I feel this is not discussed enough. This ride is so very bad that it is not worth being in anyone’s plan. The unofficial guide’s review is too gentle, the ride is beyond cheesy, it is simply a waste of time.
First, the preshows are beyond bad. This wouldn’t be a problem if they were entertaining but the pre-shows about “being family”, and “going to the party” are simply a waste of time. The Simpsons’ ride short cartoons before the ride at lest get one or two laughs out of you. F&F is boring. Having two live actors in the two preshows is just a waste of talent and a missed opportunity.
Second, the “party” scene is just a waste of ride time. Once you are on a ride, cool things should start to happen. Having yet another preshow style cutscene is just a letdown.
Third, the CGI is really bad. I’m not an FX expert but maybe they could have done something better when it came to modeling human faces and movement. This ride will look dated very fast.
Fourth, it is way to short. So you have three scenes, the “party” scene, the “parking lot” scene, and the “big chase” scene. The first scene doesn’t count so that leaves you with only two scenes making it all feel very anti-climatic.
If you want an idea of what the ride is about, imagine a Kong-style ride with cringe-worth preshows, mediocre CGI and super short (about one third of Kong’s). I would not ride this even if it was a walk-on.
Universal has done very good lately and in many aspects it has outdone Disney many times over but they really dropped the ball with F&F. After riding F&F, I couldn’t shake the feeling that Universal keeps getting dragged back to being a second-tier park.
I’m hoping they eventually replace this with something more interesting. I don’t know what…maybe something that simulates a tornado experience or something?
In most theme park “nerd” circles this a known issue. I, personally, enjoy the attraction. However, even I will only do it as a walk-on. (Single Rider line is always empty)
How interesting to be wrong twice in such a short paragraph.
For those interested in the franchise, or in cars in general, the line is a pretty big draw and feature of the ride. It’s true the family stuff is all cheesy nonsense, but that’s partly the fault of the movies themselves. Besides, cheesy nonsense is a common theme of UOR rides. For example the end of Forbidden Journey where you are congratulated for nothing and told you’re welcome any time. Half a dozen rides end in the same way.
The main sequence of F&F is quite exciting, I think. I was pleasantly surprised the first time I rode it. I’ve done it twice since. It’s kinda cool. And unlike anything available in the UK, as far as I’m aware.
The waiting area of Jimmy Fallon is iconic and well-themed and will be of interest to fans of the Tonight show in general. The ride is the same as Minions but is pretty original in conception and quite fun.
I asked one of my tour guides this summer why there was so much hate for F&F. She said it was mostly regulars / locals moaning about yet another simulator ride at UOR. They were bored of the same thing yet again. They wanted a rollercoaster. Which they’ve now got in Hagrid. And the new Jurassic Park ride.
In the UK we have rollercoasters aplenty. Good ones. What we don’t have are simulator rides. Which makes them interesting to me.
I’ve heard this claim — perhaps by you — made before. Jimmy Fallon is a completely different ride to Kong and F&F. The latter two are essentially the same. But Fallon is Minions if it is anything.
UOR have form here, of course. Spiderman and Transformers are the same ride. The Mummy and Gringotts are the same ride.
True…although Spider-Man is actually enjoyable, unlike Transformers.
While both are enjoyable, if I had to pick one over the other, The Mummy is the clear winner. I don’t know why…I think the over-dependence on projected scenes makes Gringott’s feel less authentic. (Of course, I’m hypocritical in that, because I enjoy Kong a lot, which also relies on the projections.)
This is very interesting and I never thought of it in that way. I’m of the camp that thinks that Universal has an excess of simulators but I guess it makes it a problem only because they are almost right next to each other. Individually I see the merits of each ride.
I still think F&F misses the mark by a long shot. Rides should draw from the movies that inspire them and not to be dragged down by them.
Let’s be honest, no one goes to FOP because Avatar was such a great movie. FOP rocks because it takes a tiny sliver of a scene and executes it perfectly. DW thought that Pandora was part of Star Wars land. She doesn’t care about the movie, probably not more than a tiny fraction of visitors does but the ride is awesome.
F&F takes the worst of the franchise and haphazardly ties it together into an eye-rolling CGI bloated chase.
We were all bored stiff by them both. It’s not because they’re simulator rides. It’s because they are rubbish simulator rides. I don’t like Kong very much either, but it’s better than these two.
Spiderman was my favorite ride in Orlando until Forbidden Journey opened. Despite the ridiculous last line (with the congrats and welcome) of Forbidden Journey, it’s a fantastic and unique ride. I also love Mummy. And Gringott’s is very good too.
It’s rides like those that finally forced WDW to realize it had some competition in Orlando and start adding high quality rides (FOP and hopefully RotR) again after 20 year of mostly nothing.
One of the biggest travesty of those 20 years was that when WDW finally built a new land (new Fantasyland), WDW took the 2 great imagineer proposed rides (Under the Sea and 7DMT) and budget cut them down from what could have been 2 amazing rides to 2 rides that are just ok.
We ride F&F multiple times because one of our friends is a huge F&F fan. She and my younger niece (who was 5) LOVED it. I think it’s amusing, but Kong does the same ride much, much better.
I really can’t decide between Mummy and Gringotts. Part of me says Gringotts just because I was super disappointed when the first movie came out and they didn’t show the cart ride. The last movie did it justice, but being able to actually ride it was great.
I also come from a background of lots of roller coasters (I even worked on the first 300 and 400 foot coasters when they opened), but I’ve always been a fan of all types of rides. Like, I am a die hard tilt-a-whirl fan. Simulators, to me, are god as long as they’re transportive. I think F&F does accomplish that to a degree, but it’s so cheesy (and how could it not be, given the source material?) that it’s hard to feel like you’re really there like you should in a simulator.
wait…is this a popular sentiment? I love Spider-Man but I absolutely adore Transformers. It’s like Spidey on steroids. The scenes are so fluid, the transitions are imperceptible, the action is fast paced. and you actually feel like a true agent of the action rather than an spectator who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Spiderman may take the crown because it was first but Transformers is still an awesome ride that takes the formula from good to great.
I like Transformers as well. I think it manages to do what the other clone rides don’t, in that it’s not immediately obviously that it’s the same ride system. It’s really never occurred to me to compare them.
