Unannounced Jurassic Park roller coaster taking shape at Universal's Islands of Adventure

I was all set to let my Universal pass expire after this HHN season. But this may be what gets me to renew.

This is looking real good.

Do we know who's building this?

Intamin. They had such a fantastic, problem free experience opening Hagrids they wanted to do it again as soon as possible.

It's so weird, I thought the US parks pretty much wrote them off.

I’m sure theres quite an overlap of schedules there. Maybe once Uni realized what they’d done it was too late...
During our visit in February construction was hard to miss- not much vertical but plenty of footers. I finally gave up on trying to figure it out. It’s quite extensive, too, with ride over the street, over the water, and behind the scenes. So much that that area in the back of the park is getting crowded, and the lines making the themed areas are muddied. We ate lunch at Broomsticks, and like to sit on the patio behind the building. This time it was surrounded by walls due to construction. The Jurassic Park ride seems to back right up to Hogwarts and will be quite visible from there. I always liked that park because they seemed to have plenty of space.

Parks have no problem going back to a manufacture if the product falls within the budget. I see it firsthand with the parks I work with, even after countless meetings, arguments, and data to back up why it shouldn't happen. They look at the upfront cost and never the longterm cost of repairs, downtime, etc.

Sure, but not with Intamin. After Skyrush at Hersheypark in 2014, the only large custom coasters in the US have been the family coaster at SeaWorld San Antonio and Hagrid's. This year there's the Meadowlands ride and Pantheon at BGW.

Is that really it?! I admittedly don't follow parks/coasters as closely anymore so that is crazy to me. Good for the consumer though!

Some of my all time favorite coasters from the last two decades are from Intamin. Maverick, Millennium Force, Storm Runner, Skyrush, Cheetah Chase, I-305, etc. Those rides are all huge wins in the guest satisfaction department. Well, maybe not Skyrush...

But if I was in charge of a park, no way I'd even consider them for anything.

Jeff said:

Sure, but not with Intamin. After Skyrush at Hersheypark in 2014, the only large custom coasters in the US have been the family coaster at SeaWorld San Antonio and Hagrid's. This year there's the Meadowlands ride and Pantheon at BGW.

Perhaps you know something I don't, but if you look at Intamin's coaster roster on RCDB, is it possible that they were just at capacity and working only with the highest bidders?

- 2011: 3 coasters
- 2012: 3 coasters
- 2013: 4 coasters
- 2014: 4 coasters
- 2015: 4 coasters
- 2016: 5 coasters
- 2017: 6 coasters
- 2018: 7 coasters
- 2019: 7 coasters
- 2020: 10 coasters

I said US, where their reputation is particularly poor, in part I'm sure because of Sandor's charm. Trust me on this one... people on the ground who make decisions do not care for him or the product.

Which is so unfortunate. Because so many of their rides are just so darn fun and have that "wow" factor for enthusiasts and regular park goers alike.

Then again, as RMC installations become more reliable I could see them taking that niche over.

The stories I could tell, if they didn't get me in trouble with the owners, managers and maintenance people, past and present.

I will post some emails though, eventually. 😮

The dude whose comment on Intamin ride ejections was that the number of deaths was "not statistically significant" isn't well-loved???