brenthodge

Was great to see Mike K at the bandstand around 9:30 tonight. Busy night at the park, and cool to see the senior(est) of management in the trenches with a radio doing crowd control. Gave him, the local and corporate team major props for the “blow the mouse outta da 50th water” experience they keep building this season. He smiled and said “I’ve kinda heard that” when I mentioned there’s this other park in FL, also celebrating a 50th, but blowing it with their loyal fan-base when it comes to playing to history and nostalgia. I truly believed him when he said “that really means a lot” to hear that this season is connecting with people. I think they need to know that all of the effort certainly is noted and appreciated. I’d love to see what they could’ve done with another 30-50k, but I’m in no way “disappointed”. It was cool to introduce my 7 year old to him and tell him “that’s the guy that runs KI”. To which my son said “you’re his FRIEND?” (LOL, I’m not) Major “cool dad points”. Thanks again team KI for all you’re doing to engage us this season.

Still not in use. There seems to be a mounting bracket of some sort in front of them-like they are waiting on a refraction mirror or something to split or animate the beam. Maybe shipping delays? Lol. Show was odd tonight. No central laser until the 50 at the end (heard it’s been off and on) and no drones most likely due to “predicted but didn’t happen” rain? Last Friday they were staging them about 8 so they might have to make a preemptive call pretty early if they are using them or not due to the set-up time. Central laser really needs to function as the Peanuts segment has pretty much nothing without drones or Charlie Brown zig zag.

They pretty much always extend. It’s that old marketing technique of “false close” to try to create urgency, knowing there’s still plenty of time to catch a few more.

Seems lame that they are basically just cutting and pasting the Dollywood event. I wish they would let each park have more of a distinct flavor to their events. I guess its an easy way to get a proven crowd pleaser into that park with minimal development expense.

True, but they’ve been in park since ‘83 and seems like they are pretty committed to the arrangement for now. https://www.wildbrain.com/newsreleases/peanuts-worldwide-cedar-fair-extend-peanuts-licensing-agreement-2025/ but I do agree that’s why “original characters” like the ones developed for PT are better if you can get traction with them.

LOL - There REALLY hd to have been a better place to have done this. I mean - where they did it was EASY, and probably should've been just a 50th patio bar with the 50 drinks and a few easy 50 food items, then done a real VIP lounge someplace indoor/outdoor with patio access. It might've been more expensive to have gone that route, but would've been a neat, long term investment.

What id LOVE to see would be a new Peanuts dark ride "...it's a great ride Charlie Brown" that has the Peanuts characters celebrating holiday through the year. It would tie in perfectly to the TV specials and be a subtle nod to the idea of the Smurfs ride. The peanuts are essentially flat 2-D characters so the conversion should be fairly easy. Add in a few dimensional animatronics, but essentially the same approach as BooBlasters Phantom Theatre (as we knew it) will most likely never return in the 3-d, fully sculpted character form - too expensive to produce and maintain, so instead, build a NEW EXPERIENCE in the turn around of Racer. The queue structure is already there - its already overgrown and haunted looking, its "out of sight" enough so it could be kept unkempt and not interfere with the look of the park. Open up the path around WindSeeker better (that whole area is probably going to get a revamp in a few years with The Vortex replacement). Phantom Theatre there would be a "Midway Mania" style ride with 3-d, screen based games integrated with dimensional sets and props to develop a richer experience that the Disney bare-bones version. Throw coal in the boiler room - throw roses for Hilda's performance. Throw cards at Houdelini. I'd love to see a real dark ride without interactive, but I just don't ever see that happening. LAST - Keep the overall look of the "big box" in Rivertown, but put a wild mouse coaster with an elevator lift in it - theme to an abandoned mine shaft of the (net door Miami Valley Mining Company). Minimal theming inside the box (like projection mapping animation on mining equipment, rock slides etc) Then we would have 3 great dark ride experiences.

I don’t blame the kids-I blame the entitlement of parents who feel “I paid good money to get in here and my baby can do anything he wants”. I HATE to deal with parents like that.

And now-ironically a few of the signs are now broken from people stepping on them. Ugh…public!!!

Anybody wondering if the “street party” wasn’t going to be that big of a deal (due to the little info the park has shared about it) I think the worries can go away. The float tent is filling up. In addition to the giant cake that we’ve already seen, there are now giant present stacks, lots of “components” and what looks to be several “push units” with 50th branding. This is gonna be as big as everything else they’ve done to date.

Finally got up here without the kids and could really take time reading in the area. Well thought out. Only unfortunate thing, they used super temporary lighting for the signs and some of the towers. The “stake in the ground” lights have pretty much all been stepped on, knocked over and half aren’t even shining on anything. I actually came out with black fingers from sticking them all back in the mulch-refocusing, and burying mulch back around them to hold them in position. The combo of cheaping out on the fixtures, and crazy people totally focused on stupid Instagram pics next to towers, climbing into the flower beds is making this fall apart quicker than it should. Looks like they did try to light a lot with the overhead rigs, but the ground fixtures are failing.

Actually up to 6 now-3pr side. Front, mid, bandstand.

Loved that as well. It wasn’t a “beat for beat” recreation of the ride-much like Disney did with pirates. The first film definitely had “ride easter eggs” but they were more thoughtful nods that they built a new story on. I just wish they had used a bit more of the theme music in the show-especially for the acrobatic segment.

KI has shown Disney up at their own 50th-nostalgic addition after nostalgic addition. https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/disneys-own-survey-is-a-list-of-walt-disney-worlds-50-anniversary-shortcomings.977516/page-13#post-10273048

loved the lobby-gave it context. love that there was actual concept art/ model and pieces from the ride. Enjoy it pokes fun at past management and it’s own history. Wish there was more “dancing” that added energy to the show-it dragged a bit with the headliners. Umm, why no close with “you’ll be baaaaack”???

It would be awesome if they could “dock” and passively recharge mid way through (right after the snowflakes) and come back to do at least one final image at the end, but it seems like they are powered up and set in position.

Well. Done.

Which is ironic in its own full circle way in that it’s a Paramount property. It’s like Ki, Cedar Fair and Paramount were destined to be strange bedfellows-untied through the love of a sunshine day.

Forgot about that “drone only” moment. Would be good if they could have a “B” mode or a way to accomplish that effect through projection on the buildings ets if the drones aren’t working.

Maybe I shouldn’t have used the work “integral” as they ARE a huge part of the story. I mean more that there aren’t specific “drone only” moments that I can think of where there is nothing else going on where you would really notice them missing. Disney did a show EPCOT FOREVER that used kites that were problematic. That was all that was happening during those segments, so if they weren’t in the show-it was very obvious. They eventually redid the show without them and added fireworks to those segments. It’s hard with stuff like drones that are super cool-yet touchy with weather or whatever. You want to hype them up and make it part of the draw of the show, but then when you hype each individual element-it’s noticeable when they aren’t there.

Nice thing is they aren’t technically “integral” to the show. They are a great addition, but there aren’t really any “drones only” moments that would seem odd if they were missing.

Good question-they didn’t do the maze out behind WindSeeker last year, so they could reopen that to keep the balance. They didn’t do the hay maze last year because of corn stalkers being there.

I love that there is so much going on in the show that you really need to see it more than once to get it all. And as pointed out, some things don’t even read “best” from the front. It’s like the show can involve you from multiple areas of the park. Anyone know if the soundtrack plays park-wide?

looks like they are trying to simulate the "black hole" with acres of mulch on the ORION one LOL. It looks nice, but could've been planted a wee bit thicker in a few areas.

The history billboards around coney area are great but not understanding why none seem to be plugged in to light up at night.