The Xtortionist
Member
Yep. The bayou scene hits me in all the right spots, so fucking atmospheric. When you float by the banjo playing....then darkness, then the talking skull and crossbones....hnnnnnggggggg
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Theme Parks & Roller Coasters |OT| The Happiest Place on GAF
- Thread starter Goldrusher
- Start date
Yep. The bayou scene hits me in all the right spots, so fucking atmospheric. When you float by the banjo playing....then darkness, then the talking skull and crossbones....hnnnnnggggggg
It's a shame the GotG Tower is pretty much a go at DCA now and it sums up everything wrong with the company nowadays.
There's far too many suits making creative decisions.
I can only hope the original ride will remain intact...
There's far too many suits making creative decisions.
I can only hope the original ride will remain intact...
I'd love to ride the original one day.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Anaheim's and Paris' versions are still the best PotC out there.
While I I think its a great idea in the Mystic Manor, becuase you are not actually doing anything from the original ride because of cultural change, same with Tokyo's Tower of Terror, it doesnt sit as well with Pirates of the Caribbean.
Cool they do something different, but everything? And so much shit about the movies? I dont know.
I would have prefered a change more similar to the Phantom Manor in Paris. You have similar story beats and scenes, but feels like a different ride.
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.
While I I think its a great idea in the Mystic Manor, becuase you are not actually doing anything from the original ride because of cultural change, same with Tokyo's Tower of Terror, it doesnt sit as well with Pirates of the Caribbean.
Cool they do something different, but everything? And so much shit about the movies? I dont know.
I would have prefered a change more similar to the Phantom Manor in Paris. You have similar story beats and scenes, but feels like a different ride.
I finished up my trip to Universal Orlando last night. I had a really fun time overall, so I will probably go back in the Fall sometime. My half day Thursday went way better than I expected. I got to doing everything in USF that I wanted, spent a lot of time in Diagon Alley, and got to ride a lot of things twice.
IoA was crazy on Friday. About halfway through the day the park become hugely crowded with a ton of schools having groups of kids running around. I had enough of the crowds at the end of the day so I left an hour and a half before closing.
My overall impression of it is that everything Harry Potter related is incredible. I was shocked when I went into Diagon Alley the first day. It isn't just the rides themselves, but the ride queues, food, shops, and buildings are all at a level beyond anything I have ever seen. I have incredibly high expectations for the Nintendo expansion now, since the Kong construction also made me drop my jaw.
For the rest of the parks, I think I appreciated the IoA style more where each area was its own land rather than thrown together in the Hollywood setting of USF. I thought the Jurassic Park and Springfield areas were neat, but nothing touched HP.
Here are the rides I went on:
Rip Ride Rockit: 2
Transformers: 2
Mummy: 2
Simpsons: 1
Men in Black: 1
Gringotts: 3 (Ride broke at the very end of my first run on it, so I was able to get straight back on a second time)
Forbidden Journey: 1
Hippogriff:2 (Only went twice since my 4 year old nephew liked it a lot)
Dragon Challenge: 1
Hogwarts Express: 2 (Once each way)
Popeye: 1
Dr. Doom: 1
Spider-Man: 3
My only regrets were not riding Ripsaw Falls, Jurassic Park, and Forbidden Journey a second time. I was disappointed to find out that there were no single rider lines for any of the water rides. Doing single rider queue on my second time on Rip Ride Rockit was a mistake though since it still had a long wait time.
Here's my rank of the rides, and how much I enjoyed them.
GOAT Rides:
Forbidden Journey
Spider-Man
Fantastic Rides:
Mummy
Dragon Challenge
Popeye
Rip Ride Rockit
Gringotts
Transformers
Do-It-Once Rides:
Hogwarts Express
Simpsons
Men In Black
Dr. Doom
Hippogriff
I don't think there was any ride that I outright hated, although Dr. Doom and Hippogriff should really only be done once for the queues and themeing rather than the actual rides. I was actually surprised that Simpsons didn't bother me as much as I expected.
Transformers was fun, but I liked Spider-Man way more even though it is an older ride. The latter had less shaking of the car, and had better practical effects. Forbidden Journey was also better than Gringotts thanks to the physical sets involved. Rip Ride Rockit had the fun music selection but Dragon Challenge was the better coaster.
Hippogriff was a poor coaster that ends in 5 seconds, and Dr. Doom was only awesome for the first rise and fall. Butterbeer is really good, and I enjoyed dinner at the Leaky Cauldron. The next day we ended up at the Captain America Diner which was typical theme park food, but it had a really nice view of the park.
