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Theme Parks & Roller Coasters |OT| The Happiest Place on GAF

jtb

Banned
Universal seems very prone to tearing down existing rides to make way for new ones, rather than simply keeping existing attractions and expanding. Is it a land/limited space thing? Too much upkeep? Quality over quantity?

How has the Millennium Force won so many golden tickets

is it really the best steel coaster in the world?

It rides like a dream and has beautiful views of the lake/park. What's not to like?
 
Universal seems very prone to tearing down existing rides to make way for new ones, rather than simply keeping existing attractions and expanding. Is it a land/limited space thing? Too much upkeep? Quality over quantity?

I'm not sure about Orlando's deal, but Hollywood, being located on a few hills in the heart of LA, clearly has to consider the available space.
 
I wouldn't be surprised if it gets scrapped though. It operated 365 days a year for 18 seasons. That's the equivalent of ~30 years at a seasonal park. See Hulk.

I didn't even think about that, you are probably right sadly.

Makes me wonder how long Batman(1997) and Minbender(1978) will last at SFOG, thankfully its only seasonal there though.
I'd riot if Mindbender ever gets removed.
 

jtb

Banned
Fury 325 in Charlotte is a better coaster.

Shot's fired.

(I've never actually riden Fury 325. It's cool that Cedar Fair is giving all of its parks a flagship coaster. Does fury 325 have a breakrun anywhere before the end? Thats one of the things that pisses me off the most about B&M's non-inverted coasters.)
 

zeemumu

Member
Universal seems very prone to tearing down existing rides to make way for new ones, rather than simply keeping existing attractions and expanding. Is it a land/limited space thing? Too much upkeep? Quality over quantity?

For Hollywood it's definitely a land thing. Most of that land is a dedicated and fully functioning movie studio, and the entire thing is surrounded by hills (and that park already has more than enough escalators/stairs) and city. Easiest way to put in new stuff is to clear out older or underperforming ride soundstages. Orlando has an easier time because they're all theme park and there's a bit more empty land around for expansion.
 
Universal seems very prone to tearing down existing rides to make way for new ones, rather than simply keeping existing attractions and expanding. Is it a land/limited space thing? Too much upkeep? Quality over quantity?

Universal Orlando only has a few expansion plots, and none of them are near Hogsmeade. So scrapping Dragon Challenge was really the only option here.

Universal doesn't always tear down and replace rides. Forbidden Journey and Skull Island were built on expansion pads. I think there's still one for Seuss, and the backstage area behind Men in Black and Simpsons could possibly be repurposed as expansion land (though it would throw a wrench in HHN and stuff like storing parade floats).
 
Universal seems very prone to tearing down existing rides to make way for new ones, rather than simply keeping existing attractions and expanding. Is it a land/limited space thing? Too much upkeep? Quality over quantity?
Even when it isn't a land issue there's always a land issue.
In this case they probably felt that massive footprint and maintenance wasn't drawing enough of the crowd even within the same land to keep it going.

Yeah it seems like a combination of factors

-B&M isn't happy with the removal of dueling
-WB isn't happy with the use of metal detectors (both rumors from Parkscope)
-The plot it sits on is so HUGE that it makes Fun Spot blush
-It just isn't drawing the amount of riders Universal wants to see

Everything is going against it. Tough for a ride to survive that when the company has ambitious plans for the same land.

Yup.

universal-orlandos-harry-potter-world-big.jpg

as great as it is if it isn't doing well with ride numbers, there isn't much they could do to entice more into it.
Look at that land it takes up in the Harry Potter section, its absolutely massive.
And in the most popular section of the park you really need everything possible sucking up all that crowds.
 
Even when it isn't a land issue there's always a land issue.
In this case they probably felt that massive footprint and maintenance wasn't drawing enough of the crowd even within the same land to keep it going.

Yeah it seems like a combination of factors

-B&M isn't happy with the removal of dueling
-WB isn't happy with the use of metal detectors (both rumors from Parkscope)
-The plot it sits on is so HUGE that it makes Fun Spot blush
-It just isn't drawing the amount of riders Universal wants to see

Everything is going against it. Tough for a ride to survive that when the company has ambitious plans for the same land.
 

