Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I will say that I'm one who looks all around while on a coaster, especially if I've been on it before. And there's also plenty I know who's eyes are shut the whole time. Anyway, I really need to get down there as I haven't even been on Hagrid's yet. This only further established IOA as one of the world's top parks.
As far as a truly intense roller coaster, this is the most well themed and best storytelling I’ve come across. Queue and ride included. As the poster above said, the fact that the dinos on the ride are static doesn’t matter. You’re flying by so fast the sound of them screeching in your ear as you go by gets the point across. The ending spiral over the water is insane.
What a beautiful bowl of spaghetti. Can't wait to ride it myself someday.
That said, do they have any actual dinosaurs on their dinosaur ride? Are the raptors truly static and are they even noticeable? A Mosasaur snapping at you from the lagoon seems like a real missed opportunity. Can you imagine the helix circling some majestic Sauropod prey instead of a bridge? The color-changing lights budget looks to have been excessively generous and this ride should be amazing at night. The rockwork budget is also decent, but the dino budget seems to have been modest at best (the shaking raptors look great, but poorly positioned in what seems a quick pass-through area.)
Either way- looks like a great ride with theming, but perhaps not a great themed ride if that makes sense. To those lucky enough to have ridden, aside from being a great pure coaster, how does it rate as a storytelling one?
I liked it a lot. However, I did not love it. (I know, I know...)
Spoiler-ish ahead I guess, but there's not much to spoil that you can't know from looking at it.
I'll start with the queue. It's fantastic. They really nailed the sci-fi look and feel of the park in the World films. They also seemed to have listened to the endless complaints about the locker setup for Hulk and Rip Ride Rockit, and designed the smartest possible queue they could for a metal detector attraction. You can bring everything in the queue with you. The lockers are 2/3rds of the way through the queue and the metal detector point is 10 feet from them. Also - the double-sided lockers = pure genius. I also love that this gives what was a dead area of the park, the backside of the Discovery Center, a new life and a much better purpose as the ride's plaza. I do not feel that it diminishes the presentation of the Discovery Center like some do.
The coaster - way more intense than I anticipated, but not due to strong positive G forces or speed, but rather numerous moments of absolutely insane ejector airtime. The hangtime in the inversions is also pretty intense, but that was expected. This is easily the most intense coaster in Orlando and really, all of Florida until Iron Gwazi opens. It is every bit as intense as an RMC. Now, before you say, "why are you complaining isn't that exactly what coaster enthusiasts want in a coaster?" Well, I personally am a firm believer that intensity and ejector airtime alone doesn't necessarily equal fun. A few things about this coaster just don't quite vibe with me:
- The initial launch - this really should launch from a standstill, but instead you start moving forward and launch from a rolling start. Like Cheetah Hunt, it's a lackluster start. What's with newer coasters having weak launches? Taking off from a standstill adds so much.
- The layout - they sure packed a lot into a small space, but unfortunately, this made the layout feel somewhat awkward to me. RMC's always manage to feel graceful throughout while maintaining this same level of intensity. I'm just not really a fan of "spaghetti bowl" designs, they feel like they belong in smaller parks, and I believe there is something to be said for the exhilaration of a coaster track taking you all over and pulling graceful maneuvers. (Note: this doesn't mean I love big generic B&M loopers either!)
And finally, theming/story (I'll spoiler tag this one)
I don't care that there's not really any story. It definitely doesn't need one, but I'm quite disappointed in the lack of any real show scenes on the ride itself. There is one pre-launch, but it's about comparable to Hulk's launch tunnel. I'm not sure if the effect here isn't finished or something but it's hard to see the raptors. A show scene at the end or a brief one at a halfway point would have made this feel like a complete thematic experience, but instead at the end all you get is a plain steel tunnel with some audio you can't really hear. As far as the themed elements - the rockwork is great and adds some nice headchopper elements. I didn't notice a single raptor figure. You're just going too fast.
So having said all that, this is still easily a top Florida coaster for me. I'm not sure where I'd rank it, but as of right now I think I prefer Hagrid's, which I've come to like a lot. I'll need additional rides and night rides to be sure. I do feel everyone is being a little too quick to proclaim this as literally the best coaster ever - I assume many of these people have not ridden coasters outside of Florida and are going to eat their words when Iron Gwazi opens.
