bkroz

As my understanding goes, for now it means nothing. I'm sure Terp can correct me, but as I understand it, Universal has the right to use the Marvel characters in their Orlando park for as long as they want, period. But, they still have a contract for a given amount of time. So when it comes time to renew that contract for another however many years (could be every ten years, every fifty, etc.) they'll be negotiating with their next door neighbor who has the ability to charge whatever it sees fit. (And, Disney may indeed decide that they can earn better money by "leasing" the characters to Universal than by incorporating them into their own parks). Universal may also see fit to leave the existing contract and retheme that area of the park. As it is, I can't imagine Disney could come up with a ride better than The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, and if they did, the cost to build it might not be worth whatever it is Universal is paying. Rumors are always swirling that the superheroes are bound to find their way into Paris' Studios park, where the "New Generation" of characters has been the theme for a while..

And even then, we've all seen some effects in that ride break, with little to no effort to restoring them... "Boo Blasters, sponsored by Red Gold" might not let that happen... Red Gold wouldn't want its name associated with a ride where people stepped off saying, "Awe, last time it had ______. I guess it's broken."

When many of Disney's rides open, they're also sponsored. Epcot is probably the best example. "Spaceship Earth, presented by Siemens AG." "Soarin' sponsored by Nestle." "Mission: SPACE, presented by Hewlett-Packard." Especially early on, Disney finds corporations to sponsor to their rides. Those corporations help pay for the ride's care in exchange for the advertising space. For seven years after Disneyland's Indiana Jones Adventure opened in 1995, it was sponsored by AT&T. Cards passed out in the queue with translators of the ancient hieroglyphic language carved in the queue's walls had advertisements for AT&T on the back, and AT&T's logo was placed next to the ride's on park maps and signage. It's also mutually beneficial in that the sponsors want their name applied to a quality product, which means they help pay for expensive maintenance of effects, etc. (If AT&T had sponsored The Crypt, would it have changed? But the question is, would AT&T have sponsored The Crypt to begin with?) Sponsorship deals end, or renegotiation can't be reached. But especially in attractions early years, its an essential part of funding the rides and keeping them in good condition. For years, people complained about the Gillete Mach 3 razor billboard near Top Gun's station and the appliques on the ride's trains. Take a visit to a Disney park and see how inundated with brands you are (though they're often better disguised): The Carnation Cafe on Main Street derives its name from the Nestle-owned Carnation brand of beverages, and has since 1958. The same is true of the Carnation Gardens next to the castle. Main Street also has the Coca-Cola Corner, but people excuse it as a thematically appropriate flashback to the cola parlors of the early 1900's. (Again, it's well disguised). Disney maps always say "Compliments of the Eastman-Kodak Company" and feature full-sized adds for Kodak on the back (many wonder how that will change as Kodak enters restructuring and shareholders inevitably will wonder why hundreds of thousands of maps must be printed daily, "compliments" of their debtor). "Kodak Picture Spots" are denoted by maps and signage all over the parks. At Disney California Adventure, the entire Golden Vine Winery was operated entirely by Mendocino wines. As with many initial investors in that park, the company pulled out and declared a loss in 2002. The Boudin Sourdough Bread Tour, the Mission Tortilla Factory, and the Ghiradelli Chocolate Tour at California Adventure are all owned by the companies listed in their names. A deal struck with McDonalds (which recently came to an end) placed branded McDonalds products all over in Disney Parks, including "Burger Invasion" at DCA and a number of shops in the Magic Kingdom. Logos abounded and products were clearly labeled. Advertisements for Disney Channel serieses and Disney films run rampant (even beyond the rides that are arguably just giant advertisements), but people think of that as "the nature of Disneyland," whereas if Paramount had an MTV advertisement, it was considered atrocious. If you represented BMW's MINI brand, would you be excited to have it applied to the Backlot Stunt Coaster circa 2009? We know that the use of the MINI Cooper brand wasn't extended. We just assume it was that Kings Island was disinterested in continuing it... Maybe it was the other way around...

