VelociCoaster Sneak Peek – What could possibly go wrong?! 

Amidst a backdrop of theme park cutbacks and paused construction projects over the last year, Universal Orlando is ready to unleash their newest and biggest coaster – VelociCoaster!

Jurassic World VelociCoaster officially opens on June 10th at Universal’s Islands of Adventure. However, the coaster has recently run through some technical rehearsals for pre-registered Universal Team Members, Annual Passholders, and select invited Comcast Investors.

Over our last few Universal Orlando updates, we’ve been excitedly tracking the construction progress on this monstrous coaster dreamed up by Universal Creative and Intamin Amusement Rides. We just couldn’t wait to experience VelociCoaster. After a few stressful minutes attempting to secure our preview slot – the day finally arrived! 

Fair warning, this article contains images of the queue, pre and post-show areas for VelociCoaster. SPOILERS AHEAD!

From the moment you enter the attraction queue, you’re confronted by Velociraptors straight from Jurassic World – including fan-favorite Blue, along with Charlie, Delta, and Echo. Get ready to join the hunt alongside the ferocious pack in an epic, high-speed coaster chase!

The Story: You’re about to board a brand new coaster at Jurassic World, “safely” built within and around the Raptor Paddock. What could possibly go wrong?! 

The Specs:

• • Over 4,700 feet of track
  • 2 launches: the first going from 0 to 50 mph in 2 seconds, the second going from 40 to 70 mph in 2.4 seconds just before catapulting you up the…
  • 155-foot tall top hat, followed by an 80 degree angle 140 feet drop
  • 4 inversions, including a zero-gravity inverted stall along 100 feet of track and a 360-degree Barrell Roll right over the Islands of Adventure lagoon (Universal has dubbed this as the “Mosasaurus Roll”!)
  • Lap bar (no shoulder restraint!) adds major thrill factor, intensifying the total of 12 whole seconds of feeling weightless throughout the ride!

The Queue:

Walking underneath the two flame-torches and mini Raptor statues with the coaster rushing by… you know you’re in for a bit of excitement! 

• While venturing through the queue, you’ll be able to peer into the Raptor paddock – and watch the hunt you are about to embark on unfold before your very eyes. Red flashing lights and a loud rumble draws attention to a collection of adjacent windows, where you’ll witness the physical coaster roaring by at exhilarating speeds of 70 mph with the Raptor pack in hot pursuit.
   
• Next up in the queue are the stables, where the scent of wet dirt and vegetation from the paddock permeates the air, meaning one thing – Velociraptors are near. Here, you’ll encounter Delta and Echo, who will scan the room, studying riders as they pass by – occasionally testing the limits of the grooming stations currently restraining them. 
   
• Then, the hunt officially begins as you board ride vehicles and take off on an intense coaster adventure where you’ll narrowly escape Blue, Charlie, Delta and Echo as they twist, turn and soar through the paddock!

And those are just the highlights; even more thrills and surprises await you in Jurassic World VelociCoaster.

The first queue area features a statue of velociraptors, complete with a miniature version of the top hat and coaster train dropping down:

The entire room is illuminated by vibrant LED lighting with smooth color transitions, synced to music from Jurassic World.

The most impressive part of the queue is the Raptor restraint area, featuring extremely-lifelike raptor animatronics of Delta and Echo. Subtle eye and mouth movements, and the occasional sensation of their breath have us questioning if they’re animatronics at all! 

And be sure to keep an eye out for a few easter eggs here and there, including books written by Dr. Ian Malcolm, Dr. Alan Grant, and Dr. Ellie Sattler!

After stowing away your personal items into double-sided lockers, and taking in a pre-show featuring Claire Dearing, Owen Grady, and Dr. Henry Wu, it’s off to the races with a couple of raptors! (See what we think of the ride experience below!)

Upon exiting VelociCoaster, the Jurassic Park Discovery Center is back open, acting as a proper “exit through the gift shop”! 

The ground floor of the Discovery Center contains seating for The Burger Digs quick service/mobile order dining, as well as the central location for all your Jurassic World and VelociCoaster goods:

Our Thoughts on VelociCoaster

Jurassic Park has been divided, and now has a Jurassic World section. Although the colors of Jurassic World are from a colder color palette, (blue and grey versus red and brown) we still think it works. 

The queue’s videos solidify the story of an actual new coaster attraction in Jurassic World. How does a rollercoaster fit in with a Raptor paddock? Well, as you’ll learn in the pre-show, it doesn’t. Owen believes the entire thing is a horrible idea. It’s clearly something that came down from the mindless corporate board members. The simple idea is that you can run a roller coaster through a raptor paddock because the coaster is going faster than the raptors, so you’ll be able to “run” with the raptors but they won’t actually hurt you. Sounds safe? Well… maybe? You be the judge.

A fan favorite of Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, Mr. DNA is also back to explain a lot of the ride’s safety spiels and how the new double-sided locker system works.

VelociCoaster is unbelievably smooth (a key feature of Intamin coasters), and just goes on and on! Although you feel safe, the lap-bar restraints allow a lot of vertical movement of a rider, also known as “air-time”. The result? A coaster that really pushes you to the limit on how much you feel like you’re going to fall out of the ride. It’s quite amazing!

Five 24-passenger VelociCoaster trains exist, with a maximum of four trains out on the track at the same time. During the previews they are only running two trains. There is also the small possibility of a rollback, which is very unique in the coaster world. We witnessed one happen on Tuesday. This is when the train can’t get quite up to the full speed to get to the top of a hill, and the train rolls back to the last launch. From that launch, it can then launch quickly at high speed forward to make it over the hill. Additionally, we estimate the theoritical hourly rider capacity for the attraction to be in the 1800-1950 range, assuming all trains are running and they meet their minimum dispatch interval. You won’t find this number anywhere else folks, we calculated this one ourselves.

We anticipate VelociCoaster will utilize Universal’s virtual queue system for the foreseeable future. (Or perhaps we’ll see another 10-hour wait on opening day like Hagrid’s?)

Jurassic World VelociCoaster is sure to please thrill-seekers, coaster junkies, and dino-lovers alike! We can’t wait to experience it all on opening day, June 10th! Will you be there? 

For more VelociCoaster goodness, check out Bill’s live coverage just after riding!

Let’s Hear From You

Are you ready to run with the Raptors? What could possibly go wrong?!  And let us know what you think about lap-bars without over the shoulder restraints on a looping coaster. 

We look forward to hearing from you in the comments below!