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The theme park wars will shift into an even higher gear right before Memorial Day. On May 22, Universal Orlando is scheduled to open Epic Universe, its $6 billion expansion thats meant to lure more visitors away from the Magic Kingdom and other assets of Walt Disney World and make the companys theme-park hub a seven-day visit for tourists. Announced in 2019, Epic Universe will be the first new Central Florida theme park in more than 25 years. Divided into five lands, its a park that hopes to have something that appeals to all types of family members. And its a serious enough threat that Disney has announced a major upgrade to its Orlando parks, part of a 10-year, $60 billion investment in parks and experiences. For a park thats so close to its opening day, there are still a lot of questions. Tickets went on sale last October, but unless youre a hardcore theme-park junkie, you might not know what to expect from Epic Universe. Heres what you can look forward to, if youre planning (or thinking about planning) a vacation. Universal Epic Universe front gate [Rendering: Universal] Where is Epic Universe located? While its a part of Universal Orlando, the physical location of Epic Universe will be set about 2.5 miles southeast of Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, as well as Universal Volcano Bay water park and Universal CityWalk. To transport visitors back and forth, Universal will run buses between the parks and will have a separate parking area for Epic Universe visitors. What are the five lands of Epic Universe? The parks layout is designed to let visitors enter a “portal,” which takes them to five different lands. Celestial Park This is the entry into Universal Epic Universe, with dining, shopping, and three attractions: a carousel, a dual-launch coaster, and interactive dancing fountains. The Helios Grand Hotel (more details below) will also be located in this area. Celestial Park [Rendering: Universal] The Wizarding World of Harry Potters Ministry of Magic Universal has two other Harry Potter Wizarding Worlds: Daigon Alley at Universal Orlando and Hogsmeade at Islands of Adventure. Those are connected via the Hogwarts Express, but the Ministry of Magic will be a stand-alone park. The new park will include elements from both the Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts franchises, and this area will let fans explore several international wizarding communities, from Paris in the 1920s to the U.K. in the 1990s. Food choices will include Café Lair De La Sirne and Le Goblet Noir. And yes, of course, youll be able to get a Butterbeer. Super Nintendo World Already a hit in Universal Studioss California park, this interactive Nintendo-themed world is loaded with familiar characters from Mario to Bowser. It includes a big coaster (more on that below) and a live-action Mario Kart ride. Its a larger park than its California cousin and has additional rides (such as Yoshis Adventure and Mine-Cart Madness) and interactive activities. Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge in Super Nintendo World [Rendering: Universal] Foodwise, Chef Toad is serving things up at the Toadstool Cafélike the Mario Burger complete with a bun branded with Marios moustache and tiny red cap. Theres also the Bubbly Barrel in Donkey Kong Country. How to Train Your Dragons Isle of Berk On the Isle of Berk, youll be able to ride a dragon. Youll also be able to explore the Viking village at the heart of the animated Dreamworks franchise. Dark Universe Universal embraces its monster-based roots, with reimagined classic creatures, including Frankenstein, the Wolfman, and Dracula. What will be the big rides? Epic Universe will have several big roller coasters, the standout of which will seemingly be Mine-Cart Madness in Super Nintendo World. This Donkey Kong-themed ride features an effect where the car will appear to jump over a gap in the tracks. The Wizarding Worlds big draw will be Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, which features the return of Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge. Dark Universes big draw will be the animatronic-heavy Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment, set under Frankenstein Manor. Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry [Rendering: Universal] At Isle of Berk, you can ride Hiccups Wing Gliders, a coaster that simulates a ride on a dragons back. And the Stardust Racers coaster will send visitors in Celestial Park zooming at 62 mph to heights of 133 feet. Will there be hotels? Three hotels are being built in the general area around Epic Universe, but the crown jewel will be the Grand Helios, which has a dedicated entrance to the park, along with a rooftop bar overlooking the park. Universal Helios Grand Hotel [Rendering: Universal] The others, Stella Nova and Terra Luna, are not within walking distance and will require some travel time to reach Epic Universe. How much will Epic Universe tickets cost? Right now, if you want to visit Epic Universe, youll need to buy either a three-, four- or five-day pass. And regardless of which one you choose, that will only get you into Epic Universe for a single day. The other days must be spent at the other Universal theme parks. For adults, those start at $117 per day. Kids are just a couple dollars less. If youre already an annual passholder at Universal, you can buy one-day tickets, but those are already sold out for at least the first 17 days that Epic Universe will be open. Prices to add a ticket for the Epic Universe add-ons start at $122 a day. Individual tickets for Epic Universe will go on sale at a later date, which hasnt been announced yet.
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In another devastating blow to customers and employees of Joann Inc., the popular fabric and crafts retailer is moving to close a significant chunk of its brick-and-mortar locations as part of ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, according to a court filing on Wednesday. The company, which filed for Chapter 11 protection a second time last month, had initially said it would continue operating its approximately 800 stores as it restructured and sought a buyer. However, it told a court this week that it has now identified a number of underperforming locations during the bidding process that it wants to close as a way of cutting costs. “As the sale process progressed, and prospective bidders continued to conduct diligence and refine their potential bids, the Debtors and their advisors were able to identify a subset of underperforming stores that are unlikely to be considered or included in any going concern bid,” lawyers for the retailer said in the court filing. The filing lists hundreds of locations across more than 40 states, with big states like California, Florida, Illinois, and Michigan being hit the hardest. Joann says in the filing that it would like to begin store closing sales immediately. It warns that additional locations are likely to close as well. Reached for comment by Fast Company, Joann spokesperson Amanda Hayes confirmed the closings in a statement. “As part of the ongoing Chapter 11 process and our efforts to maximize the value of the business, JOANN has filed a motion seeking court authority to begin closing approximately 500 stores across the nation,” the statement read. “This was a very difficult decision to make, given the major impact we know it will have on our Team Members, our customers and all of the communities we serve. A careful analysis of store performance and future strategic fit for the Company determined which stores should remain operating as usual at this time. Right-sizing our store footprint is a critical part of our efforts to ensure the best path forward for JOANN.” A difficult needle to thread Founded in 1943, Joann has faced significant challenges in recent years, with factors such as the pandemic, inflation, and the broader shift to online retail hindering its operations. It was taken private last year when it filed for bankruptcy a first time, but it said at the time that it expected to continue operations once it emerged. A second bankruptcy came at the beginning of this year. Although Joann told customers that stores would remain open during the process, it warned that it could go out of business if it is unable to find a suitable buyer. Gordon Brothers, the restructuring firm that recently took control of embattled retailer Big Lots, has emerged as a “stalking horse” bidder for Joann. If it is successful, the firm is likely to liquidate and close all stores. This story is developing….
