RotR: Disney is still not at Universal's level

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retroeric

Active Member
Original Poster
I've ridden RotR twice now, and while I truly loved the overall experience and level of immersion, I feel like it's missing something very important- THRILLS. I'm sorry but this ride is lacking "juice" in the movement of the ride vehicles. It's just too tame and overall not very thrilling. If the ride vehicles had some of the quicker acceleration and urgency of, say, Indy at DL or Spiderman at IOA, or the multi-direction movement of FJ, it would have locked itself up as the greatest ride ever created. Instead, Disney simply made a relatively slow-moving trackless dark ride ala Mystic Manor or Hunny Hunt with Star Wars theming and special effects. I still think the overall experience is outstanding, but it's just not all that thrilling.

I realize Disney's goal was to make it kid friendly and be inclusive of guests of all ages, but then why put the drop near the end of the ride? That one drop required them to put warning signs all over the ride about sudden drops and everything. If they're going to make one tiny thrilling spot, why not just make the whole ride thrilling?

I think it's remarkable that Universal has had their Spider-Man ride for 20 years now, and Disney's still can't create anything to top it. And they're not even close to FJ.

Note: I still think RotR ranks as one of the very best, but that's entirely due to the overall magnitude of the attraction and storyline as well as the obviously great theming and special effects.
 
JIMINYCR

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
Going to Disney, you definitely know what you are going to get and what youre not going to get. Theres a big difference in the two as to how they come up with " pushing the envelope" . Disney wants to be looked at as the family, kid friendly destination and Uni isnt afraid to throw in the rougher, "hold onto your socks" attractions. Just look at their different ads that had been running with Unis promotion that they were the place for the grown up kids. I dont know why Disney cant have some "grown up attractions" that are designated age restrictive. But that keeps the two parks distinctively separate.
 
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Steph15251

Well-Known Member
retroeric said:
I've ridden RotR twice now, and while I truly loved the overall experience and level of immersion, I feel like it's missing something very important- THRILLS. I'm sorry but this ride is lacking "juice" in the movement of the ride vehicles. It's just too tame and overall not very thrilling. If the ride vehicles had some of the quicker acceleration and urgency of, say, Indy at DL or Spiderman at IOA, or the multi-direction movement of FJ, it would have locked itself up as the greatest ride ever created. Instead, Disney simply made a relatively slow-moving trackless dark ride ala Mystic Manor or Hunny Hunt with Star Wars theming and special effects. I still think the overall experience is outstanding, but it's just not all that thrilling.

I realize Disney's goal was to make it kid friendly and be inclusive of guests of all ages, but then why put the drop near the end of the ride? That one drop required them to put warning signs all over the ride about sudden drops and everything. If they're going to make one tiny thrilling spot, why not just make the whole ride thrilling?

I think it's remarkable that Universal has had their Spider-Man ride for 20 years now, and Disney's still can't create anything to top it. And they're not even close to FJ.

Note: I still think RotR ranks as one of the very best, but that's entirely due to the overall magnitude of the attraction and storyline as well as the obviously great theming and special effects.
Click to expand...
Have not been on ROTR yet ,but have to say I do not think spider-man is all that thrilling ,but then again I do not rate rides because of there thrill.
 
EZRock

EZRock

New Member
In the Parks
No
Steph15251 said:
Have not been on ROTR yet ,but have to say I do not think spider-man is all that thrilling ,but then again I do not rate rides because of there thrill.
Click to expand...
Last time I went on the Spider-Man ride, I was crying 'cause it freaked me out (I was really young at the time).
 
DisAl

DisAl

Well-Known Member
The LAST thing they should have done was make ROTR a thrill ride. They already have Rock N Roller Coaster, Space Mountain, Expedition Everest and Big Thunder Mountain. They have Tron and GoTG coming. That is more than enough of that type of ride. I do love FoP and Star Tours, but absolutely hate coasters.
I wouldn't ride ToT even if they gave out free Depends before the ride.
I for one am glad they made RoTR an immersive story ride, not just another stupid coaster. I won't get to ride it for another 5 months but I am really looking forward to it and the Falcon.
 
