Dark Universe - General Discussion Thread

[Lucky Planet]

After reviewing all of the concept art materials, two items jumped out at me:

1. The rendering of the makeup experience in Dr. Pretorius' old lab features a conspicuous amount of jars...

Potential for some of Dr. Pretorius' tiny people experiments from BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN to appear? I'd think that would be a pretty easy projection effect:

2. The "Beware of the Moon" artwork before the first launch on Curse of the Werewolf prominently features this wolf/pentagram symbol...

... which is the symbol on Larry Talbot's silver-headed cane in THE WOLF MAN...

Nice touch.

i would buy those jars with a little toy inside

 

[Tobias]

After reviewing all of the concept art materials, two items jumped out at me:

2. The "Beware of the Moon" artwork before the first launch on Curse of the Werewolf prominently features this wolf/pentagram symbol...

... which is the symbol on Larry Talbot's silver-headed cane in THE WOLF MAN...

Nice touch.

The symbol is also on the sides of the cars we're riding in, too.

 

[RFRees]

Regarding the speculation of the "interactive experience" in this land, it has not yet been revealed, right? ... Or has it?

We assume that the interactive experience has to be some product you keep like a power up band, a wand, or just a cell phone app. But what if it's the makeup?

Let's look at what they've revealed. 1) You can become a monster yourself through a paid makeup location:

"At Darkmoor Monster Makeup Experience, skilled artists use their talents to transform their customers into werewolves, vampires, mummies and more."

2a) There will be characters walking around interacting with you at various locations. 2b) We're seeing rumors of facial recognition being pushed at Epic Universe.

I think it's very possible that the interactive experience is that you get the makeup, which unlocks interactions with characters and/or the land.

I'm not putting a lot of weight into this, maybe 10% chance, but I'm throwing it out there since I haven't seen this speculated yet.

 

[saint.piss]

 

[HHN Maddux]

Regarding the speculation of the "interactive experience" in this land, it has not yet been revealed, right? ... Or has it?

We assume that the interactive experience has to be some technology like a power up band, a wand, or just a cell phone app. But what if it's the makeup?

Let's look at what they've revealed. 1) You can become a monster yourself through a paid makeup location:

"At Darkmoor Monster Makeup Experience, skilled artists use their talents to transform their customers into werewolves, vampires, mummies and more."

2a) There will be characters walking around interacting with you at various locations. 2b) We're seeing rumors of facial recognition being pushed at Epic Universe.

I think it's very possible that the interactive experience is that you get the makeup, which unlocks interactions with characters and/or the land.

I'm not putting a lot of weight into this, maybe 10% chance, but I'm throwing it out there since I haven't seen this speculated yet.

That could be really cool, getting different reactions from not only the Monsters themselves but TMs and other roaming characters.

 

[Lucky Planet]

Regarding the speculation of the "interactive experience" in this land, it has not yet been revealed, right? ... Or has it?

We assume that the interactive experience has to be some product you keep like a power up band, a wand, or just a cell phone app. But what if it's the makeup?

Let's look at what they've revealed. 1) You can become a monster yourself through a paid makeup location:

"At Darkmoor Monster Makeup Experience, skilled artists use their talents to transform their customers into werewolves, vampires, mummies and more."

2a) There will be characters walking around interacting with you at various locations. 2b) We're seeing rumors of facial recognition being pushed at Epic Universe.

I think it's very possible that the interactive experience is that you get the makeup, which unlocks interactions with characters and/or the land.

I'm not putting a lot of weight into this, maybe 10% chance, but I'm throwing it out there since I haven't seen this speculated yet.

That could be really cool, getting different reactions from not only the Monsters themselves but TMs and other roaming characters.

maybe they can paint some kind of QR barcode on your forehead that you can scan for interactive experiences? could look like a ritual marking for dracula

 

[Alicia]

How do you know that there’s no turntable projection dome screens? If not what will the experience be like instead?

The screen carousels are massive for Forbidden Journey, but do not appear in Monsters Unchained’s permitted plans with the county. Instead there are LED walls in multiple spots shown in permits… which are rumored to have real animatronics in front of them, merging reality with media in new ways.

 

[saint.piss]

 

[Viator]

Adding one more contribution: continuing the trend of vectorizing as I can as Curse of The Werewolf is PNG-ified.



Don't expect me to do the same with Monsters Unchained: the damn logo has too much noise and the compromise of removing what I am thinking is a critical part of the logo with the lightning isn't worth it.

