Why do people hate Dueling Dragons?

TalkingHead

TalkingHead

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
Years ago Dueling Dragoons often had a long line. DS and I always enjoyed the ride but I'm getting too old. It now hurts to ride Dragon's Challenge. I guess my days of riding it 10 times in a row are a thing of the past.:(
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I remember those days, too! I've gotten to the point where one spin on Dragon and Hulk per visit is my limit.

And maybe it's just me, but Dragon felt much more intense than Hulk the last time I rode. Great ride, though.
 
M

maxairmike

Well-Known Member
I seem to remember that back during the Dueling Dragons days, the line could hold anywhere between 4-6 hours worth of people without the line extending beyond the dragon statues out front. That is a lot of line to walk through, and the ride is also a very high capacity ride. Combine those two factors, and you end up with a wait time that will maybe get up to a half hour during busy times. I've never seen it go more than about 30-45 the last several years.
 
captainkidd

captainkidd

Well-Known Member
I love Dragon Challenge. Taken over my #1 spot from the Hulk.

One guess as to why the lines are rarely long is that everyone that is in the WWOHP is in line for Forbidden Journey. Fine by me.
 
captainkidd

captainkidd

Well-Known Member
maxairmike said:
I seem to remember that back during the Dueling Dragons days, the line could hold anywhere between 4-6 hours worth of people without the line extending beyond the dragon statues out front. That is a lot of line to walk through, and the ride is also a very high capacity ride. Combine those two factors, and you end up with a wait time that will maybe get up to a half hour during busy times. I've never seen it go more than about 30-45 the last several years.
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It's high capacity, but it seems very slow-loading for a coaster.
 
S

Skunk

Member
maxairmike said:
I seem to remember that back during the Dueling Dragons days, the line could hold anywhere between 4-6 hours worth of people without the line extending beyond the dragon statues out front. That is a lot of line to walk through, and the ride is also a very high capacity ride. Combine those two factors, and you end up with a wait time that will maybe get up to a half hour during busy times. I've never seen it go more than about 30-45 the last several years.
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I've been going to IOA several times a year since the soft opening and I've never seen that, even during peak times. The longest I ever saw the line, it started in like the second room of the castle. Usually even during the summer, the line wouldn't extend past the "frozen knights" room. Universal way over estimated the wait times for the ride, the Flying Unicorn coaster was built on what was originally even more outdoor queuing for the ride. But it was pretty much never used.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
I think the free lockers also help with increasing loading times. People are not allowed to bring loose articles, so they're not wasting time trying to place them off to the side. Unlike Six Flags, who charges for the lockers, people are not trying to sneak these items on and then arguing with employees over the articles.
 
HTF

HTF

Well-Known Member
The original queue line was the longest queue ever created. Creative built the massive queue anticipating each Dragon would generate massive lines due to popularity of mega inverts as well as it being unique and it being an attraction that's a focus of a national advertising campaign. It was also heavily advertised to ride the attraction twice to experience each side. This was also the first time a major park would create two brand new mega coasters (which were also the signature attraction of an entire land as well as a focus on a massive advertising campaign) that shared a queue.

The simple thought process behind it was if a major coaster is expected to bring in a 2-3 hour wait, what will 2 head line attractions need to hold the crowd effectively. Also on a design note Creative was focused on making sure that most of the queue was hidden from sightlines on the main path. It was all part of the next level theming brought to the queues at IOA. While Universal greatly overestimated the actual waits for DD's they did over time repurpose most of the exterior queue.

As mentioned the Flying Unicorn stands on the site of the larger part of the exterior queue. The last remaining set of exterior switch backs in that corner were finally demoed to make way for Hagrids Hut in the Wizarding World. Believe it or not the exterior queue alone had nearly as big a footprint as Transformers will at the Studios. On opening day the queue itself was capable of holding in excess of 5000 people and nearly TWO miles long.
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
As has been stated, the Dragons have a massive rider capacity, about 2,800 guests per hour.
I've never had to wait in much of a line for Pirates or Spaceship Earth either.
It doesn't mean they're not popular- that's just the way maneaters are.

jl3283 said:
Last summer, some idiot didn't take his flip flops off and while the ride was dueling, it hit some guy in the face. The guy had to have his eye taken out in the park, by the medical team who arrived at the park. Now, Universal is facing a law suit so they announced that they'll never run the ride dueling again. This was all in the Orlando sentinal last year.
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Flip flops?
Where did you hear that explanation?
 
AswaySuller

AswaySuller

Well-Known Member
Your post is full of inaccuracies....

Just because a ride doesn't have a huge line doesn't make it unpopular.... Soarin' has huge lines as did/does pteranodon flyers.... That doesn't make them more popular then dragons... It means their capacity sucks!

The line for dragons is ridiculously long though.... Why is this? It seems like a waste of land it's just so huge im virtually out of breath by the time I get there!
 
RockNation18

RockNation18

New Member
Didn't realize this coasters didn't run at the same time anymore...Universal is better off gutting this attraction and building a new coaster in the future still themed around Harry Potter
 
RockNation18

RockNation18

New Member
Bairstow said:
Pull out two perfectly good B&M inverts just to further Potterize the park?
Madness.
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Dueling Dragons was my favorite coaster in any park for years, but with the changes they have made to make it into the Dragon Challenge and since they don't run them together anymore due to the injuries it's just not the same anymore
 
Bairstow

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
I think the dueling aspect was kind of overrated, at least where rider experience is concerned because you rarely got even a glimpse of the other train, and even then only if you were in the front row. I was lucky enough to get to ride the Dragons last August, between the two object-throwing incidents, and it struck me how much of a non-feature the dueling aspect actually was.

Now, it WAS neat to look at off-ride, but hardly a thing to call the coasters ruined.

The one thing about the dueling feature that I really thought was neat was how you could taunt the other train as you went up the chain lift side-by-side.
"Yer goin' DOWN, Red!!"
That always got me some good looks.
 
Scuttle

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
ParentsOf4 said:
You mean the Spider-Man that was voted Best Attraction 4 times by Theme Park Insider? The Spider-Man that was voted Best Attraction by TEA? A winner of multiple Golden Ticket awards? That Spider-Man? (I could go on but won't.)

Spider-Man is one of the most immersive rides in Orlando and the HD upgrade looks great. (I still think the queue is weak but that's a different issue.)
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I couldn't have said it better. The only rides in central fl that are even in the same league as Spiderman are Tower and Forbidden Journey.
 

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