Universal Orlando Resort (USF, IOA, Epic) Discussion Thread

[Hilltopper39]

Oh, cool I didn't start regualry attending HHN till 2008 so Ive never seen one of Universal's 3-D Houses. How do they do it, are the glasses an upcharge or does everyone get them in a system like on Spideman or another 3-D ride?

[jedimaster1227]

^The glasses were included for free in Jack's Funhouse and were the paper kind like you'd get with an old 3-D comic.

[Rastuso]

They usually aren't the red/blue, however. There is a company that sells paint and glasses that do a decent job of a 3-D image. I don't recall who they are. I know I saw them at IAAPA.

 

-RO

[Zeppelinfreak]

^Yeah they are called chromadepth, which is slightly different than 3-D.

[JT3000]

There's a new game on the site to try your Luck with, called Take A Chance. Be careful. If you lose all your credits, you're temporarily banished from the site.

 

Also, here's some clues for the attractions one can expect at this year's event:

 

"'Tis wise to avoid cemetaries by night, Lest one should encounter the dreaded blue light."

 

"The midnight hour does not deter me, I always count on Floyd and Nurmi."

 

"One stands to lose their body's bounty, If they return to God's Own County."

 

"Había cuatro naves y se fue de España; Navegó por el sol, el viento y la lluvia. Tres barcos continuaron explorando, Pero, ¿qué pasó con el número cuatro?"

 

Have fun with that.

[pat_naughty05]

"Había cuatro naves y se fue de España; Navegó por el sol, el viento y la lluvia. Tres barcos continuaron explorando, Pero, ¿qué pasó con el número cuatro?"

 

Have fun with that.

 

Translation from Google Translate:

 

"There were four ships and left Spain, sailed by the sun, wind and rain. Three ships continued to explore, But what about number four?"

[BaMiTsPaT]

This game does not make me feel like a winner. I am not getting anywhere with it. Anyone having any luck with it?

[Hilltopper39]

^ I think the house always wins.......

[JT3000]

Disclaimer: This is simply my theory at the moment, I don't know for sure how this is going to work.

 

Upon being introduced to this game, you might instinctively assume that the object of the game is to accumulate as many tokens as possible. I don't believe this is the case. Rather, the tokens are simply a currency used to play the game, as well as a means to punish you for going broke. The object is to simply beat each mini-game, and you only have to do it once each. Every time you beat a mini-game, the house of cards will increase in size. The symbols below will also start to fill in with color. Currently, there are only two mini-games to play and your house of cards can only increase in size twice. Once you beat both games, you're basically done for the time being. I'm assuming that the game will be expanded in the near future, with all 8 houses being represented by their own mini-games.

 

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the games are randomized, so there's no specific solution that will work every time.

[BaMiTsPaT]

^Though the games are randomized, the tombstones are not, as the Lady Elizabeth Hawthorn grave is always the rightmost one.

[Coasterbp]

And always choose line 10 on the phone.

[JT3000]

New games have been added to the site, and the cards on the tray are now color coded so you can choose which game you want to play.

 

Gold - TV game

Aqua - Crypt keys game

Red - Horizon machine game

Green - Rune game

Purple - War game

[robbalvey]

Well, another nail in the coffin for anything that used to be The Lost Continent... Dueling Dragons will no longer be "dueling..."

 

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/28887591/detail.html

 

Another Injury At Harry Potter Rollercoaster

Universal Studios Makes Changes In Wake Of New Injury

 

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Universal Orlando is making a big change to one of the key attractions at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter after a second incident on the ride in two weeks has left another park patron injured.

 

The injuries happened on the Dragon Challenge dual roller coaster. In both cases, riders say something struck them on a portion of the ride where the two coaster trains come close together at high speed.

 

In the latest incident, 19-year-old Jon Wilson of Ohio says something struck him in his foot, arm and face on Thursday.

 

"My sister was sitting next to me at the time and when I said I was hit she thought it was a bug or something but then she looked over and I had blood on my hands so it was obviously something more," Wilson said.

 

In a major change for the attraction, the two trains of the dual coaster will now be staggered so they do not pass within feet of one another at high speed.

