Originally Posted By TDLFAN Has anyone here seen this new lagoon show at USF already? I caught a glimpse of it on the newscast and loved all of the pyro being shot from buildings around the lagoon and the projected images on the globes on the water. The motion picture clips projected onto buildings around the lagoon is such a nice touch.. Very TDL-like in their old style pyro shows. With lasers and the like effects, sound like this show has a lot of potential... So any reviews, opinions are welcomed.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Well.. nevermind. I saw the whole show on video and won't be making a special trip to USF for it. I sure hope it is much better in person than it was on that clip.
Originally Posted By pheneix Most of the video online is from the tech reharsals from earlier in the week. The final show that debuted on Saturday is far, far, far better than what they were testing out last week. Honestly TDLFAN, I don't have much positive to say about UO, because I think the park is a complete hellhole right now (you'd be amazed at how fast a company can go to hell under the incompetence of poor executive management. its like Disney under Pressler, but worse). However, this show is really, really, really good. I'd put it above Wishes in a heartbeat, though some of that may be from personal taste (I prefer shows based around adventure films than romance/childrens features). The laser effects in this show are quite frankly the best I have ever seen. Not even Illuminations matches the attention to detail and number of effects Universal uses. The globes are also a far better medium to use for the film portion of the show as opposed to a waterscreen, in my opinion. There is also a fair amount of pyro too. Its not Reflections of Earth caliber pyro, but it is a good show. At the end of the day, I think ROE is still king, but 360 is a very, very strong effort. In fact, this might be what gets Disney in gear on ordering a replacement for ROE. There's really no denying that this show is the new kid on the block, and as more people see it, it will draw a following.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN Hi pheneix. Nice to see you posting again. I will be the first to admit that videos on line would not do justice to efforts on a grand scale like this. So I will reconcider and make an honest effort to see this show before the summer is over. The video I saw was taken on Friday night, here is the link to it. <a href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=890441359&n=2" target="_blank">http://vids.myspace.com/index. cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=890441359&n=2</a> BTW.. I am surprised to read your comments. I have not really been much a fan of UO since they changed their name to that horrible Escape name, and still don't understand why they call it UO instead of the more elegant Universal City Orlando Resort. Of course..to me Universal Studios Japan is a much better park overall over USF. However, G-Fan and I visited Universal with that "free ticket" promotion a few weeks ago and were actually commenting on how much more improved both IOA and USF seemed in regards to cleanliness and show. The only thing that I still do not care about UO is the constant assault of loud and obnoxious rock and hip hop music that seems to permiate from the moment to leave your car in the parking garage until the time you return to the car garage at the end of the day. But for the most part... we enjoyed our day there, so much so that we are concidering taking advantage of that "2 yrs for the price of 1" AP offer. Now... have you seen my USJ pictures lately?? Open this section to read "All Messages" and you may find my USJ related posts in the past month. They got a lot of stuff happening in Japan as well, and with the 5th anniversary event in gear.. it's all sweet over there.
Originally Posted By brotherdave I have to totally agree with you about the music, TDLFAN! We were there a little more than a week ago, and we commented how obnoxiously loud the music THROUGHOUT the entire UO complex is, at both parks, for sure, but really the worse was at City Walk! My wife and I commented how loud it was, and our ears were ringing when we returned to our cars each of the two days we were there! Even my 8 year old son, who loves to watch TV with the volume up was complaining about how loud it was and that he had a headache from it. Overall, we enjoyed our days there, but, we would have enjoyed them a whole lot better with the volume toned down! You can definitely see that Universal is aiming for families with pre-teens and teenagers verus Disney appealing to all age groups. Although they have some nice children's areas (Seuss Landing, Toon Lagoon, and the children's sections at USF), they need to bring in more attractions for the whole family to enjoy (i.e. attractions like PotC, Haunted Mansion, Great Movie Ride, etc), not just sections for children. And TURN DOWN THAT BLASTED VOLUME!!!!!
Originally Posted By TDLFAN The loud music has been a long term problem at UO now. When my AP expired, about 18 months ago.. I went straight to Guest Services and complained about it. She seemed very sympathetic to my comments but, of course... in usual Disney fashion, nothing was done about. They need to realize that loud music is mot going to make this resort like a never ending party. Au contraire.. it cheapens the experience.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 I went to Uni tonight and saw the new 360 show. My reaction was it was BY FAR the best effort that Universal has ever made in this type of show. They clearly spent money and it is evident in the lasers, pyro and projections on buildings (they looked great on the MiB building). It certainly adds value to your day at the park, no doubt. But while it was visually impressive, stunning at times, it (like a lot at Universal) seemed to lack heart. The music wasn't very good and I thought they spent far too much time highlighting some recent films like King Kong, while shortshrifting the classic Uni horror films and westerns. I guess what I'm saying is the individual elements are much more impressive than the entire package. I've been told they are doing a special version for Halloween Horror Nights, and that is something I'm looking forward to. One other thing is that while they tell you any spot along the lagoon is great for viewing that frankly isn't the case. I watched from in front of Back to the Future and I wound up having to look down at the globe further away as the one real close had the projection in the middle (because of the viewing angle) so there was no way of seeing it clearly. As to the park itself, it was busy but noticeably less so than the WDW parks the past few days. ET had a 45 minute wait, but everything else was under half an hour. Mummy was 20 minutes all day, and I rode using the single rider line three times in 20 minutes. Cleanliness and upkeep are obviously better than at WDW, although the parking structure is a noticeable exception. It was filthy and covered in trash and looked just like Mickey and Friends at DL. Maybe they hired a Disney consultant that told them no one cares if you clean the garage and walkways leading to CityWalk. But you have to admire Universal for not gouging people at every corner. Whether it's the special ticket offers or the all you can eat deal, they are more guest friendly than the Mouse. I was also thinking of that today when dining at Lombard's Landing. Great food with great sevice and not a single entree over $20 for dinner. Plus 15% off as an AP holder. Compare that to Disney where they raise food prices to justify their dining plan ... $40 for salmon at Artist Point?!?! The same fish that was in the low 20s a few years ago. No gouging there ... oops, started an anti-Disney management rant. Anyway, thumbs up on the new show, even though it lacks the emotional tug that most Disney shows have.
Originally Posted By leemac <<As to the park itself, it was busy but noticeably less so than the WDW parks the past few days.>> Supposedly their numbers are down another 12% in the first half of this year so no great surprise.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ^^That's no surprise, Lee. Much like Disney (until recently with Soarin and Everest), Universal has allowed its parks to get stale. I don't understand why it's so hard for park execs at either company to understand that REINVESTMENT is crucial to the business. Marketing only gets you so far.
Originally Posted By pheneix The show has been retooled for Spring Break. They've added significantly more pyro and apparently installed a few new lasers. Maybe it will make the show a little less boring...
Originally Posted By Dlmusic More pyro is good. My biggest complaint with the old show was that the montages just weren't that good. Also the music was oddly edited together. The show just felt a little amateurish to me. It wasn't horrible, just not particularly inspiring either.
