Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
Update: 7/20/20 - They've started painting the track brown and adding cinnamon and sugar to it.
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Jurassic Park Rollercoaster Coming To Universals Islands Of Adventure?
- Thread starter THE Monorail Lime
- Start date
thelookingglass
Well-Known Member
"I take... two steps forward!"
"I take two steps back!"
"We come together 'cause mediocrity attracts!"
"I take two steps back!"
"We come together 'cause mediocrity attracts!"
Lintemuthstudios
Well-Known Member
Yikes.
Tony Perkis
Well-Known Member
That third photo is awesome. That’s a sexy looking coaster.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
And IIIIII'M dressed like a cat!
OG Runner
Well-Known Member
Please step on this line and read the top line. I am not saying this coaster will not be a great addition to the park or an exciting thrill ride,
but if it doesn't stand out to you, you need a new glasses prescription.
lebeau
Well-Known Member
Please step on this line and read the top line. I am not saying this coaster will not be a great addition to the park or an exciting thrill ride,
but if it doesn't stand out to you, you need a new glasses prescription.
I guess it depends on what you mean by "stand out". It looks to me like a roller coaster. If I saw it in my grocery store, I would say it stood out. At a theme park resort that also includes The Hulk and Rip, Ride, Rockit? Not so much.
OG Runner
Well-Known Member
Honestly not trying to argue the point, but this coaster would stand out in any park, where it is. It extends for most of the Jurassic area,
bordering right to the edge of "Potterville". Rip Ride is actually positioned off to a side, and even Hulk is at an angle where about half
of the ride could be seen as being on the back side of the area. This ride stands out.
lebeau
Well-Known Member
I'll wait till it's done and I see it in person to make up my mind. I expect most people won't care.
thelookingglass
Well-Known Member
I'm not saying it doesn't look like a good coaster, but you can ride coasters just like it at your regional Six Flags or Cedar Fair park. It sucks that Universal is capable of greatness in theme park design but rarely swings for the fences. Also, they probably got tired of all their lower class demographic guests going "where are all the big rides??" after Dragons closed when they realized that Hulk and Rockit were the only two big coasters. The same guests who dismiss Spider-Man and Forbidden Journey as "stupid".
BubbaisSleep
Well-Known Member
I've never seen a roller coaster like this at Sixflags. For people who enjoy coasters, there's a reason why we enjoy Universal or Disney.
The landscape, rock-work surrounding the track, soundtrack, 2 showscenes, careful planning of the track and buildings, the effects and theming around this ride is nothing I can ever get at Sixflags or CP. If Sixflags does have a soundtrack, it will break in three months. Flying over that lake is also going to be a gorgeous, unique experience. I get that there is only so much you can do with a roller coaster tracks but I think it's a bit small-minded to say "you can do it at Sixflags."
Personal opinion, but I'm glad Universal is actually doing it's own thing and not trying to be like Disney. It allows them to have their own identity and break some rules which can result in a fun, unique experience. Which is funny cause Disney is trying to be like Universal now. I don't want the parks to be the same and I'm glad I have a park that caters to themed outdoor roller-coasters. IAO is clearly going to be a more thrilling-park which Universal has the audience for. Epic Universe is supposed to be their attempt at these Disney ideals being forced onto IOA.
Below is what you get at CP & Sixflags. Unthemed queues, flat landscaping, and no thematic elements.
They also can also cheap out with the track length. First 3 rides below have the top-hat element but then that's all.
At SFMM, they do a short launch coaster that ends before you know it and they totally just bulldozed a beautiful, woodsy area & replaced it with nothing. Again, us coaster enthusiasts love it when Universal or Disney do it for a reason, exposed track or not. I love coasters but rarely go to Sixflags.
Even under construction, the picture below already looks so much better and exciting to ride through. Sixflags could never.
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So what's wrong here?
Its visibility? It's bad in certain places, like the back patio of Three Broomsticks, but were you actually planning on ever looking at Hogsmeade from that photo's angle? Be honest. It's not an optimal fit for a theme park, but it could've been a lot worse.
You can't complain about the on-ride theming yet, because most of it isn't in place. It's my understanding that this will be fairly well themed for a large outdoor coaster. That being said, there's only so much you can do with this type of ride.
Here we go. We're back to deciding people's class based on their taste in amusement rides...
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TestTrack Dummy
Well-Known Member
The amount of unfinished rockwork alone puts it above a "six flags" coaster.
thelookingglass
Well-Known Member
Nah, it's fine. It's just weird how Universal seems to not be able to decide if they want to go all in on theming and immersion, or just here and there.
Universal's guest demographics skew slightly lower class* (and/or more teens and young adults) than Disney's and a lot of these people literally go to the resort looking for "the big rides", AKA the roller coasters only, and consider everything else to be stupid and don't even bother giving it a shot. These people are often trashy. During the period post-Dragons and Pre-Hagrid, Universal was getting tons of complaints and negative surveys over the lack of big thrill rides when they have a reputation as a thrill park. Ask Universal employees about this. That's probably why they're willing to disrupt the atmosphere at Potter for this ride.
* Don't believe me? Compare the people at CityWalk on a Saturday night vs. Disney Springs. (Take a guess which one Florida Man prefers.)
On the Six Flags topic, bear in mind folk travelling long distances to visit Florida and the parks. We are most likely to only visit the Disney and Universal properties (I know some do travel to Busch) so having a even a standard coaster would add variety to a environment also encompassing other attractions.
Tom Morrow
Well-Known Member
I do find it a little weird/annoying that it's clear that Universal is capable of full immersion, yet Potter is the only time they've ever fully committed to it. I realize that immersion isn't really their goal and its more about making a loud statement, with less concern for the finer details.
