I just found out what you were referring to. Cracks in the pavement due to the mobile stages - and they've already fixed it.
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UOR looking very rundown
- Thread starter Tom Morrow
- Start date
SuperStretccch
Well-Known Member
It's a shame they never finished the original concept for the ride. It was supposed to be quite ambitious. The ride vehicles consisted of two logs instead of one and would have been split in half by a ripsaw before going over the falls (thus the name).
How cool would that have been?
What we have is the result of a slashed budget and a rushed schedule. Still a good flume ride, but a shadow of the ride's true potential.
That looks awesome! Would've made the ride even better than it already is.
I'm not really a water rides guy, but I like Ripsaw too. I rode it once back around 2012-13 and it was quite fun, both the theming and the drops. It seemed to still be in good shape back then, but not anymore, I guess.
Jimmy Thick
Well-Known Member
It's a shame they never finished the original concept for the ride. It was supposed to be quite ambitious. The ride vehicles consisted of two logs instead of one and would have been split in half by a ripsaw before going over the falls (thus the name).
How cool would that have been?
What we have is the result of a slashed budget and a rushed schedule. Still a good flume ride, but a shadow of the ride's true potential.
Look at that awesome Neal Adams artwork.
For those into that kind of stuff, Neal did a lot of design work for the Universal parks with most of it not seeing the light of day, I vividly recall seeing a DC Comics land with a Batman attraction and a Joker coaster he drew it. I can’t search for it now but it’s in one of his art books he has sold over the years, it’s good stuff.
monykalyn
Well-Known Member
There too? I was referring to path of Jedi theater, Olaf queue area- and it's not fixed yet- still ongoing and on way to being fixed. And it was a very last minute thing as the leaders in the area got zero warning. And it changes nearly daily- hopefully it's done soon as it's making my dtr nuts! She works in the area.
As far as UO being rundown- just spent several days there- some of the older rides certainly need some attention - not to mention shows
oseidens fury anyone? But wasn't hulk just rebuilt from scratch? It's pretty smooth and EP queue was fine. Spider-Man as good as ever, all effects working in MiB and Mummy. Even enjoyed the Fallon attraction. My biggest gripe with Universal is there are too many screen rides- very evident when spending all day doing attractions, and the food is just horrible in parks for quick service. And the dang quick service were all closed at 8pm last night with 10pm park close!
brb1006
Well-Known Member
lebeau
Well-Known Member
I didn't realize that was Neal Adams. Very Cool. Adams is indeed a legend.
Jimmy Thick
Well-Known Member
Neal is the definitely a legend.
Here is a couple more pieces I found, the Spidey one is totally Neal I'm not sure about the Joker one, it has his "style" but if his studio did it, it could have been any of his clones.
I know he sells an artbook when he does the comic convention rounds that had lots of art from the Universal resort, I've seen a few of the actual drawings themselves a few years ago. I remember seeing a Batman attraction and a weird Joker coaster with a high point being a huge Joker hitting the car with a giant mallet. I should have bought that book when I saw it, I can't remember why I didn't......
lebeau
Well-Known Member
Thanks for sharing. I have seen some of the concept art for what became Marvel Superhero Island, but I don't think I have seen these pieces before.
As much as I enjoy MSHI, I wish the art style wasn't so "90's Marvel". That's about the worst time period you could possibly draw from. Imagine being completely surrounded by Neal Adams art instead!
lebeau
Well-Known Member
Of the artists working for Marvel at the time, Adam Kubert was probably the best option. It could have been so much worse. Still, I'd like to see the artwork updated with either something more modern or more classic.
HwdStudio
Well-Known Member
I must agree. I’ve noticed the same.
More observations.
Parking garage still awful, legit cobwebs hanging from the ceiling everywhere. I noticed they replaced the lighting inside some of the signs, and those do look better. But only some were done... why not all?
The plazas for Rockit/music stage and Hulk are absolute ugly, grimy concrete wastelands with filthy stained and faded walkways and surfaces everywhere.
Display monitors... you would think that the theme park king of screens would not have this issue, but almost every monitor in every queue outside of Potter and the new attractions has something wrong with it. Men in Black, Simpsons, ET, Spiderman, Hulk, etc... and the screens above the metal detects at the parking garage hub show the video player controls every time they restart. I know that's extremely minor but it really just reeks of laziness. Nobody has cared enough to do the couple of mouse clicks it would require to fix it. Every fast food restaurant in the country has working display monitors but for some reason Universal can't be bothered.
It keeps becoming more and more clear to me that UOR is in "don't bother fixing anything because we don't have to" mode. I can't believe the same forum that has a fit when they see one light bulb burnt out at Disney doesn't have more to say about this.
