Islands of Adventure / Universal Studios Ride Policy Changes

[Mikey]

A sign out front of the The Incredible Hulk roller coaster directors park patrons to remove all loose articles before entering the queue line.

An alleged incident last month where a person may have been struck by loose articles flung from a ride has resulted in major operational changes for two of Orlando's largest attractions. Riders at Islands of Adventures "The Incredible Hulk" roller coaster & "Rip N Rocket" at Universal Studios Florida will now be required to remove all loose articles from their pockets and secure them in a locker before boarding.

This loose article ban includes items secured in zipper pockets, fanny packs, and keys secured by carabiner and goes so far as to site loose change. While visiting the park this past Friday there was a noticeable delay in the boarding process as well as a shortage of lockers at both attractions as almost all patrons were forced to visit them first prior to boarding. It should be noted that The Incredible Hulk and both sides of the Dragon Challenge roller coaster are both equally susceptible as each train features the same seat pitch and opened sided design. However only the Incredible Hulk is impacted.

When asked for comment if additional netting or protective covers would be installed park officials declined to comment.

Ride Operators in front of The Incredible Hulk Attractions ensure that all loose articles are secured in a locker before boarding.

Ugh, we had a similar problem at the end of my ride op days. Towards the the end of the season, Alpengeist had an incident where a rider's loose article came off in the cobra roll and hit the side-railed train at Loch Ness with sufficient force to actually cause a bit of damage to the cart body. They put up a giant net at the Immelman and the next season we had this REALLY strong zero tolerance policy for loose articles. If we saw someone with a loose article (especially hand held ones like cameras) as the train left the station or on a lift cam, they actually had us stop the lift, climb the stairs and go get it from the person before we were allowed to re-start the ride.

I don't think all these years later that they still do that (especially if the number of amateur POV videos on youtube are an indicator) but it really made things frustrating at Alpengeist for a while. I think they did the same over at AC, but never really cared as much on the Arrow coasters.

I don't even think that's a realistic policy to enforce on Griffon, so I doubt they do it there. In any event, they added a net which I thought was odd since they didn't add a net to the part of the ride in question, but what can you do?

Extra netting would be much better. This removing all loose articles sounds like it will slow down the loading process.

[Mikey]

Well this caught my attention during my last visit since they were being very Nazi Germany about it. They also had the free lockers with the free time set insanely low so some people were forced to pay to get their stuff back. On top of the fact that on an off-season day they were running out of locker period. Imagine how well this system is going to work during the Christmas-New Years rush, if they haven't got it fixed by then they will be overwhelmed.

This as well as the fact that they are no longer allowing two adults to ride on Pteranodon flyers. (Sorry credit counters.) An operator is posted out front and wont let any one in with out a young child, instead redirecting them over to "Jurassic Park".

I do think more netting should be the solution as opposed to the dicators stripping you down.

I really do not understand the whole" extra netting" there is a huge A%% net that hangs below the cobra roll that proceeds the launch. They actually removed tables from that area because of patrons claiming they had items fall into their food and beverages the summer that I worked there as a ride op for this ride. I just recently visited Universal Orlando back in April. What are they going to do during the spring time when all these patrons that are causing the wait to be 56 minutes plus have to use a locker. Either install more lockers or continue as things should. I would consider this incident to be a freak accident just as I would the gentlemen that got struck by objects on Dragon Challenge that caused the two coasters to dispatch 30 seconds apart.

It is common sense to sit on your flip flops when you ride a ride where your feet dangle. When I would dispatch Dragon Challenge we would announce " All champions whom have chosen to wear non Hogwarts approved foot gear for this duel must place them on your seat directly prior to boarding" as the gates opened for them to board. At least I did, cause it was common sense. The two coasters come within 4 feet of one another at the closest point, why would you wear lose shoes? Not to mention, why risk losing a shoe for that matter. I think over the years we have become to get park entertainers that do not care about the safety of those riding the rides that Universal has to offer and it is slowly deteriorating. I am as of this October making Busch Gardens my anual park that I visit.

^Welcome to CoasterCrazy.

[Coasterkidmwm]

Loose articles in general are a pain in the ass for loading times. It's amazing to me that people can just stand in front of the bins and stare at it with their mouths open. Put your stuff in the damned box and move. If they can get enough lockers (and have an appropriate time limit on them) then I think it would be nice for other parks to follow suit.

Free lockers should be common everywhere. It would speed so many different things up. But alas, money > efficiency in most cases.

lockers = liability. Hey, my imaginary _____ was stolen/damaged/lost you owe me! Your fault!

Also, there just aren't enough lockers for that coaster. There was a line for lockers at Rip, Rid Rockit when I was there for HHN.

There was a line for the lockers, you had to go to to wait in line. UGH!

One thing I can say about seasonal parks is I really like their business model so much better then these year around tourist parks. In Florida once you are in the gate they could care less what type of time you have. At least at seasonal parks they try to keep you somewhat entertained so you spend more money on merch and stuff. At RRR they did everything short of pat people down, even taking that "I don't believe you" stern tone with people they just saw leave the lockers. They are really going overboard with all of this

[Mr. Freeze]

Thanks for the warning. Going to both disney and universal in April. Hopefully they get this stuff straighten out.