Future of Jurassic Park River Adventure

[OrlLover]

Eehh, we don't know that. And define "eventually" here. Cat in the Hat has had busted, melty-looking animatronics since forever and that's an outside IP with brand integrity concerns in play. There are a lot of projects around the resort coming up, and especially with VC relatively recently opened and Pteranodon having issues, it might be a lot longer before River Adventure sees some desperately needed TLC.

Maybe they do fast-track Jurassic World Adventure or a massive Mummy/ET-style overhaul to open next year or something. I would love that! Unfortunately, I just don't think there is any reason to expect that kinda thing anytime soon.

Well we know any potential overhaul is probably not planned until next year once Epic construction wraps up.

Maybe they will surprise us and it will go down at the end of this year.

I think once the additional capacity is added to the resort a lot of the rides that need TLC can go down.

 

[Mad Dog]

Back in the day....before Velocicoaster was announced....there was a 'rumor' that Universal was looking at either adding a coaster to JP 'or' doing an extensive redo/refurb of JPRA. If that rumor was true, I would think many are happy that they went with a Velocicoaster build. It probably wouldn't have been budget possible to do both at that time. That was just an unconfirmed rumor though.

 

[DodgsonHere]

You guys know those animatronics will eventually will be replaced right?

We just have to be a little more patient until they approve a big budget for this ride to be overhauled.

Japan getting new boats is a good sign they are willing to invest into this property. The Mummy got a lot of love recently and I’m sure this is next.

Um I wouldn't count on it lol

 

[OrlLover]

Um I wouldn't count on it lol

We don’t know that but maybe replaced is the wrong word.

Upgraded or rebuilt to modern standards should are the better terms.

 

[HHN Maddux]

 

[Cwoolboy]

Rode this 5/14 and was more impressed than I was expecting to be. Most of the AAs still need a good deal of TLC, but the ride was a lot of fun and very thrilling. Plus: Tiff was working perfectly and was very impressive (Missed visiting the ol' girl). It really is the full embodiment of everything JP is and should be.

 

[DodgsonHere]

Rode this 5/14 and was more impressed than I was expecting to be. Most of the AAs still need a good deal of TLC, but the ride was a lot of fun and very thrilling. Plus: Tiff was working perfectly and was very impressive (Missed visiting the ol' girl). It really is the full embodiment of everything JP is and should be.

I find it to be one of the most underrated attractions in Florida, let alone just UOR. So massive in scale and hits on every emotional beat associated with JP.

 

[GA-MBIT]

I find it to be one of the most underrated attractions in Florida, let alone just UOR. So massive in scale and hits on every emotional beat associated with JP.

It's been in a pretty rough place maintenence-wise for a long time, which is why I think people have been so down on JPRA. I think if it got a similar treatment to Mummy or E.T. with a complete refresh of the existing attraction and it's effects, I think people would be a lot more willing to call it what it is: (potentially) one of the best themed attractions, let alone water rides, in Florida. I do love the attraction and it's got the potential to be a real headliner for the park, but it needs lots of extra love.

 

[Mad Dog]

It's an old time Universal type of ride, before physical effects disappeared from most Universal rides. Even with the stuff not fully working, it's still much better than some of the non Potter attractions they've opened in the past decade.

 

[Skipper Justin]

My only real issue with the ride is the first scene after the doors. I don’t think it ever looked good. I honestly like the World version with the giant tank better.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I would love to see them replace the raptor animatronics with ones similar to Hollywood or the Velocicoaster queue - but I'm not sure they'd bother with how the raptors are kind of shrouded by darkness.

Hopefully soon.... but we've been waiting for quite a while now. It's been half a decade since the JW USH version debuted while Orlando's is sitting ready to be overhauled. Yes we got VelociCoaster, but it's time to put some love back into the original JP attraction.

I can justify missing animatronics, but there are also several moments in the ride that are just poor show:

• The obvious plants in pots "trying" to disguise the stegosaurus
• Mechanics for the Raptors rustling in the bush effect being obvious/not hidden
• Broken/weared skins on dinos

We don’t know that but maybe replaced is the wrong word.

Upgraded or rebuilt to modern standards should are the better terms.

i keep hoping that they turn this ride into a jurassic world ride with all the new effects and the new screens and stuff, i hate how beat up this ride is, feels like the most beat up, busted ride of both parks, its in really terrible state. the jurassic ride in Asia is amazing looking, the california one is better now
this one is so busted...depressing

My only real issue with the ride is the first scene after the doors. I don’t think it ever looked good. I honestly like the World version with the giant tank better.

those two dinos at the beginning always look so depressing

 

[BayAreaBubba]

i keep hoping that they turn this ride into a jurassic world ride with all the new effects and the new screens and stuff, i hate how beat up this ride is, feels like the most beat up, busted ride of both parks, its in really terrible state. the jurassic ride in Asia is amazing looking, the california one is better now
this one is so busted...depressing

I didn't realize how soon the new sequel is to premiering (July 2, 2025). At this point, maybe they're waiting to see if this movie is a hit before doing a retheme. It would be nice for both coasts to have different variations of the franchise. It doesn't feel that long since the last Jurassic World movie was released so I didn't expect this new movie to come out so soon.

