Universal Orlando is being sued by ride manufacturing company, DyMoRides, who alleges they are still owed $5 Million for their work on Race Through New York with Jimmy Fallon, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
What’s Happening:
- Dynamic Motion Rides, who operates DyMoRides, is suing Universal Orlando, saying they are still owed $5 Million in unpaid bills with interest for their contributions to the Race Through New York with Jimmy Fallon attraction at Universal Studios Florida.
- DyMoRides, known for their motion based simulator technologies, was contracted to build a”flying theater”-style ride described only as “Project 301″ in court documents, but the project got shelved during the concept design process, according to the lawsuit. In 2014, Universal Orlando asked DyMoRides to build a ride system for the Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon, a 3-D motion-simulator attraction based on NBC’s The Tonight Show.
- In the lawsuit, DyMoRides alleges there were problems with what was supposed to be an “intense collaboration” between their team and Universal’s engineering and creative divisions. eventually leading to a breakdown between Universal and DyMoRides, ultimately replacing them with another company to finish the project.
- Dynamic and Universal held mediation on March 17, but failed to reach an agreement and the lawsuit was filed on March 27. The lawsuit, at 64-pages long, details Universal routinely complained about issues with the work done by the company, with Dynamic/DyMoRides responding back.
- In it, a history of the relationship between the two companies is chronicled, noting that issues really began to arise by the end of the preliminary design phase when DyMoRides said major design decisions should already complete so their team can draft precise manufacturing drawings to build the ride, but complained that Universal “embarked upon a pattern of significant changes without providing the proper written notices to DyMoRides” and made at least seven change orders. As an example, earlier in the design phase, Universal wanted the ride to hold 60 passengers, instead of 40 people discussed earlier between the manufacturer and Universal, the lawsuit said.Eventually, Universal said it wanted the system to be built bigger to hold 72 passengers “to create a world record ride system,” the lawsuit said. Universal eventually wanted a different platform on the ride and to have seat belts instead of a lap bar.
- Universal executives decided they no longer wanted DyMoRides to handle the work and wanted to hire Utah-based steel fabricator Petersen Inc. to take over some of the tasks, according to the lawsuit, in 2015, with the resort wanting to terminate the contract by October of that year. According to the lawsuit, Universal said they wouldn’t pay DyMoRides until the ride was finished years later and Universal would take over DyMoRides’ intellectual property for the ride. The lawsuit goes on to say DyMoRides has been in communication with Universal since 2015 over the alleged late bills that they say weren’t paid, also protesting Universal firing them from the project, saying the termination was “improper.”
What They’re Saying:
- Lawsuit Filed by DyMoRides: “Universal failed to staff up the project from the beginning with the necessary number of Universal engineers. Furthermore, there was a profound lack of communication between Universal engineers and Universal creative team. DyMoRides had fully performed and any delays were either caused by Universal or approved by Universal. Universal’s decisions led to the overrunning of costs required to finish the project. When the attraction opened to the public in April 2017, Petersen took public credit for the development and construction of the attractions which employs DyMoRides’ IP to this day.”