General Discussion - Hagrid's Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure

[Steptwice]

Outdoor rides all under a weather delay, my guess is HMCMA isnt going to open back up with the others, if they do.

 

[redy2468]

Two quick things from my ride today:

• I believe the Skrewt was in B-Mode for my ride today(no smoke from the butt however that cherry-ish vape smell remained)
• The amount of trains lead to some dueling/racing between trains at a few points in the attraction

 

[Bozobrain24]

Two quick things from my ride today:

• I believe the Skrewt was in B-Mode for my ride today(no smoke from the butt however that cherry-ish vape smell remained)
• The amount of trains lead to some dueling/racing between trains at a few points in the attraction

I saw a new POV video recently and was surprised at how many other trains you can spot in the background. I'm going in the middle of August so it makes me hopeful for a smooth experience.

 

[Alicia]

Yay, on ride photo now up!

 

[shiekra38]

Yay, on ride photo now up!

It would be funny if they pulled the wrong camera and it was just a bunch of pictures of chasis

 

[rhino4evr]

Realtalk: With all the excitement of having a "no screens" attraction, and a state of the art Hagrid AA...do you think the ride is any better for it?

Considering the brevity of the Hagrid scene, and his "limited" movement. Maybe a screen would have worked better?

 

[Alicia]

Realtalk: With all the excitement of having a "no screens" attraction, and a state of the art Hagrid AA...do you think the ride is any better for it?

Considering the brevity of the Hagrid scene, and his "limited" movement. Maybe a screen would have worked better?

A screen would’ve required a full stop, or larger space, to close off all sunlight, before we saw it. I like that the coaster is always moving, and that the environments are real. The barn could be empty with no Hagrid and no Skrewt, and the scene would still work better than a screen. The ride is a fun coaster in my opinion, and most of the figures are just a bonus.

 

[Teebin]

Considering the brevity of the Hagrid scene, and his "limited" movement. Maybe a screen would have worked better?

Theme park guests REALLY love mechanical practical effects, even if it is just a servo motor making a head spin. I believe they are always going to be more pleased with this than a projected screen.

 

[Cup_Of_Coffee]

Realistically, how long do we want the Hagrid scene to be? A second or two longer would be lovely but honestly the longer you're in there the longer you can see its an AA and the less immersed you are. Feels a tiny bit rushed but I'm not sure what else you would expect.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

Realtalk: With all the excitement of having a "no screens" attraction, and a state of the art Hagrid AA...do you think the ride is any better for it?

Considering the brevity of the Hagrid scene, and his "limited" movement. Maybe a screen would have worked better?

I’m trying to figure out what you’re getting at here.

 

[rhino4evr]

I’m trying to figure out what you’re getting at here.

I thought I was clear...is the ride successful because of the AAs? If the ride didn't have the AAs would it still be considered successful? Alicia kind of answered my question on this. Since it's a roller coaster, the ride would be "fun" without them, but they are a nice bonus.

 

[JungleSkip]

I thought I was clear...is the ride successful because of the AAs? If the ride didn't have the AAs would it still be considered successful? Alicia kind of answered my question on this. Since it's a roller coaster, the ride would be "fun" without them, but they are a nice bonus.

And if it had screens it would be "Yea the ride is great but..." from the usual suspects

 

[shiekra38]

I thought I was clear...is the ride successful because of the AAs? If the ride didn't have the AAs would it still be considered successful? Alicia kind of answered my question on this. Since it's a roller coaster, the ride would be "fun" without them, but they are a nice bonus.

Well yeah, it's a high speed coaster with a drop track...It could have had no show scenes and still been better than a lot of coasters out there

 

[Evan]

Screens can't replace the feeling of seeing a life sized, giant Hagrid in real life... Even if it's short, it is better then a short screen moment.

 

[devinp267]

Realtalk: With all the excitement of having a "no screens" attraction, and a state of the art Hagrid AA...do you think the ride is any better for it?

Considering the brevity of the Hagrid scene, and his "limited" movement. Maybe a screen would have worked better?

And if it had screens it would be "Yea the ride is great but..." from the usual suspects

Honestly if they doubled the trees everywhere no barn no fluffy no unicorn, it still would've been killer especially at night imo. Everything else is topping.

 

[JoeCamel]

Theme park guests REALLY love mechanical practical effects, even if it is just a servo motor making a head spin. I believe they are always going to be more pleased with this than a projected screen.

I know the unicorn has caught some flak but I thought it was very well done and added a coda to the ride. The hut is less than I expected but in all it is good. Hope to see how it grows in and weathers out.

 

[smoaT]

Realtalk: With all the excitement of having a "no screens" attraction, and a state of the art Hagrid AA...do you think the ride is any better for it?

Considering the brevity of the Hagrid scene, and his "limited" movement. Maybe a screen would have worked better?

