Nickelodeon Universe / American Dream Discussion Thread

[Nrthwnd]

Um..... can we choose the lifeguard?

[jamesinclair]

On 10/14/2020 at 9:56 PM, Nrthwnd said:

Um..... can we choose the lifeguard?

Havent been to this park, but arent water parks traditionally staffed by 16 year olds?

[Nrthwnd]

I withdraw my question.

[Satans Hockey]

The water park looks amazing, great report! I'm actually way more interested in eventually going to the water park than the ride park but I fully admit I'm in the camp of these places are just way too expensive currently, with covid going on I unfortunately won't be going to any parks for a long time anyway but I'm hoping they eventually offer a somewhat reasonable priced season pass. 

[Zand]

Posted pics to the FB group, but figured I'd add my reviews to the park here. Spent about an hour and a half in the park on Friday. Obviously $62 is very steep for just an hour and a half, but it's right in line with my Jersey Shore pier experiences over the summer. Good news (for me, not the park) is that it was pretty dead and I had free reign the entire time I was there. Hit each coaster at least once as well as a couple flats. If I had time I would've loved to hit more of the flats and reride the coasters some more as they have a very good lineup. Here are my thoughts on what I rode...

Sandy's Blasting Bronco was my first ride of the day...rode in back and it was a blast. Totally smooth, fun floating sensation through the immelmans and some good forces. Very strong launch, especially the unusual backwards launch. Rode it again later in the front. Definitely a different ride up there...thought the floating sensations were more prevalent in the back but more positive G's up front.

Shredder was a solo ride for me and therefore I didn't spin a whole lot. Much longer layout than I expected and while there's nothing crazy in the layout, the ride is great for families and could get pretty intense if you can get a good spinning ride. Was surprised by its height as well. While I've definitely ridden spinners that give a wilder ride, the length of this one puts it right up there as well.

Shellraiser was a love/hate ride for me. The layout is insane with a good powerful launch, that awesome drop with the holding break on top with the view of New York, and some great inversions. However, some spots got so rough that it was bordering on being brutal, especially at the bottom of the big drop. If they can do some work on those spots, this ride would be top 20 material for me, but I just can't put it there the way it is. BTW, the rest of the park patrons were avoiding this thing like the plague. I thought it was closed because I never saw it run the first 20 minutes I was there, but just turns out no one really wanted to ride it. Not sure if it's the buried entrance, the intimidating look, or if the word is out that you get pretty beat up, but it was a ghost town in that station the whole time I was there.

Slime Streak had some pretty terrible trains (and I'm only 5'8") but the ride itself was actually really fun. You get some minor floater over the hills and this thing cruises along pretty good through the course. Also surprisingly tall with a big drop for what is intended to be the small family coaster.

Timmy's Halfpipe Havoc was my first Halfpipe coaster because I've never wasted my time with Elitch Gardens. I was totally alone on the ride and it was really damn fun. Sandy's was my favorite coaster in the park, but this was my #2. Got some good spinning going and the airtime was a fun sensation. It feels like a glorified swinging ship but just a lot of fun.

Unfortunately I was too short on time to hit many flats, but had to hit a couple of the unique ones. The S&S tower was a must ride and for some reason it was almost freaky the way it went up in its own shaft, which really added a sensation of height to the ride. Not sure what the actual height is, but between being way above the mall roof, having a long view of the NJ Turnpike, and being face to face with the NYC skyscrapers, it felt a million feet tall. It was running in combo mode and while the launch was pretty good, the drop sucked. But the uniqueness more than made up for the lame drop.

Also, not sure what the name of it was but had to get a ride on that modern looper style ride. Instead of having to work a floor pedal to get the car flipping, you simply had to use the joystick to flip either forwards or backwards. Very easy to ride in "flying mode", stay upside down, or just flip the thing manically forwards or backwards. I don't get nauseous easily but I held the stick forward for like 7 or 8 consecutive flips and was almost ready to hurl. This stupid thing is insane lol.

