ryno1986

While in theory HRRR and California Screamin' share a lot of similarities, the quality isn't even close. You are wise in choosing Screamin'. It's infinitely better than RockIt in every single way.

I was driving home from work today when I spotted it from the road and had to go to IOA to see it for myself. Let me just say that as a huge Harry Potter fan, today was absolutely amazing. What was just a few days ago very vague is now very clear. Hogwarts Castle is in the middle of Orlando Florida!

The reason it's not open for HHN is because they never installed nets under the ride, and that's where the queues are for the haunted houses. It's pretty much in line with all the other oversight associated with this coaster.

The last two days Rockit has only had a 20 minute wait in the middle of the day, so if you're wanting to discover some secret tracks, now is definitely the time!

First off, it's Williamsburg and Tampa Bay, not Europe and Africa. They've switched them back. Second, Tampa will be getting a hyper and Williamsburg a flyer.

It's not that bad. JP's entrance/exit is steps away from where that photo was taken. If you're going in that direction, you're already leaving JP and if you're going the other way, you won't see Hogwarts at all.

I'm guessing they played down the theme park setting because they didn't think the general audience would relate. I still enjoyed the movie though.

FYI, I just rode Everest today, and like every other time since the internet declared the yeti fixed, he was still broken. Not to mention the ride is getting incredibly rough. When the ride opened it had about 5 special effects- the steam, the waterfall, the bird at the top, the projection, and the yeti. Today, the only thing working was the projection. Pretty sad. At least with other 100 million dollar attractions, there's plenty of effects in case certain ones malfunction. 3 years later and Everest is just a roller coaster in and around a hollow mountain.

Generally, a switch back refers to a queue line that goes back and forth several times.

^ Just like in the movie!

^ WTF. HRRR has weird supports. So does California Screamin'. The whole thing looks like a wooden roller coaster. What's up with that?

No, Splash Mountain does not have any lap bars or restraints. That's interesting that Ripsaw has to completely e-stop at any signs of movement. Whenever a sensor was triggered on Splash, we did a basic ride stop, and sent the person at Unload into the mountain to check it out. Even if the sensor was triggered by a person getting out of the log, the CM just went to them, walked them out of the mountain, and roughed him up a bit (okay, maybe not that third thing). The whole process took 5, 10 minutes max, and then we were back up. E-Stops were typically reserved for someone falling/jumping into the flume - though that's pretty rare - or if a sensor was triggered at the bottom of the final drop where the brake is, and even then it usually only took 10-15 minutes to get the mountain back up. Though if it for some reason took 20+ minutes, we evacuated and then did the reset. I worked at Splash Mountain last year for my CP. During my first day of training while in tower, a woman jumped out of her log at pre-C onto the left side. She then saw there was no exit, so she tried to jump over the flume to the other side and fell in. Imagine my horror as my trainer starts yelling over the speaker and hits the e-stop. She ended up getting out of the flume just in time and ran all the way up to the top of C lift. Why anyone would do that if they were scared is beyond me, but at least she was okay. Regardless to say it was quite an experience for my first day!

The flying portion you see here is from the Quidditch finale of the ride. Every other part will be actual sets, ranging from the moving staircases, to the forbidden forest, to the chamber of secrets. Exciting stuff.

^

You gave American Eagle a higher score than Raging Bull? Seriously???

^ Ripsaw Falls is many things, like a piece of crap, but heavily themed it is not.

I prefer the Disneyland version by leaps and bounds, but the Florida one is still good. There's a couple things better at WDW. The Pocahontas segment is a better segue into the princesses than Peter Pan, even if the sequence itself is worse. The Jafar sequence is well done. I would say that ours also has better lighting, but I understand that DL's has now been overhauled so I guess that's questionable. A lot of people criticize the Florida version for relying on the water screens more than DL, but I actually enjoy the bubble sequence since all the great Disney films are represented, rather than just Dumbo and Pinocchio. Unfortunately, with the seating situation the way it is in WDW, and the show being cut back to just 3 nights a week, it's too much of a hassle to experience Fantasmic! anymore.

^ That was my thought as well. If they have to, they'll make Marvel Superhero Island into Sci-Fi City from Universal Singapore, complete with Transformers and Battlestar Galactica themed rides.

The walkway works, but is not needed until they go to 5 train operation.

Actually, Hollywood Dream has the choose your music feature, so not even that is new.

Um, let's see. He's on a rod that's clearly visible. His movement is worse than any of Disney's A100 animatronics, and his mouth moves like the dinosaurs in Universe of Energy. Universal does some things great, but I've yet to see them pull off a decent animatronic.

And what's really bad is the preview video they show you has more footage of you than the actual DVD. Plus the Team Members are flat out lying and telling guests that the DVD contains footage of riders for the entire ride, not just three clips.

The sign wasn't there the other day, and the park is calling it officially open. Billboards on the road claim "Now Open", and all of the news stations have reported it's now open. Universal has shot itself in the foot now because any audio problems are inexcusable. And it's not like a ride like California Screamin' or Space Mountain where the audio is just a nice addition. Here, it's the entire point of the ride. From the second you entire the queue, the only theming or diversions is referencing our ability to pick our soundtrack.

That was a joke post on Orlando United. There is absolutely no California Screamin' track, and I can't believe someone actually took that post seriously.

BG has the worst employees of any park anywhere.