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Revenge of the Mummy Upgrades

  • Thread starter Thread starter ralphoutloud
  • Start date Start date Nov 24, 2008
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insanepizzaguy

insanepizzaguy

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  • May 20, 2013
  • #681
I find it quite annoying how Mummy was built on a 40 million dollar budget and during Universal's "dark ages". A mummy rollercoaster has so many things that can be made from it, but Universal just didn't have the money at the time. I sometimes wonder what it would be like if it was built now with a 100 million dollar budget. There wouldn't be screens, statue mummy warriors, or bad animatronics. It could be an actual "psychological thrill ride" with many more effects and elements that would make this a truly scary ride experience. Many things could and should be fixed on this, it could really help ROTM live up to its much higher potential. But even with all these problems, I still think this is currently(but not for long) the best ride in the park.
 
PWT

PWT

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  • May 20, 2013
  • #682
Fallow said:
Now I know what you're thinking... hey, the ride was only built for 40 million, at the time of the "dark ages" of the parks. I get that, and it's commendable that they were able to do so much with so little. But that does not matter (nor should it) to 99.9% of the theme park-going population...But that does not matter (nor should it) to 99.9% of the theme park-going population...
Click to expand...

A lot of what you listed doesn't matter to the 99.9% that go to theme parks as well, otherwise this would not be as highly rated of an attraction at the studios.
 
Starwarsfan13

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  • May 20, 2013
  • #683
PWT said:
A lot of what you listed doesn't matter to the 99.9% that go to theme parks as well, otherwise this would not be as highly rated of an attraction at the studios.
Click to expand...

Cause it's a coaster... Cut the coaster part and see how well it rates.

BTW, I love it but it could use a Spiderman/HM style refurb to be able to compete with Gringotts and Transformers.
 
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sierrak5

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  • May 20, 2013
  • #684
I really enjoy it the way it is, but wouldn't be opposed to upgrades :cheers:

The coaster portion is just so much fun!
 
USO92

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  • May 20, 2013
  • #685
Starwarsfan13 said:
Cause it's a coaster... Cut the coaster part and see how well it rates.
BTW, I love it but it could use a Spiderman/HM style refurb to be able to compete with Gringotts and Transformers.
Click to expand...

Well of course its gonna suck without the coaster parts....The Mummy is an indoor coaster with dark ride elements mixed in...I wouldnt even wanna ride if it had no coaster parts...

But I do agree it definitely could use a massive upgrade...if it did I could see that ride lasting another decade
 
Hulk912

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  • May 21, 2013
  • #686
I would also say that Singapore has a more polished version of the ride. I recently watched a pov of their version, and it appears pretty similar to Orlando's, yet they changed the story a tad, and it makes a bit more sense. I could see Orlando getting this version eventually. The story change seems like doable refurb. Regardless, this is still my current favorite ride!
 
C

Capacity

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  • May 21, 2013
  • #687
Cut the coaster parts? But... Its a coaster.... Some people get waaaay too picky. We're all critics here but be realistic.
 
Blastiel

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  • May 21, 2013
  • #688
As a UK resident I can honestly saw that even what people consider to be a lame ride at Universal is still 1000000% better themed / designed then anything our best can do which is why a lot of the foreign guests give more fo a thumbs up then those who reside stateside?
 
TheLastAshen

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  • May 21, 2013
  • #689
Fallow said:
I'm actually going to agree with TheLastAshen and take on the unpopular opinion that Revenge of the Mummy is overall a pretty underwhelming attraction.

Is the coaster portion fun? Yes, I love that pop of air time and the silk smooth turns. It's quite short, but it's still a ton of fun.

But the dark ride portion fails to live up to expectations and is frankly in shambles these days, and that's with the "upgrades." (I understand the projectors were upgraded, but I honestly think they may have hurt the ride more than they helped.)

Hear me out:

The storyline frankly makes little sense and is poorly communicated to the guest. The concept is there - you're visiting a movie set that is using cursed, genuine props that proceed to cause mayhem. This ride would have benefitted extremely from a mandatory preshow (ala Rock'n'Roller Coaster) to establish what the Med-Jai symbol is, what it does, who Imhotep is, and who Reggie is (and the coffee mission Brendan Fraiser sends him on so the current ending makes an inkling of sense to the average joe). It'd also help tremendously in establishing what YOUR (the guest's) role is - movie extras. We take all the plot details for granted, but I guarantee you most of the general public has no idea what's going on - and that's a shame, since this has so much more potential than a 30 second roller coaster ride in the dark.

