Universal Orlando Resort (USO, IOA) Discussion Thread

[coasterfreak101]

^There's NO WAY there's enough room to put nets between trains. Not without even more of a risk of someone kicking someone else.

 

If they stagger the trains the minimum amount, hopefully we'll still have the brief effect of seeing the other train complete the elements - i.e. if you let Ice run first, Fire will see it complete the 0G just as it hits the airtime hill, and then will round the corner to see it shooting up into the loop just before Fire makes it there too. Hopefully "stagger" doesn't mean "completely separate."

[Retro_Gaga]

This is very upsetting. I rode the coasters for the first time in July and was absolutely blown away by how awesome the dueling aspect was.

 

Maybe Universal will at some point change their decision and let them duel again after a bit of investigation?

[larrygator]

If Batman hadn't been cloned a million times over, the design would probably be on par with Non-Dueling Dragons.

 

How does the cloning of a successful design make the design less successful?

[swiver]

If they stagger the trains the minimum amount, hopefully we'll still have the brief effect of seeing the other train complete the elements - i.e. if you let Ice run first, Fire will see it complete the 0G just as it hits the airtime hill, and then will round the corner to see it shooting up into the loop just before Fire makes it there too. Hopefully "stagger" doesn't mean "completely separate."

 

it's a little more staggered than you are hoping. if they happen to dispatch the trains at the same time, fire usually jogs up the lift while ice goes way ahead. to give you an idea, ice probably makes it through the zero g roll before fire gets to the top of the lift

[coasterfreak101]

^Oh. Well then there goes my last shimmering little bit of hope.

[gisco]

^agreed, it is kind of like when they turn off the special effects. The ride is still good, just better when everything is working like it is supposed to.

[Kumbarider1993]

Boooooooooooooooooo.

[BrownStreak]

I could attempt to understand the reasoning. However if park policy clearly states "SECURE ALL LOOSE ARTICLES" then this shouldn't even be on Universal's head.

 

Actually that policy puts it even more on their heads as they don't really do much to enforce it. Granted in order to enforce such a policy efficiently guests would either have to ride nude or in spandex clothing.

 

As far as these 'two isolated incidents,' these were two that were reported and more importantly they were reported and serious. Situations where things are reported and 'not serious' don't get documented many times (and when they do, they are often only on the park's personal records and not those reported).

[Philrad71]

^There's NO WAY there's enough room to put nets between trains. Not without even more of a risk of someone kicking someone else.

 

Not quite sure I'm following you there as I would think that there has to be at least a foot and a half (and probably more) for safety purposes between the tightest dueling aspect of the trains. The design engineers would have had to account for varying rider height/length for safety - it just appears that it is merely inches as you are passing by. A safety netting is what 1/2" thick at most? I'm also wondering how would adding netting between the trains cause someone to kick someone else?

 

If anything, the safety concern would probably be if something flew out at a high rate of speed, hit the net & then somehow ricocheted back into another rider. But then again, some hockey pucks can be going 100 MPH when they hit the safety mesh and I have never seen one fly back like a cannon hitting the net coming back to hit the coyote like in the Road Runner cartoons! They usually just hit and drop harmlessly to the ice.

 

More than anything, I'm just curious to know if the option was explored (I'm sure it has) and if so, why it was ruled out? I know their engineers are no dummies, so I'm just looking to satisfy my own curiousity. It would be fun to have a Q&A session with them sometime and be able to ask them that question!

 

Edit: Looks like the gap between loops is eighteen inches (most likely minimum). I also checked the parks website and there is no maximum height limit to ride...only the minimum 54" to ride

Edited October 23, 2011 by Philrad71

[Delgato]

Safety net would definitely not work in the dueling portions. This is sad. These coasters just dropped in my rankings.

[Philrad71]

^If you worked at my place of employment and walked into one of of our design engineering review meetings and just said "this won't work" with no supporting data or logic, you would be laughed out of the room.

 

Not tying to be a smart aleck here, but what is your reasoning behind saying it won't work? Just curious...I think it's a fairly plausible question.

 

Edit: I have tried sifting through the articles on Google, but see no mention anywhere that this option was explored.

