Universal Epic Universe (South Expansion Complex) - Now Open!

[Sir_Cliff]

Hester and Chester's Dino-Rama

It wasn't a good theme (hey, it's meant to be tacky!), but it was themed.

I mean more along the lines of how this coaster is integrated into what is supposed to be a spooky village area:

 

[SplashJacket]

That doesn't sound great -- Forbidden Journey is one of the joltiest rides I've ever been on; to the point that it was actively unpleasant to ride. It was so jerky the last time I rode that it actually jacked up my GF's neck for the rest of the day and the following day. If Monsters is worse that sounds kind of miserable.

It’s less jerky and just more forcefully violent.

Hard to explain. Just have to experience

 

[mkt]

It wasn't a good theme (hey, it's meant to be tacky!), but it was themed.

Dino-Rama was pretty highly themed, though, so that doesn't apply.

It certainly wasn't a good choice of theme, but there was a lot of detailed theming.

History is a fickle beast.

When it first opened, on these same message boards, the conversations were almost identical to the conversations about theming on this thread.

 

[James Alucobond]

When it first opened, on these same message boards, the conversations were almost identical to the conversations about theming on this thread.

I'm sure there were complaints that it was ugly and clashed with the rest of the park, but having a fully realized yet visually unappealing theme is completely different from repeatedly breaking the theme and immersion with elements that disrupt placemaking and sightlines.

 

[WaluigiTime]

I remember the first time I went into Dino-Rama as a former Disneyland only person and I was like, this is what people on the internet praise? lol

 

[European1992]

Fyre drill is genuinely the most fun I’ve ever had on any theme park attraction. Disney absolutely has to bring this ride system to one of their parks. Hollywood would work perfect. I was waterboarding myself in laughter I could hardly breath. Absolutely do not skip. It’s not a flashy attraction, but it’s so fun. (tip: don’t actually shoot the targets, just start a war by shooting the other vehicles and watch the chaos).

This section put a huge smile on my face as there is this type of the attraction in PortAventura in Spain and it was one of the best ride experiences of my life. Nobody was shooting at targets, we were all shooting at each other and laughing like crazy all the time.

 

[Coaster Lover]

The big one in the Berk area kinda has a space / Sci-Fi look to it. Maybe it's just me. I also wonder if it is left so obvious and open due to some planned nighttime projection show on the walls?
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My first thought was "maybe the trees will cover it in a few years when they get bigger?"... but no, that's a pretty massive building. I think it will help in a few years when the trees are a bit bigger, but it will in no way hide the building entirely.

Don't worry this is just the preshow but is the face of Dr. Victoria Frankenstein a projection?

While there may be a physical face, there is at least some sort of projection mapping adding details to the face.

But some of these rides appear to have moments where they just full on leave the park altogether.

The most egregious one (to me at least) was on HWG right after the second launch and you go under the bleachers and there is that bright orange cherry picker sitting right there. It's literally right next to the track! you can't tell me there wasn't a better place to put that (or at least to hide it!)

 

[earlthesquirrellover23]

No. That video admittedly has some oddly captured lighting that throws the figure off. But it's definitely a physical face. The skin reacts realistically to the environment lighting when she moves and turns, different parts taking on a dynamic sheen when light is hitting it directly and also shadowed in areas that are not as well lit. Projection can't do that. She's also lit with a fairly bright spotlight, which would completely wash out a projection and make it barely visible. It also lacks the visible seam around the chin and cheeks that internal projection has.

It's a projection. It's not internally projected like Disney's projected face animatronics though.

 

[MisterPenguin]

I wish English had a word for something which, in and of itself, in a vacuum, is perfectly fine or even good, BUT... you're disappointed in it because you thought it was going to be great and super-amazing because of the hype bestowed on it by others in advance?

Because, that's my reaction to the floo/flue transportation gag in MinMagic.

People were saying how fantastic it will be and it'll knock your socks off.

Ummm... no. It's a good gag. But it's just a short tunnel with a turn in it. The smoke effect and flash of light makes it look good.

But, it's not *amazing* or groundbreaking. I had been thinking: "What could this be? Would they try to put you in a type of box that shakes and rotates but hides the rotation so that you don't know you've turned around (like Rise's transport ship)?"

No, just a puff of smoke and flash of light and a crooked tunnel. And you walk through it. Which is good. I'm not saying it's not good. It's just not what some hyped it to be. It's a let-down, not because it's bad per se, but because it wasn't what was expected. And so, appreciation and disappointment... there should be a word for that.

 

[Brer Oswald]

Yet you said you were blown away by the preshows

But not the ride

 

[Stripes]

I don't personally get motion sick on FJ, i'm not prone to motion sickness at all. But I do understand why others would. I think a lot of it is because of the simulator elements of FJ, it latches giant omnimax screens onto your vehicles multiple times throughout the ride. These scenes contain a lot of extremely fast moving and jerky motion. But since the vehicles aren't actually able to move enough to produce the same matching forward g-forces, the disparity confuses the brain somewhat because it expects something different than what is being felt. Even milder simulators such as Star Tours or Body Wars could cause motion sickness in some people because of this, and they don't even always get motion sick on rides that ACTUALLY move fairly fast. My mom has problems on simulators more intense than Soarin, but she has always been fine with Big Thunder or 7DMT and such.

For what it's worth, Monsters is very different from FJ in this aspect. I can't speak for the full experience, but the videos i've seen don't have any instances where you sit in front of a screen that flings you at high speeds through environments. The vehicle may have a lot of motion, but it appears to be moving you through more physical static environments like the physical scenes in FJ. Even the environments that are conveyed through projections are still relatively slow moving, and it's characters that are moving around instead.



