Delirium33

^^VERY good point. It doesn't make sense and is frustrating as heck. I think KI made a good decision in terms of business to open the ride last weekend, even though it probably wasn't 100% ready. Memorial Day weekend must be one of the busier weekends of the year for the park, and even though the ride wasn't fully operational, it still appears to have attracted TONS of people during the three day weekend. So in this case, I don't blame KI for opening Firehawk a bit 'pre-maturely'. NOTE: When I say the ride is not "100% ready", I'm talking about the frequent down-time that I have heard about and fact that 1 train is running. It appears IMO that they didn't get all the kinks figured out yet, obiously the ride is ready to run safety-wise.

Sounds like you had a blast. I might be heading to the park tomorrow to check out Firehawk. Did it still only have one train running today? ^^Also, I'm assuming this means that the park wasn't very crowded today, right? Edit: haha you answer the train question in another topic. Thanks!

I'm hoping to make it up to the park tomorrow to ride Firehawk, because I'm assuming most schools are still in session (at least in NKY they are) causing the crowds to be lower. However, the number of trains running is might be the deciding factor for whether or not I go tomorrow. Anyone know how many trains were running today and when the ride opened? And for that case how crowded the park was today? Today should be an indication of what tomorrow will be like.

While I really doubt the idea of a hyper coaster next year, anything is possible. If we did get a hyper coaster, I think it would be awesome for it to have huge airtime, maybe even record air time. Also if this rumor was true, wouldn't the demolishion of Congo Falls/ Timberwolf start soon?

Sorry if this has already been said in another topic (I couldn't find it). Was there only one train running today again? And when did the ride open?

Just out of curiosity, how far back does a 5 hour line extend? (I'm sure it's well past the Zephyr) And how well are they managing the line to prevent cutters? Hopefully pictures of the ride and massive line will come in later on...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the catch at Chick-fil-A is that you have to get a "basket" with your nuggets, meaning that whether you want them or not, you are paying for fries. That's why Chick-fil-A's prices in the park can be even more outrageous than some of the other restaurants.

It was full last Saturday. I hope they didn't take out too much of FoF's line, becuase Saturday the line was outside the ques, and the area was even more crowded from people wanting to check out Firehawk. I understand that part of that midway was blocked off, but hopefully that isn't a sign of some major overcrowding in the future, especially with lockers and a smaller que for FoF. Also I'm glad lockers were put in, but if its true that absolutely NO loose articals can be brought in line, I hope that that the lockers are free for the first hour or so like they are at some of the Universal Orlando rides, as someone as said before. If not, for some guests, Firehawk in a way would be a pay as you play ride, to an extent.

I was there yesterday and agree that it did look pretty run-down. It did hint that the attraction or at least the Spongebob movie would not be there much longer.

I can confirm that: today we got in line for Top Gun when the line was just past the tunnel, and we waited about 45 minutes.

I took a look at Firehawk today and it looks great. I just can't wait to actually be on the ride. One thing I noticed is that it looked like there was a que line that went strait to the station. So it must be either a "speed lane" or a singles line. If it is a speed lane, I hope they use it everyday this year, possibly separate from the gold pass privilege, to where anyone can get a ticket to come back at a certain time, to cut down on the likely-massive lines in its opening year. This could work great with the dual-station set up. If it's a singles line, it would do an awesome job to cut down on the wait time as well. I think singles lines work great for rides with rows of four, if rows are assigned. Both possibilities would help keep the wait time manageable.

"Way too crowded" might be an understatement. It seemed like every school in the Midwest had their ki class trip today. Add that to the beautiful weather and it being closer to summer and you get 60+ minute waits on most major rides. Delirium, Beast, Drop Zone, FoF, and Vortex all had lines outside their ques at some point, with (I assume) all their gates open. At some parts of the day, the midways where so packed that it took forever to get to where we were going. I rarely go on weekends, and now I remember why. Great business for the park, not so much for us. I kept wondering why they can't arrange walk-on tickets on days like these, they always have to be scheduled. I say if its crowded, then get the process up and running. Some other things I noticed: -AE's crew was working at lightning-fast speeds. The line was to the entrance of the que, and we got on the ride in under 10 minutes. They did a great job keeping the line moving. -FoF seemed faster to me. I liked it. Also the new "X-Base" themeing is very nice. It definitely hints towards a new section of the park. -Firehawk is looking VERY NICE. -The park was pretty clean for how packed it was. -Food prices are outrageous. I ended up waiting to eat dinner after the park closed because I was running out of $$.

Channel 5 news just did a story on Firehawk/ Son of Beast, and they said that SoB will NOT be ready for Memorial Day weekend due to something like 'construction delays'. They did say that they expect it to open some time this summer. On a side note they also pretty much confirmed that Firehawk will be opening as planned on Memorial Day weekend, providing that all tests go well. It just got me even more pumped up for the summer.

