Universal Studios Hollywood (USH) Discussion Thread

Today was the grand opening press event for Transformers The Ride at Universal Studios Hollywood, and TPR was there with David and Spears!

TPR is at Universal Studios Hollywood for the Transformers grand opening!

With REAL Transformers on the red carpet! Here's Optimus Prime.

And here's Bumblebee!

These walk around characters are seriously amazing.

They're some of the most impressive walk around characters ever created. Way to go Universal!

They were giving out Energon! It's delicious! It's like orange soda with a creamy kick.

Here come the celebrities.

Is that who I think it is?

It totally is! Steven Spielberg made an appearance. How cool is that?

Do you think Steven Spielberg drinks Energon?

Optimus Prime drinks Energon.

Here's Josh Sussman from FOX's Glee.

Mexican music group K-Paz de la Sierra.

Dustin Leighton, the voice of EVAC in the ride.

Oscar Nunez from NBC's The Office. Awesome!

Now we move from the red carpet to a sea of tripods in preparation for the grand opening ceremony.

General Morshower lead the ceremony.

Michael Bay couldn't attend because he was on the set of his next movie, but he taped a video thanking everyone for coming. He totally has his serious face on! (If you don't know about The Serious Face, a subsidiary of The Manly Pose, check out page 27 of this thread!)

Suddenly things started getting exciting as Optimus Prime and Bumblebee raced into view.

A battle ensued as they tried to get the AllSpark to the magical AllSpark pedistal.

There was some serious action!

See? I wasn't kidding!

If you look closely you can see the AllSpark!

The AllSpark was placed on the magical pedistal...

Igniting a giant celebration and officially opening Transformers The Ride!

All the VIPs and media started making their way toward the ride entrance as the confetti rained down.

All the cameramen say, "Wait for me!"

Spears celebrated the AllSpark being placed on the magical pedistal by draping herself in confetti.

This guy celebrated by making a Serious Face.

Spears made a Spearious Face!

That's the AllSpark.

That's the AllSpark, a bit bigger.

That's as close as you can get to the AllSpark without your eyes getting cut.

6x Serious Face. Beat that! I challenge you.

Spears and I are huge fans of The Office, so we couldn't resist getting a photo with Oscar.

But enough dawdling! Time to ride!

Most of you have probably seen photos from the line by now, but for those who haven't, here you go!

Here's the AllSpark in the line.

Oooooh, fancy!

Spears wants the AllSpark.

Universal did a great job theming the line. It adds to the experience of an already great ride.

There are buttons everywhere that you can push.

And lots of details everywhere you look.

One more line picture.

I wonder what happens if I flip this switch?

Spears gets a Serious Face, that's what.

There's the ride vehicle (and Gertrude)! The lap bars are called Battle Bars, but Gertrude seems to think she's strong enough to fight without the safety of the bar.

They have a waiting room off to the side where they had members of the media store their belongings while riding. There was this cool toy display in the room. (I spot Gary The Giraffe in there too!)

After riding, Spears posed with Bumblebee. If you do a Manly Pose and a Serious Face at the same time, which is it?

Not to beat a dead horse, but these characters are SO COOL!

Here are a few shots as the Transformers started driving off.

I doubt there will ever be vehicles in front of the attraction like this again.

The general public is back behind that barrier waiting for members of the media to finish up.

Bumblebee driving off.

Bye bye Bumblebee!

The gift shop is really well done and has tons of Transformers merch.

Hat merch.

Toy merch.

Shirt merch.

More toy merch.

Watch merch. They even had replica AllSparks for sale. There was something for everyone.

Spears only dates Autobots!

Here's a look at the line after the general public was let in. The ride sure looks like a hit to me!

Thanks Universal for inviting TPR to come check out the grand opening of Transformers. We had a blast, and absolutely LOVE the ride!

Now what are you doing sitting there reading this? Get up and go ride Transformers!

Congratulations to USH and all the team members who were apart of this opening! I am ever so slightly bias, but it's pretty cool to see USH stepping up their game. This is definitely their biggest attraction since JP, and really also the first since JP that is a true "E-ticket" attraction.

I got to ride last week and this ride is nothing short of AWESOME! So happy to see Universal invest some serious money into USH and give the park a blockbuster attraction it so desperately needed.

Transformers has replaced Indiana Jones as the best dark ride in SoCal.

Can't wait for Potter!

Here are some official photos that the park gave us!

Three more weeks!!

If this ride was at Universal Orlando, they'd be selling Transformer Energon Screwdrivers during Halloween Horror Nights.

Even though I'm not a Transformers fan, I definitely want to check this ride out--and have some Energon.

^An Energon Screwdiver wouldn't be half bad as it just tasted like Orange cream soda to me.

Transformers has replaced Indiana Jones as the best dark ride in SoCal.

To each his own I suppose, but I headed out to the park again yesterday before the craziness of Summer actually hits and I cannot agree with this statement. I still prefer Indy (and even Spider-Man) over this attraction, while the ride falls just short of being truly amazing for me.

Ended up getting another three rides on it and it was pretty much the same as the three rides I got back in April which again were awesome. The ride had a wait time of about 35 minutes when we finally got down to the Lower Lot around 12:30 and thankfully the line keeps moving and the pre-show videos were entertaining enough to keep you occupied the few times you weren't though they did keep shutting the audio off to make ride safety announcements that totally killed the atmosphere. About 2:00, the line died down to walk-on for the rest of the day.

I am also VERY happy to say that USH has a winner on their hands. I took my brother, who doesn't do ANY type of roller coaster, and he was absolutely in love with the ride as well as my sister who likes rides but loved this as well. It was also non-stop praise from people who were exiting the ride.

