Incredible Hulk Coaster Refurb
- Thread starter Brian G.
- Start date
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Agreed on Rockit. Especially when the line isn't moving and you have to hear the same video on loop on how to load the train. Dudleys not too bad. However every year it seems to be different, last year I think I went down some steps and was right at the load station.
Staying on topic of Hulk, the old queue made it hard to understand what the actual story was. Hopefully this time it makes more sense
This is one of the things that makes queues difficult, it's a delicate balance.
You need to get the story across quickly in case it's a short wait but you can't have it repeating too often so you're not going insane if it's a long wait.
I get what you are saying and appreciate your opinion, but I feel in Transformers they do a decent job by having different elimates of the story in the different rooms of the queue...but I am only commenting for a love that the line that goes something like 'put down that churro boy! What do you think this is, a theme park attraction?
Now I feel the exact opposite lol. It's a screen here telling you the story, go around the corner & it's another screen telling the same story, and this repeats ad nauseum
I can't get enough of Steven Spielberg's acting ability
- Jun 6, 2016
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I'm like 90% sure I can repeat Megatron's dialogue from memory because of how much I've heard it.
THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING, INSECTS...
I don't pay attention enough. Took me two visits to Universal to get that you were riding in a transformer. After about 10 times on the ride I finally made the connection in the line. My family laughed at me for days after that.
I like interesting looking stuff, but I don't get the story very often.
- Sep 19, 2013
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Thematically there is nothing wrong with Transformers, there's just not enough "content" for each room considering how slowly you move through it. It feels a little claustrophobic to me as well, which is also partially related to the speed of movement through the line.
- May 15, 2016
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Back to Hulk
Today I rode Dr Doom on the left tower and got an amazing look at the construction site. They have laid down the ground work for the Entrance to the ride as you can see the platform for the hulk statue and the two bases of the broken track. Exactly like the mockup preview that we got. The entrance has been pushed further back to where the old hulk car with the big hair piece used to sit. Its just off to the left of storm force and I would say 30-40 feet to the right of where the old entrance used to sit. Looks to be a much better placement for the entrance to this ride. And it appears that the locker building Is still in tact in the same spot.
Today I rode Dr Doom on the left tower and got an amazing look at the construction site. They have laid down the ground work for the Entrance to the ride as you can see the platform for the hulk statue and the two bases of the broken track. Exactly like the mockup preview that we got. The entrance has been pushed further back to where the old hulk car with the big hair piece used to sit. Its just off to the left of storm force and I would say 30-40 feet to the right of where the old entrance used to sit. Looks to be a much better placement for the entrance to this ride. And it appears that the locker building Is still in tact in the same spot.
I worked on the ride for over a year and a half in Hollywood. It's burned into my memory for eternity. The rooms may have different pieces of the story, but the loop time is painfully short. 4 minutes at the most, and even with capacity shooting near 1800 per hour, guests were often seeing the same snippets well over 4 to 5 times.
Not sure if you guys have Sonya Bradley in your extended queue but we did in USH's. (I think they still do but construction prep for the Secret Life of Pets attraction has halved it) Luckily the show designers left a chunk of time in between the vignettes so TMs could nab a mic and entertain the crowd. Without this personal touch aspect (which was a point of tension between TF TMs and Entertainment) in the first summer GSATs would go down due to the insane amount this tight extended queue held, which was about 70 to 80 on top of the 45 min towards the interior queue, which of course at least weaved in and out. In-between the extended queue and the former soundstage 28 (which, remember, was a real soundstage on a real working backlot) was a fire lane to access the other side, so everything must be removable. So when we had to flow over that 2 hour amount, it required quickly building and maintaining a temp "woodstock" queue out of barricades and rope. We would have to pull all our manpower even after it was built in case anything on the lower lot or other side of the backlot had a fire issue, so that we had enough people to immediately jump on it, evacuate the queue and rip a hole thru the lane in 5 min flat to accommodate emergency vehicles.
Of course, our extended queue suffered greatly and people at that point actively started talking to TMs on barriers between the extended and the temp queue, mostly that they were miserable and Sonya Bradley's constant interruptions were, just like me at the end of my duty there, smeared into their minds forever. And sure enough, GSATs went down. Entertainment was then finally allowed to roam free with the "fun patrol" (ugh), a ragtag group of discharged NEST members who sprayed guests with super soakers and played Gangnam Style on incessant repeat. (this was circa 2012/2013) GSATs were better, but not to full blast as they were back in the days of TMs being on the mic. Because we knew the theme, we knew what guests were there for (lots of Transformers trivia, with prizes getting a Gate A [Express] bypass), and the guests really responded to that. It was a personal show that changed and made them want to wait in line.
And with all of that comes my point: queues can tell a great story and Universal excels more than Disney does, but crowds will eventually come to despise you if you set up those short-loop videos. That's why I love the scareactors in Kong, and the atmosphere, but especially why they need a preshow. And one that's simple and possibly using an actor as an Eighth Wonder crew member could really knock it out of the park. Guests spend the most time in queues, and that shows.
Hulk (yes, finally on the subject!) is going to have a far superior queue than prior but it so, so is in danger of falling into the trap of Transformers. All I can hope is to keep the line moving and the video not be the entire focus of the queue experience. Guests only have so much of a tolerance, and this is why Disney has those dumb interactive queue. Scene 1 is nonsense, sure, but the guests can control the action and feel a part instead of totally passive. Their presence affects it, and I hope theme parks take that in the direction towards entertainment than hokey games.
Great post. Love all of that inside the scenes information, plus your opinions seem really right on. Thanks much. :thumbsup: .......This is the kind of stuff that makes OU such a great site. You won't see this kind of information anywhere else.
- May 15, 2016
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IMO Universal will always be far superior to Disney with the inclusion of the Single Rider line. Although universals express comes at a cost and Disney makes of for this by allowing you the 3 express rides. The selection of the 3 is always so bizarely random. I do love Disney and this is not a meant to start a debate. But I feel if Disney added a single rider line on some attractions the park would be infinitely better. It just irks me to see an empty seat wizz by on the car when I am playing the loner game.
With Disney you can now choose your 3 individually, you don't have to take their 3 suggestions anymore, plus some Disney have single rider :saywhat:
I don't think you ever had to choose the suggestions, I've always been able to adjust the times so I have 3 together one after another
You had to take one of the suggestions and then go in and change them manually one by one. Now you can simply select them individually