Jag

Member
Universal Orlando only has a few expansion plots, and none of them are near Hogsmeade. So scrapping Dragon Challenge was really the only option here.

Universal doesn't always tear down and replace rides. Forbidden Journey and Skull Island were built on expansion pads. I think there's still one for Seuss, and the backstage area behind Men in Black and Simpsons could possibly be repurposed as expansion land (though it would throw a wrench in HHN and stuff like storing parade floats).

Looking at Google Maps of parks always amazes me how much they fit in such a small space. Dueling Dragons was always funny because you could see the High School right next door at the top of the loop.
 

jtb

Banned
B&M is pro-dueling? That's really interesting.

It's such a shame what happened to that ride, though I guess it's a minor miracle it lasted as long as it did.
 
B&M is pro-dueling? That's really interesting.

It's such a shame what happened to that ride, though I guess it's a minor miracle it lasted as long as it did.

I believe that's what was said on the Parkscope blog. Might need to double check. I definitely remember reading something about how B&M isn't happy with the current status of the ride.

edit - it's the lack of dueling.
 

JonnyKong

Member
Huh it's interesting to see that overhead shot of Hogwarts castle, makes you realise how small it actually is, when it looks so big when you're in the park.

The naive part of me actually thought the whole ride was in the castle 🤣🤣 quite clearly it's in that ugly warehouse building behind it.
 

aparisi2274

Member
Universal seems very prone to tearing down existing rides to make way for new ones, rather than simply keeping existing attractions and expanding. Is it a land/limited space thing? Too much upkeep? Quality over quantity?

Most likely space thing. I am pretty sure that when they purchased the land in Orlando to build USF, they didn't think they would need to expand as much as they are now, so while they had room for IOA and hotels, they are now finding out that more space would've probably been better, but then on the flip side, a lot of the rides they are getting rid of are tired and old (look at Earthquake or Disaster) and so why not remove those and replace them with something better, something more akin to today's attractions?

I'm ok with them removing existing rides or areas if they are antiquated. While The Lost Continent was cool when IOA first opened, Poseidon's Fury is a shell of what it used to be, and the show building could be put to better use as something new, and the Aladdin show is cool, but they could easily retheme that to something else.
 
The original version of Poseidon's Fury was so fuckin' cool. New version is watered down as hell.

"GIVE ME THAT TRIDENT!" will never not be hilarious, though.
 
-WB isn't happy with the use of metal detectors (both rumors from Parkscope)
Wow, im listening to the latest DIS Unplugged and he actually mentions how anal WB is about everything there.
(even mentions they flip out about operator radios)
He says they are so picky it is why he doubts a Potter hotel would ever happen.

I definitely see that playing into this now.
 
The last few times I've been to Universal the wait for Dragon Challenge was only 5 minutes. No real sense in them keeping it around since Hogsmeade needs all the help it can get IMO.

At least the queue has some decent theming.
 

aparisi2274

Member
The last few times I've been to Universal the wait for Dragon Challenge was only 5 minutes. No real sense in them keeping it around since Hogsmeade needs all the help it can get IMO.

At least the queue has some decent theming.

I stopped riding it when they stopped running it in Dueling mode...

My only regret is that I will never get to see the theming they did on it for Tri-Wizard tournament...

Oh well... Bring on the Forbidden Forest ride...
 
I stopped riding it when they stopped running it in Dueling mode...

My only regret is that I will never get to see the theming they did on it for Tri-Wizard tournament...

It's really bad. They took out the old Dueling Dragons stained glass screens, frozen knights, skulls, warning messages, etc and basically replaced them with nothing. There's some alrightish theming in the outside portion, but the inside is more or less a giant barren cave now.
 

red capsule

Member
i came back from universal stu hollywood 2 days ago and still cannot believe that they removed the terminator 2 show

that's like removing billie jean from thriller
 
I might be going to Universal at the end of August, so I'll definitely give the Dragons a ride before they're (most likely) sent to the scrap yard.

I'd find this prospect hilarious, but imagine if they sold the ride to Disney? Seems like it could be easily re-purposed into Pandora or something.
 

brerwolfe

Member
Dueling Dragons was always funny because you could see the High School right next door at the top of the loop.

