Universal Orlando Resort (USO, IOA) Discussion Thread

[BaMiTsPaT]

I figured I would post my review of HHN 21 on this thread instead of making an entirely new thread for it, as I have no pictures from the event. I went two nights, and had a really awesome time.

 

SPOILER WARNING!!!

 

Houses:

Forsaken 2x: Forsaken was the first house that we went to, and I was not that impressed the first time we went through it. It was still daylight outside, and so my eyes had a terrible time adjusting to the dimness. Also, there were not many scares here and the green eyes gave away many of the scareactor locations. The huge courtyard scene was amazing, and seeing all of the pirates there looking at you was quite intimidating. Most of the sets were boring though.

Scares: 3/5

Sets: 2.5/5

Overall: 5.5/10

 

The In-between 1x: This was the second house we went to, and it was my first 3-D house ever. The costuming was awesome, and the string room was really trippy, but overall this maze was not very scary. I also liked the wing actors and the spinning hallway, but I wish there were more actors in this one. It was also very hard to keep the glasses on my head while looking quickly from side to side. The facade is also very cool to look at before entering the house.

Scares: 2/5

Sets: 3/5

Overall: 5/10

 

Nevermore 2x: This house was amazing! The sets were so detailed, and I was truly frightened by some scenes in here. I remember one hallway where Poe is on the left, and there is a boohole on the right. Both time we went through this house my friend hugged the left side by Poe and stared at the boohole. Her reasoning was, "Edgar is innocent he would never hurt me!" She was mistaken. The raven hallway is amazing, but I am not a huge fan of triggered sound effects. The craziest room by far was the room with the dancers (sorry I don't know what story that is from). I could not tell which dancers were real and which were not, so this was quite a surreal experience.

Scares: 4/5

Sets: 5/5

Overall: 9/10

 

Saws & Steam 2x: This was probably the most intense house of the event. From the minute you walk in you are assaulted by loud noises aplenty. I love the steampunk vibe and the backstory. This is also the goriest house of the event. I was excited to be able to see the guy cutting the leg off a victim, and loved the blood effects. The scare actors in this house were very aggressive, and the sets were insanely detailed for a queue house. I loved the chainsaw guy at the exit. After we went through this house the second time we sat on a bench and watched him scare people as they exited.

Scares: 4/5

Sets: 4.5/5

Overall: 8.5/10

 

H.R Bloodengutz 2x: The queue video for this house was amazing. It was so funny, yet so chilling at the same time. I loved the facade, and that H.R was in the first room. This house was a lot less intense than others in the scares department, as I would expect from a comedy house, but I love how they were able to twist each holiday into the crazy rooms of this house.

Scares: 2/5

Sets: 4/5

Overall: 6/10

 

The Thing 1x: I was really anticipating this house, as I had heard great things about it. It constantly had the longest line when we walked by, and so I was hoping it would be amazing. I was wrong. This house was really disappointing. I did not get scared once, and the costumes were really disappointing. The masks looked incredibly fake, and the sets were not much to look at.

Scares: 1.5/5

Sets: 2.5/5

Overall: 4/10

 

Nightingales: Blood Prey 2x: This house had a five minute wait both times we went on it, which is bizarre, as this is easily the best house of the event. the scare actors were really aggressive, and it was incredibly loud throughout. I screamed like a little girl in one scene where they perfectly timed a double scare. I love the trenches, and the overhead scares.

Scares: 5/5

Sets: 4/5

Overall: 9/10

 

Winter's Night 2x: This house was amazing to look at. The first room with the snowing is crazy. It really makes you feel like you are in a cemetery. The crypts are really cool, as you can't tell which nooks the scare actors will come out of. Though most of the scares had triggered sound effects, I was still startled a lot in this house. The last room is amazing, and made me run out of the house screaming!

Scares: 4/5

Sets: 4/5

Overall: 8/10

 

Scarezones:

 

Seven: We did this scarezone first both nights, and were very much alone in it. We were scared from all over by the chainsaw team, and the actors for the sins. It is hard to see the sins, as the actors are everywhere, forcing your eyes on the streets. I like how the music changes throughout the night, and the sins are truly gross at the end of the night.

8/10

 

Grown Evil: This zone was really cool at night, but not very exciting while the sun was still out. The costumes were really cool, and the music was very chilling. I like the amount of fog in this zone, but it is not very scary compared to some of the other zones.

