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

[Andrew]

I'm no Harry Potter expert but I am led to believe that it does not resemble anything from the films or the books.

There’s a mention of ruins on certain maps that were written for the books/films but nothing more so I guess it could be taken that it’s canonical

 

[Martin]

I mean Rowling made it up as she went along so no reason Universal can't

 

[Benjsh]

I mean Rowling made it up as she went along so no reason Universal can't

Apart from when she was ripping off Tolkein, absolutely.

 

[DiogoJ42]

There's no such thing as an original story.

 

[Benjsh]

There's no such thing as an original story.

I get that. Inspiration and all. However there's inspiration and just down right theft.

I present my evidence..........

Frodo - Both parents murdered, lives with uncle. Harry Potter....exactly the same.

Frodo's wise old mentor = Wizard named Gandalf. Harry's is Wizard named Dumbledore

Frodo's ultimate nemesis referred to as the 'Dark Lord Sauron'. Harry Potter....Dark lord Voldermort.

Frodo has object handed down to him that turns him invisible (ring). Harry has a cloak.

Frodo encounters creepy dark hooded figures (Nazgul)....Harry Potter (Dementors)

Frodo encounters huge spider in cave (Shelob)....Harry encounters the same (Aragog)

Lord of the rings and the Hobbit both have Creepy bewitched Forests......Harry Potter has the Dark Forest.

Frodo befriends a creature that at first appears to be an enemy (Gollum) Harry has the same with Dobby the Elf


I rest my case your honour......

 

[DiogoJ42]

You forgot the middle step where George Lucas ripped off Tolkein first (around the same time, so did Gary Gigax followed by every single person who's ever played D&D since), then Rowling coppied Lucas.

Tolkein no doubt got it from somewhere else that has been lost to the mists of time.

For the record, I have no time for either Potter or LotR. Not trying to defend 'em. Just being annoying.

 

[Tim]

I'm not sold on your argument. Those are all very general summasions of common fantasy traits. They might have all come from Tolkein but thats more a result of Tolkein being the one who deffined fantasy as a genre.
For almost all the examples given above they seem similar at a surface level but the story's they are telling are nothing alike.
It also ignores a lot of the other inspirations in HP such as the mythical beasts taking a lot of inspiration from ancient mythology.

Like Diogo said there's no such thing as an original story... but certain blends can still be original.

Anyway to get back to my original point the reason I feel it's out of place is the Forbidden Forest is supposed to be a Forest (clue is in the name). I'm ok with a few ruined buildings but they seem to be front and centre. They could have hidden the show buildings and had the ride enter them through tree routes, as if being swallowed up by a dense, dark forest.

 

[Andrew]

If anyone actually does want a summary of plot points of fantasy/folk tale/myth type stories (massively off topic obviously) then it's worth checking out Vladimir Propp's 31 narratemes which essentially sum up the common themes and plot points evident in every single fantasy story ever pretty much:
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/storytelling/plots/propp/31_narratemes.htm

Back on topic though, I agree with Tim's point that the ruins do seem too front and centre for a ride which is apparently going through a forest. Universal clearly want this ride to be a spectacle though (on ride and off ride in the queue I'm guessing) hence the scale of the ruins and the large animatronics that will be evident around the ride.

At the end of the day, I couldn't really care less if a ride is canonical or not in a world where the author stated the wizards used to defecate on the floor before plumbing was invented. I just want a good roller coaster experience

 

[Alastair]

The irony of critiquing author inspiration whilst simultaneously repeatedly spelling the author's name incorrectly.

Back on topic anyway!

 

[Benjsh]

And we have testing........

 

[Lurker]

Can I suggest in an old fashioned way, that it is a "Motorcycle and side car combination".
Used to wind my grandad up calling it a tricycle!

So you are suggesting it should be called "Hagrids Magical Creatures Motorcycle and Side Car Combination Adventure"?

Given the train layout and size of the cars is it certain the throughput will be poor? Or are there other contributing factors which will help?

 

[DiogoJ42]

"Hagrid™'s Magical Creatures™ Royal Enfield™ Bullet 500™ Motorcycle and Side Car Combination Adventure in the Forbidden Forest™, part of the Wizarding World™ Expanded Universe, a Warner Brothers© property, brought to you by Universal Studios Florida Limited (God Save America)."

Or, as park guests will call it...

"That one over there."

 

[Funcone]

Given the train layout and size of the cars is it certain the throughput will be poor? Or are there other contributing factors which will help?

I suspect there are other contributing factors that will help. I'm not sure what, but Universals does generally have a good track record when it comes to high throughput rides. There might be some exceptions. Not sure what Rip Ride Rocket does. But most of the time Universal's rides do get very high through puts. In terms of Intamin, I know that some of their older rides are very slow to load (I'm looking at you Colossus), but looking on the Intamin website they are aware of this and their more recent train designs do tend to be a lot quicker to load. Admittedly when Volcano Bay opened it seemed to really struggle to cope with the demand (to put it mildly), but then again water park rides have always tended to have much lower through puts than major dry rides. Some of Universals recent additions have disappointed a lot of fans, but I still have faith that Universals will do something really special with this.

 

[Maelstrom]

I suspect there are other contributing factors that will help. I'm not sure what, but Universals does generally have a good track record when it comes to high throughput rides. There might be some exceptions. Not sure what Rip Ride Rocket does. But most of the time Universal's rides do get very high through puts. In terms of Intamin, I know that some of their older rides are very slow to load (I'm looking at you Colossus), but looking on the Intamin website they are aware of this and their more recent train designs do tend to be a lot quicker to load. Admittedly when Volcano Bay opened it seemed to really struggle to cope with the demand (to put it mildly), but then again water park rides have always tended to have much lower through puts than major dry rides. Some of Universals recent additions have disappointed a lot of fans, but I still have faith that Universals will do something really special with this.

The ride will be able to run a large number of trains at the same time, as the rides has loads of block sections, also they built two freefall track sections to help increase throughput (plus if one goes down they can still run the ride!). While I have don't know fully about the station layout or how it will operate, it does use both Dragon Challenge loading platforms and one of the unload platforms, so I imagine the ride will be loading two trains at a time with both being dispatched at the same time with one held briefly held until the first train clears the first bock, much like how Cheetah Hunt operates at Busch Gardens.

 

[Danny]

Recent photo update now the majority of the theming can be viewed easily, courtesy of Bioresconstruct on Twitter:

Think they've got their heads screwed on backwards with this ride. Fluffy appears to be an animatronic rather than a screen...

 

[Matt N]

Wow; I think this looks absolutely fantastic! The theming looks world class, and it should definitely be an outstanding addition to an already outstanding area!

This theming does seem to be dividing opinion, however; some (like myself) say it looks fantastic, whereas others say it looks awful.

 

[Rob]

It's coming together really well now. Having said that, Fluffy doesn't look very fluffy:

 

[MakoMania]

That track profiling looks unusual.

 

[Benjsh]

It looks spectacular to be fair to them. I'm sure it will be a huge hit and much better fit than the B&M Inverts ever were in that area. They were obviously better coasters but the experience was always lacking for me.

 

[Plastic Person]

This looks really, really impressive. A kind of sandbox mode RCT3 project come to life.