Running Universal

I was just looking at their website and they say they are having a 5k and a kids 1k Raptor Run.

Yep. That’s what they were advertising and selling.

it was very neat, I was crossing too early and they hadn't activated the attraction but I saw on Twitter they had the shark running later in the morning and I'm sure that was fun to see!

I saw it loop in the diver sequence a few times. Didn’t see the other part though.


Funny. I can do the Seattle hot chocolate 15k every year, the week after Princess, and the 15k is hill hill and more hill, but that hill just destroyed me.

Some dude coming down the hill was heckling those of us walking up. I heckled right back saying that I’d see how he’s dealing with the hill as he’s going back up. I mean, we all had plans to run up the thing lol.


My teen is a ballet dancer in incredible shape, and he pushed that race hard, and is still sore today. Sure he’s had ballet since Monday, but he knows what’s from ballet and what was the run! :)


We went nutty with tickets. We were only doing Saturday and wanted to make the absolute best of things since our flight was before the park closed.

I came across an unlimited express pass ticket from undercover tourist that was *cheaper* than the normal express pass ticket.

It was terrific. Didn’t have to worry about lines at all. And since it was cheaper than the normal EP, it didn’t matter if we didn’t take advantage of the unlimited part.

And we finally saw animal actors, and it was fabulous!!!
 
Yep. That’s what they were advertising and selling.



I saw it loop in the diver sequence a few times. Didn’t see the other part though.


Funny. I can do the Seattle hot chocolate 15k every year, the week after Princess, and the 15k is hill hill and more hill, but that hill just destroyed me.

Some dude coming down the hill was heckling those of us walking up. I heckled right back saying that I’d see how he’s dealing with the hill as he’s going back up. I mean, we all had plans to run up the thing lol.


My teen is a ballet dancer in incredible shape, and he pushed that race hard, and is still sore today. Sure he’s had ballet since Monday, but he knows what’s from ballet and what was the run! :)


We went nutty with tickets. We were only doing Saturday and wanted to make the absolute best of things since our flight was before the park closed.

I came across an unlimited express pass ticket from undercover tourist that was *cheaper* than the normal express pass ticket.

It was terrific. Didn’t have to worry about lines at all. And since it was cheaper than the normal EP, it didn’t matter if we didn’t take advantage of the unlimited part.

And we finally saw animal actors, and it was fabulous!!!

I loved that show! That's great you found a deal on that ticket, especially with having to leave early and it let you do what you wanted. Were the standby lines long?

My daughters are dancers and they do some 5ks with me and say that running uses different muscles than dancing so they feel it more than they would.
 


The licensing could be tricky. Disney owns The Simpsons now and Paramount owns Transformers. While a deal can be worked out if all parties want to, I don't see Disney letting Universal have a Simpsons run without a heavy price and I personally wonder if Sanrio and Transformers have enough broad appeal to get runners in based on the theme. Minions certainly does, Jurassic Park probably does.

Yeah.. disney isn't going to let them do anything with simpsons. In fact, I expect in the future Simpsons is going to be part of bargaining chip to get marvel rights back. Wouldn't be a straight 1:1 trade, but would be a part of a deal.
 
In fact, I expect in the future Simpsons is going to be part of bargaining chip to get marvel rights back. Wouldn't be a straight 1:1 trade, but would be a part of a deal.
It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds. Presumably Disney wants to get full control of Marvel on the east coast so they can do something more than just a roller coaster and a handful of meet and greets tied to specific movies as opposed to the entire MCU. And this gives Universal the advantage especially since I don't see Disney selling The Simpsons and I expect Universal will make sure they don't give up what Marvel they have without exacting a nice fee in return.
 


It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds. Presumably Disney wants to get full control of Marvel on the east coast so they can do something more than just a roller coaster and a handful of meet and greets tied to specific movies as opposed to the entire MCU. And this gives Universal the advantage especially since I don't see Disney selling The Simpsons and I expect Universal will make sure they don't give up what Marvel they have without exacting a nice fee in return.

Which is why it will be interesting when Simspons rights come up for renewal. My understanding is that unlike Marvel rights they are not in perpetuity. So Universal will obviously want to keep Simpsons and Marvel will obvious want to get Marvel so how those negotiations go will be very very interesting. I'd love to sit in on those.
 
Which is why it will be interesting when Simspons rights come up for renewal. My understanding is that unlike Marvel rights they are not in perpetuity. So Universal will obviously want to keep Simpsons and Marvel will obvious want to get Marvel so how those negotiations go will be very very interesting. I'd love to sit in on those.
In the end, I won't be surprised if Universal decides to let The Simpsons ride go and put something else in its place. I would also love to see what happens now that Marvel has control of the Fantasic Four and the X-Men back for the MCU. At some point, Disney might just meet the price Universal wants to surrender easter U.S. theme park rights to some, if not most of the MCU.
 
In the end, I won't be surprised if Universal decides to let The Simpsons ride go and put something else in its place. I would also love to see what happens now that Marvel has control of the Fantasic Four and the X-Men back for the MCU. At some point, Disney might just meet the price Universal wants to surrender easter U.S. theme park rights to some, if not most of the MCU.

The fox deal doesn't change anything theme park related for WDW because FF and X-Men are in use at universal.

A lot of the IP being used at Universal is stuff Universal themselves don't own so maybe there is something in the fox catalog Universal might be interested in that might not fit as well in WDW.
 
