MisterSG1
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Posts posted by MisterSG1
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11 minutes ago, shark6495 said:
I mean Looney tunes has a newish show on HBO max (ended last fall?) and tiny tunes just came back on air plus my kids and their friends watched the heck out of space jam…. My kids are 10, 7, 3…. Are they as famous as they were? No. But outside of the peanuts movie every now and then and the holiday specials my kids don’t seek out Peanuts …
also are we kidding on the DC ip? Every kid knows the big 3
Which Space Jam are we talking about? That newer one or the one I grew up with Michael Jordan in 1996.
As for the Big Three, I honestly didn't know who Wonder Woman was growing up, and I still don't know what her superpower is.
Batman took a dark turn since 1989, I mean that animated series that starts with a bank robbery in the intro was a show I didn't like much as a kid for its darkness. Superman has always seemed lame to be honest, this is in contrast to Spider-Man or the X-Men.
I mean seriously, Halloween was 2 nights ago, how many Batmen or Supermen showed up at your door, compared to how many Spider-Men. That should settle it right there.
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34 minutes ago, SonofBaconator said:
The Looney Tunes unfortunately lost their luster in the 2000s imo. Peanuts are more timeless and I argue more family friendly- there’s certainly aspects of the Looney Tunes that have become somewhat dated. DC has kinda flopped because their live action films have no direction. There was a time when Warner Brothers dominated and Looney Tunes and DC both thrived but those times have passed. I don’t think it would be wise to implement their IPs across the chain, maybe select parks as testing grounds.
That arguably happened because the Looney Tunes were not as easily accessible as they once were thanks to Federal Government regulations on Children's Programming known as E/I. In a nut shell, E/I was the main reason why the Saturday Morning Cartoon blocks disappeared.
So eliminate the ease of seeing the Looney Tunes on TV, and there you have it, kids don't know who the Looney Tunes are anymore. The Looney Tunes were seen every weekend for over 40 years on ABC up until 2002 in the many variants of the show that ultimately came to be known as "Bugs and Tweety" in its final years. On top of that, in the 90s in those before and after school blocks on WB Network, one of the shows shown was "Merrie Melodies" which showed 3 shorts in a half hour. In Canada, Global TV showed "Bugs and Tweety" at 5pm on Saturdays,I'm not sure if I agree that Peanuts is a stronger IP than Looney Tunes, I always see them as even nowadays.
If the Looney Tunes are dated, does this mean the classic shorts made over at Disney, starring the character we all know are dated as well. Think about it, just hearing the word "Disney" makes you think of a certain character does it not?
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Since this appears to be a merger, it would be good if the parks could remain belonging to their family.
When I was very young, Costco and The Price Club merged, and suddenly you could use your Costco membership at Price Club. What’s important is that for at least 5 years there was a separate brand of Costco and a separate brand of Price Club.
I presume when it comes to IP and overall feel to the parks that most of that would most likely remain the same. Retheming is expensive, and pointless for the little theming rides have in the first place.
Maybe 20 years ago, the Looney Tunes were a stronger brand than Peanuts, but I’m presuming most kids nowadays are kind of clueless about Looney Tunes. If I recall, ABC stopped showing Bugs and Tweety way back in 2002. Furthermore, Saturday morning cartoons and my personal nostalgic favourite, the before and after school programming blocks on FOX and WB (also there was Global TV here in Canada)
Detective Comics, they’ve been has beens pretty much since the 90s when the X Men cartoon first aired and Marvel became an unstoppable force.
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Remember, the LA area also has:
Dodgers and Angels (MLB)
Kings and Ducks (NHL)
Lakers and Clippers (NBA)
Rams and Chargers (NFL)
Having the two theme parks still there shouldn't be an issue. I think the key there is to make the two parks distinct, as Snoopy should stay at Knotts for example.
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It would be extremely foolish to rename Kings Island or Canada’s Wonderland for example.
While Six Flags over Toronto may sound cool, the park has been known as Canada’s Wonderland in some form throughout its 40 year history. Same goes with Kings Island. (There’s also the civic nonsense involved here saying that Wonderland isn’t technically in Toronto so it shouldn’t be called that)
If they were stupid enough to rename it, the vast majority of guests would refer to it by its original name. Kind of like the Skydome, Rogers bought the building and arrogantly renamed it Rogers Centre in 2005, but almost no one refers to it by that name except the media.
