Monsters Unchained - Reviews, Photos & Media

[HHN Maddux]

More reviews will come on their respective threads after my long-awaited trip to Epic yesterday, but I want to talk about this first.

I held off for a whole year on watching any videos of the ride. There were unfortunately a couple of clips that got spoiled for me like the Phantom and the preshow, but other than that, I was able to avoid about 88% of spoilers for this. When I walked in and finally rode, I had pretty high expectations for this ride….and they exceeded basically all of them.

My mouth was open the whole entire ride being giddy like a kid on Christmas Day for the entire ride. I could not believe this whole ride was real. The best way I would describe this ride would be as if you had a really wild dream about a cool ride, you wake up, and realize what you experienced was just a dream and you were bummed out none of it was real…except it was.

I am flabbergasted that the creative team seemed to have so much freedom to do what they wanted with this concept. Just about all of the animatronics were very fluid and articulate and looked like it was straight out of the animation segments from the video footage. All of those impressive effects and animatronics for a literal horror ride.

I managed to get three rides on this thing thanks to the line being so short. I needed those three rides because there was literally so much going on at once you will need more than one ride to catch everything that happens. Even then you’ll probably notice smaller details with each ride. The small details like Victoria Frankenstein staring at you while telling you to behold Dracula and the ride vehicle going into insaneo mode right when crap hits the fan were excellent touches. Tony Baxter famously said that a good ride will offer a lot of repeatability….and this ride brings it.

Speaking of vehicle motion….my goodness this thing was aggressive. I was caught off-guard on how much it jerks you around. This thing was a literal thrill ride and the motion matched with the intensity of the experience. They didn’t hold back on any of the horror experiences and the creatures looked scary!

There were unfortunately some aspects of the ride that weren’t working. Victoria Frankenstein was completely absent in the preshow so I was left to look at her on the screen. Her monster was working in the preshow though. Igor had a curtain in front of his booth unfortunately and the first Wolfman animatronic was frozen (The one where he’s with one of Dracula’s brides.) other than that, everything worked great and I was still blown away. I think that’s a testament to how well done this ride is.

Overall Monsters Unchained is a spectacular ride that felt like it shouldn’t have happened but did. Even with the two AAs down, I would say this ride was perfect. No seriously, it’s perfect. I don’t know what else they could possibly do to make this ride any better. It is incredible. This is my all-time favorite dark ride and yes I would put this above Rise of the Resistance. Shoot me. I will die on this hill. Everything about this was clearly a passion project from the creative team and it shows. It’s a shame it’s getting such short wait times because the GP can’t recognize greatness.

Very happy to hear that (almost) everything was working, especially for your first ride! And I'm glad you point out the intensity of the motion profile- it's aggressive in the best way, all while remaining a very smooth experience!

 

[Freak]

I haven't even been on it yet and I can already tell you I like it more than Rise. The ride vehicle for Rise felt so slow and boring! I need a bit of thrill, not just set dressing and drama.
I really think the wait times are low because of the amazing capacity and through put on this ride...not because it's not popular. I keep hearing it's many people's favorite ride.

Yes. Great capacity. People love it. Excellent queue also....plus the castle/facade.

That’s great to hear! The turntable system does allow for some mad throughput. I just don’t want management to look at the wait times and compare it to the Potter merch and be like “Nah this is a flop.” This is Universal’s crowning achievement and it sounds like the GP agrees.

Something else to mention: This ride was a HUGE creative risk. I’m glad that it seemed to pay off. Maybe Disney can learn something here.

 

[UniversalRBLX]

I just don’t want management to look at the wait times and compare it to the Potter merch and be like “Nah this is a flop.” This is Universal’s crowning achievement and it sounds like the GP agrees.

I think management knows Monsters Unchained is a success when you look into actual ridership numbers. It's the saving grace of the park. The table below is a wild assumption to show that Monsters does higher throughput than Mine Cart and Ministry for a 12-hour operating day.



Universal would double down on Dark Universe and expand if it weren't for SNW's popularity and Ministry's difficulties.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Very happy to hear that (almost) everything was working, especially for your first ride! And I'm glad you point out the intensity of the motion profile- it's aggressive in the best way, all while remaining a very smooth experience!

Doubling down on how incredible this thing is smooth while throwing you around a lot, meanwhile FJ's movements are meant to be more floaty and subtle yet you can feel the age starting to catch up a bit on those RVs.

