bkroz

I tried! I could only find the tiny one I posted! Maybe "Tomb Raider The Ride" was the wrong thing to search ahha!

Absolutely awesome, thanks!

http://www.themeparktourist.com/features/20140609/18440/11-infamously-flubbed-and-failed-attractions?page=0,0 A list of the 11 biggest attraction flubs and failures. Wouldn't ya know it, two Kings Island rides make the list. Can you guess which 2?

I know you all are liable to think I've lost my touch, but does anyone have the big version of this image? Couldn't find it on Technifex's site, here, or KIExtreme, and I figure SOMEONE has to have it lying around somewhere?

To jump back to this, you're probably remembering a very famous flub in advertising that cost Universal a lot. In 1999, Universal Studios Islands of Adventure opened next to the original Universal Studios Florida to create the new Universal Studios Escape. Probably you can spot the issue. Islands of Adventure was incorrectly and unintentionally marketed in a way that made it seem like an addition to the original Universal Studios Florida, and the new moniker - Universal Studios Escape - hardly cleared anything up. But remember that before this time, adding a second gated park and transforming a park into what we'd now easily identify as a "multi-park resort" wasn't the norm. Besides Walt Disney World, few had done it. There was no formula. Universal sort of "discovered" it. After staggeringly low attendance and mass confusion in the public, the second park was officially renamed Universal's Islands of Adventure and the entire two-park complex became Universal Orlando Resort. Obviously it set a helpful precedent for future resorts, though. In 2001, Disneyland Park added Disney's California Adventure and became the Disneyland Resort; Tokyo Disneyland added Tokyo DisneySea and became Tokyo Disney Resort; etc. Without Universal taking the brunt of that "school of hard knocks" discovery, 2001 might've seen Disneyland California Adventure at Disneyland Escape.

Of the ride running? Or did you mean from today?

I've had just about enough of Six Flags' pricing model. I'm considering a trip to Great Adventure in a few weeks. $25 parking honestly has me thinking maybe I'd rather not. Only Terp's glowing and perpetual recommendation makes me want to stomach it. After Great America a few years ago, I emailed Six Flags and said that if it weren't for the outrageous parking (which at that point was "only" $20) I would've spent a second day at the park. That's a second day of admission, a second day of food, even a second day of Flash Pass. But I felt so ripped off by parking and wouldn't allow myself to do it again. There's something psychological about handing someone a $20 bill, getting no change, and "getting" nothing for it except a parking space. The "cheap admission, expensive everything else" scheme seems to have lessened over the years at Six Flags parks, but $25 for parking? No thank you. I guess that's a discussion for elsewhere.

Cedar Point's pizza? Did we have the same pizza? Pizza with cardboard crust served from a heat lamp under a fluorescent, flickering menu by sweaty miserable young people? Maybe it's just been a while and they changed recipes?

Wow, Dayton is not where I thought it was at all... Thought it was in Northwest Ohio. Haha.

I did not know Cedar Fair owned that Dairy Queen at Cedar Point, wow! Interesting.

What would be fantastic is if Cedar Fair provided bussing to Kings Island for tomorrow's event, but I suppose they can't even use Cedar Point's parking lot...

Screamscape just tweeted:

Both parks are sheer quality over quantity, which is wonderful. I would say that Busch Gardens gives you more things to do to build out a full day. SeaWorld has some great rides, too, and plenty of really unique shows.

Yeah, that's what I mean. Used to be (as evidenced here) many folks got their first "upside down" ride on a Corkscrew, Double Loop, a shuttle loop, or something of that scale. Now, those kinds of simple coasters are disappearing and there is no equivalent that's taking their place. Maybe it's an okay thing! Kids of this generation will doubtlessly fondly remember rides like Backlot, Verbolten, and Cheetah Hunt as their first "big" coasters. It's just different!

My first was Corkscrew at Cedar Point. Here's an interesting thought: for many of us, our first looping coaster was an Arrow or Schwarzkopf - one of their simpler ones with a single loop, double loop, corkscrew, or double corkscrew. A lot of the rides people have listed here are classics that are basically one hill, an inversion or two, and the brakes. And those coasters are slowly dying... As Arrows and Schwarzkopf creations disappear, it begs the question: will someone else step in and begin producing these very basic, medium-intensity, entry-level coasters? Premier or Zamperla could squeeze in and take over, but I can't see parks paying the premium pricing of B&M or Intamin or even Vekoma, and that's IF those manufacturers would even be interested in using manpower and resources on simple hill-hill-loop-loop-brake coasters... I can't imagine a park saying "New for 2015 - Corkscrew!" or "Double Loop!" or "Super Duper Looper!" Seems they're disappearing more than they're appearing, and eventually that'll have to change, right? Aren't parks stronger for having those double-loop coasters, even if they're not headlining attractions anymore? Just a thought!

World's tallest? I'm confused. 570 feet may be CLOSE to the total elevation change, but certainly that's not a drop height. So it just about how high a coaster is above the ground? If so, that would be the Big Shot, located 1,081 feet above Earth atop the 1,149 ft tall Stratosphere tower in Las Vegas, right? Maybe this roller coaster will have the greatest difference between its highest point and its lowest point, but it doesn't have the world's largest drop NOR is it the world's highest coaster. Either way, I have a feeling this will be $15 - $20 per ride, like Las Vegas' coasters. EDIT: Nevermind, Stratosphere no longer has its roller coaster.

Action Zone seemed a prime candidate at one time.

