robbalvey

To be fair... Don't you think it might have made a bit more sense if you spoke and read Korean and could have understood some of the pre-show story that was presented to the people in line? I actually don't think any of the rides you mentioned really tells that complete of a "story" to be honest. I don't most people have any clue of what is going on when they get into Indy until they watch the movie in the rider safety room and pretty much all you take from it is "don't look into the eye..." Seriously, you just sound like a typical Disneyland fanboy that is obsessed with "your park" and anything that doesn't exist in "your park" isn't as good. --Robb

Hey everyone! TONIGHT! (Monday) Robb Alvey will be featured on In The Loop LIVE! And guess what? We are going to GIVE AWAY THE VERY FIRST COPY OF ROLLER COASTER IN THE RAW VOLUME 4! That's right! Listen in for your chance to win the FIRST EVER copy of this new Theme Park Review DVD! The show starts at 5pm PST/8pm EST and you can listen here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/In-the-Loop/2009/10/06/In-The-Loop-Live See you tomorrow on the show! --Robb

Audio and text transcript from tonight's chat has been posted here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52739 Hey everyone! This Wednesday (October 7th) we are going to be hosting a 2010 Trips Chat. Just like in previous years we will be in our TPR Chat Room discussing next year's trips, but this time around we're also going to do something totally NEW! You will be able to listen in *LIVE* to Robb & Elissa discuss next year's trips and be able to call in to ask your question! *LIVE* How cool is that? To enter TPR's Chat Room simply log into the TPR forums with your user name and password and click the "Chat Room" link at the top of the page or follow this link: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/chatspot/chatspot.php?room=1 To listen in to TPR's *LIVE* Trip Chat click the following link and press "play" on the radio: http://www.themeparkreview.com/2010tripchat.htm You can ask us questions either in the chat room or call into the **LIVE** Chat! Remember, TPR Trip Chat *LIVE* is happening this WEDNESDAY at 6pm PST (west coast time) or 9pm EST (east coast time). We hope to see you there and answer any questions you may have! --Robb ps. If you are unable to make the chat, a full transcript of the chat room and a downloadable version of the *LIVE* chat will be available.

While I dont know who exactly put together Ghost Galaxy, most of the time stuff like this is developed by the people in Burbank. Right. Thank you. I used to have an office on the Imagineering campus. I'm well aware of what is created there. I was just saying that I'm not sure a lot of people even knew it existed years before it came to Disneyland. A lot of people seemed to be implying that it was created for Disneyland, so I just wanted to make sure credit was given where it's due. --Robb "Disneyland fanboys often like to take ownership of something that was created elsewhere." Alvey

Hey everyone! Tomorrow night (Monday) Robb Alvey will be featured on In The Loop LIVE! And guess what? We are going to GIVE AWAY THE VERY FIRST COPY OF ROLLER COASTER IN THE RAW VOLUME 4! That's right! Listen in for your chance to win the FIRST EVER copy of this new Theme Park Review DVD! The show starts at 5pm PST/8pm EST and you can listen here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/In-the-Loop/2009/10/06/In-The-Loop-Live See you tomorrow on the show! --Robb

Really!

Announcement coming soon...

I'm very curious to know what it is about Indy "when it's running right" that makes you think it is "by FAR the superior attraction." I have been on Indy when every effect possible was working (including the Ice Machine rocks falling) and I still fail to see how it's "by FAR superior." On par, maybe, and the official soundtrack might give Disneyland's Indy the *slight* edge, but "by FAR the superior attraction?" No way. You gotta be kidding me. The only thing I felt was missing from Lotte World's attraction that can pump it up one notch was the official Indy soundtrack. If it had that, I think I'd actually rate it above Tokyo's version too! Like Dave said - fire breathing snakes and the smoke ring are better effects than ANYTHING you'll find in Disneyland's version. I mean, c'mon... FIRE. BREATHING. SNAKES!!! --Robb "Me thinks you're just a little Disneyland biased by looking at your screen name!" Alvey

Sorry, I don't buy that at all. The park is pretty filled out as it is and every visit I've taken to the place it's been very busy and very successful. We shot video for the park last year and I had quite a few conversations with senior park management that would tell me what was written on a "South Korean roller coaster forum" is pure crap. I really hate it when people expect parks to install something major every year. Pharoah's opened just two years ago. And if it really cost $50 mil do you have any idea how long it can take a park to recoup that kind of cash? And if you can still live off the same capital investments for years to come, why keep adding more attractions on top of each other. That's usually a sign that a park is on the path to epic fail. --Robb "Going to take the word of the guys that run the park over some hearsay BS from a coaster enthusiast." Alvey

