Transformers ride opens at Universal Orlando, continues years of improvements

I'm sure it won't get as much media hype at this point. But, some of the new Simpsons stuff has opened already as well. I can't imagine what the crowds will be like once the Simpsons area is finished and Potter Phase 2 is complete. The Simpsons might not have the draw of everything else. But, I'm really looking forward to getting back and trying a Flaming Moe. :-)

I loved Transformers as a kid, but the terrible movies ruined any enthusiasm I have ever had about it. I love the Spiderman ride, so when I get back to Universal, I'll make sure to take a ride on this because of the technology, and not the franchise.

The first movie was pretty great. I thought it really lived up to the history and comics. It was the sequels that were terrible.

The ride is good, but its almost a twin of Spiderman... like an identical twin... same ride vehicles (minimal theming change.)

Between the long wait (so many rooms) and a reasonable breakdown of about 15 minutes, took us an hour to ride. Since it was the first lap, we wouldn't do single-riders. And yes, it was pretty much Spiderman (although I knew more about Spidey going in). For some reason, I thought they were going to use the height of the building to create "levels" like a dark-ride with several floors...

Having a hard time "caring" about the characters...don't know I'll be able to overcome that. I like Bender a lot, and he's a robot...*shrug*

I had heard the same rumors that it changed floors... if it did, I missed it. It really felt like the exact same track layout to me, but that was probably just perception.

It does change floors, that is why it is so tall (in Hollywood they did not have the space for a large building like Spiderman.)

And I'm pretty sure the Florida ride has two stories with elevators, too. Maybe it's seamless and you just cant tell?

I'm not too hip to the Transformers thing, I saw the first movie on tv not too long ago. Nonetheless, I like dark rides and am looking forward to this one. Being similar in style and concept to Spiderman is not necessarily a bad thing, and I don't think I'd be disappointed.

I was at Universal in the spring and they were just starting the facade of the building. I thought it was in a strange place, and was a little intrusive visually. It's one dark ride where you can walk all the way around and see the structure from all sides. Maybe that's why it's odd to me, show buildings are usually placed around the perimeter of the park.

I am positive that I read that the ride has two elevators, one that goes up and one that goes down, and it so seamlessly incorporates them into the ride that it is unnoticeable to most people, much like the moving concave screens attached to the carousel on Harry Potter.

I halfway enjoyed the first Transformers movie. It was just too long and I couldn't figure out which robots were the good guys and which robots were the bad guys after a while. They all looked so much alike that I got confused at who I was supposed to be rooting for.

I saw the second movie because I though it just might be as good as, or maybe even better than the first. It was pretty lousy, and I felt pretty stupid for paying money to see it.

I saw the preview for the third one, and it looked really good, but I wasn't going to be duped again. It's free on Netflix Instant right now (I think it's still there), and I still don't want to take the three hours to see if it is any good or not. I still don't think I could differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys when the fighting starts.

But like I said, I will look forward to this next time I get down to Universal, whenever that may be, only because it uses Spiderman ride technology.

LostKause said:
I am positive that I read that the ride has two elevators, one that goes up and one that goes down, and it so seamlessly incorporates them into the ride that it is unnoticeable to most people, much like the moving concave screens attached to the carousel on Harry Potter.

Is that how that works? I was wondering how they pulled that off.

The Transformers movies are terrible but so is "The Mummy" and that ride is one of my favorites. Really looking forward to riding it in September!

RCMAC said:

And I'm pretty sure the Florida ride has two stories with elevators, too. Maybe it's seamless and you just cant tell?

Fool me once...I'll ride again and see if I can't figure out where those elevators are! Hopefully this weekend, but def. via the SR line...

CPJ said:
The ride is good, but its almost a twin of Spiderman... like an identical twin... same ride vehicles (minimal theming change.)

From what I know of the ride, I don't buy this at all, especially given the two floors. You could see the layout in various construction photos. There are a pair of elevators up, and a pair down.

There are two sets of elevators each for the ride (two up and two down). The first one is when the ride states, "Auto Bots roll out." This is the up lift to the second floor. The down section is during the battle with Mega-tron when you hear, "If he wants the all spark he can have it."

The movement between floors is very seamless and hard to find.

The ride does share a lot of similarities as Spiderman, but how can you go wrong copying that ride!

I was watching a POV of the ride, and because I thought that there were only two elevators, one up and one down, I couldn't pinpoint where they were in the ride. Now that I know that there are two up and two down, I'm sure I can figure it out. Thanks.

From what I know of the ride, I don't buy this at all, especially given the two floors. You could see the layout in various construction photos. There are a pair of elevators up, and a pair down.

Ok, well I have been on the ride. So tell us what you think after you ride it.

I don't have to ride it to know that it has two floors, and Spiderman does not. Does this look like this?

Screamscape posted a layout of Transformers The Ride.

The first few scenes do appear to be the same layout and narrative style. I quit watching the POV after that because I didn't want to spoil my first ride.

It is the entire ride experience that makes it like a twin. From the cityscape scenery to the tricks and illusions the ride uses.