My thoughts on Harry potter and Disney's plans

[jonnyc]

The current plans show that Dueling Dragons is going to be re-modeled to reflect the Triwiziard Tournament from Harry Potter. Supposedly the queue is going to stay the same with the addition of a pre-show centering around the Goblet of Fire.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I love Dueling Dragons as it is. I think it would only ruin it.

And for the Universial virgins, when you get there make sure you go to Islands of Adventure and not accidently go into Universal Studios. As i can see that happening. Once i was in MGM Studios (when it was called that), and two people asked a CM where Shrek was. They had unfortunately got the wrong studios.

 

[agent86]

I completely understand where their logic is coming from... but to me Everest isn't that great of a ride. It's a backwards helix, a drop, a helix, a bunny hop, a yeti and turn. There is an actual story to the Hulk and Dueling Dragons... but most Disney fans don't care simply because the ride's outside. They're better rides by themselves and don't need a mountain to hide it.

Exactly, I don't understand why people love Everest so much. As far as I'm concerned it's a tremendous disappointment because it doesn't offer the thrills of a true coaster and doesn't offer a really great themed/story experience on the ride itself (the queue is wonderful though). The whole thing hinges on a Yeti that only works half the time, and even when it does you're only seeing it for a brief second, and I really don't understand that.

:sohappy: I have to say, it is very refreshing to read that others share my same opinion of Everest. I've been reading these discussion forums for a long time, and whenever someone rants and raves about Everest, I always sort of just scratch my head. I have NEVER understood why people go on about this ride as though it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I find the "effects" and the "theming" to be incredibly lacking. The majority of the ride is basically just a roller coaster track. The parts with the Yeti are a joke too IMHO. The shadow that you see after the backwards part is really kind of stupid. They didn't even try to make it move like a real animal would move. Instead, it just LOOKS like a cartoon, which makes it very hard to suspend your disbelief. The AA is supposed to be this really advanced one, but how would anyone really know, since you fly past it so fast you barely get a decent look at it. Whenever people talk about how elaborate the theming is, I find myself wondering, "Did these people even go on the same ride that I went on?" Compared to something like, say, Big Thunder, which has all kinds of things to look at throughout the entire ride, I think Everest is just...bland and dull.

Now having said that, they could have made up for a lack of theming by making it a cutting edge, thrilling roller coaster. But as a coaster, it is incredibly boring IMHO. So it goes backwards. Big deal. That's not even realistic for what the ride is supposed to be about.

To me, the only thing Everest really has going for it is the fact that it is visually stunning as an artificial mountain. In that regard, the Imagineers really outdid themselves. It makes for some amazing photographs and is just really cool to look at. It's unfortunate that the ride itself is such an incredible letdown.

 

[agent86]

It's funny how no one ever mentions RNRC... like DD, it has a great queue, but after that it's an indoor coaster with some cardboard cutouts. Six Flags could pull that off too.

Excellent point! In fact, a few years back, I went to Kings Island in Ohio and went on a ride called "Outer Limits - Flight of Fear". It was an indoor coaster that was essentially identical to RnRC. The queue, however, was phenomenally better than that of RnRC. It was all indoors and it wrapped around a UFO that had either landed or crashed (can't remember), but the whole idea was that it was a Roswell sort of thing. They had monitors that were playing fake news reports and stuff. Eventually, you entered the UFO and that's where you boarded the ride. It was the type of thing that had it been built at a Disney park, I'm certain that fans on these boards would be going nuts for it. Much much more impressive than the RnRC queue.