Will the park announce the official opening day of Firehawk when its ready? (Because I know that there is no guarantee that the ride will operate any particular day)

I just realized that I never got a Gold Pass perk calendar when I processed my pass on opening day. They've given them out the past couple years and they're EXTREMELY handy. Does anyone know when/if they will make them this year? (I'm sure they will have them at guest relations when they come out.) On a side note I hope they do the same thing for Firehawk as they did for IJ in its opening season- that is have walk-on tickets available every day for like a month. I took advantage of that more than once that season, and it worked out great. That is provided that they even make a walk-on line for the ride, which they should.

On The Beast, The 2nd and 3rd rows of the MIDDLE car are the smoothest in my opinion.

I agree. I've stayed at on-site resorts in both places, and enjoyed Universal's hotels (all three) and their layouts much better than Disney's. The room key pass is very convenient, and as you said the nature of the whole area is much better- whether you walk or take the water taxis. The city walk and both parks are all centrally located. All three hotels are amazing, very unique, and worth the extra money.

I go to Universal Orlando once every 1-2 years. I don't think I would go if I didn't have an express pass. We always stay at one of the resort hotels, where your room key is the express pass. Its virtually limitless- you can use it for your entire stay in the hotel and ride all the rides at both parks as many times as you want. Only a small percentage of the guests seem to have a pass when we go. On an average summer day when the lines can be 1-2 hours, with the pass I wait in anywhere from 2-30 minutes. The resort hotels are expensive, but well worth it- you can get so much more done in one day with the express pass. So bottom line, its a huge reason why my family and I go to Universal Orlando (and love the whole resort). I think KI could benefit from a more elaborate express system, although I'm not sure how exactly it should be set up.

if I had to rate the intensity of the rides the 5s would be: Beast Flight of Fear Drop Zone Son of Beast Vortex Firehawk? (not ridden it, but looks intense) Face/Off The 4s Racer Delirium Top Gun TR:TR Italian Job The 3s Adventure Express Beastie Congo Falls, ect. (^^ just seemed fun to do and I am bored)

Like I said before, the ratings should be based on overall intensity and thrill, not math or statistics. I'm Racer can be 10x more rough/forceful than AE, and has a lower rating. Also with the way it is now, many new guests will be misled to think FoF, being an indoor ride that you can't see, will be no different than AE. I agree some of the changes, but AE is the one that really gets me. The ratings are for the guests to understand what they're getting into, and right now, its not doing a good job of that.

Some things I noticed different: the music on International street was more like something you'd hear on a mix radio station, rather than adventure movie soundtracks; Flight of Fear's hanger was pitch black with the exception of light coming from the end station area. IJ:ST had all the special effects working. There were tons of Nick characters greeting at the entrance. Obviously, the seat belts. Also, there were garbage collecters all over the place, one even dedicated to the dining area around the fries place in rivertown. There were also people walking around with maps and helping guests find rides. Almost all new signs throughout the park, and the other stuff mentioned in other posts.

Yeah I can see how AE is jerky, but its speed and drops don't compare to some of the other rides. I still don't understand the logic. It ruins the point of the scale- to give new guests an idea of how intense the ride is, and to help them understand what they can or can't handle.

I was at opening day today and had a blast. One of the things I noticed that changed was the intensity raiting for many of the rides. Some of them made no sence to me at all. For example: Adventure Express, and Italian Job were rated a 5! To me, that is very misleading to a person or family new to the park. It might give them it perception that if they can handle AE, they could handle SoB, which is definitely not the case. I do agree with some of the other rating changes, like Vortex's and TR:TR's upgrade to a 5. Here are some of the changes: Vortex- 5 Delirium- 5 IJ:ST- 5 Adventure Express- 5 Firehawk is a 5 Drop Zone oddly stayed as a 4. TR:TR- 5 Reptar, Avatar, and Fairly Odd Coaster are all a 4. (Same as Drop Zone!?) On another note, the water ride ratings at Boomerang Bay now go to 5 as well. The 5 rated rides are: Awesome Aussie Twister; Coolangatta Racer; Pipeline Paradise; Tasmanian Typhoon. I can understand these ratings for the most part. Maybe these were misprints on my map, maybe not. I just found this very interesting and misleading. I don't think I saw the ratings on the signs entering the ride like they used to be. Also, the Rating Key at the bottom of the map appears to have similar descriptions for the intensity scale as before.

I just got back from opening day. I had a blast- the park looks amazing and the first Beast ride of the year was extremely satisfying. The Island Rhythms show was rockin' and Firehawk looks amazing- can't wait to ride it. The only problem for today was the massive crowds in the afternoon, and the fact the many rides kept temporarily closing (Which might be normal in the beginging of the year?). It was a beautiful and exciting day to start off the year!

I'm planning on getting there early on Saturday. Does anyone know when they will start processing passes opening day morning?