Little (And Big) Things that would Improve IoA
Hey guys. I posted this list back in early March on IOACentral, and I thought I'd port this list over to here so you can give your input. There are a lot of things currently wrong with Islands of Adventure... however, not all of them are huge, in which fixing them would break the bank (not that that means you shouldn't ignore those issues). Based on the observations I listed, as well as others I noticed but considered just a bit TOO frivolous to actually list as a complaint, I've compiled a list of little (and big!) things that, if altered in ways similar to what I've described, would significantly improve the overall experience of Islands of Adventure.
PORT OF ENTRY
-Vista view from one you reach the lagoon is hindered significantly from the large, apparent Hogwartz showbuilding. I'd recommend somehow creating a taller tree line to hide it, or even creating some partial rockwork at the top of the structure (just enough for the guests to see) that would make the building appear as part of some large mountain structure.
-Reopen the Island Skipper Tours. This adds to the total attraction count and would provide some great views of the park, as well as a grand approach to Hogwartz at the Jurassic Park station. Stress to those queuing and on the park map that this is a transportation vehicle only and will not include any sort of actual attraction experience. Make sure there are enough boats to create a decent capacity to prevent ridiculous waits.
MARVEL SUPER HERO ISLAND
-This has been stated time and time again, but the ENTIRE Hulk track needs a SERIOUS, bright-green, repaint and some smoothing of its tracks; close the ride for six months and get some serious work done, once Dragon Challenge (man that name is lame) has reopened.
-In the Hulk queue: replace the old "fat" monitors with the slick Sharp TVs seen in the Jaws queue and other areas; this is a science lab, it should not be retrofitted with 90's TV tech. Display the animation loop (which despite being a bit over the top and silly at times, is quite good) in HD.
-Run BOTH towers of Doctor Doom's Fearfall at ALL times. Two-tower capacity is pathetic as it is, and one tower is simply unacceptable - there were 50 minute lines all day, which were likely a direct result of the miniscule capacity.
-Make Storm Force Accellatron's existence more apparent. The entire time I was queuing for Hulk the ride did not run ONCE - why? Because no one had queued up for it! I don't think people even know it exists; advertise it more, make it clear that it's in that awkward back corner, as it doesn't have the visual cue that Fearfall and Hulk enjoy.
TOON LAGOON
-Do something with the amphitheater. I don't care, character greetings even, just SOMETHING needs to be going on in that space as right now it sticks out like a sore thumb and makes a poor entrance into the Lagoon.
-The main Toon Lagoon signs (both of them, on either end of the area) do not have themed backsides; this is a problem because you CAN see them from behind at various angles and it looks like crap. This is also true for several of the large cartoon cutouts throughout the area, and it looks like half-assed. When Universal is considering creating structures and theming, they need to consider where it can be viewed from and theme all of those angles accordingly (cough, Poseidon's Fury and Harry Potter showbuildings, cough Rockit)
-Haggard the Horrible and his ship have not rocked for years. Why, it was a great effect that added a lot of much needed kinetic energy...?
-Here come up a bunch of Dudley complaints...!
-Exterior of the ride looks pretty good... that is, except for the "after-effects" on the shack and dock after a log splashes down. Many of the signs spin, but the bucking of the large planks as it progresses further down (which was a brilliant effect and a chief design principle for the "toon" look) as well as the chicken that pops out of the box do not function correctly. This was JUST in a refurbishment and should have been repaired at that time.
-Interior of the queue is pretty weak. Include some more Dudley Do-Right cartoons playing on monitors. The animal heads need a little tune-up animation-wise and their audio needs to be pumped up MUCH louder - I could barely hear them when I was under them.
-More fog is necessary in the Silver Screen opening scene; right now it feels a little too... empty. The extra mist really gave it that "old time" feel. The speakers in that scene (displaying Snidely kidnapping Nell) need replacement, as it's crackly and difficult to hear/comprehend.
-Again, speaker updated needed at the Dudley/Horse scene - it's hard to hear what Dudley's saying over the music. The mine scene looked pretty decent, except I couldn't hear Snidely or Nell's audio - again, MORE speaker replacement! The sparks on the mine cart were working, however, so that's always a plus.