Their parks are destination parks that are open 365 days a year and have entered global lexicon as destinations. Pop culture has us believe that every "normal" family goes to Walt Disney World, no matter wealth, status, or location. The parks' origins as being connected to a famous cartoonist and his revolutionary work catapulted the parks into stardom. Many modern theme parks are based on the Disney parks. The hub-and-spokes layout (with a central icon and "lands" radiating outward) started with Disneyland, and is employed by Kings Island. In modern terms, Disney Parks is a division of the massive Walt Disney Company, one of the largest companies on the planet. It's not usual for their parks to build new rides that cost hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. A recent article posted on this website notes that World of Color at Disney California Adventure cost $100,000,000 which is approximately seventeen times more than Cedar Point's new entertainment offering for 2012. World of Color, by the way, is just part of a $1.2 billion reconstruction effort to transform an eleven year old theme park into something better. Even for the Disney corporation, $1.2 billion is a lot of money, but Cedar Fair's additions normally top off at around $25,000,000 - much more appropriate for the seasonal, locally-oriented family thrill parks they own. The "budget" versions of Tower of Terror built in California and Paris reportedly cost around $200,000,000 each - the equivalent of each Cedar Fair park getting a "Diamondback" or equally sized addition in the same year. Disney spends copious amounts of money on themeing and storytelling, which is something that Cedar Fair has historically not valued as highly. Even now, with the former president of Disneyland presiding over Cedar Fair as CEO, the budget of this one-off amusement park operator will never ever approach the hundred-million dollar installations that happen at Disney's international destination parks. In 2011, 9 of the top 11 most visited theme parks worldwide were owned by Disney or operated under the Disney name. Narrowing it down the America, the six Disney parks here were the six most attended of all amusement parks by far. It's a completely different ball game. It's the minor leagues vs. the major leagues. No one blames the minor leagues for having smaller stadium, smaller budgets, etc. because that's the nature of their business. You can find plenty of interesting statistics and graphics in this PDF.

I always genuinely enjoyed Cedar Point's, it was just that viewing it was often done on a quick jaunt from Millennium to Maverick just before closing. Kings Island's always seemed flat to me. I'll never understand why they didn't place the Starlight Spectacular at Kings Island in the Tower Gardens... That area has the overhead foliage and the natural path flow of Cedar Point's Frontier Trail. Imagine if the ponds in the Gardens were replaced, and color-changing LED lights made the ponds alternate between colors, maybe even with a few fountains leaping over paths. Best case scenario, a miniature texture-mapped projection show like Wonderland's (embedded above) cast on the mountain that formerly had the waterfall. Voila. Perfect. Compact. Bright. Encompassing. All the things that Kings Island's current Starlight show are not.

Please don't use that reference about guest who can afford to stay on site as I have proven over and over that we can stay cheaper on site than to stay off site to include staying for free at my brothers house. Disney goes out of their way to give entice all guest an opportunity to stay on site versus stay off site. Disney makes more if you spend you dollars on site versus letting you go down the street. See the quotes and italics. I was pointing out the generalized view of many posters on the Disney message boards. Many of those posters are repeating the arguments people made here concerning Fast Lane. They see class warfare and unequal perceived value in reference to this new X-Pass.

True, but early talk suggested that this system would need purchased; that you'd have to stay in a Disney hotel and pay big bucks for the personalization of an X-PASS vacation. At least for now, the tables seem to have turned on that. In that sense, it won't be the up-charge that was first suggested. And boy, was there an uprising when it was suggested! Not far from what was offered here: "People who can afford Disney hotels are probably staying in the resort longer, anyway, so why should they get priority access? Their time isn't near as "valuable," and their vacations are much longer." And that's in a resort where the virtual queueing is already free to everyone... By the way, I'm hearing from multiple sources that Disney's [ill-conceived?] Avatar land at Disney's Animal Kingdom is dead in the water... While I'm surprised, I'm not upset in the slightest.

