Just got back from spending the weekend at Universal and from what we experienced, it seems like they layed off all the people who had anything to do with maintaining the rides (no wonder we no longer hear from Earl, IOATech or CoasterFEV!).
Got to IOA about 1:00pm on Saturday. Hit the Hulk first and everything seemed to work fine. Unfortunately that was one of the last attractions we experienced which was operating properly.
Next was Spiderman. Starting a couple seens in I could tell something was wrong...in one of the early scenes the projection must have been off because I felt like I was going blind in my left eye. The Dr. Octopus heat effect wasn't working and neither was the fire effect when Hobgoblin throws the pumpkin bomb. Shortly after the park where you are above the city the projections screens cut out entirely and the car started 'bouncing' up and down for a few seconds. At this point our car just proceeded to the exit with most of the screens off. We went thru again and everything seem to work this time with the exception of 'the spidey' signal, the Dr. Octobpus heat effect and the fire effect.
After this we went on Popeye which was ok, though we did get stuck on the boat wash/lift hill for a couple minutes. After that we went to go on Dudley Doright, but no luck. Hung around and about 20 minutes later they got it working again. Ride was ok, but the early scene with Dudley riding his horse was missing.
Next came Jurassic Park River Adventure. Right before we got to the stegosauris area the ride just stopped and we sat there for about 15 MINUTES. Finally got started again and things were going ok until the end when the ride broke down again with about 7 boats between us and the unloading area. They made us sit there again for about 10 minutes and then had to manually evacuate each boat since they couldn't figure out what was wrong.
Ok, next we figure we'll try Dueling Dragons. Bad idea...Fire Dragon appears to be stuck on the lift hill so they are only running Ice. Universal Express line is a 30+ minute wait because they can't get fire running. We decide to try later and make the 4:30 Sinbad show. Even this show had problems. When 'Mazaria' (or whatever the witch is called) was supposed to appear nothing happened and the characters were exchanging dialog with an empty spot on the stage. The princess ran offstage and after about a minute Mazaria finally showed up. Went to do Poseidon's Fury and fortunately it worked perfectly. Actually had a decent (and funny) Taylor for the first time, though I still give a slight edge to the old show. Went back to Duelling Dragons and they finally had both working.
Next up was Suess Landing. Cat in the Hat still has many problems...Thing 1 & 2 broken as they come out of the box, Piano doesn't fall, Fish in toilet messed up AND the ride got stuck and stopped at least twice!!! Last IOA attraction was Car-O-Suess-El which was also pathetic. Most of the characters are broken and weren't working and no music was playing while the kids were riding.
We spent the night at the HRH so this morning we got up to head over to the Studios and decided to do Hanna Barbara first. After the video in the waiting room they announced that the attraction had malfunctioned and they had no idea what was wrong. After about a 20 minute wait they got it working again. Fortunately the other attractions we did (E.T., MIB and Twister) all seemed to work ok, though for some reason E.T. had a long line and they had the Express queue blocked off with a chain...which I removed!
What the heck is going on?!? We are passholders and will still be returning, but I can't imaging the impression an experience like this would leave on a visitor? Does Universal not care one bit about what their guests experience any longer?!?
Got to IOA about 1:00pm on Saturday. Hit the Hulk first and everything seemed to work fine. Unfortunately that was one of the last attractions we experienced which was operating properly.
Next was Spiderman. Starting a couple seens in I could tell something was wrong...in one of the early scenes the projection must have been off because I felt like I was going blind in my left eye. The Dr. Octopus heat effect wasn't working and neither was the fire effect when Hobgoblin throws the pumpkin bomb. Shortly after the park where you are above the city the projections screens cut out entirely and the car started 'bouncing' up and down for a few seconds. At this point our car just proceeded to the exit with most of the screens off. We went thru again and everything seem to work this time with the exception of 'the spidey' signal, the Dr. Octobpus heat effect and the fire effect.
After this we went on Popeye which was ok, though we did get stuck on the boat wash/lift hill for a couple minutes. After that we went to go on Dudley Doright, but no luck. Hung around and about 20 minutes later they got it working again. Ride was ok, but the early scene with Dudley riding his horse was missing.
Next came Jurassic Park River Adventure. Right before we got to the stegosauris area the ride just stopped and we sat there for about 15 MINUTES. Finally got started again and things were going ok until the end when the ride broke down again with about 7 boats between us and the unloading area. They made us sit there again for about 10 minutes and then had to manually evacuate each boat since they couldn't figure out what was wrong.
Ok, next we figure we'll try Dueling Dragons. Bad idea...Fire Dragon appears to be stuck on the lift hill so they are only running Ice. Universal Express line is a 30+ minute wait because they can't get fire running. We decide to try later and make the 4:30 Sinbad show. Even this show had problems. When 'Mazaria' (or whatever the witch is called) was supposed to appear nothing happened and the characters were exchanging dialog with an empty spot on the stage. The princess ran offstage and after about a minute Mazaria finally showed up. Went to do Poseidon's Fury and fortunately it worked perfectly. Actually had a decent (and funny) Taylor for the first time, though I still give a slight edge to the old show. Went back to Duelling Dragons and they finally had both working.
Next up was Suess Landing. Cat in the Hat still has many problems...Thing 1 & 2 broken as they come out of the box, Piano doesn't fall, Fish in toilet messed up AND the ride got stuck and stopped at least twice!!! Last IOA attraction was Car-O-Suess-El which was also pathetic. Most of the characters are broken and weren't working and no music was playing while the kids were riding.
We spent the night at the HRH so this morning we got up to head over to the Studios and decided to do Hanna Barbara first. After the video in the waiting room they announced that the attraction had malfunctioned and they had no idea what was wrong. After about a 20 minute wait they got it working again. Fortunately the other attractions we did (E.T., MIB and Twister) all seemed to work ok, though for some reason E.T. had a long line and they had the Express queue blocked off with a chain...which I removed!
What the heck is going on?!? We are passholders and will still be returning, but I can't imaging the impression an experience like this would leave on a visitor? Does Universal not care one bit about what their guests experience any longer?!?
