Jump to content

Boo Blasters on Boo Hill TLC


MaestroMan
 Share

Recommended Posts

I don't go to parks to play a mockup round of Battlefield 4 with kid friendly blackout painted ghouls or chandeliers. Thus any shooting dark ride has no enjoyment in my book. If I want to play a shoot em up deal, I have Battlefield 4, or an actual shooting range closeby. 

 

Dark Kastle for Cedar Fair parks, oh one can dream.

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tbh the reason the shooter style works at WDW is because it's part of a ride portfolio. At Magic Kingdom, the traditional dark rides include: Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Pooh and then you have the shooting Buzz Lightyear. Balance...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tbh the reason the shooter style works at WDW is because it's part of a ride portfolio. At Magic Kingdom, the traditional dark rides include: Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Pooh and then you have the shooting Buzz Lightyear. Balance...

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Keeping in mind that I don't mind the Buzz rides at all: 

 

Toy Story deserves a better dark ride. It's sad to me that Toy Story will always be relegated to easy-to-replicate Buzz Lightyear blasting rides (Astroblasters or Space Ranger Spin depending on your coast) and Midway Mania blasting rides. Toy Story would make a wonderful full, classic dark ride in the Fantasyland style, or even in the new age, built-out style of Tokyo's Pooh ride.

 

Separately, Tomorrowland also deserves a better dark ride. It's a shame that we're beyond the age where Take Flight or Adventure Thru Inner Space could be a functional balancing act to the land. But those kinds of experiences needed to be grandfathered in. If introduced from scratch, today's visitors would say, "Huh?" 

 

So Buzz Lightyear is a fine ride. But it's not the best representation of Toy Story or the best fit for its location, which is all a little disappointing. 

 

I'll probably always prefer plot over interactivity, though, so I could look at even the world's best interactive ride and say, "It would be better without the guns." The one exception that comes to mind is Tokyo's outstanding Monsters Inc. dark ride, which is interactive but wonderfully so. And no lasers OR score-keeping! Can you imagine?! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think both (as in they have more than one, novel for a regional park) of Lagoon's non-interactive dark rides are much more enjoyable than Boo Blasters. Have some decent scares in 'em too.

And the newest of them was built in the 70's. When Terp was a young'n and the goats still grazed under the Roller Coaster.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sure this is off Topic but Terp, the post you made about Camden park made me think of something.  My first inverted coaster was the ole Screamin' Demon at KI when I was very young.  Well in the eary 90's on a trip to West Virginia with my mom (she had grown up there so I had heard tales of this Camden Park), I was able to visit that park.  And I got to ride for the last time, that same coaster that had been moved and set up there.  Did you ever ride that one while it was at Camden?

 

While a long time follower, this is my first post on this site btw

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why has nobody mentioned Men In Black: Alien Attack at Universal Studios? That is an amazing ride. The aliens shoot back at you and if you don't shoot them in time, your car spins out of control. The theme is impeccable. The alien animatronics are sweet. It's just an all-around great ride. Even better than Buzz Lightyear. And one hundred times better than Boo Blasters.

 

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sure this is off Topic but Terp, the post you made about Camden park made me think of something. My first inverted coaster was the ole Screamin' Demon at KI when I was very young. Well in the eary 90's on a trip to West Virginia with my mom (she had grown up there so I had heard tales of this Camden Park), I was able to visit that park. And I got to ride for the last time, that same coaster that had been moved and set up there. Did you ever ride that one while it was at Camden?

While a long time follower, this is my first post on this site btw

Welcome to KIC!

Oh, yes. Many, many times. Even got to climb the loop and structure on the other end. Then watched it slowly rust away.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Sure this is off Topic but Terp, the post you made about Camden park made me think of something. My first inverted coaster was the ole Screamin' Demon at KI when I was very young. Well in the eary 90's on a trip to West Virginia with my mom (she had grown up there so I had heard tales of this Camden Park), I was able to visit that park. And I got to ride for the last time, that same coaster that had been moved and set up there. Did you ever ride that one while it was at Camden?

While a long time follower, this is my first post on this site btw

Welcome to KIC!

Oh, yes. Many, many times. Even got to climb the loop and structure on the other end. Then watched it slowly rust away.

 

Thank you for the welcome!  And with the fond memories I have of that ride, I'm glad to know that many got to enjoy it after it left Kings Island.  Though the thought of its eventual fate, slowly rusting away, is pretty sad!

