Which rides at US/IOA can't you use FOTL on?

[zippehsmom]

It seems like I remember reading that there are a couple of rides that do not use FOTL. Does anyone know which rides those are?

Thanks

zippehsmom

 

[Foladar]

I believe there's only one, it's in IOA, and the name slips my mind..

 

[phamton]

The only ride that doesn't have it is Pteranodon Flyers at IoA.

Nick studios used to be included as the other one without FOTL but it has closed.

 

[zippehsmom]

Thanks!

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

The only ride that doesn't have it is Pteranodon Flyers at IoA.

I was going to say that, but I never remember how to spell Pteranodon! Thanks for the lesson.

 

[Motherfletcher]

On 5/26/05 they started enforcing the 56" max. rule on Pteranadon. You used to be able to ride within the first half hour of opening but now you need to rent/kidnap a short person (no age limit just under 56"). This is one of the stupidest rules at IOA.

 

[rangebob]

They have the rule due to the extremely small ridership per hour. Can you imagine the line if they allowed everybody in for a 30 second ride and how upset people would be if they waited in a 2 hours for it? I've seen this ride with an hour wait on a non-busy day.

 

[robvia]

Well, I rode 3 times in a row without getting out of my seat on 07/07/05. I ran there first thing after getting 1 front seat ride on Hulk. It's actually a very cool ride first thing in the morning. No people below, just the Jurassic park music playing nearby.
The other thing FOTL won't get you is front seat rides on Hulk and Dueling Dragons. So a good attack plan would be to arrive early, get a front seat ride on Hulk, ride PF, then continue to Dueling Dragons. After that, use the magic key to get on everything else.

 

[Motherfletcher]

They have the rule due to the extremely small ridership per hour. Can you imagine the line if they allowed everybody in for a 30 second ride and how upset people would be if they waited in a 2 hours for it? I've seen this ride with an hour wait on a non-busy day.

PF is the slowest loading attraction in any theme park anywhere! The throughput is 170 making it twice as slow as Dumbo. The ride lasts 70-75 seconds. The Adventure Guide says it is designed for children 36"-56". That is so phony that its laughable. As a transpotation engineer I know that rides are designed for the largest user not the smallest. In transportation terms the ride fails and their congestion management is to require one of the two occupants to be less than 56". I have logged a formal complaint with Guest Services at IOA which took over an hour of my prime touring time to fill out.
When we arrived at the attraction we were the first of the day and after hearing from the ride attendant why we were unable to ride I timed the arrival of the first qualifying riders. The ride attendant got nervous and called for the Lead. The Lead agreed that riding first thing in the morning did not create congestion and we both agreed that it is wrong to allow a party of 10 to ride if only one qualifies for the <56". The first qualifying riders arrived 4 minutes later. We had time to ride and re-ride and re-ride before any queue would build. Hopefully they have changed the rules back like Robvia experienced. It would have been nice of Guest Services to let me know that the policy was changed since I spent so much time to make this right. Their fix was to offer us preferential treatment and give access to the ride when I simply requested that the policy be re-visited for those select few minutes at opening when the size of the riders should not make a difference. This will be the next attraction to get the axe because of improper design.

 

[zippehsmom]

So, should I go to that ride first and then backtrack to everything else?

zippehsmom

 

[phamton]

So, should I go to that ride first and then backtrack to everything else?

zippehsmom

Personally, I'd just skip this ride unless you have younger kids that want to ride it. It is a skyride type ride.

 

[zippehsmom]

I'll have a 2 1/2, 5, 9 & 13 year old with me. Would it be worth it?

zippehsmom

 

[phamton]

Here's a site with descriptions and pictures. Just click on any of the pictures to make them larger. I'd skip it but many adults and kids do like it.

http://www.ioacentral.com/islands/jurassic_park/attractions/pteranodon_flyers.htm

 

[Motherfletcher]

It's a great ride and my kids have always loved it. It scares my wife half to death and she refuses to ride it again. From the make-up of your party I think I'd do exactly what Robvia did. Go straight to the Hulk and do the front seat for the 9 and 13 y.o. then go get the Flyers out of the way. It is not worth a twenty minute wait but if you can walk on its a lot of fun. And like Rob said they let you re-ride without getting off when no one is in line.

 

[zippehsmom]

Thanks Motherfletcher and Phantom, I think I will follow Robvia's plan. Just curious Motherfletcher why was your wife scared? I'm trying to figure out if my Mom would like it. This will be her first trip, and she told me if I did not properly warn her on rides (she does not do coasters or anything that makes your stomach drop), she'd kill me .

zippehsmom

 

[Motherfletcher]

My wife is acrophobic and half way through the vehicle swings from side to side which intensifies her fear of falling. There is no "fall" to the ride that might leave one's stomach in a quandary. There is a substantial drop on the attraction across the pathway from this ride. Jurassic Park River Adventure has an 85' drop. As you approach PF from Toon Lagoon you will see the cars or "birds" traveling along their tracks. Let your Mom decide after she sees what they are like. I like the view.

 

[WDWendy]

I just wanted to share a funny story. On my first trip to IOA, my husband and I were basically making our way through the park riding every ride. We came to the Pteranadon flyers and thought it looked interested...then an employee stopped as we were getting into line to tell us that we could not ride without a child. I'm sure they must have had a sign somewhere stating that you need one of those ...they need a bigger-better sign. It was funny, my husband kept teasing me saying "Let's go see if we can rent a kid, that ride looked interesting."

 

[Motherfletcher]

That's part of the arguement I posed to Guest Services. This encourages child "borrowing". Or asking someone, "Can we say that we are with you?"

 

[WDWendy]

He was teasing me, you know rent a stroller, wheelchair, maybe a kid for the day.

People really do that!!!!!! I cannot believe it.

You could not pay me enough money to ask strangers to lie for me...

That's very pro-active of you to approach guest services about that, it's kind of a weird rule.

 

[the Dark Marauder]

It's to reduce the wait time. The ride has a very low capacity, so it was figured that by making it a ride for kids/accompanying adults, it would reduce the wait time. It has, somewhat. Instead of always being a 90 minute wait, it's now always a 60 minute wait...