I don't think imagineers are the problem. I mean they managed to get Hatbox Ghost to work out. A lot of the recent decisions in theme parks seem more focused on cashing in on popular brands than they are on finding ideas that mesh well with each other.
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Theme Parks & Roller Coasters |OT| The Happiest Place on GAF
- Thread starter Goldrusher
- Start date
I don't think imagineers are the problem. I mean they managed to get Hatbox Ghost to work out. A lot of the recent decisions in theme parks seem more focused on cashing in on popular brands than they are on finding ideas that mesh well with each other.
Goldrusher
Member
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Lol
What disney doing in the west? Twirling their thumbs while they wait years for avatar land that nobody asked for.
This Pirates of the caribbean scene seems amazing. Im wondering if they also have the town in flames and the ship fight like the original rides.
The Xtortionist
Member
building DVC shit
The billion spent on MyMagic+ that no one asked for could have also gone towards some new attractions
The Xtortionist
Member
Universal Orlando's twitter is teasing new Hulk trains.
H E A D L I G H T B O Y S
H E A D L I G H T B O Y S
BUNTING1243
Banned
man. i wonder if california and florida will ever see renovations to bring it up to this level or if people would even want that.
I think we have just enough if not too much Jack Sparrow as it is stateside.
It's one thing when in Shanghai your entire ride is post-movies and built around them from the beginning, here they just dropped Johnny Depp in a few places.
The AAs themselves are amazing though.
Leeroy3101
Banned
Any of you planning any road trips for parks this summer?
The northeast Ohio area acts as my home base during the summers. Here's a couple trips I've got planned:
Carowinds, Kings Domion, and a quick stop in Washington DC. I know Six Flags America is there, but nothing noteworthy there for me to ride.
Dollywood, Holiday World, and Kentucky Kingdom. I might add Beechbend in as a quick stop to get a couple of Kentucky Rumbler rides.
The northeast Ohio area acts as my home base during the summers. Here's a couple trips I've got planned:
Carowinds, Kings Domion, and a quick stop in Washington DC. I know Six Flags America is there, but nothing noteworthy there for me to ride.
Dollywood, Holiday World, and Kentucky Kingdom. I might add Beechbend in as a quick stop to get a couple of Kentucky Rumbler rides.
The Xtortionist
Member
Incredible Hulk Coaster Relaunch Video
Holy shit the trains, the queue, the launch tunnel! Opening late Summer.
HULK SMASH
Holy shit the trains, the queue, the launch tunnel! Opening late Summer.
HULK SMASH
aparisi2274
Member
Incredible Hulk Coaster Relaunch Video
Holy shit the trains, the queue, the launch tunnel! Opening late Summer.
HULK SMASH
WOW!!!! The new ride vehicles look dope as fuck! So nice!!!
Incredible Hulk Coaster Relaunch Video
Holy shit the trains, the queue, the launch tunnel! Opening late Summer.
HULK SMASH
Damn hopefully I'm not poor soon because I want to make a return trip already. Hulk revamp and Kong are looking so hype.
The Xtortionist
Member
Hit me up mang. I'll be there full time in a few weeks. Though I'm not too sure we can get that lucky with short wait times again lol.
I'm unemployed atm
. Working on becoming a software engineer through. So hopefully I land a developer job soon.Full-time? As in working? Or moving?
The Xtortionist
Member
Moving
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
So so freaking sad.
Incredible Hulk Coaster Relaunch Video
Holy shit the trains, the queue, the launch tunnel! Opening late Summer.
HULK SMASH
This vehicles and the entrance are incredible. It hypes you a lot when you anter a coaster and see all this "pre-ride" epicness surrounding it.
They also said a new soundtrack, do they mean, like in the queue or they are actually putting the music when you are riding it like space mountain and California Screamin? because I love coasters with onboard music.
Universal is doing a magnificent job in their parks. They deserve every visitor they get.
Some years ago you would have asked me who I would have prefered to do a Nintendo land and I would have said disney without a doubt. Right now, Im super glad that iwata chose Universal for it and I cant wait to see what they are doing with it. God bless that man.
Goldrusher
Member
The Xtortionist
Member
Gunstarheroes
Member
BUNTING1243
Banned
I went to Universal over Spring Break for the first time and with the exception of Harry Potter I was super disapointed by it. Most of the theming outside of Harry Potter seemed really simple and disjointed, the two parks didn't seem very differentiated, and the crutch of using screens on just about every ride made them seem much less impressive. I was ready to be blown away and enjoyed Disneyworld much more.