-The canoeing Dudley/Horse were stationary; this shouldn't happen and should be rocking at all times. I also noticed that if you casually glance to the left you can quite clearly view Dudley and Horse stuck in the cannon-like device after the first drop - this is a huge violation of story continuity (not that Dudley ever really had any), and some visual obstruction should be created so this doesn't occur.
-I can STILL see the Wananbe Mine Snidely's mechanical base, as well as other industrial equipment, atop the mine entrance! Why has this not been dealt with? Perhaps even more frustratingly, that damn rock STILL does not so much as tremble... what happened to it actually appearing to fall on us!?
-The mine tunnel looks like crap since there are more than a few blatant holes in it cut out for senors and security cameras. While I understand the need for these things, they need to be worked in a less ugly and obstructive way.
-The whole "Bearly See" scene is awful. It lights up for half a second, you can hardly hear the HILARIOUS pun, it's blatantly obvious that Horse is merely a head on a stick that is stationary... there's no motion or humor in it. The damn match doesn't even spark anymore... it's pathetic, like a Six Flags log flume "set"!
-Train yard scene is still crap. Snidely was moving a bit and had his mustache back, but Nell was stuck stationary. No audio from either of them. Speakers for the ride music were clearly visible, yet the music was barely audible. You can tell that the "ropes" around Horse are a plastic mold and have cracked in several spots. The Head Mountie's audio was working, but again his plastic mold ropes are cracked, and the pole keeping him in place is blatantly obvious.
-Before entering the tunnel from that scene, you can glance to the left and see a ton of backstage elements; some sort of scenery (even a cartoon wall) should be placed here to block that view
-Transition from train yard to train tunnel ... HAH! It's an industrial, hastily constructed tunnel with no theming whatsoever; there's traditional ladders lying about, along with two random cartoony barrels. What happened to the theming?
-Cannon device with Dudley/Horse that I mentioned earlier was not working and stuck in a neutral position; at least the audio was working. Not all of the gears in the saw mill were turning and the character audio was barely audible.
-The "theming" along the ground til you reach the final lift hill is pathetic, and it's always been pathetic. Just a few signs, really? There's that big open space with the "sled stop" where a simple scene if more stationary robotic dolls (blah, I hate those) could've been incorporated, at least. I feel that one still SHOULD be incorporated, as this is a big area of dead space...
-The drinking horse/"crushed" Dudley (?) still look like crap. Horse was at least drinking his water, but Dudley's mold was completely cracked. The audio on the lift was COMPLETELY dead - literally nothing coming out of those speakers (which, by the way, literally just sit there!)
-The shootout scene is I think now pretty much stationary. Literally, the figures just sit there - they no longer pop out of their boxes and carry out their animations. It's sad and pathetic when first time visitors look around in confusion. It's not clear at ALL that Snidely is getting launched out of a cannon and into the top of the structure, or that Dudley's accident causes you to plummet down the falls...
-At the jail scene, the beaver was barely functioning. Has Snidely ever moved? If he never did, that's pretty sad, but if he did at some point he's not moving now.
-The Award Ceremony is pathetic... it looks like the dirt has been dug up, as all of the mechanical bases for the figures are clearly visible. Any real animation is nonexistent. Want to hear any of the character audio? Tough, it, like the rest of the ride, is inaudible.
-All of Dudley needs to be completely reworked and it JUST came out of a refurbishment. Universal needs to learn that keeping up the operation of the actual ride track does not make up for the fact that the theming going on around it is falling apart. Even when it was fully functioning, Dudley has always been a mediocre ride with awful pacing and an incomprehensible/senseless story... but with so many malfunctioning show elements? The ride is a pathetic mess, even with its exhilarating final drop.
JURASSIC PARK
-Triceratops Encounter, in some capacity, needs to return. The island has a pathetic number of attractions. If that means completely replacing the AA mechanics, fine, but the island needs more to do.
-Jurassic Park River Adventure complaints, here we go...
-More trees necessary at the "River of Time" introduction, the green wall is completely obvious at this point.
-The giant showbuilding for Hogwartz is clearly visible as you exit the loading station and completely takes you out of the experience. This needs to be fixed somehow, perhaps with a taller treeline or even a meshed fern of some type that covers the entire track.
-We NEED that second baby Ultrasaur. That first scene is COMPLETELY pathetic with the one Ultrasaur, even when it DOES work - it doesn't start moving until about 5 seconds after you see it sitting there motionless. And then, it's over in another 7 seconds, and you're stuck sitting there watch a motionless dino before you reach the Psittocrasaurs... the other baby Ultrausaur could continue the kinetic energy and give the area some damn LIFE. The fact that the narrator mentions "UltrasaurS", plural, is laughable.
