Problems with the Harry Potter Ride

[phamton]

(However, in a decade of attending Disney World I've yet to endure a ride malfunction, personally.)

Dang, I want to visit WDW whenever you are there because of the hundreds of times i have been to Disney, almost everytime at least one ride on that day has had technical problems. Top of the list on ride malfunctions for me has been Toy Story Mania and Test Track. Your luck with Forbidden Journey was my experience with Toy Story. I went one day specifically to ride it and it was down the entire day. The next day, I got on right at opening and had to be e-vac'ed off the ride after we had only gone about 20 feet. As far as Test Track, I have waited in line for that ride eight, yes, eight different times (days) and never got to ride it. I was so thrilled when finally I was able to ride it after all of those tries. Cast Members at both Disney and team members at Universal are not allowed to discuss how often a ride goes down.

 

[ducky_love]

Dude- NEVER??!! I can't seem to go to Disney for a day and not have rides break down? It happens at all the parks.

 

[IdesOmarch]

Oh and of course at Disney, nothing ever goes wrong, the rides are always working perfectly, the huge crowds magically open up like Moses' parting of the Red Sea everywhere we walk. I walk into every restaurant where I'm always immediately seated in the best seat. The food is always perfect. The CMs are always smiling and have ALWAYS known how to answer every single question I've ever asked. Even one time when I was just testing one to see, she was probably only about 19 years old, and I quizzed her on quantum physics and the latest theory by Steven Hawking, and she answered every question perfectly.

I have never encountered any rude, offensive or rowdy teenagers. All the guests standing in line have never smelled of BO, and always smell like roses. And on top of everything else, I always find about 14 or 15 $100 dollar bills laying on the ground on my way out so I never have to pay for anything either. I'm just lucky that way I guess.

 

[sdmom]

There were problems both days we rode FJ during our visit in Feb. We actually got stopped twice on one journey and when we mentioned that the continuation of the journey didn't have sound they were happy to let us ride again.

I would much rather have an honest, "IDK", than the bs Disney sometimes throws out there. I remember one smug jerk at DL who told us "brer rabbit was sleeping late and that they didn't know when he would wake so they could open Splash".

 

[fairyprincess88]

I have to admit I got a good chuckle out of the "never had a Disney ride breakdown" comment. I am the proud survior of being stuck on IASW for 45 minutes with the music also apparently stuck to the on posititon as well. Never have I wanted to blow up little dolls more in my life. I still consider IASW the scariest ride in theme park history because of that day.

Ride breakdowns happen, they are machines, machines break. As for FJ, I have been on that ride at least 32 times and not once has there been a problem. Of course it has had it's breakdowns ect, but it's not an every ride occurance. However, if there was a malfunction, I wouldn't expect an attractions employee to give me a factul answer or reason ect. That is not their job nor do they have the answers. They are also meant to stay in character, and their characters are Hogwarts students. Just be happy they said, "I don't know" and not something like, "Well it seems Voldemort found out muggles were in Hogsmeade...." Although personally, if I were one of the students I'd have probably of had some fun with it.

As someone who used to be a trueblue Disney girl, who has since defected to the darkside due to Potter, I've found the employees at Universal to be some of the best in the themepark industry and very ontop of taking care of their guests. To call one rude and unprofessional because they did not or could not provide you with an answer you wanted is wrong.

 

[tink20]

There were problems both days we rode FJ during our visit in Feb. We actually got stopped twice on one journey and when we mentioned that the continuation of the journey didn't have sound they were happy to let us ride again.

I would much rather have an honest, "IDK", than the bs Disney sometimes throws out there. I remember one smug jerk at DL who told us "brer rabbit was sleeping late and that they didn't know when he would wake so they could open Splash".

That made me laugh, thanks

 

[FrancieNolan]

I visited IOA for the first time on 3/9 and rode FJ 2x w/o any problems.

I have been stuck on a Six Flag Coaster in 100 degree F Georgia heat & multiple DW world rides thru out the years. I have been given smiles and seemingly heartfelt apologies from park employees but never a specific answer as to the cause of the problem.

 

[La2kw]

I've been stuck on Test Track, Haunted Mansion, Midway Mania, and Space Mountain over the years at WDW. Saying their rides don't break down is pure nonsense.

 

[czycropper]

I've been going to WDW since it was just Magic Kingdom and to say that the rides never break down is hilarious....one trip we were stuck Planet Earth (for half and hour), Test Track was down and so was Splash Mountain...not one of our best trips but we managed to have a wonderful time

 

[nytimez]

I rode it six or seven times over three days this week, no problems or stoppages.

 

[Tink2Day]

I have to admit I got a good chuckle out of the "never had a Disney ride breakdown" comment. I am the proud survior of being stuck on IASW for 45 minutes with the music also apparently stuck to the on posititon as well. Never have I wanted to blow up little dolls more in my life. I still consider IASW the scariest ride in theme park history because of that day.
Ride breakdowns happen, they are machines, machines break. As for FJ, I have been on that ride at least 32 times and not once has there been a problem. Of course it has had it's breakdowns ect, but it's not an every ride occurance. However, if there was a malfunction, I wouldn't expect an attractions employee to give me a factul answer or reason ect. That is not their job nor do they have the answers. They are also meant to stay in character, and their characters are Hogwarts students. Just be happy they said, "I don't know" and not something like, "Well it seems Voldemort found out muggles were in Hogsmeade...." Although personally, if I were one of the students I'd have probably of had some fun with it.