All these ramblings aside, I am really pleased with what I got out of it on my trip. I am psyched to come back later in the year to get on the rides I missed plus Hulk and Kong.
IoA was crazy on Friday. About halfway through the day the park become hugely crowded with a ton of schools having groups of kids running around. I had enough of the crowds at the end of the day so I left an hour and a half before closing.
My overall impression of it is that everything Harry Potter related is incredible. I was shocked when I went into Diagon Alley the first day. It isn't just the rides themselves, but the ride queues, food, shops, and buildings are all at a level beyond anything I have ever seen. I have incredibly high expectations for the Nintendo expansion now, since the Kong construction also made me drop my jaw.
For the rest of the parks, I think I appreciated the IoA style more where each area was its own land rather than thrown together in the Hollywood setting of USF. I thought the Jurassic Park and Springfield areas were neat, but nothing touched HP.
Here are the rides I went on:
Rip Ride Rockit: 2
Transformers: 2
Mummy: 2
Simpsons: 1
Men in Black: 1
Gringotts: 3 (Ride broke at the very end of my first run on it, so I was able to get straight back on a second time)
Forbidden Journey: 1
Hippogriff:2 (Only went twice since my 4 year old nephew liked it a lot)
Dragon Challenge: 1
Hogwarts Express: 2 (Once each way)
Popeye: 1
Dr. Doom: 1
Spider-Man: 3
My only regrets were not riding Ripsaw Falls, Jurassic Park, and Forbidden Journey a second time. I was disappointed to find out that there were no single rider lines for any of the water rides. Doing single rider queue on my second time on Rip Ride Rockit was a mistake though since it still had a long wait time.
Here's my rank of the rides, and how much I enjoyed them.
GOAT Rides:
Forbidden Journey
Spider-Man
Fantastic Rides:
Mummy
Dragon Challenge
Popeye
Rip Ride Rockit
Gringotts
Transformers
Do-It-Once Rides:
Hogwarts Express
Simpsons
Men In Black
Dr. Doom
Hippogriff
I don't think there was any ride that I outright hated, although Dr. Doom and Hippogriff should really only be done once for the queues and themeing rather than the actual rides. I was actually surprised that Simpsons didn't bother me as much as I expected.
Transformers was fun, but I liked Spider-Man way more even though it is an older ride. The latter had less shaking of the car, and had better practical effects. Forbidden Journey was also better than Gringotts thanks to the physical sets involved. Rip Ride Rockit had the fun music selection but Dragon Challenge was the better coaster.
Hippogriff was a poor coaster that ends in 5 seconds, and Dr. Doom was only awesome for the first rise and fall. Butterbeer is really good, and I enjoyed dinner at the Leaky Cauldron. The next day we ended up at the Captain America Diner which was typical theme park food, but it had a really nice view of the park.
All these ramblings aside, I am really pleased with what I got out of it on my trip. I am psyched to come back later in the year to get on the rides I missed plus Hulk and Kong.
Jailer of Hope
Member
Sounds awesome. I like Spiderman a great deal more as well. I was there on the 3rd and crowds are very low so it was really good day. I tried the butterbean ice cream and I loved it. Very smooth soft serve.
Oh I should have tried that! I had regular Butterbeer and frozen Butterbeer and liked it frozen way more. The park's are great when the crowds are low. I think that and the heat just got to me at the end of my time at IoA that I was done. I'm talking with my sister about going sometime in October so hopefully it isn't too crazy.
The Xtortionist
Member
Spider-Man is my my forever GOAT. Just has the perfect mix of everything imo. Also love the shit out of Mummy. Nearly every second of that ride is pure fun. It's also super re-rideable because single rider waits are usually short.
Gartooth, if you go back make sure to ride the other track of Dragon Challenge. Though it can be hard to tell just from watching, each track is a different layout. Some people prefer one or the other for various reasons.
Gartooth, if you go back make sure to ride the other track of Dragon Challenge. Though it can be hard to tell just from watching, each track is a different layout. Some people prefer one or the other for various reasons.
Yeah Mummy had pretty short lines. I went on that ride just thinking it was an indoor coaster so I was surprised with all the good special effects they pull off. The fake out with the ride operator window was a great ending.
I didn't even think about there being two unique tracks when riding Dragon Challenge! I rode on the red track, so I will have to try the blue track when I revisit.
The Xtortionist
Member
I think the quality of many of Universal's rides (Spidey, Forbidden Journey) generally beats Disney's, and moving around the resort is much easier than at WDW. Though, Disney tends to have better area theming overall.
Universal is absolutely worth a day or two of your time. If time is an issue, drop Hollywood Studios for a day at Uni. That park is in dire straits and you will get infinitely more value from a Universal ticket.