Parking garage still awful, legit cobwebs hanging from the ceiling everywhere. I noticed they replaced the lighting inside some of the signs, and those do look better. But only some were done... why not all?
The plazas for Rockit/music stage and Hulk are absolute ugly, grimy concrete wastelands with filthy stained and faded walkways and surfaces everywhere.
Display monitors... you would think that the theme park king of screens would not have this issue, but almost every monitor in every queue outside of Potter and the new attractions has something wrong with it. Men in Black, Simpsons, ET, Spiderman, Hulk, etc... and the screens above the metal detects at the parking garage hub show the video player controls every time they restart. I know that's extremely minor but it really just reeks of laziness. Nobody has cared enough to do the couple of mouse clicks it would require to fix it. Every fast food restaurant in the country has working display monitors but for some reason Universal can't be bothered.
It keeps becoming more and more clear to me that UOR is in "don't bother fixing anything because we don't have to" mode. I can't believe the same forum that has a fit when they see one light bulb burnt out at Disney doesn't have more to say about this.
lebeau
Well-Known Member
Do you have some pics? I rode all of those rides and didn't see any of the problems you are mentioning. I even took pictures of the screens in Simpsons and E.T. They were working fine in June.
It may be that the majority of posters here just don't share your perspective.
I mean just look around next time. It's extremely obvious, especially in some areas like the Hulk and Rockit areas. They're hands down the ugliest part of any Orlando park (not because of the coaster track( in what are already the ugliest of the Orlando parks. They look as bad as DinoRama in DAK, only they aren't intentionally supposed to look bad.
It's so bad that I may not renew my AP. A premium-priced theme park should look clean and polished, it shouldn't just be left to rot and never touched up or cleaned or polished as if its just infrastructure to contain the attractions. It seems very clear that they once again don't care about presentation outside of WWoHP.
It's so bad that I may not renew my AP. A premium-priced theme park should look clean and polished, it shouldn't just be left to rot and never touched up or cleaned or polished as if its just infrastructure to contain the attractions. It seems very clear that they once again don't care about presentation outside of WWoHP.
TheJonesys
Active Member
Those darn spiders making their webs all over the place, you’d think Universal would have paid them to make their webs elsewhere 
OG Runner
Well-Known Member
Just when I was about to agree with someone, you just go that extra step and you no longer make sense. Yes, there are areas of the Universal Parks that definitely need some sprucing up, I, myself have mentioned some of them. However, to say "It seems very clear that they once again don't care about presentation outside of WWoHP", is just wrong. I would say the majority of both Parks are fine and I would imagine the average tourist would agree.
JoeCamel
Well-Known Member
With the way you are seeing the parks non renewal sounds like the best plan for you. I go to see friends and have fun but if you are there looking at facades, paving, etc. and seeing only the bad you are in the wrong park or maybe get out to the real parks and let Nature do the decorating.
Well I used The Rock's alternate spelling of "Mother" and the censorbot took it out. Add it to the list.
Well, I feel comfortable in saying that they don’t care as much as Disney and SeaWorld about cleanliness and maintaining a fresh, polished look of the parks, with some exceptions such as, of course, WWoHP. And the thing is, I really don't care much for SeaWorld except for the coasters, but it's definitely a beautiful park.
I want the big takeaways from this thread to be:
- Lots of areas need some polish, paint, touch ups, etc. The walkways throughout the resort are one of the biggest issues I see.
- A more recent and more worrisome issue would be the sudden steep drop in attraction show readiness. Like I mentioned a few times, from the time around WWoHP opening through 2015/2016, the attractions and their show effects were almost always in top notch shape. Over the past year or two, the effort they were putting in seems to have stopped, because the attractions are looking as bad as they did pre-WWoHP, with a few exceptions. This is the alarming thing, and I hope everyone continues to hold them to the standard they previously set. Hopefully what we're seeing now is just a temporary setback and not a new lazy, greedy trend.
UpAllNight
Well-Known Member
I hear from forums there’s a lot in the works over at Universal but my overall perception is that they’ve become complacent and lazy since Diagon. I’ll always support investment, but they’ve spent s lot without knocking it out of the park imo when you include Kong, Fallon, F&F, Volcano Bay...some are better than others, none move the boundaries. Kong and Volcano Bay enjoyable but severely overhyped into something they fall well short of. I genuinely expected something revoluntionary for VB and thouroughly hyped Kong as being the best dark ride in the world.
When you’re capable of Gringotts & Spiderman, stop making Fallons.
When you’re capable of Gringotts & Spiderman, stop making Fallons.
Disneyhead'71
Well-Known Member
Fallon is way more fun than Na'vi River Journey. I can't imagine a situation that I would ride NRJ again unless it's a walk on and the people I'm with have never ridden it.