TTD-120-420 Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I imagined just that. I just didn't know we already had one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bkroz Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I think the change to Boo Blasters was done very well, I just can't believe anyone anywhere found the repetition of Boo Blasters on Boo Hill as a good idea. It's not even like a cute rhyme. It's just awful. "Boo Blasters" would've been fine! And I'd LOVE to see the fog effect working... :\ And of course, I do very much wish that they had just gone all out and made it a "Great Pumpkin" dark ride, but who knows how the owners of Peanuts would've felt about a shooting dark ride, and the "mega purchase" of five Boo Blasters probably made sense since not all five Paramount Parks' had their Scooby Doo rides in the kids' area. I'm with you, I really wanted a Great Pumpkin or at least a Peanuts themed dark ride reminiscent of the old Smurfs dark ride. It wouldn't of even had to involve the shooters, it could've just been a classic dark ride. As far as Boo Blasters go, yes, the name is horrible. I don't know who thought it was a good name. It's like someone just came up with it on the spot without any thought. Boo Blasters would've been fine. However, the whole ride itself is just kind of missing something. I think it might be relatable characters and perhaps the overusage of "cardboard-like" cutouts throughout. It just felt like a lame, unappealing version of Scooby-Doo (because it pretty much is). I just think everyone could've benefited from a high quality Peanuts dark ride! Even the ride it's based on (Ghost Blasters II) at least sets up the story by introducing the bad guy and having a short pre-show to explain where you are, why you're there, and how to rid the place of the evil phantom. Our ride also falls a bit short thanks to the decision to keep the Phantom Theater omnimovers instead of the new, individual carts that each other Scooby Doo dark ride got. Theirs are all custom built, while ours was just a retrofit of the old system. The result is that, on other parks' Boo Blasters, each effect has time to reset and trigger for the next rider. Something as simple as the video of the bad guy that plays on the tombstone head early on telling you that you're trespassing at least adds some depth to the story. In our ride, a cart passes every 5 seconds or so, so everyone just catches a glimpse of every effect that can barely be heard anyway over the dozens of guns firing at any given time. One of the best effects on the ride, in my opinion, is at the end. The phantom (a full animatronic) is standing in a stone well covered in vines with storm clouds in the sky. He yells, "You'll never leave Bleakstone Manor! Never!" Then you shoot him, he screams and the animatronic literally lowers into the ground while all the blacklights go out and white lights turn up, replacing the scary scene with a beautiful one - instead of gnarled vines climbing the well, roses suddenly appear. The sky clears and the sun comes out. You can hear birds chirping. Ours, of course, completely removes this effect because there's no time for the lights to reset since three or four cars are always aimed at it. (Skip to 4:05) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voicetek Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I think the change to Boo Blasters was done very well, I just can't believe anyone anywhere found the repetition of Boo Blasters on Boo Hill as a good idea. It's not even like a cute rhyme. It's just awful. "Boo Blasters" would've been fine! And I'd LOVE to see the fog effect working... :\ And of course, I do very much wish that they had just gone all out and made it a "Great Pumpkin" dark ride, but who knows how the owners of Peanuts would've felt about a shooting dark ride, and the "mega purchase" of five Boo Blasters probably made sense since not all five Paramount Parks' had their Scooby Doo rides in the kids' area. I'm with you, I really wanted a Great Pumpkin or at least a Peanuts themed dark ride reminiscent of the old Smurfs dark ride. It wouldn't of even had to involve the shooters, it could've just been a classic dark ride. As far as Boo Blasters go, yes, the name is horrible. I don't know who thought it was a good name. It's like someone just came up with it on the spot without any thought. Boo Blasters would've been fine. However, the whole ride itself is just kind of missing something. I think it might be relatable characters and perhaps the overusage of "cardboard-like" cutouts throughout. It just felt like a lame, unappealing version of Scooby-Doo (because it pretty much is). I just think everyone could've benefited from a high quality Peanuts dark ride! Even the ride it's based on (Ghost Blasters II) at least sets up the story by introducing the bad guy and having a short pre-show to explain where you are, why you're there, and how to rid the place of the evil phantom. Our ride also falls a bit short thanks to the decision to keep the Phantom Theater omnimovers instead of the new, individual carts that each other Scooby Doo dark ride got. Theirs are all custom built, while ours was just a retrofit of the old system. The result is that, on other parks' Boo Blasters, each effect has time to reset and trigger for the next rider. Something as simple as the video of the bad guy that plays on the tombstone head early on telling you that you're trespassing at least adds some depth to the story. In our ride, a cart passes every 5 seconds or so, so everyone just catches a glimpse of every effect that can barely be heard anyway over the dozens of guns firing at any given time. One of the best effects on the ride, in my opinion, is at the end. The phantom (a full animatronic) is standing in a stone well covered in vines with storm clouds in the sky. He yells, "You'll never leave Bleakstone Manor! Never!" Then you shoot him, he screams and the animatronic literally lowers into the ground while all the blacklights go out and white lights turn up, replacing the scary scene with a beautiful one - instead of gnarled vines climbing the well, roses suddenly appear. The sky clears and the sun comes out. You can hear birds chirping. Ours, of course, completely removes this effect because there's no time for the lights to reset since three or four cars are always aimed at it. (Skip to 4:05) Yes, I think ours is lacking more of a story. I think it would cool if they would've put some kind of an animatronic in the queue line where we used to watch the Maestro play. This animatronic character could've explained to us the story behind the Mansion/Manor/Castle(?) and the legend of the Boos and Boocifer. Not only would this have made the ride more engaging, but it would've also served as some entertainment in the queue line and made things a little more interesting than watching those black light cardboard ghosts drawn by Sharpie markers go up and down...up and down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voicetek Posted July 3, 2012 Share Posted July 3, 2012 Yes, I think ours is lacking more of a story. I think it would cool if they would've put some kind of an animatronic in the queue line where we used to watch the Maestro play. This animatronic character could've explained to us the story behind the Mansion/Manor/Castle(?) and the legend of the Boos and Boocifer. Not only would this have made the ride more engaging, but it would've also served as some entertainment in the queue line and made things a little more interesting than watching those black light cardboard ghosts drawn by Sharpie markers go up and down...up and down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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