No. That video admittedly has some oddly captured lighting that throws the figure off. But it's definitely a physical face. The skin reacts realistically to the environment lighting when she moves and turns, different parts taking on a dynamic sheen when light is hitting it directly and also shadowed in areas that are not as well lit. Projection can't do that. She's also lit with a fairly bright spotlight, which would completely wash out a projection and make it barely visible. It also lacks the visible seam around the chin and cheeks that internal projection has.

I could go on, but this clip is a different angle and probably a better representation of the lighting-

It’s exterior projection mapping.

This is using the technology Universal patented.

 

[BringMeTheHoriz]

I wish English had a word for something which, in and of itself, in a vacuum, is perfectly fine or even good, BUT... you're disappointed in it because you thought it was going to be great and super-amazing because of the hype bestowed on it by others in advance?

Because, that's my reaction to the floo/flue transportation gag in MinMagic.

People were saying how fantastic it will be and it'll knock your socks off.

Ummm... no. It's a good gag. But it's just a short tunnel with a turn in it. The smoke effect and flash of light makes it look good.

But, it's not *amazing* or groundbreaking. I had been thinking: "What could this be? Would they try to put you in a type of box that shakes and rotates but hides the rotation so that you don't know you've turned around (like Rise's transport ship)?"

No, just a puff of smoke and flash of light and a crooked tunnel. And you walk through it. Which is good. I'm not saying it's not good. It's just not what some hyped it to be. It's a let-down, not because it's bad per se, but because it wasn't what was expected. And so, appreciation and disappointment... there should be a word for that.

TLDR: Nothing short of actual fire that doesn’t burn and being physically transported ala teleportation will please you. Your suggestion, while good in a vacuum, doesn’t work in a theme park with 40K people. They send people through in small groups because by canon floos aren’t something experienced with a massive group of people. Anything more complex and waiting for the floos would take as long as the wait for the ride. For all the considerations they had to make, they’re perfect.

 

[Stripes]

TLDR: Nothing short of actual fire that doesn’t burn and being physically transported ala teleportation will please you. Your suggestion, while good in a vacuum, doesn’t work in a theme park with 40K people. They send people through in small groups because by canon floos aren’t something experienced with a massive group of people. Anything more complex and waiting for the floos would take as long as the wait for the ride. For all the considerations they had to make, they’re perfect.

Cosmic rewind pre-show with heat and smoke effects along with a story that Paris has special extra large Floos that connect to London would have been a lot better.

You could have even incorporated an animatronic of Molly Weasley guiding people to say “Ministry of Magic.”

 

[Keladry84]

I wish English had a word for something which, in and of itself, in a vacuum, is perfectly fine or even good, BUT... you're disappointed in it because you thought it was going to be great and super-amazing because of the hype bestowed on it by others in advance?

Because, that's my reaction to the floo/flue transportation gag in MinMagic.

People were saying how fantastic it will be and it'll knock your socks off.

Ummm... no. It's a good gag. But it's just a short tunnel with a turn in it. The smoke effect and flash of light makes it look good.

But, it's not *amazing* or groundbreaking. I had been thinking: "What could this be? Would they try to put you in a type of box that shakes and rotates but hides the rotation so that you don't know you've turned around (like Rise's transport ship)?"

No, just a puff of smoke and flash of light and a crooked tunnel. And you walk through it. Which is good. I'm not saying it's not good. It's just not what some hyped it to be. It's a let-down, not because it's bad per se, but because it wasn't what was expected. And so, appreciation and disappointment... there should be a word for that.

I can understand your disappointment. I think they probably went for something so simplified to facilitate crowds - can you imagine the logjam if it was anything other than just a straight walk-through? I think already there will be some with other members of the party lagging back to film their family/friends (kind of like the current platform 3/4)

 

[BringMeTheHoriz]

Cosmic rewind pre-show with heat and smoke effects along with a story that Paris has special extra large Floos that connect to London would have been a lot better.

You could have even incorporated an animatronic of Molly Weasley guiding people to say “Ministry of Magic.”

You didn’t read my post. Canonically floos aren’t a mass transportation system. The masses take them, but not all at once like Cosmic’s pre show. When it comes to WWoHP, explaining that you’re taking a floo with 100 people isn’t what JK is going to sign off on.

 

[MisterPenguin]

TLDR: Nothing short of actual fire that doesn’t burn and being physically transported ala teleportation will please you.

Actually, I mentioned something that would that didn't involve incinerating guests.

So, thanks for your useless straw man response. It was beautiful.

 

[BringMeTheHoriz]

Actually, I mentioned something that would that didn't involve incinerating guests.

So, thanks for your useless straw man response. It was beautiful.

Pray tell, how would you do it differently?

 

[MisterPenguin]

Pray tell, how would you do it differently?

Read my post you're responding to in order to find out.

 

[BringMeTheHoriz]

Read my post you're responding to in order to find out.

*Pray tell, how would you do it differently to address the required throughput and canonical requirements I highlighted in my first response to you?

 

[Stripes]

You didn’t read my post. Canonically floos aren’t a mass transportation system. The masses take them, but not all at once like Cosmic’s pre show. When it comes to WWoHP, explaining that you’re taking a floo with 100 people isn’t what JK is going to sign off on.

I read it and I understood what you’re saying. I’ve read the books 10 times. I understand the limitations of the Floo Network.

What I am saying is that a simple explanation that London and Paris have a special extra large connection would have made the experience better and more powerful for guests. It would not have caused any plot holes and would be a perfectly sensible change to the story given how many wizards and witches travel between London and Paris.