Well, to make it short, one is the largest dark ride in theme park history, and the other is the very first ride/video game hybrid, utilizing 8 state-of-the-art GPUs per ride vehicle to produce an interactive experience like no other on Earth.
To be clear, I said largest, not longest. This isn't going to be a slow ride that drags like UoE did.
Okay! That's where we diverge, and that's totally fine! Glad we started getting along a little better, and I can much better understand your mindset now that we have a better idea of each other's preferences!
That is where I was with FoP. I did it twice and thought "good use of simulator tech" but I was not blown away by it nor will it cause me to buy another ticket to AK. Thanks, been there, seen that. I can wait 5+years to see what they did in SW land. Not compelled to visit.
I've been heavily critical of UOR on here lately and even I think this looks great. The only way they could screw this up is if they perhaps don't hide backstage views enough. I could see the pre-existing artificial wall leftover from Dragons ruining some of the immersion unless they give it a better paint job.Oh nothing is wrong with them! In fact I take pity on them. They're going to be in a world of disappointment when this thing opens.
Troll? Ahh, you got me! As a UOAP holder, I just love seeing my hard-earned money spent on something so mediocre
I don't think that'll be a problem at all. I do think there will be several problems though, my biggest concern regards the treatment of the actual track. It seems to me like Universal didn't really know what they wanted to do here. In some areas, they will be theming the track, while in others leaving it completely bare. It seems very inconsistent, and as a perfectionist it messes with me. When developing a product, you should embrace every characteristic it has. Take Slinky Dog, Disney embraces the fact that it's a coaster. They left the steel bare, and embraced that fact as part of the story. On Big Thunder, the whole track is themed to a railroad going through Tumbleweed. Imagine if halfway through Big Thunder the railroad track became bare roller coaster steel, complete with supports. It would take you out of the experience. In this sense, Hulk is an even more thematically correct coaster, because it knows what it is, and doesn't pretend to be anything else.
Inside Universal
The site has quite a bit of elevation changes and is mostly a good bit lower than the surrounding areas, which should really help with sight lines. The stall is probably the area with the biggest potential to see too much, but I think it looks taller than it is right now.
Seriously, at any time on BTMRR are you not fully aware that you are on a roller coaster in an amusement park?
It's called story. If everything was taken literally my how boring the world would be. When you watch a movie, are you just thinking: "All these people are just pretending for the camera."
That's exactly what I'm talking about. The suspension of disbelief. I'm am fully aware when I'm on BTMRR that I am on a roller coaster in a theme park. And I don't care. As a matter of fact that's what I paid for. So whether the track is fully hidden or not doesn't really matter to me. A themed coaster to me has to have enough eye candy to set the scene and be fun and exciting. That is entirely different than having Wall.E hosting The Jungle Cruise or pop sci-fi aliens in a nature park. Thematic consistency is entirely different than immersion. And immersion (Man, I hate that word) can go way too far. If BTMRR went to the nines in immersion it would look like this.
From a theme park perspective, yes they are viewed differently. But as a designer and a heavy follower of the design industry, thematic consistency and immersion are part of the same design principle, with thematic consistency being a pillar of immersion. It's about fully believing and embracing a design or an idea. For example, there are many buildings of the 20th century that went all out creating an elaborate exterior with neoclassical motifs, but walk inside and you couldn't tell it apart from an open-floor office building. They are considered eyesores for good reason. They're the pinnacle of hypocrisy. Getting even deeper into biology this time, the human mind is wired to notice things that don't belong, no matter how much is right. It's a characteristic of our nature that saves our lives regularly. In a theme park, the degree of immersion is how well it tells the story, and thematic consistency is therefore a vital part of immersion. Similar to virtually every theme park attraction, Big Thunder's story is fictional and fantasy. Tumbleweed, USA has never been a real place. Therefore, the ride isn't attempting to recreate the American Southwest during the 1800s, but instead realize the idealistic vision of the wild west. Back to the Potter coaster, just like all other themed coasters, the context of the ride is to tell a story, and skimping on thematic consistency damages its ability achieve its primary objective. For all the reasons above, I feel theming some bits and not others will only draw attention to the bare bits, and consequently their flaws.That's exactly what I'm talking about. The suspension of disbelief. I'm am fully aware when I'm on BTMRR that I am on a roller coaster in a theme park. And I don't care. As a matter of fact that's what I paid for. So whether the track is fully hidden or not doesn't really matter to me. A themed coaster to me has to have enough eye candy to set the scene and be fun and exciting. That is entirely different than having Wall.E hosting The Jungle Cruise or pop sci-fi aliens in a nature park. Thematic consistency is entirely different than immersion. And immersion (Man, I hate that word) can go way too far. If BTMRR went to the nines in immersion it would look like this.
...or they could take it inside. The brilliance of controlled lighting continues to be underappreciated.
And yet you are much more looking forward to the Tron coaster that shoots outside and around a courtyard?
Tron isn't thematically inconsistent as the canopy section is referred to as the Upload Conduit, and the steel is meant to resemble computer cabling. It fits perfectly with the story.And yet you are much more looking forward to the Tron coaster that shoots outside and around a courtyard?
I guess if you are going to have a standard, you might as well make it a double.
