It’s a small world out there for theme park fans, many of whom don’t just ride at Disney World or Universal Orlando. Parks fans will travel far and wide for new rides, from amusingly-themed gravy boat coasters to new water attractions and plenty more. So, it’s not that easy to fool a theme park fan. Which is why I was a little surprised by a new video was touting “insane new Disney ride tech” for its new Tony Stark ride.
If you’re up on the attractions at Disneyland, you may already know that Avengers Campus is getting Stark Flight Lab, a brand new ride for fans of Iron Man and all upcoming MCU movies. I already love it 3000, but like the other Universal fans out there, I’m maybe not as enthusiastic about posts touting “new tech.”
OK, the video does look cool, and to be fair, it’s possible the “new tech” is supposed to be selling the fact that it’s new tech for Disney specifically. (Though some fans have compared it to the now-defunct Sum of all Thrills at Epcot.) Perhaps the video even meant to indicate that Tony Stark always has the latest technology in his labs. However, that’s not really how it read to parks fans, and given we know the robotic arms being used in the labs are Kuka arms like many other rides have similarly added in the past. Some of these fans did not let the comment slide.
Honestly, the snark is palpable here:
- This is Brand New Tech if you’re at Universal Studios and it’s 2010.
- So… it looks like like Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and Monsters Unchained at Universal?
- Welcome to the “Avengers themed Harry Potter ride with complementary 3D screen eye damage”
- Nice to see them taking ideas from Universal who has lately really been having incredible rides.
These types of robotic arms are famous at Universal Orlando in the Islands of Adventure Hogwarts Ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It’s also famously one of the more puke-inducing rides in the park, but Universal really perfected the technology with Epic Universe’s great attraction Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment.
However, they’ve been used in other theme parks, too, and others were very quick to point this out.
- lol. New tech. Legoland had this ride 25 years ago.
- Soooo…. Sum of all Thrills from Epcot? Knights Tournament from Legoland in 2005? Forbidden Journey and Monsters Unchained at Universal?
Stark Flight Lab is going to be a little different in that it will start on a track and then shift upwards thanks to the aforementioned robotic arms. It will also mark the return of Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, which is very cool. There is a ton of excitement for the upcoming Disney attraction, but theme park fans are going to troll all those who call the tech brand new.
