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bkroz

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Everything posted by bkroz

  1. ^^ This is what plays during the ride cycle. It syncs up surprisingly well (except for the fact that it really crescendos and gets most dramatic as the ride slows to a stop... literally at about 1:35 is where the brakes kick in). It does admittedly make the ride much more dramatic and adds a really unique touch. My friend admitted to "tearing up" as we flipped backwards towards the former lava pit because it's such an epic type experience now. They also play a really fantastic, slow, morbid, eerie loop of the hook of the song while you're loading (which is much much much better than howling wind) and it builds very slowly and appropriately into the ride cycle. I like it.
  2. But consider if you managed an amusement park that played Western music in line for a Western roller coaster. Now let's say you get two separate, very different forms of complaints: One group says that the music is too loud and that it is disruptive and annoying at best, painful at worst. This group says that playing the music hurts their ears and makes them uncomfortable - enough so that they take the time to visit the park office to complain. A second group (clearly made up of park regulars and enthusiasts who are around often enough to notice such things) says that the music is now too quiet and that they just aren't feeling the immersion, and they say that the themeing is being neglected by turning down the music. Both are reasonable points of view, and there certainly is a happy medium in there somewhere. But if you operated the park, which group would you be more likely to alter your operations toward pleasing? That is, which is more important overall? Guest comfort, or themeing? In the end, even Disney would say guest comfort... Of course, maybe the music was at a 10, and now it's at a 3. They could probably put it at a 6 and make everyone happy... It's trial and error, and on something so trivial (no offense, because I certainly fight for a lot of trivial things, too, even on the very ride we're speaking about), they may not be too worried.
  3. He's referring to the one at Universal Studios Hollywood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurassic_Park:_The_Ride_%28Universal_Studios_Hollywood%29 The IOA attraction (and the ones that followed) is merely a clone of the original. A slightly more low-budget sibling, I'd say.. I wish it was a clone! I suppose Orlando more than made up for its shortcomings with their version of The Revenge of the Mummy...
  4. As a standalone park? I'd say 6.5 - 7. Compared to recent seasons? 8. Compared to all seasons since 1972? I'd guess a 5. Based on the lack of Tomb Raider: The Ride? 2.
  5. Looks fun! But check out the front of the train at :34... That looks to be the worst of it, but I'm not getting that butter-smooth feeling from this video... Again, we'll see I suppose.
  6. Don't forget the seat belts on Backlot Stunt Coaster (which were added when the car's fake doors were removed - the doors, after all, counted as a redundant safety feature, and Cedar Fair seems to require at least two on every roller coaster... Really! Think about it!)
  7. ^ True dat! Friends of mine rate Diamondback higher than Millennium Force in part because there's rarely a wait for Diamondback. That improves the park experience and the ride experience, so I don't blame them that that. If part of Millennium Force is at least a one hour wait in that terribly feng-shui'ed queue line, then Diamondback is better on average in their opinion...
  8. ^ So prices must stay high to support an optimum payroll? I certainly see where you're coming from and it makes sense, but the fact of the matter is that most other park chains don't charge near what Cedar Fair does for food. And those whose prices are even in the same ballpark have exponentially better tasting food. $4.00 for the small blue ice cream in Planet Snoopy? "I don't want it that bad," said my friend. It's blueberry soft-serve... Nothing more. And I think that the consumer catches on to that. Think of Busch Gardens. Universal Parks. Disney Parks. You're talking about nice food, in a nice setting, that is still at or below the price Cedar Fair has inflated a simple pair of spring rolls at Panda Express to. I've made mention of the $19.99 all-you-can-eat-all-day-long pass at Universal Orlando. Sure, they select three of the lower quality restaurants that your wristband is redeemable at... But still you can choose from a chicken-topped salad, spaghetti and breadsticks, etc. and you can get in 3 meals for $20.00, including a side and dessert with each pass through the food line (and as many trips as you'd like). And like it or not, Disney, Universal, and Busch are operating destination parks, at which people expect to spend money on meals, stay all day, etc. and bring money accordingly. Though perhaps they'd like to think that they are, Cedar Fair is running regional parks that can't reasonably charge the same amount of money because they're dealing with a different clientele. They essentially are selling a low quality version of a product, and peddling for the "industry standard" price despite below standard quality. There are certainly benefits to the system Cedar Fair has (most of which benefit those who are already raking in the dough). But the idea that they have this all figured out and that there is a "method to their madness" so to speak is, I think, wrong. I think they just want money. There are other systems that work, just perhaps with less immediate benefit to those in charge. I once worked part time for a businesses that proclaimed that "customer service is #1 at all times!" They also chose to impose limits on how many plastic bags a districts could go through. When our district exceeded that limit, we got no plastic bags for over two months. Suffice it to say, it was the kind of business where we had to offer to carry the merchandise to their cars since bags were not available. Customer service, indeed.
