Hi Chris
I noticed your comments earlier, you have a close affinity to this project it seems. My opinion is shared by the group I went with, plus quite a few people we have talked to here. Yes it may be our expectations...we have been to every major theme park in the world. I think there is an expectations gap when officials talk about gaming changing. Game changing to me is it will change the industry not a just refinement of technology which is used in part on many rides around the world. Sure more of it is included in FJ than any other one ride we have been on. For many the KUKA arm may be a standout new sensation, point of difference. For those that have been around we know what riding a KUKA arm is like on the extreme, this technology is used well within it limits on this ride.
Game changing and technological breakthrough are different things and they mean different things to the engineers who work hard to bring it together and the visitor who just experiences the end product.
Note my comments relate to the experience for the visitor not the technology that drives it.
With respect the industry the investment until recently has been in decline until recent times, so don't get me started on the industry....
The point is there's no room to debate that the ride is ground-breaking in every sense. I did not work on the project. I'm not defending it because it was "my thing" or anything of the sort. I'm speaking up because the ride really is the next big thing. Potter IS game-changing. Potter ISN'T a refinement of current technolgoies. Potter is quite a few new technologies created from the ground up. They perhaps may not be evident to you in show conditions, but it's far more complex than you're realizing and the way it achieves that is all entirely new and very impressive. This is not an inverted Spider-Man. It's unlike anything that's ever been done. Your arguement is like saying The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man is a rip of The Haunted Mansion because they're both dark rides. The ride types are nothing like eachother - and though people are comparing to Soarin' because of the dome screens, it's not even close.
I myself have more than been around, and have seen plenty of KUKA arms out there. In fact I was one of the first to ride the prototype version the first year KUKA brought it to IAAPA. I'm well aware of the varying levels of intensity that it CAN run at, and i'm overwhelmed with joy that it is not nearly that aggressive. I've seen plenty of highly detailed attractions. There is a very shot list of rides that I'd call my favorite, and every one of them is a definitive gem of its genre. Indiiana Jones Aventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (DHS), Journey to the Center of the Earth, and now Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. I'd actually be inclined to maybe even bump Potter up a few spaces on that short list.
Whether or not the industry as a whole has seem much ground-breaking investment over the past decade or so, the answer is unquestionabely no- but there's not "the next big thing every year." In fact I think it was far more odd that two of them, Tower of Terror and Indiana Jones Adventure, came back to back. The point is it's not a matter of what was, it's a matter of what is. Potter is a very big deal in property, technology and execution.
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I have been to every major attraction in the united states and quite a few over seas, and I'm tellin ya this is not a game changer! fun and all but no better then indiana jones over at the DLR. thats the only ride i can compare Fj with. its about the same intensity as it aswell.
Is this really degrading into a pissing contest? I've been on virtually every major attraction in North America, Europe and Asia, and I would most certainly disagree.
For the sake of arugement, what would you call the best ride in the world? I have a feeling that will answer a lot of questions for me.
I'm going to do it no matter what...even if I do get sick. Maybe I should try and leave it to the end of the day if the wait isn't so bad. At any rate, I have an AP and can come back if I miss it at night. I do wonderfully on coaster (dizziness doesn't bother me much), and have never been on Spiderman since one experience with a simulator. But this is HP...and I know I need to ride it. 