I think Adventure Express has a personality.

I sure do wonder that. I imagine it's a nice combination of "insider" information, assumed patterns, anecdotal records, and guessing.

I don't disagree, but if the same guest could count twice, both of the Disneyland's parks would probably have 170% more visitors than the numbers already show.

I'm confused, What does this mean? The first park you enter on any given day is the one that gets a +1 in internal attendance measures and records. So if you start at Epcot then take a monorail to Magic Kingdom, that counts as 1 visitor at Epcot. Period. Certainly computer systems track and record how visitors move around the resort, but just to simplify their own record-keeping and counts, Disney only counts the first park you enter in terms of their annual attendance numbers. It would be pretty confusing to do anything else - what if a guest park-hops to all four parks on one day? Should all four parks get a +1? Maybe, but that doesn't seem like it's inflating the number of people who actually visit the resort? That's a much bigger deal at the Disneyland Resort, where Disneyland Park and Disney California Adventure have entrances that face each other across a 200-foot plaza. There, it's simple and very common to park-hop, so a huge majority of visitors do it (on top of the huge annual pass population there). Last year, patterns shifted monumentally, so visitors enter Disney California Adventure first to get into Cars Land or get Radiator Springs Racers Fastpasses. The end result is that growth looks huge at Disney California Adventure and less impressive at Disneyland, when the case may be that visitors run into DCA, ride RSR, then go over to Disneyland for the rest of the day. Doesn't matter. DCA gets +1 for the day since it got the "first click" of the turnstile for that guest.

The popular thought is that Blackfish has a whole lot to do with it. Also worth considering, though, is that the only big installation at those parks in 2013 was Empire of the Penguin, right?

A few notable things to me: GLOBALLY Magic Kingdom (#1 globally) still on top, and with an estimated 6% increase, likely due to the first phase of New Fantasyland with the new Little Mermaid dark ride, Be Our Guest restaurant, and Enchanted Tales with Belle. Tokyo Disneyland (#2) attendance increases an incredible estimated 15.9% to overtake the original Disneyland as the second most visited theme park in the world. Impressive, but recognize that the earthquakes of 2012 have a lot to do with that increase. Sister park DisneySea (#4) up 11.3%. Disney California Adventure (#10) enters the top 10 parks worldwide. 2013 was its first full year as a re-branded park including Cars Land and Buena Vista Street. Many imagined it would surprise Disney's Hollywood Studios. That doesn't seem to be the case. Disney California Adventure grew an estimated 9.5% with the original Disneyland (#2) growing only 1.5%. Keep in mind that Disney's internal figures count only the "first click" of the turnstiles. DCA's meteoric rise and Disneyland's slight increase probably have to do with guests entering DCA first to get Radiator Springs Racers rides / FastPasses. Universal Studios Florida (#16) estimated to have a 14% increase (huge) likely due to the many projects continually opening. Expect it to pass Islands of Adventure (#11) once Potter is open NORTH AMERICA Knott's Berry Farm (#13 in North America) becomes Cedar Fair's leading park. Canada's Wonderland, Cedar Point, and Kings Island come in 14th, 15th, and 16th in North America, respectively. SeaWorld Orlando (#10), SeaWorld San Diego (#11), Busch Gardens Tampa Bay (#12), and Busch Gardens Williamsburg (#20) all have estimated negative attendance change from (-2.0%) to (-5.0%) (even though SeaWorld itself - now a public company - says the change was (-13.0%)) and blame the timing of Easter and weather, despite parks in the same regions showing double-digit growth. As expected, Epcot (#3), Disney's Animal Kingdom (#4), and Disney's Hollywood Studios (#5) round out North America's top five. They've kept that arrangement for a while. Like I said, some expected Disney California Adventure (#6) to edge out Hollywood Studios, but it missed it by 1.7 million.

Too many times in the past, ride operators have avoided tackling such situations for fear of offending someone or causing a stir. In at least one situation, they've successfully avoided offending the rider, but cost him his life. It's unfortunately common for such safety regulations to be spottily enforced. Obviously the worst case is where a rider who did not meet the safety requirements was allowed to ride and was consequently hurt. But certainly another big drawback to that sort of wavering enforcement is situations like this, where a guest feels confused or even embarrassed - how am I deemed safe to ride one time, then denied later on during the day? It's been the cause of lawsuits at Cedar Fair parks. (I wouldn't suggest you hire a lawyer.) Understand that, truthfully, you shouldn't have been allowed to enter the queue the first time if your brace prevented "safe riding" as the manufacturer or park define it. It may seem extraneous, but the manufacturer and park have to draw lines somewhere, and they happened to draw it in a way that, apparently, should've prevented you from riding at all. My suggestion to you and to ANYONE with ANY kind of limitation or impairment or brace or cast or disorder or medical issue or disability is to stop at Guest Relations and speak to someone who can CLEARLY define for you what you can and cannot ride. That information is available and is not secret. Especially in the case of guests who wear prosthetic limbs or have any sort of cast, it seems fairly obvious that you will NOT be allowed on every ride, so a stop at Guest Relations ought to be an obvious first stop. I have little pity for guests with prosthetic limbs who wait in a line for Flight of Fear then act appalled, confused, and offended at their inability to ride safely as defined by Premier Rides, the Ohio Department of Agriculture, or Cedar Fair Entertainment Company. C'mon. Ask.

Also probably because doorways don't have ceilings to collapse on you. Guessing.