Inside Universal Forums

Welcome to the Inside Universal Forums! Register a free account today to become a member. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members and unlock our forums features!

  • Signing up for a Premium Membership is a donation to help Inside Universal maintain costs and offers an ad-free experience on the forum. Learn more about it here.

Media and Reviews - Jurassic World: The Ride

Does anyone know when press should get their press kit footage? the B-roll of the rides are usually a great source to see the AAs up close.
 
I love vidoes like that, but the low-light gives people the wrong impression. I'm sure you can't really see that the Rexy is floating in real life anymore, but in low light, all the seams and stitches are visible for every little thing.
 
Ok Review Time, I went it on the ride twice on Sunday, So its Fresh in my mind here is my thoughts/review of the ride.

1) I want to note how hard this ride is to review because I feel like what ever team worked on the end of the ride is not the same team who did the rest of the ride.
2) If you went in expecting this to not be mind blowing then you are probably going to love this ride.

So I'm going to start with the Q for the Ride, I think the new videos are a huge improvement of what we had before. The Video's are pretty entertaining for you just waiting for 20ish minutes no clue if you'd enjoy them for 90+ mins but they will be great for when the lines are at a more reasonable wait time.
The ride loads like before and you enter the first turn, I do like the theme of this mini area but narration isn't as strong as before.
The mosasaurus Tanks are cool, do think they are as impressive as some bloggers have said...no. I think they are good but not mind binding or anything to ride the ride for, I also feel like this section would have made more sense to be in the Predators Cove straight away to lift since that area is sooo dead, this would have also made the transition better into the next area, where as now the tank just ends and there is a cave/waterfall.
The Next area is the waterfall/caves which goes into the old dinosaurs we have seen for 20 years, which is funny they bring attention to the fact they have a "new" baby when nothing is new. Its basically the same area as before but now without the little Dinosaurs fighting over Popcorn.
(In my ideal world I would have upgraded these Dinosaurs to move more life like but seems the budget don't call for that)
Now onto the worst area of the ride for me which is Predators Cove, Fine you want to do some environmental story telling but it goes on for far too long. From the point you enter this area you have nothing happen until you are attacked by a Raptor at the top of the hill.
BUT once you get to the top of the hill the ride becomes a true E ticket.
The Video can't show how detailed and great this ending feels compared to before. It feels much more scary, alive and natural.
Getting attacked as you go down the small hill is a great touch, and the new Blue Anamatronic is really cool to look at.
The indominus rex even in B mode is cool, its just kinda confusing what its doing since its just kinda not moving. Its still impressive just can't wait to see what A mode holds.
As for the T Rex, it looks great and the drop feels as fast as its ever been.

Overall if the entire ride got the love and detail of the end of this ride it would maybe overtake The Forbidden Journey as my Favorite Universal Hollywood Ride but.....sadly I think they didn't give them selves enough time or money for that. So while its my second favorite ride again, think it could have truly become a new classic.

Thank you for reading my Ted Talk
 
I listened to the Yesterworld Podcast yesterday while driving around about JW the ride. I got to say they have opinions for sure but they are not very well informed. They did a ride review based on a POV. This is just lazy content. This is my issue with so many "Content Creators" is they get a big following and then put out crap. Sure you can have an opinion based on a POV but if you are going produce a podcast and youtube content to over 200K subscribers how bout a little more effort. They didn't even know the mosasaur name and clearly had a Jurassic Park bias.

You can listen to it yourself but I think people need to actually ride the ride if they are going to do an in depth review.

The Yesterworld Podcast - The Yesterworld Podcast #026 - Talkin' Jurassic World: The Ride & USH's Future
 
I listened to the Yesterworld Podcast yesterday while driving around about JW the ride. I got to say they have opinions for sure but they are not very well informed. They did a ride review based on a POV. This is just lazy content. This is my issue with so many "Content Creators" is they get a big following and then put out crap. Sure you can have an opinion based on a POV but if you are going produce a podcast and youtube content to over 200K subscribers how bout a little more effort. They didn't even know the mosasaur name and clearly had a Jurassic Park bias.

