Universal Orlando reveals details for reboot of Hulk roller coaster at Islands of Adventure

That's a good looking train.

Actually, it all looks pretty good in concept. The ride may have stayed the same, but it looks like an improvement in every other way.

I agree. Looks like a great refresh for a great coaster. My only complaint is that the trains didn't receive B&M's new vest restraints.

It is interesting to me how Universal took the low key, low expectations approach to this Hulk Rebuild. They certainly didn't over promise anything, but where I scratch my head a little bit is what they could have done for the same amount of money. Ultimately, I wonder if the strategy going in was to not try to compete with Kong as the new marketable attraction at the park.

I think the arch of old track at the entrance is brilliant.

What he said.

...internationally-renowned rock band Fall Out Boy.

Hopefully they got those cheap speakers that break after a few months that Six Flags uses.

Jeff said:

I think the arch of old track at the entrance is brilliant.

Isn't there a park (or parks) in Europe that also use repurposed coaster track for theming / decoration? Can't remember which ones offhand but I remember from pictures it looked super cool.

Alton Towers has the remains of its Vekoma Corkscrew at the entrance plaza.

I approve of this – it can't hurt people that way :)

The entrance to Arnold's Park in Iowa has a faux coaster...

Walk-Off HBP said:

...internationally-renowned rock band Fall Out Boy.

Hopefully they got those cheap speakers that break after a few months that Six Flags uses.

Don't get so negative just yet, since the detail that was released was that their front man was producing the music for the ride, not that Fall Out Boy was doing the music. He's already done some producing and remixing for others, so I wouldn't assume that automatically just means typical Fall Out Boy music.

I think this is a good mix of old and new. Also, they can make 'something' out of the fact they have to do this work.

I figured B&M had stopped producing that type of restraint altogether, obviously not.

I'm psyched for this. Some cool new effects and a Hulk that will hopefully be as smooth and enjoyable as it was back when it first opened, it will be a huge win.

I figured B&M still made the 1st generation restraints no problem since they did them for Rougarou last year.

maXairMike said:

...their front man was producing the music for the ride, not that Fall Out Boy was doing the music. He's already done some producing and remixing for others, so I wouldn't assume that automatically just means typical Fall Out Boy music.

As long as he doesn't lay down vocal tracks, I'm good.

Hope they take better care of this one. I can't remember ever hearing of a park tearing a ride down completely to rebuild the exact same thing. Sure add new trains and theming. But a ride that needs to be completely torn down and rebuilt isn't being refurbished, it's being rebuilt. There are plenty of rides in harsh environments that are nearly, as, or older than the hulk and you don't see them being rebuilt like that.

That's because no rides have had the extensive year-round duty cycle that this one has.

See Space Mountain, Disneyland:

Space Mountain refurbishment began suddenly in the spring of 2003 when the Tomorrowland ride closed prematurely after a rumored ride malfunction.

The entire roller coaster track was rebuilt and new effects put in. In addition, a new soundtrack has been installed on the new Space Mountain rockets.

http://www.disneylandreport.com/disneynews/050713disneylandspacemou...uly15.html

I totally forgot about Space Mountain's rebuild, my bad. Even still, my last visit to Universal (seven years ago) really wasn't on par with what many would call a world class theme park. While Islands wasn't much of an issue, The Studios did show some signs of neglect. General cleanliness, (see and smell garbage), lack of attentive staff, fingerprint calibration issues with locker systems, dirty restrooms, basically general facility maintenance. if the small stuff isn't being attended too, what about the big stuff. The rides are machines. If they are properly taken care of they shouldn't need to build a new one, (at least as quickly as they did). It's like your car, If you drove your car for work and put 100000 miles on it, did all your required scheduled maintenance, any miner repairs, tires and so on, versus a person with the same vehicle who doesn't do any of it, Who's car is going to last longer and be in better shape.

BTW Revolution has been standing and running for 40 years. They didn't tear it down and rebuild it, in it's entirety. It's got new trains, I could and hope to expect that at least. Yes Magic Mountain is in a different climate than Universal, but their rides have a higher duty cycle than most of the SF parks.

We never had seen issues like this at Disney. This wasn't my first trip to Uni either. We had been four or five times in years prior and felt just as impressed with them as Disney, but with more high thrill rides. What we saw, smelled and experienced on our last trip there really makes me feel the way I do about the rebuild. I hope to go back in the near future and see if they've turned it around.

If you get the chance to return, do it. The Universal Orlando guest experience is as good as it has ever been. There is still some construction going on but the place looks great and the employees are fantastic.

Honestly, the place delivers on an equal level as WDW these days. The product is vastly different, but the quality is the same. Which is a win-win for Orlando.