bkroz

To the way I understand it, no one here is actively rooting against Kentucky Kingdom's success. Just the opposite – it seems that many here have simple, common sense ideas that could go a long way. The people of Louisville don't deserve to lose a park simply because there are inept decisions made by the park's management. We know that.

Even I -- as an ardent fan of Disneyland over Walt Disney World -- admit that their tower is technically more impressive. For those who haven't been on either / both, in Florida the elevator begins in a show shaft where it rises to view two show scenes. In the second, the elevator advances horizontally out of the shaft and moves forward through a show scene before entering a drop shaft at the front of the building. There are four show shafts sharing two drop shafts. Because the show scenes occur "behind" the building's drop facade, the tower is imposingly tall. In California, Tokyo, and Paris, the elevator begins at a loading dock before being pushed backwards into a shaft that serves as both the show shaft and the drop shaft. The result is that the elevator moves much more quickly and the drop is more of a "surprise" in those three towers. Also, the physical building itself is more or less backwards since the show scenes have to be visible from the same shaft that the drops take place in. As a result, Florida's is certainly more intimidating and appears much, much taller because of its flat front whereas the other three have a "boxy" show building in front that contains the dark ride scenes.

I would be upset if the WDW was changed just since it is such a unique attraction and fits into the theme of that area of the park so well. But I suppose if they redid that entire section of the park and did a fantastic overlay it wouldn't be as bad, but feels unneeded. However having ridden the one at DCA I don't feel it would be that huge of a loss really. I enjoyed the ride and it was fun but it's really just a standard Drop Tower experience and it is at the very end of the street so could easily be annexed into a new Marvel land. And as has been suggested for a theme it wouldn't even need to change much, just be similar story to Tokyo Disney Sea with the Collector's place/collection versus Lord Henry Mystic's.I disagree about it being a standard Drop Tower experience. I haven't been to nearly as many parks as you veterans on this site, but to me it seems pretty unique. Doesn't it have a random drop sequence? I've personally never been on a Drop Tower ride like it.Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk The one in California doesn't have a random drop sequence, but I would call the four Towers of Terror dark rides before I'd call them Drop Towers. And in that category, they rank among the best in the world. The best in the opinions of many. Maybe thegajone could write off turning the extensively, deeply themed exterior and queue into a futuristic alien collector's tower (why does he have a tower again?) but I couldn't. That would be something like saying, "Well, Indiana Jones Adventure could be a Star Wars ride when you really think about it. Just turn the Temple of the Forbidden Eye into a Jedi Temple" or "Space Mountain could easily be an Indiana Jones ride. Just stop projecting stars and add plants all over the place." To turn a 200-foot-tall 1930s grand Hollywood hotel in the park's Hollywoodland / Sunset Blvd. that's packed with detail and extravagence into a futuristic tower owned by an alien oddities collector? And why would an elevator be involved? Nonsense.

Blackhole, I'll copy-and-paste my advice for a third and final time: As we all suggested in that thread, you must must must stop overthinking it. This one single solitary day that you're spending at Kings Island is going to go terribly if you envision it as the most important thing that will ever happen to you. As I suggested in that original thread, figure out what to do FIRST, what you absolutely HAVE to do, and then go with the flow. It will not help you to carry a schedule around in your pocket. It does appear that you're an Internet troll since A ) you never return to the many, many, many threads you create to follow-up, confirm that you've read our responses, or react to what we've typed and B ) you continue to create topic after topic about this same day despite those threads being filled with our responses begging you to contain this discussion in one place instead of starting multiple threads. As we've said many times now, any and all questions you have about that one day you're visiting this summer belong in the thread you can find by clicking here. My sincere advice: post only in that thread if the thing you're posting is about that day! Any new ideas, changes to your "schedule" for the day, questions, hopes, fears, etc. belong there. We have told you that in every thread you create. More than likely, all the planning you're doing will actually interrupt your fun, NOT help it. We've said that in every thread you've started. So now, let's contain this conversation to one thread.

This is the most absurd rumor I've read in a very long time, clearly invented just to see how far it would travel. A 1930s pueblo deco hotel rethemed a science fiction superhero ride. C'mon folks. It would be more cost effective to just build a new ride from scratch.

This newly-posted FAQ about changes at SeaWorld seems refreshingly, brutally candid. https://seaworldcares.com/en/2016/03/Answering-The-Questions-You-are-Asking-About-SeaWorlds-Future/ For example: Other questions address what the future of SeaWorld may look like (Dolphins? Sea lions?) and why the Blue World project is officially cancelled.

For quite a few years, HUSS would've been happy to sell you a Giant Top Spin with a whopping 77-person capacity. Just a few years later, the HUSS Giant Top Spin was still available... carrying only 51(?). And now? Well... Maybe for the right price.

Quoting myself from another one of your now-locked threads:

It just makes sense! Alpengeist, Tempesto, Verbolten, Invadr. But then again: Gwazi, ShieKra, Kumba, Montu... Cheetah Hunt? Cobra's Curse?