  9. Right. It's to the extent that eating in the park is just plain impractical. The convenience of staying in the park isn't even enough to justify the price and quality. Again, if there were gourmet eats, perhaps at least you'd feel a little justified - a cooked-to-order Angus burger with fresh, bountiful toppings may be worth the price Kings Island charges. But what they serve is not. And as your experience shows, I'd wager that most people who try it once leave with the same impression: "never again." And based on the per-cap spending, the feeling is spreading.
  10. The hydraulic parts added seem pretty obvious in hindsight... They help stabilize the individual arms. Not that I had thought of it beforehand, but I feel like the engineering company should have... With giant metallic poles instead of chains, there should be a way to make sure they don't blow forward or backward or anything. Otherwise that would have to be a very strong attachment from arm to carriage. I don't know. Hindsight is 20/20. Source.
  11. Agreed. I think the general consensus on that video was a sense of "... that's it?" if you read through the comments. In all fairness, it's supposed to be a family ride, and perhaps like Maverick, the second or third launch is where the real power is. But even the Backlot Stunt Coaster has more oomph than the Cheetah Hunt video I think we both saw... Let's hope it feels faster in person, or that they'll crank it up a little. From Theme Park Review. EDIT: I guess it looks like some of the dives pick up speed, but it just doesn't seem to last long. But I guess these things can't always be judged as an onlooker...
  12. Are they actually broken? Or just usually unused? Honestly, that sort of thing bothers me more than anything about Cedar Fair, as unfair as it sounds. Like when the lights are on in Backlot's tunnel or Beast's tunnel, and when they're off on Maverick. It's like, just flip the @$*#& switch! It's not that difficult, and it improves the experience tremendously! If the lights in Maverick are broken, that's one thing. But how to dozens of individual lights all break at once? It's a neat effect that really is visually interesting and simple for the park to operate. Like the Interpreter saying he will ride Maverick in the front or not at all, I find the ride to be top 10 when those lights are on. I know that sounds like a foolish stipulation, but it's just something I really enjoy about that ride. I asked a supervisor at The Beast on my trip a few weeks ago, and she told me that the light switches are in lockout areas that only maintenance crew can reach, and that since they come to check The Beast so early in the morning that it's still dark out, they probably just haven't gotten into the swing of turning off the lights once they're done yet. I imagined it was something like that, because if they were on for a safety reason or something, they'd always be on instead of it being so luck of the draw. One time I brought a friend from Ireland to Cedar Point, and obviously wanted her to have the best experience possible so I asked a ride operator if the lights were on in the tunnel on Maverick. She was like "Uh, let me check," and walked over to the ride operator then came back and told me that they were. So apparently, there is a way to see from the control panel, if not to turn them on from there. I don't know. Someone with more Cedar Point / maintenance knowledge than I can probably help out. But I suppose that goes back to my ever-present resentment for parks that have something readily available (see, area-specific music broadcast systems, Tower Gardens, lava pits in the Crypt, darkness on Backlot Stunt Coaster, lights on Maverick) and for whatever reason just decide that the customer experience isn't worth utilizing it.
  13. In an unrelated but strangely similar note, Busch Gardens Williamsburg's Mach Tower grand opening is now officially postponed while it awaits a part from Italy. No opening date is speculated at this time. For those keeping score, it seems that Six Flags' StarFlyer is the only tower ride that's made it off the ground in a timely matter... Interesting, indeed!
  14. I didn't notice a whole lot of changes, but I was happy to see that they did re-invigorate some of the things that had broken down by day 30 of last season... Of course, we still haven't made it to day 30 of this season, so keep your fingers crossed! I was happy to see the fog wall effect return, but I think it's a little less effective with the still picture projected onto it instead of the film. But with our constantly-moving, relatively-slow omnimover ride system (compared to the other Boo Blasters, who all have individual track-guided carts with only one cart in a room at a time), our effects have to have much quicker reset time. For example, at Kings Dominion's Boo Blasters, the fog wall has time to flatten out, and the computer has time to restart the video since one car at a time experiences the effect, and moves into the next room before another car enters. That's also why every other Boo Blaster's final scene (where the Phantom is standing in the well) has additional fog effects, the the big bad ghost actually sinks down, with the black lights turning down and the white lights turning up to reveal that the scene is actually a beautiful garden. Then, the car turns and the black lights and the animatronic can come back up. At ours, there's a much much much smaller reset time between each vehicle experiencing the effects, which is why our finale is so much more... well... lackluster. He screams, his eyes flash, then he starts moving again as you turn away to do the same to the next car. Then the next room has the pretty garden scene. See the 2:00 mark for their finale scene. On ours, that level of personalization for each vehicle passing by isn't possible. In other words, I chalk many of the "problems" with our Boo Blasters up to the ride system (which, by the way, Paramount allegedly refused to upgrade when the ride went from Phantom Theater to Scooby Doo and the Haunted Castle... See, I do admit that Paramount can make mistakes!).
