AUWent

Considering that the attraction apparently starts off as a taping of the Tonight Show, I feel like the physical queue kind of makes sense the way it is. You have the lobby where you're waiting to get in the day of your taping, the second section where you have the pre-show entertainment and then the ride vehicle / theater where the show happens. I've never been to a late-night taping myself, so I'm just making assumptions here, but I think that it's at least logical, even though the pre-show stuff happens in the theater itself in real life. Making that experience up-charge would fly in the face of traditional story / experience conventions, and I feel like I would have been glad that they did it the way they did, had I had already ridden it (which again, I haven't). Right now at least, I personally do think that a virtual queuing system is good / appropriate under the right circumstances and with the right implementation, but I'm not sure I'm ready to call it an end-all solution - yet! It's tricky. I don't think that everyone is just mentally trained to physically wait in line, especially now that everything else in our lives is becoming more and more instantaneous. At the same time, I do not like the possibility of spending all my money on a big theme park vacation only to be turned down from riding the newest attraction. But that's me as an individual guest, with his own likes / dislikes that may not be the same as others, talking. I have no interest in riding this, but dayum this sounds like a good pre-show.

I had a good time going to Universal for my first time last year, even without Hulk...but this really isn't something that is going to get me to come back, I don't think Fast and Furious will either. I spent 3 days there and I would have rather spent that last day somewhere else, Fun Spot, Disney, SeaWorld, anywhere really. I enjoyed my time there but Universal got old for me pretty quick with a lot of their offerings being basically the same. Until they change that, I'll plan my next Florida visit around Disney. Hulk is enough to at least stop in for a day. IMO, it's the best coaster in Orlando. Hulk in the back edge seats is debatable, but the middle of the first three rows is best ride in Orlando to me.

Forgive my naivety on the subject of maintenance, but how are they able to keep Kumba and Montu running so well? Shouldn't they be nearing the end of their track lives?

You mean the complete other end of town! Fun Spot Kissimmee is about as far away from Universal Orlando in terms of "theme park distance" as you can get here in Orlando. [attachment=0]Screen Shot 2017-04-02 at 18.55.15.png[/attachment] Also, Fun Spot's coaster isn't an RMC so why is that even being brought up? Ah, forgive my ignorance. I forgot there were two Fun Spots. Also I know Mine Blower is GG, but I thought RMC had a hand in its design. So maybe an RMC could work.

^If it weren't for FSA opening Mine Blower next door, I'd love to see them build an RMC. There are no wing riders in the area, so that'd be a possibility, but I haven't heard overly good things about them. They do look really nice though, so I feel like it'd fit nice in that area.

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Assuming the Dragons track is reaching the end of its life, how are Kumba and Montu able to keep going? Granted, I know Kumba is closing for a refurb so that may be exactly what they're doing. (Sorry if OT.)

Oh man, Mine Blower looks good.

^The protestors ain't changing their minds. Can someone give me some good news about Orlando parks right now? GD this stuff (along with the stuff about Zuni) is depressing.

Yeah I meant I get it from the standpoint of it either being a budget cut or as part of their image shift, but I'm with you in that I'm not sure it will do anything to reverse their attendance issues. I'm sure it was frustrating that they opened Mako in a year when Orlando park attendance in general was considered to be somewhat stagnant. ...

I hope this isn't OT or redundant, but are the Busch/SW parks going to be able to survive all the crap they've had to go through? I've heard they were in fairly dire straits and that they've suffered bad attendance declines despite fairly big additions recently (Mako). Seeing as how BGT and BGW are among this board's absolute favorite parks (and I can agree), it would be heartbreaking if these parks end up suffering. I'm surprised Kumba was in such good condition when I rode it last October.

I can agree with you here. Thankfully it doesn't sound like Nintendo Land will rely on screens the same way Kong, Fallon, FF, Transformers, and Gringotts do (I'm willing to forgive Gringotts just because of how good the queue is, and the ride mechanism is a lot of fun as well--though it is the type of ride that takes a long time to experience mainly because of how important the queue is to the experience). I strongly (but respectfully) disagree with the notion that HP is the "only reason" worth visiting UO. MiB, Mummy, Horror Makeup Show, Spidey, Hulk, Dudley, even Poseidon's Fury (never saw the old one but I love it) are all great IMO. BTW was I the only one who liked Disaster?

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Really? From everything I've heard, it's too similar to NH and RotJ.

I followed this park when it was first started in 2008. I'm so glad you're back!

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Nice to have you back.

It's nice to know that Disney, Universal, Six Flags, etc. haven't closed.

Great park, but let's see an update! I look forward to seeing what happens in the '80s and '90s!