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Universal IoA | Jurassic World VelociCoaster | Intamin Blitz | 2021

CoasterMOG said:
How likely is it that Universal will actually install an animitronic Mosasaur in the lagoon right at the zero g roll?
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Next to none. It would have required quite a lot of machinery, and installing that would probably not have been feasible without draining the lake. It's a bit too much of an expense for just another piece of theming for a coaster. It's not like the coaster needs it to work.
 
CoasterMOG said:
How likely is it that Universal will actually install an animitronic Mosasaur in the lagoon right at the zero g roll? If they pull that off, I seriously think Velocicoaster may become my new #1. Especially if they manage to scale it to the size seen in the movie and it comes out of the water mouth open and snaps at the inverted train as it goes by. Seriously a just ‘shut up and take my money’ if they pull that off. Universal was by far my favorite park to visit as a kid when I lived in Miami, but of the 3 maybe 4 times I went, the one ride I always wanted to go on was Jaws, and it was always down for maintenance (obviously a big challenge when dealing with Mechatronics working underwater). Come on Universal, what happened to your water Animatronics?! And don’t cite the one parasaurolophus that pops out of the water briefly in River Adventure (which wasn’t even running when we were there last New Year’s Eve). Since retiring Jaws, you kind of owe it to the Universal faithful to bring back a major water animitronic, and what better way than to do it with a Mosasaur on Velocicoaster.
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First time I've ever heard someone rationalize a #1 rating as reliant on an oversized alligator.

FWIW, Islands of Adventures will most likely get your Mosasaur whenever they get around to the Jurassic World retheme of the Jurassic Park River Ride. ;)

 
Pokemaniac said:
Next to none. It would have required quite a lot of machinery, and installing that would probably not have been feasible without draining the lake. It's a bit too much of an expense for just another piece of theming for a coaster. It's not like the coaster needs it to work.
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Yeah I get it, definitely not needed for the coaster to work, save some money cause ‘covid’, and it’s incredibly unlikely as from what’s been publicly seen. No RECON has indicated the type of work to suggest the lagoon section was prepping for an animatronic....at least to prying eyes. But hear me out, I’ve literally racked my head out over ‘how would I go about getting in a water animatronic in without the public knowing?’ Only reason I’ve gone down this rabbit hole is because I’m a stupid Jurassic Park/world fanboy. Except for the last Jurassic world film which was complete garbage, the only IP themed rides I’ve ever cared about thus far are Kong (original was awesome at universal), Jaws, and JP...the end all be all of films you can always watch and capture your imagine as a kid, at least on my end.
And yes I think of the requirements of underwater work and construction outside park hours are definitely up there. I do have limited experience in underwater/salvage recovery and underwater ‘work’ back in my old days as a dive instructor. The demands are pretty up there and as a bean counter at universal, I’d definitely say ‘screw it...ride and other existing animatronics are enough’. But it’s not as massive of an effort as one would think and I still have hope for two reasons. One, the all important footers were poured and done so without draining the entire lagoon. Two, look at the spacing of the footers...there aren’t any between the inversion point on the zero g roll....plenty of room to drop an animatronic. And dropping one in wouldn’t be as difficult as one would expect from an underwater construction aspect. You would need bottom bed anchor points and power/air ran to the location of the animatronic. Dropping in the actual animatronic and fastening to the anchored foundations and plugging in/connecting power and air are arguably fairly straightforward.
 
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CoasterMOG said:
No RECON has indicated the type of work to suggest the lagoon section was prepping for an animatronic....at least to prying eyes. But hear me out, I’ve literally racked my head out over ‘how would I go about getting in a water animatronic in without the public knowing?
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They drove a whole raptor across one of the main guest walkways in the middle of the day, I don't think they care to really hide anything about this.
 
I'm not gonna lie was slightly expecting there to be more foliage and planting underneath the track to add to the emersion, To me all the pathways underneath (although they do look neat and tidy) slightly ruin the vibe. Its like they have sprinkled a little bit of planting where the track is low to the ground and other than that just did gravel path. Even if they could of done some sort of fake grass to still give it that raptor enclosure feeling to it. I don't want this to come across as if I'm critiquing what universal have done as the rockwork and enclosure structure are amazing. I'm slightly getting the feeling this coaster is designed to get the best experience in the dark, like riding it at night. As you pass through the half lit rocks and fly past the raptors (where as in the day you would see the static raptors sat there throughout the layout, not so much at night) and you have the lights of the train lighting your path. Then you also have the light package along the enclosure wall/break run its self. Either way I'm so excited by this project!
 
Words can't explain how jealous I am of those people right now 😂

I think anyone who had doubts about the pacing will be pleasantly surprised now. I get it's still slower in the first half but I believe that it was intended to be that way so that riders were going at a speed where they can still spot different bits of theming around the paddock.
 
codeman94 said:
Are masks not required at Universal anymore? that would be sweet. Also- full train? maybe they are shooting promotional footage? That would also explain the masks.
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It is indeed for marketing, there is "hot set" signage around the back of the coaster near the enclosure fence!
 
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