The fox deal doesn't change anything theme park related for WDW because FF and X-Men are in use at universal.

A lot of the IP being used at Universal is stuff Universal themselves don't own so maybe there is something in the fox catalog Universal might be interested in that might not fit as well in WDW.
Yeah, I should have been more clear. Now that Marvel Studios has control of FF and X-Men for movies, that could "limit" what Universal can do with them.
 
Anybody that ran get a survey? Seems like they are lining up themes that include transformers, Sanrio characters, dreamworks characters, Simpsons, etc. no Harry Potter, but my guess is due to the licensing they can’t do it.

Also of interest, they have indicated a 10k run for Jurassic as a possible future event and asked on the survey how likely are you to run in it. So maybe 5K on Saturday and 10k on Sunday in November?

I would guess they didn't include Wizarding World as a theme because they don't need to ask: they know we'd throw our money at them for that. :) Licensing could be an issue, sure, but Idon't think it's any less tricky than the others.

I've already signed up for the 5k so if they add a 10k it'll be interesting to see how they communicate such a thing and if 5k'ers get a chance to add on and/or convert. Though whatever they do for 10k would probably involve a hill that would terrify me.......
 
I would guess they didn't include Wizarding World as a theme because they don't need to ask: they know we'd throw our money at them for that. :) Licensing could be an issue, sure, but Idon't think it's any less tricky than the others.
I think the reason why Harry Potter is theoretically trickier is because J.K. Rowling still retains tremendous control over what they do with Wizarding World. My understanding is that she signs off on everything. And if she doesn't approve it, they cannot do it. Frankly, it was smart of her to retain that kind of control.
 
I think the reason why Harry Potter is theoretically trickier is because J.K. Rowling still retains tremendous control over what they do with Wizarding World. My understanding is that she signs off on everything. And if she doesn't approve it, they cannot do it. Frankly, it was smart of her to retain that kind of control.

I think you're right. I was reading about their agreements with HP and the Simpsons last week and it looks like they need to get her approval to add anything. It's possible they're waiting to see how the other events go so they can show her the turnout and quality. Won't be much in the photo department during the race. She allows characters like generic Hogwarts students and I think there was someone by the Hogwarts Express, but she won't allow named characters in the parks, like Harry, Hermione, Hagrid, Malfoy, etc. I think Universal could get around that because Hogwarts is such a small section of the run, and just have other Universal characters along the rest of the course for photos.
 
She allows characters like generic Hogwarts students and I think there was someone by the Hogwarts Express, but she won't allow named characters in the parks, like Harry, Hermione, Hagrid, Malfoy, etc. I think Universal could get around that because Hogwarts is such a small section of the run, and just have other Universal characters along the rest of the course for photos.
From what I've read, Rowling completely nixed some ideas that Universal wanted to allow more guests to visit because Hogsmeade is a small village that never drew large amounts of guests and wanted it to remain authentic.

I think a future Harry Potter themed race comes down to whether or not J.K. Rowling thinks that people running a race themed to Harry Potter and wearing Harry Potter medals and race shirts afterwards feels inauthentic to the universe she created.

I doubt she minds if people run through that area during a race, but she may well want to ensure that a race themed to her universe is done to her standards. You make a great point that Universal may be perfecting the execution of race weekends first before going to Rowling and getting her blessing on such an event.
 
I think a future Harry Potter themed race comes down to whether or not J.K. Rowling thinks that people running a race themed to Harry Potter and wearing Harry Potter medals and race shirts afterwards feels inauthentic to the universe she created.

I doubt she minds if people run through that area during a race, but she may well want to ensure that a race themed to her universe is done to her standards. You make a great point that Universal may be perfecting the execution of race weekends first before going to Rowling and getting her blessing on such an event.

Well, we already DID run through that area during a race... :)

While she's very careful with control, I don't feel like she's been overly restrictive with licensing. Loot Crate has been pushing out the merch like crazy and of course the expanded Wizarding World movie universe is definitely indicative of the inclination to "build a brand" around this that's not just Harry Potter, so I think that it's something that she'd probably approve if the idea is sound. But by the same token, I'm also sure Universal wants to wait to do a Wizarding World theme until they've got this thing down so that they can provably make it amazing, so I don't expect it to be one of the first themes they do.
 
I've already signed up for the 5k so if they add a 10k it'll be interesting to see how they communicate such a thing and if 5k'ers get a chance to add on and/or convert. Though whatever they do for 10k would probably involve a hill that would terrify me.......

The 5k hills were terrifying. I can’t imagine how they would fit a 10k in there.

They didn’t allow changes to Sunday when they added that. So I wouldn’t hold my breath to be able to change races.
 
The 5k hills were terrifying. I can’t imagine how they would fit a 10k in there.

They didn’t allow changes to Sunday when they added that. So I wouldn’t hold my breath to be able to change races.

Yeah, that hill from Jaws Lake to Whoville and the Bates Motel was nasty. I did the tram tour the day before and was thinking We have to run this tomorrow?? I wonder if they wound the course by the soundstages and the city streets set if they could somehow get to a 10k within their property. Possibly even start the race by the parking garages further back from the entrance to add more distance.
 
Jurassic Park 5k registration is open now. They are also having a Kids 1k run. Early bird registration is through July 14. No course information yet. Looks like they are planning to seed corrals based on predicted finish time and not first come, first serve.
 

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