Universal Epic Universe (South Expansion Complex) - Opens 2025

Rich Brownn · Oct 31, 2023

TalkToEthan said:
I assume you’re essentially talking about the robot style arm moving the benches, no?

If you are then I say I both agree and disagree depending on how I look at it. Employing that kuk on an anchoring attraction is revolutionary but as for the technology itself I saw it before it made its way to the opening of Hogsmeade in Orlando——-I saw it at Uni Studios Hollywood; so did 10’s of thousands of others.

As a stationary arm. Having mounted on individual vehicles that drive around synching with screens and effects was a brand new ride system.

JoeCamel · Oct 31, 2023

Rich Brownn said:
As a stationary arm. Having mounted on individual vehicles that drive around synching with screens and effects was a brand new ride system.

To transport humans in that manner was a first

JT3000 · Oct 31, 2023

Forbidden Journey is not a perfect ride nor my favorite, but coming on here and trashing it is like going onto a movie forum and saying Morbius should've won the Oscar. Prepare to have your unpopular opinion ravaged.

TalkToEthan said:
I assume you’re essentially talking about the robot style arm moving the benches, no?

If you are then I say I both agree and disagree depending on how I look at it. Employing that kuk on an anchoring attraction is revolutionary but as for the technology itself I saw it before it made its way to the opening of Hogsmeade in Orlando——-I saw it at Uni Studios Hollywood; so did 10’s of thousands of others.

So you saw it nearly six whole years after it first debuted in Orlando...

Forbidden Journey is not merely a Kuka arm. It's a 2nd generation, tracked Robocoaster. None existed prior.

cheezbat · Oct 31, 2023

Rockit is so unfun….I was cool with it the first year or two…but after that, my rides got more and more rough…to the point that any time I rode it, I’d come off with a headache and sometimes a back or neck ache. Now they’ve removed a lot of the music tracks…it’s just a big nasty rough ride. I would much rather see a B&M hyper or Intamin mega coaster in this spot if they HAVE to have a large coaster there…either would be much smoother and more fun.

TalkToEthan · Oct 31, 2023

JT3000 said:
So you saw it nearly six whole years after it first debuted in Orlando...

Aaaaaa nope!

(((Hint: I wasn’t referring to Universal Hollywood’s Forbidden Journey…….. we saw a demonstration of kuka on a different attraction at USH which was years before Hollywood’s version of FJ debuted))

lazyboy97o · Oct 31, 2023

TalkToEthan said:
Aaaaaa nope!

(((Hint: I wasn’t referring to Universal Hollywood’s Forbidden Journey…….. we saw a demonstration of kuka on a different attraction at USH which was years before Hollywood’s version of FJ debuted))

There isn’t an eye roll emoji big enough…

JT3000 · Nov 1, 2023

TalkToEthan said:
Aaaaaa nope!

(((Hint: I wasn’t referring to Universal Hollywood’s Forbidden Journey…….. we saw a demonstration of kuka on a different attraction at USH which was years before Hollywood’s version of FJ debuted))

You saw some dancing cars on stationary Kuka arms. You did not see the robocoaster ride system or ride it yourself. What is not clicking here?

Vegas Disney Fan · Nov 1, 2023

Andrew25 said:
Obviously, the land helped as well, but the ride itself at the time was revolutionary and was the major draw of the land.

I’d give the land 90% of the credit for the attendance increase, FJ the other 10%, take the exact same FJ ride without the land and the HP connection and 90% of the people in that line aren’t standing in that line.

We don’t even bother to do FJ every visit, it’s not on our must do list so if the line is over about 35 minutes we skip it, we still spend hours in Hogsmeade and Diagon alley though.

Hagrids is a ride that single handedly drives attendance, same with Velicicoaster… FJ is fun but nowhere near the same tier.

Andrew25 · Nov 1, 2023

Vegas Disney Fan said:
I’d give the land 90% of the credit for the attendance increase, FJ the other 10%, take the exact same FJ ride without the land and the HP connection and 90% of the people in that line aren’t standing in that line.

We don’t even bother to do FJ every visit, it’s not on our must do list so if the line is over about 35 minutes we skip it, we still spend hours in Hogsmeade and Diagon alley though.

Hagrids is a ride that single handedly drives attendance, same with Velicicoaster… FJ is fun but nowhere near the same tier.

It's hard to judge and put % figures on it, but if FJ opened as its own separate attraction with no land, I can still guarantee attendance would have been driven up dramatically at the parks. Maybe not to the extent we saw, but still very much higher. The Potter fandom is insane

999th Happy Haunt · Nov 1, 2023

The Monsters E-Ticket will be the real test to see if the Kuka is a popular ride system. IMO, what we know about it already makes it sound like an improvement to FJ. No parabolic screen scenes, rumored multiple animatronics, and more “open air” seats/restraints solve a lot of the nitpicks I have with FJ, even though I still think FJ is a fine ride.

I truly truly believe that if they do it right (no guarantee), Monsters could be one of the best dark rides in the world. Same with Ministry.

J4546 · Nov 1, 2023

I felt the same way about Mario kart....and then look what they made....but I'm still hopefull

Twirlnhurl · Nov 1, 2023

999th Happy Haunt said:
The Monsters E-Ticket will be the real test to see if the Kuka is a popular ride system.

There is a Kuka-based Jurassic World ride at Universal Beijing and a Kuka-based Batman ride at Warner Bros Abu Dhabi. I think both have met positive reactions, but it is hard to tell if they really are popular since the markets are so different.

lazyboy97o · Nov 1, 2023

Twirlnhurl said:
There is a Kuka-based Jurassic World ride at Universal Beijing and a Kuka-based Batman ride at Warner Bros Abu Dhabi. I think both have met positive reactions, but it is hard to tell if they really are popular since the markets are so different.

