Fast & Furious: Supercharged - General Discussion

[Scott W.]

Not with Forbidden Journey though, since it relies on practical sets including the animatroics dragon and tree and ghosts with screens being secondary.

I'd be interested to see what the ratio of screen and practical is for that ride in terms of what's in front of the rider.

 

[JungleSkip]

It's not just one bad decision though is it? You're saying you didn't like Fallon which is falling into the same category as this, along with Kong. I know Kong and Fallon have mixed reviews with members here, some love them, some hate them but it's all pretty much the same.

The next big thing coming will be more Potter. It feels like we're living in a decade of dejavu.

A decade of dejavu that has given us some of the best rides and lands in the world, but yea, sure, that's bad or something.

Yes, we're 2 years away from the "correction". That's how theme parks work. You can't change gears overnight, and they locked themselves into a course a few years ago that they didn't realize was the wrong one. They're gonna come out of it. You can believe the people saying that, or you cannot. But every thread now descends into pages and pages of "THE END IS NIGH". It's so tedious. It makes a site that I love coming to feel like a slog more often than not now.

 

[Imperius]

Yeah I’m not excited for this by any means, but I know what it is. A stepping stone to better rides and less screens so I’m happy.

 

[epcyclopedia]

I'd be interested to see what the ratio of screen and practical is for that ride in terms of what's in front of the rider.

Journey's ride time from the time you're really entering the ride until you pop back onto the belt to unload is about 4 minutes.

Each dome section is about 30 seconds (there are 3 of them).

So that's about 3/8 of the ride or 37.5% of it. Come to think of it, isn't Journey considered to have about 8 scenes or so? Observatory, screen, shack, forest, willow, screen, chamber, screen, finale.

 

[Scott W.]

A decade of dejavu that has given us some of the best rides and lands in the world, but yea, sure, that's bad or something.

Yes, we're 2 years away from the "correction". That's how theme parks work. You can't change gears overnight, and they locked themselves into a course a few years ago that they didn't realize was the wrong one. They're gonna come out of it. You can believe the people saying that, or you cannot. But every thread now descends into pages and pages of "THE END IS NIGH". It's so tedious. It makes a site that I love coming to feel like a slog more often than not now.

Besides Potter, what has actually been new or groundbreaking? I understand that every ride can't be the best but it's a lot more of the same when we go through the time line:

Hogsmeade opens and it changes the game (Opens in 2010)
Despicable Me is just a new movie and the second redo of the same ride.
Spider-Man refurbishment
Transformers (Similar ride to Spider-Man)
Diagon opens and changes the game again
Kong (A worse version of a practical ride that was built 25 years before it)
Hulk refurbishment
Fallon (Another screen based theatre experience in a park that already has Shrek, Terminator and Despicable Me)
F&F (A similar ride to Kong that opened 2 years before it)
More Potter is coming, maybe 2 Potter expansions that can take us to 2019/2020.

Universal has the illusion that UOR is a highly dynamic park with lots of exciting new attractions but all they've really done is destroy classic practical rides and replaced them generic filler unless it's Potter.

Are Universal becoming unable to do anything new or different unless they have somebody watching over their shoulder?

 

[UAN17]

It's not just one bad decision though is it? You're saying you didn't like Fallon which is falling into the same category as this, along with Kong. I know Kong and Fallon have mixed reviews with members here, some love them, some hate them but it's all pretty much the same.

The next big thing coming will be more Potter. It feels like we're living in a decade of dejavu.



I was going to say pretty much the same thing in that 'Has Universal Lost It's Way' thread that got deleted a while back. What's frustrating is that Universal have done some really great things with Potter but everything else just feels so generic.



Universal has been screen heavy with Potter as well.

I think they’ve taken their own USP and turned it into a disadvantage. They’ve become lazy, and defeated themselves without Disney having to do much to gain back the momentum.

 

[Imperius]

Whole lot of hyperbole being used here. Deafeated themselves? Is that why their attendance and revenue has grown in the last few years? Disney didn’t have to to much? They had to build Star Wars, announce Tron, ratatouille, close GMR, close UOE, open Pandora, but yeah, nothing.

 

[UAN17]

A decade of dejavu that has given us some of the best rides and lands in the world, but yea, sure, that's bad or something.

Yes, we're 2 years away from the "correction". That's how theme parks work. You can't change gears overnight, and they locked themselves into a course a few years ago that they didn't realize was the wrong one. They're gonna come out of it. You can believe the people saying that, or you cannot. But every thread now descends into pages and pages of "THE END IS NIGH". It's so tedious. It makes a site that I love coming to feel like a slog more often than not now.

Unless people are trolls I don’t think they’re here because they don’t love Universal...but like Disney have rightly had their asses handed to them on the forums for over a decade, some people are frustrated with Universals recent direction.

I’ve only been to Florida 3 times, and on my first 2 trips Universal stood out as my favourite...this time, I was a little bored with aspects. Any criticism is because I want it to regain that number 1 position in my heart and mind.

 

[Teebin]

Funny, I don’t perceive Universal’s situation to be dire at all. I am surprised by those who think it is.

