Disappointed by ride advertisement?

[HandsUp]

On 7/5/2018 at 12:15 PM, Gordon Bombay said:

 

Backlot Stunt Coaster was such an interesting ride that never came close to meeting its full potential. It was like an "abstract" themed attraction.

This was my main take away and applied to most of the Paramount era as well. Stuck in between whether it wanted to be a multi-sensory theme ride and a proper roller coaster

[Gordon Bombay]

1 hour ago, HandsUp said:

This was my main take away and applied to most of the Paramount era as well. Stuck in between whether it wanted to be a multi-sensory theme ride and a proper roller coaster

haha, glad someone else picked up on their technique. I think a lot of it had to do with costs. They were getting "Universal-style" rides, but on a regional park budget. Backlot was the best example.

I do feel, though, that Tomb Raider and Flight of Fear were heartfelt efforts to truly create attractions on par with the year-round, theme park giants. Both of those rides had elaborate features that were focused on the "experience" throughout i.e. you weren't just waiting in line, you were living through something. 

And then in typical fashion, they never maintained any of it. Not even close. Tomb Raider ran at full strength for only a few months, FOF seemed to fade after year 2. 

[HandsUp]

^ Yep...and although it was before Paramount, I kinda feel the same way about Adventure Express, although in hindsight enjoy it as a quality mine ride. The Paramount tendencies were rough for me having enjoyed Beast, Vortex, and King Cobra as a kid and then riding the big ones at Cedar Point (If they can fit those behemoths on that skinny little peninsula-why do we get chincey half-coasters when we have a million acres to work with?!?!!)

I have always really liked FoF though and Tomb Raider was truly an experience. Wild to see the different iterations of park identity. If they want to stay this course of ambiance, nostalgia, and huge coasters-that's fine with me!

[maddox121]

Because i thought it was going to get an RMC/Giga because of the online rumours/"leaks"

[KIghostguy]

On 5/3/2019 at 4:41 PM, maddox121 said:

Because i thought it was going to get an RMC/Giga because of the online rumours/"leaks"

Then that's your own fault. There was no evidence for it being 2019. Zero. None.

[sixohdieselrage]

Don't let the fake news overhype something. Only trust things you can verify. Such as flyover pictures, undoctored land clearing pictures, and anything official from the park. People overhype themselves.  

Edited May 6, 2019 by sixohdieselrage
Was barely awake, and forgot a small bit.

[Theoutdoorkid107]

20 minutes ago, sixohdieselrage said:

Don't let the fake news overhype something. Only trust things you can verify. Such as flyover pictures

Only cause you take them, right congrats on 1000 post as well!

[sixohdieselrage]

5 minutes ago, Theoutdoorkid107 said:

Only cause you take them, right congrats on 1000 post as well!

Nah. Just because i wont try to overhype anyone. I dont like it when others do that, so why should I do it? lol. Also, I've edited my original post. Had a typo.

 

And thanks!

[FoF96"]

On 7/5/2018 at 3:32 PM, KIBeast said:

I'm not exactly sure what to say about the shed on Mystic Timbers. For me, it was on par with what I expected. Mainly because I knew that it wasn't going to be anything out of this world amazing as KI has never built any ride with any great effects. I think the disappointment expressed is really on those disappointed and not on the park. You had built it up inside your head to a point that only something on par with Disney would've satisfied you and that was never going to happen. Of course they were going to build up hype for what's inside the shed. What did you expect them to say? Hope you enjoy sitting in the brake run outside the station instead of baking in the sun. Sorry we didn't bother to theme it at all? 

So I realize this post is old, but to say Kings Island has never built any ride with great effects, do you mean as in high quality or highly themed? Because although it’s not working the best right now, Flight of Fear is an example of a ride with well thought out effects.  The $20M big tan box also stares at you as an example of good theming.  Although it didn’t end up lasting.

[KIghostguy]

Mystic Timbers is also a great, recent example of fantastic theming.

[flightoffear1996]

23 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

Mystic Timbers is also a great, recent example of fantastic theming.

Outside of a couple of objects in the queue and a poorly filmed video that almost no one watches Mystic Timbers is not that well themed in my opinion. The shed is pretty well themed but but as an attraction as a whole on a theme level I would get it a 2/5. 

[HandsUp]

25 minutes ago, flightoffear1996 said:

Outside of a couple of objects in the queue and a poorly filmed video that almost no one watches Mystic Timbers is not that well themed in my opinion. The shed is pretty well themed but but as an attraction as a whole on a theme level I would get it a 2/5. 