So having said all that, this is still easily a top Florida coaster for me. I'm not sure where I'd rank it, but as of right now I think I prefer Hagrid's, which I've come to like a lot. I'll need additional rides and night rides to be sure. I do feel everyone is being a little too quick to proclaim this as literally the best coaster ever - I assume many of these people have not ridden coasters outside of Florida and are going to eat their words when Iron Gwazi opens.
I'm not sure IG can beat this, I absolutely love the first half and disagree with the launches being "weak." My ride the first was from a standstill, and that second launch it felt like the train was trying to move vertically as well as forward. They have the launches juiced about as much as they can, I think. Definitely not my overall number one, but easily the best in Florida for now. IG looks to be on the short side for ride time/number of elements, so it will have to pack one heck of a punch for me after experiencing this. I feel like this will slot in at #3 for me behind Steel Vengeance and Fury325 after a few more rides, although an exceptional night ride experience could make it a hard choice with Fury at my #2.
I just realized another reason why the layout feels awkward to me. The first half of the ride, between the first launch and second launch, is all contained in a small area. It's so compact that they could have enclosed it if they wanted to. The second half of the ride has grander, more sweeping movements. It really feels like it should be in reverse. Begin with the better launch, top hat, and sweeping movements, end with the compact turns as you "run out of steam".
I just realized another reason why the layout feels awkward to me. The first half of the ride, between the first launch and second launch, is all contained in a small area. It's so compact that they could have enclosed it if they wanted to. The second half of the ride has grander, more sweeping movements. It really feels like it should be in reverse. Begin with the better launch, top hat, and sweeping movements, end with the compact turns as you "run out of steam".
Well, they can't do it twice. Hulk already has that title: Great first half, lackluster second half. But I do get what you're saying. Based on the POV, the second half is better. The first half though looks like a lot of near misses from the rock work.
I really apologize, because I'm sure this has already been discussed, but is any effort made to explain why we're suddenly visiting Jurassic World while we're at Jurassic Park? It just seems odd that they didn't brand it in accordance with the land.
I really apologize, because I'm sure this has already been discussed, but is any effort made to explain why we're suddenly visiting Jurassic World while we're at Jurassic Park? It just seems odd that they didn't brand it in accordance with the land.
I never looked into it seriously but I recall chatter the long-term goal is to migrate the entire franchise to the "World" branding so there's less royalties to pay to the author's estate.
I think yours is probably the best review I have read/seen so far. I pretty much entirely agree (though you are much more of a coaster aficionado than I am, LOL, so you described it much better than I could).
It's a very nice coaster. I just can't believe there are no show scenes. That's the difference to me between Six Flags and Universal/Disney. I don't need any complex story or anything else - running with/from raptors is enough - but I expected at least one or two short scenes.
Granted, I was disappointed from the get-go that they went this route to begin with. Jurassic World/Park is just screaming for a new, immersive dark ride (preferably using those Gyro-things). I just wasn't that jazzed about sticking a big old coaster there to begin with.
Again, though, it's very nice for what it is. It just needed some show scenes.
I think yours is probably the best review I have read/seen so far. I pretty much entirely agree (though you are much more of a coaster aficionado than I am, LOL, so you described it much better than I could).
It's a very nice coaster. I just can't believe there are no show scenes. That's the difference to me between Six Flags and Universal/Disney. I don't need any complex story or anything else - running with/from raptors is enough - but I expected at least one or two short scenes.
Granted, I was disappointed from the get-go that they went this route to begin with. Jurassic World/Park is just screaming for a new, immersive dark ride (preferably using those Gyro-things). I just wasn't that jazzed about sticking a big old coaster there to begin with.
Again, though, it's very nice for what it is. It just needed some show scenes.
The thing at the beginning is technically a show scene, but something at the end seems needed to round out the experience. Maybe it would look cheesy but a figure of Chris Pratt doing the “hand thing” with a pack of raptors at the end would be a nice touch, as if he is herding them back into their cages.
