Fast & Furious- Supercharged details officially released

[Tom Morrow]

I was ride shamed at Universal riding F&F Supercharged...

Please the ride is great at what it’s supposed to be, a people eater just like Kong. Not the best ride ever but it blows away the Pandora “boat” ride.

A people eater doesn't have to be the laziest, most uninspired ride in history.

The biggest issue with Na'Vi River Journey is that it should have been a people eater. If it had high capacity and people weren't waiting absurd lengths to ride it then everyone would acknowledge it as the acceptable supporting attraction that it is.

Na'Vi River Journey:
Pros:
- Relaxing
- Pretty lights
- One of the best animatronics ever made
- Air conditioned

Cons:
- Short
- Low capacity
- Feels like one long scene

Fast & Furious: Supercharged
Pros:
- Sort of okay queue
- Air conditioned
- High capacity

Cons:
- Literally every other negative thing about theme park ride design you could possibly say

 

[Jimmy Thick]

A people eater doesn't have to be the laziest, most uninspired ride in history.

The biggest issue with Na'Vi River Journey is that it should have been a people eater. If it had high capacity and people weren't waiting absurd lengths to ride it then everyone would acknowledge it as the acceptable supporting attraction that it is.

Na'Vi River Journey:
Pros:
- Relaxing
- Pretty lights
- One of the best animatronics ever made
- Air conditioned

Cons:
- Short
- Low capacity
- Feels like one long scene

Fast & Furious: Supercharged
Pros:
- Sort of okay queue
- Air conditioned
- High capacity

Cons:
- Literally every other negative thing about theme park ride design you could possibly say

We could debate strengths and weaknesses of every ride in central Florida but that won’t oead to anything productive because we all have different tastes.

I knew a while back F&F was just a repackage of the Hollywood tram ride and I rode it anyway. More importantly my nine year old rode it too and he had a ear to ear smile during it. That makes the ride worth it to me personally and even if I don’t care for it or it’s not my must do attraction I’ll take one for team Thick.

Bigger and better things are coming, but parks need rides like F&F and NRJ.

 

[Casper Gutman]

IMO UNiversal are going through the Bob Iger period circa 2005 - 2016

Come on, now. Diagon was less than four years ago. Kong, whatever it’s faults, is far from “bargain basement.” Uni has been adding major rides at the rate of one or more a year, and with the exception of F&F I consider them all improvements on what they replaced. Uni has also been improving the parks in smaller ways, adding theming (Simpsons, themed bathrooms, etc.) and raising the overall level of service. Another Potter ride and a major stunt show open next year. ANOTHER PARK is coming within about five years.

The Iger regime has seen the service and maintenance at the resort decline, few additional attractions built, great older rides destroyed - it bears very few similarities to what Uni is doing right now.

F&F is a big bad dud, no question. It seems like some folks on here are seizing on it in an attempt to dismiss the very impressive improvements Uni has made over the last several years and seems poised to keep making.

 

[JT3000]

IMO UNiversal are going through the Bob Iger period circa 2005 - 2016

During this period Iger invested very little in new attractions. Bargain basement, always taking the budget option. Instead all he was interested in was investing in more ways to make money, rather than actually improving the experience (which in turn would mean more people and more money). So he was buildings shops, investing in Disney Springs, removing attractions and replacing with shops, projects like the Magic Bands, more hotels - BUT IN THE ACTUAL PARKS, the actual centre of everything he completely negated. It's only in the last few years he's backtracked and tried to arrest the park development.

Universal are going through something similar - hotels, shops - but when it comes to park attractions it's always the cheap budget option. Okay perhaps i'm being a little harsh, as they have introduced Volcano Bay. But what will bring people to Universal is the actual two parks, and investing in those parks is essential - if not they are just repeating the mistakes from time ago when Universal was seeing a declining attendence because of no investment.

They are resting far too much on their laurels that they built Harry Potter. Everything since has been bargain basement budget attractions. But yeah let's build more hotels.

Welcome to Hyperboleland, the Most Exaggerated Place on Earth.™ We hope you enjoy your stay.

 

[lebeau]

Come on, now. Diagon was less than four years ago. Kong, whatever it’s faults, is far from “bargain basement.” Uni has been adding major rides at the rate of one or more a year, and with the exception of F&F I consider them all improvements on what they replaced. Uni has also been improving the parks in smaller ways, adding theming (Simpsons, themed bathrooms, etc.) and raising the overall level of service. Another Potter ride and a major stunt show open next year. ANOTHER PARK is coming within about five years.

