Now obviously, everything is still just an unconfirmed rumor. But the leading candidate among all the top bloggers to replace either Springfield or (less commonly) The Lost Continent has been Pokémon.
Note
There’s no clear favorite for The Lost Continent, but Pokémon is often among the finalists. Other candidates include The Legend of Zelda, Lord of the Rings, One Piece, and Wicked
For the sake of this exercise, let’s just say that Pokémon is coming to UO. If you have a say with the company, where would you suggest the land be and what would you include?
According to Jim Hill LoZ is what is going into Lost Continent.
I know USH is testing & oromoting exclusive Pokémon Go characters in their park. This looks like Universal probing interest in the brand with consumers.
I would love One Piece. I know that wasn’t your question. But I’m just throwing that thought out into the world.
DD even named one of our cats Sunny. You would think it is because of his yellow orange color. But, no, his full name is One Thousand Sunnies, as in the One Piece boat. The One-Piece boat was supposed to be called Millennium Lion but translation error.
Prior to Epic Universe, I had been hoping for a Hyrule retheme (wouldn’t even have to change the name, just modify it like a game title – The Legend of Zelda: The Lost Continent). But I think once Super Nintendo World opened, the writing was on the wall almost literally. Link, Zelda, and Ganondorf are in he stained glass windows; there’s the Tri-Force mosaic; music from the games; TLOZ merch in both Nintendo stores. Supposedly, Nintendo wants their properties together. Pokémon would be an exception, since they’re technically their own company.
If (and that’s still all that it is, just if) Universal gets Pokémon, I wonder if they’ll try creating their own Go type app that only works on property like Minion Blast, or a separately purchased game option like the Power-Up bands. I just know they’d love the chance to sell us a other add on.
Good! I like new things, just want them to leave some things a little longer! Plan is to get DD9 there next year–she doesn’t remember anything about Springfield from our last visit, and she loves the Simpsons. She will be amazed
I’m SOOO excited. We are into our 2nd watching of all Harry Potter movies–she’s obsessed. She’s also reading the books.
One Piece was listed as one of the possibilities for Lost Continent in your quote. It could work. The landscapes in One Piece is normal except with anime exaggeration.
Not my personal opinion, just sharing what I’ve heard
From non credible sources, I’ve seen people calling for Toon Lagoon to be replaced with an anime land, and either Bilge Rat Barges or Ripsaw Falls be rethemed to One Piece. I personally think that is wildly impractical.
Lost Continent could work. After nearly three decades, there’s no shortage of islands to draw inspiration from. And as cherished as Mythos is, it could easily come under new management– specifically, Sanji’s management. It would take an little more work, but Poseidon’s Fury could be converted to an indoor boat ride. And Sinbad’s needs to live again (though it will be very difficult to replicate Devil Fruit powers IRL)
If it were to go to Epic or (less likely) UGB, I think it would have to be a general Shonen anime land
Pokemon in LC would put it opening around mid 2028. If I was designing a land I’d make the area its own region with inspirations from all sorts of other regions (and the Pokemon from them).
My only concern is that we’ve got less than five acres to work with, which includes two massive show buildings. Without doing too much renovation, I think you could make it look like the ruins of some ancient temple to the Legendary Pokémon.
Much like what I said about an anime land, the expansion pad behind Stardust Racers is the only place if you wanted to get really immersive
The permits filed don’t apply to any buildings along the Lagoon, so Mythos and the Fire Eaters Grill (along with any adjoining shops) are safe from demolition. But Sinbad’s, Poseidon’s Fury, Doc Sugrue’s, the Mystic Fountain, and any other stores are goners – or at least going to have their exteriors massively remodeled, along with any interior redesigns
I’d put Pokémon in USF. For the land, I think the best option would be to create an entirely new town/city for more creative freedom, with a mix of urban and natural environments. Animatronics and figures around the land like Berk (the cold mist and fire effects come to mind) would also be great.
I think the perfect ride for the land would be an interactive dark ride with a mixture of screens and physical sets (Universal’s thing at the minute), loosely based on the Pokémon Snap games. The games themselves are less well known and popular, but the concept is easy to sell. Pokémon Snap works very much like a dark ride to begin with, as you are in a vehicle that moves along a track at a set speed, and your only have minimal interaction with the world around you, taking pictures as you move between scenes.
I can see them using something like the wands or power-up bands in this land, and I think to do it effectively and make it worth it they would need all the land in Springfield, plus the animal actors show building (I’m sure they could move the show).
This IP is more probably popular than Harry Potter, so I’m hoping it gets huge levels of investment, but I’m excited to see what they do nonetheless.
There’s plenty of room behind The Simpsons Ride that only gets used for popup houses during HHN. Maybe not big enough for a ride, but an area to explore with interaction animatronics like in SNW.
Whoever is the first to get a Pokémon land should theme it to Pallet Town (specifically the Gen.III remake – more detailed). Second gets the Gen.IV version of New Bark Town, and so on in that order.
If it is USF, then I think “Krustyland” should return to its scientific origins, and be remade as Oak Labs. But the interior would need to be completely gutted. A track less dark ride themed to Snap seems like the best option. But I’d add a twist: there’s not one single path you can take – it changes every time so you can see more Pokémon! Like Bowser’s Challenge, we get a mix of animatronics with augmented reality. And I’m sure they can sell us another Power-Up band (maybe PokéGear?) to keep track of everything we see.
Ok I see what’s going on, yeah full demo on the 4.9 while the remainder are under remodeling permit I believe. And you can keep one wall and still be considered a remodel…