 

"As we continue to study these incidents, we will operate both coasters as separate experiences without their usual intersect points, Universal Spokesman Tom Schroder said in a written statement.

 

Thursday's incident came just over two weeks after another rider said he was injured on the same section of the ride. Carlos Montalvo said something struck him as the coaster he was riding passed the other coaster. Montavlo said the injury blinded his right eye.

 

Schroder said Universal Orlando officials believe "the ride itself did not play a role in these incidents."

 

"The safety of our guests is our highest priority and we are taking this very seriously," Schroder said, noting that more than 50 million people have "safely experienced" the Dragon Challenge (which was formerly called Dueling Dragons) since it opened.

 

Schroder said the park would not "speculate on what caused these incidents" but would continue its "long-standing policy of advising guests to safely secure personal items before riding."

 

Wilson said he's upset that Universal didn't change the ride after the incident that injured Montalvo.

 

"If this kind of thing is happening more than once in two weeks...it could be a problem of some kind and I feel...I feel....I just wanna make sure other people aren't getting hurt on it."

 

 

[the ghost]

LAME! Of course, Ice was down when I visited the park, so I guess I'll never duel. This is seriously awful though... arguably the most unique inverted coasters in this world(the only dueling inverts) goes down for no real reason. No casualties or anything... and seemingly minor injuries as the guy telling the story was seemingly okay. This is just a stupid decision and really takes away all the coasters novelty!

Edited August 17, 2011 by the ghost

[Josh Linn]

Such a lame panic move...so 2 incidents in 12 years that just so happened to occur within weeks of each other warrants this?

[BarryH]

Dueling Dragons has been dueling for over a decade without incident and now after things hit 2 people, they no longer duel? I find it interesting they were able to duel since the park opened in 1999. However, I do understand Universal's position and I hope they find out what hit their guests and are able to rectify the situation.

[RCFreak]

I have a feeling this wouldn't be as bad if the name Harry Potter wasn't involved.

[KC_Engineer]

This move is 100% to cover IOA's rear ends. In the lawsuit-happy society we live in, this comes as no surprise to me. Disappointing, but not surprising. Hopefully once the waters calm they'll change it back.

[Jew]

^Exactly. Sadly, Universal has to cover its ass and end the dueling until they can figure out what exactly happened. It is most likely just a pure coincidence of two freak incidents that just happened to be close together, but they have to protect themselves nonetheless. Continuing to operate the ride under the assumption it was just a freak accident and allowing it to happen again would be much worse for the park.

[BaMiTsPaT]

This disappoints me so much! I loved the Dueling Dragons simply because they dueled. I hope Universal can figure this out quickly,as without the dueling aspect they're just...2 inverts that coincide in one space .

[the ghost]

Looks kinda cool... HHN Orlando had better step it up this year. We(here in Hollywood) have an INCREDIBLE event so far... and that is with 2 mazes still left open for opinion. I kinda like what we have been seeing so far though... it's colorful in a VERY cool sort of way... but we shall see soon enough.

[texcoaster]

Since I strongly suspect that the flying debris was some kind of object either lost or intentionally hurled from a ride on the opposing train, the solution would seem to be making absolutely, positively sure that there are no loose objects on board.

 

This will increase wait times, however, as riders will have to strip down to their underwear before boarding. To alleviate this, the obvious solution would be to place lockable bins big enough for all your clothes at the front of the queue.

 

Now I know what you're thinking: why not just go all the way nude?

But then think about sitting your butt on that seat right after sweaty Bertha just got off the ride. Yeah. Undies it is!

[ginzo]

Bummer on the no dueling thing. I hope they can bring it back soon.

[BkkMan13]

Aw I've always wanted to duel, using B&Ms and dragons! I don't know the coaster so well so, does it have new theming since the whole Harry Potter world thing came up? Because maybe the injuries were caused by that. I highly doubt that its the coaster, since the only two accidents on the ride happened after the new theming came in...

[ernierocker]

^How could new theming possibly cause these type of accidents???

 

It isn't like they put riders in dragon suits now and the scaly tails are smacking the other trains and riders now.

Edited August 17, 2011 by ernierocker