Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

Universal Orlando Resort (USO, IOA) Discussion Thread

p. 623 - New Epic Universe details, including Celestial Park!

Recommended Posts

^I dunno, looking at Velocicoaster and Beijing's Jurassic coaster, I think Orlando won there. I know they have the Jurassic version of the Spider-man ride as the main ride, but for the Mack coaster, they could have at least put some plastic dinosaurs on some of the rocks in the pit area to liven it up a little bit. I'd even settle for some of the employees as these guys:

image.thumb.png.0cb77fde20e72ae47606de256abd3a27.png

It'd be stupid, but I'd laugh and that would probably make it more memorable than what they got.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, KBrylczyk said:

This is Universal.  They've already blown this decade's budget on new, original attractions in Asia. The best you'll get is a slightly modified import of an existing attraction or Jimmy Fallon 2.  Choose wisely.

Who cares? The percentage of people who will visit every universal park is so small. If buying in bulk saves costs and shares engineering resources (even though it’s the same company, each park has their own budget) for a better overall ride, go ahead and clone all the good rides. 
 

Pets would be a fantastic addition to UO and fit perfectly for making that area an illuminations themed street with DM already there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
3 minutes ago, I<3RMC said:

Likely a dumb question, but I am visiting Universal Orlando this upcoming Saturday the 23rd. Is admission to HHN separate from my ticket for the parks during the day?

Yes.  The 23rd is $119.99.  Might be a able to save a few bucks on Groupon, Ticketsatwork, or Sam's. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, tndank said:

Yes. 

Okay that's what I thought. So with my regular ticket my night would end at 5 pm at Universal and then 8 pm at IOA? Looking for opinions if it is worth it to go to HHN.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also keep in mind this Saturday will be one of the BUSIEST DAYS OF THE YEAR for HHN. That means the rest of the parks will also be a hot disaster all day Saturday.  Buy whatever skip the line express passes you can or be prepared to wait, a long time, and not get everything done. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, SharkTums said:

Also keep in mind this Saturday will be one of the BUSIEST DAYS OF THE YEAR for HHN. That means the rest of the parks will also be a hot disaster all day Saturday.  Buy whatever skip the line express passes you can or be prepared to wait, a long time, and not get everything done. 

Yes of course, thank you for the helpful reminder :) Going with a passholder and we are getting their early with a game plan and use the express passes on the big waits. Then after we survive universal its time for Hollywood Studios on Sunday to try out Genie.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, Haymaker said:

Two thoughts as i'm currently at the park...

1. Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls and Jurassic River adventure are looking tired and dated.

2. Velocicoaster is insane. 

I’d have to agree, hit up Velocicoaster twice on Thursday, that coaster still makes me scream for real, and not just for fun. Mostly after the 2nd launch and the barrel roll over the lagoon. 

My partner agrees on the state of Toon Lagoon, hardly anyone under the age of 30 (maybe older) knows who Dudley Do Right, Blondie, and Cathy are anymore. 

This is always the inherent issue with utilizing IPs in the park, unless you get lucky and find an IP with some endless staying power, it’s most likely going to be outdated at some point. And unless you’re willing to invest constantly in updated theming, you’ll be stuck with a land that mainly serves to suck up riders when everything else has too big of a line.

Dudley-do-right was already outdated when the park opened and the show was barely even syndicated on TV at that point. The ride itself is in desperate need of paint, and some of the facade is starting to get holes in it (lol).

While Dudley managed to get a 90 min wait last Saturday, Popeye’s couldn’t even come close, is it capacity that helps the latter? Or is it the fact that everyone now knows you’ll be absolutely drenched from head to toe and not so many people are keen on that idea?

I haven’t had a chance to get on River Adventure for about a month, it was down both times I went. Last Saturday, lots of rides were down: Hulk, Forbidden Journey, River Adventure, two Dr Seuss rides, and Spider-Man were down all at the same time for many hours. And of course Hagrids was on Virtual Wait only so it was completely closed off if you missed your chance. So Flight of the Hippogriff had a 60+ min wait.