Wanted to get on the Air Race, Frisbee, and maybe some other stuff but had to hit the road. If you want to check this place out, right now is a great time to do so as crowds are very light and you'll get to just do whatever you want as much as you want. Just remember you can't re-enter once you leave so plan accordingly. Plenty of food and restrooms inside the park. Didn't encounter any unreasonable security (I was alone while my wife shopped) which was a positive. The free lockers were very easy to use with the same wristband you get when you enter the park. 

For me, skiing is my #1 passion (parks are #2) but I didn't end up checking out Big Snow as the real season is only a few weeks away. But I did see quite a few people heading in with equipment. Maybe next year in July I'll have to stop by if I'm in Jersey. For now, I'm still trying to get over the shock that this place is actually open and that I can do my two favorite things (neither of which ever involve a roof) under one roof.

[grsupercity]

The ride with a joystick is a chance uni coaster. They are easily one of my favorite flats. I rode the one at mall of America and I couldn't stop laughing 

[PKI Jizzman]

I noticed that bump at the bottom of the big drop too, but the main difference was the front row of the car vs the back row. Back row never felt anything but the front row I felt bumps here and there.

The half pipe is so fun with those new Intamin lap bars!

[Canobie Coaster]

Great report!  Even when I went to Nickelodeon Universe on a busy Saturday last year, Shellraiser was a walk-on.  I think the location in the back corner of kiddie land is the biggest culprit.

[i305isdaddy]

I’m not really surprised Shellraiser has some brutal bumps, I was caught off guard by Takabisha (same ride but in Japan) and didn’t really enjoy the ride because of the insane bumps in the valleys. Pretty extreme jackhammering for a steel coaster imo, it’s sad that they couldn’t fix it for the clone.

[coasterbill]

When we rode it it was great and perfectly smooth. I wonder if the issue is just with specific ride units?

[Canobie Coaster]

It seemed a bit shakier in my visit earlier this month than it was last year, but I still enjoyed Shellraiser.  It's about on par with Mystery Mine for smoothness, which just means I'll lean forward to avoid hitting my head.

But we need to talk about the bigger news, Invader Zim's Flip and Spin of Doom is no longer listed as closed, which suggests it finally reopened after a year of downtime and being relocated.

[bert425]

15 hours ago, i305isdaddy said:

I’m not really surprised Shellraiser has some brutal bumps, I was caught off guard by Takabisha (same ride but in Japan) and didn’t really enjoy the ride because of the insane bumps in the valleys. Pretty extreme jackhammering for a steel coaster imo, it’s sad that they couldn’t fix it for the clone.

hmm. . .   I guess it must be luck of the draw with ride vehicle maybe?  

I rode Takabisha twice, and found it smooth both times (unlike DoDodonpa, which had one smooth-ish ride - in the front, and one jackhammer ride - in the back of a different color train)

[PKI Jizzman]

1 hour ago, bert425 said:

hmm. . .   I guess it must be luck of the draw with ride vehicle maybe?  

I rode Takabisha twice, and found it smooth both times (unlike DoDodonpa, which had one smooth-ish ride - in the front, and one jackhammer ride - in the back of a different color train)

Agreed, it was smooth! I was caught off guard by how much I enjoyed it, I thought it was just going to be a stale repetitive coaster but even RIGHT after we rode DoDoDonpa the launch was fantastic!

[i305isdaddy]

Well damn, I’m sad we got a busted ride on Taka then. The back of Dododonpa was a bit bumpy but it didn’t hurt my brain like Taka did in the second row of the car we got. The only vibration I’ve felt as bad as that was Gwazi the year before they shut it down, which was basically torture. I loved the launch and the vertical lift / hanging elements though!

[thrillseeker4552]

I am interested to try Shellraiser eventually. Gerstlauers (or at least the ones I have ridden) seem to be hit-or-miss when it comes to smoothness. But the launch and drop look fantastic.

Tentative summer plans include flying into Newark, so I am hoping to include Nick Universe on the itinerary - mostly for Sandy. That coaster looks so wild.

[ejot]

 

On 10/12/2020 at 11:19 PM, BoulderDash said:

I went to the park last Friday and everything was a walk on.

 

On 10/13/2020 at 6:01 PM, JJLehto said:

Well ticket bought, I'll be there this Friday! 

 

On 10/27/2020 at 12:08 AM, Zand said:

Spent about an hour and a half in the park on Friday.

