bkroz

If that's the most idiotic thing you see at a Halloween event, consider yourself lucky. Or visually impaired.

A pretty cool idea. But guys, this also relies on the notion that all scareactors have been informed and educated about what to do (or not do) when they see one of these. If relevant past behavior is the best indicator of future behavior, many scareactors probably don't even know this is sold. Perhaps when you purchase one, you'll be told, "If the scareactors are still scaring you, have them call Guest Relations and we'll explain it to them."

They're maintained and well-cared for. Every once in a while, technology leaps forward and they're rebuilt. The first human Audio Animatronics (a registered trademark of the Walt Disney Company, by the way ) figure line was called A-1. Their most recent incarnation is the A-100. The earliest Audio Animatronics were pneumatic. As the figures became heavier and larger, they became hydraulic. Many were updated when that technology became the standard (except the Enchanted Tiki Birds, who remain pneumatic. Otherwise they'd drip hydraulic fluid on the audience below whenever they malfunctioned). Hydraulics are still the standard. Technological leaps forward since have been in programming and internal actuators. Whereas a single actuator used to be assigned to each hand, for example, newer figures have one for each finger. Disneyland's Lincoln is also a great example of the newest, most fluid and lifelike technology in a refurbished figure. Instead of hydraulics, it uses electronics. Disney's trademarked the technology as Autonomatronic, which allows furrowing brows, wrinkling nose, drooping eyelids, etc. Even the lips-and-tongue articulation is beyond anything Disney had ever accomplished before, simply because you can fit more into a smaller space. Imagineer Tony Baxter has often discussed his desire to update the Indiana Jones hydraulic Audio Animatronics in Disneyland's ride with Autonomatic versions. Disney partnered with microelectromechanical engineering firm Sarcos to rebuild the figures for Pirates of the Caribbean and the Wicked Witch of the West at Hollywood Studios' Great Movie Ride, which are now very, very fluid in their movements. See also, Sinbad's Storybook Voyage at Tokyo DisneySea for surprisingly fluid motion from "it's a small world" sized figures. A great example is Spaceship Earth, which has some of the most sophisticated and lifelike Audio Animatronics out there right now despite their frames being from the 1980s. The next big leap appears to be projection technology. It was used first in the Sebastian figures on the Little Mermaid dark rides. His head was too small for the mechanisms required to power eyelids / pupils, so they instead used a miniature projector. They then famously used the same idea to bring the Seven Dwarfs to life on Magic Kingdom's new coaster. Supposedly, those figures are more properly robotic, using repetitive mechanical motions more than pre-programmed profiles. I'm not privy to that information, but the projected faces reduce quite a bit of mechanical strain while being totally lifelike! ANY Audio Animatronic takes lots of love and care. And unlike flames on Backlot, they can't be left broken for weeks at a time without really harming the ride experience. You know what's easier / cheaper? 3D screens... That's a conversation for another time... http://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20140709/19259/15-worlds-most-incredible-animatronics

Park had such a different feel. Not better or worse. Just different! A very different place to visit for many reasons.

I do wonder how this is being felt across the chain. One of the major downfalls of Six Flags branding. Whether it's Over Georgia, New England, Worlds of Adventure, or St. Louis, your local park probably just goes by "Six Flags." MOST of the headlines in the linked articles above say what? "Six Flags Fight..." "Massive Brawl at Six Flags Fright Fest," etc. If I were a member of the general public who visited Six Flags, seeing that kind of headline trending on Twitter or Facebook, I'd probably assume it was my Six Flags, plant that in the back of my mind, and move on without reading further.

That's not always an accurate predictor either, though. And then there's Fast Lane, which is much more likely to be purchased if a 30 minute wait is advertised as 45.

I'm sorry I hurt you > I'm sorry if I hurt you > I'm sorry you were hurt

Wowzers. Hard to pick a favorite terrible SLC color scheme between that and Cedar Fair's Thunderhawk while at Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom: Oofa! Not so easy on the eyes!

Is... is that Christina Aguilera hitting a high note edited onto an Australian roller coaster?

That's the new thing to do, though. Standalone mazes (and upcharge mazes at some parks) make a killing by going beyond the normal thing and making YOU a player in the story. You have to complete a task before you can move on. It's much more psychologically engaging than just walking through hallways with folks jumping out. Not saying if it's good or bad, but it allows mazes to be "more extreme" and thus worth an upcharge.

What a shame. How many of us have seen a local mall closed due to a lack of safety, or even a perception of it? Are amusement parks immune? How can Six Flags combat this? As much as we might hate it, higher admission pricing might stifle this pretty quickly. You can artificially create a top tier experience (over time) if you price it that way. As it is, kids getting into Fright Fest Presented By SNICKERS for $30 a pop. Even worse... season passes. Currently as low as $49.99 for admission to Six Flags America, Six Flags Great Adventure, and ALL Six Flags Parks. Read: cheap babysitting. We all know it. Walt Disney built Disneyland very strategically: too far for Los Angeles youth to visit, far enough from the beach that folks wouldn't try to enter wet and without shoes (keeping in mind, both of those obliterated precedent of building parks on the water and in the city). You've probably heard of the rules: no visible tattoos, no long hair past the shoulders, etc. The idea of an obscene t-shirt would've been unheard of since folks wore suits, but Disneyland today doesn't stand for it. Not for a second. Obviously Anaheim became its own low income, not-so-safe area. Up went the admission prices and voila. Separately, Disney Fans valiantly argue that Disneyland should eliminate annual passes altogether, or at LEAST offer the highest-tier (most expensive) pass exclusively. That's not for the same reasons, but it would have the same results: thinning the crowds down. As it is, the park is practically overrun with Southern California locals who get ultra-cheap annual passes and flood into the park on Sundays. You create a more exclusive experience through pricing. A lot seems to fall into place that way.

Cedar Fair assured that no one could take control of Geauga Lake. That's the way they wanted it. At least Six Flags left the skeleton of a park for someone to build on.

When Disney's Hollywood Studios opened, the tram tour was 2+ hours. Guests would first board trams in the area now used for the Animation exhibit. The trams would pass through a costuming department that was truly and honestly making costumes for films that shot at the park. Then the trams would pass through the "Streets of America" facades, showing off a fake New York, San Francisco, and small town. Then the tram would pass through Catastrophe Canyon before pulling up to a midway break point where riders would disembark and could rest as long as they liked. The Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure was there to give kids time to play before the tour continued. The second half - a guided tour - stopped by the water effects tank for some guest interaction. Then you'd climb up to the top of the park's three active sound stages and walk along catwalks to see in-production films being shot. Then you'd pass through the animation building where real Disney animators were at work making real full-length animated Disney films on the other side of the glass. Pretty quickly, it was obvious that the park wasn't big enough to handle crowds, so the Streets of America were pulled from the tour and became free-access walking areas for guests. Not long after, the three active soundstages were pulled from the tour and made into separate attractions. (Today, they're Toy Story Midway Mania, Walt Disney: One Man's Dream, Legend of Jack Sparrow, and Voyage of the Little Mermaid). Opening those sound stages as rides also opened the tram route behind the Chinese Theatre to pedestrians as "Mickey Ave," so the entrance to the Backlot Tour was moved to the end of Mickey Ave - its current location. The big art deco arch currently leading to the Art of Animation exhibit with the park's logo on it was originally the entrance marquee to the Studio Tour. In other words, the ride began like Universal Studios Hollywood's Studio Tour, where it was meant to be a long, engaging, and personal look into a real, active movie studio. Obviously when the working-studio idea went kaput, then the park needed to expand its public areas, the ride became a shell of its former self. The car stunt show absorbed even MORE land and for the last ten years or so, it hasn't even been worth having it around. Here's a map of the park during its opening season. Notice just how little of the park was available to pedestrians. Wow! Anything in purple was "the backlot," only accessible to those on the Studio Tour. The "theme park" is in orange and red.

Seriously though... A 16% drop? What?

My favorite from the article is: Summer, okay. Winter weather?!

Which is to say, it'll have almost nothing in common with Delirium in real life. Falcon's Fury vs. Liberty Launch.

Did you really think he was going to invest no more than $2.5 million a year? THAT starts in 2016. Big investment this year. Medium for 2015. Then $2.5 million a year perpetually thereafter.

Replace The Beast's trains with standing ones. Paint it white, tear down the trees, rename it. Same ride? Same credit? Replace The Bat's trains with inverted, non-swinging ones. Paint it green, build a fake mountain around it. Rename it Forest Peak Express. Same ride? Same credit? Replace Mantis's stand up trains with sitting, floorless ones. Re-paint, re-plant, re-name, re-theme. Same ride? Same credit?

I don't think the cost would be chump change by any means, but certainly worthwhile for a marketable amenity. How much good will has Holiday World earned by trumpeting free wifi (which is free at most large public locations... stores, malls, airports, restaurants, etc) and free inner tubes (I've yet to see a water park charge for inner tubes). Keeping in mind that Holiday World does charge for those services and the rest (parking, sunscreen, soda pop, etc) just not per item.

Six Flags benefits from a consistent brand in that department. They can produce a commercial that simply says "Go Big! Go Six Flags!" and folks will automatically associate it with their local park. Even Disney Parks are often marketed and united under the Disney Parks & Resorts banner for advertising purposes, online ads, vacation planning DVDs, etc. I remember during the Paramount -> Cedar Fair transition, a spokesperson saying that the parks would NOT be labeled "Cedar Fair's _______" because they - correctly - recognized that that brand name didn't have wide recognition. So they removed prefixes and united all their parks with the same typeface logo and consistent marketing. That makes sense. Everything's streamlined in that regard. I think the GP does notice the wrong rides in commercials. The question is, do they care? Sure they may not be intimately familiar with the park's lineup, but when Diamondback shows up in a Cedar Point commercial, do you really think locals won't notice? Or when Raptor played in a Kings Island commercial pre-Banshee? Of course the GP notices. But yes, it's irrelevant to most.

I think it's a little silly to imagine that our choices are a wooden coaster or wifi. I think some folks may be overestimating the cost of such a project. Would it be cheap? No. But $10 - $15 million to equip the park with wifi? I don't think so. Pyro, some of us here DON'T take our smart devices. But it's not a black and white topic. Just because you have a cell phone in the park with you doesn't mean you're sitting on benches tweeting and completely missing nature and coasters. Just because you leave your phone in the car doesn't mean you're having some transcendental experience connecting with the park and appreciating its gardens. Like it or not, you're not going to convince everyone or even most people to leave their electronics at home. It's 2014 and wifi is more of a basic service than a premium upgrade anymore. It's expected at major, large public places. And that is not a horrible thing. When folks Instagram a photo of Banshee or follow @KingsIslandPR on Twitter, they're not only providing free marketing for the park; they're also interacting with the park in new ways. People used to bring / buy disposable cameras. Now, all of their friends get to see well-filtered, high-quality photos of Kings Island instantly on Instagram, and connect with others who use the geotag. You can talk about Kings Island while you're there, ask the park questions, join conversations, and participate in giveaways on Twitter. That's not a disconnect from the park-going experience. It's a new way to re-connect.

Disney has not yet leveraged their Star Wars ownership to any measurable degree. That's going to happen before much else. No matter what, it's GREAT to see movement in Orlando. Finally, something. New Fantasyland is a great addition. Each park deserves something of that caliber or MORE. Epcot and Studios could each do with billion dollar re-builds if we're being honest. Hopefully this (and Maelstrom's unfortunate closing) signal a start of investment. At this point, it's needed.

Park needs a good, 21st century wooden coaster, a well-themed suspended top spin, and a non-interactive family dark ride using no 2D cutouts. Based on my own desires? Yep.

The videographer's favorite wave pool is... as Holiday World!

Heh, yeah. Who would ever trust an Intamin observation tower from the 1970s? See also.