Ride builder sues Universal, citing $5M in unpaid bills for Fallon project
Universal Studios’ Jimmy Fallon ride debuted in 2017, but behind the scenes, a fight over millions of dollars has gone on for years between the ride manufacturer originally hired to build the attraction and Universal, according to a new lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges Universal wanted to make changes late in the building process, which eventually led to a breakdown between Universal and DyMoRides, the manufacturer ultimately replaced with another company to finish the project.
Dynamic Motion Rides, which operates DyMoRides, sued Universal in Orange Circuit Court, saying it was still owed $5 million in unpaid bills with interest. The Austrian company also claimed Universal is operating the ride today without a license to use DyMoRides’ intellectual property. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Dynamic and Universal couldn’t reach an agreement during mediation held on March 17, and the lawsuit was filed on March 27.
Universal Orlando and Morgan & Morgan, which is representing Dynamic Motion Rides, either did not respond to a request for comment or declined to comment.
It’s the not first time Universal has faced a financial dispute over unpaid bills for an attraction.
Last year, an attorney representing a tourist who broke his neck on a water slide accused Universal of owing more than $1 million to ProSlide Technology, the Canadian manufacturer that built many of the
rides at Universal’s Volcano Bay water park.
DyMoRides, known for its flying theater-style ride, said it had developed “a new generation of simulator motion systems” for theme parks and owned several patents for its technology.
In 2013, Universal originally wanted DyMoRides to design and construct a flying ride described only as “Project 301” in court documents, but the project got shelved during the concept design process, according to the lawsuit.
Instead in 2014, Universal asked DyMoRides to build a ride system for another attraction — the “Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon,” a 3D motion-simulator attraction based on NBC’s “The Tonight Show. “
DyMoRides’ total compensation was ultimately supposed to be about 9.2 million euros or the equivalent of about $10.8 million, the lawsuit said. In the agreement, Universal could perpetually use DyMoRides’ intellectual property license after the ride manufacturer was paid in full for its work, the lawsuit said.
DyMoRides alleged there were soon problems with what was supposed to be an “intense collaboration” between its team and Universal’s engineer and creative divisions.
“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,” the lawsuit said.
By the end of the preliminary design phase, DyMoRides said the ride’s major design decisions should be locked into place so the team can draft precise manufacturing drawings to build the ride.
But DyMoRides complained Universal “embarked upon a pattern of significant changes without providing the proper written notices to DyMoRides” and made at least seven change orders.
For instance, in the early concept design phase, Universal wanted the ride to hold 60 passengers, instead of 40 people discussed earlier between the manufacturer and Universal, the lawsuit said.
Further along, Universal said it wanted the ride system bigger to hold 72 passengers “to create a world record ride system,” the lawsuit said. That would mean the attraction would have a “weight capacity up to a world record payload of 24 tons,” the most in the world for that style of system, according to court documents.
Jumping from 60 to 72 passengers also increased the price by 2-3% and created delays since the ride needed more seats and stronger infrastructure on what was becoming a more challenging engineering feat, the lawsuit said.
In September 2014, Universal told DyMoRides the ride’s opening had been delayed by a year but didn’t say why, the lawsuit said.
The 64-page lawsuit details a lengthy back-andforth
between the two sides as Universal routinely complained about issues with the work and DyMoRides responding back.
More issues and delays emerged as Universal wanted more changes, DyMoRides said. Universal wanted a different platform on the ride and to have seat belts instead of a lap bar.
By fall 2015, Universal executives decided they no longer wanted DyMoRides to handle the full scope of work and wanted to hire Utah-based steel fabricator Petersen Inc. to take over some of the tasks, the lawsuit said.
DyMoRides said it
warned Universal that Petersen didn’t have the expertise to manufacture the ride systems “which are at the leading edge of the technology required to create a world record (24 ton) motion system,” the lawsuit said. “Universal ignored these warnings, went ahead and contracted Petersen anyway.”
By then, DyMoRides said it had late bills that weren’t getting paid.
In October 2015, Universal said it wanted to terminate DyMoRides’ contract. Universal said it wouldn’t pay DyMoRides until the ride was finished years later and Universal would take
over DyMoRides’ intellectual property for the ride, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit said DyMoRides has been in communication with Universal since 2015 over the alleged late bills that it says weren’t paid.
DyMoRides also protested Universal firing them from the project, saying the termination was “improper.”
“DyMoRides had fully performed and any delays were either caused by Universal or approved by Universal,” the lawsuit said. “Universal’s decisions led to the overrunning of costs required to finish the project.”
DyMoRides also claimed Petersen “exploited” its technology to finish building the ride, although they are not part of the lawsuit.
“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,” the lawsuit said.
A Petersen executive said Thursday the company doesn’t comment on pending lawsuits involving its clients.