The queue line, thankfully, is perfectly executed. Creepy, atmospheric, wonderfully lit, plenty of interactive entertainment, the works. No complaints at all.

The beginning of the ride is solid, but could be plussed tremendously to be more similar to Hollywood's ride - a handful of the Mummies could easily "come to life" with very minimal motions (i.e. a head turn, glowing eyes and whatnot). Imagine how atmospherically chilling it would be to see the mummy currently lying down on that slab silently turn its head towards you, eyes glowing! The "shadow" projection really makes little sense (it isn't Imhotep since he's still in his sarcophagus, and Reggie is already mummified, so...?). If anyone has any canon details on why that's there and who it's supposed to represent, I'd love to know - the effect is cool, at least.

I also never understood the lighting in these opening turns. The only well lit area is the slab to your right - all of the stuff on your left is left in relative darkness, making it hard to discern that the mummified bodies are supposed to be the tourists on the mine train before you. Why not brighten this up just a smidge? There's lots of great details lost.

The opening show scene with Reggie and Imhotep I used to be great, and then had a slow, painful decline over the years. Reggie used to be far more animated (though I understand he's had a refurbishment & cleaning recently?) Imhotep I was mostly hydraulics originally to be my understanding, and he moved quite smoothly and convincingly - but the figure was unreliable and slowly replaced with pneumatic (air) parts. This led to the figure losing any sense of realism, with the current jerky, frankly lame motions. Then, to add insult to injury, at some point they switched out the scene's lighting package (check older on ride POVs and compare with newer ones, you'll see the difference); the scene is now much too bright, and Imhotep's robotic arm is laughably apparent. The original scene worked fine, but a more reliable, hydraulic Imhotep needs to be installed (I also understand the original Imhotep was built on a very, very low bid by a movie special effects manufacturer, not a more reliable animatronics house), with the original lighting restored.

The transition to the treasure room is fine but slightly awkward... the lighting effect is nifty but so much more could be done besides the otherwise bare walls. The ceiling limbs effect from Hollywood would do great here and greatly enhance the story (i.e. the Mummies are coming to life and are after you!)

The Treasure Room I have almost no problems with... I don't mind the projection, it's the most convincing one in the attraction, and a sand-filled animatronic head would've been incredibly problematic (sand + advanced robotics? no thank you). What I do mind, however, as does most everyone, is the stupidly static warriors. They just come off as cheap and lame, and these days you can see them in their neutral position before they spring up and do nothing. If actual moving animatronics here aren't feasible, then why not take a cue from Hollywood's treasure room (which doesn't have warrior mummies) and use corpses instead? Have stakes spring up with mummified corpses spring up in the warriors' place, foreshadowing your eventual fate (Hollywood has such corpses, though they're pinned to a wall and illuminated by light, instead). They won't look fake if they don't move since, you know, they're dead. My only other nitpick with this scene is the bare wall underneath the falling doorway - couldn't they apply a basic Egyptian stone look to match the rest of the room? It's very apparent it's just a black wall.

The scarab room has lost most of its impact over the years (I can't remember the last time I was actually squirted with water upon the lights going out). The projectors are now stupidly bright, making it VERY apparent that we are looking at projected images. I wish they'd use the projection sequence from Singapore, in which we actually "crash" into the wall and break the sculpture, releasing the beetles. I still think the conveyor walls with the plastic beetles attached is a little silly and still visible when the lights go out, but whatever. Could at least get some of the leg ticklers from Hollywood to enhance the scene?

The turntable is where the storytelling/showmanship goes to hell. The projection's CGI is both terrible in quality and brightness; this is gotten worse recently, with the catwalks and black curtains embarrassingly obvious. A scene once almost pitch black is now merely dim, making it quite clear you're in a thrown together soundstage. Ideally this scene would be actually rethemed with Egyptian walls and hieroglyphics, with a new and improved Imhotep CGI head appearing alongside the glyphs as he does in the Treasure room.

The launch tunnel has also deteriorated over the years, with the audio seemingly cracked and hazy; the projection has seen better days, in part due to lack of sufficient fog and clarity. It'd be great to get Singapore's newer setup, which actually has a black "face" at the top of the tunnel that the projection is mapped too - it looks absolutely fantastic even in grainy on-ride POVs. It'd also be a wishful thinking to actually again get an Egyptian tunnel here with more glyphs... instead we get more black curtains and the bizarre "crystal" things (seriously, what are these supposed to be?)

