lot of the rumors you see here. The Front Line cast may get official word before the official press release, but only maybe by a day or 2 since such announcements tend to be big deals and they don't want to risk some guy working janitorial duty might leak the news early.

 

[Metro West]

I'm in Univ today and spoke with a few people on-site there. ALL of them believe build 44 is going to be Transformers.

I suppose some people could say 'what do they know', but IMO it makes more sense than any other theory.

Is that building big enough for Transformers? I don't think it is but what do I know?

 

[ChrisFL]

Is that building big enough for Transformers? I don't think it is but what do I know?

The space is big enough yes....Transformers is smaller footprint than Spiderman, and the Spiderman footprint fits in that space.

 

[damo]

Is that building big enough for Transformers? I don't think it is but what do I know?

Transformers is two stories.