Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
So Jimmy....How's That ride you "Hyped" up about at Universal..Eh?
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Jimmy Fallon Ride
- Thread starter Disneyhead'71
- Start date
Cmdr_Crimson
Well-Known Member
Agreed...
cheezbat
Well-Known Member
While some people hate Kong, I actually think it's a very good ride....from what I've seen and read about Fallon...I can't say the same. Sadly it had to be another 3-D screen based attraction, which doesn't help in a park already packed with 3-D screen based attractions.
mergatroid
Well-Known Member
Video of the queue experience. If you're going to complain it doesn't show the ride don't watch, it's not on there!!!!
Rode it today. The queue and preshow is seriously a 10/10 for me and I have never watched a Jimmy Fallon Tonight Show. The ride is just that, a ride. It's ok, but like Dispicable Me, I won't ride it unless it's a short wait. Will see how the virtual queue works for this though.
Jones14
Well-Known Member
Just got off this. It was... fine, I guess? I mentioned this over on OU, but I wondered aloud whether the ride would end up being a Transformers (I.e. an almost reskin of another ride), and there are soooo many moments that were directly lifted from Despicable Me and The Simpsons. The ride makes the other two seem redundant because it rehashed them both over and over.
In the same manner that I generally choose Spider-Man OR Transformers, I would choose Simpsons and Despicable OR Fallon, and other than the newness factor, the former two are better rides on the whole. It's not that Fallon is bad, per se, it's just that it'd be like Hollywood Studios opening Iron Man Experience next to the 50s Primetime Cafe. Sure, they're the newer, shinier rides, but it seems like the older ones were made from an idea instead of a statistical chart, and as such, are used to their full potential (as of their respective openings).
Side notes: the queue is beautiful and amazing and Gringotts needs to start operating like this yesterday. The wait feels much shorter than really is. The theatre, however, is very poorly themed, and does not feel anywhere near the level that we should come to expect from Universal as of this decade. The CGI makes Soarin's issues look like the tiniest of potatoes. The soundtrack for the ride was nice; I felt like it fit well.
If this ride were replacing The Simpsons or Despicable Me, and had better CGI, and a better themed theatre, it would fare better. As it stands, it's more of the same in a park that's overrun with poor CGI/motion based theatre attractions, and it (for me) removes some of the novelty of its counterparts because of it.
This could have and should have been so much more. I refuse to get behind the idea of filler attractions. Universal and Disney are far too successful to allow quality to slip whenever they reduce the scale (and smaller scale attractions are just as important), and this ride would've fit right in pre-Comcast. That's a bad thing, and a dismaying sign for all but Nintendo and Potter.
In the same manner that I generally choose Spider-Man OR Transformers, I would choose Simpsons and Despicable OR Fallon, and other than the newness factor, the former two are better rides on the whole. It's not that Fallon is bad, per se, it's just that it'd be like Hollywood Studios opening Iron Man Experience next to the 50s Primetime Cafe. Sure, they're the newer, shinier rides, but it seems like the older ones were made from an idea instead of a statistical chart, and as such, are used to their full potential (as of their respective openings).
Side notes: the queue is beautiful and amazing and Gringotts needs to start operating like this yesterday. The wait feels much shorter than really is. The theatre, however, is very poorly themed, and does not feel anywhere near the level that we should come to expect from Universal as of this decade. The CGI makes Soarin's issues look like the tiniest of potatoes. The soundtrack for the ride was nice; I felt like it fit well.
If this ride were replacing The Simpsons or Despicable Me, and had better CGI, and a better themed theatre, it would fare better. As it stands, it's more of the same in a park that's overrun with poor CGI/motion based theatre attractions, and it (for me) removes some of the novelty of its counterparts because of it.
This could have and should have been so much more. I refuse to get behind the idea of filler attractions. Universal and Disney are far too successful to allow quality to slip whenever they reduce the scale (and smaller scale attractions are just as important), and this ride would've fit right in pre-Comcast. That's a bad thing, and a dismaying sign for all but Nintendo and Potter.
Jones14
Well-Known Member
Really? I thought the street scenes in particular were horrendous. The actors all looked like they were in front of green screens, the cars were video game quality at best, and I thought even Jimmy looked like he had been made in a computer rather than actually filmed at several transition points.
