robbalvey

Cleaned up this thread a bit so there would be a REAL announcement instead of just someone posting "holy crap" with a link. Sorry I had to remove all the other posts that came after it, but feel free to re-post what you said. In the future, if you guys could all do us a HUUUUUUUGE favor (pun intended) when you post something that is an announcement for a new ride or expansion, please make it look like the one I posted above, not a couple of words and a link. That will get deleted because that's not very informative and not the kind of content we want here. Thank you!

Falcon's Creative Group Designs Long Range Development Master Plan for Fun Spot Orlando ORLANDO, FL--(Marketwired - January 11, 2016) - Falcon's Creative Group is excited to announce our involvement in the design of a new long range development master plan for Fun Spot Orlando. "It was a special experience to work with Fun Spot. Their passion for their guests and team is so inspirational. The new master plan will give guests a chance to step into different eras and experiences all under one ultimate storyline, Americana. We are very excited to see Fun Spot grow in the upcoming years and make an impact in the Orlando theme park community," says Designer, Brandi Monard. The proposed master plan includes six new themes that will be applied across the entire park. These themes were brought to life by Falcon's in an effort to create thematic narratives that will transport guests to classic American past and present time periods. The goal was to enhance the park's current family fun experience and create new areas that contribute to the Fun Spot brand. The future expansion will continue to bring fresh and exciting experiences to Fun Spot guests. "It was important for us to help sculpt Fun Spot's vision to build upon their existing brand and personality, while elevating their offerings to guests locally and around the world," says Creative Director, Joshua Adcock. The expansion of Fun Spot Orlando is set to take place in the coming years, and will also incorporate new food and beverage partners, coasters, water rides and much more.

So explain to me why the fanboys were bitching again?

Mako has been topped off! At 200 feet tall, Mako will be the tallest, fastest, and longest roller coaster in Orlando when it opens in 2016!

Been having fun doing this higher quality 4K videos. If you have a 4K HDTV and you stream YouTube directly to it, these look INCREDIBLE! Check it out...

Maybe while you were up late at night you should have spent more time using our search function to find that we already have a Cedar Point discussion thread or even this crazy idea/super rumor thread: http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35614 Feel free to post this in one of those threads.

I'm not sure what you mean. Wishes is 13 minutes and the new Disneyland Fireworks are just shy of 15 minutes. Also remember that Wishes throws up a TON of huge pyro in the air, shells that Disneyland aren't even allowed to use because of being in the middle of Anaheim, and those are expensive! But as far as the length of the two shows goes, they are very similar.

So is it safe to assume that the Dueling Tilt Coaster are: A. Some China knock-off which seriously makes me question if I'll ever want to ride them, and B. Never going to duel because this is China and we've seen how well they duel Dauling Dragon.

I don't trust any enthusiasts opinions when they don't even know how to spell what they are talking about.

I'm glad you included pictures of the parade. Having seen Dream Lights and Paint the Night almost back-to-back this year, I've decided that I like Dream Lights waaaaaaaaay better! As impressive as some of the tech on the Paint the Nights floats were, I just thought the whole thing felt like a dis-jointed mess and to me came across like an imitation Disney parade that another park was attempting to produce. Where in comparison, Dream Lights brings in some impressive tech and is a much more cohesive "feels like a Disney parade" experience. And after our trip to Japan, they re-introduced about 6 more new Dream Lights floats replacing the old ones with newer tech, so the parade is now even that much better! I'm not a parade person at all, but I will always watch Dream Lights at least once during a trip to Tokyo Disney. I feel I could easily skip Paint the Night on my next visits to DL or HKDL.

To further the original question.... Does ANYONE'S options matter? No. Personally, I could give two shits what someone else thinks about something.

Yeah, we don't go anywhere NEAR the parks on New Years Eve! The night before we got to Poly about an hour before the show and just walked right up to a perfect spot! It did fill up later and about 10 minutes before the show started it was crowded, but not uncomfortable. In fact, there were people that walked up just moments before the show started and still got a very good view. It's one of the best kept secrets (even though the NYE show is right there on the WDW website for both nights) that they do the fireworks on the 30th as well as the 31st. And IMO, this is a MUCH better view that being inside the park because no matter where you are inside the park, your view is sort of obstructed from seeing all the perimeter and lagoon fireworks as well.

