General Discussion - Hagrid's Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure

[Blaw923]

None of this surprises me. No ride opening in the past few years has been flawless. There is so much pressure on the design teams now for tight release windows by the top brass. No ride I feel gets the proper tech rehearsal time. A main reason I don't feel bad for people who chose to waste their day in line. UC should be doing a better job of admitting to the risk of not riding for everyone in line.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

It's a common and bad trend Universal opening rides, parks and hotels too early.
Surly there are unforeseen delays every single time and every single time it's not ready. In the end they fix it but it is bad show and unprofessional. If a ride, park or hotel was in "technical rehearsal" than no one would complain. If the big opening is a month or two later, no one will complain. But if you say the ride is open, book your vacation, and it's close half of the time than it's ignoring the customer experience.
This clearly has to change Universal and if you want to have help with that you can contact me for my usual fee.

Everyone would complain.

 

[TaylorMade]

I think it is going to be interesting to see how the ride performs today. If it performs OK (which I think will happen), then people will be happy. However, if it performs poorly, then I think Universal will be flooded with customer complaints.

 

[Mad Dog]

Quit doing grand openings in the summer and the pressure would be off. Opening rides/hotels/etc. at other times of year provides more flexibility on opening dates if late reliability and construction issues occur, plus you don't have the Marketing Dept. breathing down your back because they want to sell summer vacation packages coupled around a new ride. Get with the reality of the situation that summer is no longer the only season of the year with good attendance.

 

[SpatulaShack]

The real question is why wouldn't they just announce that the ride will be closing early each day (like 3pm) instead of opening late? Wouldn't that be the better option? On-site hotel guests wouldn't feel duped, crowd control could remain the same as it has, they'd have even MORE time to work on the ride, they would avoid afternoon storms, and it would give people who really want to ride a feeling of control knowing if they line up in the morning, they can ride without wasting their entire day.

 

[Alicia]

The real question is why wouldn't they just announce that the ride will be closing early each day (like 3pm) instead of opening late? Wouldn't that be the better option? On-site hotel guests wouldn't feel duped, crowd control could remain the same as it has, they'd have even MORE time to work on the ride, they would avoid afternoon storms, and it would give people who really want to ride a feeling of control knowing if they line up in the morning, they can ride without wasting their entire day.

Maybe they need the daylight for whatever they're working on? Or maybe that's when more techs have availability hours. I honestly have no idea, but given the fact that they've chosen two out of the last four mornings to work on the ride, it must be somehow important to do it then.

 

[SailwiththeTide]

The real question is why wouldn't they just announce that the ride will be closing early each day (like 3pm) instead of opening late? Wouldn't that be the better option? On-site hotel guests wouldn't feel duped, crowd control could remain the same as it has, they'd have even MORE time to work on the ride, they would avoid afternoon storms, and it would give people who really want to ride a feeling of control knowing if they line up in the morning, they can ride without wasting their entire day.

What they really should have done is built the ride in Hollywood. It may not have solved the technical issues but there would not be any weather delays.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

What they really should have done is built the ride in Hollywood. It may not have solved the technical issues but there would not be any weather delays.

....what?

 

[Nick]

What they really should have done is built the ride in Hollywood. It may not have solved the technical issues but there would not be any weather delays.

There is certainly no room for them to build this beast out at USH, but that’s not here or there on topic about the current ops situation in Orlando.

 

[Mad Dog]

....what?

I think he was joking, tongue in cheek.

 

[TDBLMT]

Marketing needs to stop dictating opening dates. No matter whose character’s birthday it is or whatever nonsense.

 

[P@n!K_Sw1tC#]

I stand by what I say.

K, see you across the lagoon in like 18 months for the next Intamin installment.

 

[SpatulaShack]

Marketing needs to stop dictating opening dates. No matter whose character’s birthday it is or whatever nonsense.

I really don't think this is what happened. Testing was going incredibly well until a few weeks before opening and everyone involved felt confident about the June 13th date when they made the call to announce it in March.

 

[Nick]

I really don't think this is what happened. Testing was going incredibly well until a few weeks before opening and everyone involved felt confident about the June 13th date when they made the call to announce it in March.

Remember how we were once talking about potential softs in late May bc of how well it was testing?

 

[Alicia]

Remember how we were once talking about potential softs in late May bc of how well it was testing?

Those were the days. Little did we know.

 

[TaylorMade]

Does anybody have any updates from the park? How many people are in line as of 11:15? Going to be there for a week next week and staying over at Portofino. I had my plan of attack all set, but now I obviously have to change it. Pretty annoyed but things happen.

 

[TDBLMT]

Those were the days. Little did we know.

It’s almost as if your intel was off.....

I believe Marketing had a say and the project team just had to make it work. Same thing happened with Gringotts.

 

[BBPH]

Does anybody have any updates from the park? How many people are in line as of 11:15? Going to be there for a week next week and staying over at Portofino. I had my plan of attack all set, but now I obviously have to change it. Pretty annoyed but things happen.

Its closed currently as per their new opening 'strategy'. I can't imagine they would be letting people queue, although I'm sure there will be people hanging around.

 

[TaylorMade]

Its closed currently as per their new opening 'strategy'. I can't imagine they would be letting people queue, although I'm sure there will be people hanging around.

You think they would not let people cue at 11:15?? I actually think this would be a huge mistake.

 

[Tbad556]

Here's an update from 20 minutes ago:



It's also being advertised at the parking entrance: