bkroz

The point of all the games is to be able to display & use what you've won then & there... If people were thinking logically 1) they probably wouldn't play the game to begin with and 2) they would realize they have multiple basketballs at home in the garage that cost far less than the exorbitant price of the game, which even then offers only a chance of winning. They play because they like the adrenaline, and because they want to display the prize. If people stopped and thought, 'I don't want this now, I want it so that I can use it when I'm at home!' they probably wouldn't be paying $3.00 for a chance at a 5 foot tall banana with a smile.

I assume you're talking about Jurassic Park. In that case, you forgot a little thing called The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Although, Harry Potter were books first... Same could be said for The Cat in the Hat, Spider-Man, X-Men, Fantastic 4, even Popeye was a cartoon first, later turned into a movie... Come to think of it, even Jurassic Park was a book first. I once read a PTR on another site for DisneySea. Wow... what a great looking park! I'd love to go there... it's just a little hard being that it's in Japan! Haha, of course! But, the Harry Potter area is not yet open, and offers only one new attraction. As for Spiderman, Hulk, etc. it's very clear from the props, Island decorations, and queue videos that the rides that they're based entirely on the comics (not to Mention, Universal only made a deal with Marvel, not with the half-dozen movie studios who have released films based on those characters). And The Cat in the Hat ride is clearly not based on the movie (how weird was that movie, right?) nor Popeye (how weird was that movie?!). Jurassic Park is the only area with a direct movie theme (until Potter opens). And, consider even The Magic Kingdom - with the exception of Fantasyland, neither the themed areas, nor most of the rides within them, draw inspiration from movies. Some loosely do (Splash Mountain, Jungle Cruise, etc) but Enchanted Tiki Room? Big Thunder Mountain? Space Mountain? Liberty Square? The Haunted Mansion? Mickey's Toontown Fair? Sure Pixar has invaded many classic attractions, but for all intents and purposes, the park was originally constructed quite seperate from movie tie-ins. So again I say: the only correlation between movie studios & well-themed parks is that movie studios have a larger budget, and can fall-back on their character libraries where appropriate.

Love it!

The crocodiles, it should be noted, were removed because they grew too big for the Montu enclosure. As always, Busch doesn't downgrade for the sake of things costing less or being easier to maintain - they did it because they had to. So I forgive them. ... Now, if some other folks owned the park ...

A (probably) incomplete list. I hope to someday ride half the dark rides of some people on this board inevitably have... I wasn't sure if some things counted (Mission: Space? Simulators? 3-D movies? I would consider Mission: Space more of a dark-ride than The Crypt, after all...) so these are the DAFE-approved ones... 1 Alice in Wonderland ........ Disneyland Park 2 Body Wars ........ Epcot 3 Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters ........ Disneyland Park 4 Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin ........ The Magic Kingdom 5 Calico Mine Ride ........ Knott's Berry Farm 6 Country Bear Jamboree ........ The Magic Kingdom 7 Dinosaur ........ Disney's Animal Kingdom 8 Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls ........ Universal's Islands of Adventure 9 E.T. Adventure ........ Universal Studios Florida 10 Earthquake - The Big One ........ Universal Studios Florida 11 Expedition: Everest ........ Disney's Animal Kingdom 12 Garfield's Nightmare ........ Kennywood 13 Ghostwood Estates ........ Kennywood 14 Indiana Jones Adventure ........ Disneyland Park 15 it's a small world ........ Disneyland Park 16 it's a small world ........ The Magic Kingdom 17 Journey Into Imagination! ........ Epcot 18 Journey Into Your Imagination With Figment ........ Epcot 19 Jurassic Park River Adventure ........ Universal's Islands of Adventure 20 Maelstrom ........ Epcot 21 Men in Black: Alien Attack ........ Universal Studios Florida 22 Monster's Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue ........ Disney's California Adventure 23 Mr. Toad's Wild Ride ........ The Magic Kingdom 24 Noah's Ark ........ Kennywood 25 Peter Pan's Flight ........ Disneyland Park 26 Peter Pan's Flight ........ The Magic Kingdom 27 Phantom Theater ........ Kings Island 28 Pinocchio's Daring Journey ........ Disneyland Park 29 Pirates of the Caribbean ........ Disneyland Park 30 Pirates of the Caribbean ........ The Magic Kingdom 31 Poseidon's Fury: Escape from the Lost City ........ Universal's Islands of Adventure 32 Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride ........ Universal Studios Florida 33 Rock 'n' Roller Coaster ........ Disney's Hollywood Studios 34 Roger Rabbit's Car-Toon Spin ........ Disneyland Park 35 Scooby Doo & The Haunted Castle ........ Kings Island 36 Scooby Doo & The Haunted Mansion ........ Kings Dominion 37 Snow White's Scary Adventures ........ Disneyland Park 38 Snow White's Scary Adventures ........ The Magic Kingdom 39 Soarin' ........ Epcot 40 Soarin' Over California ........ Disney's California Adventure 41 Spaceship Earth ........ Epcot 42 Splash Mountain ........ Disneyland Park 43 Splash Mountain ........ The Magic Kingdom 44 Take Flight! ........ The Magic Kingdom 45 Test Track ........ Epcot 46 The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman ........ Universal's Islands of Adventure 47 The Carousel of Progress ........ The Magic Kingdom 48 The Cat in the Hat ........ Universal's Islands of Adventure 49 The Crypt ........ Kings Island 50 The Curse of DarKastle ........ Busch Gardens Williamsburg 51 The Enchanted Tiki Room ........ Disneyland Park 52 The Enchanted Tiki Room ........ The Magic Kingdom 53 The Enchanted Tiki Room - Under New Management ........ The Magic Kingdom 54 The Exterminator ........ Kennywood 55 The Great Movie Ride ........ Disney's Hollywood Studios 56 The Haunted Mansion ........ The Magic Kingdom 57 The Haunted Mansion ........ Disneyland Park 58 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ........ Disneyland Park 59 The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ........ The Magic Kingdom 60 The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ........ Disney's California Adventure 61 The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ........ Disney's Hollywood Studios 62 Tomb Raider: The Ride ........ Kings Island

That sort of makes sense... Like our system hasn't been integrated? No excuse for the guest service aspect, but the functionality? Sure... It still shouldn't be an issue, of course. But at least there appears to be a good reason, at least from someone. Time will tell!

Great pictures! Personally, I wasn't that impressed with BGT. I kept thinking of it as the 'evil twin' of BGW. The same kind of rides, but with less theme; a disjointed, awkward layout; strange operations... I much much much prefer Williamsburg, but Tampa is still a great park. It was just a little off for me. I just love Williamsburg's, and I suppose I was expecting more. Not that Tampa's is less, just very different. Other than the fact that they have sister rides that they share between them, I hardly even think of them as sister parks. Scorpion was awesome - my first non-clothoid loop. I was really thrown off by the experience, and I think I may have actually said "whoa" at the top of the loop. It's a very odd sensation. Griffon is easily in my top three coasters, and I expected the same from ShieKra but for some reason, it was just... different. I don't know why even! I would say it's the location, but Griffon is sort of "squeezed" in while SheiKra is placed among trees and crumbling towers... But it's just different! Kumba, in my opinion, was very painful, horribly in need of work and probably the only roller coaster I've ever been on where I just wanted it to be over. Gwazi, as you said, was an unexpected hit among my travel party. As many have said, the one thing this park is missing is a sister ride to Apollo's Chariot. Every ride has a "gimmick," and it needs something that's just pure speed and airtime. DarKastle is also a major plus for Williamsburgs, but with Islands so close I can't see Tampa's getting a high tech dark ride.

Sorry Terp, I just skimmed and read "ticket information will be released shortly." We'll survive.

I believe that, overall, employees are not 'brave' enough to enforce things. I can only imagine that many of the people who blatantly and knowingly defy the 'no smoking' rule don't care what a 16 year old employee has to say - quite the opposite, they may think it a joke if they were approached and asked to put out their cigarette. I know that I would feel very uncomfortable asking someone to stop smoking, even though it's the right thing to do. We're conditioned to leave it alone when we see something wrong, but not too wrong. How many people are turned away from the gates because of inappropriate clothing? Certainly no where near the amount of people who dress inappropriately, if any at all! I have seen first hand how faulty the system is - in line for Mantis at Cedar Point, there was a blatant attempt for a group of large, swearing, barely-clothed African American men to cut half the line*. They did successfully. My group of friends and I, however, were still ahead of them and made a point to immediately tell the staff member at the station. He had us go to the head ride operator, who asked us to point out the group. We did. Nothing happened. It was frustrating and maddening to know that, most likely, it's because our 20-something ride operator simply wouldn't approach the group of men. Would I have? No. But nothing was done about it. All the meantime, if my group of friends and myself had tried the same thing, we would have been denied access to the ride, and likely (and rightly) been escorted from the park. I'm not saying I could do any better. Just that there should be a way for ride operators to contact someone who can do something, for example, a security guard. * I, of course, mean no disrespect to anyone. I simply wanted to point out the unfairness of it all - because a group looks 'intimidating,' they are simply not held to the same standards as everyone else because they're not approachable.

