Race Through NY Starring Jimmy Fallon

[tielo]

I did see some families with small kids that were aghast and shaking their heads at the rap the RGs did. Definitely not prime time stuff there

And that's why I love Universal. They are not for everyone. They keep close to the source material and don't shy away from the edge. Can these songs be heard on the radio or are they censoring them to protect the spotless souls of their offspring (until they get on the internet).

 

[Mad Dog]

Very interesting. Minus Kong :look: I think our opinions are very similar and your reviews are the ones I trust more than most.

Thanks for the kind words. I'm a firm believer in Disney legend Imagineer Tony Baxter's theory that you can't really judge an attraction unless you have experienced it multiple times, and the true quality attractions become better the more times you ride them. So I won't do a "Full" Review unless I've experienced an attraction a minimum five or six times, and sometimes ten to twenty some. My first impressions of an attraction have sometimes been far off, for a number of reasons, and I've learned from those misconceptions (Some examples: Initially I didn't have great opinions of Mummy, Jurassic Park River Adventure, Gringotts, Thunder Mountain, but after riding them a number of times my opinion changed sharply and they ranked in my favorite/top tier of rides. Conversely, the first two times I rode Transformers I was of the opinion it was the best ride in Universal. But after repeated rides my rating dropped it from #1 down to # 9 or #10), & just loved Star Tours Two the first couple times I rode it. Now I consider it second tier quality) Initial impressions are just not always reliable. Those first impressions are often colored by too many distractions. Factors like expectations, publicity propaganda, too much going on at one time to experience it all, long waits in line, tech envy, seating views, social media, & tech issues can too easily influence a Full Review. I really don't understand how theme park bloggers can do a Full Review after one or two rides........and specifically to my good friend Scott: Give Kong "multiple" rides next time you get to Orlando. It gets better with repeat rides, as does Gringotts. You might end up changing your opinion. Two keys. Sit in middle to back and make sure the outside portion is working.

 

[Frogki]

Got to ride RtNY yesterday and I have a few thoughts, and for the most part I actually liked the ride a lot better than I initially thought I would. I'll post a more thorough review later today, but this is a solid replacement for a much less popular attraction.

 

[666ParkAve]

I got to ride yesterday. We booked our time through the Universal app. I did not really have high hopes for this based on the past year's discussion on this board. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed the attraction. The entire thing was thought out really well. I know it's a basic ride system, but it was fun, the screens were clear and crisp and the 3D was very good. I guess it would be easy to update this down the rode as well. The crowd all was cheering and happy as the left so it seems like a winner for Creative.

 

[Joel]

I got to ride yesterday. We booked our time through the Universal app. I did not really have high hopes for this based on the past year's discussion on this board. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed the attraction. The entire thing was thought out really well. I know it's a basic ride system, but it was fun, the screens were clear and crisp and the 3D was very good. I guess it would be easy to update this down the rode as well. The crowd all was cheering and happy as the left so it seems like a winner for Creative.

:horse:

mean that ^ in a good way

 

[Scott W.]

I got to ride yesterday. We booked our time through the Universal app. I did not really have high hopes for this based on the past year's discussion on this board. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed the attraction. The entire thing was thought out really well. I know it's a basic ride system, but it was fun, the screens were clear and crisp and the 3D was very good. I guess it would be easy to update this down the rode as well. The crowd all was cheering and happy as the left so it seems like a winner for Creative.

I think low expectations is making this a surprise hit for the harder to please crowd.

 

[Mad Dog]

I think low expectations is making this a surprise hit for the harder to please crowd.

One important take, and that goes above the entire expectation thing. People, for the most part, are very vocal in the queue and on the ride. The screaming, yelling, laughing are way above what you normally hear in a queue or ride. People are really demonstrating the fun they're having. And most of them probably had little or no expectations for the attraction. This is just an amazing hit. They found the key to a theme park attraction, FUN & ENTERTAINING......And yes, you are correct concerning the theme park internet fans. Rarely do you see so much positive comments on a new attraction. Usually theme park internet fans nitpick a new attraction to death. We had a few negatives early in softs but hardly any since then.