Even during the days of “Paramount Canada’s Wonderland”, most still referred to it as Wonderland or Canada’s Wonderland. Thinking of the park as “Paramount” almost never happened.
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I was thinking of it (in case Kings Island could entertain the idea) of it being an overflow lot to watch tennis.
A pedestrian bridge isn’t that far off of an idea, not far from me, a pedestrian bridge was built to connect a parking garage to Pickering GO Station which crosses over the mammoth Highway 401’s 16 lanes of traffic!
What I was thinking was something like this which can serve as an overflow for the Cincy Open from Kings Island’s parking lot.
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On 8/17/2023 at 2:00 PM, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:
I know this likely won't happen due to obvious reasons, but I made a little concept that could connect the park with the tennis stadium using a gondola/skylift system. This would allow easy access for people attending the tournament (assuming it stays here) to the park without dealing with the crazy traffic. Also with this concept, the stadium could be used for concerts and other events which is why I have the KI station replacing Timberwolf. This would also come with a second entrance/exit to the park to the skylift station area.
Let me guess, were you inspired by that wacky proposal to link Wonderland to the Toronto subway system using a gondola system?
Wouldn’t a simple pedestrian overpass from the parking lot be a better option? It could arguably move people a lot quicker than the gondola could.
You might find this weird, but Toronto and Cincy do have a fair amount of things in common, like how we have the tennis tournament before you guys, and our tennis venue isn’t that far from the theme park relatively speaking.
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Around this very time, we were into the infamous 2003 Blackout. I was at Wonderland when it happened enjoying a funnel cake when I noticed all the rides weren’t working.
Obviously Kings Island wasn’t out that day, but I think Cedar Point was out, if anyone has any recollection of that day up there it’d be nice to hear.
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As what's been said before, using Wonder Mountain as this kind of blast coaster is incredibly cheesy.
I think the concert coaster concept pays homage to glory days back at Kingswood, which was the main Toronto concert venue up to around 1995, is the best idea honestly. But then I'm a guy who likes when throwbacks to history are made.
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Wonderland lately has been putting the "Canada" into Canada's Wonderland, while I am lukewarm in this whole thing. Such as Wonderland having basically a 100% Cancon (Canadian Content) playlist. There's one thing about the concert coaster that caught my eyes.
Building that where Kingswood once stood is literally a no brainer for where the concert themed coaster would go. At the very least, if a coaster is not built in that space, that area should be themed around concerts and music in general.
It would be nice to see a tribute to Kim Mitchell, who had a minor hit with "Go For Soda" in the US, as he literally wrote a song about Kingswood called "Rocklandwonderland"
(If anyone could shrink this link, help me out)
It may sound lame, but would be cool for Wonderland to return the payback and somehow name something "Rockland" with the concert coaster idea.
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As of this writing, I’ve not received an email regarding a survey for this ride.
Kingswood Music Theatre is being slowly dismantled, parts of the roof have been removed and it’s definitely on its way out.
As for WMG, I’m not sure if that ride is a failure or not, I could easily say it was a bust in the long run mainly because of its huge advertising but lukewarm response from riders. Unlike what’s happened with Leviathan or Yukon Striker.
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On 7/5/2023 at 4:49 PM, SonofBaconator said:
I remember how there was talks of a metro system taking people from Cincinnati to KI:
https://www.urbancincy.com/2012/11/metromoves-a-decade-later/
The thing I find problematic with mass transit systems connecting to amusement parks is the potential loss of revenue from people not spending money to park in a park’s parking lot.
At best, something like that would be a commuter rail system. It wouldn't be like a subway system with the huge distance between stops. You wouldn't get rapid transit level of service here so it shouldn't be referred to as a "metro system".
This is something more in line with the Paris RER, which as I said does reach Disneyland Paris, but the service levels, while good for a commuter rail, don't approach the level of metro service. A train leaves the station that serves Disneyland Paris (it's a terminus station) every 15 minutes. You aren't going to get that kind of service pattern in Cincinnati, it's just not going to happen.
As for this gondola idea, it was never a serious idea sadly, and that is it with that.
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I should also mention, that I basically grew up in the park so to speak. I remember going to Hanna-Barbara Land since the early 1990s, and remember eventually going on all the more serious rides as I got older, although I was a coward at first.
Basically, I know quite a lot about Wonderland history.