I remember being jealous when visiting Dr Phillips High School for a football game (I had just moved to the east side of Orlando from Northern Virginia, everything was foreign to me). Standing at the top of the visitor's bleachers you could see the roller coasters being built and all I could think about was how cool it would be to go to school across the street from Universal Studios.
 

jtb

Banned
I might be going to Universal at the end of August, so I'll definitely give the Dragons a ride before they're (most likely) sent to the scrap yard.

I'd find this prospect hilarious, but imagine if they sold the ride to Disney? Seems like it could be easily re-purposed into Pandora or something.

Disney doesn't do coasters in the traditional sense. Uni should sell it to Cedar Fair or Six Flags or someone similar, though. (Busch?)

A very well designed ride. But probably one of those scenarios where it's most valuable if nobody has it.
 
Disney doesn't do coasters in the traditional sense. Uni should sell it to Cedar Fair or Six Flags or someone similar, though. (Busch?)

A very well designed ride. But probably one of those scenarios where it's most valuable if nobody has it.

Well an invert coaster in the same vein as Dueling Dragons was originally in the plans for Animal Kingdom, but the guy who came up with the plans exiled to Universal.
 

gsrjedi

Member
If Disney was going to have a dueling coaster ride, it should be in Galaxy's Edge & be X-Wing vs TIE Fighter. I know they said no VR, but it could be an interesting idea if each coaster could "shoot" at the other and how well you perform could play back into the interaction at the SW resort.
 
I might be going to Universal at the end of August, so I'll definitely give the Dragons a ride before they're (most likely) sent to the scrap yard.

I'd find this prospect hilarious, but imagine if they sold the ride to Disney? Seems like it could be easily re-purposed into Pandora or something.

Disney doesn't like to do those types of rides, just look at so many of the complaints about the Slinky Dog coaster.

If it wasn't for the mentioned age thing Six Flags would probably be all over them, that is Six Flags' bread and butter.
if they got it dueling again you could do so much with that theme in Six Flags branding:
Batman - Joker
Superman - Doomsday(Bizarro or Darkseid are obviously better but Superman Doomsday is a damn good ride name)
Flash - Reverse Flash
That would likely be a major attraction for any of the Six Flags park.

Busch probably wouldn't be interested, both are kinda similar to Montu.

Sea World should be interested but probably wouldn't be. Universal likely wouldn't want a direct competitor in the same market getting it as well.
 
I guess alot of Millenium Force's legacy also comes from the fact that it innovated so many ideas like the first to use a cable lift system
 

Nelo Ice

Banned
Wow, im listening to the latest DIS Unplugged and he actually mentions how anal WB is about everything there.
(even mentions they flip out about operator radios)
He says they are so picky it is why he doubts a Potter hotel would ever happen.

I definitely see that playing into this now.
Hmm are there are any other theme park podcasts worth listening to?. Just subbed to all the variations of DIS Unplugged.
 
Hmm are there are any other theme park podcasts worth listening to?. Just subbed to all the variations of DIS Unplugged.
In the style of DIS Unplugged im not sure of many. Don't miss their vlogs and such on YouTube, always interesting stuff as well.

However short stuff for park news DSNYNewscast is alright.
DFBGuide is good source for food related stuff
Defuntland, Bright Sun Films, Yesterworld Entertainment and Offhand Disneyland are good listens for attraction and park history stuff(Disney and Universal).

The Bright Sun Films videos about cancelled Disney park stuff are an incredible.
 

zeemumu

Member
Universal Orlando only has a few expansion plots, and none of them are near Hogsmeade. So scrapping Dragon Challenge was really the only option here.

Universal doesn't always tear down and replace rides. Forbidden Journey and Skull Island were built on expansion pads. I think there's still one for Seuss, and the backstage area behind Men in Black and Simpsons could possibly be repurposed as expansion land (though it would throw a wrench in HHN and stuff like storing parade floats).