One of the major differences in thematic design between Disney and Universal is that Universal (outside of Potter) typically creates focal points or areas that look good from an "overview" standpoint, with much less focus on finer details. "Most people won't look here, so it's not a big deal if it looks bad." "Most people won't care about this, so why exert more effort on it?" Whereas Disney says, "Some people might look here, so it needs to look good." "Some people will care about this, so its worth addressing."
It's fine that they have different approaches and end goals with their parks, but having Potter in the same parks kind of sets expectations very high for everything else in the park, and everything new that comes after Potter will ultimately get compared to it forever.
One of the major differences in thematic design between Disney and Universal is that Universal (outside of Potter) typically creates focal points or areas that look good from an "overview" standpoint, with much less focus on finer details. "Most people won't look here, so it's not a big deal if it looks bad." "Most people won't care about this, so why exert more effort on it?" Whereas Disney says, "Some people might look here, so it needs to look good." "Some people will care about this, so its worth addressing."
It's fine that they have different approaches and end goals with their parks, but having Potter in the same parks kind of sets expectations very high for everything else in the park, and everything new that comes after Potter will ultimately get compared to it forever.
Disneyhead'71
Well-Known Member
IDK, if you saw Jurassic World, and paid much attention to what Claire was saying at the beginning, this addition seems about 1000% consistent with what the creative team at Jurassic Parks and Resorts would come up with.
Scene: Boardroom of the corporate offices of Jurassic Parks and Resorts.
Claire: "Ok, we need to up our game. The numbers are falling and the GP is bored with just looking at the carnivores through bullet proof glass."
Nerd1: "You know they are looking at them through bullet proof glass for a reason, right?"
Claire: (4 second laser vision stare then continues to the group) "Yeah, well. So, here is what we have come up with that would definitely boost those numbers. We are going to take a world class, state of the art steel coaster and launch guests straight into the Velociraptor Paddock?"
Nerd1: "Like in some sort of cage tunnel?"
Claire: "No idiot. How exciting would that be!?!"
Nerd2: "You know they can run 60 mph."
James T. Woodcock (Pres. of Creative Projects at Jurassic Parks and Resorts): "Yep, that's why we'll use 70 mph launches. Duh! I mean, you guys should have figured that one out. It's simple math. This stuff isn't rocket science."
Nerd1: "That not how it works. Velociraptors are strategic thinkers. It'll be a simple puzzle full of juicy treats for them!"
Woodcock: "What part of 70 mph launches didn't you get? Anyway. That's that project. Make it happen. Now if there are no more questions, there is a Chilean Sea Bass down at Winston's calling my name."
Scene: Boardroom of the corporate offices of Jurassic Parks and Resorts.
Claire: "Ok, we need to up our game. The numbers are falling and the GP is bored with just looking at the carnivores through bullet proof glass."
Nerd1: "You know they are looking at them through bullet proof glass for a reason, right?"
Claire: (4 second laser vision stare then continues to the group) "Yeah, well. So, here is what we have come up with that would definitely boost those numbers. We are going to take a world class, state of the art steel coaster and launch guests straight into the Velociraptor Paddock?"
Nerd1: "Like in some sort of cage tunnel?"
Claire: "No idiot. How exciting would that be!?!"
Nerd2: "You know they can run 60 mph."
James T. Woodcock (Pres. of Creative Projects at Jurassic Parks and Resorts): "Yep, that's why we'll use 70 mph launches. Duh! I mean, you guys should have figured that one out. It's simple math. This stuff isn't rocket science."
Nerd1: "That not how it works. Velociraptors are strategic thinkers. It'll be a simple puzzle full of juicy treats for them!"
Woodcock: "What part of 70 mph launches didn't you get? Anyway. That's that project. Make it happen. Now if there are no more questions, there is a Chilean Sea Bass down at Winston's calling my name."
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I've noticed this is a common perception amongst Disney fans. It's also completely false. I can usually find more trashy-looking people in a single visit to a Disney park than I can in numerous visits to the Universal parks (excluding HHN.) I'm sure this is partially attributable to Disney's higher overall attendance, but it's true nonetheless.
Disney is a vacation haven for upper-middle class families. It's also a vacation haven for unwashed rednecks who roll around in electric wheelchairs all day, steering with one hand and a turkey leg in the other, not because they're disabled, but because it's just too inconvenient for them to carry around their 400-500 pounds of weight with their own legs. I'm surprised the Magic Kingdom has never surpassed "maximum load" and collapsed into the utilidors. Are they there for the large collection of thrill rides? Probably not. But when Tron opens, it will have more roller coasters than any Universal park, so there's that I guess.
Considering most of Universal's clientele overlaps with Disney's, while skewing more towards locals (who generally know what the park has and doesn't have), I think you'd be hard pressed to find that many who are there specifically looking for the "big ride" Six Flags experience and who would find the other major attractions "stupid." Did they receive a bunch of complaints about Dragons closing? I'm sure they did. Does IOA actually have a reputation as a thrill park? In my experience, only amongst uninformed Disney fans. Thrill park enthusiasts generally bemoan the park's relative lack of extreme thrills. This tells me that Billy Bob, who is now on his 15th trip around the Hulk because he's an adrenaline junkie who's bored with everything else, could likely be found doing the same thing on Rock n' Roller Coaster the previous day.
I'm not going to compare CityWalk with Disney Springs, because unlike the parks (which also come with an admission fee), there are several key factors that make them pretty incomparable. Location, offerings, demographic appeal, etc. They're completely different monsters.
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OG Runner
Well-Known Member
I agree. I am not saying anyone will care. It looks like a really cool coaster. I am just saying it definitely stands out.
It is too big, and covers too much area not to stand out.
If the people are only there for the thrill rides what are they doing at CityWalk?