6/10

 

Canyon of Dark Souls: This zone is really claustrophobic! The fog makes it impossible to see the actors coming, and if you try to go near the wall to avoid them, the actors in the wall emerge to scare you. It is really a cool zone that is very intense if you make yourself a target.

7/10

 

Acid Assault: This zone is really cool. The building projections are cool, and the scare actors are great! I love the costumes here, and the scenery is great.

8/10

 

Your Luck Has Run Out: This zone really sucks. The lady lucks with the masks are not scary, and it is not very big. A real disappointment.

3/10

 

Nightmaze: Nightmaze was an interesting scarezone. The actors had some cool costumes with the fan-like shapes that they made. I like that the walls move, but when there are a lot of people walking through it is too easy to find the way out. Overall, not as bad as I thought it would be.

 

5/10

 

Bill & Ted: I heard that this show was terrible this year, but I did not think it was that bad. Other than some obscure references (Suckerpunch, Green Horney)that I had not seen, this show was quite funny. I thought it was a lot of fun, and cannot wait until next year!

7/10

[Meteornotes]

Had to miss out on HHN this year, so I've enjoyed reading all the different reports.

 

I still wish they'd have it at both parks again, as the event just seemed so much more fun then.

 

dt

[funkeymon]

I think it would be better if they put a nest with two eggs on top. During the "Dragon Challenge" Harry and the other contestants have to fight off dragons to get to their eggs. So if they put a nest with two eggs on top (one for each coaster) then the "Dragon Challenge" name would tie in better to the whole Harry Potter area. That is, if they do put a net in between the two loops..

[BrownStreak]

I've never been on the ride, however I have heard that the 'Dueling' only ever really worked visually if you were sitting the the front seat...

[ernierocker]

^Absolutely not true!

[SoCalCoasters]

Agreed^

 

From any seat there was still the sense of dueling. Especially in the airtime hill/barrel roll crossover.

[Hugecoltsfan]

I would have to agree to. Although I think the front row was the best for the loops, just because you could see the other train.

[WFChris]

Plexiglass.

 

I mean seriously; this is a multi-million dollar investment intended to duel. They might as well taer it down if it is not going to operate as intended.

 

It's too bad that I have not and never will get to ride the true Dueling Dragon's coaster. I guess I'll just try to focus on the fact that I got to ride Loch Ness with both trains going through the loops at the same time!

[krazekiddd]

So I finally went on Saturday and had very low expectations from previous reports. I did have a good time but it all seemed like it was stuff redone for the most part.

 

What shocked me the most was the wait times. I was expecting the waits to be at least 90 minutes so I had an express pass anyway. The highest wait I saw was for 60 minutes but that didn't last too long. The event was not crowded at all. On average, the waits for the houses seemed to average about 20 minutes. Not what I expected at all on a Saturday.

[cfc]

At least the two coasters are still "good" on their own.

They are "good", but I'd argue that the dueling aspect actually added to the ride enough for me to consider them "great" when they dueled, and only "good" when they do not.

 

Sure, they are some of the better B&M inverts, but on their own, I'd put them on par with a Batman clone. Dueling really added to the experience.

 

I agree. The first time I rode Dueling Dragons one side wasn't operating, and I thought the ride was fun. The dueling made the two rides great; without it, they're not as good as Montu.

[larrygator]

Plexiglass.

 

Good in theory, but with the maturity of the typical park goer this is just asking for people to throw gum and any objects.

Edited October 24, 2011 by larrygator

[eddytheviper]

I's go along with the netting concept, shame I can't see it happening though.

 

I'll miss the duelling aspect of it unless they have a change of heart..

I must say it hasn't been the same since potterization though, I loved the skulls and theming in the queue, it feels like it's been stripped of it's Character.

 

Also, the entrance to it is just awful compared to the genius that was the two dragons, as is the 'Go Hufflepuff' signs and stuff, they look like they are deteriorating pretty quick tbh

[Kafka]

I was kinda shocked when i heard they were getting rid of the dueling aspect of this ride. I was lucky enough to have ridden this ride while it was still dueling and I will say that the dueling aspect was one of the things that made this ride great. I think itl still be a good ride. The proximity of the building to the first part of the cobra roll on one side of it was breathtaking from the front.

[chargersmichael]

2011 Review!

 

This year's event I thought was a lot better than last year's. The houses get more scarier and creative, the scarezones were phenomenal this year and it was just a lot of fun. I managed to get through every house by 9:45 and that includes a 30 minute break eating at the Irish Pub they have their outside of Mummy.