  15. The problem is, you're making grand assumptions based on no solid evidence whatsoever. Cutting the food prices in half means three times as many people would buy the food? Really? If it were that easy, it would have been done already. So would the correct assumption be that the $7.00 tasteless hamburger model is working? After all, Cedar Fair parks are popularly known in the industry to have the absolutely worst food (both in quality and taste) out of any corporate chain. Ask many here about the "improved" pizza at Cedar Point for 2010... Ask anyone here how many times they eat in the park, and what they rate the quality of the food as compared to the price they paid? "If it were that easy, it would have been done already." The implication therein is that the pricing scheme in place now is the most obvious, easiest, or best for the park. All I know is, gas is through the roof, and still people find it worthwhile to leave the park to eat. Consider the time wasted by walking to and from the car, getting handstamps, driving to a place to eat, and then spending money there. But more people than Mr. Kinzel would like are doing it. That, to me, says that there is a better way to go about in-park dining, and that it's not being used. I may be just one voice in a crowd, but if that $7.00 hamburger were $3.50 instead, I would buy it. Sure it's tasteless. Sure it was frozen and probably microwaved. But at least that is "reasonable" in the park industry. But Johnny Rockets $7.95 burger that doesn't come with fries or a drink? And I'm not the only one who thinks it, based on the park's per cap spending... I don't have facts or figures. But examine the food products at Kings Island for quality, and then tell me if you think they're paying anywhere near $7.00 for the contents of that hamburger. I wager they're getting at least 500% over what they pay. At least. And don't get me started on "deals" for season passholders. I just turned twenty. My season pass gets me one buffet free when I buy four. Now, when will I use that? When will I be happy with four 6" subs and 4 small drinks from Subway for $39.99 or whatever the "deal" is, when I can get the same meal for $20 at the Subway 2 miles away? Meanwhile, at Disney parks, passholders have across-the-board discounts of 10% or 15% off food and merchandise based on the level of pass they have (think gold vs. platinum). That is a deal. My example wasn't to be taken literally or as a statistic. It's a generalized idea about how people avoid eating at the park for both financial reasons and on principle. This is not gourmet food, and yet it is priced as if it were. There's a problem with that, even in the eyes of the "general public." The per-caps illustrate that.
  16. Here's my layman's interpretation: I think that the re-"ride"-ability of this attraction is what's most questionable. Sure it'll be fun. I know that I will certainly pay the extra $5.00 once. But once is all I can imagine. I live in Northeast Ohio. A trip to Kings Island, for me, requires a four hour drive and two nights in a hotel. That also means I can't go home and have dinner, so that's a lot of meals to pay for even if it's fast food... Because of my addiction to parks, three or four of my closest friends get Platinum Passes with me. So for a group of us to visit Kings Island is a substantial investment (especially early on in the season when we're all still recuperating from the $165.00 pass). While I will certainly talk them into visiting Dinosaurs Alive once just to say we had the experience, I can tell you for a fact that no matter how fantastic it is, it won't warrant the upcharge each and every time we visit. And that sort of leads into the other problem I have with this, which I have expressed before: for rides like Slingshot or Xtreme Skyflier or Thunder Alley, there must be some mechanism for keeping demand down. As an included attraction at a park the size of Kings Island, those small capacity rides require a charge (or a lottery, or some other form of reducing the ridership to maximize profit and maintain steady operation). That's why the price fluctuates... Supply and demand... If the demand for Slingshot is high, the price is $25.00 per person to maintain a crowd of size x. When there aren't that many people interested, it can be lowered as low as $5.00 to try to reach that same crowd size. That price revolves around a maintained, steady operation that balances the cost and the revenue. But Dinosaurs Alive is not limited by capacity in the same way as Slingshot. And in fact, Dinosaurs Alive will operate whether there are fifty or five hundred visitors at any given time. That being said, it would seem that the upcharge in this case is not a limiting agent, but a way to earn back money from what was likely a large investment (and admittedly, probably a mechanism with which to weed out certain park guests from coming into close contact with expensive animatronics). But that doesn't mean the price shouldn't fluctuate with interest like it does on those other upcharge rides... That is, when the initial shock is over and fewer people are interested, I hope Kings Island has the intelligence to lower the admission charge. And since the "supply" is fixed here (again, 50 or 500, the dinosaurs will use the same electricity and cost the same initial investment), a price decrease would theoretically attract more people without adding any additional cost to the park (except perhaps a few more hours on payroll here and there). $5.00 and 100 people an hour = $500.00 an hour. $2.50 and 300 people an hour = $750.00 an hour... Since it doesn't make a whole lot of difference to the park whether there are 100 or 300 people in the attraction, I hope they have the foresight to recognize when visitorship is down and to do some research to decide the optimal strategy to keep revenue up... Then again, this is the company that doesn't realize that if they cut food prices in half, three times as many people would buy the food... And based on the quality of food (and thus assuming its price to the park in bulk), I can only imagine that that would result in increased revenue and income. Same thing here.
