A Spirited Dirty Dozen ...

brb1006 · Jun 9, 2016

BrerJon said:
Tokyo no question, no question at all. There's more to do than the others, Shanghai will be crowded and suffering teething problems, and with Tokyo you get transported back to the Disney of Walt's era, it has to be seen to be believed.

I really love how Tokyo is able to change parades during certain holidays of the year and then there's Dreamlights.

BernardandBianca · Jun 9, 2016

GiveMeTheMusic said:
Tokyo is the gold standard, so it should be the top choice. Usually adding Hong Kong or Shanghai (or both) to your airline ticket will be a minimal price difference - might be worth looking to hitting more than one resort since you're flying all the way over there.

Or you can do as we just did - book a cruise from Shanghai to Tokyo with a stopover in Hong Kong. We just booked this for 2018 (not taking any chances), and are planning to do extra days at both ends to partake in Disney Shanghai and TDS.

BernardandBianca · Jun 9, 2016

NearTheEars said:
Go Pens! I would have driven over to Tampa during the East Finals, but it was too expensive.

I am actually reading these, and posting, during the intermission, while killing time waiting for period three. Go Pens.

NobodyElse · Jun 9, 2016

Tahu said:
Unless if there's a 30 foot tall animatronic Vin Diesel they haven't yet revealed...

They're saving that for the Iron Giant attraction.

Donaldfan1934 · Jun 9, 2016

brb1006 said:
And the first ride pov video just got uploaded from tonights soft opening. I'm going to mark this video as a spoiler for those that prefer to wait until they finally ride it but the guests really loves it judging by the reactions.

Well looks like all the people who were insisting that this wasn't going to be yet another Universal Screentacular and filled to the brim with Animatronics instead have been proven wrong. Also, didn't they say a few days ago that there were going to be real actors jumping out and scaring people? Where the hell were they? Were they in the queue or something else unrecorded?

lazyboy97o · Jun 9, 2016

the.dreamfinder said:
Walmart's proprietary RFID payment solution, CurrentC, is dead. You may recall Walmart played a role in the development of NGE as Disney's "teacher".
http://www.recode.net/2016/6/8/11888834/mcx-currentc-payments-app-shuts-down

CurrentC was never an RFID system, it used QR codes. It's death has also not stopped Walmart which has released the similar Walmart Pay.

GiveMeTheMusic · Jun 9, 2016

Donaldfan1934 said:
Well looks like all the people who were insisting that this wasn't going to be yet another Universal Screentacular and filled to the brim with Animatronics instead have been proven wrong.

Who was insisting that? It's been common knowledge for months that there would be screen scenes and a giant Kong AA at the end. No surprises here.

Donaldfan1934 · Jun 9, 2016

GiveMeTheMusic said:
Who was insisting that? It's been common knowledge for months that there would be screen scenes and a giant Kong AA at the end. No surprises here.

I know that, but I heard a bunch of talk that there was going to be a lot more than that. As if there was going to be a proper balance between practical effects and screens. They were saying that the ride was going to be a lot more than just the tram tour film with a few extra scenes. People kept talking about this ride like it was something unprecedented for them when it ended up being very precedented. How many times can Universal pull the same tired tricks before fanbois sober up from the butter beer and realize that most of their headliner attractions are all kinda interchangeable?

GoofGoof · Jun 9, 2016

Donaldfan1934 said:
I know that, but I heard a bunch of talk that there was going to be a lot more than that. As if there was going to be a proper balance between practical effects and screens. They were saying that the ride was going to be a lot more than just the tram tour film with a few extra scenes. People kept talking about this ride like it was something unprecedented for them when it ended up being very precedented. How many times can Universal keep using the same tired tricks before fans sober up from the butter beer and realize that most of their headliner attractions are all kinda interchangeable?

Who cares as long as the ride is fun?

NearTheEars · Jun 9, 2016

GoofGoof said:
Who cares as long as the ride is fun?

Plenty here would relentlessly criticize WDI for building a screen based ride.
But I agree wholeheartedly with you.

doctornick · Jun 9, 2016

GoofGoof said:
Who cares as long as the ride is fun?

Not gonna speak about Kong without first hand experience, but I do think there is some validity to the point that many of the rides at Universal are similar in structure and execution. Individually, they tend to be great, but it does get a repetitive over the course of a day. More variety among the types of experiences would be good.

(To bring it back to Disney, I think that was a problem with classic Epcot as well where the rides largely were similar.)

GoofGoof · Jun 9, 2016

doctornick said:
Not gonna speak about Kong without first hand experience, but I do think there is some validity to the point that many of the rides at Universal are similar in structure and execution. Individually, they tend to be great, but it does get a repetitive over the course of a day. More variety among the types of experiences would be good.

(To bring it back to Disney, I think that was a problem with classic Epcot as well where the rides largely were similar.)

I guess I can see the point, but I never had an issue with classic EPCOT either. The ride systems were similar but the rides themselves were not the same.

Donaldfan1934 · Jun 10, 2016

GoofGoof said:
Who cares as long as the ride is fun?

Good then. I'm not stopping you from having fun and I hope you do. But it just seems like the theme park fanboy conception of modern Universal being beyond reproach just because of the WWoHP is deeply flawed. While most of us here agree that modern Disney has its fair share of flaws, but you cannot say that every new attraction that they build is a very similar type of experience to their previous.

FigmentJedi · Jun 10, 2016

Donaldfan1934 said:
didn't they say a few days ago that there were going to be real actors jumping out and scaring people? Where the hell were they? Were they in the queue or something else unrecorded.

Just in the queue.

Donaldfan1934 · Jun 10, 2016

doctornick said:
Not gonna speak about Kong without first hand experience, but I do think there is some validity to the point that many of the rides at Universal are similar in structure and execution. Individually, they tend to be great, but it does get a repetitive over the course of a day. More variety among the types of experiences would be good.

(To bring it back to Disney, I think that was a problem with classic Epcot as well where the rides largely were similar.)

Thank you for backing me up here. If more theme park fans took this into account before they decide to go declare an attraction that hasn't even opened yet a groundbreaking revolution then maybe we could bring the fandom a little bit back down to earth.

Donaldfan1934 · Jun 10, 2016

Tahu said:
Just in the queue.

Thank you for clarifying that. It seems to me that Universal likes to change up the queues while keeping their rides uniform.

Pam Hates Penguins · Jun 10, 2016

I'm sorry. I have to say this. Yes! Woo hoo! I have become a Well-Known Member!

Rteetz · Jun 10, 2016

Donaldfan1934 said:
Well looks like all the people who were insisting that this wasn't going to be yet another Universal Screentacular and filled to the brim with Animatronics instead have been proven wrong. Also, didn't they say a few days ago that there were going to be real actors jumping out and scaring people? Where the hell were they? Were they in the queue or something else unrecorded?

They were in the queue and there was only one of them. The queue also has a nice animatronic.

lazyboy97o · Jun 10, 2016

Donaldfan1934 said:
I know that, but I heard a bunch of talk that there was going to be a lot more than that.

You are not the center of the theme park discussion universe. You not knowing or seeing somethings discussing doesn't make it true.

BrianLo · Jun 10, 2016

Variety is the spice of life. A slow moving dark/screen hybrid does provide actual variety when it is wedged between two water rides. The LPS tram is fairly unique in terms of the greater resort menu as well.

Kong isn't completely breaking UC's bag of tricks, but I see no real issues with it. It's USO with the forthcoming 2017 attractions where the wheels actually fall off and the criticsm is deserved.

I finally rode the real tram tour today. The Kong portion was quite enjoyable, Fast and Furious was phoned in garbage.