Not in Orlando, anyway. In Hollywood, The Mummy replaced E.T., Wizarding World replaced Nickelodeon Splash Zone, that walkthrough attraction was replaced by The Mummy, which was replaced by Van Helsing, which was replaced by House of Horrors, which was replaced by a store and The Walking Dead. Wizarding World replaced Nickelodeon Splash Zone, Transformers replaced Backdraft, Despicable Me replaced Terminator, Simpsons replaced BttF and everything in that general area, etc.

I'd be down for them moving Dueling Dragons to Hollywood to replace Hippogryph. That thing's not great. More of a rollercoaster for kids.

Disney doesn't do coasters in the traditional sense. Uni should sell it to Cedar Fair or Six Flags or someone similar, though. (Busch?)

A very well designed ride. But probably one of those scenarios where it's most valuable if nobody has it.

Disney has a few. California Screamin', Rockin Rollercoaster, Big Thunder Mountain, Matterhorn, Space Mountain and Expedition Everest.
 

Nelo Ice

Banned
In the style of DIS Unplugged im not sure of many. Don't miss their vlogs and such on YouTube, always interesting stuff as well.

However short stuff for park news DSNYNewscast is alright.
DFBGuide is good source for food related stuff
Defuntland, Bright Sun Films, Yesterworld Entertainment and Offhand Disneyland are good listens for attraction and park history stuff(Disney and Universal).

The Bright Sun Films videos about cancelled Disney park stuff are an incredible.
Thanks. Didn't even think about theme park podcasts till you mentioned unplugged. Didn't know about it or any others. I listen to an absurd amount of podcasts during work.
 

JayB1920

Member
I guess alot of Millenium Force's legacy also comes from the fact that it innovated so many ideas like the first to use a cable lift system

Yeah. Its definitely a good ride but there are several steel hyper/giga coasters I personally prefer. Millennium Force is fast an smooth but not there is not a lot in terms of intensity and it doesn't have the best layout. It is very re-ridable though and is a crowd pleaser.
 
Thanks. Didn't even think about theme park podcasts till you mentioned unplugged. Didn't know about it or any others. I listen to an absurd amount of podcasts during work.
Same here.
Im really happy I stumbled into their stuff, I was basically just looking at hotel reviews for my trip next summer and I came across their "Best and Worst" series.
Was immediately hooked to all their content(though sadly I don't enjoy the California guys as much as the Florida crew)
 

JonnyKong

Member
What was different about the old version of Poseidons compared to how it is now? I only went on it for the first time last year, was decent fun.
 
What was different about the old version of Poseidons compared to how it is now? I only went on it for the first time last year, was decent fun.

After the water vortex you would be in the big open room for the finale, and the walls would come up after the show to make it seem like you ended up in the previous room. But the current version has the walls already up when you pass through the vortex, so the final set change doesn't have the same impact (the walls drop at the start, then rise at the end instead of just moving once after the finale).
 

aparisi2274

Member
After the water vortex you would be in the big open room for the finale, and the walls would come up after the show to make it seem like you ended up in the previous room. But the current version has the walls already up when you pass through the vortex, so the final set change doesn't have the same impact (the walls drop at the start, then rise at the end instead of just moving once after the finale).

Wasn't there a time when they weren't even running that Water vortex? You just walked through the tunnel to the final room

Speaking of the finale, the original was so awesome.... I think I experienced it when they changed it to what you described, and it just ruined the experience for me.
 

Xun

Member
I hadn't been to a Disney park for 9 years until today (I went to DLP).

I managed to do most of what I wanted, although the railroad was fucked all day and I didn't get a chance to go to the Studios park.
 
Wasn't there a time when they weren't even running that Water vortex? You just walked through the tunnel to the final room

Speaking of the finale, the original was so awesome.... I think I experienced it when they changed it to what you described, and it just ruined the experience for me.

Yeah, there was around 2009 or so when the big crash was going on. Glad it's back on of course though
 

t hicks

Banned
Yoooo holy shit

The Void is building a Star Wars virtual reality adventure

Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire will be the latest in The Void’s line of “hyper-reality” experiences, offering guests the chance to step inside a virtual Star Wars world later this year with locations in both Anaheim, California, and Orlando, Florida.


I've seen videos of this company's tech before and it looks really cool, can't wait to try this out
 
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