YMMV / Jurassic Park River Adventure

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• Alternate Character Interpretation: Did the riders really barely escape being eaten by a T-Rex at the end, or did they get swallowed alive?
• Broken Base: A lot of people are split over whether the Hollywood or Florida version of the attraction is better. By extension, a new split has occurred over the re-theme and original Hollywood version of the ride.
  • The announcement of Hollywood's ride getting rethemed initially had people worried about it being screen based like a lot of modern Universal rides. Thankfully, this was subverted as the Mosasaurus is the only animal on the ride portrayed as a screen.
    • On the flip side, many can agree that the ride was in massive need of an upgrade due to the animatronics and practical effects withering with age, to the point where a couple of effects were straight up retired before the original closed. ^note The falling Ford Explorer as noted under Special Effects Failure and the Velociraptor on the left of the lift hill to the finale.
  • Also for the retheming of the ride in Hollywood, the Mosasaurus being portrayed as a screen, even after opening has caused a divide. Detractors say it's another lazy move by Universal given what it's replacing, and the other camp argues that a full size Mosasaurus animatronic would be Awesome, but Impractical due to its massive size.
  • On a similar note, Predator Cove has been another spot of contention, mainly due to the lack of dinosaur animatronics.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Among all the dinosaurs seen in the ride, the most notable one among fans is the Psittacosaurus, as it has never been seen in any of the Jurassic Park movies or any of its spin-off material (with the exception of the no-longer-canon comic book "Jurassic Park: Dangerous Games").
• Even Better Sequel: For a refurbishment, this seems to be the general consensus for the re-theme, giving the returning animatronics much needed touch-ups and smoother movement. Bonus points go to the makeover of the show building's interior.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: The idea of the attraction and the area surrounding it is what if Jurassic Park became fully operational and available to everyone. Well, guess what the fourth movie is about?
• Narm: Whenever the animatronics in the ride aren't functioning properly (which unfortunately tends to be a common occurrence), this is usually the result.
  • In the Hollywood version, the Velociraptor that pops in from the ceiling. It's supposed to be a Jump Scare, and it can be successful, but even then it feels just a little bit too silly, especially since it's lying on its belly. The re-theme spices things up a little by having it hold an exposed live wire, complete with sparks.
  • The Catastrophic Countdown becomes this when the ride queue is full or there are technical issues, resulting in the scripted event stopping when you should be dropping and a park operator tells you the ride will continue momentarily, with the countdown sequence beginning again. Bonus narm if it happens twice in a row, which is a common problem during the last operating hours.
• Nausea Fuel: If the water on the ride hasn't been filtrated enough, it's been known to get truly rancid.
• Special Effects Failure:
  • It was pretty easy to see the mechanisms controlling the falling Ford Explorer in Hollywood's version of the ride.
    • In the years leading up to the Hollywood version's closure, the vehicle was just sitting there already dropped in the water, or never dropping at all, stuck at the top. This, along with other malfunctions/events/animatronics that worked better at the time of the ride's opening are partially why there's a good chunk of people okay with the retheme of the ride.
  • In the Hollywood version, thanks to the fog effects originally present in the finale being retired, the lighting of the show building hindered how the two T-Rex animatronics are seen a little. The one that tried to bite down at the riders looks disembodied, and a mechanical arm can be seen holding the one that lunges out before the ride vehicle drops. Essentially, both could look like as if they're floating.
  • The Pteranodon corpses added to the re-theme look like cheap plastic models with fake blood spattered onto them. How they don't look limp like any dead animal should be makes them stick out more this way.
  • In the Parasaurolophus exhibit, the dinosaurs' heads are the only things that emerge from the water, yet the water being shallow and not overly dyed means guests can rather easily see that the Parasaurolophuses are only heads, with guests at the sides of the boat having a clear view of their mechanisms.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Detractors of Jurassic World don't seem to be taking kindly to the news of the retheming of the Hollywood version of the ride.
  • As noted above, the fact that the former site of the Ultrasaur Lagoon from the beginning being replaced by an aquarium scene with the Mosasaurus caused quite the divide. One camp decries the use of screens once again, while others think in terms of immersion it's for the better due to the sight of the upper lot sticking out like a sore thumb.
  • A general complaint about the Jurassic World version is that the finale goes by way too quick. The original built up to the T-Rex encounter more effectively with the destroyed boat and a dropped jeep, but the lead up doesn't really catch that same tension (though some have said the 2021 addition of the Indominions roaring through the wall did help). While this one does get point by having the boat go through a predator dark ride section, it's too sudden and just as you're getting into the immersion, you hit the drop off and the ride ends.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: It was announced that Pteranodons would be added to the re-themed version of the ride, which was, at the time, quite interesting due to the facts that 1. they were going to be present early on, but were scrapped and 2. Pteranodons have been a staple of the franchise since the third film. When the re-theming was finally finished, it was discovered that...the Pteranodons are Dead to Begin With and at no point encounter the guests, only appearing as corpses to warn us that the Indominus rex is dangerous (and the "corpses" look remarkably cheap).
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The Jurassic World re-theme has a few.
  • The Mosasaurus tank. Despite being a screen, on top of the great visuals, the scene looks very convincing thanks to the use of Motion Parallax. Many claim that this is something that is better viewed in person due to how things look through the lens of a camera.
  • The Blue animatronic in the finale has caught the eyes of many people due to how it's a walking animatronic, which is something that was never present in the original ride.
    • The new Indominus Rex figure from the recent update is just as impressive, as it too is able to walk. It even towers over the riders and gets rather close before the T-Rex appears. Its alternate motion profile and lighting for if the boat stops before the final drop has also been praised for Universal having an effective backup plan rather than have the Indominus awkwardly stare at the riders.
  • As noted above, the interior of the show building that houses the finale has gotten an impressive makeover, turning it from a systems building into the T-Rex exhibit. There's lots of foilage and lighting that covers the sight imperfections of the Rex animatronics from the original, also noted above.

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