Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic - General Discussion Thread

[saint.piss]

Hey @saint.piss , Can you elaborate on the process at all and why you don't think it worked?
What's the comparison to Disney's system in your opinion?

I assume this is going to be the case for Ministry the entire first year the park is open, but, as someone who aced all of Disney's VQs, i'm trying to estimate how concerned i should be!

Well... for starters, the queue didn't even load in time for each Virtual start time. Like it says on the sign, you have an opportunity to get a VQ return time at 12pm, 3pm and 6pm. I tried all 3 times and it never started exactly at those times. It would like 2-3 minutes later. Then I would get to the party select screen and every time after that it would load and load. Never got to select a return time. Also there was an error with the party select screen where it would say the other members of your party weren't in the park even if they were. I heard too that apparently even for people who got a return time they had to wait 3-4 hours in line. Worst part is that a lot of those people didn't even get to ride it, the attraction kept breaking down and at some point last night they just dumped everyone out of the queue. So many posts about it in the USO TM FB group. What a poop show

 

[JohnHammondsCane]

Well... for starters, the queue didn't even load in time for each Virtual start time. Like it says on the sign, you have an opportunity to get a VQ return time at 12pm, 3pm and 6pm. I tried all 3 times and it never started exactly at those times. It would like 2-3 minutes later. Then I would get to the party select screen and every time after that it would load and load. Never got to select a return time. Also there was an error with the party select screen where it would say the other members of your party weren't in the park even if they were. I heard too that apparently even for people who got a return time they had to wait 3-4 hours in line. Worst part is that a lot of those people didn't even get to ride it, the attraction kept breaking down and at some point last night they just dumped everyone out of the queue. So many posts about it in the USO TM FB group. What a poop show

Sheeeesh.. That worries me for our preview. Granted, it's not till May 4th, so hopefully they're able to work out some issues with the VQ by then.

 

[TheCodeMan95]

Yeah.. I hope they're not doing this in September

 

[HandsomePete]

I don't get the insistence on letting people choose their return times - it adds so much complexity on the back end for what is very little gain in end user experience (under a best case scenario).

When you consider how many people are in a theme park on a given day, there's just no getting around the fact that the system is probably going to get hammered with a volume of requests exceeding an entire's day of return time inventory within a 3-5 second window.

 

[DarkMetroid567]

Spoiler

HE'S BOOTY SHAKING, HE'S BOOTY SHAKING

Spoiler

I’ll be honest and say that while most of it was grating, her “oOOOOOOHHHHHHH” at the sight of the physical Erumpet killed me. Couldn’t stop laughing.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I don't get the insistence on letting people choose their return times - it adds so much complexity on the back end for what is very little gain in end user experience (under a best case scenario).

When you consider how many people are in a theme park on a given day, there's just no getting around the fact that the system is probably going to get hammered with a volume of requests exceeding an entire's day of return time inventory within a 3-5 second window.

I agree. I like the idea of having more available "drops" throughout the day, but selecting your return time doesn't help operations.

 

[Speed]

5 failed attempts between today and yesterday for VQ. If this system stays guest are going to love it.

Edit: I also want to add I never had a problem getting VQs for Hagrids, Cosmic Rewind, or RotR when they needed them

Edit 2: Make that 6 attemps lmao

 

[Wesker69]

Despite the awful commentary of that lady, it's a very interesting looking ride. I'd be curious to know how many animatronics & physical effects are within the ride. They hyped up Universal Monsters, but i guess they didn't feel the need for Potter lol

At least it featured some "Fantastic Beasts", so now we know where to find them.

 

[TheHaunter]

Hopefully this does not happen during opening and around June/July since most people are going to be going there around those times and they should make sure that everything is in order before they even open. It would be disappointing if I fly out to Orlando and the rest of the Universal parks are fine except for epic universe where the attractions keeps breaking down and getting delayed. Especially when the main rides I went to ride are Monsters Unchained and Battle at the Ministry of Magic

 

[MistaDee]

For those fortunate enough to have ridden, could you share some of the things that made this such an incredible experience that aren't apparent from that painfully bad POV? With the spoiler toag ofc

 

[saint.piss]

Well... for starters, the queue didn't even load in time for each Virtual start time. Like it says on the sign, you have an opportunity to get a VQ return time at 12pm, 3pm and 6pm. I tried all 3 times and it never started exactly at those times. It would like 2-3 minutes later. Then I would get to the party select screen and every time after that it would load and load. Never got to select a return time. Also there was an error with the party select screen where it would say the other members of your party weren't in the park even if they were. I heard too that apparently even for people who got a return time they had to wait 3-4 hours in line. Worst part is that a lot of those people didn't even get to ride it, the attraction kept breaking down and at some point last night they just dumped everyone out of the queue. So many posts about it in the USO TM FB group. What a poop show

To add onto this, apparently the app crashed big time today and people who had return times lost them... If they didn't have a screenshot of it, they got screwed. Oh god man. What are they doing? They might as well had kept this ride closed still. Such a mess

 

[GAcoaster]

To add onto this, apparently the app crashed big time today and people who had return times lost them... If they didn't have a screenshot of it, they got screwed. Oh god man. What are they doing? They might as well had kept this ride closed still. Such a mess

This is the point of the previews— find and fix issues before the paying guests arrive. Once those paid passholder days start, then it’s a problem.