Gunstarheroes
Member
I can kind of get this (Islands Of Adventures is a bit messy in places) but screen-focused? Not as much.
aparisi2274
Member
I'm not sure I agree. While there are issues with some aspects of IOA or UO, the thematic elements to their attractions are top notch. The AA are more modern than Disney and more fluid.
Disneyworld has a lot of dated themes and the AA's on some rides are so rudimentary when compared to Uni. Just look at Small World, Peter Pan, ect. You'd think that when they bring a ride down for months and months, they would consider modernizing the AA's on those attractions, especially for what they are charging to get in. My biggest complaint is with the gorgeous Expedition Evrest ride. You have this massive AA at the end and it's been broken for over 10yrs. Yes, I understand it would require a lengthy rehab to fix and that is why Disney hasn't done it yet, but when that's your signature E ticket ride in the park, it's something that should've been fixed ASAP.
I still like visiting both parks, but for me, I prefer the attractions at IOA and UO.
spatenfloot
Member
Sounds like he is more interested in the park decorations than the rides.
Yeah, since USF was supposed to be a backlot it doesn't have the best theming. Things have been replaced over the years and there's things under construction. I think it will look better once Fallon & Fast & the Furious are open.
IOA has some great theme work in Potter, Lost Continent, and Jurassic Park, and some sub-par stuff elsewhere (Marvel, Toon Lagoon) for the actual areas.
BUNTING1243
Banned
Granted I didn't spend as much time there as I would've wanted, but Spiderman, Transformers, all the Harry Potter rides, Disciple Me, and The Simpsons Ride all seemed to use screens to varying levels. It worked for a lot of them, but it just felt less immersive and cool to me than building actual sets. It's a completely different experience, but it was less impressive to me and they rely on it a lot.
I'm probably always going to like Disney better because I've been going there for years and have the nostalgia. Because of that the dated AAs just seem quaint and fun to me. I totally see your point, especially for Expedition Evrest, which is one of my favorite rides but also completely disappointing in terms of the Yeti.
I guess part of it is that? I dunno, the theater tech side (theming, costume design, sets and lighting) of things is always something I really enjoy about rides and theme parks, and Disney still seems to have that down over Universal. I'd go on Tower of Terror or Expedition Everest over Transformers any day.
And, in great timing for me writing this post defending Disney, Screamscape got confirmation that Tower of Terror is going Guardians of the Galaxy. Fuckers.
Jailer of Hope
Member
To be fair, Disney uses screens too. Universal just tends to use them more. Sometimes to create nearly identical experiences. This is pretty analogous to the AA attractions at Disney though. Some people will prefer one over the other.
Also some of us are allowed to like Disney, but discussion between both tend to have a degree of double standards.
Also some of us are allowed to like Disney, but discussion between both tend to have a degree of double standards.
The Xtortionist
Member
Also to be fair, Disney hasn't built much in the past decade, and screens have come a long way since then. I think some level of use for screens and projection mapping are the future - there's just so much more you can do with them. Look at the Shanghai Pirates for example. As with anything, it's a matter of using them intelligently instead of as a crutch.
Mystic Manor uses screens and projection mapping, Avatar Flight of Passage will use screens, the Star Wars Millennium Falcon simulator will almost certainly use screens, etc. That's just the way the tech is going.
Leeroy3101
Banned
A mix of projectors, screens, and physical sets work the best. The Dwarves mine train pulls this concept off great. Universal could learn a bit with that. Potter does its best, but it seems a bit reliant on screens. Both rides, that is.
The Xtortionist
Member
Both Potter rides use live actors in their films. Wouldn't work too well with AAs imo.
edit - I suppose they could have gone for more of a musion effect, but eh. You can't really do environments on the scale of Gringotts with sets. And FJ can't really blend sets at all due to the film depicting high speed flight. Blending works best when the vehicle is slowing moving past screens depicting mostly static environments, like the alley scene in Spider-Man. I think Universal takes decent advantage of those when they can. Spidey and Transformers both feature some good blending where it makes sense.
I will be in Universal Orlando tomorrow for the first time, but I am already thinking of going there again later in the year just to ride on the Hulk rollercoaster. I love everything I've seen about the redesign of that ride, and it still would have been at the top of my list regardless of if I had been on it before.
