Jurassic Park is the Marquee island of IOA.
It was the key element that the Universal Brass thought that they could base an entire second ticket park around. It was a can't miss theme. It was the hottest thing at the box office and the Hollywood ride proved that it could save a theme park. It would be given the parks most prime piece of real estate. It would be designed to lure you from across the lagoon with it's impressive Discovery Center and would set the tone for guests to explore their new "next generation" theme park. As you would approach the island from either side, the mammoth gates would stand guard to all who enter and apparently to keep whatever is inside from leaving.
Jump forward to the present.
The themeing of this island is incredible and the probably best in IOA. Sure you can say that Suess Landing, Toon Lagoon and Marvel look like Comic Books come to life. Or that Lost Continent with it's massive and unique architecture strikes awe in it's guests. But you can still tell that each one were built by man's hand. Jurassic Park is so well done that people say that "all that they probably did when building IOA was leave this Florida swampland undeveloped and put rides in it". Well, anyone who went to Universal Studios ten years ago will tell you that IOA sits where the original parking lot was. So essentially they created this lush tropical jungle out of a parking lot.
They had put in all of this effort to transport you to Jurassic Park that they forgot what to do with you once they got you there.
The walk through JP is almost uneventful as the foliage is almost too thick that the attractions are almost hidden from view. I have watched many guests finally stumble upon JPRA, only upon brief inspection of the queue, talk the rest of their party into riding it with the explanation that "it looks like it compares with the likes of Jungle Cruise". They are only seeing that it is only a boat ride from only viewing it at the boarding station and they don't realize that it is the same boat that splashes down a couple hundred feet away. They don't realize that the large building to the far left is part of the ride until it is too late.
Maybe that was part of the planning in designing the ride so that this unexpected became part of the experience. But if that's all that they thought would do it for thrilling guests, they are missing the boat with about 99 out of 100.
The few that fall for this trick are the same few that ask the "Med Tech" if the Triceratops is really real. These few are not the target audience and that is where JPRA misses.
In many previous post I have echoed previous opinions. I believe that JPRA lacks action and is rivaled in excitement by Disney's Classic "Jungle Cruise". This is not a knock on it or Disney as I love Disney and think of Jungle Cruise as a Classic favorite. However, I am sure that when Spielberg made the movie he wasn't going for the same excitement level of one of Disney's documentary nature movies,
so why did they tame the ride to such a dull level?
With a little bit more excitement, even the lame dinosaur technology wouldn't be so noticeable. I agree that more action is needed in the lagoon, but what really screams for attention is the building ascent. Nothing happens but a few minor incidents. Too few and too far in between to create any real scare or anticipation of the climax at the top.
Many people I have talk with have said that the ride's gentle glide lends itself to the pace of or the lack of attacks/excitement. But I think the exact opposite. The slow inescapability of the raft would allow any added action to linger and would further lend to your fear caused by the lack of your ability to escape in such a slow moving vessel. The idea would be to throw too many things at you to get away from, no matter where you turn. Not just one item here that gets your attention and then one over there and then after that one is over, another there...yawn. Speed the action up a bit, guys. You could almost fall asleep on this snooze cruise.
Hopefully they'll realize that today's theme park guest can concentrate on more than one thing, and that the next JP thrill ride will utilize details, like on "Spiderman" and "MIB", so that for that which we don't see the first time around, will only make us want to ride again, again and again. After one JPRA ride, your done. You won't do it again and when you analyze what really excited you about the ride, it was just the final escape. They could have saved about $50 million by eliminating all of the other fake looking dino stuff and you still would have had the same satisfaction level.
On the other hand the Discovery Center, Triceratops Encounter, and Camp Jurassic(including Pteranodon Flyers) are exactly what you would have expected. Great themeing, lot's to absorb, and ultimately FUN. EVERY guest that I have talked with agree that this is the level of quality and themeing that they expected out of JP. Yet, if that's how the majority feel, why is it still like being in JP decaf?
Well, Pteranodon Flyers and Triceratops Encounter were not meant to be major attractions, yet they are consistantly some of the longest wait times in the park.
Why?
Jurassic Park(the Island) is a Disappointment.
Not enough to do, and no promise kept by the Marquee lure of this island. These attractions were not meant to carry the weight created by the anticipation of this Island but were meant only support the validity of a real Jurassic Park. Yet as guests thirst for satisfaction in their JP induced appetite, they soak up all that these minor items have to offer. It is like asking the Tomorrowland Speedway to support the validity of Tomorrowland without Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, AND Alien Encounter. Sure, Tomorrowland would still look cool, but you would feel like it was just a scenic walk.
If they don't not knock one out of the park with the next attraction built, this island will likely to go the way of the occupants for which it is themed after and this time Universal Brass won't be able to count on Dr.Hammond to resurrect it in the near future.
HAVE FUN
[This message was edited by Tony M on 04-09-01 at 08:32 PM.]