 

[themeparkshark]

The screen carousels are massive for Forbidden Journey, but do not appear in Monsters Unchained’s permitted plans with the county. Instead there are LED walls in multiple spots shown in permits… which are rumored to have real animatronics in front of them, merging reality with media in new ways.

feels like taking what they learned from bourne and putting AAs vs human actors. got to admit, some of the bourne scenes can be convincing and I forget who is off screen and who is on, so this could do the same but with AA

wouldn’t be surprised if they can accomplish some pretty serious gags by having the AA close to the screen at first, almost convincing us that it is media, and then quickly departing off towards the vehicle. This is speculation but not hard to imagine given how convincing bourne can be

 

[Wesker69]

*delayed post - new phone, had to reset my password*

I held off on commenting my thoughts on this land when first revealed. Then decided to wait until the actual reveal video. But decided I had to wait for @Alicia to upload her video (not me checking youtube all day)... Now... I'm just too lazy.

There's a few personal nitpicks, but I'm overall content for the most part. JUST GREENLIGHT THAT EXPANSION AREA!! DO IT. DO IT NOW!

Still need to catch up on the previous 12 pages, then I'll post something more. My brain is still processing today's reveal... besides, they had me sold with this alone:

 

[kingcooger]

Okay, so looking over everything I have to ask, is there more distance between the ride vehicles than on FJ? My concern is that the screen carousels on FJ are what help to make it feel like a personalized experience. How will this be accomplished in a ride that is more open air, does not have screen carousels, and has the vehicles dispatching at the same rate as FJ?

As many have voiced concern about the animatronics' longevity, I would be curious as to their reset times or how much they will be doing in each scene given that our views of the action are less obscured than in FJ.

 

[Alicia]

Okay, so looking over everything I have to ask, is there more distance between the ride vehicles than on FJ? My concern is that the screen carousels on FJ are what help to make it feel like a personalized experience. How will this be accomplished in a ride that is more open air, does not have screen carousels, and has the vehicles dispatching at the same rate as FJ?

As many have voiced concern about the animatronics' longevity, I would be curious as to their reset times or how much they will be doing in each scene given that our views of the action are less obscured than in FJ.

I think many of the scenes will be tighter and more intimate then we’re thinking. Like a haunted house, these characters are going to get right up in our faces.

Ministry will be the one with large open scenes.

 

[MagdolHauntsMe]

Will the Wolfman coaster actually feature animatronics in the barn or static figures like the velociraptors on Velocicoaster? Seems like going through the barn on a spinning coaster (even a slower moving one) would make it difficult to appreciate a moving animatronic.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

The sense I’m getting from the monsters breathing on us, bats flying at us…. It’s A Tough To Be A Bug: The Ride for adults.

A new era of trauma begins!

 

[Andysol]

I think many of the scenes will be tighter and more intimate then we’re thinking. Like a haunted house, these characters are going to get right up in our faces.

Ministry will be the one with large open scenes.

Do you believe they will have any duplicate animatronics? Meaning 2 rooms with the same scene and animatronic character?

A la Mystic manor, which sends you off in two different paths towards the end to connect. Each have their own “animatronics” (technically moving objects, not people) for 10-15 seconds to increase intimacy.

-

And regarding HP Ministry- it really is going to be very interesting which of the 3 premier rides take the cake as the pinnacle attraction of the park. Stardust likely won’t even though it might ultimately be the most people’s favorite. But HP is going to be a unique ride vehicle whereas MU won’t be. If the ride vehicle itself is so revolutionary at HP, it might take the cake.

That said, to anyone fearing too close of similarity to forbidden journey I’d point you towards Spider-Man, transformers and Jurassic world adventure in Beijing. All the same ride vehicles. And where Spider-Man and transformers do feel nearly identical as a ride (although executed differently), Jurassic world adventure does not. It feels like a fresh, completely different attraction because of the physical sets and animatronics; in spite of a familiar ride vehicle.

The air of similarity will almost assuredly begin and end at the load platform of Monsters.

 

[tielo]

Alicia tell me if I'm wrong but you talked about a walking monster of Frankenstein. Is this it (all AA's and sets)?

And I think this is a example of an AA (Dracula), screen background and everything in the foreground real.

 

[Legacy]

Alicia tell me if I'm wrong but you talked about a walking monster of Frankenstein. Is this it (all AA's and sets)?
View attachment 22291
And I think this is a example of an AA (Dracula), screen background and everything in the foreground real.
View attachment 22292

Those two images are very much CGI.

 

[DodgsonHere]

Those two images are very much CGI.

I think OP is asking if those CG scenes made for the reveal are representative of AA/physical scenes in the ride.

 

[mainejeff]

I think that we get at least one scene mimicking the "dinosaur chasing you" scene at Jurassic World in Beijing.....a monster animatronic moving/lunging toward your ride vehicle. Frankenstein monster and/or Wolfman would seem to be the obvious choices for that.