Fast & Furious: Supercharged - General Discussion

[belloq87]

F&F: Supercharged has issues. No doubt. But the ride system, within the Studios itself, actually isn’t one of them. It’s something completely different than an a coaster (Studios has 4) or a simulator (4). Transformers is the closest comparable thing, and it’s still a completely different ride experience. Based on the available space, the F&F attraction theme park fans want would either be a 5th coaster or simulator.

I'm genuinely curious what you'd say its issues are, then, because its failure (for me) is almost entirely baked into the approach they chose to use.

I also think considering Supercharged to not be a simulator is a giant semantic stretch. The bulk of the ride experience is simulated action on large screens surrounding a stationary (aside from bumps and jostles) ride vehicle.

 

[Legacy]

I'm genuinely curious what you'd say its issues are, then, because its failure (for me) is almost entirely baked into the approach they chose to use.

I also think considering Supercharged to not be a simulator is a giant semantic stretch. The bulk of the ride experience is simulated action on large screens surrounding a stationary (aside from bumps and jostles) ride vehicle.

First, by “simulator,” I mean an attraction that doesn’t have a track. Minions, Shrek, Fallon, and Simpsons are the “simulator” in the park. F&F and Transformers are more akin to dark rides since they involve moving along a track. They’re screen-based, but they’re still dark rides.

Now, considering I haven’t been on F&F, I’d argue it suffers from three main things:

1) Poor narrative - This both is and isn’t Creative’s fault. Its narrative works as part of a larger attraction, where “invited to a party but our bus is attacked“ works as a fun sidetrack of a larger story (the tram ride), but doesn’t work as the narrative crux of an attraction by itself. “Something goes wrong,” is a bit of a meme now, but it actually works as a narrative device when it’s pulling from a purpose the guests are invested in (training to become MIB agents, retrieve something, tour something). F&F never presents something to be invested in, nor is there an reward. The story is a bombastic “is.” Creative’s failure was not developing a story that works for a standalone attraction. Their forgiveness comes from the directive that it wouldn’t be strictly standalone.

2) Poor production of the ride film - There are so many complaints about an oversized Vin Diesel, plastic looking skin, and indecipherable chaos in the 360 tunnel. That’s poor direction and film production at multiple levels. Creative can’t help bad acting. It’s also something they intended to do. Bad movies aren’t made on purpose; they happen when the countless parts that entail their creature, for one reason or another, just don’t jive. Even if the narrative was amazing, an unfortunately bad production will ruin it. Things didn’t click right with Supercharged.

3) Expectation of “Scale” - Earthquake wasn’t an E ticket. Neither was Disaster. They were bother pretty solid D tickets sitting between Es (Kong/Mummy and Jaws/Gringotts). Reign of Kong is a D ticket too. In a similar fashion, Supercharged is a D ticket. And, based on the decisions Creative and the park itself made, it was never going to be anything more than a D ticket. The problem is a lot of people expected F&F to be an E ticket. Part of that is Universal’s fault. Its a huge franchise filled with speed and thrills. It deserves an E ticket that provides that. But Universal decided to replace a D ticket with a D ticket, which is a decision that makes completely reasonable sense. But, I think, Becca they knew what they were creating and why (D for D), it was easy to lose perspective on most people expecting something more.

 

[belloq87]

Now, considering I haven’t been on F&F, I’d argue it suffers from three main things:

1) Poor narrative - This both is and isn’t Creative’s fault. Its narrative works as part of a larger attraction, where “invited to a party but our bus is attacked“ works as a fun sidetrack of a larger story (the tram ride), but doesn’t work as the narrative crux of an attraction by itself. “Something goes wrong,” is a bit of a meme now, but it actually works as a narrative device when it’s pulling from a purpose the guests are invested in (training to become MIB agents, retrieve something, tour something). F&F never presents something to be invested in, nor is there an reward. The story is a bombastic “is.” Creative’s failure was not developing a story that works for a standalone attraction. Their forgiveness comes from the directive that it wouldn’t be strictly standalone.

2) Poor production of the ride film - There are so many complaints about an oversized Vin Diesel, plastic looking skin, and indecipherable chaos in the 360 tunnel. That’s poor direction and film production at multiple levels. Creative can’t help bad acting. It’s also something they intended to do. Bad movies aren’t made on purpose; they happen when the countless parts that entail their creature, for one reason or another, just don’t jive. Even if the narrative was amazing, an unfortunately bad production will ruin it. Things didn’t click right with Supercharged.

3) Expectation of “Scale” - Earthquake wasn’t an E ticket. Neither was Disaster. They were bother pretty solid D tickets sitting between Es (Kong/Mummy and Jaws/Gringotts). Reign of Kong is a D ticket too. In a similar fashion, Supercharged is a D ticket. And, based on the decisions Creative and the park itself made, it was never going to be anything more than a D ticket. The problem is a lot of people expected F&F to be an E ticket. Part of that is Universal’s fault. Its a huge franchise filled with speed and thrills. It deserves an E ticket that provides that. But Universal decided to replace a D ticket with a D ticket, which is a decision that makes completely reasonable sense. But, I think, Becca they knew what they were creating and why (D for D), it was easy to lose perspective on most people expecting something more.