You're talking about two different things. Dumbo has what's been called a "next-gen queue." It's the same line as always, just with added interactive elements, games, props, etc. to keep people engaged and make it feel less like they're waiting in a line. Disney World's Haunted Mansion famously got one last year, with interactive tomb stones and props. Space Mountain and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at the Magic Kingdom and Soarin' at Epcot recently got re-done queues with interactive props, and now Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios is joining, too. Those interactive queues are sometimes called "scene 0" because they come before the ride, but do add an element of storytelling and immersion that waiting in a boring old line doesn't. The premier FASTPASS thing that the Interpreter is mentioning and that you mentioned as being done from hotel rooms is separate (and by the way, rumors from well-versed Disney industry fans increasingly suggest that it will not be an up-charge. The current name of X-PASS probably won't last either, if you ask me). Rumor has it that with that system, all four of the Florida parks would double the amount of attractions in the FASTPASS network (for example, making the entire "Seas With Nemo and Friends" pavilion at Epcot its own FASTPASS attraction) so that guests can book those experiences ahead of time (but, no more than four "experiences" per park per day). At the mega-popular and highly-regimented Disney World resort, people could book a few key experiences (for example, two rides, a show, and a reserved fireworks seating area) before they even arrive, then have at most four X-PASS attractions without having to get a ticket and wait for the return time - they'll have selected the return time beforehand. The idea is that 100 people pre-book X-PASS admission to Big Thunder Mountain for the 10:00 to 11:00 window, so 100 less regular FASTPASS tickets are offered for that window, thus keeping the queue exactly as balanced as it was before. Part of ensuring that balance is to finally insist that people adhere to the window provided. What's the point of giving out 100 less FASTPASS tickets for that hour long window if people will return four hours after their window closes, anyway? So yeah, this probably has something to do with the new X-PASS. But it is rumored to be rolled out over the coming years in small increments, not when Dumbo opens this month.

There is a new grace period, according to most sources. Word is that, at least during this initial implementation, you can join the Fastpass queue up to five minutes early (whereas before, you couldn't enter the line until the exact minute your window arrived) and up to 15 minutes late. That gives an hour and twenty minute window altogether.

I want to agree with this, but it's hard. When a policy is not enforced and no consequences are present, it can still be abusing the system. Think of smoking outside of smoking areas at Kings Island. We've seen all manner of "higher-ups" in the park walk right past it, afraid to say a word. It's not enforced and the smoker doesn't face a single consequence. It's still abusing a system and reducing other's enjoyment. In that same way, Disney's de facto policy has been to not enforce FASTPASS return times, and no consequences are levied against those who return late. But it does, without a doubt, disrupt the system and increase the wait time for guests that are in the stand-by line. In that way, it is truly no different than line-jumping, just more easily masked. All in all, though, I agree with your post. It's hard to see it as "criminal" or "abusive" or "unfair" when there was no enforcement. And now that the policy changed at Disney World, I will happily follow it when I'm there.

Even if that was the intent, that's not how it was used. And of course, issues like that will still be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. It's just people having a FASTPASS for 1:00 - 2:00 in the afternoon coming back at 8:00. Don't misunderstand and think that this "privilege" to return anytime after the start time was widely used. It wasn't! Most families would notice their window had arrived, more or less drop what they were doing, and return to the attraction in time. Like tggrr said, the idea of returning anytime you want is mostly a "fanboy" thing, and I'll admit that I was basically taught to use the system that way. All of my experiences with Disneyland were with a friend's family, with my friend's father being particularly adept at Disney vacations and as much of a Disney fan as anyone I've seen online. It was fairly routine with him to to something of the following: 8:00 - Park opens. Run to Space Mountain and get a FASTPASS with a return time of 8:30. Then immediately run to Star Tours and ride it. 8:30 - Get off Star Tours, ride Space Mountain with a very short wait (since it's only 8:30 AM), then pass by Star Tours and grab a FASTPASS to come back to Star Tours at 9:15. 8:45 - Ride Indiana Jones Adventure. 9:15 - Get off Indiana Jones Adventure, then get a FASTPASS to ride it later. Then ride Big Thunder Mountain with the minimal wait of 9:15 in the morning, linger in the area for breakfast, then get a FASTPASS for Big Thunder as soon as possible... So with only an hour and a half in the park, we'd have ridden the four big attractions AND have a FASTPASS to come back to all four of them later in the later. Obviously we'd save that for evening rides, despite their return times being before noon. It was a great way to get the short line privileges that accompany the park's first hour open, and also to secure an easy-going afternoon. It wasn't unusual to have four or five FASTPASS tickets in my pocket, having to search through them when we decided to return to a ride. I never saw it as cheating or anything, though it does bog down the line. In a system as complex as FASTPASS, the computer literally counts each and every distributed ticket and weighs that distribution against the "stand-by" line to ensure that both lines move quickly. It uses each ride's throughput to determine how many FASTPASS tickets it can give out for each hour long window before moving on to the next window, so returning late does bog the whole system down. It's good that it's being enforced, I think, and on my next trip to Disneyland, I'll be more conscientious about misusing it (though the return times are still not enforced at Disneyland Resort).