Not to mention that according to BGWfans.com, that section of the park has a 60 foot height limit. They're already digging 20 feet into the ground to support the ride's drop!

Good choice. Haha! Remember that you can vote once a day until April 1. I'm going to try to make a point of it because, y'know, this thing is likely to last a while and I'd like it to be named what I want it to be named. Is that rude? Hah!

Officially announced a few minutes ago at a Member Preview Day. All new wooden coaster by GCI, 74 foot drop into a ravine, almost 50 miles per hour. The theme is Viking invading New France. https://seaworldparks.com/en/buschgardens-williamsburg/pages/project2017?from=Top_Nav The world's first crowd-sourced roller coaster, fans will pick the name. You can vote once per day until April 1. Viking Raider Invadr Battle Klash None of them are terrible names (unlike when surveys for Verbolten offered Black Forest Turbo, Verbolten, or Autobahn Express), but you all know I LOVE a motif in my parks. Tempesto, Griffon, Verbolten, Alpengeist... I gotta go for the one-word name with a foreign feel. Invadr fits right in. The teaser trailer mentions that you can "attack with the Vikings or protect the village" which seems very dueling / racing coaster-y (see Gwazi) but the one piece of concept art shown is clearly a single track. Which kinda stinks, 'cause dueling would've been a cool avenue to take. But, a very cool addition. Can't wait to see more.

Breeding in captivity is a very calculated and intentional affair (no pun intended). Artificial insemination, sample collection by trainers, close monitoring of ovulation cycles, etc. To not breed the whales is exactly that... to stop breeding them. Funny enough, SeaWorld's argument when San Diego held breeding hostage was to say that it was downright inhumane to stop the whales from breeding, even if the way they were bred wasn't very natural at all. They seem to have changed their mind there.

Yep. Blackhole6670, any and all questions you have regarding your trip this summer should probably be in that thread. When you post a new post in that thread, it will "bump" that thread back to the top of the discussion board as malem said so we'll all know to read it. Starting a new thread for every question you have regarding that one single day isn't very productive. Like malem said, you've got plenty of responses to the hand-holding question in the original thread you started. Read through those first. If they still don't answer your question, post in that thread with any additional information you need. See ya at that thread over there.

The good thing is, at least as far as I can see, Tempesto DID drop the overt motorcycle / motocross theming and styling before it was built. (Concept art and leaked ride renderings had literal motorcycle silhouettes.) It's still much more modern than the rest of the park, but it's not 21st century. More like an old world Italian carnival. Remember that its codename was Diavolo. Now we know why: the real 1902 stunt performer of that name. End of the day, that's no excuse. And you're right about Verbolten. "The Old Country" certainly doesn't make you think of German roadsters. But at least Verbolten has an air of myth and legend and cultural Oktoberfest celebration. Ah well. I also think Festa Italia could / should become Greece. Just depends on what management deems worthwhile. Truthfully, that area is pretty well filled now. If a switch to Greece was going to happen, it probably would've alongside Tempesto as happened to Oktoberfest and Verbolten. Still, there's precedent – Ireland originally was a second English hamlet! Art imitates life... And 100 years ago, too.

I agree. However, Disney is typically in it for every cent they can get. It's odd that they appear content with making on-ride photos easily accessible to the public on every single attraction. Could it be that enough guests go on to purchase the real thing anyway? Could it be that enough guests pre-purchase PhotoPass bundles and packages to warrant the accessible photos? Could it be that the attractions at Disneyland were often built before we all had HD cameras in our pockets? But then, why doesn't Disney change it? Could it be that Disney doesn't mind guests taking photos of their photos, period? Just some interesting thoughts!

At Disneyland, on-ride photos are displayed on large projected screens at face-level with no watermark and no Cast Member around. They're available for purchase at kiosks that come up later along the exit path, but most ride exits are clogged by guests taking photos of their on-ride photos. A tacit endorsement? A quick search for Splash Mountain Photos on Google yields many results, most of which are photographs taken on cell phones of the projected screens.

Quality over quantity. That's always been Busch Gardens' tagline in my head. I'd rather have "the best" than "the most / tallest / fastest/ steepest / longest / meanest / most upsy-downsy-spins-a-roundsy." Busch Gardens Williamsburg has always just been a class act to me. Quality over quantity. Tempesto tested it. It doesn't fit the park's very specific, thoughtful, intentional atmosphere. It's a fine ride and I absolutely enjoy it, but not something I think the park needed. Like you said, Busch Gardens has stayed remarkably true to its vision, and Tempesto was out of sync. I'm eager to see how this develops. I warned in the original post so I don't think we need to use them here, but spoilers can be placed between the tags: [spoiler] [/spoiler] You can post code by using the "< >" button in the editing panel.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS For a few weeks now, Busch Gardens Williamsburg has been teasing its 2017 addition. Obviously that's fairly unusual since the 2016 season hasn't even begun yet! Fans have been going crazy. The new ride is confirmed to be placed in the park's New France (aka Canada) section. Given the relationship we've seen between Tampa and Williamsburg parks in the past where they recieve complimentary rides a year apart (ShieKra and Griffon, Montu and Alpengeist, Kumba and Drachen Fire, Cheetah Hunt and Verbolten), the expectation was that the 2017 attraction in Virginia would be a Mack spinning family coaster – the counterpart to Florida's Cobra's Curse opening this year. And a spinning family coaster would be easy enough to theme to a Canadian logging outpost, right? But after lots of digging and analysis, BGWFans.com seems to have uncovered that the new addition for 2017 will be... What do you think? Also, obviously don't read on if you don't want possible spoilers.