The Iger regime has seen the service and maintenance at the resort decline, few additional attractions built, great older rides destroyed - it bears very few similarities to what Uni is doing right now.

F&F is a big bad dud, no question. It seems like some folks on here are seizing on it in an attempt to dismiss the very impressive improvements Uni has made over the last several years and seems poised to keep making.

If I could, I would like this comment more than once. Some people have lost all perspective. Even if we assume F&F is as bad as people say, Kong and Fallon are fine. But the big news for the last couple of years has been all of the expansion around the parks; the hotels and Volcano Bay. These are massive additions to grow the resort as a whole building up to a whole new theme park! If you go back more than the immediate past, you have Diagon Alley which is easily one of the most impressive themed lands in all of Orlando.

During the early years of the Iger regime, they couldn't even fix Downtown Disney much less add capacity. It took years just to get the Fantasyland improvements. This is nothing like the first decade of Disney World under Iger. Not remotely.

I get that people are unhappy with F&F. I said from the beginning that it looked bad. Some folks were disappointed in Kong and Fallon. There are criticisms to be made. But you lose all credibility when you engage in this kind of hyperbole.

 

[OG Runner]

If I could, I would like this comment more than once. Some people have lost all perspective. Even if we assume F&F is as bad as people say, Kong and Fallon are fine. But the big news for the last couple of years has been all of the expansion around the parks; the hotels and Volcano Bay. These are massive additions to grow the resort as a whole building up to a whole new theme park! If you go back more than the immediate past, you have Diagon Alley which is easily one of the most impressive themed lands in all of Orlando.

During the early years of the Iger regime, they couldn't even fix Downtown Disney much less add capacity. It took years just to get the Fantasyland improvements. This is nothing like the first decade of Disney World under Iger. Not remotely.

I get that people are unhappy with F&F. I said from the beginning that it looked bad. Some folks were disappointed in Kong and Fallon. There are criticisms to be made. But you lose all credibility when you engage in this kind of hyperbole.

And, as such, also "like" your comment more than once. Not only Downtown Disney. How much of Disney Studios,
has been under construction, for how long. Yes, when done, it is expected to be pretty special, but they even took
The Great Movie Ride down, with the construction going on for Star War & Toy Story, including the third track for
Toy Story Mania. There are adjustments and even if you don't love them all Universal is adding more options on
a regular basis. I think the attendance number increases confirm it is working.

 

[EricsBiscuit]

Except WDW is in a much better place now thanks to Iger than 13 1/2 years ago under Eisner. The level of service at Uni is improving but is still leagues behind WDW. I love that they are catching up though.

Back on topic, it looks like this ride sucks.

 

[Casper Gutman]

Except WDW is in a much better place now thanks to Iger than 13 1/2 years ago under Eisner. The level of service at Uni is improving but is still leagues behind WDW. I love that they are catching up though.

Back on topic, it looks like this ride sucks.

I could not disagree with this more strongly. Disney 13.5 years ago wasn’t nearly at its peak but it was MASSIVELY superior to what it is now. Service and maintenance were vastly better. Tickets and room prices hadn’t swollen to utterly extortionate rates. WDW didn’t strive to create a class-stratified experience via upcharge events. The utter nonsense of FP+ and far-in-advance meal reservations didn’t exist. Great rides had been destroyed, but a few that are now lost, like GMR, still existed. Honestly, it’s not even remotely close - Iger has done wonderful things with Disney’s film division, but he has profoundly injured WDW.

And as to service, on my last several visits, the service at Uni has been superior to that at WDW across the board. In fact, Uni’s service has approached that of WDW at its peak. This isn’t the fault of WDW’s employees - they are understaffed and utterly swamped with crowds the parks aren’t equipped to handle. But the widening gulph is increasingly evident.

But yes, Fast & Furious sucks.

 

[Tom Morrow]

13 years ago? Yeah it was better then, but WDW right now is legions better than 2008-2015~ish.

At Disney you are still far more likely to encounter CMs who truly care and are going above and beyond. The vast majority of Universal employees are bored local college students who aren't necessarily bad but obviously don't really care about the job.

 

[Eckert]

At Disney you are still far more likely to encounter CMs who truly care and are going above and beyond. The vast majority of Universal employees are bored local college students who aren't necessarily bad but obviously don't really care about the job.

