The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Hogsmeade (Orlando): Part 2

[shiekra38]

Wait, Busch Gardens is 3 hours from Orlando? I thought it was in Tampa and only 1 hour? What am I missing?

Hour and a half really...unless you are driving there during rush hour..then it is anyone's guess

 

[Jakemeister]

Hour and a half really...unless you are driving there during rush hour..then it is anyone's guess

Eh, it really depends on where you're at and how fast you drive. But alas, that has nothing to do with Harry Potter.

 

[syenisch]

Stopped in for a few rides yesterday and was surprised to see they've changed the entrance to the castle. The line now starts all the way back by the small butterbeer stand, feeds into the new extension, doubles back to the front gate, and then heads up to the castle. The effect of this is that it thins out the crowd due to all the walking in an empty queue. The lockers and entry hall were as empty as I've ever seen them. Hopefully this will be the norm from now on!

On a sadder note, I had the worst ride ever on FJ. The first chimney video didnt even play. No chimney smell. The light that shines on the dragon and the red light in its mouth were out. Every from there on was about a second delayed from the audio. All the lights on the dementors were out. No light from the basilisk skeleton's mouth. No light out of the dementor's mouth, and no soul sucking effect. The ride had jut ome back online from a brief shutdown about 10 minutes prior, but I feel bad for any first time riders being introduced to FJ like that.

 

[Teebin]

^ That's interesting. Is it common for the ride to be temporarily out of sync after coming back online?

 

[Jakemeister]

I have a feeling they only use that method when it's a peak week. I've never seen them use that method prior and I visited about 3 weeks ago.

 

[Spideyfreak]

^ That's interesting. Is it common for the ride to be temporarily out of sync after coming back online?

In my experiences, it usually comes up perfectly fine after it restarts. The only oddball thing is that the carousels have to cycle around again for the video to start, and the vehicles have no audio until they hit the next checkpoint.

My speculation:
I could just be that things don't automatically reset properly. So they either have to be reset from the RSS (Ride Show Supervisor) interface or they will eventually reset themselves. This wouldn't surprise me as the RSS is probably way more complicated than Spider-man's.

It's probably similar to how sometimes the RSS just misses a cue to do something.

 

[Kevin38]

I have a feeling they only use that method when it's a peak week. I've never seen them use that method prior and I visited about 3 weeks ago.

Yes they did that at Christmas/New years

 

[Cecilia]

I rode three times this weekend, and I only used the re-routed entrance once out of the three, even on 60-minute waits. Also, on all three rides all effects were working, including all lighting and the infamous face-capture effect, so I'm guessing that the broken effects did have something to do with the break down.

 

[AcidPop]

How often does Forbidden Journey tend to have issues? I'm assuming it's not a super buggy ride...?

 

[Splatter]

Considering how complex it is. It is one of the most reliable for its nature.

 

[Felipe]

Stopped in for a few rides yesterday and was surprised to see they've changed the entrance to the castle. The line now starts all the way back by the small butterbeer stand, feeds into the new extension, doubles back to the front gate, and then heads up to the castle. The effect of this is that it thins out the crowd due to all the walking in an empty queue. The lockers and entry hall were as empty as I've ever seen them. Hopefully this will be the norm from now on!

Might be a Spring Break set up?

On a sadder note, I had the worst ride ever on FJ. The first chimney video didnt even play. No chimney smell. The light that shines on the dragon and the red light in its mouth were out. Every from there on was about a second delayed from the audio. All the lights on the dementors were out. No light from the basilisk skeleton's mouth. No light out of the dementor's mouth, and no soul sucking effect. The ride had jut ome back online from a brief shutdown about 10 minutes prior, but I feel bad for any first time riders being introduced to FJ like that.

That sucks! I've never had a ride that bad. I think the worst was at one point the ride stopped and the video continued with no audio, but then they rewound the video and reset the ride and it went just fine. But it happens sometimes. I remember something like that happened to me during a ride on Spiderman where it was all out of synch. The audio, and even the vehicles weren't facing the screens properly... it was crazy, but we were offered to re-ride right away.

BTW, one effect that has not worked (at least in my latest rides) for the longest time is the dementor soul sucking/face projection effect. It's either blank, or other people, or the back rest of the benches... or a combination of all those.

 

[Splatter]

Yeah, sadly I think the Dementor effect is one of those awesome effects that is just not going to work after the ride's first year.

It was the best use of that type of mist screen on an attraction ever.

 

[AcidPop]

Yeah, sadly I think the Dementor effect is one of those awesome effects that is just not going to work after the ride's first year.

Ack, don't say that! Rowling better make 'em fix it if they get lazy.

 

[Splatter]

Sorry. But out of my eight rides in the past year I only saw it work once.

 

[Hatetofly]

Bad luck I guess because out of my 50 + rides this year it has not worked maybe 3 or 4 times. I will be out there this weekend and will take a spin to see if this is something new. I have not been on it in a few weeks.

 

[Hatetofly]

Normally would not do this but can I get a little FJ love please!

http://www.themeparkinsider.com/

 

[BJCool]

^I voted for FJ!

 

[ReelJustice]

Voted for FJ

 

[shiekra38]

Voted...why is Haunted Mansion even being compared to FJ?
Seems all the Disney Fan Boys are voting heavily

 

[Hatetofly]

I can't remember exactly but TSMM lost to the FJ in the previous round. The vote finished FJ 60% and TSMM 40% Also if the FJ wasn't in this I would be voting the HM the whole way.