robbalvey

Pretty obnoxious tone for your first post. Take it down a notch or you won't be making many more posts.

Where did you hear that because I keep hearing that its actually EXACTLY the USH version, but with a couple of added scenes. Yes, it's a different ride vehicle, but it's essentially a single-car tram tour vehicle, and the Hollywood tram also has a tour guide. I get that it's a much expanded version, and I am hopeful the additional scenes will be really awesome, but the attraction at it's core is the Hollywood version, just with "more." At least that's what I've been told. (who knows until it really opens or more info is released, though.) Remember, it's already been announced that it only has a 34" height restriction, so it's not going to be a wild ride or anything.

We don't actually know if it's a 3D ride yet. They've given zero information, really. Just speculating, that's all.

http://blog.universalorlando.com/whats-new/fast-furious-ride/ ALL-NEW FAST & FURIOUS RIDE COMING TO UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT IN 2017 You’ve seen the cars. You’ve seen the action. And soon, you’ll be able to live it. I’m so excited to share that one of the most successful film franchises of all-time will soon become one of Universal Orlando Resort‘s most action-packed ride experiences. Buckle your seatbelts, because in 2017, Fast & Furious: Supercharged is coming to Universal Studios Florida. You’ll feel like part of the “Fast family” as you embark on a thrilling new Fast & Furious adventure that will put you right in the middle of the action. This ride is going to fuse everything you love about the films with an original storyline and incredible ride technology. You’ll get to check out some of the high-speed, supercharged cars you’ve seen on the big screen. You’ll be immersed in the underground racing world made famous in the films and explore the headquarters of Toretto and his team. Then, you’ll board specially-designed vehicles for an adrenaline-pumping ride with your favorite stars from the films. To make way for Fast & Furious: Supercharged, Disaster: A Major Motion Picture Starring You! will close permanently on September 8, 2015, with Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue closing later this year. There’s SO much to share about this thrilling new ride—I can’t wait to share more details in the future. Make sure you stay tuned to the blog for updates.

Wow! Some fantastic photos! I love that they are all from your iPhone, too! This report has made me hungry and want to go back to Disney...so I think I will go see Frozen Fireworks tonight!

I'm even past that point of caring. Like I can easily remember the "big stuff" I rode, like I'm obviously going to remember I rode stuff like Talon, Kraken, Superman, Mamba, Mr. Freeze, Wodan, Nemesis Inferno, Fujiyama, whatever.... But sometimes Elissa will be "did we ride this on our last visit?" And if I have to say "you know, I don't even remember..." that means it's not even worthy enough for me to put it on paper! lol And then the other nice thing about not keeping a count is that if I accidentally ride it again on a future trip, it doesn't matter!

What's sort of funny about that is people on our tours used to look forward to Kristen being there too since they would use her to ride the kiddie coasters that you needed a kid. Now that she's older and can ride most big rides, she has zero interest in riding the kiddie coasters let alone multiple times with random people, even if they bought her a plush animal! I sort of like that kid!

It is. And I've always found that one fascinating as well!

More news for the Knott's Berry Farm day! SIERRA SIDEWINDER BACKSTAGE TOUR! Not only will we get a backstage tour of Ghostrider, but we will also get to take a behind the scenes look at Sierra Sidewinder! Why is this cool? Sierra Sidewinder is the only coaster in the park that uses an "elevator lift system" to store the ride vehicles (coaster trains), and there aren't that many coasters in the world that do this. It was done because of limited space when the ride was designed. We also have never been able to take a backstage look at this coaster, so it will be very cool! Be sure to sign up for the Knott's day and get your tickets here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=22

This is something I think a lot of people don't understand or know. There are those of us who appreciate the work put into TPR events, which are amazing and something to look forward to every year. So, thanks Robb, Elissa, and the parks for putting this awesomeness together for the enthusiast community every year, and hopefully it can stay that way! Thank you!

^ I really just hope it's not another media-based attraction. At some point they just need to start giving people 3-D glasses when you walk through the turnstile. I haven't been on Disaster since it re-opened in 2008. I'm not a fan of the attraction so I won't miss it. I just hope the new ride is really a "ride" and is something I can really look forward to.