I think it would be viewed differently than when zoos take in animals for rehab purposes. I don't know. It's funny – so many people were touched by SeaWorld and their orca whales. When I wrote the feature on Geauga Lake that's been posted here, I expected at least SOME comments about SeaWorld and "good riddance" and "release the whales." Instead, overwhelmingly, of the 350+ comments, the most heartfelt are often from people recalling how incredible and moving and spectacular SeaWorld was to them. Not one mentions Blackfish or its legacy. Those people only remember how stunning SeaWorld and Shamu were to them. I think that's telling. We're able to look at SeaWorld in hindsight and recognize that – for many of us – it's our first or only chance to see dolphins, whales, sharks, sea lions, otters, and walruses up close. We remember that. And presented with a closed SeaWorld park, we mourn the loss of those memories and experiences that we won't be able to share with our kids. Are the people who mourn Ohio's SeaWorld the same ones that would boycott the park today for its killer whales? Maybe... Maybe things just look different in retrospect. There's no point to be made here. Just thinking out loud.

^ I would bet big money that SeaWorld will not take an orca from the wild for ANY reason or ANY amount of time ever again. Which is probably how it should be, for quite a few reasons. Last we all heard, the Blue World project had stalled. Now we can imagine why. The stadiums will likely be removed. I wouldn't doubt that the existing pools will now be recast as large open tanks, perhaps with a few more scenic elements, but there's no reason to expand the way they had previously announced. Imagine taking your tabby cat or Labrador who's seen the outside world only through a window and letting them go in the middle of a dense forest. "Good luck!"

I think this is far and away the best choice they could've made. The presence of captive orcas is controversial enough to overshadow the very real, very good work that SeaWorld does as an organization. It was also enough to overshadow that the parks they run are among the best zoological institutions out there in my opinion. And I've admitted, even many SeaWorld supporters like me have been able to take a step back during this ongoing discussion and see that the choreographed orca shows – while well-disguised as celebrations of power and strength – really were remnants of a bygone era. I don't know if this change will bring back anyone who adamantly rallied against SeaWorld (many of whom no doubt opted to go to their local AZA park instead, because that's "better"). I just hope that SeaWorld can reverse its fortunes enough to outlive the last of its orcas and come out of this. I think it's very important and intentional that they're not leaving the breeding behind begrudgingly. (Remember when San Diego said they could have their new tank IFF SeaWorld agreed to stop breeding whales, and SeaWorld sued in response? Great for the public image). Instead of whining and arguing to the last, their language is "As society’s understanding of orcas continues to change, SeaWorld is changing with it." That's the right conclusion for them to have drawn in my mind, and the right foot to put forward. While the breeding stops today and orca shows change very, very soon, this is a VERY long-term solution in my mind. Which is fine. Because the short term solution is Mako, for example: building really great thrill parks with complimentary, high quality zoological elements that will make SeaWorld MORE than a just a very good, very controversial zoo with an entry fee 10x that of your local zoo.

"Willy Wonka-esque." I wonder how the licencors of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory feel about all these headlines? Here's information from Universal: http://blog.universalorlando.com/whats-new/toothsome-chocolate-factory/ This will replace the NBA City location across the lagoon at CityWalk. (NBA had signed a deal with Disney instead, to bring an NBA-themed restaurant to Disney Springs to replace the massive DisneyQuest. That deal apparently fell through. Good news for Universal, though, since this is a much more compelling and interesting concept to me.) If only Hershey sponsored the restaurant. I don't care for their chocolate really, but I sure do love their chocolate factory dark ride. Would've been wildly cool to see a version of it in Orlando.

The benefit of Planet Snoopy being that Snoopy and company have left a footprint in pop culture enough to warrant their use today. They're recognized. Increasingly. Tak? Danny Phantom? Little Bill? Avatar? Lazytown? To today's kids: Who? Even though they're as "classic" as Peanuts in my mind, today's kids probably wouldn't be energized at the sight of Rugrats or Wild Thornberrys. If they would've stuck around, I think that would've been fine, but I can see why they didn't. By their very nature, TV shows for kids come and go. If Nickelodeon Universe had stuck around, the rides today would probably be themed to Sanjay and Craig, Henry Danger, Rabbids Invasion, and Nicky, Ricky, Dicky and Dawn, which would leave many of US asking: Who?

Like its namesake. #NickelodeonProblems