Yeah I regret missing that.
I have been on the ride before at Universal Hollywood about 10 years ago.Harry Potter alone was worth the trip to Universal. I definitely recommend at least scheduling a day at the parks to see it!
Universal's got the effects work down but Disney's got the heart.
Jailer of Hope
Member
What do you guys think about this trend of theming lands to a single IP? Obviously it creates more immersive locations but certain negatives included less space for other IP and lesser secondary attractions created to fit the theme.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
It depends how you build your parks. If you are using a famous big IP, maybe is better, right at this moment, to make a land for it all.
When Disneyland was beggining, or if you want a more "generic" thing like adventure, its good to have IPs inside that if they feel right, mixed with totally inveted IPs for the parks.
Leeroy3101
Banned
It's sorta like all the video game series, and films with constant releases every single year; guaranteed profit despite the quality of the attraction/game of the IP. New concepts with original characters in the market these days scares investors. Let's not mention the suits in the American theme parks. The suits at Disney stateside exist as some of the worst at IP farming.
Jailer of Hope
Member
I mean entire lands though. Like Harry Potter, Cars etc. I think Cars is currently the only single IP land in domestic Disney before Avatar, Star Wars, and Toy Story. Like do people prefer a single IP land or a land with multiple IPs in it that share common themes? Star Wars is an interesting one because we already have an attraction for it so there's a couple new ones and more elaborately themed area with this new Star Wars land. Harry Potter has not one, but two dedicated themed lands.
Jag
Member
I think it depends on how they do it. Simpsons didn't need a mini-Springfield. The stand alone ride was fine (and was stand alone for a few years), but they did a really good job and showed how you can create a mini-land around an IP. Jurassic Park is another land that would be fine as a stand alone.
I think many of the stand alone rides could lend itself to "lands" like Shrek, Transformers, Despicable Me, etc. They don't need to be, but they could.
Blizzard have already confirmed they are working with Universal on theme park attractions. Doubt it would be purely Warcraft, but a combination of their franchises.
Orgrimmar, Protoss homeworld and Overwatch's London map in a 'World showcase' affair please Universal. If you chuck in a Rock n Roll Racing coaster I'll buy the annual pass
Jag
Member
Blizzard have already confirmed they are working with Universal on theme park attractions. Doubt it would be purely Warcraft, but a combination of their franchises.
Orgrimmar, Protoss homeworld and Overwatch's London map in a 'World showcase' affair please Universal. If you chuck in a Rock n Roll Racing coaster I'll buy the annual pass
Didn't know that. Probably be CA first, but I'm only 3 short hours from Orlando!
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Toy Story Land was already a miniland in Disney Studios Paris before Cars.
And strangely A Bug's land come first than either of those in California Adventure. A Bug's Life is not that big of an IP to build a land around it, but there you have it, DCA needed land's at first and it seems the IP was lucky enough that time.
Disney is not strange at creating new lands, but their first choices were somewhat strange.
The Xtortionist
Member
New Making of Skull Island at Universal Orlando
Includes a sneak peek at the Kong AA! The press release says he's about three stories tall.
Includes a sneak peek at the Kong AA! The press release says he's about three stories tall.
Jailer of Hope
Member
Oh yeah I forgot about Bugs land. It is extremely tiny though. There isn't even a merchandise shop in all of it and I think a single churro stand.
BUNTING1243
Banned
man, that is an absurd amount of expressive motion for a aa that big. jeez.
aparisi2274
Member
hopefully if it ever breaks they can easily fix it, and not have to deal with a Disney situation, where their most complex AA has been stuck in B mode for years...
The Xtortionist
Member
I like to think Universal is smart enough to not build their giant AAs into the actual ride building
The yeti can't easily be fixed because it's part of the mountain itself, so they would have to dismantle and reconstruct part of it to get to the AA.
BUNTING1243
Banned
Building the Yeti right into the mountain seems like a all-time dumb design decision, I hope that they finally take it down when Avatarland opens and they can afford to take that big of a ride down for multiple months.
most of it is disney cheapness but you know
sf2fanatic
Member
Just curious any one know what changes did they do to Soaring over California ride?
Jailer of Hope
Member
Actually the yeti and its foundation do not touch the rest of the mountain and the yeti itself would not be difficult to fix. The foundation is what needs to be replaced which would, as mentioned, require the mountain to be torn apart in some places.
I think it's one of those things that Disney never expected to ever replace or even maintain. But I guess due to some construction error, the force of the yeti's movement caused a tremendous amount of irreversible damage. It's just a shame that it has taken so long and we still don't know when it'll be fixed.
