James, that's not too bad considering it just opened. Inside the Magic was reporting it opened to 90 minutes.
Other theme parks have tried and failed miserably to update aging ride systems, but Despicable Me is just the latest example of when it's done right, it can be extremely succesful and be a fraction of what a completely new ride platform and attraction would cost.
For anyone with motion sickness issues, I suggest the stationary seats in the front. I sat there and it made the whole experience much better as the moving seats would not have been a good thing for me...LOL.
I don't think the rest of the industry needs to take note of what they've been doing. Most of the Universal attractions you mentioned may have limited budgets by Universal standards, but by regional park standards they were huge investments. Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood rank in the Top 10 for attendance. Most other operators don't have properties in this league with attendance to drive capital improvement budgets like this.
However, refreshing or updating old attractions is not new. Disney has upgraded a number of their attractions - Haunted Mansion in Florida and Space Mountain in California just to name two.
Six Flags has also done the same. X became X2 with new trains, audio and pyro effects at Six Flags Magic Mountain. They upgraded the Superman roller coasters at both Magic Mountain and New England. They also upgraded Medusa to become Bizarro at Six Flags Great Adventure and the biggest refresh of them all was the New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas.
I also really doubt Despicable Me will replace Terminator at Universal Studios Hollywood. Here they applied new creative to an existing motion ride system. Terminator does not utilize this technology. For the industry this particular ride system is dated technology and I doubt Universal will be purchasing more of it in the future.
The Hollywood park has limited expansion opportunities. When they choose to replace Terminator they're going to use that valuable real estate to replace it with an attraction of much higher value and one that will have a longer shelf life.
Great report! The ride sounds fun and it will be a good addition to USF! I had originally planned on waiting to visit Universal until this ride was open, but I had to go last April due to work schedule issues. I can't wait to try this ride out, but sadly it might be a little while :(
Maybe I'll wait to see what becomes of Sound Stage 44 and more of Fantasy Land to open up before I get back to Orlando.