 

[amityboattours]

Reflecting on it more, I think I've only just realised how clever this whole attraction really is when you compare it to the 'TV recording' that it's supposed to be simulating.
The reason why people are already so pumped up and ready to giggle/applaud away at the rides pre-boarding safety video is because, similar to a real TV audience, they've been brought up to that level by a 'warm-up guy'. The warm up-guy in this case just happens to be a big Panda and some sassy barbershop singers!
The energy in that pre-ride room always surprised me, but I hadn't really put 2 and 2 together before as to why... Bravo UC!

 

[Mad Dog]

Reflecting on it more, I think I've only just realised how clever this whole attraction really is when you compare it to the 'TV recording' that it's supposed to be simulating.
The reason why people are already so pumped up and ready to giggle/applaud away at the rides pre-boarding safety video is because, similar to a real TV audience, they've been brought up to that level by a 'warm-up guy'. The warm up-guy in this case just happens to be a big Panda and some sassy barbershop singers!
The energy in that pre-ride room always surprised me, but I hadn't really put 2 and 2 together before as to why... Bravo UC!

:thumbsup:You found the word to describe the environment and crowd that I've been searching for, "ENERGY". It's just amazing.

 

[Frank Drackman]

:horse:

mean that ^ in a good way

I think low expectations is making this a surprise hit for the harder to please crowd.

One important take, and that goes above the entire expectation thing. People, for the most part, are very vocal in the queue and on the ride. The screaming, yelling, laughing are way above what you normally hear in a queue or ride. People are really demonstrating the fun they're having. And most of them probably had little or no expectations for the attraction. This is just an amazing hit. They found the key to a theme park attraction, FUN & ENTERTAINING......And yes, you are correct concerning the theme park internet fans. Rarely do you see so much positive comments on a new attraction. Usually theme park internet fans nitpick a new attraction to death. We had a few negatives early in softs but hardly any since then.

:thumbsup:You found the word to describe the environment and crowd that I've been searching for, "ENERGY". It's just amazing.

Yeah, I'm a Phish fan, I know all about energy.

I have not been on this yet, but I think I always said that I thought it would be a fun experience.

The thing I enjoyed the most about Kong was people ducking and screaming during the ride, the right group in the jeep thing really can make the ride!

For this one, I recall a survey a long time back talking about backstage production type stuff. From what I am hearing, I think they talk eliments from that survey to create a pre-show.

Also, it really sounds like they took a spin off of the idea of hyping a studio audience for a 'live' tapping as an overarching 'idea' to frame celebrating the Tonight Shows history, creating the feeling of a tv studio....to create a sort of TV style production attraction that folks would enjoy.

I look forward to seeing this for myself in the near future.

 

[Mad Dog]

Yeah, I'm a Phish fan, I know all about energy.

I have not been on this yet, but I think I always said that I thought it would be a fun experience.

The thing I enjoyed the most about Kong was people ducking and screaming during the ride, the right group in the jeep thing really can make the ride!

For this one, I recall a survey a long time back talking about backstage production type stuff. From what I am hearing, I think they talk eliments from that survey to create a pre-show.

Also, it really sounds like they took a spin off of the idea of hyping a studio audience for a 'live' tapping as an overarching 'idea' to frame celebrating the Tonight Shows history, creating the feeling of a tv studio....to create a sort of TV style production attraction that folks would enjoy.

I look forward to seeing this for myself in the near future.

Seems that's partly what they did on Fallon, and seemingly it's working.......Interestingly, echoing your Kong comments, the crowds on the Kong rides the past two weeks were screaming and cheering more than last October when I rode the ride. And I've been on it about three dozen times so far between the two vacations. But I don't have any idea why the more demonstrative riders this May.