^Indiana Jones in its current condition is (IMO) not better than Transformers. I can't remember the last time the door effect on Indy worked, or the countless amount of rides where there was no fire or the audio just cut out mid ride.

Indiana Jones is in desperate need of a rehab and perhaps if it ever dose get one, it will be better than Transformers.

I can't wait to ride this... Hopefully if I end up loving it, I'll have a reason to go back to USH when I currently prefer all of the other SoCal parks over it. Also, I thought the official grand opening was the 25th? I'm surprised they had all of this a day early...

^Indiana Jones in its current condition is (IMO) not better than Transformers. I can't remember the last time the door effect on Indy worked, or the countless amount of rides where there was no fire or the audio just cut out mid ride.

 

Indiana Jones is in desperate need of a rehab and perhaps if it ever dose get one, it will be better than Transformers.

I was there a few weeks ago and it was all working fine. *shrug* I agree Indy is in dire need of a lengthy rehab, but I still MUCH prefer the more physical sets (and interactions) to the movie screens with a couple of props around them.

Again not to knock the ride, it's still a GREAT attraction and I can't wait to ride it again! Maybe in the fall when I head back to Halloween Horror Nights this year.

^ Wait, did the California version not get actual sets??? The Singapore version had a scene with the Bumblebee VW bug, Megatron above you, etc, etc... I remember quite a few physical sets. Did these not make it over to California???

^USH version has sets. From the videos I've seen of the Singapore version it looks exactly the same as Hollywoods version.

I think Hector is referring to the 3D aspect of the ride vs. the traditional all physical sets like Indy. USH and Singapore have the same exact scenes.

^ Ok, that's what I though. I agree that I like Indy better than Spiderman/Transformers, but honestly, Spiderman/Transformers is still probably in the top 2 or 3 dark rides in the world.

And I didn't feel like there were any more/less physical sets between the two of them.

I really felt that Transformers was "Spiderman with a different movie", which is quite the compliment, as Spiderman has been considered the best dark ride in the world to many people.

Awesome coverage David and Spears! I am a fan of the Spearsious face!

Hey Dan, I spy Molly in the USH provided media pictures!

I really felt that Transformers was "Spiderman with a different movie", which is quite the compliment, as Spiderman has been considered the best dark ride in the world to many people.

But the question is whether it feels that way because it uses the same technology and there are a limited number of effects they can do with it (falling off a building, something grabbing the vehicle, etc.), or, as it has been all but confirmed, because Transformers was specifically designed to be a "new movie" for Spiderman now that Disney owns Marvel. In other words, is every ride using this technology going to feel exactly the same?

I thought Transformers was an excellent ride, and I especially loved the third projection screen where suddenly instead of just looking at a screen it really felt like you'd been sucked into the action. The only change I'd to this ride would be to shoot a big blast of air at the vehicle when Starscream transforms and flies off.

Does anyone know if any new effects been added since the first week of soft opening?

Looks pretty cool. I will have to make time next time I'm in LA to pay USH a visit.

I think Hector is referring to the 3D aspect of the ride vs. the traditional all physical sets like Indy. USH and Singapore have the same exact scenes.

^ Ok, that's what I though. I agree that I like Indy better than Spiderman/Transformers, but honestly, Spiderman/Transformers is still probably in the top 2 or 3 dark rides in the world.

 

And I didn't feel like there were any more/less physical sets between the two of them.

 

I really felt that Transformers was "Spiderman with a different movie", which is quite the compliment, as Spiderman has been considered the best dark ride in the world to many people.

Correct, I guess I should have said I enjoy more physical set interaction? Again, this is a great attraction that is definitely putting USH in the right direction with another top of the line attraction. I only prefer Spider-Man slightly more because of the story (and real fire! When it works... haha) but I'm VERY glad to have this only 90 minutes away.

Ia m looking forward to riding this in a few weeks. It looks awesome!

Correct, I guess I should have said I enjoy more physical set interaction? Again, this is a great attraction that is definitely putting USH in the right direction with another top of the line attraction. I only prefer Spider-Man slightly more because of the story (and real fire! When it works... haha) but I'm VERY glad to have this only 90 minutes away.

I agree with this. I love Transformers and I'm glad I can finally ride something similar to Spiderman in my neck of the woods, but I still prefer Spiderman (I haven't even ridden the refurbed version yet!). What made Spiderman so great was the interaction of physical sets and 3D. I've noticed there were no physical effects in Transformers. Also, Spiderman spun around 360 degrees at least three times but Transformers only spun 180 degrees.

But there are a few things I will give Transformers to: stronger illusion with the elevator scenes, superior queue area, and the story. I honeslty thought the stroy for Transformers fit in better than Spidey. I mean, riding a Transformers robot to evacuate the all-spark VS a goofy news vehicle that "drives itself"? I guess that's just me.

Nit-picky comparisons aside, glad to see this after waiting so long for it.

The ride had a posted 2 hour wait today, while the JP and Mummy only had 30. EVERYONE flocks to Transformers, so ride early if you are visiting this summer!

Great pictures David! Looks like they've done a really good job inside there!

Dave

I was able to get on the attraction today, Memorial Day. Posted wait time at arrival in the park around 2 pm was approx. 65 minutes. While in line, it did break down for a bit, not sure. But that main q is huge! I highly recommend single rider line for a busy day. The great thing is thought that the ride does drop the waits for everything down to next to nothing. 20 minutes for the Mummy, walk on for Tram tour, 10 minutes for Jurassic Park. As for the ride itself, pretty amazing stuff. A tad touch of the blur from 3D, but overall that's only a slight distraction.

Ia m looking forward to riding this in a few weeks. It looks awesome!

When are you going?

Right now it looks like the 6th or 8th. But that really depends on how my work schedule turns out in reality. I am at the mercy of my employers on this trip.