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Universal Orlando Resort (USO, IOA) Discussion Thread

p. 624 - New Epic Universe details, including Isle of Berk!

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If this thing is stalling just from high wind then whats going to happen

 

when people are on it. The ride looks fun but just way to many problem.

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There was a really good article published today in the Orlando Sentinel discussing Rockit's delays, and the positive impact of Manta's early opening.

 

Here's a clipping:

As the region's theme parks battle for business during one of the leanest summers in recent memory, Universal Orlando has so far been unable to fire its biggest weapon.

 

Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit, the resort's new $45 million roller coaster, has been hit with delays. Once supposed to open this spring, it still does not have an opening date, with the Fourth of July weekend — the biggest holiday of the summer — now only a week away.

 

Industry analysts say that, as the delay extends deeper into summer, Universal risks losing ground to rivals Walt Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando at a time when the three giants are competing for a recession-shrunken pool of travelers.

 

"At this point, it hasn't had too much of an impact. But if it continues to linger, it certainly will," said Dennis Speigel, president of International Theme Park Services, a consulting business in Cincinnati.

 

The full article can be found here: New Universal coaster spinning its wheels

 

Pretty interesting article. I agree that Rockit looks like it's going to be a LOT of fun, but they are trying SO many new technologies on it that, IMO, its bound to have loads of downtime. Once it all comes together, however, it should be a great ride!

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^^It's not ugly. It just looks different compared to the other brands. When we read this coaster was going to be a first of its kind, theres a red flag right there. We need to understand these "first of its kind" rollercoasters need more time then just another B&M hyper or Eurofighter or something like that(Personally i wouldnt have minded any of those^^).

On the contrary, I don't feel bad for Universal and their choice for this rollercoaster. They are missing out completly on summer crowds, but they really can't do anything about it now.

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Yeah but thats B&M and the only new part of the hulk was the launch and

 

they did not even make the launch track they had some other company

 

do that. The rest of it was just a good old B&M sitdown.

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What I can't wait to see the final cost of the coaster. Thats is if we ever

 

see it. And in some way you can blame universal because they have

 

changed their mind (I heard it from one other forum).

 

(Sorry for the multiple)

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^

I think people are saying the coaster company is a failure.Not the coaster.

 

The coaster looks fun but not thrilling I think that as been stated in this

 

thread some where.

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I for one think this ride will be a lot of fun, not crazy intense, but popular with a wide range of people, and you really can't ask for more.

 

But I do think there have been WAY too many design problems with the track installation itself. One could argue "this is a new type of ride" but leaving all the fancy new tech bells and whistles behind, track installation and design is pretty basic from an engineering point of view- especially for a company like Maurer that has been doing this for years. The mistakes Maurer made, in my opinion, are rather inexcusable for a roller coaster company to make.

 

*Supports not lining up with track

*Tunnel Clearance Issue

*Lifthill delay, installation, removal and installation

 

and now we have a train valleying.

 

Keep in mind, this isn't even including all the state of the art stuff they plan to have going on once the ride opens. Now, if they can't even get the basic stuff down like installing track, how well the LEDs, music tracks and on ride videos are going to run really makes you scratch your head.

 

Universal Studios Florida IS missing out on summer crowds by not having this ride open right now. When I heard Maurer Söhne was making this ride, for some reason I had a gut feeling this ride would have delays.

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I really wonder if windy conditions could valley the train during a normal test. My guess is, most likely, they were doing an e-stop test in the windy conditions, where the train is brought to a full stop on the MCBR and has to complete the remaining bit of the circuit at a much slower speed.

 

I wonder if they had the water dummies in when this happened.

 

Also, about the rings. It's really funny how all this hype is being built up about what is (in my opinion) a very insignificant part of the ride.

 

What if there are no rings? What if the concept art is just a concept?

 

If all concept art was true, then sheikra would be a vekoma right now

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I'm really looking forward to riding this, hopefully, when i got to Orlando this September. As has been said, its better to get all these problems ironed out before the ride opens causing more delays.

One thing i was wondering, forgive me for being ignorant, but say it valleyed when it was opened, arent there going to be multiple trains on the track ? Could that cause potential problems.

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^^^Only problem is that the support problem could have been caused by the fabrication company, not Maurer. And the tunnel clearance "issue" may not have been an issue at all. Sure it didn't work at first, but it's possible that they planned on enlarging the opening the whole time and were waiting for the clearance test to judge how large to make the opening. This could have been a way of reducing the construction costs by not needing to really survey the building and just wait to make it so the clearance tests worked. And weren't there rumors saying that the change to the lift hill was Universal's idea? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but that would in no way be Maurer's fault. I think the reason so many view this as a failure is that the ride is extremely visible to everyone that visits Universal Orlando and every aspect of construction can be viewed from the midway. For all we know there could have been several times as many problems with the installation of Revenge of the Mummy, but we just couldn't see them since it was indoors. I'd hold off saying this ride is a failure until it's actually ridden by anyone.

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I dont understand how the tunnel clearance issue was a fail. Yes the tunnel was too small , but its not like they found this out after testing. They found this out a long time ago after they put the track up and checked the clearance. They fixed it when the clearance guide didnt clear. Sounds like they did what they were supposed to do to me.

 

If they didnt check with the clearance guides, and a train got damaged or god forbid someone got injured, then it would definitely be a fail.

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*Supports not lining up with track

*Tunnel Clearance Issue

*Lifthill delay, installation, removal and installation

 

As others have said, the tunnel wasn't a problem -- they caught it exactly when they should've, and the lifthill change was on Universal's request. As for the supports, was there ever ANY confirmation of the supports not lining up? It seemed to be just a rumor at the time (and you know how many rumors about supports not lining up and sinking and stuff you can see around here).

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. As for the supports, was there ever ANY confirmation of the supports not lining up?

 

Yes actually. I'm not sure if you saw the pictures (they're on here somewhere a ways back) but there was one support in the second-to-last (I think) MCBR that did not line up with the track properly and it was cut off, refabricated, and reconstructed. This, however, was more than likely caused by the fabrication company and not Maurer. There have been cases in the past of this happening with coasters but it's usually a relatively quick fix if it's early on in construction and doesn't cause too big, if any delay at all.

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