 

[UAN17]

Whole lot of hyperbole being used here. Deafeated themselves? Is that why their attendance and revenue has grown in the last few years? Disney didn’t have to to much? They had to build Star Wars, announce Tron, ratatouille, close GMR, close UOE, open Pandora, but yeah, nothing.

Announcing rides had no effect on the general public, unless it’s Star Wars, and then still most people don’t care until it’s built...so far they’ve built Pandora. In 10 years. Disney, as of this very moment, have done very little in Orlando.

Yeah defeated was maybe harsh, but they definitely took their eye off the ball when they should have been swinging for the stands.

 

[darkridelover]

I just hate how all the trolls here never mention Disney's reliance on screens and projections for almost every ride they've built in the last 10 years. Get over yourselves.

 

[JungleSkip]

I think they’ve taken their own USP and turned it into a disadvantage. They’ve become lazy, and defeated themselves without Disney having to do much to gain back the momentum.

Lol. A company gaining double digits year on year is defeated. This is beyond parody.

Two years ago everyone in theme park fandom ragged on Disney for not building. One great (and it was great) D23 later and Universal should close up shop.

Besides Potter, what has actually been new or groundbreaking? I understand that every ride can't be the best but it's a lot more of the same when we go through the time line:

Hogsmeade opens and it changes the game (Opens in 2010)
Despicable Me is just a new movie and the second redo of the same ride.
Spider-Man refurbishment
Transformers (Similar ride to Spider-Man)
Diagon opens and changes the game again
Kong (A worse version of a practical ride that was built 25 years before it)
Hulk refurbishment
Fallon (Another screen based theatre experience in a park that already has Shrek, Terminator and Despicable Me)
F&F (A similar ride to Kong that opened 2 years before it)
More Potter is coming, maybe 2 Potter expansions that can take us to 2019/2020.

Universal has the illusion that UOR is a highly dynamic park with lots of exciting new attractions but all they've really done is destroy classic practical rides and replaced them generic filler unless it's Potter.

Are Universal becoming unable to do anything new or different unless they have somebody watching over their shoulder?

Calling Kong and Transformers generic filler is patently ridiculous.

I’m not going to litigate the screens debate for the millionth time. But to say Universal is not dynamic and has not reshaped the market in Orlando and Hollywood is seriously missing the forest for the trees. Uni has doubled its attendance in 7 years and went from an Also-ran to a legitimate destination.

Have they made mistakes? Clearly. But all the hyperbolic doom and gloom is so over the top.

And I’ll ignore all the stuff that’s coming, because apparently you’re not allowed to talk about stuff that hasn’t been announced yet as good anymore.

 

[UAN17]

I just hate how all the trolls here never mention Disney's reliance on screens and projections for almost every ride they've built in the last 10 years. Get over yourselves.

Criticism doesn’t equal troll.

 

[darkridelover]

I literally see the same people on this forum reminiscing and praising the old Back to the Future ride but crap on Fallon which is a smoother, higher quality, and a better experience than BTTF ever was.

 

[UAN17]

Lol. A company gaining double digits year on year is defeated. This is beyond parody.

Two years ago everyone in theme park fandom ragged on Disney for not building. One great (and it was great) D23 later and Universal should close up shop.


Calling Kong and Transformers generic filler is patently ridiculous.

I’m not going to litigate the screens debate for the millionth time. But to say Universal is not dynamic and has not reshaped the market in Orlando and Hollywood is seriously missing the forest for the trees. Uni has doubled its attendance in 7 years and went from an Also-ran to a legitimate destination.

Have they made mistakes? Clearly. But all the hyperbolic doom and gloom is so over the top.

And I’ll ignore all the stuff that’s coming, because apparently you’re not allowed to talk about stuff that hasn’t been announced yet as good anymore.

Well in fairness Disney have kind of had 2 pretty good D23s now, but we still haven’t seen anything announced open.

My criticism of Kong isn’t that it’s filler it’s that I expected it to be some form of Kong, Spider-Man, Dinosaur mash up...it’s an expectation that I had after seeing what they were capable with after Potter, and the direction they looked to be heading. If it opened pre potter it’d be considered great...but it didn’t and that’s the issue here. All of these rides like Fallon, F&F aren’t/won’t be bad rides, but they’re not as good as what they’ve done in the past, and that’s the issue...it appears lazy.

If I remember correctly you were very adamant that Guardians wasn’t coming to Epcot, despite Marni insisting on it for over a year...so you should probably understand scepticism in regards to unannounced rides, as you’ve been there yourself.

 

[JungleSkip]

Well in fairness Disney have kind of had 2 pretty good D23s now, but we still haven’t seen anything announced open.

My criticism of Kong isn’t that it’s filler it’s that I expected it to be some form of Kong, Spider-Man, Dinosaur mash up...it’s an expectation that I had after seeing what they were capable with after Potter, and the direction they looked to be heading. If it opened pre potter it’d be considered great...but it didn’t and that’s the issue here. All of these rides like Fallon, F&F aren’t/won’t be bad rides, but they’re not as good as what they’ve done in the past, and that’s the issue...it appears lazy.