 

[Obi Ubamba]

Seems that's partly what they did on Fallon, and seemingly it's working.......Interestingly, echoing your Kong comments, the crowds on the Kong rides the past two weeks were screaming and cheering more than last October when I rode the ride. And I've been on it about three dozen times so far between the two vacations. But I don't have any idea why the more demonstrative riders this May.

It could be that there are more schoolkids on end-of-year trips now than there are in October. They tend to be loud on rides....

Also can someone explain the UO App booking process for this ride? I don't really get it...

 

[Frogki]

That's actually fairly simple, you just go into the app on your phone and select the ride from the main park screen. Once you get there you scroll past the description to the place labeled tickets, underneath the heading it says reserve ride time. Click that and it'll give you available time slots, and a slider for how many people you have in yiur party. When your time comes up, you'll head to the ride and select the reservation on your phone. A QR code will be on your screen and the attendant will scan it the same way they'd scan a regular return ticket or photo pass.

 

[Obi Ubamba]

That's actually fairly simple, you just go into the app on your phone and select the ride from the main park screen. Once you get there you scroll past the description to the place labeled tickets, underneath the heading it says reserve ride time. Click that and it'll give you available time slots, and a slider for how many people you have in yiur party. When your time comes up, you'll head to the ride and select the reservation on your phone. A QR code will be on your screen and the attendant will scan it the same way they'd scan a regular return ticket or photo pass.

So everyone is issued a return time, or is that just when there is a long wait time?

 

[Mad Dog]

So everyone is issued a return time, or is that just when there is a long wait time?

When we were there, and Universal crowds were just low to moderate except one day, they required everyone who inquired at the entrance that they had to register their group for a time. Except for Express. Then you can walk right in.

 

[Frogki]

I had to register the amount of people on my phone but only one phone was needed and I believe they allow up to 10 to register on one phone. So no one else had to present anything, I just scanned my phone and we all went in.

 

[anihilnation]

I find that the VQ system as used in Fallon is still a bit of a mess; you get a return time, basically to enter a (virtual) queue and then enter another (virtual) queue, only to enter another queue. I think for people who don't get how the system works it might be rather confusing. It is your time, so you enter the building, but there's a short line in order to get the color card, then you are stuck in the downstairs lobby, then you are finally allowed to go upstairs and that lobby there is full of people who have no idea what is going on, then it is your color and you are thrown in an actual queue (albeit very short). I've only done the ride two times so far, one was during passholder preview when there was no wait. Second time was two weeks ago when I used the app to reserve. I had too much time open before the reserve, but luckily I suddenly was presented with new open slots at an earlier time, so I did that. So after ten minutes I was in the lobby to get the color card. Short wait to get to the upstairs part, but anyway, once upstairs it was rather chaotic, as most had no idea what was going on and they seemed to try and push people forward to see the ragtime music. Anyway, I just wonder how well the system will work this summer when there are large number of non-english speaking people. Also, I probably still waited close to half an hour once inside. All of that said, I still think it is a fun little ride, and the irony is that the messiness of the queue does add to the experience, because you are confused just like at a real live event lol.

 

[Mad Dog]

The times we went on they gave you your color coded cards & told everyone to go upstairs. I lingered a bit on the first floor since the old Today Show museum showcases are pretty interesting, but most everyone else went straight upstairs. Both theater's were running and the waits were pretty short, even though both upstairs rooms were always full of people, and the rides were full capacity. I'd rather have a longer wait because the Ragtime Gals, Panda, and film clips are so entertaining I was kind of saddened I didn't get to watch them longer. They even ran the Diagon opening clip from Fallon's show one time. Soooo funny....It was pretty smooth operation the times we were there, but that wasn't higher crowd level days either, except for one Saturday.

 

[anihilnation]

Did it again yesterday and this time everything went very smooth, had to wait a little upstairs, but our color was next, so there was almost no wait.

Also, sat at the end of a row, it is amazing to see how high up the theatre goes.

 

[Eckert]

Also, sat at the end of a row, it is amazing to see how high up the theatre goes.

The theater actually doesn't rise. It's the entry and exit walkways that go down.