Were these visits the earlier or later timeslot?  I want to visit so badly and we might be able to carve out a couple hours Friday evening.   Curious whether it's much busier in the later slot.  

It's so wild this place actually exists.  

[Zand]

I was there something like 2-3:30. 

[Canobie Coaster]

Nickelodeon Universe's two big coasters have two annoying operational quirks I've noticed in my visits.

Per the operator, Sandy's Blasting Bronco triggers a fault if it's not continuously running.  Having been to this park on dead days, Sandy's seems to run extremely well when people are marathoning it, but if it sits idle for a few minutes, maintenance often needs to reset it.  I saw that happen a few times in my visits to the park.

And then Shellraiser has no way to rescue/reset itself if it rolls back after the launch.  The train stops halfway down the launch track.  This actually caused the ride to go down for the day in my most recent visit.

[coasterbill]

Given the insane price point of this place our plan going forward is to go once a year in the dead of winter and that's pretty much it, but over the weekend a few friends of ours hooked us up with free tickets so we made our first trip back since February.

Sandy's Blasting Bronco was new for us and it's a great ride. The backward launch is really powerful and it has some great whip throughout. This park has a really impressive coaster collection for being located in a mall and only a year old and this is a contender for the best ride in the park.

My thoughts on the park as a whole are unchanged. I really like it a lot but the price point is insane so it's hard for me to really recommend it. If this place were like $35-$40 I would sing it's praises constantly. Also, more and more stores are opening in the mall and it's actually starting to become pretty awesome. In a few years this will be one of the best malls in the country.

PS: Shellraiser still wasn't rough for us. It's a great ride.

[SharkTums]

^Can you eat at the park yet? I still think this is one of the most bizarre malls/amusement centers out there!

[coasterbill]

Lol oh god...

So yes, they have a food stand open. To anyone reading this if you go there on a weekday and actually do open to close I guess you’re stuck eating it but if you go on a weekend just do whatever you need to do to avoid it (and don’t plan on eating in the mall yet, there’s some stuff but not much at the moment). Even if this means eating at a Turnpike rest area then buy that $7 whopper and don’t look back.

We ended up going to the one food place because the place was 150 million degrees and we wanted water. The water fountains were off “for safety” so you had to instead spend 20 minutes in a non socially distanced line to buy it. They could have accomplished this with a vending machine but instead you have to:

1) wait in line for twenty minutes

2) order and pay

3) have someone take a giant piece of paper, check off “Bottled water”, hand it to you and tell you to stand in another line

4) walk by the water you could just grab yourself, stand in another line, hand the giant sheet of paper to the one employee, have them walk over to where you just were, grab the drinks and hand them to you ten minutes later.

The food is overpriced hot dogs and sandwiches in plastic boxes for $12. It’s like run down gas station food but more expensive and you have to stand in a really long line behind a bunch of people who wouldn’t be there if you had a vending machine or turned the water fountains on because 75% of the people in the line just want water. There’s food but it’s really bad and the process of buying it will annoy even the most patient people.

Oh, and they were selling people this crap after park close but then yelling at them immediately when they sat down to eat it because they were closed. Then again, anyone who bought that when they were leaving anyway is stupid and I don’t care.

The theme with this park is that it’s actually really cool but it’s terribly, terribly, terribly run in every way to the point where you leave hating yourself for liking it.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ Your experience with the food is why I make sure to fast while I'm at the park.  I load up on food before I get there.  There's a really good bagel place (Bagels Plus) and gyro place (Lyndhurst Jerk & Gyro Spot) on the NJ side just 10 minutes away.

[coasterbill]

Honestly while the food situation is bad it’s not like it’s the worst thing ever, it’s just that it’s a microcosm of every clusterfuck operational thing that is the Nick Universe experience.

[SharkTums]

That is so weird!!!!

[Canobie Coaster]

At least the water park (which also currently has the no re-entry rule) is planning a smart perk post covid.  One of the employees mentioned they're planning a food delivery option where guests can order food from somewhere else in the mall and have it delivered to the water park, saving them the hassle of having to change out of their bathing suit, leave the park, and get dressed again to swim.