See this...doesn’t make sense to me. Every ride has to up the last one? If Kong would be great, but not as great as Potter, I’d consider that pretty dang good, as the Potter rides are some of the best in the world. I guess I’m okay with every ride not bein completely ground breaking as long as it’s fun.

If I remember correctly you were very adamant that Guardians wasn’t coming to Epcot, despite Marni insisting on it for over a year...so you should probably understand scepticism in regards to unannounced rides, as you’ve been there yourself.

I’ve also said from day 1 I have little-to-no info regarding Disney. My Guardians skepticism came from my personal feelings, not from a position of knowledge.

 

[UAN17]

See this...doesn’t make sense to me. Every ride has to up the last one? If Kong would be great, but not as great as Potter, I’d consider that pretty dang good, as the Potter rides are some of the best in the world. I guess I’m okay with every ride not bein completely ground breaking as long as it’s fun.



I’ve also said from day 1 I have little-to-no info regarding Disney. My Guardians skepticism came from my personal feelings, not from a position of knowledge.

Kong just falls short for a lot of reasons that seem like they would have been easy to avoid....like the story. That’s poor execution. There’s good aspects like the queue, the start of the ride. I actually like the 3d parts, but not how it kind of just ends. Well off topic but Kongs biggest issue was ride videos of Shanghai’s Pirates came out a week before people got on this, where immersion and fusion of sets and imagery were combined to astonishing new heights...it contrasted to screens followed by rolling past an AA on Kong. It was the first time in a decade where Disney made Universal look tired.

A lot of posters here like myself aren’t in a position of knowledge so I too have my own scepticism on the scope and scale of a lot of the unnanounced plans....and not just for Universal. I’ll believe Epcot’s grand reinvention when it’s annoucned...as we were promised more than 2 new lands in DHS’ “3 billion dollar redo”

 

[Scott W.]

Lol. A company gaining double digits year on year is defeated. This is beyond parody.

Two years ago everyone in theme park fandom ragged on Disney for not building. One great (and it was great) D23 later and Universal should close up shop.


Calling Kong and Transformers generic filler is patently ridiculous.

I’m not going to litigate the screens debate for the millionth time. But to say Universal is not dynamic and has not reshaped the market in Orlando and Hollywood is seriously missing the forest for the trees. Uni has doubled its attendance in 7 years and went from an Also-ran to a legitimate destination.

Have they made mistakes? Clearly. But all the hyperbolic doom and gloom is so over the top.

And I’ll ignore all the stuff that’s coming, because apparently you’re not allowed to talk about stuff that hasn’t been announced yet as good anymore.

See this...doesn’t make sense to me. Every ride has to up the last one? If Kong would be great, but not as great as Potter, I’d consider that pretty dang good, as the Potter rides are some of the best in the world. I guess I’m okay with every ride not bein completely ground breaking as long as it’s fun.



I’ve also said from day 1 I have little-to-no info regarding Disney. My Guardians skepticism came from my personal feelings, not from a position of knowledge.

If every ride can't top the previous one then what would you call these rides between the great ones?

Do you consider Kong a great ride?

I'm not saying the end is nigh for Universal, it's clearly far from it. The GP will continue to gobble up everything that Universal throws out there and have a great time.

My concern is that Universal have played catch up to Disney and done a great job but they may end up with a reputation as a resort that has great Harry Potter rides but only now produces mediocre rides. In fact that's an unfair thing to say, globally, Universal are top tier against every theme park that isn't Disney but Disney live just down the road.

My final thought before this drags on and on (We're not all going to agree and that's what makes this forum great) is that I think it would just be nice if Universal could make a great ride that wasn't Potter. (I know Nintendo is coming but that's now here and now)

 

[sonoma15]

If every ride can't top the previous one then what would you call these rides between the great ones?

What?

 

[JungleSkip]

Kong just falls short for a lot of reasons that seem like they would have been easy to avoid....like the story. That’s poor execution. There’s good aspects like the queue, the start of the ride. I actually like the 3d parts, but not how it kind of just ends. Well off topic but Kongs biggest issue was ride videos of Shanghai’s Pirates came out a week before people got on this, where immersion and fusion of sets and imagery were combined to astonishing new heights...it contrasted to screens followed by rolling past an AA on Kong. It was the first time in a decade where Disney made Universal look tired.

A lot of posters here like myself aren’t in a position of knowledge so I too have my own scepticism on the scope and scale of a lot of the unnanounced plans.

I’ll agree to disagree on your summation of Shanghai Pirates. I think it looks like a great ride, but other than the ending I don’t think I’d take it over FJ, Spider-Man, or Gringotts.

I have my own skepticism about Some of Uni’s upcoming stuff. The Potter rides and Nintendo will be great, that I have no doubt. I’ll agree that when they don’t have someone looking over their shoulder they tend to trip themselves up. I’m not sold on the T2 replacement yet, and I hope SLoP turns out as well as people like BriMan say they will. I’ve been skeptical for a while at people on the inside claiming park 3 will be “TDS level”.

I get people are frustrated. But I wish we weren’t constantly rehashing the doom. Even with the relatively bad years of 2017 and 2018, we still got Volcano bay, which in my opinion is the strongest water park in the coty