Where are you getting that from? Their website is still offering 2012 swim lessons on the main page.

Sounds like a Facebook-inspired pipe dream. Super tall, launched coaster with a massive loop? As an aside: I thought Dominator at Geauga Lake / Kings Dominion had the world's tallest loop (135'). It was always marketed that way, and it opened two months after Krypton Coaster... Do the folks at Fiesta Texas possibly include the ten foot tall Superman figure on top of the loop?

I hate that Universal Orlando Resort and the Disneyland Resort are on opposite coasts. I don't care much for Universal Hollywood or Walt Disney World, so it makes for tough choices when determining vacation destinations... First world problems, I know.

And again, a park filing a zoning permit to build a roller coaster is not a "leak." That's a publicly-accessible document that clearly states the park's intentions. Same with anything visually accessible. Verbolten's information wasn't "leaked" when people guessed (correctly) that it's "America's first" element was drop track, and it's information wasn't "leaked" when people got pictures of its drop track. It wasn't "leaked" thereafter when Facebook fans Googled the ride's name and saw pictures of that drop track, then spouted it out on Facebook as though they were insiders (even though it probably felt like a "leak" to those Facebook fans who don't know any better). It certainly wasn't "leaked" when the park announced the drop track on the recent construction tour, and it won't be "leaked" when people standing in line rant and rave to their friends about how cool the drop track is. Now, if we saw Cedar Fair's financial plan for the next five years and saw the roller coasters that it planned to scatter across its parks, that would be a leak. Information that was not supposed to be seen ends up being seen, and in far more detail than a park would probably prefer. That's in my opinion, at least.

True, but I think that was more in line with people noticing the trademark filing for the name "Stratosoar" and quickly surmising that Cedar Point would get a 400-foot StarFlyer (which, of course, ended up not being the case, but close enough). That's not so much a leak as it is a guess based on investigative work. For example, if Disney does end up building the multi-ringed carousel that Terp posted the trademark filing of earlier this week, it doesn't mean Disney's plans leaked. It means someone found a patent filing, then Disney actually used its own patent to build an attraction. For information to "leak" implies to me that it was well guarded, but someone on the inside secretly let it slip. For example, the recent "leak" of Universal Studios Florida's Harry Potter land. But finding a public patent or trademark that speaks for itself doesn't mean the same thing, in my opinion. People like pizzababy try to "leak" information that they got from unreliable sources to begin with, causing mass confusion on sites like Facebook and mass eye-rolling on sites like this one.

Revenge of the Mummy leaves me quite satisfied. But otherwise, you're right that Islands offers much more. People will travel for Spiderman, Harry Potter, even Jurassic Park and Seuss Landing. But the Simpsons, Terminator, even Despicable Me don't seem like attractions that travelers would get excited for necessarily. What do I know?

But how many wrong claims are there for each right one? And none of us really knew about WindSeeker. It was just easy to guess since Cedar Point, Knott's Berry Farm, and Canada's Wonderland had all announced theirs when suddenly there became last minute scuttlebutt that Kings Island would receive something medium-sized... The point is, do we think pizzababy / dreamer / whatever is indeed ahold of insider information?

What's that we say around here? "Those who know do not say, and those who say do not know"?