I agree 100%. I feel like Cedar Point should never build another coaster. Hell, none of the Cedar Fair parks should ever build a new coaster. I think that's what's best. No new coasters would really boost attendance, and keep people wanting to come back to the parks. --- Sorry, I felt the need to make my statement just as ignorant as the one I quoted. Cedar Point does NOT need a coaster right now. Why not give Kings Dominion, Dorney Park, or Knott's Berry Farm a coaster, as they have had very long waits? If anything Cedar Point should get a dark ride or maybe GCI woodie. Another dumb decision by lord Cedar Fair. I like how people on the internet think they know what a park needs more than the people who run the parks or the parent company.

Hey look what was spotted today! #MakoSighting

If they are going to re-brand anything, wouldn't it make more sense to re-brand the ride that actually killed the guy, which is based on an animal that kills? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_of_prey

Funny you should mention that... It's happened before! Not much you can do about it. Just gotta go and have as much fun as possible.

^ Maybe it's just training from park to park, but I know at Disney, we were not trained to blow off guests like that. I mean, sure, I get your "boy cried wolf" scenario, but if a guest was legit freaking out or had a serious concern, it was not taken lightly.

^ I used our version since it fixes some of the "air quality" a little bit!

My feeling is that if we do open up tours again, we would probably start with Club TPR Members.

After ten years of doing the TPR Tours, we have put them on hold for the time being. That's not to say we will never do them again, but we have officially taken a break from doing any "open to the public" trips or tours, sorry.

At this point anything is possible in speculation. My guess is more negligence than malice, though. As fail-safe as the system is, nothing can ever be 100% failsafe when you include "human error" into the equation. And the only really upside to all of this is that Merlin is very lucky the accident wasn't worse. Seriously, I think we are all amazed that both cars actually stayed on the track and that as bad as the injuries were, the fact that it was only "injuries" is a positive thing.

This is the most puzzling that I think is what we all would like to know. There should (and were) many things that would have been alerting them to the stalled ride vehicle. The panel had to be throwing out warnings and errors. There are cameras in that area. Even park guests saw the vallied train and there were reports that guests tried to alert the staff. So why did that all go ignored and the staff choose to send the train in override mode anyway? That's the big question that is what I'd like an answer to.

Same. We will absolutely get to Brazil and visit the couple of parks that look interesting to us, but we just couldn't stomach the idea of going around Brazil and riding a bunch of Wacky Worms, kiddie coasters, and crappy rides. And doing an entire trip surrounded by people who thought that would be a cool thing to do is also something we could no longer tolerate which is why our trips are very different now. One day we'll get out to Hopi Hari or do that park with the messed up looking shuttle coaster, but it's not high on our priority list, and if ends up closing before we get there... Oh, well, I'm sure we'll find other places to visit, too!

As someone who's been with TPR almost since its founding, allow me to say very sincerely that I hope this never happens. It's a real shame that some idiots made you guys felt driven to do that with the trips. It'll be a shame if that happens with these kinds of events as well. It makes me sad that I was ultimately unable to participate in the TPR tours while they were going on. Now that my life is more stable than it was a couple years ago, I would have loved to take some of my vacation days and have a blast on a TPR tour. I also find it a shame that things turned out that way. I haven't been here for that long but I also was really looking forward to doing a TPR trip very soon. In fact, I have been saving some money for a few years now with the intention of doing so and now because of things like this I won't be able to. I don't want to say we will never do them again, but after ten years of putting on tours, and people getting worse and worse each year, we just needed a break. And trust me, if we start them up again, there WILL be some sort of "application" process and we will choose who goes and who doesn't. I can't see us ever doing an "open enrollment" type of thing ever again.

^ It's nice to hear. And it does help. I should have you respond to some of my emails!

I had this revelation the last time we were in China. We were at Dinosaurs park and there was the 429th Golden Horse spinning mouse we encountered. It had a 30 minute line. I chose to go get off-ride footage of Dinoconda over getting another meaningless, pointless, crappy mouse credit. It was on that trip filled with powered dragon wagons, kiddie coasters, and just total Chinese crap that I finally said to myself "why the hell am I bothering with pureshit rides?" And from that point on, with only a few exceptions based on tours we did to help out the credit whores in the group who would come up to us and say 'hey, there is a kiddie coaster X miles away...why aren't we hitting it?', we've stuck to quality over quantity. And even more so now that we are only doing private invite-only trips.