  17. Especially because the crowd present on this forum is much more likely to use that particular sequence of letters constructively and not in a derogatory way. Even the CEO's name was censored at one time... But I suppose that his presence is proof that Paramount isn't still around.
  18. Let's hope. You gotta admit having a tent for the front entrance isn't exactly a vote of confidence for a long run. Maybe it's there just to provide a big "reveal" on opening day. According to picture 3 on the link provided, it is a gift shop. Still shows signs of here today, gone next year. And hope it can stand some windy days or there will be merchandise all over the place. So from all the pics I still do not see a trail. Will it be paved/easy access? What about strollers/wheelcharis? There have been pictures of the trail. It is paved. From KIC's photo gallery:
  19. Oh of course. Still one must admit - to center the event around a six year old family roller coaster that used to have BMW's MINI Coopers is more than coincidence...
  20. Maybe they should ask them for some licensing discounts.. KIBOB, jumping through the window. My mouth dropped when I approached the Backlot Stunt Coaster and saw the sign outside of the entrance greeting the MINI Road Rally participants, with a big fat MINI logo stamped on it... Yes, this "event" was centered on the Backlot Stunt Coaster! If there's some sort of partnership between the two companies, you'd think that even a discounted licensing fee would be achievable. But apparently, there's a whole lot of name-dropping with not a lot of work. The park gets to host the MINI event, and yet doesn't pay to use the MINI image anymore! That's like hosting a Tomb Raider gaming event in The Crypt's queue, or having a showing of "Drop Zone" in Drop Tower's queue house... Rubbin' that salt in the wound, aren't they?
  21. We don't know that they were rejected. To the best of my knowledge, our last indication that anything at all had been decided was when we heard that one of the offers had been deemed unsatisfactory (read, too expensive). One might assume that the other two (that we know of) ended up being unsatisfactory, as well, based only on the fact that nothing seems to have been done to the ride so far. But of course, one of the offers might've been fantastic and sounds like the perfect green light for the ride's future... Doesn't mean the money is in the budget to act on it right now. As others have said, I wouldn't expect a thing to be done to the ride (either reconstruction or demolition) until late this fall. And it could certainly be later than that, too! And I believe what Hendrick meant is... What if the Timberliners are added... And don't improve the experience? Moreso, what if another accident occurs, this time with the Gravity Group's trains involved? Guess who could be listed on any future lawsuits? For anyone who works on Son of Beast, they'll be taking a tremendous risk... If it fixes the ride, they may very well become famous in the amusement park world. If it doesn't, they may have just thrown their reputation away. What if Timberliners make Son of Beast worse, or don't help at all? How will that look to the industry, and how will that affect Gravity Group? And B&M's track manufacturing plant is closer to Kings Island than any other major amusement park... And how long did it take for us to get a B&M ride? Locality doesn't always indicate interest, right? And concerning the loop, I think there must be some opposing stories out there. I've always heard that Paramount's Kings Island was indeed pushing for a loop, but it was RCCA who continued to egg them on, pressuring the park to also make it the tallest, fastest, steepest, etc. And how do we know that Kings Island doesn't want to re-profile the first half the ride? That may be exactly what they're reaching out to different companies requesting... What Paramount Parks wanted for a ride at Paramount's Kings Island is not what Cedar Fair wants at Kings Island, and what we speculate one of them wanted is probably even farther from what the other really did want. I think we're all blind as bats when it comes to Son of Beast. We don't know who's been asked, or what's been asked for, or what those asked parties have said, or if they've offered anything at all, or how much it would cost, or what the cost of reconstruction vs. demolition would be, or when it would happen, or what year that budget would be added into... Personally, I think that the Iron Horse treatment would make it a really enjoyable, breathtaking ride. But then there are those variables: Would the company behind the New Texas Giant want to work on Son of Beast? Would Kings Island be willing to pay for their services? And I certainly can't speak to the engineering aspects of any potential conversion to the Iron Horse track... That is, would it even be possible or safe?