Diamondback does have redundant hydraulic systems that keep the lap bars locked. Accidents like this are few and far between, and don't happen often at parks that are as mandated and controlled as the parks in the U.S. (and especially in Ohio). Here, what would be considered a "recommendation" from the ride's manufacturers is legally a mandate. When the creators of Racer suggest that all of their roller coasters across the nation run forwards only, in Ohio, there is no choice. B&M chose that restraint system and in Ohio, every specification that they "recommended" became fact. Cedar Fair is also famous for their redundant safety systems (for example, an over-the-shoulder restraint and a seatbelt. On Backlot Stunt Coaster, they previously counted the door as a safety system, so when it was removed, a seatbelt was added). Basically at a Cedar Fair park in Ohio, you can feel very much assured that you are being taken care of. On Tower of Terror, you have one seatbelt. No bar to hold on to in front of you, no over-the-shoulder restraint to grip... Just one single seat belt. And at times, a sinister bell hop will mention that, should a sibling annoy you, you can "push their red eject button," speaking of the button that keeps the seat belt in place. Of course, the computer locks the belt when the ride begins the cycle, but I still don't think such a suggestion (even joking) would fly at a Cedar Fair park.

So around here, users can be blocked, then return with two, three, four, infinite different user names freely? I'll be the first to say I don't like this or think it's conducive to a very bright atmosphere here... Secondly, Rivertown was entirely remodeled. Then Planet Snoopy. Then Coney Mall. Action Zone is literally the last sizable themed area in the park, so it's quite obvious to most everyone here that it would soon receive the repainting / repaving work that the rest of the park got just to maintain the infrastructure that is now "the norm." You divined nothing. And worse, the guesses you did make were paired with outlandish Son of Beast fodder that circulates well on the park's Facebook, but has no place here. The reason you were banned - if I were to venture a guess - is because you're an outrageously loud know-it-all who is no more informed than the least informed of us here. Pizzababy, Dreamer, or whatever the third one is... You really submit no more positive, constructive conversation here than the worst of the Facebook users spouting things they heard from friends of friends and pretending that being a seasonal, minimum wage employee at an establishment affords you inside information on the inner workings and multi-million dollar decisions. For example, if I work at Taco Bell, no one comes down from the home office to personally give me tidbits of information, giving me insight into tens of millions of dollars of financial information and telling me everything that the Taco Bell corporation has planned for the next five years. Even if they did, how long ago was your tenure at the park? Because there's a new head honcho in town, so even if you did overhear something from an actually credible source (read, not another seasonal employee working a food stand), then there's every chance in the world that the plan has changed. You contribute so little here, and you seem intent on sticking around despite official removals just so that you can continue to cause unease and discomfort. Is it not obvious enough that your current style of communication has won you no victories and earned you no friends? So why continue...?

I'd visit either of those Universal parks in Orlando before I'd visit all four of the Disney ones there.

What they mean is that a Google bicycle equipped with cameras actually drove through the park and captured all of the pathways, etc. so that using Google maps or Google Earth, you could simulate "walking" through the park. At Universal's parks in Orlando, for example, you can drag the little yellow man and set him down next to the Pharos Lighthouse, then use your keyboard to walk through the entire park, turning and zooming in on rides and attractions as you go. That was done by having someone actually ride a bike through the park equipped with Google's cameras. It's one of the few times they opened the twin gates at Universal's Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios Florida. They're really just for decoration... EDIT: On Google maps, you have to click the guide arrows on screen. In Google Earth, you can use the keyboard arrows to "seamlessly" walk around with images fading one to the next. It's really nice way to explore the nooks and crannies of those parks... So much detail in the architecture, etc. and a great way to "visit" if you're having withdrawal, as I commonly do!

I had heard from quite a few sources that it was a geocaching device, and that the person who had placed it called in to the resort when he heard the news to assure them that it was harmless. Either way, consider that both parks' hours were extended and additional performances of "World of Color" and "Fantasmic!" were added to compensate for guests' miserable mornings. Sounds like a sincere apology that Disney didn't even really have to issue... ... Especially compared to "No Rain Checks Island" when most of the park (including rides, shows, food establishments, and bathrooms) lost power last summer... Anyone else remember that? I don't think I'll ever allow myself to forget...

Remember that Pressler and Harris were entirely content with letting Disneyland's 50th Anniversary slip by with nothing but a special parade and a few decorations. It was Ouimet who came in and changed it into the enormous marketing campaign that it became, plussing every old ride in the process and making the 50th Anniversary a year long extravaganza of publicity and improvement!