Voicetek

Absolutely. When I was younger, I could go to the park with my friends and bounce from one ride to the next all day long. However, in the last 5-7 years or so, I've started to really feel it in my head. After too much flipping around through loops and such, my head just feels bad. It doesn't really affect my body at all, but I just start to feel lightheaded or get a headache after too many rides.

Boo Blasters will also shut down due to lightning. I was unaware of this until it happened to us last year. I was under the assumption that, since it was an indoor ride, that it would stay open in all weather conditions. However, they close it just the same. The reason they do this is in case of a power outage, people could get stuck on the ride. It's better to be safe than sorry!

I agree. I loved Maelstrom. It was a must ride whenever I visited Epcot. It was such a unique ride even though it wasn't based on any known property. It was it's own thing and that's what made it so appealing. Yeah, I'll probably ride Frozen Ever After whenever I visit Epcot and I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but a part of me will always wish it was still Maelstrom.

Well, we're not going to be there during a peak time holiday season. We're going before the holiday season starts. According to all Disney crowd guides and calendars, it's one of the lowest crowd weeks at the parks. Just keeping my fingers crossed that all this is accurate.

My wife and I waited between 4-5 hours to ride Banshee on opening day. Had I known about the hidden makeshift queue that I didn't see, we probably would've never gotten in line. However, once I noticed there was a makeshift queue that went on and on for quite some time, I had already invested too much time in line and didn't want to bail. I'll never wait that long for anything ever again though.

Just heard news that Frozen Ever After opened at Epcot. Not sure when it opened, perhaps today? Anyway, it opened to over a 300 minute (5 hours) wait time! There are multiple videos floating around on Facebook and other sites showing the insanity at Epcot on opening day. Lines and lines of people! There are also multiple POV ridethroughs starting to surface. If you're curious and don't mind having the ride spoiled for you, you can check out one of the better HD POVs here: https://www.facebook.com/RealKennythePirate/videos/1026800827416108/ My wife and I are heading down there in November, so I'm hoping the wait times calm down a bit. If not, I guess there's always FastPass! So what do you think of the ride? Would you wait 5 hours to ride something like this?

You know what would be really cool? Pins with logos from defunct rides from KI. How cool would it be to have a Phantom Theater pin or, say, a pin of Screamin' Demon, the orginal Bat, and others? I know I'd buy a few of these!

I love how there is an online processing fee for ticket orders even though I fill out all the info myself, pay for the order myself, and even print my own ticket using my printer, paper, and ink. What the heck am I paying for? It seems like there's more work involved if I completely more order from home. I've never really understood this. I'm sure there's a reason for it, but if there is, I sure don't know.

Ah I just hate reading news like this! However, it never ceases to amaze me how many people completely disregard posted signs and warnings, or don't consider the dangers of some things. My wife and I just went up to Michigan this past weekend for a mini-vacation. We went to this one beach that had signs posted that said "Swimming not advised because of strong currents and undertow." These warnings were even written up in local brochures and travel guides that we had read before we got there. Guess what we saw when we arrived? Tons of people swimming. Not only that, parents sitting on the beach allowing their kids to swim out in the deeper parts. While sitting on the beach, I saw three young girls getting pulled sideways while trying to swim back to shore. Where were the parents? I have no idea, but I watched them closely to make sure nothing bad happened. I also saw some people swimming out past the roped off sections, completely disregarding all rules and warnings. I think too many people, especially people on vacation, have this feeling that rules don't apply to them because they're paying good money for this trip and they'll do what they want. Or perhaps they have the mindset that something like that could never happen to them. Regardless of what it is, I wish people would take signs and warnings more seriously. It's sad to hear of all these tragedies that could've been prevented had someone just followed the rules. With all that being said, I do feel horrible for this family. What an awful thing to have happen on a trip that should've been one the most happy experiences of their lives. Instead of good memories, now they'll just remember this. I do hope that officials can recover the young boy's body so that the parents can at least have closure. Prayers for everyone affected by this.

Had some downtime today at work and spent a little while going back through this thread. Enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time going through. Even though I wasn't around in 1974, I did grow up at the park in the 80s and there were still some similarities. I love looking at the old pictures of the park. It brings back great memories. Again, great job!

Nope, it's not just you

I find this to be ironic... Looks like this lady runs a daycare: http://latest.com/2016/05/mom-of-boy-who-fell-into-gorilla-enclosure-runs-a-daycare/

Yay! This is one reason why we don't really go to public pools anymore. We've got a nice little above ground pool in our backyard now. Nothing fancy, but it's perfect for us in the summer.

I would love to have one of the tokens. I grew up in the 80s going to KI with my dad, so there are a lot of memories of the park for me in that decade. I think it would be cool if you split the tokens up and gave them to multiple people. That way lots of people could own a little piece of KI's history.