As opposed to the thousands of temporary help college students who show up every couple of months who are overworked and not invested?

 

[Bairstow]

As opposed to the thousands of temporary help college students who show up every couple of months who are overworked and not invested?

That's on them.

 

[Tom Morrow]

As opposed to the thousands of temporary help college students who show up every couple of months who are overworked and not invested?

The CP's have always been a mixed bag of:

- Eager to make magic
- Eager to make magic but overworked and/or burnt out quickly
- Don't care at all / there to party

Even if there are somewhere between 5,000-10,000 CPs at any given time, they're still a fraction of the WDW workforce. Universal feels like a place staffed almost entirely by this demographic. Like it or lump it, Disney is perceived as more "prestigious" and many people have invested memories and nostalgia and a lifelong connection with Disney. Universal doesn't have that established connection. People willingly move to Orlando to work frontline jobs at Disney. Nobody moves to Orlando specifically to work frontline at Universal.

 

[raven]

Nobody moves to Orlando specifically to work frontline at Universal.

I must know a lot of nobody’s then.

 

[Tom Morrow]

I must know a lot of nobody’s then.

Come on man, it's a tiny fraction of the people who move to Orlando to work at Disney.

Anyways, let's get this thread back on track - how can Universal improve this awful attraction, other than demolishing it and starting from scratch since it'll probably be sticking around for a while?

- Overhaul the two pre-shows. They are awkward and have nothing to say. The entire attraction needs a stronger and more engaging narrative.

- We're on a party bus, yet it never really feels like it. Crank the music at the beginning, make the onboard videos shorter and more to the point, and remove the pointless "remember, keep your cell phones off" dialogue as you drive through the physical alley scene. Instead this moment should also have some blasting onboard music and flashing party lights and no exposition, allowing you a brief moment to take in the setting.

- Rework the pepper's ghost effect scene completely because it's the worst scene ever in the history of theme parks. The whole thing is horribly acted and has terrible dialogue, sluggish pacing, and it's essentially yet another pre-show (because that's what it is in the Hollywood version). We arrive at the party, yet it doesn't feel like a party, and it looks like a lame .GIF of generic dancing people. If we were to arrive with the bus still in "party mode" from the previous re-worked scene, that would remove some of that initial awkwardness, but the rest of the scene still needs a complete overhaul. An action sequence should interrupt the party - gunshots, an explosion, etc.... something that engages the riders in some way so we aren't sitting there watching boring exposition. The lone FBI agent shooing people away and the proceeding slow, clunky, awkward scene just doesn't cut it at all.

- The ending.... there needs to be one, as opposed to the 360 screen segment ending with you crashing into a garage and... nothing else. Tack on a proper closing to the 360 sequence and don't uses the onboard videos from the Hollywood version as the "closing statements."

Changes such as this absolutely need to happen if this is going to be sticking around for a while. As is, it's so, so clunky and awkward that it feels like a demo of a concept.

 

[raven]

Come on man, it's a tiny fraction of the people who move to Orlando to work at Disney.

Anyways, let's get this thread back on track - how can Universal improve this awful attraction, other than demolishing it and starting from scratch since it'll probably be sticking around for a while?

- Overhaul the two pre-shows. They are awkward and have nothing to say. The entire attraction needs a stronger and more engaging narrative.

- We're on a party bus, yet it never really feels like it. Crank the music at the beginning, make the onboard videos shorter and more to the point, and remove the pointless "remember, keep your cell phones off" dialogue as you drive through the physical alley scene. Instead this moment should also have some blasting onboard music and flashing party lights and no exposition, allowing you a brief moment to take in the setting.

- Rework the pepper's ghost effect scene completely because it's the worst scene ever in the history of theme parks. The whole thing is horribly acted and has terrible dialogue, sluggish pacing, and it's essentially yet another pre-show (because that's what it is in the Hollywood version). We arrive at the party, yet it doesn't feel like a party, and it looks like a lame .GIF of generic dancing people. If we were to arrive with the bus still in "party mode" from the previous re-worked scene, that would remove some of that initial awkwardness, but the rest of the scene still needs a complete overhaul. An action sequence should interrupt the party - gunshots, an explosion, etc.... something that engages the riders in some way so we aren't sitting there watching boring exposition. The lone FBI agent shooing people away and the proceeding slow, clunky, awkward scene just doesn't cut it at all.

