Central Florida’s two newest attractions both rely on atmosphere and interactivity, and both revive long-dormant venues - Orlando Weekly

After months of anticipation, past week I yet got to acquisition Central Florida's 2 newest attractions: Legoland Florida's Pirate River Quest and Universal's Great Movie Escape. Rather than high-speed thrill rides, some of these offerings trust connected ambiance and interactivity to immerse guests successful nostalgic intelligence properties, and some were created by reviving long-dormant venues. But you whitethorn beryllium amazed to larn which escapade I thought was worthy the journey, and which 1 simply bites.

Pirate River Quest, the ambitious caller thrust astatine Winter Haven's Legoland Resort, takes guests connected a 20-minute circuit of the historical Cypress Gardens canals, which person go infested by a rowdy unit of integrative pillagers. Passengers are tasked with recovering the stolen treasure of Captain Redbeard, who has been cursed by a people of mischievous monkeys and banished to the "sea of mislaid bricks," by counting colored gems and elephantine coins that litter the riverbanks and participating successful akin preschooler-friendly challenges.

The ride's closest examination successful the Orlando country is the Magic Kingdom's iconic Jungle Cruise, since some are slow-moving vessel rides past minimally animated outdoor scenes, but determination are a fewer large differences. First and foremost, Legoland's boats are wholly free-floating and navigate a earthy assemblage of water, alternatively of being guided connected a way on an artificial river. That means the Pirate River Quest captains permission the spieling to the prerecorded narration (which synchronizes with euphony and elemental peculiar effects arsenic you sail by) and absorption connected not bumping into the canal walls, which inactive happens connected occasion.

Morris, my skipper during the media preview, had been a circuit vessel pb astatine Cypress Gardens during the 1990s, and said, "I'm truthful gladsome that we've done this, I was acrophobic the canals were conscionable going to spell to pot." Since taking implicit the spot much than a decennary ago, Legoland's horticultural squad person ever done an admirable occupation of maintaining the vintage botanical displays, which were Central Florida's archetypal tourer attraction decades earlier Disney's arrival. But the enactment they've present completed connected the canals is genuinely remarkable, restoring the eroded waterways and integrating caller life-sized creatures and characters — including an tremendous octopus-like Kraken — without ruining the area's earthy integrity.

Another important constituent of Pirate River Cruise is that 2 of the fleet's 10 vessels are afloat ADA-accessible, allowing a modular wheelchair (or lighter electrical one) to rotation close aboard. There's besides nary tallness regularisation (although beingness vests are provided for guests property 6 and under) making it, arsenic Legoland's selling caput Kelly Hornick says, "a existent household affable thrust that each azygous subordinate of the household tin ride."

As a lifelong LEGO fan, I recovered Pirate River Quest's scalawag scenery utterly charming, and adjacent toy-hating adults who are suffering PTSD from stepping connected achy integrative bricks volition beryllium soothed by the finale interval on the unfastened waters of Lake Eloise, wherever waterfowl and adjacent stream otters tin beryllium spotted on the marshy shoreline.

My lone caveat, earlier you marque the 80-odd-minute thrust from Orlando, is that with lone astir a twelve passengers per boat, the attraction's theoretical carrying capableness is nether 250 guests per hour. That means you'd amended either get astatine parkland opening and marque Pirate River Quest your archetypal destination, oregon hole your booty for a agelong hold successful the queue.

Over astatine Universal Orlando, the originative minds down their taxable parks and haunted houses person tried their manus astatine the fashionable flight country genre, gutting the CityWalk nightclub erstwhile known arsenic the Groove and utilizing the bones of its archetypal Art Deco theatre arsenic the mounting for a brace of attractions inspired by 2 of the studio's biggest franchises. Universal's Great Movie Escape features Back to the Future: Outatime connected the archetypal floor, and Jurassic World: Escape upstairs. Each separately ticketed acquisition accommodates up to 8 guests astatine a time, and consists of 8 highly themed rooms successful which participants indispensable lick assorted puzzles portion advancing done the story.

The sequential multi-room format is conscionable 1 mode that Universal's instrumentality deviates from the accepted flight country model. There's nary ticking timepiece oregon accidental of failing, and each radical volition advancement done the 50-minute crippled astatine astir the aforesaid pace. That's due to the fact that there's nary punishment for failing immoderate of the challenges, and solving puzzles rapidly is lone rewarded with repetitive further tasks. There's besides nary quality enactment with your hosts erstwhile you participate the rooms; each backstory and instructions are pre-recorded, with the movies' large characters referenced but ne'er seen.

I tried retired the Jurassic World flight game, which casts participants arsenic trainee geneticists astatine the ill-fated park. I was highly impressed with it arsenic an immersive walk-through attraction, acknowledgment to sets and props that authentically re-create the cinematic atmosphere, arsenic good arsenic spot-on dependable and lighting effects which provided a fistful of effectual jump-scares. But arsenic a seasoned of dozens of flight rooms, I emerged frustrated with Universal's nonaccomplishment to travel basal principles of bully crippled design, specified arsenic providing wide feedback erstwhile a subordinate makes progress, communicating consequences for mistakes, oregon offering hints that aren't simply repetitions of the archetypal unclear instructions. I discovered afterward that my squad (consisting of myself and a household of strangers I was randomly paired with) lone scored an 11 retired of 20, but determination was ne'er immoderate denotation on the mode of wherever we were failing oregon succeeding.

Finally, Universal's flight rooms are designed for operational efficiency, relying connected touchscreens and video projections implicit tactile props that mightiness necessitate an worker to manually reset betwixt groups. Unfortunately, this strategy robs players of experiencing immoderate consciousness of exploration and discovery, which is ordinarily the genre's top asset. I'm a large BTTF nerd, truthful I'll instrumentality to acquisition the different communicative simply for its Christopher Lloyd voice-over and references to the extinct simulator. But astatine $50-$60 per person, I don't consciousness the request to revisit Jurassic World unless they wholly rethink galore of the puzzles. If you find yourself escaping from Universal, consciousness escaped to disregard the frantic instructions; conscionable effort to bask it arsenic an expensive, slow-paced haunted house.

[email protected]