Maybe I'm a bit "old school," but I leave my phone in the car. I'm a graphic designer, so when I'm working my hand is constantly attached to a mouse or keyboard and my face never leaves the monitor. I also do some freelance on the side, so even when I'm at home I'm on the computer a lot or messaging potential clients. There are some places I like to go and remain tech-free. Amusement parks are one of those places. I gladly shove my phone in the glove box before I leave my car. It's nice to put down the tech for a few hours and just enjoy the freedom of not being connected. There is no one important enough that I need to talk to while I'm at the park for a few hours. I'm usually there with my wife anyway, so I enjoy getting to talk to her uninterrupted. I could care less about in-park apps, wi-fi, or wait time updates. If I want to know a wait time, I'll check out one of the new screens they installed or I'll just walk to a ride and find out for myself. Those of you who feel the need to use their phones to navigate the park and to plan your visit, that's fine. Just be sure to safely secure your phones before getting on a ride. I don't want to be struck in the face while riding The Beast just because you feel the need to Snap Chat your riding experience. I, for one, don't like worrying about a phone while I'm in the park, so it's just fine to not have one at all. Everyone has their own opinion though, and that's cool.

^This is what you're talking about. The kid went to retrieve his hat from the Jurassic Park water ride. This could have been VERY bad!

I don't really understand cell phones in amusement parks anyway. I mean, are you there to experience the park, or are you there to talk on the phone and post on Facebook? I can't tell you the number of teenagers I see in line typing away on their phones. Not that that's the bad part, what's really sad is you'll see a group of them together and instead of talking to each other, they're all looking down at their phones typing away. I remember going to the park with my friends as a teenager. We had more fun talking to each other and socializing. We didn't have phones or other electronic devices to distract us. We were able to look at each other and hold a conversation. It's sad to see all these people walking around staring at their phones instead of taking in the surroundings. I wonder how many years away we are from becoming the humans on 'Wall-E' riding around on their chairs with a screen floating in front of their faces.

Disney didn't buy just Star Wars, they purchased Lucasfilm. They got an amazing deal and the buying price was too low if you ask me. $4 billion for JUST Star Wars would've been about right, but throw in everything else they got with that price and Disney made out like a bandit. With the Lucasfilm deal, not only did Disney acquire Star Wars, but also Industrial Light and Magic, Skywalker Sound, and the Indiana Jones properties. Disney paid $7.4 billion for Pixar back in 2006, so $4 billion for Lucasfilm and everything that comes with it seems a little low to me. They'll make their $4 billion back and then some on Star Wars alone considering the first movie in the new franchise cashed in at over $1 billion or more, that's not including the merchandising and theme park opportunities. Here's an interesting article that talks about Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm being "The Deal of the Century" and estimates that Disney will generate $500 million in revenue just from Star Wars alone by the end of this year and that Star Wars toys and merchandise generated about $2 billion in retail sales by the end of last year. This article breaks down the value of Star Wars and all it's products and claims that Disney should be able to turn their $4 billion investment into $30 billion. The article also states that, "Along with the buyout, Disney is getting Lucasfilm’s operating businesses in live action film production, consumer products, video games, animation, visual effects, and audio postproduction. Disney is also getting the substantial portfolio of entertainment technologies that can be licensed out, something which we never included in any valuation analysis because it was not tied solely to Star Wars. That is potentially hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars more for Disney when you stretch those sales and license fees out for years and years into the future." I'm not sure if we can compare the price of what Universal paid for Dreamworks to what Disney paid for Lucasfilm. I think one price was about right and the other way, way too low.

Heck, I think even some merchandise would be cool. You don't see a lot of merchandise around based on Dreamworks stuff.

I saw shirts like this at Kohls. They've got some great T-shirt designs featuring cartoons from the 90s from Nickelodeon as well as Disney Afternoon. You can see all available designs on their website.

Do you suppose this could mean some Dreamworks attractions and characters at the Universal Studios parks? A 'How to Train Your Dragon' ride would be pretty sweet.

I wish they'd do away with Fun TV in themed ride queues. It's just a horrible distraction!

^And that would make sense.

Here's something I never really understood on Boo Blasters. When you leave the main queue area and go up the stairs to the hallway leading to the loading area, there is always a ride attendant there asking you how many riders you have, only to send you through to the ride area. Then, 1 minute and less than 10 feet later, there is another ride attendant who actually loads you into the vehicle asking you the exact same question. What is the point of that first ride attendant in the hallway? You telling them how many riders you have does absolutely no good. For years I've been trying to figure out why they need two different ride attendants so close together asking you how many riders you have. Do any of you know the answer to this or have a theory? I'd love to hear it!

I'm wondering though, how they'd be allowed to play that particular music. I noticed the first track in the video was from 'Hook.' I'm sure the parks would have to pay some kind of licensing or something to be able to use music like that from different movies. However, when it was a paramount park, I'm sure it was way easier since they'd be able to use themes from their own movies.