brenthodge

the elevation... the "rose bowl" ...the wood. Brilliant, subtly-obviously subtle (is that a thing?) easter eggs.

that's great to hear - my own kids get annoyed with my "on the path, please" to them all the time. It's really a parent issue at this point - kids will be kids. It's OUR JOB as parents and supervisors to teach them to respect the investments that the park makes. Sadly most adults with kids either just don't care, or worse, actively encourage it to get the 'great picture'. HINT - Timmy isn't THAT cute, and he really isn't cute "drankin' out of that giant beer mug in that ther planter" so get you darn kid out of the plants! LOL

Here are my thoughts - LOVE that they kept the production level up. LOVE that they saw a way to use all the investment from last year in infrastructure and apply it to a more "budget friendly" show that can run every night without breaking the bank (I was honestly surprised there wasn't a "B mode" version of FFF that they ran on weeknights last year as that show was crazy expensive to run) LOVE that they created ANOTHER original song instead of cut and pasting pop songs BUT... Wish the song was a bit more "ADVENTURE" oriented. I got the hints of Adventure Awaits, but it seemed more about going home and goodnight that starting an adventure. Wish there would be better programming of the fountains. I don't love them during the day just bopping and hopping around as they seem way to "busy". Wish the day mode was more slow transitions to a few different "grand" patterns like the before - don't even use the "show squiggle". Then at night during the show, they basically do the same hopping and bopping - fairly random - mostly all of them all of the time. Seems like there could be 1-2 "fountain only" moments (see next thought) that really take advantage of the show squiggle and the other spray heads to create more "pictures" with the water. Wish there was about 3-5 more minutes. There was SO MUCH crammed into 5:55 that it was almost wasted at times. I feel like there are things that could be done to extend the run time a bit without upping the run cost. With Adventure Port opening (and giving them a "tie in" name for the show and park promo) wish there was a mini "park tour". FunFireworksFitty was about the seasons at the park and the park history moments - this show could be all about how "Adventure Awaits" at every bend and in every area of KI. Just a few seconds of area appropriate music with the fountains and laser images only - maybe 1-2 pyro adds for those not on I-STREEET would break up the same song used through the whole show LASTLY - JUST BRING BACK PHANTOM THEATRE ALREADY! Theres yet another nod to the attraction in the show and its the ONLY "ride from the past" mentioned, so there is clearly an acknowledgement that this ride has a huge fan base and merchandising potential. Just announce the return LOL

But maybe a friendly “hey, can you guys please come out of the planter that you had to crawl over a curb and cross 8 feet of mulch to get into, please? Thanks!” From security, but unfortunately there seems to be a “don’t rock the boat” mentality when it comes to that stuff. I guess there are only so many hills you can die on.

Good, normal year follow up to FFF. Impressed how much of that shows DNA is in this new incarnation. Was honestly expecting a return to a 3-4 min pop song. Nicely surprised

Yep. Kids have turned them into play structures that you literally have to cross 6-8 feet of mulch to get to while the slob parents sit on their phones daring anyone to say anything. If you want to know why we can’t have an awesome park-here’s why. I give the planting around the stone head a few days till they are destroyed by kids climbing on it, and bets on how long until sone drunk idiot tries to jump the fence into the boat since it it “docked” right at the edge of the lake. People are idiots, but a lot of this was not thought out for the type of crowd this park gets (saw them there tonight.

I didn’t say cringe is bad!!! LOL. Actually the new version has a few good tweaks. Better aerial act. More energy.

Ummmm wow.

Nope-it’s still cringe in person. The ending was so odd. It felt like it was just “oh crap-this has gone on for 20 min. Let’s just end it quick and close with a big number.

I don’t know about cirque (I think that had run its course as well) but yes. It was cool last year as a nostalgia piece for the anniversary (but even that was odd since it was in no way an original attraction to reference) but it’s lost all uniqueness by running it again. People jump me and say “but the development costs for one year!!” Ummm can you say “Haunt show?” Or pull it out the year that the Phantom rises again. It’s not like development costs are lost if you give it a break or don’t have to develop a new haunt show.

Lol. That sky ride footer has like 9 lives. It’s like a monument to KI of yore!

You just hit on why I think they didn’t go to the extra expanse. If capacity could be higher by adding more single seats, then yes, I think they would’ve done it, but the way it’s structured I think they didn’t see it changing things too much throughput wise.

See I think that’s flawed thinking. Yes, customers should be grateful, but it’s not like the attendance and spending numbers don’t justify the investment. Statements like that make it sound like it’s a “gift” not a solid business decision. Investments are planned and budgeted corporately as well as locally, so the money spent reflects both corporate desire to increase attendance and spending as well as reinvestment of the financial contribution of the specific regional park.

They usually do a “day of” social shout out if they are.

Exactly! Plus over time I think it will even out.

Wonder if there will be a “preview night” of Phantom like last year. Would love to go Fri to park for first night fireworks AND a show.

They usually shift to allow performers to move over to parade roles.

Had a “back deck” early lunch there today. Agree the two sauces are nice. They’ve got to get Grain and Grille figured out. It’s all over the place quality and operational. On a slightly related note (as they were evicted for G&G, the Skyline pavilion is getting sone love and attention-now if they could somehow reconfigure the building to have a second small order window on the side facing the seating…

I love that certain places are doing special deserts, but they need to 1) get a separate line for these and highlight them and 2) figure out how to get them to you since I waited in the full prep line at Enrique’s then another 5-10 minutes to have them pull it out of the fridge and hand it to me. I think people would eat this up (no pun intended) if they made it way easier to get. But on a related note. This thang is GOOD!

Totally agree. When people broadcast “hacks” like they are the smartest people in the world, they often screw up the very hack they discovered all for the narcissistic reason of seeing the likes on social media.

Or bite the bullet and invest in larger, more mature trees when they DO plant them. They always get the baby’s that take 20 years to add anything.

There sure is a lot of queu back there for Sol Spin. I guess pouring concrete is less expensive than the upfront cost of a 48 cap ride. Interesting choice going smaller.

Just getting rid of the portion cups would go a long way to elevating the “feel” of this place.

Agree. It looks awesome. Love how they blend in more and you really just see the rich red track.

Weighing in. WANT THIS TO BE AWESOME. It’s exactly the type of food that needs to be on International Street, it’s got a great location, it could set the bar for food service going forward. Unfortunately, it stops short (for me). The order process is easy and the food looks generally great on the serving line, but things need to be turned more frequently (especially the meats) the pork and beef looked dry (were). The roasting pan full of “eye candy” ingredients they were cooked with was empty of meat, and the meat just sort of “there” in another dry pan. The food will never look like the ‘glamour shot’ but the paper boat with the big newspaper liner makes the food look way cheaper and smaller than what they are aiming for. Don’t understand not using the “wood texture” square paper plates, but those would help. Putting all the servings on a plate without serving portion cups would help as well, as it would allow spread that would make the plate look fuller. Even a quick micro gree garnish like they do with a lot of the Carnivale items would help. I feel like this concept could’ve been another “modified table service” location like BrewHouse if they had created some dedicated covered outdoor seating where the fastlane building is and even included a bar with “international cocktails” ( in a build that looked similar to the vip lounge). It’s like they are trying to be opposed ends of the spectrum here… elevated “farm to table” food as a fast food cash and carry order line. Even with a few tweaks I think it could be closer to what it seems like they were aiming for.