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Fast & Furious: Supercharged/Nighttime Studio Tour

I was thinking of heading up there today after work, but now I think I'll wait until Sunday and try and catch it during that early hour.
 
Seriously, this makes me TERRIFIED for next year....I'm sure that yesterday slapped a few execs in the face to really show them how the park isn't fully prepared yet! That new garage is gonna be a blessing.

*sigh* still haven't experienced Supercharged. This is torture, I've never gone this long not experiencing a new ride!
 
The park is open til 10PM and the last special effects show is 4. It was CRAZY busy on Thursday. They added WW shows. Could have used the relief as some people headed inside to the special effects show.
 
Ok, I decided to go to the park after work today after all. I figured, if nothing else I’d grab a bite to eat and watch the crowds. When I got there I half expected the ticket booths to be closed and the gates bared to new admittance. But there was nothing like that. It didn’t seem that crowded at all. I was there two weeks ago on Friday night and the crowds were worse.

The studio tour only had a 40 minute wait! I figured 40 minute wait and a 40 minute ride, it’ll be an hour and twenty minutes at least before I’d have a chance to eat. So, I went into Krusty Burger and got the Nature Lovers, which was quite tasty to my surprise. The Coke Free Style machines were out of most flavors. They really need to keep those things better stocked.

After dinner, I hopped in line for the tour and was pleasantly surprised to discover they were running the nighttime tour. The variations were nice for the tour veterans, but really nothing to write home about.

As for Supercharged, I went through it without mechanical incident. The preshow areas were nice, but obviously catered to the fans of the franchise, which I am not. The “ride” itself was fun. I did find it difficult to follow what was happening. We were on a street, then they were throwing grappling hooks at us. Then we were speeding along. Then Vin Diesel was hanging from a drone for some reason. Then the bad guy was brandishing a gun at us and yelling. Then he smashed into something. And finally we were flying through the air… again for some unclear reason. And then it was over. I think I need to experience this a few more times in order to figure out what’s going on.

It was fun. I don’t think it lived up to all the hype, but then I’m not a fan of the franchise.

It will be interesting to see if the crowds I experienced tonight will be more like what we’ll see for the rest of the summer. I guess opening day is what drew the crowds. I wonder how the weekend will go.
 
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I went Thursday to try to get a ride in on Fast and Furious. When coming into Lankershim around 9:30 in the morning, I wondered why traffic was so horrid. Then it occurred to me that I was going opening day of the addition. None of the passes were blacked out.

So after about waiting in line, I managed to get a ride in just in time and leave before work (Traffic on was terrible!). Just as soon as I left, I heard that they shut the park down due to capacity. But yeah, as for the ride....

I had fun There was some good and bad, but I really wish we could've gotten what we were supposed to get in the first place. Too bad that "defcon II" happened. First the good: The musion effects looked really cool and I loved how the screen was on as you were driving in to give the illusion you were driving into a parking garage. The immersion was great and the fog effects were pretty cool. I liked how the "takeoff" felt somewhat realistic. That was pretty fun.

The bad: Unfortunately, there is more bad than good here. First off, the set-up before you enter the building had SO much wrong in it. Plot-holes and bad acing galore. First, did they just pull some random guy off the street to be the security guard and have him say his lines in one take? Geez, he looked and sounded unconvincing. I could EASILY do much better than him in one take. Also, the FBI agent was.....eh......not exactly a Leanardo DeCaprio. Yeah, that video was annoying. Now, as for spotting the car, I don't think it works that well....not only that, but it's oddly placed before the Bates Motel. I love how our guide reports a car that really doesn't look that suspicious to begin with, yet, when being told by the FBI to report any further suspicious sightings, a guy with a freaking knife comes after us, and the guide shrugs it off like, "Yeah, stuff happens." Makes no sense at all.

The ride....oh boy.....even though I had somewhat enjoyed it, there were several flaws. Like what everyone else said, the graphics just screamed GTA. Heck, even the vehicles looked like they floated like they would in the games! Aside from the takeoff, I felt like the motion effects were weak. I wasn't convinced that we were going faster when we got hooked. Also, sitting in the second car, there was WAY too much going on around me. It's as if this ride were on some sort of Michael Bay fantasy on ADD. The length of the ride itself was okay, but if they're pushing this as a ride, it needs to AT LEAST be thirty seconds longer. I think two minutes is just right for something like this. Don't get me started with those dreadful one liners and mediocre acting. (I mean, "eat asphalt"? REALLY!??). I love how Shaw didn't sound like he gave a single crap he was going to be smashed to death as he was yelling, "send in the drones!" That brings me to another point, (SPOILER Furious 6): Didn't he die in the sixth movie? I guess something broke his fall from that plane.   

