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brutusln

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  • Birthday 05/21/1964

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  1. Mt. Olympus reported on Facebook that Zeus was receiving new tracking: "Getting ready for summer with some new tracking on the mighty Zeus wooden rollercoaster. Only at Mt. Olympus All Inclusive Resort & Parks in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin." -Is the Zeus work completed, or in process? - Will Zeus be open for 4/28? - What two coasters will be open? - Is this an atypically early start for Mt. Olympus? Last year, at their opening days, the two coasters running were Cyclops and Pegasus. --Brutus
  2. I arrived five minutes before closing, got a season pass in four minutes and rode Cornball Express one minute before they closed.
  3. Linejumping requires a zen approach. First, avoid lines at all costs. Carefully research low attendance days and special ERT days to avoid the "great unwashed". That way, you can ride to your heart's content, no matter how many ill-mannered hooligans cut in front of you. Careful planning round attendance figures can reduce that "I'm going to kill someone" feeling. It's a mindset--when I am faced with ill-mannered people in line, I relish the entertainment. For example, when a teen returns to join his party at the front of the line, does the group even want him there? Is he even popular enough? Watch their reactions. And when a young adult returns to his party at the front of the line, what were his reasons for leaving? A small bladder? How awkward. Why wouldn't his party wait for him? Most of the time, it's just a bathroom break. If someone is using the "I know someone at the head of the line" strategy, watch the awkwardness on the faces of the parties he joined!! Do they really want him there? It's social embarrassment that's just fun to watch. When I was a kid, I could have killed people jumping in line. Now that I'm older, I instead focus on trip planning which increases your ride count by 10 or 20 rides each visit, taking the focus away from linejumpers anyway.
  4. The story is the thing that keeps people engaged in a preshow. With a good story, an audience will watch avidly scores of times. Without a good story, the audience begins complaining, but doesn't know what's wrong. Like a perfume that's coming out of a magazine ad, they can't tell where it's coming from or what it is, they just know something isn't right. Here are the requirements for a preshow the audience loves: --Flawed, universally human characters whom the audience loves and identifies with. --Clear dialogue that immediately identifies who, what, and where, (including identifying the enemy). --An audience "action objective", and responsibility for the outcome. (Involve the audience.) --Specific, high stakes physical action with props. --Changes of emotion. --A changing stage picture to add interest. --A progression or "game" where the audience identifies a pattern in the action and anticipates what comes next. --Avoid questions, ambiguities and confusion between characters. e.g., "Where are you?" "Are you okay?" "What are we doing?" "Where am I?" "I don't know." --Continually add new information which advances the "game". --Avoid scenes where one person instructs or commands another. --Avoid scenes when the characters have difficulty communicating or can't hear. --Avoid scenes where the characters plan what they're about to do at length, or argue whether or not to do something. --The shorter the film, the more you should avoid slow "reveals" which delay or obscure information about who the enemy is, where you are, or what the objective is. This is just standard Hollywood 101.
  5. ATTENDANCE Was anyone surprised how few attendees there were for the KROQ event? I was. Wow! THE COASTER I was blown away by the smoothness and night time intensity of Terminator! It's so smooth, a mohel could operate while riding. At night, it's a much more intense ride, but still smooth as butter! The big winner of the night was GCI who created a stunning mid-sized coaster with a big punch. I could ride this 10 times in a row! PRESHOW SETS THE TONE The preshow videos are successful at creating the feeling of impending danger! STORY ISSUES: My issues with the story are these: Where is the enemy? We need more visuals. How 'bout one of the droids pops up and interrupts the video. "Sorry to interrupt, but I'm going to kick your butts. Okay? go back to what you were doing." No location, no special effects needed, just a simple single CU shot. I wish those robots in the last room could talk: ROBOT 1: "If we had legs, we would totally go after you humans in this room." ROBOT 2: "Yeah, but we don't have legs, so we can't." ROBOT 1: "Yeah. We're still waiting for our legs to be delivered. The delivery truck broke down. But the other Terminators out there, they have legs. So they can run fast. So watch out." ROBOT 3: "I wish I had legs because I would totally kick some butt right now." Story is not about evading, it's about facing the enemy in a last stand. But much of the dialogue is about escaping. "You've got to get out of here." One place, one emotion, one goal. Get her done. I'd change the line to "You gotta help us. Ride this coaster and find the Terminators, we'll take it from there." --Too much question and answer dialogue throughout. Too much confusion. --Delete the "train" concept. Just say the Terminators are hiding among the coaster and you've got to find them. --We need more humor like the line "When Mommy gets back she'll hold your hand." --What will the final set piece look like? Vanquished terminators? --Change the music at the end to be "feel good" music. I got chills when I finished riding this coaster. Big things come in small packages. What a fantastic ride. So much fun, SFMM has a winner! THEMEPARKREVIEW I was delighted at how gregarious and well mannered the Themeparkreview.com attendees were. Just fun. (I was the fat bald guy.) My first time meeting Robb and Elissa and I was so impressed. Risible and bouyant. Thanks for the directions to Terminator via Orient Express. It worked!
  6. OMG! Good Day LA just showed helicopter footage of Terminator and it F L I E S ! Holy God! It whips around the turnarounds. OMG!
  7. For the website picture click http://www. Myfoxla.com, click on Good Day LA, and Entertainment. The segment just aired on Fox. For those of you who didn't see it, Tony McEwing and an actor from the film rode the coaster, reverse POV, they're sitting in the front seat, first car. We could only see their reactions, we can't see where the train is going, and very little of the background. Tony described the coaster as intense, but I really don't believe anything he says. (On this segment he said the trains go 70 to 80 mph, and misnamed the film's director "McV".)
  8. According to the oddly written rules in the SF "winner" email, everyone must bring a guest, no exceptions: "All winners must have guest present during check in." That should have been worded "Each winner and optional guest, if attending, must accompany each other at time of check-in." Also, apparently the name you are given when you apply online doesn't matter, but the name they give you "at the time of winning" matters. "Name given at time of winning must match name on ID." (Kind of like a Catholic confirmation name or a name assigned you at a Greek Fraternity ceremony, whatever name they give you when you win must match your ID. I'm crossing my fingers that mine matches. "There is no transfer of names and all prizes won on KROQ are non transferable and cannot be exchanged. " Because it's such an airtight contest. Hahah! BILL
  9. I won tickets, but I have a problem. Are they really going to check ID's to make sure names match exactly versus the name entered on the online form? What if mine doesn't match the name I entered in the form? (I can't tell which name that I entered actually won--I entered about six, because my winning email notification's "To:" Field is blank! Aghghgh!) If I give them the wrong name are they going to execute me? How loose a contest is this? Is the name checking procedure really limit the number of people attending the event? Or is the email process a way to demographically screen contestants based on computer ownership and email access, and will they really care if the names don't match exactly? Or are they going to hire professionals from the CIA to screen attendees? How has it worked in contests past? BILL
  10. No, the commercial I'm referring to has no people in it, and no comedy. Just the coaster in various long and medium shots, and then pov shots as it travels the track. Announcer says Six Flags blah blah Terminator using a foreboding voice. The whole commercial appears dark and mechanical. Has anyone else seen this ad?
  11. The Terminator commercial running on local LA TV appears to be real POV footage, not some CGI'd thing. And I believe the commercial began running only after the initial testing, leading me to believe it could be real Terminator POV footage. Has anyone either seen this commercial or have inside information on how it was assembled or when it first aired? BILL
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