Some parts of the park today look to be in bad shape in my opinion, and that's the areas traditionally known as International Festival and Grande Worlde Expo.
While it was true that Paramount basically killed the theming in World Expo, they did however keep all the buildings occupied. The Moroccan building used to house a clothing shop for many years under the Paramount days and beyond, this year, that building is abandoned. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, this is the same building where one checks in to ride the Xtreme Skyflyer. The presentation of the midway games just seems kind of run down in this area, I just can't describe it.
International Festival, same as before, just the way the games are set up makes me cringe. How one such building instead of it being a midway game is a mini convenience store of sorts. In the main "square" of International Festival there is almost no action, the huge "hi-striker" is gone. And what was the recording studio back in the 1990 and 20-aughts is now a Multi-Faith Prayer Space. I'm not saying that having this space is bad, but it should be located more closer to a bathroom in my opinion, and not in like a main midway area.
If anyone has visited, I'm sure they will know what I'm talking about.
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First I heard of that thing about getting a free water. Every bathroom has water fountains to my knowledge outside of it, so I guess the better option would be to bring your own cup into the park and refill with water as you need it from the water fountains.
Jokey’s Jalopies….it’s just an antique car ride on a track, but apparently, does the guest have an element of control with the cars at Kings Island?
Wonder Mountain’s Guardian, I’ve always thought that ride was kind of a bust, and yes I have ridden it myself before. The ending of that ride when you don’t know about it is something you can only get away with once.
I noticed you got the Ghoster Coaster in, you should have also got the brand new Snoopy’s Racing Railway in as well, on Thursday, my nephew went on that ride 4 times straight.
As for Time Warp, that was originally called Tomb Raider and even 20 years later I’m still bitter about that ride. We lost our Eyerly Monster and Mack Sea Storm to put that in.
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I’m actually at the park right now and went to Lazy Bear Lodge and was pleasantly surprised. The food was good, and all the drink machines were working.
I got a season refillable drink and I noticed so far today and it’s been a good experience so far.
I should notice there are a fair amount of school aged kids who appear to be here on end of the year trips, so that might be a minor issue tomorrow.
Theres a great view outside the Lazy Bear Lodge, it’s slightly a rainy day today, but here it is.
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I forgot to mention, I’ll edit the part about getting there, but try to avoid Hwy 407 ETR, it’s a very expensive private electronic toll road. It was the first electronic toll road in the world, and you can see the controversy already as many roads throughout the US switch to that format.
If you were to use the 407, this the kind of costs you would incur for one trip.
Firstly is the toll rate per distance, different sections and different times of the day the toll rate fluctuates, but at its most expensive, the 407 charges 62 cents per kilometre, give or take that’s about $1 per mile.
Secondly, there’s a trip charge just for entering the 407, that’s $1.00
Thirdly, as you won’t have their transponder, they add another $4.20 camera charge per trip.
Fourthly, although you’re only using it once, they’ll charge $3.95 for a monthly account fee.
And to top it all off, on the bill that comes in the mail, they actually charge HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) on the toll which comes out to 13% on top of the toll charge itself.
So yeah, it’s literal highway robbery, you can see for yourself the price structure here.
https://www.407etr.com/en/tolls/tolls/rate-chart-light.html
Hwy 407 isn’t a conventional toll road, it’s more or less priced at an economic model to keep the road moving at practically all times of the day. Only an accident or bad weather like snow are the only times the 407 has any serious traffic problems.
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Seeing as people on my gondola thread have spoke about trips and upcoming trips to Wonderland, I'm wondering what kind of experiences you had and if I can offer my own advice.
DISCLAIMER: Before I start, let me mention that I'm very much in the same boat as the current video blogger "DorkyDude" on Youtube, in that attempting to go on most rides will result in a walk of shame, so my days in the park are sadly watching over people ride, and thus I can't give specific advice for rides.
STARTING POINTS:
Canada's Wonderland as it stands is the most visited seasonal theme park in North America, so crowds are something to expect here. But obviously, crowds are generally lighter on weekdays as opposed to weekends. As school is currently still running until the end of June, visiting in the spring when daily operations begin will probably guarantee you the least amount of hassle with crowds. While this park doesn't have that much to offer in terms of star attractions like Kings Island or Cedar Point does, this park is heavily visited because it is practically the only park around and lacks any real competition. There's a border crossing if one would want to go to Darien Lake, and La Ronde, a park that isn't that good from what I hear, is around 5 and a half hours away on a good day, and the main language spoken in that park is French.