Who is your "friend?" And I'm not sure I believe that Lotte had no idea what the cost was going to be. These things are usually spelled out in the contract before hand. And if there is any additional cost that the park wasn't aware of, well I kind of see that as equally being the project managers fault on the side of the park for not communicating it as well as the ride manufacturer for going over budget. I highly doubt that Intamin is going to go spending any significant amount of money on a ride without letting the park know because otherwise they risk not getting paid. But at the end of the day, what did they expect? Didn't the original Indy cost something like $100 Million? I'm actually surprised the price tag on this attraction was ONLY $50 mil! If that's even a true story. --Robb

^ First off, what coaster are you talking about? Secondly, I'm not sure you've ever been interviewed before, but it can be quite nervewrecking sometimes being "put on the spot" having to answer a question the moment it's asked. Maybe you took it a bit differently, but I did not take it as Korey saying that the parks are ALWAYS at fault and the designers are NEVER at fault. I actually think Korey did a very good job of answering the question based on the limited amount of time he had to think about it and give his response. Think about it that way. --Robb EDIT! Ahh, I just remembered what coaster you're talking about and who you are and where you work! In no one's real defense (neither the park or CCI) nothing like Boulder Dash had ever been done before. And I don't think Lake Compounce comes to mind when I think of a park that hasn't taken care of their CCI woodie. In fact, it's just the opposite.

To be fair, why is it that the older CCI's at Holiday World, Silverwood, Indiana Beach, and Martin's Fantasy Island for example, still seem to run great, but the coasters at Knott's Berry Farm, Six Flags Mexico, PortAventura, and others run so poorly. The answer very WELL may be the parks. I guess my question to you, LcHg5265, would be "What professional background do you have in this field that would make you think his answer wasn't accurate?" Korey has been making roller coasters for nine years. I've been making roller coasters for zero years. I really appreciate him answering my question to the best of his ability based on his professional background. Far better than what I could have done! --Robb

First off, WTF is "Indi" Second, what Elissa said. Go to South Korea, experience the ride for yourself, and then come back and report. In many ways I actually liked this ride BETTER than Disneyland's Indy ride! In fact, I think several people who have been on this ride would actually agree. --Robb

Actually, you can thank Hong Kong Disneyland. Remember this is just a copy of what Hong Kong has been doing for the past few years. And from what I've seen of the videos so far, this looks *EXACTLY* like the Hong Kong version. That's not a bad thing, by any means, the Hong Kong version was freaking AMAZING. But I just wanted to give a little credit where it's due because it seems like a lot of people are crediting Disneyland for this makeover, and that's not where it originated. Hong Kong Disneyland has had Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy for three years now. --Robb

Well, to be fair they don't look anywhere near as good in the photos as they do in person. Since we had our press badges on they were allowing us to take some flash photos in the mazes and to be honest, one of the reason why I know they don't allow flash pictures is because once you remove all the set lighting from the scene, things don't look as good as they do in the "dark." The Chucky's actually looked just fine in person. Nothing was wrong with them. --Robb

^ They actually seemed to be pretty cool with photos in the mazes as long as you weren't holding up the line of people coming through. So I'd experiment with low light settings and how to do it QUICKLY. They also did seem to let you take your time on the Terror Tram, though. As you can see from our photos, it was difficult to get a lot of really smooth shots without a flash. In total we ended up with about 950 shots from last night's event. The update was 100 photos. So you can see that only about 1 in 10 photos I took were useable. --Robb

^ Get the Gate A pass. Seriously. They treat you like royalty. And when you're coming all the way from Australia, do you really want to have spend all that time standing in lines? --Robb

Theme Park Review's Halloween Horror Nights 2009 Report has been posted! http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/photo.php?pageid=63&linkid=6818 Once again Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights reigns as the best Halloween event in Southern California! You will not find an event this intense anywhere in So Cal! Every maze will leave you feeling like "OMFG HOW DID I SURVIVE THAT?!?!" If you live in Southern California and you're going to any other Halloween Event...you've gone to the WRONG EVENT!!! --Robb

I would actually like to award our TOP THREE winners with a bag-o-crap! Yeah!!! How's that for some surprises? Guys, please email or PM me your current addresses! Congrats! --Robb

Please...no pointless polls. Thank you. --Robb

Theme Park Review will be covering Universal Hollywood's HHN Media Day - TONIGHT!!! Check our Facebook and Twitter for live updates! (links are below - add us and follow us now!) --Robb

Agreed. If you'd like to discuss Rip Ride Rockit, even about it's operation during HHN, please do it in the RRR thread. Any further posts about RRR in this thread will be deleted. Thank you for your understanding! --Robb

BTW, is everyone able to view the videos ok that I've been posting to this thread? Just want to make sure all of our CoasterTube tech is still working!

^ Yup! Another Arrow suspended gone! That's what 4 in the past 5 years? XLR-8, Hayabusa, Eagle's Fortress, Big Bad Wolf? Bummer.

That's a little dissapointing that so many vendors have not been paid. With some of them having as little as $375 being owed! Crazy. --Robb