 

[Parkscope Joe]

That’s great to hear! The turntable system does allow for some mad throughput. I just don’t want management to look at the wait times and compare it to the Potter merch and be like “Nah this is a flop.” This is Universal’s crowning achievement and it sounds like the GP agrees.

Something else to mention: This ride was a HUGE creative risk. I’m glad that it seemed to pay off. Maybe Disney can learn something here.

Universal really likes throughput not wait times. So they’re happy.

 

[Freak]

Random question I’ve been wondering, but was that John Murdy doing the voice for Dracula? It sure sounded similar to Imhotep’s voice on Hollywood’s Mummy (Which I know he voiced)

 

[Tobias]

More reviews will come on their respective threads after my long-awaited trip to Epic yesterday, but I want to talk about this first.

I held off for a whole year on watching any videos of the ride. There were unfortunately a couple of clips that got spoiled for me like the Phantom and the preshow, but other than that, I was able to avoid about 88% of spoilers for this. When I walked in and finally rode, I had pretty high expectations for this ride….and they exceeded basically all of them.

My mouth was open the whole entire ride being giddy like a kid on Christmas Day for the entire ride. I could not believe this whole ride was real. The best way I would describe this ride would be as if you had a really wild dream about a cool ride, you wake up, and realize what you experienced was just a dream and you were bummed out none of it was real…except it was.

I am flabbergasted that the creative team seemed to have so much freedom to do what they wanted with this concept. Just about all of the animatronics were very fluid and articulate and looked like it was straight out of the animation segments from the video footage. All of those impressive effects and animatronics for a literal horror ride.

I managed to get three rides on this thing thanks to the line being so short. I needed those three rides because there was literally so much going on at once you will need more than one ride to catch everything that happens. Even then you’ll probably notice smaller details with each ride. The small details like Victoria Frankenstein staring at you while telling you to behold Dracula and the ride vehicle going into insaneo mode right when crap hits the fan were excellent touches. Tony Baxter famously said that a good ride will offer a lot of repeatability….and this ride brings it.

Speaking of vehicle motion….my goodness this thing was aggressive. I was caught off-guard on how much it jerks you around. This thing was a literal thrill ride and the motion matched with the intensity of the experience. They didn’t hold back on any of the horror experiences and the creatures looked scary!

There were unfortunately some aspects of the ride that weren’t working. Victoria Frankenstein was completely absent in the preshow so I was left to look at her on the screen. Her monster was working in the preshow though. Igor had a curtain in front of his booth unfortunately and the first Wolfman animatronic was frozen (The one where he’s with one of Dracula’s brides.) other than that, everything worked great and I was still blown away. I think that’s a testament to how well done this ride is.

Overall Monsters Unchained is a spectacular ride that felt like it shouldn’t have happened but did. Even with the two AAs down, I would say this ride was perfect. No seriously, it’s perfect. I don’t know what else they could possibly do to make this ride any better. It is incredible. This is my all-time favorite dark ride and yes I would put this above Rise of the Resistance. Shoot me. I will die on this hill. Everything about this was clearly a passion project from the creative team and it shows. It’s a shame it’s getting such short wait times because the GP can’t recognize greatness.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Out of all the rides in the park, this one certainly had the most expectations from me (which I tried to keep tempered) and it exceeded them. You could tell Creative had a field day with the ride and wanted to get this right, and they did!

All the more impressive, the ride features essentially 10* characters from Universal Monsters. (*Give or take as there's multiple Brides of Dracula.) And they're all utilized in a satisfying way even if they're just there for a moment. That is impressive considering how wild the ride gets.

It's the kind of thing I hope Disney Villain's do with their darkride, since if you're giving me a Villain's land, I want more than just a couple of them in their big ride.

Random question I’ve been wondering, but was that John Murdy doing the voice for Dracula? It sure sounded similar to Imhotep’s voice on Hollywood’s Mummy (Which I know he voiced)

While I don't know the voice, I do recall seeing a while back Murdy was involved in this ride, at least writing a treatment for it. (Makes perfect sense, all things considered.)

 

[HHN Maddux]

Random question I’ve been wondering, but was that pop John Murdy doing the voice for Dracula? It sure sounded similar to Imhotep’s voice on Hollywood’s Mummy (Which I know he voiced)

Drac's voice actor is Mateus Ward!