GETTING TO THE PARK:
The Toronto Metro Area which is commonly called the GTA (short for Greater Toronto Area) when ranked against metro areas in Canada and the US would be the 4th largest (depending on how you define it), behind New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. As a result of this, the GTA is a very busy place, and is notorious for traffic. Here's a few things to consider when getting to the park.
The most convenient way, unless you are staying in a hotel rather closeby to the park, is to take Hwy 400 NB to Rutherford Road (Exit 33), like at Kings Island when entering the park from I-71 NB, upon exiting, you proceed straight ahead at the traffic light. This will take you onto the Canada's Wonderland access road which will swing around and put you into the parking lot. Note the orientation of the parking lot relative to the park is opposite to how it is at Kings Island, the park itself faces the freeway rather than the other way around at Kings Island. There is also a secondary entrance which requires a left turn on Jane Street, I would only recommend entering from that side if you are staying in that general vicinity.
If you are staying further away, like close to the airport for example, and have to use Hwy 401 to get to Hwy 400 in the morning you intend to come to the park. In the summer months, the section of Hwy 401 between Islington Avenue and Hwy 400 is incredibly busy especially in the morning and evening rush hours, it's actually the BUSIEST section of freeway in North America in the summer months. On the regular roads, the arterials in the City of Toronto itself and York Region (where Vaughan and Wonderland are located) generally follow a grid system in which the major roads are spaced 1 1/4 miles apart. If you need more information about specific directions, just message me.
Parking is currently $30, no kidding. I personally prefer to park on the north side of the lot, past the big green space in the middle of the park by the front gate as I find this side to generally be less crowded. HOWEVER, if you do park on this side, don't be tempted to follow the exit signs as they will lead to Major Mackenzie Drive and you may be confused, it's best to leave the parking lot the same way you came in, on the south side, if you park on the south side simply follow the exit signs and you'll end up back on the access road and back to Rutherford Road and Hwy 400.
INSIDE THE PARK:
If you arrive before rope drop, I believe International Street opens roughly 30 minutes before the opening time of the actual park. When rope drop occurs, I believe most of the guests will make a beeline to either Yukon Striker or Leviathan as those are the two main star rides at this point. Leviathan is fairly close to the entrance just inside the Medieval Faire gate, while Yukon Striker is located at the very back of the park.
It's also worth mentioning that unlike Kings Island, terrain can be tricky at this park, there are a lot of grade changes, notable the long hill leading down from the left side of Wonder Mountain by WindSeeker. The most efficient route to Yukon Striker would be to wait at rope drop in International Festival, that is take the left path on International Street and turn left halfway through, and beyond the big globe, beyond there is where the rope drop generally happens. When the rope drops, follow the path, veer right slightly so you are in between our Wave Swinger and the Crystal Arcade, follow that path all the way down past Coasters and keep to the left, you will pass the Minebuster and you can't very well miss Yukon Striker.
FOOD:
When it comes to something like a unique item here, sadly the best example is Tiny Tom's Donuts, it's a staple of the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) and they are sold here at the park too. They are mini donuts, and come in four flavours, cinnamon, icing sugar, chocolate, and apples/cinnamon. I honestly if you have some people, recommend getting all four flavours for the price they offer. They are located in International Festival close to the Thunder Run exit.
Last season, a new restaurant opened close to Vortex called the Lazy Bear Lodge that is quite large inside, I haven't had it myself yet, but I've heard some say good things about it.
Of course there is always Pizza Pizza at Wonderland, it tastes different in my opinion from what you get outside the park, but there's a certain thing I like about Wonderland Pizza Pizza, I can't describe it.
I can try to be more in depth upon request from anyone.
If you need any further questions, I'll be glad to answer them, it would be nice to hear reports from others who went to the park.
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2 minutes ago, BeeastFarmer said:
I mean, a bad day at a park better than a good day at work, so....
But it was very crowded. There was no ice. Some of the restaurants didn't even have soft drinks available so you had to get your drink. Then wait in line for your food. (Food waits were abysmal) so by the time you were able to eat, if you had any drink left it was hot and your food was cold. Right operations were really good but the amount of people in this park was insane. On a positive note, Park is absolutely beautiful. International Street is a dream.
