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Universal Orlando (Studios/IOA/Epic Universe) : General Discussion

Matt N said:
  • Operated in much harsher, much more varied weather conditions than Nemesis.
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Can't say I agree with that. The climate there is warm and stable most of the year. Nemesis has to bare the heat of summer and freezing cold in winter. That's a lot of expansion and contraction over 23 years. The rain here doesn't dry up as quick as it does in Orlando either, so more exposure to moisture. Then take in to account the ground both rides are built on. Surely Nemesis can't be as stable as the flat land DD was built on?

A few extra operation hours per day and another few months throughout the year surely don't make such a big difference over 18 years?

It seems scrapping DD is a total waste. Essentially nothing wrong with the ride, much like the original Hulk. I've ridden the new Hulk and honestly it's no different apart from the theming and new paint job. Another total waste.

If a wooden coaster at Blackpool near the salty air of the sea can survive 100+ years then there's no need whatsoever to be pulling down these B&M's.
 
Their where two main reasons why the hulk got replaced- firstly there were apparently some structure issues that needed addressing and also the ride was becoming rough. It certainly wasnt a waste as major work was required and Universal decided the best option was to replace it- even universal wouldn't waste money if they didn't have to. I have ridden the old version many times and having ridden the new version last year thought it was much smoother than the ride had become before the rebuild.

The reason Dragons is going is different, the parks can be busy with rides like the Two Harry Potter darks rides,Spider-Man transformers, minions and the Hulk all having 75-90 min+ queues yet Dragons would only have a 10 min queue. It's easy to see why it was an easy target for park management to decide to take out and replace with a new family thrill ride.
 
Maelstrom said:
Their where two main reasons why the hulk got replaced- firstly there were apparently some structure issues that needed addressing and also the ride was becoming rough. It certainly wasnt a waste as major work was required and Universal decided the best option was to replace it- even universal wouldn't waste money if they didn't have to. I have ridden the old version many times and having ridden the new version last year thought it was much smoother than the ride had become before the rebuild.

The reason Dragons is going is different, the parks can be busy with rides like the Two Harry Potter darks rides,Spider-Man transformers, minions and the Hulk all having 75-90 min+ queues yet Dragons would only have a 10 min queue. It's easy to see why it was an easy target for park management to decide to take out and replace with a new family thrill ride.
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Isn't that a lot more to do with Dragons' capacity being absolutely huge?
 
I don't even know where to begin to rubbish most of the claims in that post @PeteB but specifically -

PeteB said:
If a wooden coaster at Blackpool near the salty air of the sea can survive 100+ years then there's no need whatsoever to be pulling down these B&M's.
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There are about six original boards in the wheel house on the Big Dipper and I think virtually none on anything else.

@Maelstrom the key reason they did Hulk is because they were not planning to do Dragons.
 
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Rick said:
I don't even know where to begin to rubbish most of the claims in that post @PeteB but specifically -


There are about six original boards in the wheel house on the Big Dipper and I think virtually none on anything else.

@Maelstrom the key reason they did Hulk is because they were not planning to do Dragons.
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Rubbish the claims? Are you seriously going to argue over the differences of weather conditions between the UK and Florida.

Point is DD is a steel coaster. Track doesn't simply wear out now matter how old is. There are still steel coasters kicking around which are far older than DD, not B&M's, and they're running fine.

Corkscrew at our own Towers was 30 years old and that still ran perfectly fine when they took it down. Had it not been for the ancient simplistic layout then some other park probably would have made use of it.
 
Ultimately as plastic person said, dragon has gone because Harry Potter is the goose that laid the golden egg, they want to expand the franchise within the park, and Rowling and the artistic team have never really felt dragon fit. Plus there a a ton of land there for something more immersive.

The structure of the ride is relatively immeterial, I imagine it has been demolished as no one was interested in buying it.
 
Dave said:
Ultimately as plastic person said, dragon has gone because Harry Potter is the goose that laid the golden egg, they want to expand the franchise within the park, and Rowling and the artistic team have never really felt dragon fit. Plus there a a ton of land there for something more immersive.

The structure of the ride is relatively immeterial, I imagine it has been demolished as no one was interested in buying it.
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No doubts. Such a shame they're couldn't get at least one of the tracks into another park as a standalone ride.

Anyway, I just hope this is the last of Harry Potter expansions. As much as I love what they've done with it, I don't want to see the Universal parks become totally HP with not much else.
 
Update time! According to new rumours, Nintendo could break ground in 2018! I reckon that the land will open in 2020 if this is true.
 
Indeed, Universal filed permits for Nintendo last week:


And here is a look at the land to be used for the new Mario and Donkey Kong themed area:

Nintendo_USF_AreaMap2-cleanb.jpg

Source

The plans also show that there will be 48 toilets across the new land (got to love a bit of toilet news)!

It is also being reported that Universal plan to add Nintendo IPs across all of their parks (Studios, IOA and currently unbuilt theme park on newly aquired land). We know that Mario/Donkey Kong is going to Studios; it is then thought that Zelda will be a key IP for the new park and Pokemon could be going to IOA.

Don't expect any official annoucements for Orlando any time soon though, unless of course Nintendo force their hand.

:)
 
48 different toilets? There must be a lot to get people wet in this land. Or maybe they put laxatives in the water fountains? Heck, I don't know.
EDIT: Or maybe... Universal have beaten Merlin to the punch with the world's first kids land fully dedicated to toilets!
 
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48 toilets is really just two blocks each with 10 male and 10 female plus some accessible facilities. It’s not unreasonable for an area that size, plus it feels like the Florida parks have better toilet provision than the UK parks do anyway.
 
JB1985 said:
Amazing isn’t is shows how far they have declined
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If anything, Universal have accelerated! This area looks amazing and the Mario Kart ride sounds like it could be something special. Also, the area seems to be following a similar philosophy to Diagon Alley in that there are not that many rides, but there's lots of theming to make up for it.
 
Matt N said:
If anything, Universal have accelerated! This area looks amazing and the Mario Kart ride sounds like it could be something special. Also, the area seems to be following a similar philosophy to Diagon Alley in that there are not that many rides, but there's lots of theming to make up for it.
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I don't know, three (expected) rides is pretty good going for a new Universal area!

:)
 
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