USH Entertainment

[Jon Fu]

It seemed that USH Entertainment ran on all four cylinders during the 1980s and 1990s with the Wild Wild West Stunt Show, WaterWorld, Beetlejuice and more - eventually hitting a hard wall with Spiderman, Fear Factor Live and Creature.


The only exception has been Special Effects, and even that was contracted out to Thinkwell which did a pretty good job considering the circumstances.


Anyone know why Universal's entertainment division can't seemingly churn out a hit show anymore? I mean, it's been over a decade and they've consistently produced a bunch of duds. Is the cause organizational?

 

[Allen The Actor]

Very simple:

A. Guests are more interested in rides, rides, rides. I know most of my family is unfortunately like that.

B. Recent offerings have tried too hard to be "hip" and "cool" and were blends of random and/or crappy franchises (Fear Factor and Creature), cheesy musical theatre songs with way too many sexual puns for a daytime family theme park, and just...the content has been very cheesy. The execution was bad. Creature could've been a hit if executed differently.

SES is nowhere near as good as the original SES or the likes of Orlando's Horror Makeup Show.

So I definitely think it's a combo of guests being more interested in rides or only action packed shows, and Universal Entertainment trying too hard to be hip puns and sexual content or shocking randomness (Fear Factor) and cheesy songs.

Guests like quality and action.

I can 100% guarantee you, if they put in a truncated but very high quality theme park version of Wicked into the Castle Theatre, it'd be a hit.

 

[Dustin]

I don't think that could have been said any better Allen

 

[Jon Fu]

B. Recent offerings have tried too hard to be "hip" and "cool" and were blends of random and/or crappy franchises (Fear Factor and Creature), cheesy musical theatre songs with way too many sexual puns for a daytime family theme park, and just...the content has been very cheesy. The execution was bad. Creature could've been a hit if executed differently.

So I definitely think it's a combo of guests being more interested in rides or only action packed shows, and Universal Entertainment trying too hard to be hip puns and sexual content or shocking randomness (Fear Factor) and cheesy songs.

In that case, it's the creative direction at fault. Sure, you can say audiences don't like shows, but the popularity of shows at Disneyland Resort should prove otherwise. Plus, WaterWorld, Special Effects and even Animal Actors receive a healthy number of people per show, so it's not like the interest isn't there.

Rather, the issue lies on the creative aspect not the audience. Compare the Mad T Hatter show at Disney California Adventure and the entertainment offerings in Universal Plaza. Why is one company able to attract an audience while the other isn't? I think that shows people are open to compelling entertainment.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Allen The Actor]

In that case, it's the creative direction at fault. Sure, you can say audiences don't like shows, but the popularity of shows at Disneyland Resort should prove otherwise. Plus, WaterWorld, Special Effects and even Animal Actors receive a healthy number of people per show, so it's not like the interest isn't there.

Rather, the issue lies on the creative aspect not the audience. Compare the Mad T Hatter show at Disney California Adventure and the entertainment offerings in Universal Plaza. Why is one company able to attract an audience while the other isn't? I think that shows people are open to compelling entertainment.

Just my thoughts.

With Disney, everything is a high quality and themed spectacle. Creature would've been that if not for cheesy and sexual puns. WaterWorld is quality because of the unique explosive action and it's a spectacle people can enjoy. It doesn't try to hard. Mad T Party doesn't try to be hip. It just is. Modern music with a twist, costumes, great bands, alcohol, and fun themeing.

If the quality of the content improves and doesn't try too hard to be cheesy, guests will like it.

Animal Actors is popular cuz guests like Animals. Simple.

Special Effects Stage is popular cuz I still genuinely believe guests come to USH and expect behind the scenes info.

 

[Ryan]

Allen's got it. Shows are a bit of a thing of the past, unless you got some wonderful brand name recognition behind it. So while Disney could open up a Frozen stage show at DCA (which actually looks like it may happen) and have it be a gigantic hit, Universal won't easily find one that fits.

So for now they hit the three marks:

1) Kids show = Animal Actors (something the entire family can enjoy)

2) Behind-the-scenes show = SES (something for the midwestern crowd who actually came for the studio tour and are still entranced by the "spectacle" of Hollywood filmmaking) 

3) Stunt show = WaterWorld (something for everyone)

The only thing missing here is a musical show and Universal failed time and time again, and so it looks like that'll have to be Blues Brothers for now. 

I think USH management knew that it has a powerful stigma of being an elaborate movie studio tour trying to be a theme park, and the shows were a large part of the stigma. So they're trying to get rid of the redundancies while still retaining the core ones that remain guest favorites.

I wouldn't mind a full-scale redo of the embarrassingly dated Animal Actors show, however.

 

[Chris]

I also believe that first impression is everything.  Waterworld looks impressive from a distance, a tribute to the design of the creators.  Many people walk up to it and say "...its not a ride?", and turn away.  I can imagine that many people have no clue what Waterworld is anymore, and those who do, don't care.  But if you tell someone its a great attraction and then they look at it and say "Wow!", then you have a full theater of people.

The Castle Theater has always played to a cheap budget, which made no sense why Spiderman was inside a Castle, or Fear Factor was inside a Castle.  I think the lame decision to paint the castle like a sound stage was also cheap and embarrassing for SES.

Creature was the first show to have a decent budget in place for the theater set and the set was marginally impressive.  The Castle setting fit better, but still wasn't impressive by any means.  Conan fit the Castle and the show was appropriate for the setting.