Not for an adult, but my 7 year old who just made 48'' was pretty spooked by all the MT theming. We rode it at night last week and the fake security monitors, music, and shed all legitimately affected him. He is a total daredevil and will ride anything and everything-but he also has a cinematic imagination. Sure it's not Disney caliber, but a little goes a long way with kids who are just barely tall enough.

[KIBeast]

On 5/6/2019 at 10:13 AM, FoF96" said:

So I realize this post is old, but to say Kings Island has never built any ride with great effects, do you mean as in high quality or highly themed? Because although it’s not working the best right now, Flight of Fear is an example of a ride with well thought out effects.  The $20M big tan box also stares at you as an example of good theming.  Although it didn’t end up lasting.

The theming on FOF is really not much better than that of MT. Neither was Tomb Raider. They all have stationary effects, which is on par with what has been achieved in the past.  Anyone expecting Disney-like was setting themselves up for disappointment. 

[FoF96"]

13 minutes ago, KIBeast said:

The theming on FOF is really not much better than that of MT. Neither was Tomb Raider. They all have stationary effects, which is on par with what has been achieved in the past.  Anyone expecting Disney-like was setting themselves up for disappointment. 

FoF maybe I agree.   Tomb Raider? Fog, Fountains, Hollywood level special effects?  I’m not talking in it’s crypt days I’m talking back in the day, sliding tomb door and all.  That ride was in a league of its own for seasonal theme parks. 

[fyrfyter]

FoF maybe I agree.   Tomb Raider? Fog, Fountains, Hollywood level special effects?  I’m not talking in it’s crypt days I’m talking back in the day, sliding tomb door and all.  That ride was in a league of its own for seasonal theme parks. 

I agree with this. The Tomb Raider theming was so far above anything we had previously seen or seen since. It was over the top for a regional park. Exact replicas from the movie, electronic sliding doors, videos and statues, etc. They spent big $ on that theming.

I loved FoF back in the day. The looping video that made sense and the effects inside the UFO were great!

[KIBeast]

What "Hollywood level special effects"?  There were statues, fogs, fountains and prop replicas. Not sure those are better than anything we've ever seen a KI. The enchanted voyage had animatronics. The Phantom Theater had some good effects. I'll just agree to disagree. Nothing has really wowed me with over the top effects. 

[FoF96"]

The goddess on the front wall.  It was stationary but it interacted with the riders and it was on top of the temple where the Triangle of Light was like in the movie.   There have been rides with animatronics on it.  Tomb Raider interacted with the theming elements to the point where the gondola swings lined up with what was in the room.  

[cdubbs727]

I echo the Backlot Stunt Coaster disappointment. Here was Paramount promising a unique roller coaster experience, but it just looks shoddy and fake, and in the years post-Paramount, it makes no sense to have a movie stunt roller coaster in the middle of the park? Why not just at least call it "The Heist" or "The Getaway" or something like that -- none of the theming has anything to do with making a movie anymore, why not just lean into the action? I like BLSC for what it is, but the ads promised so much more.

But by and large, aside from the first few years of Tomb Raider, Paramount's hype never lived up to it. The cache of a movie studio brought to mind Universal or Disney, but really the theming wasn't anything special. Face/Off had no theming. FoF had a great queue, but there's no theme to the ride itself. Drop/Zone had no theming, and if you'd ridden "Back to the Future," I don't see how you could be anything but let down by "Days of Thunder." Top Gun had the aircraft carrier walkthrough, which was kind of cool, but it was still just average amusement park decor. The park did much better theming wise with Adventure Express way before Paramount took over. 

I don't really count the Mystic Timbers ad as bad hype. Sure, "What's in the Shed" was a bit of a letdown (how could it not be?). But the thing that counts -- the ride -- is one of my favorites in the park. 

[teenageninja]

^ The Paramount Action Theaters were probably being designed at about the same time as Back to the Future was.  I'm not sure if the intention was to be the same, but Days of Thunder was a pretty fun little ride.  There were some decent attractions in the theater over the years, except Dracula's Haunted Castle.

TR:TR was done pretty well on the inside, but the outside failed pretty bad.

 

 

Source: Tomb Raider Chronicles and Technifex

[Joshua]

3 hours ago, teenageninja said:

^ The Paramount Action Theaters were probably being designed at about the same time as Back to the Future was. 

It is possible, but Back to the Future: The Ride debuted a couple years prior to the first Action Theater and was being designed as early as 1988/1989, during the production of the second and third films of that series. 

Even as someone who rode BTTF:TR before Action Theater, I had no complaints with Days of Thunder. I liked the experience. 

[IndyGuy4KI]

15 hours ago, teenageninja said:

It is so weird not seeing DB in that picture.