 

Haunted Houses (In order of favoritism):

 

1. Winter's Night 9/10

-First and favorite. Scary. Very detailed and original theme but really really well theming and pop outs in the weirdest places. Only complaint is that it seemed short but it was short and sweet!

 

2. Saws N Steam 9/10

-Definitely the scariest house. Loved the transition from Scare Zone to house. I didn't notice a lot of Steam in this house though.

 

3. In-Between 9/10

-Never been into a 3d house before and this just blew me away. Very cool effects and thought it was a very scary, well-done house.

 

4. Forsaken 8/10

-I thought this was the best themed house of the night and had amazing effects of being on a ship it just lacked some scares but offered some decent ones too.

 

5. Nightingales 8/10

-Another short but sweet house. I thought this house didn't have as many effects and wasn't as scary but was still awesome. Banshees popping out of nowhere, being shot, and swinging over your head. Great job!

 

6. Nevermore 8/10

-This house was amazing!!! Loved all of the story inegregations and thought the scares were just ok. It's up there with theme though.

 

7. Blood N Guts 8/10

-I honestly had the most fun in this house because of all of the different holidays and halloween takeover of each holiday. Nothing scary, just fun.

 

8. The Thing 6/10

I didn't even get this house, it wasn't scary and I was confused the whole way through it.

[PAL]

The heart of DD was ripped out a couple of years ago. It's a poor fit for Potterland; the retheme was a mistake.

 

Universal needs to expand Potter stat to help spread the crowds. Unfortunately the resources they'll devote to that project seem likely to prevent necessary work on the other side of IOA. The park would benefit from a new attraction, a counterweight to add capacity and redistribute crowd flow.

[dragonskeep]

The back car of Fire on the left side had very cool dueling visuals. This really is too bad. I hate what Potter did to it and this is just too much.

[UniverseHollywood]

This is really unfortunate, and I was thinking of a way they could possibly make the loop portion of the ride safer after some of your guys ideas of nets came up. I was thinking the best thing to do would be to get a couple big sheets of plexiglass like they have at the hockey rinks, and make a frame and put them between the loops (yellow line, 1st picture below). This way, the object is clear, the obstruction of the net is gone, and there would be no "movement" if something were to fly into the net (for example when a puck hits the net it moves 1 foot into the net) as where the plexiglass would just stop any object in its path.

 

Also keep in mind that the net or plexiglass does NOT need to go to the top of the loops, only about a 1/4 of the way up between both loops because as the trains go through the loop, the direction of any loose articles are not going to be thrown at the other vehicle once the trains start to ascend vertically, they will be thrown upward. So there only really needs to be something at the point where the trains are facing one another.

 

Another thing with the hard plexiglass is you only have to support the sides and bottom, while the top can just be left alone without any ugly kind of support or obstruction (2nd drawing).

[Wes]

What if you placed a statue of Manute Bol between the loops.

[B&MIntaminGCI]

I don't think this is fair, not only to enthusiasts, but to the GP themselves. I'm sure the ride is known for dueling and even with the announcement, how many of the GP actually is going to hear about it? Hardly any, they're going to go to Florida in hopes of having those awesome near miss dueling elements that they heard about through friends or family, and when they get on, they're going to be disappointed. The rides been open forever without problems, and now because of two freak accidents the ride is being neutered. It's not fair, and could cost them money, not much, but enough.

[SharkTums]

dumb.

[gisco]

I like the plexiglass idea. Then we can take big juicy wads of gum and try and make them stick to it!

[coasterfreak101]

dumb.

 

I think this about sums it up. Let's just quote this post on every page from here on out?

[jarmor]

So is it safe to say "the thing" is one of the worst house ever?? I personally felt I wasted my time and only went thru once the three nights I went.

[Jew]

I was indifferent to it. I liked the thing costumes and the ending scene. The chainlink fence scarezone on the other hand...

[snoflake15]

My huge regret when I went to IoA was that I queued for ages to get the front seat only for the dumbass operators to send the trains out at different times. I went round the track cursing them and this news has brought back that old anger.

 

Good coasters? yes but without the duelling they come behind Montu.

 

Surely there must be a way round this? I too had thought plexiglass so it still looks like the train is coming towards you rather than a net.

 

Also what does this mean for other 'duelling coasters'? Will they stop all trains running together in case some fudgewit decides to do something crazy?