Mouse Trap

Mouse Trap

Well-Known Member
retroeric said:
I've ridden RotR twice now, and while I truly loved the overall experience and level of immersion, I feel like it's missing something very important- THRILLS. I'm sorry but this ride is lacking "juice" in the movement of the ride vehicles. It's just too tame and overall not very thrilling. If the ride vehicles had some of the quicker acceleration and urgency of, say, Indy at DL or Spiderman at IOA, or the multi-direction movement of FJ, it would have locked itself up as the greatest ride ever created. Instead, Disney simply made a relatively slow-moving trackless dark ride ala Mystic Manor or Hunny Hunt with Star Wars theming and special effects. I still think the overall experience is outstanding, but it's just not all that thrilling.

I realize Disney's goal was to make it kid friendly and be inclusive of guests of all ages, but then why put the drop near the end of the ride? That one drop required them to put warning signs all over the ride about sudden drops and everything. If they're going to make one tiny thrilling spot, why not just make the whole ride thrilling?

I think it's remarkable that Universal has had their Spider-Man ride for 20 years now, and Disney's still can't create anything to top it. And they're not even close to FJ.

Note: I still think RotR ranks as one of the very best, but that's entirely due to the overall magnitude of the attraction and storyline as well as the obviously great theming and special effects.
Click to expand...

A lot more than “juice” determines the quality of a ride. If that’s the determinant then I guess Six Flags reigns supreme with Universal and Disney quite low on the totem pole.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
EZRock said:
Last time I went on the Spider-Man ride, I was crying 'cause it freaked me out (I was really young at the time).
Click to expand...
The first time I went on Spiderman, I was in my mid 50's. I must have been in La La land because I completely forgot to pick up the 3D glasses so the first ride was a blur. Fortunately, they had a single rider line so I immediately got back in (with the glasses) and have been riding it every time since. Last time was in September in my 70's. The good news is that a lot of their attractions are almost identical clones. If you ride one you have ridden the others. They do have some very high tech, creative rides that, frankly, put Disney to shame.

That said, it is tough to be Disney, because so many have set expectations tuned to their own desires and not to what is needed to stay current with the demands of current and future guests. I don't want to see exposed, cloud touching coasters that have a basic theme of nothing more than the color they painted the steel, but, Disney has to be more current if they want to stay where they are in the theme park entertainment business. It seems that both are profitable the way they are and only minor tweaking is necessary for either one. To many screens are an old persons lament (not mine btw). Today's and more then likely tomorrows guest will have spent their lifetime gazing at screens and are thrilled by the same thing bigger then what a 3" X 5" phone screen or iPad gives them. They shouldn't be trying to be like Universal anymore then Universal is trying to be Disney there is room for both and as soon as the old generation dies off (that is me) the more the time will be split up between the two as a normal trip plan. I've been doing that since Universal opened in Orlando.
 
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StarshipDisney

Well-Known Member
IRT Universal Studios...to each their own...

We just stayed at Universal for 7 nights in October. We had Express Pass every day (not nearly as good as FastPass) and were not impressed with the Universal rides and especially the mandatory (repeat mandatory) locker system for all the best rides that was nothing short of pure mass chaos and greatly detracted from enjoying the ride. I may as well say that we thought Universal sucked. We are not going back!

Many of the Universal rides are just ride vehicles running between obvious Video screens. Nothing great at all. Yes, Hulk and a few others were good rides, but overall you can have Universal. We'll stick with Disney.
 
L

LUVofDIS

Well-Known Member
We visited both WDW and Universal in September.

WDW we were there for 10 days and Universal for 2 days. Universal we did most rides twice plus doing Horror Night once. Disney, we did each park at least twice and MNSSHP three times and still didn't do everything we wanted. We had the Express Pass at Universal and almost never waited for anything with the exception of Hagrid's which we waited around forty minutes, which was the longest we waited for anything at either park unless you count the MNSSHP parades and fireworks. Oh yeah, also I waited over an hour for Illuminations at EPCOT.

I felt the Express Pass was better than the Fast Pass, though I felt bad using it, the more you pay the more you play thing. I wish they would do away with these passes all together.

As for ride quality, they both offer amazing attractions, though Disney seems to offer more in the way of uniqueness, I agree with the above that the majority of Universal rides are screen based and just change the screen content. I rode every ride except for the rides you have to have a kid in order to ride. My favorite is still the Mummy ride. We also had one of the best interactions with the CM's outside the Mummy we have ever had. Universal has much more to offer than WDW in the sense of thrill, no doubt, but WDW still trumps when it comes to story telling and each ride feeling unique.
 

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