As someone who used to be a trueblue Disney girl, who has since defected to the darkside due to Potter, I've found the employees at Universal to be some of the best in the themepark industry and very ontop of taking care of their guests. To call one rude and unprofessional because they did not or could not provide you with an answer you wanted is wrong.

The big question is, did Disney pay for your therapy afterward? Or did the CM just tell you "Well at least you know all the words now"?

That would start to look like 'Chucky' after about 10 minutes.

 

[crazycatlady]

We went on FJ 3 times last October at all different times of the same day, and were stopped on the ride at least once all three times. The middle time we rode we were stopped in the middle of the whomping willow scene, just a few feet from the branches. We sat for about ten minutes or so with the lights on...it kind of sucked to see what the the area looks like in the light. They didn't offer us any sort of express pass, even after I mentioned to the TM that we had been stopped on the ride a few different times on three different occasions that day. I thought the ride was really great, but would have been much better if we could have gotten through it at least once without stopping. And we got stopped on Splash a couple of times that same trip, too.

 

[Tink2Day]

I rode it 5 or 6 times (started to get fuzzy after ride 3) in early November. It delayed for about 20-30 seconds when we first started out but no delays or stoppage at all. I wonder though about whether it 'breaks down' or if people get sick, have trouble getting off and on and THAT might be the delay.

Imagine getting stuck on Maelstrom in Epcot and having to be evacuated..
A. It's a bit cheesy to begin with, B. It's not fun to walk out.

Also we got stopped for a minute when Everest Expedition at AK started its backward drop. That was fun too.

 

[Mikelly1221]

We were at WWOHP today and rode FJ 3 times. 2 out of the 3 times we were stopped for about a minute each time. No biggie.

 

[EmJ]

So, setting aside the "which park breaks more" argument, does Forbidden Journey seem to be working okay these days? We're headed out Saturday (finally!) and I'm wondering whether to warn my traveling companions that the ride might not function properly while on our trip.

 

[Mikelly1221]

So, setting aside the "which park breaks more" argument, does Forbidden Journey seem to be working okay these days? We're headed out Saturday (finally!) and I'm wondering whether to warn my traveling companions that the ride might not function properly while on our trip.

I really can't answer that..this was the first time ever FJ had broken down while we were on it, and the stops were minimal..around a minute max.

This is going to be hard to describe, but when it starts back up, you lose some of the sound/sights right where you are if you are looking at a movie part of the ride vs animatronic part of the ride. That's what happened to us in 2 different places. However, it fixes itself pretty quickly and if it's your first time riding it, you may not know that you missed anything. I'm sorry if this description is confusing..it's hard for me to describe!

Overall, the stopping didn't affect our ride experience much, if at all. It was still an awesome ride.

 

[surfgirl]

We were at IoA last Wednesday & Thursday, March 2nd & 3rd. Forbidden Journey was inoperable from about 8:30 till 3 pm on the 2nd so we gave up trying to ride. (We left Disney at 10--hence not arriving at Universal till later in the morning.)
{snip}

I call bs on your story. Since you weren't there until after 10am, you can't verify that it wasn't working.

I, however, can verify that it worked that morning, because I rode it twice. We walked in at 8am when on-site guests were allowed, stopped at Ollivander's and did the show, and headed to FJ. Rode it once as a family, walked back to Hogsmeade, got apples for 2 kids, who sat and inhaled their apples, while we rode it again. We were walking off at 8:45am, so I can verify that it was operational until then with no glitches. We rode the FotH and then headed to the Pteradon Flyers a few minutes after 9am.

Obviously, I have no clue what happened after we left and don't doubt that it was down for the rest of the day, just that I think your timing is off since I know it was working fine until we left.

Splitting hair? sure, but when you come onto the boards and attack, be ready for a counter-argument (and the truth) occasionally.

 

[Tink2Day]

So, setting aside the "which park breaks more" argument, does Forbidden Journey seem to be working okay these days? We're headed out Saturday (finally!) and I'm wondering whether to warn my traveling companions that the ride might not function properly while on our trip.

Not really the issue. What's being said is all parks seem to have breakdowns, they're hard to predict and can happen anywhere at any time.
My thought is, there may be trouble getting off and on, people getting sick and/or the ride actually malfunctioning.
It has a LOT of advanced technical components both on the ride and in the queue so anything can happen at a given time.
We had ZERO breakdowns/one tiny brief delay. Others may have had delays or breakdowns. I guess there just aren't any guarantees in life.

 

[yaytezIOA]

We were stuck at the whomping willow...upside down...we called 911

 

[phamton]

We were stuck at the whomping willow...upside down...we called 911

Don't tease us like that. There are people that may actually believe that.