I thought this would be a good place to ask this, but what is the best way to get the most out of USF in around 5 hours? I plan on going to IoA for a full day afterwards, but am not planning on buying a park to park pass.
I think what I would like to do is ride Mummy, Transformers, and Rip Ride Rockit in the first two hours, then stop by Springfield for an hour (Simpsons) and finish up the night at Diagon Alley. (Gringotts) Does that seem doable? I'm guessing it is still a pretty slow time in the year, but if wait times are long I will probably get an express pass inside the park.
I thought this would be a good place to ask this, but what is the best way to get the most out of USF in around 5 hours? I plan on going to IoA for a full day afterwards, but am not planning on buying a park to park pass.
I think what I would like to do is ride Mummy, Transformers, and Rip Ride Rockit in the first two hours, then stop by Springfield for an hour (Simpsons) and finish up the night at Diagon Alley. (Gringotts) Does that seem doable? I'm guessing it is still a pretty slow time in the year, but if wait times are long I will probably get an express pass inside the park.
The Xtortionist
Member
Sounds like a decent plan. You can also get on and off Men in Black in no time at all if you use single rider. And definitely keep single rider in mind for the other rides if the wait times don't go your way. Men in Black just has the consistently shortest single rider waits for any ride I've ever seen - it's basically <5 minutes all day every day.
Have fun!
Thanks for the tips! I completely forgot about single rider lines, which will be pretty helpful if my family skips out on some of them. I will probably do Men in Black too if I get the chance.
bucknuticus
Member
I would personally skip the simpsons ride, the area is very cool but the ride is awful. It was literally the first time in my life ive ever gotten motion sick and no one in my group enjoyed it.
Yeah, that doesn't sound good. My dad is coming along and he gets motion sickness. I looked up a little bit online about this, but what rides should he avoid aside from Simpsons? I would love for him to come on the Harry Potter and Spider-Man rides with everyone else.
The Xtortionist
Member
He should be ok on Spidey. Forbidden Journey (Hogwarts ride) may be an issue, though. You might suggest taking Dramamine before riding to reduce motion sickness. I've heard it works well for that sort of thing.
Jailer of Hope
Member
I agree with this and it's why I prefer Forbidden Journey over Gringotts.
The Xtortionist
Member
Gringotts' sets are just too sparse. The vault set before the climax is one of the best sets in any dark ride IMO, but there are few others in the ride.
Still a great ride though.
Still a great ride though.
BUNTING1243
Banned
I will say that I loved Forbidden Journey and Gringotts had one of the coolest queues I've ever seen in a park (ride itself was kinda a letdown though for the reasons people have said above). I can't imagine what it's like if you really care about Harry Potter.
spatenfloot
Member
When is Kong set to open?
Thanks Xtortionist! I read online that some people are able to buy Dramamine in the park gift shops if they ask for it, so I will probably pick some up. Really glad though that Spider-Man shouldn't cause much trouble.
The Xtortionist
Member
The difference with Spidey is that it isn't a "pure" simulator except for a small number of scenes - in those scenes the ride simulates quickly moving through space, while all of the others just simulate interaction with characters/environments and the vehicle. I believe it's the former that induces motion sickness. On the flip side, about half of Forbidden Journey is simulating high speed flight, and the range of motion is a bit unconventional due to the unique ride system (I wouldn't call the ride intense necessarily, just unexpected in what it does). But yeah, try the dramamine and it should hopefully be fine. The Simpsons Ride might be a good test run for it because it has more traditional motion.
Be sure to report back on how your trip goes!
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
While some years ago I would completly agree with you, the problem with Disney now its that they literally stopped creating amazing things.
The last thing I liked from them was Buena Vista Street, and that was scuked is soul some months after opening becuase of the fucking suits.
Yes, Universal seems more disjointed that parks with a lot of years of history and excellent planning on their back, but at the same time they are trying, and accomplishing IMO, to create magic right now, and a great base for their future of their parks. Harry Potter was the first stone, and it shows. And then add that they work so fast it looks like wizardry.
And Disney likes the future of screens as much as Universal does, the problem is, they are really not building anything on western parks anymore. And screen, if well used, are something great. Would love to see animatronics more though, and thankfully, both still use them.
