Heres the thing, and it's gonna get looooonnnnnnnggggggg.......
have you been on the USH iteration? A lot of people would disagree with me here, but I place it as this;
F&F is at the position to where much like Kong, it has a lot of mistakes and flaws..for the USH rendition of them. Even though when it works brilliantly, Kong 360 at USH before experiencing Supercharged is a total shock moment, as it's honestly unique in the terms of how it enveloped you for the most part with some of the largest screens in the world. But, it has no story; and it's more in essence a technical test than anything, with it being there mainly to give the Ape some love after fire burned the great and mighty Physical Kong alive.
Now, you may be wondering; "Wait Alex, if you are going to praise Ol' Kong, why doesn't Kong 360 at Hollyood not have any practical Kong AA's?" and I will put it blunt and simple. It was made during the dark years of Universal Parks and Resorts. And considering that they had to not only buckle down on that AND Transformers for USH, not to mention bringing WWoHP for the first time and USS (which we're all from GE days), it could of been a LOT worse. And not to mention, it would've overshadow their Metropolitan Sets that at the time, was the shining piece of the renovation to that portion of the backlot.
Supercharged is at the position to where it has been said in the past (I believe even Mike Sington spoke when talking to Inside Universal) that Supercharged was an attraction developed by Orlando's Creative Team. Not, Hollywood's. I'm sure that Orlando's team had the best intentions of having it work for Hollywood, but the fact of the matter is that the studio tour is a different breed than anything at Universal Orlando Resort in terms of how they have to change daily what can work and not work, moving the story around to make it all work in the best possible manner.
With Orlando now, they don't have that restriction. They have what's probably going to be one of the largest showbuildings on property, and bringing an IP that while yes, I would rather want to see it with a different ride system than Kong (although it seems that may be somewhat the case, just not in the way we want) and with San Francisco; there is a lot of potential that the 360 screens can do, as long as they handle four specific elements right.
1.) Make a better reason to why Owen Shaw is coming after you
2.) Have most of the attraction rely on Musion and light practical effects before and after the 360
3.) Get rid of the daytime element that the USH rendition had, or; find a way to convert daytime and nighttime within the park hours
4.) Have more of the F&F characters act as they should
5.) Make those damned 360 screens taller than ROK and USH's Supercharged
Most importantly, it's best that EVERYONE has an open mind once they go into the attraction. Just because it is mediocre to lame in USH, that doesn't mean that UOR's will be worse. Infact, I am very excited about Supercharged, but I also know something in particular. This, is as I said in the past; a project to increase capacity.
I'm sure they will upgrade it (As it already seems that with adding more characters from the franchise); but here's the thing, Supercharged is not something that hardcore Universal Fans need to get excited about. Hell, I place it in a VERY similar path to comparing Spiderman and Transformers, as both are incredibly similar ride systems but have incredibly different storylines. And to me, this will probably be most apparent when people compare Supercharged and Kong. Until we get vertical construction on how tall the 360 theatre will be, I think we all need to hold brakes, and wait.
It's what I did with Fallon, and as of now; I am very excited for that. Perhaps more than F&F, but even then..we have Volcano Bay opening up in months, the potential DC Replacement, Nintendo, Secret Life of Pets and whatever happens to UOSouth in the next few years. I know it's not my place to say it, as I don't live in Orlando; but look at the projects that have a lot more excitement about it, and to not just shrug off Supercharged.
~Alex