(This review is spoiler-free)
While I live here in Orlando, I have been avoiding the crowds at Universal and waiting for a weekday that I could get over there to check out the new land. I finally got that opportunity Friday. Entering the main gate and seeing Hogsmeade, I realized just how much the pictures don't do it justice. This is the single most elaborately themed area I have ever seen outside of DisneySea. Heck, this would give anything there a run for its money too. Walking through this land gives you a true sense of being transported to another place. It's so authentic looking. The attention to detail is astonishing. Approaching the castle, you are just awestruck by the sight of it. Universal has hit this out of the park already, and I am not even in the queue.
The queue of FJ is as amazing as the exterior. I would have to say this is the best queue I have ever seen. The portraits on several of the moving paintings look like exactly that...moving paintings. Only a few of them look like monitors where they didn't nail the lighting exactly right. Either way, it's awesome, and is the most entertaining queue to boot. You move from room to room where different things are going on around you. All of it is top notch in terms of detail and technology.
Now, finally to the ride itself. For the past 10 years since IOA opened I have held that Adventures of Spiderman is the end-all, be-all dark ride that would be almost impossible to top. From Journey to the Center of the Earth to Tower of Terror, and from Indy to the Mummy...nothing has been able to touch this ride in my book. When I first rode Spidey, I walked off in awe, not believing what had just transpired. Well, that was the feeling I got after FJ. Jaw on the floor, and just plain excited. Excited that this industry still has a few tricks left that I have not seen. Excited that there are still corporations out there willing to take on something of this magnitude, spend the money necessary, and deliver on ALL fronts. I wish that my beloved mouse down the street would wake up and smell the coffee.
This is the best dark ride ever created. The combination of movement and visuals that this ride system is able to deliver are freaking incredible. If you can't appreciate this, you are either too young to comprehend just how elaborate it is and what it took to get this to work, or you are just a die-hard Disney fan that refuses to give credit where credit is due. Now, this might not be your favorite ride for one reason or another, and I respect that. People have different reasons for liking rides. To me, it has clearly one-upped the ride that they set the standard with in the first place.
Universal...Thank You, and may this ride bring forth years of profits so that you can continue to make rides that re-define the industry.
While I live here in Orlando, I have been avoiding the crowds at Universal and waiting for a weekday that I could get over there to check out the new land. I finally got that opportunity Friday. Entering the main gate and seeing Hogsmeade, I realized just how much the pictures don't do it justice. This is the single most elaborately themed area I have ever seen outside of DisneySea. Heck, this would give anything there a run for its money too. Walking through this land gives you a true sense of being transported to another place. It's so authentic looking. The attention to detail is astonishing. Approaching the castle, you are just awestruck by the sight of it. Universal has hit this out of the park already, and I am not even in the queue.
The queue of FJ is as amazing as the exterior. I would have to say this is the best queue I have ever seen. The portraits on several of the moving paintings look like exactly that...moving paintings. Only a few of them look like monitors where they didn't nail the lighting exactly right. Either way, it's awesome, and is the most entertaining queue to boot. You move from room to room where different things are going on around you. All of it is top notch in terms of detail and technology.
Now, finally to the ride itself. For the past 10 years since IOA opened I have held that Adventures of Spiderman is the end-all, be-all dark ride that would be almost impossible to top. From Journey to the Center of the Earth to Tower of Terror, and from Indy to the Mummy...nothing has been able to touch this ride in my book. When I first rode Spidey, I walked off in awe, not believing what had just transpired. Well, that was the feeling I got after FJ. Jaw on the floor, and just plain excited. Excited that this industry still has a few tricks left that I have not seen. Excited that there are still corporations out there willing to take on something of this magnitude, spend the money necessary, and deliver on ALL fronts. I wish that my beloved mouse down the street would wake up and smell the coffee.
This is the best dark ride ever created. The combination of movement and visuals that this ride system is able to deliver are freaking incredible. If you can't appreciate this, you are either too young to comprehend just how elaborate it is and what it took to get this to work, or you are just a die-hard Disney fan that refuses to give credit where credit is due. Now, this might not be your favorite ride for one reason or another, and I respect that. People have different reasons for liking rides. To me, it has clearly one-upped the ride that they set the standard with in the first place.
Universal...Thank You, and may this ride bring forth years of profits so that you can continue to make rides that re-define the industry.
