"Rockit" New at USF!

Has anyone ridden a Maurer Sohne? I've heard from one review that the lap bar can get too tight? Anyone know?

I'd rather have this type of restraint than a horsecollar. Love that review, "8 corkscrews." Whew! It looks like he/she was referring to the lift structure thingy. *** Edited 3/19/2008 7:43:59 PM UTC by CoasterComet***

I've ridden one of their Wild Mouse coasters. Can't complain about it, although I'm sure the X-Car restraint system will be vastly different.

I think a lot of regular park guests will be disappointed with Harry Potter IMHO, almost everyone seems to think this will be a new park with tons of new rides, not just a few shops and some rethemed rides, but let's wait and see.

This coaster could be really cool... or really lame, as long as it seems to fit it'll make sense, if not then it'll be a worse eye sore than the wand on Spaceship Earth...

That's what I'm thinking. Unless the Harry Potter area is going to have one or two kick-ass rides/attractions, it's basically a really expensive coat of paint. Whether or not people are fooled remains to be seen.

If it's an immersive coat of paint---namely, if it really gave you a sense of place---it just might. My wife and kids would probably be tickled with just that.

We have a week's vacation in late February every year. So far, that week has always been Disney centric. My wife has told me, in no uncertain terms, that when it comes time to look for lodging for our 2010 trip, I will be looking near Universal, and not near Disney.

Note that that proclamation was made with effectively no details about what would be in the new land.

I've only ridden their regular mice and their uber-cool spinners (Waldy's and Lagoon's)....not having inversions means I have no real basis for comparison.

That being said, friends who've ridden Magic Springs' X-Car coaster say it's quite comfy...and at $4M, the price was right (not that Universal is on any kind of budget, LOL).

Potter land is supposed to be getting the new Kuka Arm attraction, which will certainly be worth a visit.

If they do as good a job on this new coaster and Potter Land as they did on Mummy, count me in. *** Edited 3/19/2008 8:58:15 PM UTC by Downhill Screamer***

Sounds like it will have these seats with the speakers in the headrests:

http://www.maurer-soehne.com/files/amusement/pdf/Multimedia_X-Seat_en.pdf

And for those who still don't believe it is an x-car:

http://officialrecords.occompt.com/wb_or1/details.asp?doc_id=29553731&file_num=20080021590&doc_status=V

The requirements for an outdoor ride in the studio park are, well, I don't think there are any. Aside from the various "streets," the park is essentially a lot of square buildings, some of which have themed facades. This new ride will be sitting right in the middle of the sound stage neighborhood. Not a highly themed area exactly!

CoasterComet: Has anyone ridden a Maurer Sohne?

Gator: ...friends who've ridden Magic Springs' X-Car coaster say it's quite comfy...

As one of the friends in mention I add that the big problem with Magic Spring's X Coaster wasn't the trains or restraints (both get thumbs up from me) but the huge amount of downtime. With minimal crowds I was lucky to get two rides because the ride was constantly being e-stopped.

I wonder how they'll make the ride ADA accessible with that vertical lift? Orlando has many visitors travelling in wheelchairs, using ECV, etc. and I can't imagine them trying to quickly evacuate the vertical lift if it E-stops often...

yahoo!!! Potterland was enough to get me back down there. This just got me more excited.

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Rob Ascough said:
That's what I'm thinking. Unless the Harry Potter area is going to have one or two kick-ass rides/attractions, it's basically a really expensive coat of paint. Whether or not people are fooled remains to be seen.

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Unless I missed something I think its going to be a new land. There is a lot of constuction going on behind Jurassic park, and when I peeked behind the fence I saw a huge plot of land being bulldozed.

It was mentioned on another site that this ride may not go upside down after all, and will feature a non-inverting loop.

delan, it is but it is being added on to the lost continent a little bit as well. I think regardless of how many new rides there are, it will still be neat to see and walk through it.

I'm pretty sure the western most portion of Lost Continent will be Potter-ized, while everything from the street fair and Sinbad show on toward Seuss Landing will remain Lost Continent.

I still hear that the Jurassic Park construction area will be for a new JP attraction.

^They're theming an attraction after our very own webmaster? Cool! ;)

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Absimilliard said:
I wonder how they'll make the ride ADA accessible with that vertical lift? Orlando has many visitors travelling in wheelchairs, using ECV, etc. and I can't imagine them trying to quickly evacuate the vertical lift if it E-stops often...

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Well, techically no lift hills are ADA accessible. Only the station would be required to be. In order to be ADA compliant, it would need an elevator. And for that matter, no lift hills are even built to stair code. If so, it would need a 5'-0" landing for every 12 feet of rise. I think it would be safe to guess that coaster lift hills are excempt from code or ADA compliance.

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delan said:

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Rob Ascough said:
That's what I'm thinking. Unless the Harry Potter area is going to have one or two kick-ass rides/attractions, it's basically a really expensive coat of paint. Whether or not people are fooled remains to be seen.

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Unless I missed something I think its going to be a new land. There is a lot of constuction going on behind Jurassic park, and when I peeked behind the fence I saw a huge plot of land being bulldozed.

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It'll be both, some new, some old. Though I do still stand by my feelings that Potter will somewhat disappoint some people because Universal advertising is horrible (like everyone thinking Islands of Adventure was just a new land, opposed to a whole new park). I've already talked to a few potterheads (so many ways to read into that... oy) that thought Universal was building a whole park for Harry, and when learning about it only being a land, seemed interested, but significanly disappointed.

I can't blame Universal for the incorrect messaging out there. The official materials have been very clear about it being a part of Islands of Adventure, yet the press, especially foreign and entertainment press, keep saying it's going to be its own park. Chalk that up to shoddy reporting.