I think these are all very good (and pretty accurate) points, and I appreciate the detailed response.

My contention has never been that Creative deserves the blame. I completely understand they were put in a tough position by mandates from above. But that doesn't change the fact that I think the ride is the worst Universal attraction I've ever experienced.

 

[DK745]

Part of that is Universal’s fault. Its a huge franchise filled with speed and thrills.

That's a big part right there. People expect speed or thrills on the ride. They get neither. At least when they brought Kong over they added to it before the 360 scene, they have the outdoor part that adds atmosphere...everything just works. Nothing works in Supercharged. It's literally just copy/paste of the tram tour ride, with half of it spent sitting still watching party/FBI scene before getting into 360 scene.

Speed and thrills is a big part though. People expect that, don't get it, and just leave with a very sour experience.

 

[tielo]

There is so much wrong with F&F imho. First of all Universal once sat you in a Delorean and they sit you on a bike and into a train. All these vehicles are iconic.
Except for the action, the F&F movies are car-porn. I would expect I would be seated in one of those cars, not a parking-lot tram with some LED strips called a "party bus".
The series is known for real live practical car stunts, but the ride only delivers bad CGI crap and it is painfully noticeably. So the ride doesn't deliver on the 2 most important qualities of the movies and the simulated speed fails to deliver.
Everything they are doing right with Potter and did with many of their other rides is thrown overboard for whatever reason. It's sure not to Universal Creatives fault as they delivered many amazing rides. Lets hold management accountable to mistreat Universals biggest owned ip.

 

[Disneyhead]

There were so many ways to correctly do a proper F&F attraction that it is truly impressive that UniCreative didn't use any of them.

Of course the obvious ride system would be a Test Track rip-off. The problems here are the ride system is Disney owned, the ride system is famously finicky, it is a real estate hog, mind bogglingly expensive, and did I mention a rip-off of a ride 12 miles away. NEXT.

Ok, the next most obvious choice would be a launched terrain coaster through a highly themed environment. Only Universal Creative is aware that the 2 projects following F&F are a launched terrain coaster through a highly themed environment followed by a launched extreme coaster through a highly themed environment. NEXT.

Ok, the next option appropriate for the IP would be a car based stunt show exactly like Lights, Motor Cars, Action....NEXT.

How about a cartoon version of F&F turned into a goofy dark ride that is in the same vein as Mr. Toad? Insulting to the franchise and it's fans.

Ok, how about we just do a half assed clone of Kong and lazily slather F&F all over it?

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

There were so many ways to correctly do a proper F&F attraction that it is truly impressive that UniCreative didn't use any of them.

Of course the obvious ride system would be a Test Track rip-off. The problems here are the ride system is Disney owned, the ride system is famously finicky, it is a real estate hog, mind bogglingly expensive, and did I mention a rip-off of a ride 12 miles away. NEXT.

Ok, the next most obvious choice would be a launched terrain coaster through a highly themed environment. Only Universal Creative is aware that the 2 projects following F&F is a launched terrain coaster through a highly themed environment followed by a launched extreme coaster through a highly themed environment. NEXT.

Ok, the next option appropriate for the IP would be a car based stunt show exactly like Lights, Motor Cars, Action....NEXT.

How about a cartoon version of F&F turned into a goofy dark ride that is in the same vein as Mr. Toad? Insulting to the franchise and it's fans.

Ok, how about we just do a half assed clone of Kong and lazily slather F&F all over it?

Frankly, would’ve 100% taken the show over what we got.

However I understand the logic you put here. If they are to re-do this, doesn’t Dynamic have a new car-like coaster system that was pitched for Mario Kart? I mean that seems almost too obvious to not do. If I were them and these were any legit options, I would have done the massive show 100%, and wait for this type of ride system. The ride we got is just as offensive as a possible Mr Toads like ride.

 

[DK745]

There were so many ways to correctly do a proper F&F attraction that it is truly impressive that UniCreative didn't use any of them.

Of course the obvious ride system would be a Test Track rip-off. The problems here are the ride system is Disney owned, the ride system is famously finicky, it is a real estate hog, mind bogglingly expensive, and did I mention a rip-off of a ride 12 miles away. NEXT.

Ok, the next most obvious choice would be a launched terrain coaster through a highly themed environment. Only Universal Creative is aware that the 2 projects following F&F are a launched terrain coaster through a highly themed environment followed by a launched extreme coaster through a highly themed environment. NEXT.

Ok, the next option appropriate for the IP would be a car based stunt show exactly like Lights, Motor Cars, Action....NEXT.

How about a cartoon version of F&F turned into a goofy dark ride that is in the same vein as Mr. Toad? Insulting to the franchise and it's fans.

Ok, how about we just do a half assed clone of Kong and lazily slather F&F all over it?