I feel that the average guest feels that shows are cheap.   If a show like Waterworld can impress even after 19 years, word of mouth will bring people back.  Look at the Aladdin show at DCA...it was planned to be removed and still stayed!  Aladdin is an impressive show with great Broadway gags and effects.

 

[ItsAtrap]

Guests are more interested in rides than shows. Most people never see live shows. They may not even know they like live shows. But shows have been a staple of USH in the past. Like Jon, I'm curious as to why the Entertainment department can't put on a good show.

The “shows” in the Plaza are embarrassingly terrible – an a Capella group singing the same songs as a band which are singing the same songs played over the park sound. At least the “Diamond Dolls” are cute but the show just looks and feels cheap. Hire dancers who can sing, roll out some backdrops.

SES has gotten worse since Thinkwell's original concept. Less and less about special effects. Seriously, showing the “Despicable Me 2” DVD extras on the side screens is not special effects. There is SO much they could do to show behind-the-scenes in an entertaining way and they have failed.

I know that the Western isn't as popular in the U.S. as it once was, but around the world people identify American movies with the Western. Not having a western stunt show in a “Hollywood” themed park is short sighted and foolish.

To me the biggest omission is a taped audience participation show like they did in the 1970's and 1980's (Screen Test Theater and Star Trek Adventure). Today this could be done without even the expense of physical media (Screen Test Theater delivered on Super 8 film!) But if guests want physical media Universal could bring on a sponsor to provide flash drives or even disc's.

The current USH entertainment department seems to be thinking “cheap to run” rather than “Hollywood Entertainment”. I wonder if it's simply money or if they just don't know how to choose and develop and run good theme park entertainment. Every show in the Castle since “Beetlejuice” has been poor and SES is being slowly dropping in quality. The one exception is “WaterWorld” and it took an outside company to punch that show up. And the guests love it! At this point the movie it's based on isn't even an issue. It's a great stunt show one of the best in the theme park industry.

 

[Jon Fu]

With Disney, everything is a high quality and themed spectacle. Creature would've been that if not for cheesy and sexual puns. WaterWorld is quality because of the unique explosive action and it's a spectacle people can enjoy. It doesn't try to hard. Mad T Party doesn't try to be hip. It just is. Modern music with a twist, costumes, great bands, alcohol, and fun themeing.

This is what I'm trying to get at. We all know shows aren't the biggest draw for theme parks anymore - that's a given. But even with that as a baseline expectation, Entertainment's offerings have been embarrassingly bad.

I feel that the average guest feels that shows are cheap.   If a show like Waterworld can impress even after 19 years, word of mouth will bring people back.  Look at the Aladdin show at DCA...it was planned to be removed and still stayed!  Aladdin is an impressive show with great Broadway gags and effects.

The current USH entertainment department seems to be thinking “cheap to run” rather than “Hollywood Entertainment”. I wonder if it's simply money or if they just don't know how to choose and develop and run good theme park entertainment. Every show in the Castle since “Beetlejuice” has been poor and SES is being slowly dropping in quality. The one exception is “WaterWorld” and it took an outside company to punch that show up. And the guests love it! At this point the movie it's based on isn't even an issue. It's a great stunt show one of the best in the theme park industry.

Chris and ItsATrap both make very good points. I'd be curious to know who leads Entertainment, and whether or not the shift in creative direction has coincided with their tenure.

 

[smoaT]

I know that the Western isn't as popular in the U.S. as it once was, but around the world people identify American movies with the Western. Not having a western stunt show in a “Hollywood” themed park is short sighted and foolish.

Actually westerns are a tough sale in foreign markets, they usually fail overseas. it's common knowledge in Hollywood that westerns don't appeal foreign markets "Westerns get made only because some powerful director, producer, or star wants to pay tribute to the sagebrush sagas he loved as a kid," says Richard Corliss at TIME. "Westerns have always been a tough sell with foreign audiences," explains Pamela McClintock at The Hollywood Reporter. The entire Western genre has "a very low, low bar" for success, says Ray Subers at Box Office Mojo. Maybe that's why there isn't a western themed show, albeit there was one in Uni before.

There are exceptions of course, Django was amazing, as True Grit was too. I don't know what type of show I would want to see in Uni. I love Waterworld but what other alternatives do we have? Musicals are a hit or miss, even Disney has problems with shows. Indiana Jones is a huge wasted opportunity. There is a Frozen one that only shows sing along versions of some songs and some actors on stage. It's painfully awful. Grinchmas was awesome two years ago but it's seasonal. What choices do we have?

 

[BernardMesa]

Are the a Capella chef singers that roam the French street new?  I had never seen them before and they were very entertaining.

 

[Jonathan]

Yes, they've only been around for a couple of months.

 

[William]

Do they look like chefs/waiters? Yesterday, I saw two men holding silver platters and one woman holding the French flag walking around French Street and near Universal Plaza talking to guests. Had never seen them before, wasn't sure if they were walk-around characters or singers.

 

[BernardMesa]

Do they look like chefs/waiters? Yesterday, I saw two men holding silver platters and one woman holding the French flag walking around French Street and near Universal Plaza talking to guests. Had never seen them before, wasn't sure if they were walk-around characters or singers.

Those are exactly who I saw haha

 

[William]

Those are exactly who I saw haha

Oh! Haha I guess I've seen them then. Didn't hear them singing, though. Glad to see more street entertainment around the park. I would've preferred mimes walking around French Street, though! How cool would that have been?

 

[Allen The Actor]

Yeah, I absolutely LOVE the new French Street walk around characters! Universal's interactive characters are the best! So entertaining and not overly cheesy.