I had to keep reminding myself with the previews I attended that it was free and they owed me nothing no matter how frustrating ride downtimes were.

 

[Alicia]

This is the point of the previews— find and fix issues before the paying guests arrive. Once those paid passholder days start, then it’s a problem.

I had to keep reminding myself with the previews I attended that it was free and they owed me nothing no matter how frustrating ride downtimes were.

Well that’s the day after tomorrow… soooo.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

This is the point of the previews— find and fix issues before the paying guests arrive. Once those paid passholder days start, then it’s a problem.

I had to keep reminding myself with the previews I attended that it was free and they owed me nothing no matter how frustrating ride downtimes were.

Alicia beat me to it... but previews start on Thursday this week so the system needs to be fixed ASAP.

Universal has also not made any sort of formal announcements on Virtual Line just yet... just bloggers who have posted about it. No video or formal website with training materials. Clear & advanced communication to guests is still a major issue at UOR.

 

[saint.piss]

This is the point of the previews— find and fix issues before the paying guests arrive.

They should've started it sooner then. They've not going to fix these issues by Thursday unfortunately.

 

[Tbad556]

Universal made their bed when they made the previews basically full price tickets. Some of these preview days are only $4 less than June prices. Hotel guests are essentially paying MORE than a regular ticket for these previews. They’ve made it incredibly hard to hide behind the “soft opening” excuse.

I absolutely adore the park, but those poor new hire guest services TMs are about to go through a trial by fire bc of these decisions.

 

[Mad Dog]

Still, the key word is 'Preview'. There's going to be breakdowns and shortened capacity. That's part and parcel of the Preview status......And, major reason I'm not going until November. I want my first impression of the park to be of a finished work. I'll give them time to get it right.

 

[Tbad556]

Still, the key word is 'Preview'. There's going to be breakdowns and shortened capacity. That's part and parcel of the Preview status.

Sure. But it’s bold for Uni to want their cake and eat it too. Charging full price and going “oops. Don’t be mad at me” is a bit silly. Either treat it as a full experience or as a preview.

I also think there’s a difference between breakdowns and “virtual queue actually doesn’t work at all for a large chunk of full paying guests”.

 

[Frank Drackman]

This is the point of the previews— find and fix issues before the paying guests arrive. Once those paid passholder days start, then it’s a problem.

I had to keep reminding myself with the previews I attended that it was free and they owed me nothing no matter how frustrating ride downtimes were.

It's the same problem. Previews, technical rehearsals, test and adjust ...... call it what you will, the park's opening date is still 5/22 and I assume that is date in which (company) expectations are that the park is open and running in a normal state.

Attending previews is risky. Being free should made it an easier pill to swallow, but anyone that has expectations of everything working (and working well) is setting themselves to be disappointed.

Well that’s the day after tomorrow… soooo.

oh, we are talking about folks paying to attend previews of a park in tech rehearsals verses folks getting to attend for free as I imagine for the employees, the park is still testing and adjusting, still in a learning phase, just with a different customer mix.

There are many TMs (and families) that had attractions closed during their entire visit (remember days when Nintendo World was closed?). Many folks had shows end, rides close while they were in line --- yes, easier to forget when reminding oneself that it was free to attend.

Alicia beat me to it... but previews start on Thursday this week so the system needs to be fixed ASAP.

Universal has also not made any sort of formal announcements on Virtual Line just yet... just bloggers who have posted about it. No video or formal website with training materials. Clear & advanced communication to guests is still a major issue at UOR.

They should've started it sooner then. They've not going to fix these issues by Thursday unfortunately.

I guess I have always just seen it as the park is set to open in May. I imagine the surprise/risk/change is how much they are charging for previews? I hope UNI understands the risk/reward behind it all!

Looking at this from a 'virtual line' perspective. They have used them before. I hope they got what they needed from two days of testing for I have to imagine they need to act by now to have a plan in place for the 17th. I imagine they can still test for another couple of days, but if (software) changes are being made I can't imagine they have them now to test with.

I imagine it gets ugly going forward. Sad that it is the employees that will take it, have to face the backlash. From what I know, all attractions have had down time during previews. I cannot imagine anything changes in that regard just because they started charging $$ to attend.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

Downtime is always expected at the start of a new attraction/park debut, so that's unfortunately something people have to expect.

However, I think there's an argument to be made about dropping a Virtual Line the week of previews with no formal announcement/training video.