 

[Lucky Planet]

I didn't realize how soon the new sequel is to premiering (July 2, 2025). At this point, maybe they're waiting to see if this movie is a hit before doing a retheme. It would be nice for both coasts to have different variations of the franchise. It doesn't feel that long since the last Jurassic World movie was released so I didn't expect this new movie to come out so soon.

that could be really awesome i hope they do something with that movie

 

[ibanezjp]

I just rode Jurassic World in Hollywood for the first time. If that’s what we’re getting, I still stand by my keep it JP vote. Don’t get me wrong, it had some REALLY cool parts, but overall doesn’t feel drastically better than Orlando’s. If you can believe it, their baby Stego and Momma Stego look even worse than ours!!! Can’t believe they didn’t try to fix those up more. The mosasaurus screen part is not as cool of an entrance as the lagoon, but it’s always gonna look that good. Even with a screen you still get a good sense of how big the mosasaur is. As mentioned their stegos look TERRIBLE! More sun worn and move even less and more clunky. Their Parasaur does pop up and works good. The raptor coming out of the ceiling looks better than ours obviously, but it looks very static, like a statue rather than AA. Now T-Rex kingdom is BEAUTIFUL and the I-Rex head chomping above you is awesome. Blue looks amazing. Their T-Rex looks just as good as ours. Sadly the big I-Rex/T-rex fight didn’t happen because the I-Rex was completely stuck both times we rode. Just goes to show even a new ride can have a brand new thing breaking down. I think if they did this in Orlando, it would look pretty sorry in 5 years, similar to how it looks now. So keep it JP, try to fix it up as is, or tear it all down and build the Jurassic World ride from China if they want to re-theme.

 

[USO92]

I hate to say it….its time to shift this over to Jurassic World. I feel like VC was the first mark of an inevitable domino chain. This poor ride really needs some help.

 

[TonyPizza]

Was able to come to Orlando and rode last week and man… this ride is ROUGH. The first dinosaur was completely off cue and barely moved, the others were falling apart, and noticed some of the paint coming off on some parts. Obviously still fun, but as a California native I think a JW refresh would do wonders. It’s looks especially worse in comparison to its brand new raptor-themed neighbor.

 

[TheUniC6]

Was able to come to Orlando and rode last week and man… this ride is ROUGH. The first dinosaur was completely off cue and barely moved, the others were falling apart, and noticed some of the paint coming off on some parts. Obviously still fun, but as a California native I think a JW refresh would do wonders. It’s looks especially worse in comparison to its brand new raptor-themed neighbor.

At some point they will probably get around to giving the ride a massive refurb like USJ did. But whether or not they transition it to another iteration of the JP franchise is more 50-50 to me.

While I see the value of updating Orlandos JP ride to a more modern iteration of the JW franchise, those just aren't as timeless or as well received as the original 90s Jurassic Park era. Plus, considering how the JP franchise is one of those IPs that keeps coming back in some way, rethemeing it to a newer version of JP risks that getting dated if it ever fizzles out like the 2015-2021 JW trilogy.

 

[Lucky Planet]

At some point they will probably get around to giving the ride a massive refurb like USJ did. But whether or not they transition it to another iteration of the JP franchise is more 50-50 to me.

While I see the value of updating Orlandos JP ride to a more modern iteration of the JW franchise, those just aren't as timeless or as well received as the original 90s Jurassic Park era. Plus, considering how the JP franchise is one of those IPs that keeps coming back in some way, rethemeing it to a newer version of JP risks that getting dated if it ever fizzles out like the 2015-2021 JW trilogy.

it's like you get the problem Disney has with making park stuff based on their new trilogy instead of the original trilogy? if the star wars hotel has been made with the original characters maybe it would been received better?

I could see that happening, but at the same time the Jurassic world version of the parks look much better than ours outside of the new technology.

 

[OrlandoGuy]

I hate to say it….its time to shift this over to Jurassic World. I feel like VC was the first mark of an inevitable domino chain. This poor ride really needs some help.

Was able to come to Orlando and rode last week and man… this ride is ROUGH. The first dinosaur was completely off cue and barely moved, the others were falling apart, and noticed some of the paint coming off on some parts. Obviously still fun, but as a California native I think a JW refresh would do wonders. It’s looks especially worse in comparison to its brand new raptor-themed neighbor.

I mean I guess that would give a temporary fix, but at the end of the day Universal’s still going to have to maintain the ride and if they haven’t been able to keep up with Park, they won’t be able to keep up with World (minus the screen tank, but to me that’s the worst part of the World redo).

 

[Lucky Planet]

animatronics out in the sun and rain is was always a crazy thing i saw and i remember a video where the creator of this ride mentioned wanting to cover them up from the elements somehow and uni saying no?