Edit:
I think it's one of those things that Disney never expected to ever replace or even maintain. But I guess due to some construction error, the force of the yeti's movement caused a tremendous amount of irreversible damage. It's just a shame that it has taken so long and we still don't know when it'll be fixed.
Edit:
Changing the video to Soarin' Over the World. Same as Epcot. Epcot is also getting a 3rd screen and is going digital. ( California has already previously gone digital).
aparisi2274
Member
I am not sure if I read this already, and I just forgot, but can someone let me know if the Potter ride at USH is in 3D, and if so, how does it look? I can't see the glasses staying on your face as that ride whips around...
sf2fanatic
Member
Thank you for the update info. I really love that ride and haven't gone to Epcot yet.
Yeah it sort of is. I never had a problem with the glasses staying on, though things do get weird around the whomping willow section where you're pretty much facing the ceiling. Overall the ride looks fine. The dementors are pretty freaky until you get to a certain point when you're surrounded by them, then it just kinda looks like you got lost in a dementor costume shop. The transitions between the screens and the actual setpieces are better than the ones done in the other rides like Transformers in my opinion. They flow a lot better with the scenes.
You're talking about the wrong ride. He's asking about Escape From Gringotts, not Forbidden Journey. Also, Forbidden Journey isn't 3D.
To answer the question, Gringotts has glasses but the ride manages itself well enough that they never feel like they're gonna fly off.
Jailer of Hope
Member
He asked about Universal Studios Hollywood, which doesn't have Gringotts. Forbidden Journey does use 3D at USH.
Also we don't have a Gringotts so the choices are either Forbidden Journey and Flgiht of the Hippogryph..
aparisi2274
Member
I'm hoping that USF updates the ride film on Forbidden Journey so its more in line with USF and Uni Japan. I could do without the 3d update....
MikeHaggar
Member
i think tuesdays are generally a good day. not sure how far away you are, but if you are close you can download their app which will show approximate wait times for the bigger attractions. i typically use that to judge if it is a good day to go. lastly, if you haven't been there before then enjoy! they have a great collection of coasters. skyrush and storm runner are amazing.
Thanks, I'll check out the app. It's my favorite park, love their coasters (minus Wildcat).
Update: Ninja will be renamed Blue Hawk
https://www.sixflags.com/overgeorgia/attractions/new-ninja/overview
This is one of my favorite coasters in the park, so I'm itching to see how much the track smoothing changed the feel of the ride.
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
A 90m minutes walkthrough through Shangai Disneyland.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UtPnkoRc9g
EDIT: After watching it, the video was not as good as i thought it was going to be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UtPnkoRc9g
EDIT: After watching it, the video was not as good as i thought it was going to be.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/24/news/china-wang-jianlin-disney-shanghai-resort/
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0e010d06-217f-11e6-9dea-6c9f084f551d.html
The person who created many living spaces with built-in stores and movie theaters all over China and used his wealth to purchase the AMC Theater chain and Legendary Pictures now plans to take on Disney Parks and plans to make them regret opening in China? We'll see how it goes...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0e010d06-217f-11e6-9dea-6c9f084f551d.html
The person who created many living spaces with built-in stores and movie theaters all over China and used his wealth to purchase the AMC Theater chain and Legendary Pictures now plans to take on Disney Parks and plans to make them regret opening in China? We'll see how it goes...
SpacePirate Ridley
Member
Hahaha, yeah right.
If Disney went to China, apart from the massive number of home tourists they can get, was for little shits like this man stop plagiarizing things they own.
His parks are pieces of shit that look awesome on concept art and then look terrible with the real thing, with badly designed coasters (not done by the real manufacturers) and plenty of copy cats that any lawyer around the world would have a field day with them if they werent on China. Good luck to him, he is going to fail.
BUNTING1243
Banned
i feel like universal realized pretty quickly that you can't just throw money at a park and beat disney. hiring talented designers seems like a really big part of it, which that guy has shown no interest in to this point.
The Xtortionist
Member
Heading to Universal Orlando. It's good to be back.
Pls be down Kong walls
I don't think Universal had the cash flow to just throw money at a park to "crush Disney" when USF was built.
Since Comcast bought them and the Harry Potter area at IOA did so well they have been basically throwing money at the park.
That's led to their attendance basically doubling at both parks, but drawing those extra people to Orlando also helps Disney's attendance, so for example, Universal Studios Florida is still around a million behind the attendance at Hollywood Studios/Animal Kingdom even though the gap has closed a lot. It's basically a "rising tide lifts all boats" thing right now.
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