Happy New Year everyone! Here are the Magic Kingdom fireworks as seen from the Polynesian Resort. This is one of my favorite places to watch the NYE fireworks at Walt Disney World since this one of the few times of the year they not only light off fireworks from behind the castle, but also from the islands in the lagoon. When you're in the park it feels like there are fireworks literally all around you, because there are, but from this view, you get this amazing display of fireworks and their reflection on the lake! AND... you're not dealing with the THOUSANDS of people inside the park! PRO TIP! Walt Disney World also does their NYE fireworks on December 30th (which is when we shot this) for a couple of reasons - for one it gives them a dress rehearsal for the NYE fireworks the next night, and also since there are just so many people on property over the holidays, it gives even more people a chance to see the show. So technically, New Years Eve happens at Magic Kingdom TWO nights in a row! Enjoy the show....

Playing to their audience! Smart, Disney...

It is. Totally is. But that doesn't mean there aren't places there that locals will frequent or smaller mom & pop places. That's because you don't live in a tourist town. Us locals know when to avoid places like I-Drive, Citiwalk, Disney Springs, etc, and when to go. That's just all part of living in a town based around the tourism and hospitality industry. Do we have lots of places we go that aren't anywhere near the touristy areas? Yes, of course. But I honestly do enjoy quite a few places on I-Drive just as much as I do the more "local" establishments.

Here's the highlights video we shot of the new Star Wars Fireworks at Hollywood Studios. Even if you're not a huge Star Wars fan, these are AWESOME fireworks! GREAT SHOW!!!

Just saw Jeremiah post this to Twitter. WOW....

^ Yup, this is exactly what happened to Bell's Amusement Park and we all saw how that went down.

Right, but the question was specifically about mom & pop stuff closer to the theme parks on I-Drive. And honestly, Winter Park has a lot of "chain places" too, it's not the be-all end-all place in Orlando, IMO. If anything, I feel it's overhyped.

You're not, actually. As an Orlando local, I can tell you there are plenty of local places still left on I-Drive. One of our favorite places to eat, and the best Indian we've found in all of Orlando is a small little mom & pop place right on I-Drive across from Coco Key water park: https://www.google.com/maps/place/New+Punjab+Indian+Restaurant/@28.4537571,-81.4725658,17z/data=!4m7!1m4!3m3!1s0x88e77effc2206771:0x56da0bbbf13db43!2sNew+Punjab+Indian+Restaurant!3b1!3m1!1s0x88e77effc2206771:0x56da0bbbf13db43 We've been going here at least 12 years, long before we even moved to Orlando! Giordanos is another locals favorite and while it's a small Chicago chain, there are only three in all of Florida, and probably the best place you can get Chicago style pizza in the area! (I actually don't know of any others!) And while you might not find a lot of Orlando locals at places like Senor Frogs or Bahama Breeze (those are by far more touristy places), I can tell you that us locals have been visiting I-Drive a lot more now that we have better options like Yard House, Shake Shack, and even Mango's. And we still do frequent other restaurants like Cafe TuTu Tango since it's the only one here in the Orlando area and we'll even do Carrabbas & Outback Steakhouse on I-Drive now since they are so convenient and the parking is very good. (At the Orlando Eye) It's doubtful you'll find us out on I-Drive at 10pm on a Friday or Saturday night or during the peak of summer or holiday seasons because that's crazy town full of tourists, but any other day of the week it's just fine.

^ See, I can't even fault Intamin on Green Lantern since I've ridden an exact clone of it at another park and it rode GREAT and SFMM have even admitted they've made modifications to it after Intamin handed it over to them. I'd have to say mine is a tie between Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril at Disneyland Paris and Flashback at SFMM.

Correct. I'm sure you've read some of your own posts.

We were doing a walk along I-Drive last night just to see how busy/not busy things were around 11pm, and when we were taking pictures outside of Mango's last night, the owner was out greeting guests (which I thought was awesome in itself), spotted us across the parking lot, ran over gave me a huge hug and told us to come in VIP style dropping the rope past the check-in staff allowing us to bypass the huge line! It was awesome! And just more reasons why I love this place and the guys that run it! Also, it was PACKED last night! There was a line around the corner! Was so impressed how they have only been open a week and they are KILLING IT on I-Drive when other places were, unfortunately, fairly slow. I think this just speaks volumes for the quality of Mango's, though. Mango's has only been open a week on I-Drive... ...And there was already a line around the corner of the building! I'm not sure I've ever seen any location on I-Drive get this much attention so quickly! GREAT FOR THEM!!! The place inside was PACKED, but the crowd was very well managed. At no point did it feel "uncomfortable" at all. The shows are awesome! [twitter] [/twitter]Had to watch Michael Jackson one more time! Cheers to you Joshua Wallack! Your club kicks some serious ass!

I wanted to believe you were exaggerating but after finding the video and reading the comments I realized you could make 10 more of these images at least and they would all be filled with comments that are just as asinine. Holy crap... Yup. It's quite scary isn't it?