I mean, it was the same with Flight of Passage, Gringotts, Kong, etc. Now, Hagrid has been a bit worse than most, but that's on Intamin more than anything. When you just keep piling more bells and whistles onto already complicated ride systems
It probably wasn’t last minute decision but it was communicated to guests at the last minute.
True, but it also leads to a discussion in regards to the general reaction to these clunky openings. The Universal openings have had no real way to hide their issues. Hagrid, Kong, and Gringotts have "one way" tracks, with no alternate paths or secondary solutions if something goes down. Disney, conversely, can actually hide some of their issues. If two of the theaters in Flight of Passage don't work, you've got two more. Sure, capacity drops, but people are still riding. Rise, similarly, if an elevator or escape pod isn't working, use another.
Reliability aside I think boarding groups are a great idea. You can do other things instead of waiting in line for 4 hours or whatever.
I think clunky openings have little to no tangible affect on the parks though. No one is gonna care that Rise didn't work correctly for _________ amount of time or that Hagrid still has some reduced operating hours as long as the rides knock people's socks off like they are.
I'd prefer to just wait in line. I hate the idea that I have to get to the park at the ass crack of dawn to have a chance at riding.
Universal is doing it with Jurassic World.
If an elevator goes down on Rise the ride goes down. The ride would need to reset to use only one elevator. Same for Hagrid.
I get that, but for new rides, getting there at the crack of dawn would still be the only real chance of riding, even without the virtual queue.
GOOD! It upsets me that you can enter Hogwarts in broad daylight, switch to it suddenly being night time in the tower, back to day time when you fly by Hagrid, suddenly dark again when you encounter a dragon, daylight with quidditch, back to night time at the whomping willow, and whoops it’s daylight again while we fly over the lake!
I mean there's easy ways to get around the bathroom thing. Uni did it for Hagrid. Single riders can be helped by a single rider line, though Disney seems overly against those for the most part.
As we have seen with Hagrids, a physical line can also reach capacity early in the day. I would rather wait virtually than being stuck in a line.
early in the day is still after 9AM lol
Both have the plus sides and minus. On one hand if you are in line the overall wait will likely be shorter than if you got a boarding pass. Lines are self regulating like that. On the other hand boarding passes work better for first time or infrequent guests allowing them to do other things in the park. But if you get a pass at 8am and have to wait twelve hours what else is there to do at DHS?
Didn't universal still close the line when they said Hagrid was at capacity for the day? You were also talking a risk showing up later that there would be no line to stand in anymore if the ride went down. Personally I'm not burning an expensive ticket from my Disney supply to do one thing at one park. Not utilizing some amount of reservations for a new ride is a waste of everyone's time.