You can listen to it yourself but I think people need to actually ride the ride if they are going to do an in depth review.

The Yesterworld Podcast - The Yesterworld Podcast #026 - Talkin' Jurassic World: The Ride & USH's Future
Big time agreement with that assessment . An 'opinion' is one thing, and that's fine, but a 'Review' on a POV is just wrong. :thumbsup:
 
I listened to the Yesterworld Podcast yesterday while driving around about JW the ride. I got to say they have opinions for sure but they are not very well informed. They did a ride review based on a POV. This is just lazy content. This is my issue with so many "Content Creators" is they get a big following and then put out crap. Sure you can have an opinion based on a POV but if you are going produce a podcast and youtube content to over 200K subscribers how bout a little more effort. They didn't even know the mosasaur name and clearly had a Jurassic Park bias.

You can listen to it yourself but I think people need to actually ride the ride if they are going to do an in depth review.

The Yesterworld Podcast - The Yesterworld Podcast #026 - Talkin' Jurassic World: The Ride & USH's Future
As Someone who thought less of the ride until they went on it...I agree.

Honestly the ride is not made to be filmed, the best parts the end are too dark for camrea's to really capture the atmosphere. There are some things you can see on Video like the fact that Predators Cove is empty but not much else until you ride it.
 
And now, allow me to share my thoughts of JWTR:

I had 2 attempts of trying to ride this, one to where we had a delay to the point of us leaving the queue, and the other right after going through Stranger Things at HHN.

To start off on the strong: Most of the changes from JP to JW are great! I love the new queue videos, and the level of quality they've placed with the area and the queue is great. The Mosasaurus scene is stunning (the gates worked properly for our boat), and I love the way they blended things in together. Additionally, the Blue AA is the best animatronic figure at Universal Studios Hollywood, as T-Rex Kingdom is downright beautiful. I am happy for the changes, and I'm super happy to see new life for this attraction.

Now the weak, and this is with the simple: Predator Cove is severely lacking something. It needs more, and I wish this is something that is going to be tackled for when they go under refurb to convert the I-Rex to A Mode. And on our second ride through, we got stuck right before the final drop. Now, this wouldn't be terrible..if it wasn't for the fact that they kept the sound going at a constant, and where the I-Rex in it's B-Mode is completely static. It was getting pretty annoying when we had waited for about 10 minutes (@HHNManics can back me up on that) before dropping).

In conclusion: Most of this attraction is great, but there are things..holding me back. It's not a doom and gloom, but I have some justifible criticisms. But it does make me excited, as the level of care that UCHW did put in, shows.

I'm excited to try this again, as I had fun with it.
 
Hi everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster. With the intended finale finally here, I think it's time to share my thoughts on this attraction. I'm going to do my best to not talk about "what I would've built the refurb differently" and instead, focus on what we got (believe me, I could armchair Imagineer for days). I'm just going to break down the attraction into it's sections, how I feel about each one and finally, how I feel about it overall.

General Area/Queue

I do like the new color scheme for the giant show building and general area. It took a while but it grew on me. It feels appropriately sleek and modern. Unlike the original attraction, I appreciate that the giant show building embraces the fact that it is part of the "Jurassic World" attraction. It's not a power plant that we "aren't supposed to be in". It's the T-Rex Kingdom and it's our intended destination from the get-go. As much as I enjoy the original, the load and unload area's ride path being solely connected to an auxiliary building and waterfall that we're not supposed to even be in doesn't make much sense when you start to break it down or think too hard. The queue itself still leaves much to be desired as it remains a rather uninspired series of switchbacks with dinosaur graphics to stare at. I do like the updated video monitors and queue videos. They're fun and help keep things feeling "new" and "modern" enough (though I would have obviously preferred an entire queue re-work to better combat those hot valley days).