- The ending.... there needs to be one, as opposed to the 360 screen segment ending with you crashing into a garage and... nothing else. Tack on a proper closing to the 360 sequence and don't uses the onboard videos from the Hollywood version as the "closing statements."

Changes such as this absolutely need to happen if this is going to be sticking around for a while. As is, it's so, so clunky and awkward that it feels like a demo of a concept.

But I just happen to personally know at least 8 people who moved to Orlando to work at Universal. About the same amount of people I know who moved here to work for Disney.

 

[RustySpork]

<snip>Anyways, let's get this thread back on track - how can Universal improve this awful attraction, other than demolishing it and starting from scratch since it'll probably be sticking around for a while?<snip>

I rode it the other day, and I have to say that I'm not sure it's possible to improve Slow and Flaccid (what I'll call F&F) without tearing it down and starting over. Disaster was a much better attraction, but then again It's a Small Pandora is also more exciting and has more depth. It might even be longer.

I'm really not sure how Universal let this happen, but this may be the worst ride at any park anywhere. I'd honestly rather take a nap on Empire of the Penguin.

 

[RustySpork]

Here's my official rantview.

Spoiler: WARNING: SPOILERS

The queue is kind of neat, you get to see mockups of the cars from the movies. The drawback is that there 5 sections of the queue, and it's something of a free for all. There are two themed areas describing how you're going to a party, they're really short and not very well thought out.

Once you make it through all that, you are loaded onto a bus that's similar in implementation to Kong and you enter a tunnel leading to the first room with .. wait for it .. more cars. You're quickly sent through that room and you arrive at the "party" which is not quite as well executed as an elementary school play. It's even in thrilling 2D. A few seconds after joining the party, the FBI shows up as do the lead characters, there's some shuffling, and you're off to the next room. That's the extent of the excitement, watching scantly clad women moving around like they're dancing in 2D and them getting shuffled out of the room by the feds. The next room leads to a 2D chase scene where there is some really poorly executed CGI on either side of the bus where things happen while you rubberneck from the ride bus, and then poof, just as you're finishing your thought of , did I really wait an hour for this? The scene is over and you've been saved as part of the family. You're welcomed back to the party which this time is the exit. Thank goodness.

That's it. It's actually less exciting than the drive down i4 to the park was. Did you buy a scratch ticket on your way to the park? Even that will be more exciting than this ride. In fact, clicking the spoiler to open this review is more exciting than the attraction itself.

 

[JT3000]

Spoiler

It's actually less exciting than the drive down i4 to the park was.

To be fair, I-4 is a pretty faithful recreation of the F&F series, so Universal was already at a disadvantage,

 

[Disneyhead'71]

I actually enjoy this more than NRJ. Humorously bad is more fun than coma inducing boring. I have ridden each once. I can see myself riding F&F one more time if there is no line just for fun. I can't really see me wasting time on NRJ again.

Neither are compelling attractions. But I feel the same for Frozen and Little Mermaid. A lot of what has come to Orlando in recent years is concerning. Each of these rides has not only a lack of intellectual depth, but also a shocking lack of technical competence. I mean. Theme Park Design 101 kind of things like Mermaid's horrible visual targeting mistakes. Frozen and F&F's nonsensical ride system choices. Putting attractions where they don't belong like putting the country of Arendale inside the country of Norway or fictional space aliens in you educational technology and wildlife parks. You know what Fallon nails like a big dog? Actually being in the appropriate section of the park. Disney seems to be struggling with even that these days.

But F&F hits the trifecta of awful and then some. They took the 360 CGI from Hollywood and rendered in the Transamerica tower and erased the Hollywood sign and left all the other LA landmarks. Lazy. The acting is criminally bad. Even from these guys, it really couldn't be worse. But it may not be the actors fault. Besides just bad dialog, the direction of all of it is horrible. The staging, the acting, all of it (my guess is Coup directed it). Removing the 3D was a knee jerk reaction to the complaints of too much 3D, and that decision didn't help this attraction at all. So you have a ride where it doesn't belong, with a nonsensical ride system, bad acting, worse than 3D screens, and classic Universal pacing issues. Did I miss anything?

 

[Tom Morrow]

Theme Park Design 101 kind of things like Mermaid's horrible visual targeting mistakes.

What are some examples of this?

I rode it the other day, and I have to say that I'm not sure it's possible to improve Slow and Flaccid (what I'll call F&F) without tearing it down and starting over.

I think with the suggestions I gave it could be improved from "one of the worst attractions of all time" to "bad", at best.