I know they're not the same type of rides technically but they have DM and Fallon next to each other with Simpsons in the park as well that all feel kinda similar. They have Spiderman and Transformers on property that are the same ride vehicles but slightly diffferent. We have Kong and F&F now using the same ride vehicle and doing a 360 screen. If they were just going to copy something and it wasn't going to be Test Track then give me the launch coaster. If that's popular enough then they can take Mummy down for refurb or even a new ride.

 

[tielo]

Frankly, would’ve 100% taken the show over what we got.

However I understand the logic you put here. If they are to re-do this, doesn’t Dynamic have a new car-like coaster system that was pitched for Mario Kart? I mean that seems almost too obvious to not do. If I were them and these were any legit options, I would have done the massive show 100%, and wait for this type of ride system. The ride we got is just as offensive as a possible Mr Toads like ride.

Yeh, I dreamed up that system when the ip was rumored (it's in the beginning of this topic). With spinning you can have the car out of controle and you can jump over cars that come from side streets (as long as there is space for the pole to go trough. It was going down the San Francisco Hills, had an inside portion (in the hills) a near crash with a tram and would jump over the Potter track and go into an actual car garage on the backlot where it has a complete different track but also would be team member parking. Space would be tight but I could fit it in there.

 

[Disneyhead]

Frankly, would’ve 100% taken the show over what we got.

However I understand the logic you put here. If they are to re-do this, doesn’t Dynamic have a new car-like coaster system that was pitched for Mario Kart? I mean that seems almost too obvious to not do. If I were them and these were any legit options, I would have done the massive show 100%, and wait for this type of ride system. The ride we got is just as offensive as a possible Mr Toads like ride.

This is the first installation of the new Dynamic Attractions Duel Powered Coaster. It is Sons of Anarchy in Genting SkyWorlds (Formerly FOX Malaysia). It would have been the perfect ride system for F&F. Alas, it was unavailable at the time they were creating F&F:S.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Yeh, I dreamed up that system when the ip was rumored (it's in the beginning of this topic). With spinning you can have the car out of controle and you can jump over cars that come from side streets (as long as there is space for the pole to go trough. It was going down the San Francisco Hills, had an inside portion (in the hills) a near crash with a tram and would jump over the Potter track and go into an actual car garage on the backlot where it has a complete different track but also would be team member parking. Space would be tight but I could fit it in there.

This sounds literally perfect.

This is the first installation of the new Dynamic Attractions Duel Powered Coaster. It is Sons of Anarchy in Genting SkyWorlds (Formerly FOX Malaysia). It would have been the perfect ride system for F&F. Alas, it was unavailable at the time they were creating F&F:S.

Question is.... is it available again now? Or can Universal no longer get rights for it? I mean I’d take an outright Coaster but THIS would be dope

 

[Disneyhead]

This sounds literally perfect.

Question is.... is it available again now? Or can Universal no longer get rights for it? I mean I’d take an outright Coaster but THIS would be dope

Universal could buy one today.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Universal could buy one today.

And when they can get the $ port Covid, they absolutely should. Would be perfect to takeover the MIB and FF plot.

I wonder if since it’s Fast and Furious, they’d make it a “family” coaster.

 

[tielo]

And when they can get the $ port Covid, they absolutely should. Would be perfect to takeover the MIB and FF plot.

I wonder if since it’s Fast and Furious, they’d make it a “family” coaster.

I would make it a "dark ride" (inside and outside) with max 55 mph (most of the time much slower) but with a lot of simulated speed (not unlike the subway ride in the subway part of Disaster) and a lot of stunt like jumping over cars, skidding trough corners and near misses, driving trough a few shops, stuff like that with a lot of special effects like explosions. It could feel much tighter and faster when things are close. I also wouldn't make it a racer but the story is the bad guys are tying to stop you. You can see them follow you in the rear mirrors (screens) and other baddies who try to cut you off from side streets. In the end the baddies crash and you can see it for real as you make a 180 before you make a U-turn and are slowly driving to the exit.

 

[shiekra38]

This is the first installation of the new Dynamic Attractions Duel Powered Coaster. It is Sons of Anarchy in Genting SkyWorlds (Formerly FOX Malaysia). It would have been the perfect ride system for F&F. Alas, it was unavailable at the time they were creating F&F:S.

This would be a great fit in MIB...or just a reworking of the current showbuilding

I wouldn't be surprised if this was the first proposal from UC

 

[SkiBum]

Shoot, a powered coaster from Mack or Intamin with one or two launch sequences mixed in would work fine as well.

 

[Legacy]

Give F&F a launched wild mouse with some controlled “spin-outs.”

Cheap. Small. Family friendly. Done.

EDIT - Launched wild mouse RACER

 

[jwbitterman]

Leave the attraction as-is but allow guests to throw things at it.

 

[jwbitterman]

How about a “dunk the creators” booth for charity?

 

[JoeCamel]

How about a “dunk the creators” booth for charity?

Naw, I can't blame them, they had their marching orders