So, all I've heard about on this board is how great Universal maintenance and show quality is these days. Well, I just visited today for the first time in almost a year (great to be back in Orlando for more than a weekend!). I only did 3 things (Mummy, Transformers, and FJ) but just with these three this is what I noticed:
Mummy
The audio in the first scene was obscenely loud. Waayy louder than it's supposed to be.
The beetles drawer only spit out a handful of beetles.
The screens in that room were warped and pulled, and the black levels were elevated to make it clear it was projection.
The screens in the rotating room were also warped and pulled/sagging with black levels being way too elevated (think light grey)
Transformers
The vehicles seemed not to be lining up with the screens quite the way they used to. Too often I felt we were pointed towards only a corner of the screen. Other than that it looked fine - not many effects to break though.
Forbidden Journey
Oh dear where to start:
Background music in the greenhouse wasn't playing the majority of the time
The dumbledore projection had elevated black levels, clearly showing where the projection ended on the scrim.
The Snow machines and lighting for the snow machines was turned off. Hermione continued to complain about Ron making it snow though. Quite disappointed in this one as when it opened it was one of those things I saw and my jaw-dropped at the fact that such an effect was included.
Projections in both those rooms were not clearly in focus.
The wires holding up the candles in the room of requirement were clearly visible. Lighting change perhaps?
The virtual seams between the projectors in both the (new animation?) floo scenes were clearly evident.
The projection in the first turntable was out of sync
Spiders were not spitting.
No fog with the dementors
The dementor soul sucking effect with your faces on the mist wasn't working. It wasn't even working in "b" mode where they used to show the dark mark. Not even a mist screen.
Still after years the screens that show your on-ride photo are not in sync with the parties getting off the ride. This might be intentional to avoid backups on the stairs but you'd think they'd remove the screens then.
On a positive note, the projection itself on the carousels definitely looks better than it used to and I actually like the new ride profile.
Needless to say I was very disappointed. Universal's maintenance and show standards or lack thereof has historically been a weak point, and with all the talk here I really had thought things had changed drastically. I mean, I guess they have because I can certainly remember more show-stopping issues occurring in the past, none of these are exactly terrible, but they don't strike me as evidence of the fantastic praise I've been hearing. Could it really just be a fluke? I know things happen, and try to give parks the benefit of the doubt, but its hard for me to believe that all of these things just went down today.
Mummy
The audio in the first scene was obscenely loud. Waayy louder than it's supposed to be.
The beetles drawer only spit out a handful of beetles.
The screens in that room were warped and pulled, and the black levels were elevated to make it clear it was projection.
The screens in the rotating room were also warped and pulled/sagging with black levels being way too elevated (think light grey)
Transformers
The vehicles seemed not to be lining up with the screens quite the way they used to. Too often I felt we were pointed towards only a corner of the screen. Other than that it looked fine - not many effects to break though.
Forbidden Journey
Oh dear where to start:
Background music in the greenhouse wasn't playing the majority of the time
The dumbledore projection had elevated black levels, clearly showing where the projection ended on the scrim.
The Snow machines and lighting for the snow machines was turned off. Hermione continued to complain about Ron making it snow though. Quite disappointed in this one as when it opened it was one of those things I saw and my jaw-dropped at the fact that such an effect was included.
Projections in both those rooms were not clearly in focus.
The wires holding up the candles in the room of requirement were clearly visible. Lighting change perhaps?
The virtual seams between the projectors in both the (new animation?) floo scenes were clearly evident.
The projection in the first turntable was out of sync
Spiders were not spitting.
No fog with the dementors
The dementor soul sucking effect with your faces on the mist wasn't working. It wasn't even working in "b" mode where they used to show the dark mark. Not even a mist screen.
Still after years the screens that show your on-ride photo are not in sync with the parties getting off the ride. This might be intentional to avoid backups on the stairs but you'd think they'd remove the screens then.
On a positive note, the projection itself on the carousels definitely looks better than it used to and I actually like the new ride profile.
Needless to say I was very disappointed. Universal's maintenance and show standards or lack thereof has historically been a weak point, and with all the talk here I really had thought things had changed drastically. I mean, I guess they have because I can certainly remember more show-stopping issues occurring in the past, none of these are exactly terrible, but they don't strike me as evidence of the fantastic praise I've been hearing. Could it really just be a fluke? I know things happen, and try to give parks the benefit of the doubt, but its hard for me to believe that all of these things just went down today.
