Universal Studios Japan (USJ) Discussion Thread

[ECZenith]

^^^ Good observation... Where's all the B&Ms at dawg????

 

Seriously, no beemers at any Cedar Fair parks as they already have their projects coming along... and Six Flags is out of the question, maybe some will be announced later in the year for privately owned parks.

[Jhcbiinoc]

^It is kind of a light year for B&M, especially after all of the activity that they had last year with multiple installations: Patriot, Tatsu, Goliath SFOG, Goliath La Ronde, Black Mamba, and the Flying Coaster in Japan. This year they have Griffon at BGE, this one at Universal Japan, and also two more which are somewhere in development: the one going into the new Hard Rock Park and an Inverted coaster going somewhere overseas, plus there could be projects in development no one knows all of the details about just yet-so I'd say they're not doing too bad.....

 

A lot of the reason it may seem as if they are not doing as much stateside this year is because in recent years B&M has been doing a lot with both Cedar Fair and Six Flags: Patriot, Hydra and Silver Bullet for Cedar Fair and Tatsu and 2 Goliaths for Six Flags and Sheikra for BGT have all come within the past 3 years.

 

While I don't anticipate any new B&M coasters for Six Flags for a few years, I think that the success and popularity of their existing B&M coasters will eventually result in their getting a new one here or there. I would not be surprised if Cedar Fair orders some more as well-maybe an invert for Valleyfair or one of the other parks, or one of the newly acquired Paramount parks.

[dr.gumbo]

While I don't anticipate any new B&M coasters for Six Flags for a few years, I think that the success and popularity of their existing B&M coasters will eventually result in their getting a new one here or there.

 

But first we need to get rid of that new manager (who has only added two Pandimonium clones this year and attempt to sell Magic mountain for money )

[Jhcbiinoc]

^

 

I have to admit, I am a little less skeptical of Shapiro than I once was, given the improvements I have seen at SFMM (Psyclone leaving for new expansion room, new food options being talked about, and most notably investing in better trains on X-that alone tells me he's not going to leave out the thrill seekers altogether).

 

I still think he is slightly to the other extreme as the previous management (they were all thrills and coasters and no family attractions, and Shapiro is all family attractions and no "big" coasters.) No new big coasters, at least for now makes sense given their financial status. But time will tell. While he might be hesitant about another Goliath or Tatsu at the moment, the popularity of these rides-not just with teen thrill seekers who don't spend a lot of money in the park but also with teens attending with the entire family, older kids who are just tall enough, and Mom and Dad-cannot be ignored. I say just give it some time.

[adc9787]

^I never really understood the "family spending more money / teens don't spend any" idea.

 

Whenever I go wtih my friends, we all spend plenty on food and junk we probably don't need. If our parents are there, we have limits because they have the money. For me at least, it is the opposite of what Shapiro thinks.

 

-Andrew

[IwantRevenge]

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster's speakers aren't filled with gum...

 

cause you can't find them are they the hole in the seats?

 

the ride does look a bit...dull honestly it goes very slow over those airtime hills. Is there airtime?

[thomas2]

^Yes that was my also my thought. It does indeed seem to go slow over those hills...

 

But those light are just splendid. Very impressive Way to go Japan!

[Gutterflower]

http://coaster.fc2web.com/special/usj/usj_hdr_070309.mpg another much better video. worth watching again for the night shots and the ariel shots taken from the near by tower. It also shows the 4 hour queue and the fact there are indeed some effects of sorts in that tunnel

 

some nice pics here too

http://coaster.fc2web.com/special/usj/gallery3.htm

 

 

[TDLFAN]

I just returned from my visit to Universal Japan this weekend. I have about 50 pics from the coaster and what went on during the official opening day. However, the first day didn't go off without glitches, as operations had to be suspended for over an hour due to a mechanical situation. Also, on Sunday the 11th, the coaster was not in operation for most of the morning due to high windy conditions in the Osaka area. But once it opened... I rode 4 times and tried 4 of the 5 different songs available to choose from. Best pick: Dreams Come True's "Osaka Lover". I went from Universal straight to Tower records to buy that single CD!!! The coaster looks *awesome* at night. I just love the way the lights move to simulate a shooting star with sparkling trail. The ride is not intense but does offer a lot of air time. The tunnel at the end only has strobe lights... but not much else. For a moment I thought these were flashes for onboard photo pictures, but that was not the case. I will try to have my pics loaded by tomorrow.

[kayoss]

Dan, Robb, and myself went in September of 2004 for about 90 minutes before close and got on the Kiddie Coaster, Spiderman, Jaws, and Jurassic Park.

 

Yeah.... when I read that I guessed going around 2PM (it closed at 6) would be fine. It was September 24th, 2006.... and everything had a 2-3 hour line. For some odd reason, Spiderman was only an hour, so we hit that and then after looking at the insane lines for the other attractions (and being told *EVERY* single rider line was *NOT NOW* or.... closed) we just took pictures of how pretty the place was instead of getting upset at not being able to ride the attractions. Finally after an hours wait in the inside portion of the ET ride, we went backwards through the que and left (our plane was at 8 that night). Bummer.