How would I improve this? I mention this before, but something should happen in the first room. Have a shootout. Have Roman misfire a missile from one of the cars. Have the security guard agent walk in and apologize for his horrible acting while scratching his butt. SOMETHING. Put us into the experience. Fast and Furious is about action and explosions. SO MAKE IT THAT WAY FROM START TO FINISH. Also have something in the Musion room to make it more interesting. Take advantage of the missed opportunity and have the "material witness" on the tram screen as a random guest like the Rebel Spy in Star Tours. Big-time missed opportunity. Make the ride thirty seconds longer. Improve the graphics and have it set at night. Put those front-based projection systems you invested in to good use and put in the freaking helicopter on a KUKA arm in the theater. Have some heat effects when explosions occur or when Shaw has that flame thrower. Enhance the wind and motion effects. Put the smell of gasoline and burning rubber in there if you can. Most importantly, trim down and reshoot the video screen before the ride. No need for that "suspicious car" nonsense. Just cut to the chase as soon as you pass the WoTW sets and saw that Shaw is after the witness.

Whew, that was a long post. Although it sounded like I hated this, I did have some fun on there. I'm just disappointed that there was SO much potential for this to be AWESOME and instead we just got, "Eh, close enough." I really hope after the peak season end and HHN starts up, they'll give this ride a couple of months off to make it the way it was supposed to be. I mean, all of the filming can be off-site. Everything is already built. All of the stuff like adding/enhancing effects or that practical effect in the main room shouldn't take more than two or three months. Hopefully UC will go through with that redo. Hey, if they're just going to redo everything, why not just make a completely new ride out of it? Have a cross over ride: "Fast to the Future". Doc Brown zooms into the chase while Marty McFly stops Shaw from killing Doc from stealing his plutonium. Have the DeLoreon attatch to the tram and zap us back to the year 1990. I think that'd be more awesome than what we got, but I digress. So with that,

"Ride or die!"
 
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Jesus your past made my night. I laughed all the way through, it was so damn funny. Can't wait to ride this atrocity for myself! 
 
I just saw a commercial for ff:supercharged and at the end of the commercial they FINALLY started mentioning that its part of the "world famous studios tour".
 
Rode studio tour this evening, nightime version.  Marilyn and Frankenstein were performing but the lights on Colonial St. didn't come on until we left.  No exterior lighting on Supercharged, either.  No technical problems inside, however.  I think that was my sixth time pulling into the attraction but only the first time it work correctly without interruption. 
 
When does this take place in terms of the film series? Letty is back with the crew but Shaw is still around.
 
Today I decided to go to the park and there was a lot of people Complaning that USH can do way better than that. This couple had told me that there friends went to Universal two weeks ago with there families and HATED Universal because of too much 3D. They were like omg we're never coming back again . That DISNEYLAND will always be better then USH . People complain to much
 
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Yea. Which kinda confuses the hell out of me because in Furious 7, he was in a coma. And if Owen Shaw was out there after Furious 7, what happened to his brother.
 
Today I decided to go to the park and there was a lot of people Complaning that USH can do way better than that. This couple had told me that there friends went to Universal two weeks ago with there families and HATED Universal because of too much 3D. They were like omg we're never coming back again . That DISNEYLAND will always be better then USH . People complain to much
 
Rode studio tour this evening, nightime version.  Marilyn and Frankenstein were performing but the lights on Colonial St. didn't come on until we left.  No exterior lighting on Supercharged, either.  No technical problems inside, however.  I think that was my sixth time pulling into the attraction but only the first time it work correctly without interruption. 
I was on the same tram yesterday! Going up and down Colonial St. in the dark was very weird and kind of spooky. And then when the lights came on as the tram was rounding the corner to head up the hill to Whoville...lame. It was my first time on the night time tour and I was generally impressed with the new features and bits. It was nothing earth-shattering, but nice to see some new things on the tour. They also kept Norman out for our tour too. I know he's usually out during the day, so I wasn't expecting him at night. But he definitely adds to the creepiness of the Bates Motel scene.

For anyone else who's been on the night time tour, has your tram ever gone through Courthouse Square? Our tram didn't make it there yesterday and was wondering if there's anything in Courthouse Square at all for the night time tour.

Regarding F&F Supercharged, this was my second time through and I'm in the minority that thinks its ok. I'm not saying it's great, just ok. Universal should have done better and King Kong is head-and-shoulders above F&F. But I enjoyed it to a certain degree. I'm glad for something new at the end of the tour, even if it didn't pan out the way we all wish it did.
 
For anyone else who's been on the night time tour, has your tram ever gone through Courthouse Square? Our tram didn't make it there yesterday and was wondering if there's anything in Courthouse Square at all for the night time tour.
When I did the Night Tram Preview, we went through Courthouse Square. They used it for the Grand Opening ceremony of Supercharged, so I'm guessing they are still clearing that area. That's probably why the tram skipped it. 
 
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