Color me unimpressed with "New Hulk." It was NOTHING like I was expecting it to be. Quite frankly, I was severely disappointed in it.
I rode it 10 times in 3 days. I would have ridden it more, but the lockers were just too much of a pain to try and acquire. Seriously, you had to stand in a line to get a locker....so you could go stand in a S-L-O-W mowing Express Line. They didn't build enough lockers! And it was the same issue on Hulk, Dragons and Rockit: wait/fight to get a locker so you can get on the ride. Scariest of all, it wasn't even that busy! I can't imagine what a nightmare it must be trying to get a locker during Christmas or summer peak seasons!
The queue and new entrance were a nice improvement...looks much better than it once did, though any semblance of story seemed to be lost besides the generic one provided on the Universal blog. The trains looked great, as did the interior of the launch tube. The actual ride itself? They should have named it "The Incredible Headache." As of this writing, I've been on 569 different coasters, and gone on probably 10,000 coaster rides. I know how to ride a B&M, and I know how to ride The Hulk. For being a new, "smoother" ride, it just beat the hell out of my head. I found it to be absolutely 0% smoother. Furthermore, I didn't even notice the on-ride audio until the final brake run at the end of the ride. About my 3rd or 4th ride I remembered to listen to it during the ride....I had to strain to hear it; the volume was simply too low. I can only imagine how hard it would have been to hear it if they'd kept the classic Hulk "roar" during the ride!
I'm sorry if I sound like a hater, but I just don't get it. Why did they waste the money to tear down and completely rebuild the same old rough ride? Unless there were MAJOR issues with the track or trains, they could have simply redone the queue/launch tube, repainted the ride, added the new entrance/water jets/exterior launch tube lights and "Hulk Roar" sound on launch, skipped the pointless on-ride audio, and saved themselves MILLIONS of dollars. As was mentioned shortly before this post, I also feel like they missed a tremendous opportunity!
The locker issue kills the fun of the coasters for me. I really wish they'd fix that by adding more lockers, or letting people with fastening pockets (like mine) to bypass the lockers/metal detectors and just get on the ride. I honestly feel like I'm going through security every time I get on. It's just not worth the hassle now, so I find myself bypassing some of their best rides.
Whining rant-off.