[TombRaiderFTW]

^ I'm in the opposite boat--when that area looked like that, I was developing my love of parks and Tomb Raider: The Ride. I think about that big, open entrance plaza and trees nearly surrounding the building all the time, because that was from my "golden years" at the park. I'm still a little salty that the textured plaza concrete is all but gone at this point.

Sorry, I'm getting into Grumpy Old Man mode...

[ldhudsonjr]

On 5/13/2019 at 10:52 AM, KIBeast said:

The theming on FOF is really not much better than that of MT

I would completely disagree with this. The theming in FoF is STILL better than MT now, even though I definitely wouldn't say it holds up to be what it was in 1996. I was a kid when I first saw FoF, and back in it's heyday, that thing seemed insane. The way the building looks like some weird Area 51 type place, and then when you finally get inside and there's this Flying Saucer sitting there (I seem to remember it being a lot harder back then to see the mirror). All of the stuff in there looked pretty rad at the time, and the video going in the background didn't seem nearly as cheesy (though still cheesy). Waiting in the queue for that ride always felt a bit ominous and foreboding. Whenever the trains would launch all the lights would flicker, the fact that you couldn't see what was going on really until you were right up to the ride, those mannequins in stasis pods, to me it was all really really cool for the time. One touch I always really liked was the way the train shoots off (the biggest "OH HELL NO" moment I can think of waiting in line for a coaster back before I was an enthusiast) and then seemingly returns seconds later, completely empty. As long as Disney is outspending CF and others like 3 or 5-1 for attractions like this, they are always going to be better theming wise, but when I think of good theming around a seasonal theme park attraction, FOF is one of the first things that comes to mind.

 

 

[FoF96"]

22 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

It is so weird not seeing DB in that picture.

Imagine if they had spent more money to make the big tan box look like an actual temple.

[Theoutdoorkid107]

1 hour ago, FoF96" said:

Imagine if they had spent more money to make the big tan box look like an actual temple.

That would’ve looked a lot better, now just imagine the money they would’ve spent to make it look like a temple.

[Maddog]

19 hours ago, ldhudsonjr said:

The way the building looks like some weird Area 51 type place, and then when you finally get inside and there's this Flying Saucer sitting there (I seem to remember it being a lot harder back then to see the mirror).

My childhood memory matches yours!  I always thought it was much darker inside previously than in recent years.  The mirror effect was rather cool!!

[FoF96"]

Every time I’ve gone into Flight of Fear (last time was 2 years ago) it’s looked different.  For a short time they had restored the orange “search lights” which would scan back and forth around the room and the lights would flicker for the launch also the lights seemed more purple and the room was overall darker. Now it seems like they have the LEDs set to an whiteish blue color and the orange search lights are gone again with no flickering.  Here is was last weekend.  Also even if they don’t bring back the onride photo I wish they’d bring back the flash from the camera in the launch tunnel or the star effects so it would seem like you were getting transported through the Outer Limits into space.  They added a bunch of LEDs inside the bowl and que now it seems like several of the progressive additions they made in the past are gone.

[KIBeast]

On 5/22/2019 at 9:39 PM, ldhudsonjr said:

I would completely disagree with this. The theming in FoF is STILL better than MT now, even though I definitely wouldn't say it holds up to be what it was in 1996. I was a kid when I first saw FoF, and back in it's heyday, that thing seemed insane. The way the building looks like some weird Area 51 type place, and then when you finally get inside and there's this Flying Saucer sitting there (I seem to remember it being a lot harder back then to see the mirror). All of the stuff in there looked pretty rad at the time, and the video going in the background didn't seem nearly as cheesy (though still cheesy). Waiting in the queue for that ride always felt a bit ominous and foreboding. Whenever the trains would launch all the lights would flicker, the fact that you couldn't see what was going on really until you were right up to the ride, those mannequins in stasis pods, to me it was all really really cool for the time. One touch I always really liked was the way the train shoots off (the biggest "OH HELL NO" moment I can think of waiting in line for a coaster back before I was an enthusiast) and then seemingly returns seconds later, completely empty. As long as Disney is outspending CF and others like 3 or 5-1 for attractions like this, they are always going to be better theming wise, but when I think of good theming around a seasonal theme park attraction, FOF is one of the first things that comes to mind.

 

 

I thought the props were the coolest thing about FOF. The video was cheesy and terrible.  It was interesting enough to watch exactly one time. The launch moment literally has zero bearing on the theme.  

[HandsUp]

Ton answer the OP-Adventure Express was a severe let down at the time

[ldhudsonjr]

5 hours ago, KIBeast said:

The launch moment literally has zero bearing on the theme.

Disregard that part then. I still think the theming on the ride was well done