 

[mommabee]

First ride last night but was disappointed that the Victoria and Frankenstein monster pre-show was completely dark and not running. Hope it’s up and running tomorrow! And seems like most of the animatronics were working except maybe one, which was missing (the arm moved up towards an empty platform in a way that felt like there should have been something there more significant than an empty platform). I haven’t seen any ride-through videos, since I didn’t want to see spoilers, but I’m going to check one out now to see what it might have been.

 

[simon]

Man they really need to do something with these blend black walls and curtains in upcoming refurbishment. This is not a Disney & Universal E ticket dark ride standard. Even the most EU and US local theme park, all of sally’s dark rides has better finishing quality than this honestly.

It is understandable to have these finishes when the vehicle is facing opposite view with a set scenes. But this is highly problematic because this scene directly faces non themed black curtain for like good 12 second.

When I think of it again, I don’t think this is quite not acceptable and many general audiences has pointed out about this too. Better address this immersion breaker soon as possible.

Ps. Glad that Igor animatronics got fixed though

 

[HHN Maddux]

View attachment 29697
Man they really need to do something with these blend black walls and curtains in upcoming refurbishment. This is not a Disney & Universal E ticket dark ride standard. Even the most EU and US local theme park, all of sally’s dark rides has better finishing quality than this honestly.

It is understandable to have these finishes when the vehicle is facing opposite view with a set scenes. But this is highly problematic because this scene directly faces non themed black curtain for like good 12 second.

When I think of it again, I don’t think this is quite not acceptable and many general audiences has pointed out about this too. Better address this immersion breaker soon as possible.

Ps. Glad that Igor animatronics got fixed though

It really is the only major problem with the ride itself (not talking about technical difficulties like figures not working, I'm talking the actual ride design). Literally anything would be better- a screen, a basic set like another skull wall, hell even if they just made it pitch black right there, anything would be better than staring at an unthemed curtain for multiple seconds in a brand new world-class theme park's main/secondary E-ticket.

 

[simon]

It really is the only major problem with the ride itself (not talking about technical difficulties like figures not working, I'm talking the actual ride design). Literally anything would be better- a screen, a basic set like another skull wall, hell even if they just made it pitch black right there, anything would be better than staring at an unthemed curtain for multiple seconds in a brand new world-class theme park's main/secondary E-ticket.

Yes, we’re not asking for much anything, just anything other than a black curtain would drastically improve this section. Maybe some cool rock work with LED red eyes glowing on the crevice of the rock (indicating brides and unknown creatures have been awake) may help

 

[HHN Maddux]

Yes, we’re not asking for much anything, just anything other than a black curtain would drastically improve this section. Maybe some cool rock work with LED red eyes glowing on the crevice of the rock may help

Me and a friend were discussing, if for whatever reason they can't get rid of the curtains, adjust the motion profile. Maybe look up to see alarms blaring and a shadow projection of Drac's bat swarm flying overhead.

 

[rageofthegods]

I was thinking just replace it with red curtains, put some red curtains around the queue and in the section with all the coffins, and say that they were part of the catacombs.

 

[simon]

Me and a friend were discussing, if for whatever reason they can't get rid of the curtains, adjust the motion profile. Maybe look up to see alarms blaring and a shadow projection of Drac's bat swarm flying overhead.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Video mapping of Drac's bat swarm flying overhead would work perfectly (archived by projecting on scrim / mesh screen overhead while dimming the curtain lights) if they can’t rid of curtain by safety standard.

Since you’re mentioning about adjust the motion profile, I want to mention some idea I had few days ago. What if the video animation and the vehicle movement is tamer in daytime(current version&profile) but after 7pm or 8pm every night, ride gets different version where the preshow is more scarier, more monster sound on queue, motion profile get more intense and the animations on screen gets more scarier with more dimmed light.

Think of it as more intricate version of Disney sea’s Tower of Terror: Level 13 which is a special version on winter time, featuring a completely new, intense drop and rise patterns not found in the original attraction.

Leaving some special option and different fresh experience that will draw people like night at stardust on slow late evening and make more reason for come back to darkmoor at night

 

[HHN Maddux]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Video mapping of Drac's bat swarm flying overhead would work perfectly (archived by projecting on scrim / mesh screen overhead while dimming the curtain lights) if they can’t rid of curtain by safety standard.

Since you’re mentioning about adjust the motion profile, I want to mention some idea I had few days ago. What if the video animation and the vehicle movement is tamer in daytime(current version&profile) but after 7pm or 8pm every night, ride gets different version where the preshow is more scarier, more monster sound on queue, motion profile get more intense and the animations on screen gets more scarier with more dimmed light.