 

They have an Express system and single rider lines on some stuff.

 

Supposedly. Unfortunutely, it's completely random when anyone can actually use the single rider lines, and they open and close them throughout the day. (It's INFURIATING to see the massive amounts of empty seats go by..... just weird that there would be unannounced times of the day when single rider would or would not be available)

[texashorns82492]

That ride looks really boring.

[ECZenith]

^ Please feel free to elaborate...

[coasterbadboy]

If I were to give this coaster an RCT rating, I guess (from pics and vids) that it would get a High for excitement (proximity to buildings, theming, and music), a Medium for intensity (nice air, but nothing severe), and a Low for nausea. My RCT peeps would be running to it (and so would I).

 

Congrats to USJ for spending the extra cash to make it unique and interesting. LOVE the shooting star effect!

[r4blue]

I don't think there's a topic on this...

 

USJ is building a new indoor coaster based on a space theme for spring 2010. The new coaster will be 585m long and will take guests on a tour of the solar system and will go in the old ET Adventure building (which is currently still in use as ET Adventure: The Legend). The whole project will cost 4-5 billion yen.

 

It's listed on Trips 'n' Pics as a Mack spinning coaster - though I haven't found that info anywhere else, that website's always been accurate in the past.

 

I don't know if this is a Japanese version of the Mummy ride, or if the Mummy still may one day set foot in Japan (though I guess it's unlikely, they sound like similar rides).

 

I last went at the end of October and the ET building was still up-and-running, so they'd better get a move on if they want it ready for spring. I'm going again in a few days, I'll take a look to see if anything's changed since then.

 

I'll get digging to see if I can find any more info, but for now I'll leave you with these sources:

 

http://www.trips-n-pics.com/?id=30 (right at the bottom)

 

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/new ... s/2528034/

 

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/life/trend/090 ... 009-n1.htm

 

http://www.screamscape.com/html/univers ... _japan.htm

 

 

 

PS. W00t! New ride near me!

 

MOD EDIT by larrygator: I edited your subject line for clarity.

Edited August 3, 2010 by jedimaster1227

[SharkTums]

Oh man, if I was ET in Florida I'd be a bit worried at this point! He's the last of his kind!!!

 

That being said, I'm super excited for a new coaster at Universal Japan! Already an amazing park, I'm sure they'll do a great job with the new installation!

[Airtime&Gravity]

With the building in place and what will be a small coaster length wise, I expect we will see some impressive theming on this ride. The Mack spinning coasters seem like pretty good rides, and hopefully the same is true for this one. Universal Studios looks Japan looks like a great park, and this should make a great addition to the park.

[RCFreak]

Well it's already longer then both Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Hollywood and Sierra Sidewinder, so it should be fun to see what Mack come up with. Sierra Sidewinder is just such a fun ride, it'll be interesting to see if they go for free spinning or controlled spinning. Does Euro Mir have a free spinning section or is it all controlled during the whole ride?

[Wes]

Any reason to go back to Osaka is a good reason.

[Loefet]

If it's going to be something similar to Comet Express at Lotte World then it's going to be awesome, but since this one will be in Japan then it will be even more superior, can't wait to get back there

[Swiminn6]

Wow this sounds cool! I've never heard of a spinning coaster with such theme! Correct me if I'm wrong.

[robbalvey]

Wow this sounds cool! I've never heard of a spinning coaster with such theme! Correct me if I'm wrong.

As said above..."Comet Express"

 

[coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=cometexpress_6e69[/coastertube]

[Ed]

I would like to take this thread to express actual love for Wes' avatar.

 

 

 

[therooboy]

Great.

Another reason i have to revisit Japan soon.

But why do they keep pulling down the brilliant ET ride?

I heard somewhere awhile back that Steven Spielberg was told they would not destroy the Florida one. Hope that holds true.

 

But great news.

[r4blue]

Just a couple of quick things...

 

Name! Logo!

 

 

And I also found some information about the story (haven't bothered to read it properly yet, but involves a female called a G-Bot, hmm) and that it may be 8 cars per train, though that was on the Japanese wikipedia page and didn't have a source.

 

And I went for a few hours today (it was bloody freezing!) and there are a couple of signs up hinting at what's on the way. Also the 'ET Adventure: The Legend' attraction (which I had a look at because it had a tiny queue) is based only in the old queue of the ET ride, which has been closed since about May, so they've had plenty of time to install everything inside the building where the actual ET ride was. I don't think there will be much to update on this until it opens, but I'll keep my eyes open.

 

Here's the G-Bot page! http://www.usj.co.jp/company/news/2009/1216.html

[Nrthwnd]

Does Euro Mir have a free spinning section or is it all controlled during the whole ride?

 

To the best of my recollection from last year's Mainland Europe tour, no - Euro Mir wasn't free spinning. The cars were 'auto-turned' at two (at least) specific spots on the track, usually the flat track parts and near the top of the mirrored columns.

 

Still an awesome ride, lol.

 

This new coaster sounds pretty neat, too. Definitely worth a re-visit to USJ in the not-too-TPR-Tour-distant future, heh heh.