gizmodo.com: Across the generations, we’ve seen the likes of Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon brought to life in virtually every medium. We’ve seen them in movies, on TV, as toys, and you’ve probably even seen them in theme parks too. So, when creating a whole new theme park area dedicated to those legendary monsters, the team at Epic Universe had to figure out an important question: how do you make characters everyone knows somehow seem new and fresh?
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I had no idea that Universal Studios in Orlando Florida was expanding and adding an Universal Epic Universe to their theme park. I’ve only ever been to Universal Studios once, so I wouldn’t know how this will change the original park, but I think that it’s really cool that the production design of this new section is still using older techniques like Animatronics rather than CGI on screens for the rides and throughout the park. With our upgraded technology, it’s so easy to stop building things for amusement park rides by hand and let computers and machines depict the images wanted. But instead, this team is using animatronics that look, according to the video, so realistic, I think this ride may actually be scary for some people. Next time I’m in Florida I’ll have to try and get out of this new section, because adding 14 very life-like animatronics to an amusement ride must be a challenge in itself.
These are so cool! It must have taken so much work and modern day technology to really grin down on those facial movements, something we're seeing more now in the wave of higher tech animatronics. In recent years, we have ventured out to really mimicking real life movement of characters, rather than the robotic, very sharp movements of older animatronics. I also think it's really cool that something like this exists all year round, considering it's very Halloween-themed. I love the amount of effort and passion that's being poured into Universal's Epic Universe. This isn't the first article I've read talking about the wonders of this new park, and with everything I read, I get more and more excited and eager to visit this park one day.
At first glance, I assumed this article was about Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights. Upon actually opening it and reading about it, I quickly realized that it is actually the initial images for an upcoming attraction- which to me is much more exciting. I actually know a few people who are working on Epic Universe- and it seems like an absolute beast of a project. I am really excited to give it a visit as soon as it opens. “So, when creating a whole new theme park area dedicated to those legendary monsters, the team at Epic Universe had to figure out an important question: how do you make characters everyone knows somehow seem new and fresh?” This is a question that is no doubt difficult to answer, and is something a lot of artists have to ask themselves when adapting content in any way- whether for a multi billion dollar theme park, or small scale repertory theatrical production.
This is so exciting! I am not a big amusement park person, but I am a big prop and electronics person, so the very cool animatronics are super cool and exciting to me. I love that they have a whole story behind the ride – the great great great granddaughter with misguided experiences and a dinner party gone wrong. The article states that the animatronics will also be walking around outside of the ride so that people waiting in line or people who don’t want to go on the ride itself are able to meet and greet and take photos with them, and I’m wondering what exactly those animatronics will do – will they be walking around, and if so, what kinds of sensors are being utilized to prevent bumping into people and determining which directions to go? Is there someone controlling these animatronics? Do they respond to their environment? Regardless, this is super cool, and I would love to see the internals of these animatronics as well as the fabrication that goes into their exterior.
These animatronics look incredible and startlingly lifelike (as the article states - they look awesome). I always forget how quickly animatronic technology is progressing, and it’s really neat to see just how realistic these robots (it’s a gross oversimplification of what they are, yes I know) are. I am so beyond psyched for Epic Universe - everything I see coming out of these teasers has been insanely cool, and I can only imagine what it’s going to look like in person. I’m incredibly curious about the How to Train your Dragon park, and how those animatronics/rides/innovations will function. I really enjoy being able to look at the renderings and videos that have been released so far and I’m hoping to see some of those before the park opens. The hope and the dream is that I will be able to visit this park in person at some point and see some of this cutting edge technology in person.
The more animatronic machinery that comes out the cooler these machines keep getting. A frankenstein themed attraction sounds like it could be really fun, adding more fear and horror into the already terrifying roller coasters. These animatronics get more and more realistic every year. I’m very curious to see what the other four elements of the Epic Universe are and what their themes are considering that the Dark Universe is just one of the five. The whole story of Frankenstein is so interesting seeing a realized installation of it. It can be hard sometimes with these kinds of animatronics to get realistic enough that we recognize them as the characters they play without getting the uncanny valley feeling from looking at them and it looks like Universal did a great job of that, none of the pictured animatronics look too creepy. If I ever get a chance to go to Universal I’ll definitely check this out!
Like some others I didn't Universal Studios was expanding to include this new section of the park . From my very few visits there I remember always seeing merchandise that referenced the original Universal Monsters, but not much else. Seeing them come back in a ride that shows them true to form rather than adapting them more a modern era (like we have seen with the changing styles of Mickey and the Fab Five) is exciting to me. Not to mention the more realistic looking animatronics look amazing, and despite knowing they aren't real have captured that real life movement better than others. I appreciate as well the story line of the ride, that they have made something that would make sense in the world of Frankenstein, with his great-great-grandaughter having the same hubris, but instead of creating the perfect creature, thinks she can fully control them. This could be a ride that sways me to visit Universal again, when this section of the park opens.
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