  22. I didn't notice, but I'd say probably not. The trees have overgrown the one to the left of the entrance. That was a neat detail when that part of the park was deeply wooded and dark and isolated. As is, I doubt it would be worth it - there's a neatly trimmed grass field outside the cave and a steel roller coaster just a few feet above it. Those flames would likely go unnoticed day and night.
  23. That's dangerously close to the idea some of us here concocted, wherein we imagined that skeletons would be floating in the "blood" illuminated with the old underwater lights from the lava pits! Sounds like someone somewhere might've taken note... At least to a degree.
  24. I rode the ride today and I must say I am pleasantly surprised by the amount of investment. Though it isn't a whole lot, it's obvious that there was substantial time and money spent in what was done. Here's a rundown of what I noticed: As was stated, the Inception movie soundtrack plays in the queue, and is really great mood music - better than the schmaltzy Halloween music for sure. The collapsed tunnel part of the queue is lit from below by the red floodlights just like last season, but the Tomb Raider lanterns also work, and lightly flicker like they used to. New filtered lights are present in the room that used to have the monkey statues. The flame lights are also relit. The skeletons from the queue are sequestered in the antechamber, hanging from the alcoves and lit by strobe lights. (This effect might be interesting if you passed it quickly, but since you're staring for prolonged periods, its both clear that they're not moving, and annoying that the lights flicker... Lighting them with flames would probably be more effective...) The circular door that used to roll shut is now partially boarded up so that you can't see directly into the pre-show room. It also has a moving, filtered flame light projected onto it that's actually very nice. The preshow room is the most changed: as people have said, the dog warriors are now flanking The Bat and lit with strobes. There's a cool, color-changing filtered project behind The Bat that acts as a really interesting backdrop. There are also new lights aimed at The Bat to amplify his colors. Where the dog warrior used to stand, there are two bowls with flame lights that have skeletons gathered around it as if they died just as they neared it. There are tons of re-lit flame lights in the preshow room, which I think make the room look much, much more dynamic. There are far more moving shadows and interesting colors, and its very visual now. I think it looks incredible. As we've been shown, there's the manual doors that separate the pre-show from the ride. Simple, but very very very effective. I brought two first-timers who were nervous and unable to have even the slightest clue what the ride was. It was great to have that mystery back. The Inception score on the ride is also really nicely done, and seems like its actually well-synchronized. It plays a dramatic loop while boarding (which is something I've missed), and very naturally fades into the more operatic portion. It becomes even more loud as the ride begins the backwards portion, and it ends with a drumbeat precisely as the ride locks in place to return to the load position. It's unfortunate that they didn't do anything to lengthen the actual ride, but all-in-all, I'm impressed by the scale of what was done (and indeed, by the fact that anything was done at all). It's still not a great ride. But it's at least got a hint of being an experience like it used to be. If there were a concrete storyline and pre-show (which I think that it's perfectly set up for now) and if there were one added flip, it would be on the right track to being "worth" the wait for most riders. They even have a ride operator standing at each door, making sure that there's one ride's worth of guests in the pre-show room at a time, holding the rest back by the circular door, so the implementation of a pre-show (even in the form of an audio track and nothing more) seems like it would be simple.
  25. But DA 3D doesn't have motion based seats... so why couldn't they just replace those seats with the brand new ones, and keep side A for Sponge Bob? Right, that's what I'm saying. Take Urgent Scare out of side B, then take the motion chairs formerly used for Spongebob and put them in Side B where Urgent Scare used to be. That'll leave side B all ready for the return of Spongebob or another motion simulator, and side A emptied out and ready for the new projection(?) and seating needed for Dinosaurs Alive 3D. And it also sets it up perfectly so that side B is accessible from Coney Mall, and side A is accessible from Dinosaurs Alive (which is convenient and logical). Basically, there are two sides, and two films. Assuming there's only one side's worth of motion bases, that's still okay since only one of the movies is motion compatible. Granted, there's no right answer. If Spongebob 3D were returning this season, we'd all groan and complain about that. Now that it's not returning, we're all going out of our way to complain and imagine how it could've stayed.
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