The Aquarium

First off; what works. The new scene makes me and the boat feel appropriately small and I really like that. The sheer size of the aquarium and it's screens I honestly feel, make us feel smaller than the Ultrasaurs in the previous lagoon ever did. I think that it immediately helps to set a sense of "powerless-ness" in us for the attraction that comes into play later. Also, this new scene helps correct some of the more recent Universal sightline issues. I'm talking about the parking structure, Super Silly Fun Land and that giant, Eye of Sauron Minion.

Sadly, what doesn't work for me is the illusion of the screens themselves. I'm not sure how to explain it, but the Mosasaurus doesn't feel real enough to me or have enough depth to really sell me on the illusion. What I do find interesting though, is that, I actually do buy into it when watching YouTube videos of this scene. For some reason, the aquarium looks legit on film or through a lens but it just doesn't work for me in person and seeing it with my own eyes. It really pops in people's recordings but it comes off flat in person. I don't know how to explain it.

Herbivore Valley

Mostly unchanged from before but a few nitpicks here. The idea is fine but I think this area needs more foliage to better hide the backstage areas and walls that encompass it. As it stands, it feels more like a really tight corridor and less like an area where these giant animals can freely roam in and out from. I think the dinosaurs are fine but I wouldn't be upset if they simply turned the water hazards/geysers in this area off completely. My first two ride throughs yesterday everything was working fine but by our third trip, both Stegos had stopped completely and I think Universal needs to stop soaking these figures every few seconds. More foliage would lead to more shade, a better illusion and no need to cool the riders off here with water (think the Cretaceous Cruise from the 2015 film). The water is also embarrassingly shallow for the Parasaurolophus, meaning we can see it's animatronic holding cell just below the surface. Like I said, I'm nitpicking but everything just feels so tight in this area with all the backstage stuff creeping in that it's hard for me to not notice.

(Review continued below..)
 
Last edited:
Predator Cove

First off; kudos to Universal for taking Guest feedback to heart and doing something with this area. For the most part, I think this area is working well enough now to help set the scene for future events. The Gyrosphere gag is fun but I think if you think too hard about the scene, some questions come up. We pass a sign that says "Gyrosphere Raptor Lookout Point" meaning the small plot of land to our left is immediately accessible from the Gyrophere attraction (likely via the large doors just behind it). That said and that being the case, they need to add some railing between the "lookout" and the boat flume. Because given the nature of how Gyrospheres are user-controlled, there is absolutely nothing stopping the driver from rolling right into the water after coming through the door. Seems like a safety nightmare waiting to happen if the park were functioning fully. I could complain about how there isn't much "Raptor activity" to be on the lookout for (Gyrosphere or boat-wise) because the 1993 Raptor enclosure doesn't allow for distant viewing, but we are in a park that literally does something similar with the Studio Tour and it's "behind the scenes" sets. I imagine this boat ride and Gyrosphere to be experiencing something similar.

The LED screens were hit or miss during our day. They were a little hard to read in the sunlight. Perhaps some awnings placed just above them would better help them read in the California sun. I don't think it would break theme. These screens are supposed to be playing facts for us on a normal boat ride through here so it would make sense that Jurassic World would want them as visible as possible to riders.

Let's talk Indominus. In the film, the Indominus is sort of "everywhere and nowhere" at the same time. I've read some complaints from other sites that the carnage, destruction and movement of the animal through this area doesn't quite make sense. I disagree and think it works well enough because that's kind of what she's always done in the film and shows. I think it's important to remember that these creatures are breaking out before we enter the Predator Cove area. Which means there's time for the Indominus to break out, devour the poor Gyrosphere riders, screw up Predator Cove/the entrance to T-Rex Kingdom and find itself watching us as we're pulled into the finale. I've also heard some folks say that the Indominus' placement just to our left before the lift doesn't make sense. I argue it only doesn't if you're applying your "real world" theme park knowledge to the scene. Of course we as frequent theme park goers know what that space looks like behind the scenes. But for story purposes, we actually don't know how the rest of the Indominus enclosure connects to, or otherwise interacts with the rest of the T-Rex Kingdom show building. We see the trees moving inside the Indominus enclosure as we pass by it's doors, meaning the creature is likely heading "''round back" to cause some damage. She's simply made her way to a backstage area she's not supposed to be in by the time we're entering T-Rex Kingdom and can't quite get to us, yet.