It sounds like an incredible evening! I will probably make my way down, though I live four hours away... And Coasterdude101, I do not think that the event is very highly publicized, for many reasons. Those who want to know about it can find out about it easily; those who shouldn't, can't. It's almost unimaginable that folks could visit a theme park where everyone is accepting and you don't hear any threats of violence or slurs here and there. Whenever an opportunity arises to share a peaceful, accepting, (low-attendance) evening at a park, I try my best to attend. And without getting too politcal, there's a stigma about the gay community that is just not true. I'm sure attending this event would help cement that into the minds of those who might be open enough, and I can only imagine that it's very inspirational to see how well many gay people 'blend in' and defy the stereotype. After all, everyone is human. Just for my planning, is this event typically during the week, or on the weekend? I know that it doesn't mean it'll be the same this year, but are we talking a Tuesday night or a Saturday night in the past?

But then again, which of the numerous people stationed at the park's gates (most teenagers themselves) would bother to ask for ID to verify a kid's age before letting them in? Sad, but true.

The theme, however loosely, is a multi-cultural boulveard (International Street), a movie studio backlot (Action Zone), a German celebratioin (Oktoberfest), an antique amusement park (Coney Mall), an early Ohio settlement (Rivertown), an Australian beach party (Boomerang Bay), and a top-secret government facility specializing in propulsion systems (X-Base). The notion that a theme park requires movie tie-ins is what has led to the degradation of Kings Islands theme in the past few years. Recall that, arguably, when themeing was paramount at Kings Island, a movie studio had not yet owned the park. Movie studios often have an advantage in themeing in that they have immense libraries of stories, props, and characters to draw from and (usually) unparalleled budgets with which to bring those things to life. But that means parks without the aid of a movie studio have to work twice as hard to create coherent, immerse theme. And when that kind of work goes into something, it shows. Also keep in mind that parks that are really well-themed (notably, Universal's Islands of Adventure & Tokyo DisneySea) do not rely on films. Islands of Adventure has only one Island themed after a movie. The others draw from other sources (comics, children's books, and mythology). DisneySea is an incredible immersive environment that only makes small, tasteful references to Disney films (a small mosaic of Jasmine above a fountain down an alleyway) and could easily be de-branded if it had to be. Yet, it remains arguably the best themed park on Earth!

I do. But usually, only when I'm with first-timers to describe how it used to be. It's much like The Crypt. It's bare-bones, awful theme-wise, and when they add music to the queue, our initial reaction is to say "Yay! They added music! They really do care!" They take away 100 things, then add back 2... We should ask where those 98 went, not praise their addition of 2. This is the same idea... They turned a beautiful area into an ugly dead-end... Then, when they make it a smoking area, we say "Oh, that's fine, it's not very pretty anyway." So we essentially forgive & forget for them making it a smoking area since it's 'ugly,' forgetting that they're the reason it's ugly to begin with! Sad... Again, this is no big deal, even to me. At most there will be four or five smokers in there at any given time... But it speaks volumes.

Our answerer seems also to be more "politically correct" and to-the-point ever since Mr. Helbig got back (he's back, right?)! A little less personal and more direct-quote-from-the-website. Still better than most other parks, I'm just sayin'!

Everything at Busch Gardens is a must ride. There honestly aren't all that many major rides, either. Maybe ten. But all are of unbelievable quality. DarKastle is incredible (especially if you've never been on Spiderman at islands of Adventure - it's near impossible to understand what the ride is until its well underway). Escape from Pompeii has some incredible effects, and it doesn't get you too wet. You could spend half the day at Busch Gardens enjoying the landscape if you wanted. Also, something to consider: For probably $15.00 per person you can get front-of-the-line Quick Queue passes good for one ride on each attraction. Honestly, if you'll just be there for a day and you're not morally opposed to pay-to-cut passes (which some people are), I say you go for it. You get to beat the heat, and also it's really nice to go to sleep the night before and know you'll be at Busch Gardens the following day and not have to wait in lines. It's a great feeling. I always invest in the passes. For $30 or so, you can get unlimited rides all day long with Quick Queue Unlimited. Again, if you're just there for a day and want an all-inclusive experience that will be memorable and incredible, that's the way to go.