I think the ride is such a hit because people love AAs. I think people can tell when there is a cheap cop out with screens. It requires way more skill to come up with and keep up an AA. With a screen you just animate something (sometimes not even close to photorealism), put on the screen and you're done, and people notice that that's a lazy way to do something. There is a very famous comment Walt Disney made when an imagineer was a bit sick of Disney's obsession with details. In a coach car he requested a specific part made to make the coach car authentic. The Imagineer retorted "no one will notice, no one will care", then Disney answered "if a guest notices that small detail and that we aimed to true authenticity with the details, then the guest will know that we thought he was important and special enough for us to try our very best". I do think people can tell. Universal Studios Hollywood earned "the screen capital of the world" for a reason. Guests like something they can't get at home. Some TVs have better resolution and are big enough for people to say "so, why am I paying if I can do this at home for free, or pay $10 dlls and go to the movie theater". I think that's why Hagrid has been a home run. People saw that Universal dropped screens and projections entirely and they came up with a revolutionary ride system. Guests are reacting to that. The AAs means Universal listened to the comments. My two cents

By the way I do think some rides with screens are spectacular, but it's a hit or miss with those rides. Hard to execute

 

[shiekra38]

I think the ride is such a hit because people love AAs. I think people can tell when there is a cheap cop out with screens. It requires way more skill to come up with and keep up an AA. With a screen you just animate something (sometimes not even close to photorealism), put on the screen and you're done, and people notice that that's a lazy way to do something. There is a very famous comment Walt Disney made when an imagineer was a bit sick of Disney's obsession with details. In a coach car he requested a specific part made to make the coach car authentic. The Imagineer retorted "no one will notice, no one will care", then Disney answered "if a guest notices that small detail and that we aimed to true authenticity with the details, then the guest will know that we thought he was important and special enough for us to try our very best". I do think people can tell. Universal Studios Hollywood earned "the screen capital of the world" for a reason. Guests like something they can't get at home. Some TVs have better resolution and are big enough for people to say "so, why am I paying if I can do this at home for free, or pay $10 dlls and go to the movie theater". I think that's why Hagrid has been a home run. People saw that Universal dropped screens and projections entirely and they came up with a revolutionary ride system. Guests are reacting to that. The AAs means Universal listened to the comments. My two cents

By the way I do think some rides with screens are spectacular, but it's a hit or miss with those rides. Hard to execute

There is something about an effect happening right in front of you (i.e. a sign being blown away on Twister or the Blast Ended Skrewt moving around and blasting you). However, as someone who has been editing for a long time, there is significant work involved in something like Escape From Gringotts. The issue is that the action is captured and the process is only shared by those that are filming the experience. I think Universal is starting to go back to its roots a bit, where pre-recorded action doesn't happen in front of you, but actual action.

Also with projection there is a good amount of work with mapping and blending depending on the application. IDK, I've kind of always appreciated the CGI that needs to be completed for a ride like Gringotts or Transformers

I just wish I could see something live happen in front of my eyes

 

[Parkscope Joe]

There is something about an effect happening right in front of you (i.e. a sign being blown away on Twister or the Blast Ended Skrewt moving around and blasting you). However, as someone who has been editing for a long time, there is significant work involved in something like Escape From Gringotts. The issue is that the action is captured and the process is only shared by those that are filming the experience. I think Universal is starting to go back to its roots a bit, where pre-recorded action doesn't happen in front of you, but actual action.

Also with projection there is a good amount of work with mapping and blending depending on the application. IDK, I've kind of always appreciated the CGI that needs to be completed for a ride like Gringotts or Transformers

I just wish I could see something live happen in front of my eyes

There’s a common misconception that media based attractions are easy and cheap. They’re far from that.

 

[smoaT]

There is something about an effect happening right in front of you (i.e. a sign being blown away on Twister or the Blast Ended Skrewt moving around and blasting you). However, as someone who has been editing for a long time, there is significant work involved in something like Escape From Gringotts. The issue is that the action is captured and the process is only shared by those that are filming the experience. I think Universal is starting to go back to its roots a bit, where pre-recorded action doesn't happen in front of you, but actual action.

Also with projection there is a good amount of work with mapping and blending depending on the application. IDK, I've kind of always appreciated the CGI that needs to be completed for a ride like Gringotts or Transformers

I just wish I could see something live happen in front of my eyes

There’s a common misconception that media based attractions are easy and cheap. They’re far from that.

I know there is work involved in media based attractions, but I would quote Jon Favreau: "the problem is not CGI, but directors who don't know how to work with it". He was referring to people complaining about CGI in movies so much. He attributes at some directors not knowing how to handle the tool. The same thing happens in rides. As I've said, when done right they blow you away, but more often than not, screens and projections are used as a crutch, a cop out.