Jurassic World Adventure uses the Spider-Man ride system.

Andrew25 · Nov 1, 2023

Twirlnhurl said:
There is a Kuka-based Jurassic World ride at Universal Beijing and a Kuka-based Batman ride at Warner Bros Abu Dhabi. I think both have met positive reactions, but it is hard to tell if they really are popular since the markets are so different.

Jurassic World Adventure is a Spiderman "Scoopy System"

Batman is a Kuka just like FJ.

JediMasterMatt · Nov 1, 2023

ToTBellHop said:
Never felt like FJ was a rough ride. Rip, Ride, Rock it certainly is. Crappy design because it was shoehorned in.

Being shoehorned into the site isn't the issue with Rockit. Being a huge Maurer Sohne X-car design is.

<nerd hat on>

The design of the train is fundamentally flawed. They are basically 3 bench/row cars on a chassis that has the wheel assemblies of a 2 bench/row car that is then is tied together with a lengthy coupler. The geometry of the chassis path through the circuit is vastly different from the geometry of what the wheel's travel. The difference between the two makes the chassis serve as a fulcrum which means the two ends of each car (front row and back row) are like a teeter totter/see saw and get subjected to forces that are uncontrolled by the ride path. If anyone has ridden in the very back of a school bus and noted how "bouncy" it is, this effect on a roller coaster train where the rear seats "hang" off the wheels is very similar as the seat's pivot point is forward of the ridding position. Every change in direction Rockit's cars go through, subject the front row and back row to these unusual forces. This takes a toll on the riders as well as the wheels, chassis, and couplers on the trains.

If you look at the picture below, notice the angle of the chassis compared to track. Note how the lines of the chassis are very different from each other and also how the seats above them are very different in relation to row's 1, 2, and 3, and the track beneath them. The train is basically trying to follow the ride path of row 2 (the middle of the two wheels) and row 1 and 2 are extensions of that.

The long chassis/short wheelbase trains also mean that the chassis floor has to sit up higher off the wheels and thus creates a higher center of gravity. This also contributes to more "unusual" forces Rockit experiences compared to other designs. The higher chassis is because the long coupler has to clear the front and back rows as the train moves through the course.

All of these design choices are why it rides the way it does. It also is why the ride has some maintenance headaches as it by far is the biggest full circuit X-Car around.

Of course, UO didn't have to head down this path. Maurer won the bid because they would do the vertical lift UO wanted and they were cheaper than the option Universal Japan went with for a very similar site constrained design in Hollywood Dream. B&M didn't want to work with the vertical lift mandate and would've been much more than what was selected.

Just goes to show you get what you pay for.

BTW - the wheel/seat geometry in coasters does make from some interesting ride experiences. For example:

- Son of Beast (now defunct) at Kings Island originally had the same 3 bench cars with wheels designed for 2 rows and the forces those trains put on the structure were a part of the demise of that ride (along with RCCA and that it was a 200ft wooden coaster).
- Any old NAD wooden coaster train in row 3 has a bit of extra airtime kick because of a similar wheel to seat location. Best example of this currently is Kennywood's Thunderbolt in row 3 as it engages the lift. Nice little pop of airtime that is much more pronounced in row 3 than it is in row 2 or 1.
- Magnum XL-200 is a good ride that can demonstrate the differences between rows on a car. While it has a more traditional wheel to seat configuration with the wheels being under the feet of the riders in row 1 of a car and under the seat of row 3, it does have the very, very angular "triangular" shaped airtime hills at the end of the ride. This makes car 1, row 3 referred to as the "Magic Seat" by enthusiasts as when the ride crests over the pointy hills, row 3 pivots very quickly over the crest launching riders into the lap bar. I always preferred the back car's front row to the Magic Seat as instead of simply launching you hard into the lap bar as you crest the hill, the pivoting action of the train propels you slightly forward and then up. This makes the ending run of hills behave a bit more like traditional hills instead of Ron Toomer's coat hanger designed method of bending track.
- The best example of what wheelbase can do to a ride experience these days is the Coney Island Cyclone. It has 4 row cars in its trains. That is what makes the hills and turns on it very "snappy" and forceful. When that ride was in jeopardy of closing forever in the 70's the now defunct AstroWorld cloned it and made the Texas Cyclone. Only that instead of parabolic curves, the designer Bill Cobb used a lot of straight angles connected with sharp radiuses. When it first opened, it also used 4 bench trains like the original. For those enthusiasts lucky enough to ride it during the first few years, it was the ultimate in "poppy" forces. Just take a look at that back car in the photo below getting ready to "snap" into line with the other cars on the first drop. By the time I got to ride this classic, it had already been neutered with different trains and a reprofiled layout. Oh what I would've done to take a trip on this pre-modifications. Also note how similar the chassis angles are compared to Rockit's photo above.

some other guy · Nov 1, 2023

I was just thinking, how long has it been since ripping a CD was a concept people normally encountered?

TalkToEthan said:
No,

Forbidden Journey is one herky-jerky ride……nothing fluid whatsoever about it. It has abrupt turns and twists delivering a disjunct performance.

If FJ were a band it would be Primus

forget The Weeknd, HHN needs Primus!

999th Happy Haunt · Nov 1, 2023

Twirlnhurl said:
There is a Kuka-based Jurassic World ride at Universal Beijing and a Kuka-based Batman ride at Warner Bros Abu Dhabi. I think both have met positive reactions, but it is hard to tell if they really are popular since the markets are so different.

I know JW in Beijing is definitely not kuka based, it's more like Spider-Man.