-Dirt has been dug up around the Psitts... you can see their mechanical bases.
-Compies are STILL not working after so many god**** times. That's the SIMPLEST effect and they can't keep it operating; it's simply embarrassing.
-More bushes are needed at that first turn into the Raptor Containment Area, as it's too obvious that the moving bushes have nothing behind them...
-Raptor box needs to be shaking and dropping much more consistently; it's not the falling jeep from Hollywood, it shouldn't be that hard to maintain.
-That area indoors, right before you head up the lift, is incredibly dull. I don't care about some guy on a monitor that looks vaguely like Billy Mays. Give me a spitter or something to look at like in Hollywood.
-T-Rex needs to have far more mist surrounding him to hide the fact he's not moving or his animation start needs to be delayed, as it's obvious he is stagnant until the boat approaches.
LOST CONTINENT
-I know it's been this way since the park opened and it's not going to ever change, but couldn't they do SOMETHING to Poseidon's Fury's terribly obvious showbuilding? It has such an impressive facade, it's just so sad to see it ruined from other angles due to the gaping purple building. Paint it to appear like a big temple, ANYTHING.
-Turn on the ****ING WATER VORTEX. It's beyond pathetic that this thing is STILL turned on - it's a vital show element and was HEAVILY advertised as a main feature of the attraction. Also, I believe it's directly connected to the Mythos facade waterfalls, which have been off for ages (bad show).
-Is it too much to ask for the old Poseidon show back? This new one is so lame and doesn't even stick to traditional Greek mythology as the old one did (somewhat). I'm sure all the old animation rolls still exist - all they'd have to do is switch back to the old pyro/water programs, remove the extra theming in the second chamber, and dust off the old Keeper costumes...
-Get rid of the new bridge after Potter opens. It provides far too many views into Lost Continent backstage areas.
-If they don't significantly improve Dragon Challenge's ride area during its refurbishment, I will flip a ****. This is a perfect opportunity to recreate the Quidditch stadium (as seen in the movie, and would also be relatively inexpensive) to hide the awful barriers and provide the actual ride with some actual honest to god THEMING. Hide or get rid of all the obvious maintenance roads and facilities. This whole theme the hell out of the queue but then give us a Six Flags coaster isn't going to fly with the coming Harry Potter crowd - they have VERY high expectations for all of the attractions, new or rethemed.
SEUSS LANDING
-Rockit has pretty much ruined the skylines of this land. Nothing that can really be done about it, but it's pretty sad.
-A thick tree line needs to be implemented between One Fish and the soundstages; they're staring at you in the face as you pass that area and really breaks the theming. A thicker tree line would help prevent this.
-Repaint the Hat at the Cat in the Hat facade, it needs it, badly.
-Give all of the AAs in The Cat in the Hat a solid refurbishment; much of their still-functioning animation is pathetic, and their mouths do not move AT ALL. They might as well be static figures. In addition, a lot of speakers could be replaced here - many are crackly and some didn't work at all.
-Pump up The Cat's bathtub mist - it's hardly there at the moment.
-Get those doors/moving clothing working for the second spinning scene. That effect is a good one as it really transitions you into the idea that you're in a "closet", but it's far too inconsistent.
-Timing seemed "off" in Cat in the Hat - things happened too early or too late; they were having some issues with loading consistently, so that may have been it. We had to wait a few minutes to actually deboard due to a backing up of cars.
-Where's the AC in this ride in general? It was hotter in there than it was outside... rather uncomfortable, really.
-Refurbish/repaint all of the creatures in If I Ran the Zoo. Many are falling apart, look like crap, and do not function as well as they used to.
-Seuss Trolley Ride should be operating two tracks, four train operation, at ALL TIMES, regardless of crowds - similar to Fearfall, the ride has simply too low of a capacity to warrant using only one track, even on slow days. It artificially creates wait times of an hour or more when it should be under 15 minutes.
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That's about all I have for now. Additional ideas, comments, or concerns are always welcome!
POST-NOTE: Back in March we didn't really have a status on what was going to happen to Dragon Challenge. Now that we know they essentially did... nothing... feel free to join me in my fury.