International Festival is starting to look very run down in my opinion with a lot of buildings abandoned or could be used for better purposes.
Other than Tiny Tom’s Donuts (which have been a staple at the CNE for a long time) there really isn’t any good food items worth talking about in the food honestly. You’re almost better off to leave and walk across the parking lot to the Subway across the street.
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1 hour ago, BeeastFarmer said:
With as busy as that place is, they don't need more people coming in. I doubt I'll go back!
Did you have a very bad experience there?
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2 minutes ago, johnjniehaus said:
I'll be there this Friday (June16).... anyone got any recommendations or tips?
Coming this Friday to Wonderland.
Well this time of the year isn’t too bad as school is not out yet here, so crowds shouldn’t be bad until school gets out for the day at around 3pm.
The actual park experience looks to be rather rundown in certain areas, particularly International Festival, it’s not as kept well as Kings Island is.
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While I one day dream of having the subway reach Canada's Wonderland (Is there any theme park in which the city's rapid transit system reaches it anywhere in the world?)
This almost seems like a bad April Fools joke but it's actually legit.
https://www.blogto.com/city/2023/06/vaughan-aerial-gondola-linking-wonderland-subway/
As for my initial question, I know Disneyland Paris has an RER stop outside, but remember the RER is a regional rail (or commuter rial) system that covers an area outside the main city.
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Now you heard me before on this site, I seriously thought the GTA was immune from this kind of behavior, but it looks like I was wrong.
It seems a chaperone policy isn't entirely out of the books for Wonderland now, but as I know, no such policy has ever existed anywhere else in the GTA, like how some McDonald's in SoCal have a chaperone policy.
However, there's one noticeable difference I've seen in the Wonderland videos compared to those of Kings Island, the large amount of local police they have on sight seems to be stronger at Wonderland. As you've seen me say, the true security at Wonderland are the York Regional Police, the actual Wonderland security doesn't do much (and really can't do much).
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Sorry if I was misunderstood, I didn't say the roof had to be retractable, what I always imagined for a dream project were a series of large glass bubbles that would house the indoor structure to the indoor theme park.
Think of something like the Amazon Spheres but MUCH larger than that, speaking of Amazon, they seem like the only ones who would be capable with the amount of money it would cost to build a series of glass domes interconnected and large enough to house a theme park inside the size of Kings Island.
The indoor water park/resort idea has been tried before and if I recall, the results are marginal at best with popularity, I'm referring to Tropical Islands in Germany. An indoor resort/water park built inside a hangar. I've always had a dream project that in Downsview Park in northern Toronto, they should build something similar to Tropical Islands and an NFL stadium to create a new entertainment area. Will it happen, very unlikely, but it would be an awesome project.
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I thought the main indoor amusement parks that come to mind, that is the ones at WEM, MOA, and American Dream are mostly child oriented. For the most part I thought they resemble something more like an indoor version of Planet Snoopy with a few small roller coasters.
I mean there's no way you're going to build a B&M indoors without a huge structure that many people would see as an eyesore and most likely impractical.
Here's an example, Toronto's SkyDome (I will never call it by its current name) which opened in 1989 was the world's first retractable roof stadium, the roof is quite high, 280 feet, but that's not even taller than a giga coaster's lift hill. Consider that modern stadiums costs billion of dollars to build which just encloses really a football field and seating around it. Just imagine how much it would cost to build a stadium like structure to house all of the rides in a place the size of Kings Island, it would cost billions of dollars to just build the impressive indoor structure itself. That's why I think a true indoor theme park is a non starter.
I do think that indoor water parks/resorts have a real potential however, but an indoor theme park just seems too much.
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Six Flags and Cedar Fair Merge
in Kings Island Central Newsroom
Posted
I don't want to delve into politics, but you can't shield kids from reality. Looney Tunes are good fun, but people like Elmer Fudd, trying to hunt the rabbit indeed exist. Just as Sylvester wanting to eat Tweety. In reality, hunters do exist, and there are predators and prey. Trying to shield kids from the world is a dumb proposition, and obviously doesn't seem to be working.
I mean back when Bugs & Tweety aired, you didn't see kids committing mass shootings did you?
As someone else said regarding Peanuts, how often do you really see them other than that Christmas special? Wonderland has a ride themed after the Halloween special because that's kind of the relevance they have, only specials.