Universal Orlando Resort Misc Refurbs

[Brian G.]

 

[JungleSkip]

Geez, finally. I feel like I heard about that this time last year

 

[maxairmike]

I have heard nothing about Express.

Ahh ok. Whenever I hear anyone talk about that line my mind immediately jumps to Express finally making its appearance. Good to hear that.

 

[UNIrd]

I just wanted to say.. the queue for Minion Mayhem sucks really hard and if they wanted to test a queue less wait, they should absolutely do it on that ride. Get families out of that terrible, slow-moving wait and get them out having fun. Or it should be a candidate for one of those queues that Disney does where the walls are games (the name escapes me at the moment.. interactive queue?).

 

[AlexanderMBush]

I just wanted to say.. the queue for Minion Mayhem sucks really hard and if they wanted to test a queue less wait, they should absolutely do it on that ride. Get families out of that terrible, slow-moving wait and get them out having fun. Or it should be a candidate for one of those queues that Disney does where the walls are games (the name escapes me at the moment.. interactive queue?).

I'm going to be very curious on how Fallon handles the possible Queue-less situation, as if successful, I can see that automatically going to not just DMMM, but ET due to the future issues that could plague the ride in a few ways.

Atleast, I am hoping that ET also gets tested, as it'd be nice to see something like that tested on this.

 

[deathcab4cutie]

the thing is though i think universal wants you to wait in line.universal is no where near as big as Disney but they are starting to draw Disney lvl crowds.so if they suddenly had a queless que imagine how hard it would be to go from one end of the park to another.another issue is people would all just pack into gringotts bringing up that lines wait.

 

[Fatality]

Queueless is a terrible, terrible idea.

 

[IzzyB]

Queueless is a terrible, terrible idea.

I disagree. I think on medium to heavy busy days that having a select few rides as queueless rides would really help guest satisfaction. I was there on a busy day, not Christmas or Spring Break busy, but somewhat busy and my sister complained the whole day about not being able to ride that much and spending too much time in line. She NEVER complains about lines or no riding enough when we go to the Disney parks on equally busy days. I was actually pretty shocked of how little we did. I don't complain like she does, but I was shocked. So I think having about 3 to 4 rides in each park that you could avoid the 45+ minute waits would be pretty nice. I don't think the whole park should go this way, but having some high quality rides where you don't have to wait in these long lines would really help out the park.

 

[Fatality]

I just think it's a logistical nightmare, especially on busy days.

Also, we just live in a world of complainers. Queues are a fact of life. God forbid.

With how immediate things are nowadays people have zero perception of time and very little patience it seems.

 

[martymcflyy85]

Would a queueless attraction take away the ability to re-ride more than once? I'm thinking about slow mornings before the crowds hit, how sometimes you can get right back in line and ride again. Would a queueless system prevent this?

 

[anihilnation]

What bothers me about the queue less system is that I can't see it work well when it is really busy. When it is really busy, you immediately notice it because there are people everywhere, giftshops and eateries are filled with people just as the attractions are, so are the streets etc.; so if we also take away the queues, then that means even more people in the streets, shops etc.
Also, granted no one likes to wait in line, but queue or not, you will be waiting; now if it is just one wait for your virual queue, that's fine, you go and eat or check out some gift shops etc., but if everything becomes queueless, well, how many time can you spend in the giftshops, restaurants etc?

 

[IzzyB]

I just think it's a logistical nightmare, especially on busy days.

Also, we just live in a world of complainers. Queues are a fact of life. God forbid.

With how immediate things are nowadays people have zero perception of time and very little patience it seems.

We were there for 7 hours and got to ride 5 things and two of those 5 were HE each way. We saw no parades or shows and did not stop in the play areas. I understand why my sister was complaining since she was on a 2 day pass. I am an AP holder, I can come back anytime, she can't. If others had the experience we had on a somewhat busy day, I can see why people would complain. It becomes a factor of quantity for what you paid more than a lack of patience.

Where my husband and I went to MK over this past weekend. So same situation a minor holiday weekend and in 6 hours we rode 7 things and 2 of them we rode multiple times. We also saw fireworks, that castle celebration show, and a parade. Plus we played around in the Dumbo area for 20 minutes.

So if someone spent the same amount of money for both experiences, which one do you think they would consider they got their money's worth?

The week my sister was in she did Sea World over the weekend and Universal during the week. She felt like she did more at Sea World and got more of her money's worth at Sea World. Now I will be honest, she did pay much less for Sea World too.

What bothers me about the queue less system is that I can't see it work well when it is really busy. When it is really busy, you immediately notice it because there are people everywhere, giftshops and eateries are filled with people just as the attractions are, so are the streets etc.; so if we also take away the queues, then that means even more people in the streets, shops etc.
Also, granted no one likes to wait in line, but queue or not, you will be waiting; now if it is just one wait for your virual queue, that's fine, you go and eat or check out some gift shops etc., but if everything becomes queueless, well, how many time can you spend in the giftshops, restaurants etc?