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Im not sure who first compared ChatGPT to Cliff Clavin, the garrulous mailman/barfly from TVs Cheers. Its so an apt comparison that many people probably came up with it independently. Cliff did know a lot of stuffafter all, he was a Jeopardy almost-winner. Yet he was also a blowhard who didnt seem to realize when he was speaking outside the bounds of his expertise. If you were paying attention, you knew that his seeming level of confidence was unrelated to the value of what he had to say. Even as AI companies have managed to reduce their chatbots’ tendency to hallucinate, a certain degree of Clavin-ism has remained endemic to the category. But Ive been playing with a new ChatGPT feature called deep research, which OpenAI announced last week. Instead of just being glib and eager to please, it weaves together facts and analysis into results with real substance. Its not perfect, but it ranks with Googles NotebookLM among the most impressive AI research tools Ive tried. I dont believe Ive encountered a single hallucination in the tens of thousands of words its generated in response to my queries thus far. At the moment, taking advantage of deep research requires deep pockets: The feature is debuting as part of ChatGPT Pro, which costs $200 a month. (I treated myself to a one-off upgrade for February to try it outfingers crossed that Fast Company reimburses me.) If further testing goes as expected, OpenAI says, it will come to the $20/month ChatGPT Plus in a month or so. Once it does, I expect to use it frequently. OpenAIs blog post about deep research offers background on how it works, accompanied by charts showing its performance in various AI benchmarks. In use, what it feels like is a new kind of chatbot that actually does its homework. Far less dependent on a hermetically sealed LLM than most, it comes up with answers to questions in something closer to the way a human research assistant would, by consulting sources around the web in real time and synthesizing them into a cohesive whole. Its a much more fleshed out, immediately useful example of agentic AI than Operator, another recently introduced ChatGPT feature thats able to trawl the web on its users behalf. By human standards, deep research does its work swiftly, but its hardly instantaneous: OpenAI says to expect the process to take 5 to 30 minutes per query. As it chugs away, it usually displays a running list of notes. For example, following a request I made involving fast-food history, it noted Searched for McDonald’s number of locations in the 1960s. Once in a while, these snippets are mystifying non sequiturs: At one point, it told me If necessary, I will escalate to HR for guidance. Overall however, they make the feat of generating AI text feel less like a magic trick and more like a computational process we mere mortals might comprehenda welcome change from AIs often opaque nature. I threw a bunch of projects at deep research, such as writing a competitive analysis of the market for image editing software, explaining how mechanical watches work, comparing instant-photography technologies from Polaroid and Kodak, and chronicling attempts to suppress free speech in the U.S. from 1900 to 1950. In every instance, it came back with detailed responses full of well-chosen facts and crisp analysis, on a different plane of readability and quality than standard AI bot fare. It also provided Wikipedia-like citations for its work, a boon for full disclosure and an aid to further reading on a subject. Impressive though deep research is, certain types of requests revealed its weak spots. As with most generative AI bots, it has a relentlessly positive attitude that gets in the way of anything requiring critical appraisal: I tried to get it to be more blunt by asking about the most forgettable pop culture pap imaginable, and it always insisted everything was a cult favorite. And while OpenAI touts the feature as being able to provide hyper-personalized recommendations on purchases that typically require careful research, the more I knew about a product area, the less impressed I was by its advice. Its suggestions of cameras for street photography, for example, were muddled by some prices that were way, way off. And when I asked it about tablets capable of replacing a laptop, it waxed enthusiastic about the 2022 iPad Prosapparently unaware that Apple replaced them last year. ChatGPTs deep research feature really does go deeper than the average chatbotand it cites its sources clearly. Thanks to the features running notes and citations, some of its other current limitations are obvious. For instance, it often tried to read sources that might have been valuablesuch as Consumer Reportsand gave up because they were paywalled. It also doesnt seem to perform what I would consider truly dazzling feats of online derring-do, such as fishing material out of obscure PDFs salted away in the Internet Archives many nooks and crannies. OpenAIs blog-post announcement mentions expansion plans that encompass specialized data sources and subscription-based . . . resources, implying that deep research could get meaningfully better without reqiring foundational advances in its AI. Oh, and one other thing: It kept asking me if Id like its answers to include charts and diagrams. I always said yes, but it never provided any. It would be nice if it eventually got this option it mistakenly believes it already has. In 1984, the famously demanding technologist and visionary Alan Kay deemed the original Macintosh to be the first personal computer good enough to be worth criticizing. Even with its current rough edges, deep research might be the first general-purpose AI-enhanced research tool to clear that barboth a breakthrough right now and, with any luck, a preview of even better things to come. Youve been reading Plugged In, Fast Companys weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to youor if youre reading it on FastCompany.comyou can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Wednesday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters. Im also on Bluesky, Mastodon, and Threads. 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