Just got back home from the event a bit ago -- was supposed to go two weekends ago, but it got delayed; then was supposed to go last weekend, but broke my toe! So... third
time's weekend's the charm.
Got in the park around 7:45 and went to Star Trek first. Waited in line five minutes, if that -- while I appreciate the IP at the park, I would've been pretty annoyed if I'd waited, say, a half hour for this. The crowd energy was pretty low (more than a few people who were texting/scrolling Instagram through the whole thing) which wasn't helped by the fact it was really,
really hard to hear the characters, even standing just feet from them. It seemed like there was genuine confusion moving from room to room because nothing was really happening thanks to the "telling, not showing" concept. By the time the crew member at the end was saying, "Did we just make... first contact?" and looking around the room trying to get a reaction --
anything -- out of the crowd, only for it to be over, I heard quite a few "That's it?" type comments on the way out.
After that, we popped over to Jujutsu -- waited about ten minutes outside before being brought into the preshow around 8:20. Knowing absolutely nothing about any of this, I appreciated the subtitles, but I didn't get much out of the experience. Weirdly, I was expecting
more considering how KFP utilizes the full screen space; I wouldn't do this again, but hearing people cheer when characters were mentioned/showed up in the preshow and during the show itself was nice just for the fact it's always cool to see people be into things even when I'm not.
Next, we shot to the lower lot for D&D, in line by 8:55. I've never played D&D, but I was really looking forward to this one anyway. Funnily enough, it reminded me a lot of Poseidon's Fury in terms of tone and cheese, which I'm A-okay with; one of the two guides was really into it, which brings a lot to it, but the first two rooms in particular were, like Star Trek, really hard to hear dialogue in because of sound bleed from elsewhere in the house. Many of the effects were really fun, and
that puppet was great. Nothing mind-blowing, but cute -- for lack of a better word -- overall.
Once out, we walked onto Jurassic World, grabbed a drink, and then headed for BTTF, which was the #1 thing I was looking forward to tonight -- we got to Hill Valley a few minutes before the Enchantment Under the Sea dance "began," so didn't get to see too much of the characters out and about, but it's fine, because being able to be right at the base of the Clock Tower was such a nostalgia trip. I loved the vibe down there, loved the fire tracks, loved what I did get to see of the characters (even if some guests act stupid in interacting with them in a way I feel sorry for the actors having to improvise around), and quite enjoyed the half hour spent down there. (I will say, though, the trams were so slow -- we got on the tram to head back and it stopped around where the Curious George lot was for over 20 minutes before it pulled up and we were finally let off! Something was clearly up, but everyone aboard was getting restless, hah.)
We had to skip Hogwarts Forever because of the tram delay and we wanted to hit the road, so we were back to the car around 11:30. As I mentioned in the past, I wanted to support this event from the ground floor, and I'm glad I did, even if I personally didn't get as much out of it as others because I don't do meet-and-greets, which was clearly a big draw tonight. There's SO MUCH potential here for future years to grow and expand, and just judging by how many people were there, how many people were dressed up, how many people were waiting ages to meet characters, and so on, Universal seems like it has a hit on its hands.
I wrote in this thread on the 29th what I want to personally see more of out of the event, and now that I've gone, I stick with what I wrote then. More walk-throughs, more shows, more "living" experiences like BTTF... Whatever it is, the sky's the limit going forward. I will say, though, that taking a page from HHN's houses may be worth it in some circumstances. For instance, D&D -- early sound issues aside -- benefitted from the energy of its actors, effects, etc., while Star Trek -- sound issues
not aside -- floundered because nothing felt propulsive. I low key think that Star Trek could've just been a walk-through house, the story of which could include Klingons or the Borg or whatever; as is, it just doesn't work like D&D does, so perhaps a mix of traditional "houses" and "guided experiences" would be healthy going forward from IP to IP. (But again, that's just my opinion.)
Anyway, glad I went even if I wasn't necessarily blown away overall, excited to see how this event continues to evolve in years to come, and I hope everyone who has been had a blast and everyone who will be going this weekend or next enjoys yourselves, too!