jzarley

In Hollywood it works pretty much as Diamondback described in the earlier post—there’s the main “pipe” entrance, then there’s another tunnel beside it that’s designed as an exit (I had forgotten about that). I was there on a Sunday in September and the park was busy but not extremely so (it was one of their first nights of HHN so was closing early). When I was there, they weren’t really regulating the in/out tunnels—in fact in my first time in the land I went back out the pipe the same way I came in because I didn’t notice the exit tunnel. However, I’m sure they do a much more regimented forced traffic when attendance warrants it.

^^ yeah, sorry—I shouldn’t have used an acronym without defining it

^ yeah, I was wondering about the non-park holdings as well. I wonder if Herschend will hold on to the park side of the business but sell-off the FECs and other non-park assets?

This is a good thing for those parks—Herschend is a quality operator (their quality and approach reminds me of the old Busch Entertainment Corp back in the day ) I thought maybe SeaWorld (aka United Parks) would pick up those parks considering John Reilly is at Parques Reunidos and his history with SeaWorld. (Although, that history may have made it *less* likely that he wanted to strike a deal with them )

If I recall correctly, I think they did virtual access to Super Nintendo Land when it opened in Hollywood. The single in/out access via the portals to each land is the thing I’ve always questioned how it would pan out operationally in a packed park. The way it is, getting into and out of the HP lands at both USF and IOA can feel a little claustrophobic and there are multiple ways in/out of those lands. I just wonder how it will be with one in/out “tunnel” for each of the lands. (Not to mention the traffic patterns in Celestial Park since you have to keep coming back to the center to move to a new land…) The good news is that from the aerial footage it looks like the walkways *within* the lands are pretty spacious :-)

I’m going to the preview on 3/31 My friend who works for the resorts is taking me during her TM preview visit. I’ve been warned that there are no photos allowed, and there’s an embargo on when trip reports can be posted. But, I’m psyched!

Yes! I think I visited a total of three times—2x before they added the Borg 4D film and once after. It really can be considered the predecessor of the current day fully integrated single themed lands (like Harry Potter at Universal, SW Galaxy’s Edge at the Disney Parks, etc.) that combine attractions, retail, food & beverage and employees “acting the part” around a common storyline. They were really years ahead of their time. I totally agree with you—ST:TE showed exactly what Paramount Creative could do when given the resources. I also could never understand how the Paramount Parks were never able to produce anything even reasonably close. (Despite the announcement hype coming every year with each new PKI announcement that never even came close in reality.) I realize that ST:TE was a year-round attraction in one of the largest tourist destinations in the world vs. regional seasonal theme parks, but still—the parks never produced anything close to that quality. I also never could understand why the Star Trek brand (arguably, probably the most valuable IP Viacom/Paramount owned) was never really utilized to its potential in the parks. Sure, they did the half-assed themed relocated coaster at Carowinds, but that was about it (aside from the walk-around characters early on the Paramount Parks life). I’m curious as to what the annual attendance at was at ST:TE in its best year? I’m sure it was still dwarfed by the attendance at (P)KI.

I think another interesting question might be who the potential buyers would be. SeaWorld (aka United Parks) made a play for Cedar Fair ahead of the SF merger, so that’s a possibility for some of the parks if any come on the market that would be complimentary. At their latest earnings call they noted that they were once again putting the resorts development activity on hold again (I’m convinced they’re never actually going to build a hotel at this point) so maybe that pause is to free up some capital. Although, it’s been rumored since late last year that Parques Reunidos was putting Palace Entertainment on the market and I thought that would be more of a big bang of an acquisition for them. A few years ago I would have thought Merlin would be a definite possibility and maybe still are, but they’ve been doing a lot of cost cutting and RIFs lately. Still cutting costs in one area doesn’t mean you aren’t going to spend for an acquisition. They just hired a new CEO (internal promotion who previously ran the international Midway attractions business) so that’s may be a way for her to make an immediate impact.

Have you heard anything about AP previews for pass holders? I bought a single day AP ticket (for 6/20) back when they went on sale but hadn’t heard anything else about AP previews. A friend of mine is in management for Universal Resorts (aka Loews) and have heard they’ve started some Team Member previews, but I’m not sure what that all entails. Personally, I’ll just be happy when the construction on Sandlake is finished and the intersection of Universal & Destination Blvd reopens again!

I’m a little disappointed to hear about Famous Daves—not that FD was that spectacular, but mostly since if nothing goes into the old Melt space they will be down one more full service restaurant this year. In our annual trip to CF we usually go on a Thursday/Friday in late August and stay at the Breakers—usually hit Fridays the first night then dinner at FD on Friday evening—guess we’ll need to come up with a new plan this year :-)

Did the standardized corporate logos for the parks start with the Paramount branding, or did it occur before that? I wasn’t really aware of the parks as a “chain” (only KI as a standalone) prior to the Paramount acquisition.

I’ve now worked for three theme park companies, of which Merlin is one. Of the three, it was by far the worst professional experience.

There are few things more fun and whimsical than minor league hockey promotions I remember years ago, the Columbus Chill (predated the NHL Blue Jackets) would play at the fairgrounds arena which was a crappy venue, but the games were packed and always a lot of fun! I love the Blue Jackets and Nationwide Arena is great, but it just doesn’t have the same scrappy, fun upstart feel that the Chill always had. I live in Orlando now and the Orlando Solarbears give off a similar vibe.

They’re really restricting the packages they’re selling right now. Currently, the only thing on sale to the GP is a 3 or 4 day UO multi-park ticket, but only one of those days (for both 3/4 day packages) can be used at Epic Universe—the remaining days can be used in any combo you want for USF & IOA. They’ve only opened true single day tickets so far for AP holders. Now, I imagine that will change before you go next November and there will be more flexibility. I’m waiting to hear how much the AP will be going forward once you can add on Epic.

Single day Epic Universe tickets went on sale yesterday morning for current UO annual pass holders. I got my two for 6/20–since Universal is sort of famous (infamous?) for troublesome park opening operations, I thought I’d give them a few weeks to work out the bugs