​What would your park look like? Part 2 - The rides

Written by David "Indy" Graham

If you haven't yet taken the time to review Part 1 on how we would layout our park please visit our prior post. So just as a quick refresher for everyone else, our park layout was a mix of what Universal is rumored to have for Epic Universe but with the connecting Hub and Spoke layout of the Magic Kingdom. Now let's talk rides.

When it comes to the rides for each land the number that are in the lands are less important at times as long as the ones that are there the people connect with. That's not to say I would want 1 or 2 rides for each land yet this design has worked. For Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando it only has the Escape from Gringott's attraction unless you want to count the Hogwarts Express as more of an attraction and less of a themed transportation system between the 2 parks. And at Disney for Galaxy's Edge it only has 2 rides within it with Smugglers Run and the recently opened Rise of the Resistance; however if we jump over to the Magic Kingdom's Fantasyland, then you have 7 attractions located there. A quick look at just the 2 different lands at Disney you can clearly see how rides have evolved from simple quick story dark rides that you travel through to now where attractions are putting you in the middle of the action and even letting you decide the outcome of the ride.

So let's assume for my park we have 6 lands to play with and all roughly equal and good in size. Each land would have at least 1 E-ticket attraction (coaster or test track) as the main-themed anchor to that land. This would also help to spread out the crowds in the park based on the experience they were looking for. Now, I'm not fully against completely screen-based attractions, to be clear, but me and them don't see eye to eye with my motion sickness; however, they do have a place in story telling attractions when it's not possible to have the actors from your IP to be there day in and out within your attraction 365 a year, so prerecorded scenes only make sense. Personally, Escape from Gringotts and Reign of Kong were 2 of my favorite rides at Universal as I feel they did a great mix of ride and screens. Yet, with that said, if you told me I only could ride 1 attraction at Universal I would take Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure without a second thought. For me that is a well blended attraction that shows you can build a story telling ride and not completely kill it with screen after screen. And when Disney opens Tron in a little over a year at the Magic Kingdom, or even Guardians of the Galaxy, both I think will be another step in story-telling thrill rides. And considering that we live in Florida, knowing the outside section of Tron is under a roof means they can run it ran or shine. 

For that reason I would have a lot of covered sections for my outdoor attractions so they could be run as much as possible when inclement weather usually shuts down a lot of rides here. As for the balancing out the other rides in the different lands, I think having a mix of at least one flat ride (think Dumbo style or a spinning teacups) and a dark ride (Haunted Mansion or Pirates of Caribbean) or 4D (Toy Story Mania or Shrek) or even 1 or 2 water rides (Splash Mountain or Jurassic Park River Adventure) could balance out each land. This would provide each land with something for every generation and something for people of different size and heights, giving families a reason to spend more time in each land instead of running to another area so the kids can ride something or off to the next thrill ride like at a Six Flags or Cedar Point (which I love my coasters). You then add in the specialty themed restaurants with exclusive food and drinks and of course your IP merchandise and it's a win-win for the theme parks as well as a one of a kind experience at every turn. 

So would this be a park you would want to visit or do you think it's completely off on what you would want in your park? Let us know in the comments your thoughts or improvements you would make.