T-Rex Kingdom

So, I think this scene is great, overall. The damage to the monitors and entrance tunnel communicate to us that something has definitely gone wrong in here and I actually really like the music this scene uses throughout. There is a lot of tension built here. The word I would use for the music is "powerful". This brings me back to that original sense of "powerless-ness" I think is established in the Aquarium scene. We're just sort of being dragged along, feeling small, knowing we're entering the proverbial lion's den with nothing we can do but cross our fingers and pray for a way out.

Again, I want to address some other complaints I've heard about this scene. Some folks seem to think that the Rex has free roam of this area and that she would just be eating up Guests even if the containment hadn't failed simply because they don't "see" anything to stop her from doing so. I want to point out that we don't actually know what kind of security measures Jurassic World has in place to keep the Rex away from the boats. Lots of Zoos do their best to try and hide units that deter animals from entering a certain area or keep them contained. Because T-Rex Kingdom is our intended destination from the start, we simply have to assume as riders that this area was safe enough for us to view the Rex from a far before all the security failings. I am fine with that and I buy into it. All these animals running amuck in this scene aren't doing so because they've always been able to. It's chaos at this point and these animals wouldn't normally be doing this.

Anyways, I really like the music and the way the lighting clicks on to reveal the drop into the jungle. The Dilophosaurus' are fun and feel at home here causing chaos. The Blue animatronic is nice. On a side note, I wonder if Owen Grady's line where he says "If you can hear me, I've sent help. Keep an eye out for Blue." is meant to be interpreted as "human help is on the way, watch out for my raptor" or if Blue is quite literally, the help that Owen sends? Blue does confront the Indominus in the film and she does sort of call at her on the ride in a distracting sort of manner. I guess this moment is up to the Guest's interpretation.

Coming to the Indominus herself in all her glory is a real treat and brought the little kid in me right back out. I've been waiting to see this thing in action for a long time and it doesn't disappoint. All other Guests in our boats had similar reactions. She just, commands attention. -and I think that bit is important for the final bit to discuss: the T-Rex herself.

I've never been a fan of the "flying T-Rex". I had always wished they'd do more to better hide her legs or outright remove them entirely because I really don't like her flying towards you like Superman. I just don't buy it and I just don't like it. Even in the dark, I can still see it, especially when the Rex was our finale focal point. All eyes are straight ahead, on Rexy, for the big drop. But with the new Indominus, our attention shifts to her. She gets real close and compels you to watch her until the Rex comes out last second. During this time, I found my eyes drawn upwards, watching these two titans get very close and yes, even buy into the illusion they were about to throw down. But just as they're about to, we fall. Rexy's flying leg problem is still there but it's much less of a noticeable issue given the way the scene is constructed, now. The new finale sort of reminded me of the scene in Godzilla (2014) when the bunker doors were shutting just as Godzilla and the MUTO were about to come to blows. We cut away before we see any of the action, but it still feels like it went down. It works for this ride and I love it.

Final Thoughts

The original Jurassic Park attraction was one of my favorites. There are lots of things and ideas that one had that I felt it did better than Jurassic World. But as the years went by, it feel into dis-repair at no fault of it's own. I'm inclined to say that, if Jurassic Park were functioning at 100% on opening day, I'd give the edge to Park. But that's not the reality we live in. So I have no choice but to compare Jurassic World as it stands now to Jurassic Park when it closed. In that comparison, Jurassic World wins because at this moment, everything is more or less functioning as intended. Will that last? I don't know. Universal's track record doesn't fill me with hope. But still hope, I shall. Hope they continue to plus and maintain this attraction as much as possible so it never falls into the state of disrepair that Jurassic Park had to endure. I am fine with them making what changes they need to in order to bring about that reality (like removing the waterfall from the T-Rex Kingdom).
 
Last edited:
Top