Apollo's Chariot is easily my favorite B&M hyper. I haven't ridden Nitro or Goliath or any of the other "big ones," but Apollo's Chariot has my vote hands down. Of course, my travel companion swears that it was "just okay" and "not near as fun as Diamondback." Though I may not agree with what you say, I'll defend to the death your right to say it!

No kidding! Maybe plant a few flowers and fill up the waterfall... Honestly, how hard is that? I mean, really? And voila - a beautiful piece of park history revived! "Kings Island is back to the way it was before Paramount... Except the food prices, lack of Scooby Doo, the logo, the landscaping, the theme, and Tower Gardens.... So really, it's only back to the way it was before Paramount because Paramount's is no long in the name..." And I still don't understand why people are saying to "Be careful." Pat, I get, because he's new and may not understand this is an unofficial site, but Dawg? ... If Kings Island were to get angry about a particular thread here and go out of their way to request its removal, this is the last one they'd want removed. There's nothing controversial about this... They're turning an area of the park with perhaps the most unused potential into a smoking area. I don't think it'll be wall to wall with smokers or anything, but it's the idea of it - just a few flowers and a bit of water would make this area incredibly beautiful.

I think that's one of the few major flaws of the new site - the old one had Adventure Express and Backlot Stunt Coaster listed under both thrill rides and family rides - fitting, because both rides are thrill rides and family rides. We usually complain about things that, to be honest, no member of the general public would notice or care about. This, however, is certainly something that will impact those who visit the park's website - teenagers planning road trips, etc. will probably look only at the "thrill rides" page, and as it is, it looks like we have two less coasters than we actually do. Both Adventure Express and Backlot Stunt Coaster are very thrilling and great attractions. They shouldn't be left out of the "thrill rides" section just because they can be enjoyed by families.

Hardly big news... And it's not just available til April 12th. You can buy one in August if you want... But, of course, that website also advertises that you can even get into Canada's Adventure, so...

There is no family pass in the way you might purchase a zoo pass that gets the whole family in with one card. The "4 or more" option is your best bet - you still have to buy four (or, one for each family member) individual passes, but because you're essentially buying "in bulk" you save $10.00 off per pass (so for a family of four, you save $40.00). It's a nice deal, really! And PLEASE consider taking advantage of the Gold Pass option. There is only a $5.00 difference per pass between Regular and Gold, and the Gold Pass provides free parking all season long! In other words, getting four Gold Passes would cost an extra $20.00, but with $10.00 per day for parking, that extra cost will pay for itself in two visits! Not to mention other benefits of being a Gold Pass member, such as early entry into the park (a half hour early on Mondays just for Planet Snoopy, and a half hour early every day for Diamondback and The Beast), two days a year where you can "bring a friend" for only $9.99 (great for when the kids want to bring friends), and much more. There are also fantastic in-park discounts (many on food) for Gold Pass-holders only. No matter what, you'll have a great time!

So Kings Dominionites can be trusted with lasers and Kings Islanders can't be? I think it has something to do with our ride always being the "cheaper" of the Scooby Doo rides (which many members here can and will attest to).

True, but who knows what events have happened on the ride?

More than one.

Knowing more of the "surprises" that lurk within, I'm so incredibly excited for this ride. But, here's something worth asking... When it comes to the replacement to the Maestro / Shaggy in the queue line, many folks said they anticipated having Boocifer up there... However, one has to wonder if this may be an option: WARNING! Video gives away some of the really fantastic "special effects" that will likely be in Boo Blasters. So skip to About 1:35... How's that for a figure for the maestro's booth? Considering neither Carowinds or Kings Dominion have a place for a pre-show, it's logical that they didn't get this character. But we do have an appropriate area for it... So who knows? I'm not holding my breath - I'm just saying it'd be cool, and knowing how much work they put into this, it's definitely a possibility... Even, if he were up in the maestro's booth, a less complicated version, from the waist-down even! If Kings Island went about it right and had the lights dim and put a spotlight on him and blasted the audio, it would actually work and give a great introduction to the storyline!

I guess I just feel like they don't look / behave like this anymore... I feel like at night, everything's so dark. The fountains are red, the tower is purple, there are awkward blue and purple lights shining down on the park logo from the International Restaurant... It just feels dark, whereas in this picture, everything's bright! Blue and green fountains with a bright blue tower, Christmas lights all over the buildings!... I much prefer that to the tower changing between yellow and purple and stuff... It looks cheap to me. A yellow Eiffel Tower? You're kidding, right? But, maybe it still looks like this, and I'm just de-sensitized to it all. If that's the case... That's bad news. :[