Then there’s a whole themed area with zero attractions at the moment, Lost Continent. And the Dr Seuss area which no one seems to care about either. It had hardly had any lines despite massive crowds. 

Have to wait and see what the future brings this park, since they have one new attraction, I’m not really expecting many new updates besides whatever is happening in the Lost Continent. Universal has all their eggs in Epic Universe’s basket so I don’t imagine to many big changes ATM. 

I still have a great time when I go, but I mainly focus on a few rides now.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Even if it's dated, I will take the swinging gates opening to show you your first dinosaur as the 'Welcome to Jurassic Park' moment and theme music kicks in over floating round a corner and there's a CG aquarium anyday.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Planning my first ever trip to Universal for January. I will prly just do islands of adventure since I only have one day at the park. My main reason is to ride the 2 new Intamins. Is velocicoaster and Hagrids really not on the express time saver pass?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, grsupercity said:

Planning my first ever trip to Universal for January. I will prly just do islands of adventure since I only have one day at the park. My main reason is to ride the 2 new Intamins. Is velocicoaster and Hagrids really not on the express time saver pass?

When in January are you going?  If it's not the first week then I feel you could pull off both parks in one day as long as you have a game plan of what you want to ride.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, coasterbill said:

River Adventure is perfect. Don’t f*ck with it (even though we all know you probably will).

The ride itself is great, but some of the animatronics were looking "derpy" yesterday. Just needs some refurb I think. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Chiselphane said:

When in January are you going?  If it's not the first week then I feel you could pull off both parks in one day as long as you have a game plan of what you want to ride.

right now I am thinking the second weekend of January 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, grsupercity said:

right now I am thinking the second weekend of January 

I think you could definitely get most of both parks, but on a weekend, even in January you would probably need express pass. The good news is it will be cheaper on those dates after the Christmas rush is over. Or stay at Royal Pacific. It's the cheapest of the "deluxe" hotels, express pass included, and is totally worth it if you are only there a couple of nights. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, coasterbill said:

I haven’t been on Jurassic World but I kind of feel that way too. Honestly, even if the other one is better it’s also selfishly nice to have experiences that are a bit different on both coasts.

We were on it for the first time in August. I really wouldn't say one was better than the other. They are different and both have their pros and cons. Totally agree that it's nice to have two different versions so you aren't just repeating the same thing; let's each park have it's own character.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have mixed feelings on Toon Lagoon. Yes, it's dated. Yes, my friend and I had to explain to our kids who Dudley Do Right and Popeye were the first time we took them. Betty Boop was even harder as that was mostly even before my time 🤣 And, yes, they probably will re theme it eventually (although I don't think that is high on their priority list right now) 

On the other hand:

We are doing a December trip and have talked Grandma and Grandpa into going since it is Christmas time and they will enjoy all the references, so it probably still serves a multi generational group fairly well at this point.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, teacherkim said:

I think you could definitely get most of both parks, but on a weekend, even in January you would probably need express pass. The good news is it will be cheaper on those dates after the Christmas rush is over. Or stay at Royal Pacific. It's the cheapest of the "deluxe" hotels, express pass included, and is totally worth it if you are only there a couple of nights. 

I want the express pass but am I reading it wrong that Hagrids and velocicoaster are not included in it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, grsupercity said:

I want the express pass but am I reading it wrong that Hagrids and velocicoaster are not included in it?

There's no regular express for either, so get to Hagrid's first, it's the clear most popular coaster. 

You can only get an express pass for Hagrid or Velocicoaster if you are in line for the ride at close and it breaks down/you get stormed out. That happened to me 3/4 nights this year's visit. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, grsupercity said:

I want the express pass but am I reading it wrong that Hagrids and velocicoaster are not included in it?

As stated that is correct, but if you have express pass for everything else it helps to offset the time for those two rides, particularly Hagrids. I agree with Zach that you want to get there early and rope drop Hagrids. Even the most dignified of us does the running of the bulls occasionally 😉

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/