The coaster portion is fun, but storytelling/show-wise, lame, lame, lame. Space Mountain is more impressive than this. You can barely see the flashing blacklit mummies, and the flashes illuminate the bare showbuilding you're flying around in. Why not use projections seen at Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, where a CGI ghost actually has motion and follows along the vehicle? Imagine how terrifying and impressive that would be! In a perfect world we'd actually have a huge Egyptian sacrificial chamber of some sort with lots of fire effects and physical mummy figures... but I'd settle for the darkness coupled with projections.

The fake unload is a remnant of the largely failed/forgotten "psychological thrill ride" branding/hype Universal pushed down our throats leading up to the ride opening... problem is, the scene is neither terrifying, surprising, or convincing. It's highly apparent that this isn't the actual station for a plethora of reasons (no gates, no visible ride op, no apparent exit), and any chance of surprise is lost after the first ride. Singapore's updated take on the scene is much better, with Imhotep already being present upon rider's entering and simply harassing them with the fire.... no attempt at "faking" them out, just more Imhotep attacks.

And of course, we have the "we totally ran out of money - crap!" ending. The floating painted Imhotep head isn't the worst thing ever (even though it looks nothing like Imhotep), nor is the Med-Jai symbol that comes out of nowhere (!?)... but to the average guest no one has any idea what just happened. The Brendan Fraiser coffee ending would make slightly more sense if the mandatory preshow was instituted, allowing an actual punchline to a plot that EVERY guest had witnessed. To most, this is just a WTF ending. If we REALLY wanted to get generous, we could steal Singapore's ending, which has Imhotep being resealed into the sarcophagus seen at the ride's beginning... and then him shaking inside attempting to escape, declaring he would get out and get us yet. What a much more interesting and easy to understand ending, that realistically would not cost much to implement since the schematics already exist!

(If you haven't noticed... Singapore's ride is Florida's on steroids with the nonsensical plot elements removed or refined..)

Now I know what you're thinking... hey, the ride was only built for 40 million, at the time of the "dark ages" of the parks. I get that, and it's commendable that they were able to do so much with so little. But that does not matter (nor should it) to 99.9% of the theme park-going population... they just expect a great ride that makes sense. I'm not going to adjust my expectations of quality on how a dark ride should be handled due to budget constraints... it's either a good ride or it isn't. Right now, Revenge of the Mummy is mediocre but fun (shallow, really), which is a shame because it has the potential to be a superior attraction.

For what it's worth, my favorite attractions at the Studios are Men in Black, ET, JAWS (RIP), and likely-soon-to-be Transformers... I'm a sucker for show-based ride experiences with great storytelling. Mummy has the ride portion down, but it needs major help in the showmanship department.
Click to expand...

Thank you, this is what I'm talking about. And the only similarities between a Disney's Rockin Roller Coaster and The Mummy is they are both indoor coasters. If budget wasn't an issue (which now, it shouldn't be) look at the Indiana Jones attractions, THAT is what a dark ride like The Mummy should be, this is what I mean if Disney were to build the same attraction, if Universal just kept the same coaster and plussed the sets and special effects to those standards then I could say it was an incredible dark ride/coaster. But this is me dreaming. Orlando is the theme park capital, right? We'll lets start making one of a kind experiences instead of just doing the minimal because people are going to pay either way. Make real memories. Thank God for Potter.
 
S

Splatter

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  • May 21, 2013
  • #690
Upgrades are always nice but Mummy is still an E-ticket. Just not as sharp as it once was. I agree with the confusing storyline for the general public because there is no strong presence of it. Which is ok for some attractions but with this one it features the ending that is very random and arbitrary if you did not know why Fraser is talking to you on a giant screen about coffee.

The opening team and early on in this attraction the cast was trained very well in making sure that the story was strong throughout. This also helped.

The truth is, The Mummy is still one of the best indoor/themed coasters. I would rather have an amazing King Kong E-ticket there instead since the 90s Mummy is not as iconic as Kong in general to popular culture and makes sense with the spirit of NY that the area has been going for.

Side Note: Revenge of the Mummy cost 30 Million. Not 40.