[gisco]

I think the reason nets haven't been considered may be for a couple of reasons. It is not clear what or where the object came from that hit the people. The first time I rode on the coaster I couldn't tell when the coasters dueled. It is possible the people assumed the object came from the other coaster. The other possible reason for not putting up a net is visual. They may think the look from off the ride may not be worth it.

[Meteornotes]

Though the dueling makes this ride better, they still are B&M coasters that have one feature that newer B&M coasters do not: forces. That makes them still worth riding.

 

dt

Edited October 23, 2011 by Meteornotes

[BaMiTsPaT]

Though this is disappointing, I am thankful that I was able to ride the Dragons when they were in their prime. They are still good coasters, but it is sad to see this happen.

[The SETGO Guys]

They could possibly be able to rig up a safety net for that ride, the big dueling loop would obviously be the hardest, because you have to deal with the 18 inch gap and creating a rig for the top of the loop that would have to extend from the sides of the loop.

 

A really rough drawing done in about 30 seconds, nothing spectacular. I'm curious now to see if I could possibly mock it up in a CAD (Computer Assisted Design) program to see if it would be theoretically possible. However that would take a really long time (for me) and I'm not sure if I'd be able to do it to the full extend I want.

 

This ride has really gone downhill, at least for me. The removal of the queue was the first "strike", renaming was the second, and now no more dueling. Its still a good ride, but its just lost its original appeal. The wait times have been decreasing for the ride too, once Potter opened the waits for the ride disappeared and have been diminishing. I really hope Universal will be able to restore the ride to its former glory!

[Philrad71]

^ That's kinda what I had in mind too, although I have no programs on my home PC where I could do any design work. Maybe I can see if my friend at work can CAD it for me!

 

To my knowledge there were only two other instances where you were close to the other train. I suppose there is still the option that something could fly out somewhere else on the ride where they aren't that close. Maybe they'd feel they'd have to net both of the entire coasters in order for it to be completely safe? In that case, yeah...it wouldn't be too aesthetically pleasing, although the coasters are built over what looks like an unattractive swamp to begin with.

[The SETGO Guys]

^ That's kinda what I had in mind too, although I have no programs on my home PC where I could do any design work. Maybe I can see if my friend at work can CAD it for me!

 

To my knowledge there were only two other instances where you were close to the other train. I suppose there is still the option that something could fly out somewhere else on the ride where they aren't that close. Maybe they'd feel they'd have to net both of the entire coasters in order for it to be completely safe? In that case, yeah...it wouldn't be too aesthetically pleasing, although the coasters are built over what looks like an unattractive swamp to begin with.

 

Yeah, I'm always surprised how it looks so nice in pictures. The Coaster(s) are in a pretty ugly location, the station is nice, but as soon as you depart you pass a backstage area. There is that ugly wall, I don't think a net would really ruin anything.

[larrygator]

The wait times have been decreasing for the ride too, once Potter opened the waits for the ride disappeared and have been diminishing.

 

In my mind, this makes the ride experience better. Same forces, less wait.

Edited October 23, 2011 by larrygator

[TPDave]

^ I guess it depends how much emphasis you place on the "duel" in the ride experience. I really liked the old ride and haven't been since the Potter bastardisation, but from what I hear the stuff I liked about it from an experience point of view went way before they stopped duelling!

 

But like you said they're still technically the same coaster, so it's great for out and out coaster nerds!

 

Dave

Edited October 23, 2011 by TPDave

[Wes]

I still think its weird they went 12 years without incident and then all of the sudden this happens.

[gisco]

I find it hard to believe there is only am 18" gap. Where did that information come from?

[SoCalCoasters]

I almost feel like they could somehow theme the nets to fit in with the ride, and not completely ruin the ride's dueling perspective on or off ride.

[TheStig]

I find it hard to believe there is only am 18" gap. Where did that information come from?

 

It's about four and a half feet...

[Philrad71]

^The 18" came from one of the web articles I read, so it's probably inaccurate. I figured at the most extreme if you had two guys riding on both trains at the same time that were 7'5" that it "might" be an 18" gap. I figured closer to three or four might be the normal gap.

 

I kinda like the idea about the net theming though...webs with mechanical spiders that spit poison and hurled more webbing at you during the ride perhaps? Or....maybe not!

[Wes]

Isn't it themed after the Goblet or whatever? Could they build a barrier with the goblet on top? People who paid attention during Harry Potter helpppppppp