Edited to add: perhaps they decided to go with a more cartoony look to make the more fantastical elements blend better, but when I'm driving through what's supposed to be the real New York and the visuals look like they were ripped from Spider-Man, there's a problem.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Two things: the theater itself is not themed, it's basically the screen, black walls, and the simulator pod which is red plastic seats with wood finish which I guess vaguely looks like the real seats in the studio.
The ride video looks perhaps on par with Transformers, but certain sections look extremely cheap and cheesy.
The ride video looks perhaps on par with Transformers, but certain sections look extremely cheap and cheesy.
Jones14
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I have! The backs of the seats and floor are amusement park quality with only a passing resemblance to the real ones, and as Tom mentioned, the walls are just painted black and look like concrete instead of the finished wood of the real studio.
The whole area looks like it was about half completed, and then they ran out of time and money and decided to leave it as is. It's a stark contrast to the queue, which I have to reiterate is BEAUTIFUL.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Yeah. And the facade looks very nice but only from some angles, the same way universal does most of their entrances. Make it look good from specific angles for publicity shots and maybe put a central big statue to draw your focus to and hopefully ignore the lack of detail elsewhere.
squidward
Well-Known Member
I'm a pretty hard defender of all things Universal, but honestly, I'm really sick of the screen based rides. And even sicker of the painfully long pre-shows. That being said, Despicable Me and Simpsons are both very funny. I can't imagine this equaling either of those. I wish Universal would add a couple more coasters to their parks. Islands could use something along the lines of Mako. I find it ironic (right word?) that the majority of the best coasters (IMO) are outside of Disney and Universal. Montu, Cheetah Hunt, Mako, Kraken.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
The more I think about this ride the more annoying it really is. It's so bad that it shows contempt for their guests and fan base. "Just shake them around again, employ all the same tricks, and give them 3D glasses. They'll eat it up like every time."
Imagine someone visiting Universal for the first time and the first thing they do is walk into USF. "Hmm. This entrance looks pretty ghetto."
They ride Minions. "That was sort of cool." (And acceptable since it was a re theme of an old attraction.)
They see Shrek 4D. "That was terrible."
They then rode Fallon. "That was exactly like Minions... and 3D glasses again??"
Trust me I really do love Universal and want it to be great but over and over they take the lazy route and go 3/4ths of the way and never learn, Potter aside.
Imagine someone visiting Universal for the first time and the first thing they do is walk into USF. "Hmm. This entrance looks pretty ghetto."
They ride Minions. "That was sort of cool." (And acceptable since it was a re theme of an old attraction.)
They see Shrek 4D. "That was terrible."
They then rode Fallon. "That was exactly like Minions... and 3D glasses again??"
Trust me I really do love Universal and want it to be great but over and over they take the lazy route and go 3/4ths of the way and never learn, Potter aside.
That is a core "Universal Studios" Parks tenant. They let the magic blend into the reality around the edges. A peek behind the curtain.
Jones14
Well-Known Member
To be fair, it is one that they have eroded over the years with Islands of Adventure, Potter, and Kong. What we're left with is a weird mishmash of styles (DHS is guilty of this as well) that leaves us wondering whether we're supposed to be immersed or looking at things through a filmmakers' eye. From the outside, Fallon is the latter, but the inside treats itself as the *real* 30 Rock.
Daveeeeed
Well-Known Member
I would call it... not wanting to spend millions on facades.
It's obvious that Universal realizes that they need to... otherwise they wouldn't have for Diagon Alley & Kong. HWS is also guilty of this.
mvieguy
Active Member
Technically Minions actually never changed. first it was Hannah Barbara, then Jimmy Neutron. then Minions . all basically the same idea.
kind of like BTTF and Simpsons
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
I know, that's what I meant. It's understandable to re-use an existing older ride. Building a "simulator in a box" brand new in 2017 is pretty lame for a park on Universal's tier and considering the overload of similar attractions they already have.
mergatroid
Well-Known Member
Agreed. Twister was a fairly unique attraction, a shame something unique was swapped for something they already had a version of.