Razgriz-Specter
Member
I wonder if Disney would be scared to do this in the US parks.
Budget + fear of complete change to a park staple.
Same for Haunted Mansion but honestly I don't think that ride can be much improved upon beyond refinements every so often.
This on the other hand just obliterates the original.
It probably wouldn't go over well. They could update the effects but changing the ride itself would likely be out of the question.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
While the ride seems amazing, I think I still love more the dinamism of scenes and the whole fun pirate town setting of the original.
The part beneath the water takes too fucking long, the effect is neat at first but after that its just a bore, would have done that a fast scene of getting in, the pirate ship cemetery and then get out to the battle, so then you get the calamari man (forgot his name) and Johny Deep fighting around a scenery version of Port Royal with some screens thrown in for even more impact/bigger town, instead of more an more ships. Let them get into a powder defense tower or something and then do the blow up scene.
Not having in any way implemented, not even in the calmer scenes, A Pirate's life for me, doesnt really sit right with me.
Also, the first two scenes with original Pirates of the Caribbean scenes but done with skeletons, is it me, or it seems like the imagineers saying "·the old ride is dead, here is the new improved version"?
Apart from the effects, and animatronics used, is a much inferior version from my point of view than any of the originals. Too much movies and action stuff, to little Port Royal and fun.
Also the outrage they would get gutting the original rides for this, or Haunted Mansion, would be enormous compared to whats happening with the Tower of Terror talks right now.
They are too classic and beloved rides. There was already some uproar when they added Jonhy Depp or put disney characters into Its a Small World. Its, thanfully, not happening. Although, saying how shit Disney management is in our days, who knows.
Changing some effects or improving animatronics here and there would be an interely different thing. That would be good.
Jag
Member
I wouldn't skip it. Especially if you like the Simpsons. I think its a great ride for someone who's never done it. The jokes eventually get old, but the first few times are great.
Leeroy3101
Banned
I think the legacy version of pirates is truly the best, but Disneyland's Pirates is much more better than Orlando's. It's not because of the drop, but more so the start of both rides outshines Orlando's version. I could ride either rides multiple times in a row.
Same goes for the DL version of Haunted Mansion. But, I enjoy it for different reasons. The DL version has a phenomenal hatbox ghost animatronic. Plus both rock the fantastic "Grim Grinning Ghosts" music.
Spiderman does the best mixing of all elements of practical, screen, and set work. The sky scraper climbing effect always blew my mind. I could never figure out how the effect actually got pulled off.
Same goes for the DL version of Haunted Mansion. But, I enjoy it for different reasons. The DL version has a phenomenal hatbox ghost animatronic. Plus both rock the fantastic "Grim Grinning Ghosts" music.
Spiderman does the best mixing of all elements of practical, screen, and set work. The sky scraper climbing effect always blew my mind. I could never figure out how the effect actually got pulled off.
The pirates ride is cool, I like how they've gone a completely different route similar to what they did with Mystic Manor in hong kong. But despite it looking much more modern, I hope they don't roll it out at the US parks but instead use similar effects in upcoming rides (e.g. the Avatar boat ride).
My main complaint is that too many of the effects come down to either large projectors, or large LCD screens. It looks great in video form, but after the initial awe I would think it's pretty obvious you are looking at a flat screen. Plus there is just so much history in the classic rides, generations of children have loved them - and I want to make sure my kids, and their kids can enjoy them in the same way I did. It's not like they've even aged badly. It would be like destroying all the old animated movies because they've got the newer live action version
The hatbox ghost is a good example of adding a new effect into an existing ride without spoiling the lore, I'd be more than happy for them to improve the animatronics on some of the existing characters to bring them up to the quality of that Davy Jones. But for the love of god don't add more movie characters to the US rides.
My main complaint is that too many of the effects come down to either large projectors, or large LCD screens. It looks great in video form, but after the initial awe I would think it's pretty obvious you are looking at a flat screen. Plus there is just so much history in the classic rides, generations of children have loved them - and I want to make sure my kids, and their kids can enjoy them in the same way I did. It's not like they've even aged badly. It would be like destroying all the old animated movies because they've got the newer live action version
The hatbox ghost is a good example of adding a new effect into an existing ride without spoiling the lore, I'd be more than happy for them to improve the animatronics on some of the existing characters to bring them up to the quality of that Davy Jones. But for the love of god don't add more movie characters to the US rides.
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