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Currently playing Destiny on my PS4. Still much better than any shoot em up dark ride.

 

There is a Six Flags game for Wii that has a level kind of a knock off of Boo Blasters, if anybody's not familiar with the game,

 

fun_park_wii001boxart_160w.jpg

 

http://xbox360media.ign.com/xbox360/image/object/142/14251061/fun_park_wii001boxart_160w.jpg

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't seen them this season, nor do I recall seeing them past the first part of last season.  Even at $1, they were overpriced for what the experience delivered. I believe the sign advertising them, which was located on the left as you enter the actual building, has been removed as well.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I posted an update in the Kings Island 2015 discussion thread but on Sunday I rode Boo Blasters specifically to see if anything was working. To my astonishment it seems that they have gone in and fixed most of the issues. Everything seemed to be working, even the tourist being chased by the skeletons. Every target I hit worked and I got one of the highest scores for that ride I can remember in recent history. So, at least it seems some TLC was put back into the ride now.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The fluorescent colors of Boo Blasters are what make it work. Bright fluorescent reds appear to advance toward the viewer while fluorescent blues recede. It's gives a "trippy," disorienting depth to the scene. If you've been on Garfield's Nightmare, you've got the effect without paying $1 for it. It is sort of cool, but to charge for it is tantamount to highway robbery in my book. Especially since Boo Blasters wasn't thoughtfully created in the right color palates to make the scene look dimensional, so it wouldn't have the correct things receding / advancing. Rather, everything would just be prismatic.

 

The same glasses on Phantom Theater wouldn't do much. They work specifically with fluorescent colors under bright / black lighting. It's that very specific "flat" fluorescent Sally dark ride color scheme that works.

 

They were, for a time, sold in the queue for Disaster Transport, but only because they provided some interesting illusions in the queue (think of the old hand-print tunnel, fluorescent blacklight travel posters, etc). They didn't do anything on the ride, of course. THAT, I thought, was the epitome of the Kinzel era... especially once half of the queue was closed, and they continued to sell disposable 3D glasses and light-up wands in the line. 

 

In other words, it's not "WOW IMPRESSIVE AWESOME LIFELIKE" 3D like Spider-Man. It's just the flat painted sets looking sparkly and disorienting.

 

805b770a8ddb52dae044f1bb900fcc62.jpg

 

187069d1384877807-my-3-d-chromadepth-dro

 

IMG_9441.jpg

 

^ In this image, as in the Disaster Transport queue, the red handprints would float "out" toward you and the blue handprints would appear to float "back" into the wall, for a very trippy effect. Again, Garfield's Nightmare's splattered tunnels are another great example.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd rather have actual 3D sets and animatronics instead of cardboard cut-outs or going screen-to-screen/shooting at things.

 

And no, the 3D glasses did not make Boo Blasters any better. I found a set on the ground once (it didn't seem as gross at the time) and decided to see what the "enhanced" experience was like... Basically just a complete afterthought. I remember some dots on the wall popping out and that's about it... Never felt the need to give it another shot, and definitely not worth paying for.

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure it was LITERALLY an after-thought.

 

"Hey, we could sell 3D glasses in the line!" The ride wasn't designed to be enhanced by them. And even if it was, charging for the "privilege" is... wrong.

  • Like 8
Link to comment
Share on other sites

When painted and designed right, those flat-painted sets can achieve an incredible amount of depth even with disposable glasses.

https://youtu.be/1u-6qBgH6LE

Here is basically Haunt's Carnevil maze in a 21st century design. It's a bunch of snippets rather than a full walkthrough, but it gives a glimpse of things like forced perspective and physical sets/props.

Speaking of Carnevil, one of the stupidest things they did in recent years was start charging for 3D glasses (because, once again, if it works for Knott's, then it'll clearly work for everyone else). Another way to make a quick buck, yet I still don't see any of that 3D glasses money being invested into making the woefully-outdated Carnevil a better-designed attraction.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought the 3D glasses for Boo Blasters once. All they did was screw with my vision enough that I couldn't point the gun accurately. Halfway through the ride, I took them off, and my accuracy immediately improved drastically. I never bought or wore them again.

 

Oh, and yes, I do enjoy the shoot-em-up style of dark rides, and would love to see a much better shoot-em-up. Sue me. :P

  • Like 7
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...