I want to make myself clear, I am NOT for the entire park going queue less. I also think this should only be done on more medium to heavy busy days. Light days should just be normal lines. I am for a couple select rides having this feature. Rides like DM would be perfect since it is such a long wait where you are sitting doing nothing. This would not be good for rides like FJ or Gringotts where while it is a longer wait the queue is moving all the time. I think it is better for theater based rides that are popular where a large quantity of people load in at once.

 

[anihilnation]

Would a queueless attraction take away the ability to re-ride more than once? I'm thinking about slow mornings before the crowds hit, how sometimes you can get right back in line and ride again. Would a queueless system prevent this?

They could just have it so that virtual queuing only is enabled when wait times are over half an hour, so if the waittime is 35 minutes, give a 25 to 30 minute return time for instance. Of course you'd need a good computer system that could effectively monitor things, which means they'd have to use technology or something to scan your ticket or whatever, since we can't expect a team member to give out return times.

 

[anihilnation]

I can see it work though if they use more of these little street shows, people are easily captivated by things like that.

 

[Fatality]

We were there for 7 hours and got to ride 5 things and two of those 5 were HE each way. We saw no parades or shows and did not stop in the play areas. I understand why my sister was complaining since she was on a 2 day pass. I am an AP holder, I can come back anytime, she can't. If others had the experience we had on a somewhat busy day, I can see why people would complain. It becomes a factor of quantity for what you paid more than a lack of patience.

Where my husband and I went to MK over this past weekend. So same situation a minor holiday weekend and in 6 hours we rode 7 things and 2 of them we rode multiple times. We also saw fireworks, that castle celebration show, and a parade. Plus we played around in the Dumbo area for 20 minutes.

So if someone spent the same amount of money for both experiences, which one do you think they would consider they got their money's worth?

The week my sister was in she did Sea World over the weekend and Universal during the week. She felt like she did more at Sea World and got more of her money's worth at Sea World. Now I will be honest, she did pay much less for Sea World too.

A ticket to a theme park does not entitle the buyer to experience all that the theme park has to offer.

If you complain about crowds and queues I have zero sympathy for you. Don't wait in line for attractions. Go walk around Epcot. Sit at your house and complain for free.

Your sister sounds insufferable.

 

[Fatality]

I can see it work though if they use more of these little street shows, people are easily captivated by things like that.

Better solution: build better queues, which seems to be a big focus for universal.

They're inevitable and avoidable in my opinion. I'd rather be in an air conditioned theme queue with great friends than out on the hot street with everyone else watching my clock and trying to time manage with great friends.

 

[ThreePack Shagur]

Queueless functions the same way as Fastpass. It's not a "logistics nightmare" at all. Hell, earlier versions of Universal Express were exactly that. Waits over 30 minutes? Start distributing return times.

 

[Fatality]

Queueless functions the same way as Fastpass. It's not a "logistics nightmare" at all. Hell, earlier versions of Universal Express were exactly that. Waits over 30 minutes? Start distributing return times.

Does it help that I hate fastpass as well?

 

[IzzyB]

A ticket to a theme park does not entitle the buyer to experience all that the theme park has to offer.

If you complain about crowds and queues I have zero sympathy for you. Don't wait in line for attractions. Go walk around Epcot. Sit at your house and complain for free.

Your sister sounds insufferable.

You are right it does not entitle you to ride everything. I never said it did. Again, the consumer is looking for value for their money. That is the consumers right to look for that. If a place does not give them the value they expect for their money they will not return. My sister will not return for a long time. If other people feel they did not get to do enough for the money they spent because of high wait times, they may also feel the same way and not return. You and I could care less if those people don't return, but I imagine Universal does care. So if they can do something to allow people to ride a few more rides during their time at the park so that people then feel like they got a good value for their money, then they should do this.

My sister complains about a lot of stuff, so yes, she can be difficult. Her complaints I normally ignore, but in this case I actually saw her point. She spent almost $400 for the two of them for 2 days and after leaving the park on the 1st day she had done 5 things. If you say $200 for each day that is $40 a "thing". Luckily the second day did go better for her and she got to do more things since it was further away from the minor holiday weekend. But she still probably won't go back for awhile. My BIL got to experience HP and so they will skip Universal for awhile and do Disney next trip down.

Why is it as a consumer people can stop going to Disney because they feel the value is not there because nothing new is being built, but when a consumer doesn't want to go to Universal because they feel the value isn't there in the quantity of things they got to experience all the sudden they are whiners and should go walk around Epcot? When people stop going to Disney because there is nothing new, I think it is a pretty valid reason. If they don't go to DHS because there are hardly any rides to go on, I think it is a valid reason. But I also think if someone doesn't get to do that many rides because of long waits, they also have a valid reason. Every consumer is different and Universal and Disney are out to get as many returning customers as possible. So if they can do something (i.e. Disney actually planning to build new things) to get people to return, they will.

 

[Fatality]

Universal I'm sure does care but different people place value in different experiences. Your sister seems to place them in attractions. I bring up Epcot bc that is a park w little to no attractions yet still justifies its price to many folks (including me.)

Universal, lines or no lines, may not be her speed. If it weren't for queues at universal I'd be bored rather easily - but lucky I find many many many other things to enjoy rather than formulating an equation for value based on time, money and attractions visited.