Think of it as more intricate version of Disney sea’s Tower of Terror: Level 13 which is a special version on winter time, featuring a completely new, intense drop and rise patterns not found in the original attraction.

Leaving some special option and different fresh experience that will draw people like night at stardust on slow late evening

I love that idea, but I wouldn't see them doing it nightly, only during Halloween, especially since already the motion profile was toned down a bit from previews- primarily Ygor's lever flip at the beginning and the flung from when Dracula escapes (especially the latter from what I've been told about the earliest previews).

 

[simon]

I love that idea, but I wouldn't see them doing it nightly, only during Halloween, especially since already the motion profile was toned down a bit from previews- primarily Ygor's lever flip at the beginning and the flung from when Dracula escapes (especially the latter from what I've been told about the earliest previews).

Yeah mini HHN style Halloween at darkmoor make over including unchained would be sick as well.

I’m satisfied in current ride profile(beside vehicle is too far and late from final Dracula try to catch you in the sky) because general audience seems not feeling nauseating or dizziness like FJ or BATM ride because of lack of screen moments with tamer profile(huge plus).

Since one of the main causes of dizziness(screens) is largely minimized, people may be able to handle a more intense ride profile without feeling nauseous. I’ve always wanted to experience the full potential of the vehicle on that ride, so if it’s a seasonal or nightly, I’d take any opportunity to try it.

 

[HHN Maddux]

Yeah mini HHN style Halloween at darkmoor make over including unchained would be sick as well.

I’m satisfied in current ride profile(beside vehicle is too far and late from final Dracula try to catch you in the sky) because general audience seems not feeling nauseating or dizziness like FJ or BATM ride because of lack of screen moments with tamer profile(huge plus).

Since one of the main causes of dizziness(screens) is largely minimized, people may be able to handle a more intense ride profile without feeling nauseous. I’ve always wanted to experience the full potential of the vehicle on that ride, so I’d take any opportunity to try it.

This as well! My main disappointment with the ride is it never reaches that same level of closeness-intensity as FJ does. The Mummy and second Bride in the finale are really the closest we get to that, but not with lunging Wolfman or finale Drac?

 

[simon]

This as well! My main disappointment with the ride is it never reaches that same level of closeness-intensity as FJ does. The Mummy and second Bride in the finale are really the closest we get to that, but not with lunging Wolfman or finale Drac?

I’d say creature from black lagoon is also the closest(where people get genuine jump scare the most)

They promoted that ride that the vehicle will be close to the animatronics more than ever and we’d even feel their breath. But I don’t think they quite delivered that and I even believe the dementor in FJ gets way more closer to vehicle.

I understand for wolf man scene due to infrastructure limitation. But for the Dracula animatronics, it specifically designed and placed to be closest as possible to the vehicle and there are even a hydraulic cylinder pole in back of animatronics which pushes animatronics to be closer to vehicle and it does that. But when the animatronics get triggered, the vehicle is already passed the zone where we get closet view and went far from it(need to actually look down to see this aa) and lights turn on too late and only shines for like 0.8 second(which makes harder to see Dracula is coming closer to vehicle, rather looks like a static aa than aa moving closer even the hydraulic cylinder actually push animatronic effectively. This makes highlight less impactful than what it can deliver. And I think this is one of reason why people feel that the ride ends abrupted since the impact and gimmick on final scene got reduced. For now, final scene is more like what? than wow.

Still in general perspective, this is very impressive world class dark ride but the Dracula final and that curtain wall is problems that need to be addressed asap in my opinion.

 

[Freak]

View attachment 29697
Man they really need to do something with these blend black walls and curtains in upcoming refurbishment. This is not a Disney & Universal E ticket dark ride standard. Even the most EU and US local theme park, all of sally’s dark rides has better finishing quality than this honestly.

It is understandable to have these finishes when the vehicle is facing opposite view with a set scenes. But this is highly problematic because this scene directly faces non themed black curtain for like good 12 second.

When I think of it again, I don’t think this is quite not acceptable and many general audiences has pointed out about this too. Better address this immersion breaker soon as possible.

Ps. Glad that Igor animatronics got fixed though

I’ve ridden this ride three times and I don’t remember this. Even if that is the only flaw in the ride’s design, it’s still an incredible ride. Hopefully they will fix that in a future refurb!