We are likely to see a large overhaul after the big projects in the resort or done rather than just upgrades that won't make a huge difference of appeal.
 
shiekra38

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  • May 21, 2013
  • #691
I hear if you removed the coaster portion from Hulk it is also quite the snoozer...
Mummy > RNRC
and
Mummy > Everest

Everyday all day ride wise..
Story-wise I think Universal tends to over-complicate their story lines to the point of making them convoluted..It's a cursed movie set, but inside a museum, but that museum is a set, but you are a part of the movie *Inception music plays*...And to those that say Mummy is lacking and or not popular..it was the only thing bringing people to the studios back in the day and still has a reputation of a great E-Ticket..When I talk about Universal I always hear "The Mummy is there, dude we rode that like 20 times."
 
universal_fanatic

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  • May 21, 2013
  • #692
shiekra38 said:
I hear if you removed the coaster portion from Hulk it is also quite the snoozer...
Mummy > RNRC
and
Mummy > Everest

Everyday all day ride wise..
Story-wise I think Universal tends to over-complicate their story lines to the point of making them convoluted..It's a cursed movie set, but inside a museum, but that museum is a set, but you are a part of the movie *Inception music plays*...And to those that say Mummy is lacking and or not popular..it was the only thing bringing people to the studios back in the day and still has a reputation of a great E-Ticket..When I talk about Universal I always hear "The Mummy is there, dude we rode that like 20 times."
Click to expand...

Inception music...BRRRAAAWWWRWRMMMMM :lol:
 
C

Capacity

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  • May 22, 2013
  • #693
TheLastAshen said:
... people are going to pay either way.
Click to expand...

Exactly.
 
King_K.

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  • May 22, 2013
  • #694
Rode it today and all the effects were working perfectly. As well as both Imhoteps. I was glad to see the turntable light was off during my first ride in the morning, it was bright again later in the day.
 
Cruiseshipfan

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  • May 22, 2013
  • #695
SlapnutzUK said:
As a UK resident I can honestly saw that even what people consider to be a lame ride at Universal is still 1000000% better themed / designed then anything our best can do which is why a lot of the foreign guests give more fo a thumbs up then those who reside stateside?
Click to expand...
I agree with this. Universal spends more money on a simple kids flat ride then what parks here spend on a roller coaster.
 
T

Taco

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  • May 23, 2013
  • #696
Rode today by myself and I take everything back that I said the other day. Granted I was by myself alone in the entire RV... It was amazing. I realized how much of a difference being in the front can make. You can see so much more of the show scenes, and I feel all the show animations are triggered for you. Being alone in the RV during the launch is redicuous. Almost hulk worthy on intensity. That first drop was crazy. Granted I did have a Black and Tan at Finnigans beforehand. ;)

Overall I was very impressed. The turntable was dark also.
 
Accio Butterbeer

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  • May 24, 2013
  • #697
Taco said:
Rode today by myself and I take everything back that I said the other day. Granted I was by myself alone in the entire RV... It was amazing. I realized how much of a difference being in the front can make. You can see so much more of the show scenes, and I feel all the show animations are triggered for you. Being alone in the RV during the launch is redicuous. Almost hulk worthy on intensity. That first drop was crazy. Granted I did have a Black and Tan at Finnigans beforehand. ;)

Overall I was very impressed. The turntable was dark also.
Click to expand...

That AIR TIME for that first drop reallyis DEADLY isn't it?!! haha without exaggeration, besides the harness barely holding me in I literally fly out of my seat! haha that part almost makes the ride. And everything else added on to it just makes the experience even more fun. One or two new things I would like to see or happen if possible though, would be leg ticklers at the beetles part and possibly another Imhotep AA?
 
Last edited: May 24, 2013
S

Splatter

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  • May 24, 2013
  • #698
Accio Butterbeer said:
That AIR TIME for that first drop reallyis DEADLY isn't it?!! haha without exaggeration, besides the harness barely holding me in I literally fly out of my seat! haha that part almost makes the ride. And everything else added on to it just makes the experience even more fun. One or two new things I would like to see or happen if possible though, would be leg ticklers at the beetles part and possibly another Imhotep AA?
Click to expand...

Leg ticklers or an air effect would be great but at the same time I actually understand why they did not. If someone freaks out in a 4D show and stands up for a moment no big deal. If you have such an encouraged action with someone on a coaster to squirm enough to get out of their lap bar you have an issue.

Silly but true.
 
Spideyfreak

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  • May 24, 2013
  • #699
As long as the rider is tall enough, and the lap bar is against their body, the only way to get out is to break your legs.
 
S

Splatter

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  • May 24, 2013
  • #700
Spideyfreak said:
As long as the rider is tall enough, and the lap bar is against their body, the only way to get out is to break your legs.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of people who if squirmed enough(because it is a surival instinct that kicks in with some people) they could dislodge themself enough to be in a dangerous position.
 
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