Walls are down, the gift shop is open, and the grand opening date is set. Jimmy Fallon’s Race Through New York is just about a month away from opening. The new ride is expected to have a grand opening on April 6th. However, Universal has a great habit of testing the ride out first, and working out the bugs. These openings are called “technical rehearsals”, or soft openings.
Soft openings are a great way for the park to train employees, and pulse the amount of people who experience the attraction. The ride may not be 100% ready, so they use these technical rehearsals to work out the bugs, train employees and get the ride in tip-top shape for opening day.
Soft openings are never announced, and since the ride isn’t officially open, they can shut the ride down at any time, for any reason. There is no guarantee that it will be open, and even the ride operators have no clue when it will open…it will just open.
So, when will it start soft openings? Traditionally, Universal has started their rehearsals after employee preview. Employee preview is set to start Wednesday, and continue Thursday. After that, a soft opening could appear at any time, and be waiting and ready for guests to enter. Again, it will not be announced, so you’ll just have to keep a look out on twitter for the (uninspired) hashtag #FallonWatch, or #FallonTime.
The ride will be open, guaranteed, on April 6th and Jimmy Fallon will be taping the Tonight Show at Universal Orlando all the week before.
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