robbalvey

It's a joke. Deal with it. Don't take what we say so seriously. Remember, we make fun of ourselves more than we make fun of anyone else. There is a disclaimer on every page of this forum that says: If you're not a fan of people making fun of people, then maybe TPR isn't your cup of tea. --Robb "I personally thought it was hilarious!" Alvey

^ What does the one look like in Orlando? I still have yet to see that show. After seeing Fantasmic! about 300 times in it's opening year, and dealing with grown adults flighting like children over ground space I pretty am "Fantasmiced out" for the rest of my life! --Robb

I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer or anything, but I gotta be honest, I am just not seeing this as a very big deal. Let me explain... First off, I do think the dragon looks great! That's not my beef with it. My issue is this...below is the image from Fantasmic! from 1992. I worked at the park when Fantasmic! debuted and during it's first summer I worked crowd control for the show most of the time. The image below is the image of the dragon that we as cast members had been shown for the months leading up to the opening of the show. (scroll down and look at it, then come back here) And finally, the night was here, I was at one of the very first cast previews. We were having a great time that night...the show was fun, the crowd was cheering, and then the final climactic part of the show...the dragon! And what pops out of the stage? Some head on a stick with a bunch of glowey stuff to hide the fact that it's just a head on a stick... LAME!!!!! I was expecting something that looked like the dragon from the picture! While the show far exceeded my expectations the dragon left a lot to be desired. Flash forward now, what... 17 years later? And they are now FINALLY getting around to making the dragon look "as advertized" in 1992? I'm sorry guys, while the dragon does look good, IMO it's arrival is about 17 years too late for me to care that much. Don't give me NOW what I was excited to see 17 years ago. Sure, I'm glad a dragon that looks like the picture below was FINALLY created. And it does look GREAT! And for those people who are just seeing the show for the first time I'm sure it will be cool but I gotta be honest, does this dragon REALLY *make the show*? I personally don't think so. IMO, the dragon was just the vehicle that got you to see the river on fire. And THAT is the effect that really steals the show. Yeah, sure the head on a stick looked stupid and was lame, but you forgot about it's lameness as soon as you went "OMFG! The river is on fire!!!" Had they extended the show with a whole new scene using some technology that looked like this I think I'd be a bit more impressed. But swapping out the old dragon for a new dragon that looks like something that *should* have been installed in 1992 but they ran out of budget (that's at least how it looks to me), meh, I can take it or leave it. It's a great show either way. So why is this such a big deal? --Robb "I don't get it..." Alvey The Fantasmic! Dragon as advertized in 1992.

I think you made the right decision. While it's hard for me to suggest someone who is a Disney fan to NOT go to Disneyland, it is, without a doubt, in my opinion, the worst of all the "Disney Resorts" and a one-day trip to Disneyland, is not in any way better than a year's worth of WDW visits, if you had to make the choice. Disneyland is a GREAT place for California local "Disney fans" to get their fix and call their own, but you'll be hard pressed to find many people who live outside of California or the neighboring states tell you that Disneyland is the better resort over Florida. Yeah, Walt walked through the castle and he had an apartment there, sure. It's a big deal to some people, and I totally understand why. But if you're going to use that argument then you gotta point out that WDW exists because Disneyland and what the surrounding area developed into, wasn't anywhere close to Walt's dream. Sure, he walked through that castle, and then continued onto Orlando and puchased an obscene amount of land to where was to build his dream park the way he dreamt it. I will tell you though, as a "Disney fan" you should visit the Disneyland Resort at some point in your life, just to make the comparisons yourself. But for this *particular case*, I think you've made the right choice. --Robb "I prefer Legoland to Disneyland..." Alvey

I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Do the videos on CoasterTube not work for you? Or are you talking about downloaded videos? Or playing DVDs on your computer? --Robb

Invest in a Gold Flash Pass. It will make your night MUCH better. --Robb

This just arrived in my inbox... As soon as I hear more information I'll post it. --Robb

IMO, if we end up seeing Marvel Super Hero Island re-themed it's either because: A. The original contract between Universal and Marvel was not very strong, or... B. Disney bought Universal out of that contract. There really is no other way. --Robb

I would appear that if you... READ THE DETAILS It says... "Show your Flip Video Camcorder at participating Six Flags parks on Sundays between July 26 and September 6 and receive a voucher good for a FREE single rider Flash Pass to skip the ride lines. "

^ Ahh, I think it's Extreme Terror 3 that has our Steel Dragon footage in it. --Robb

I'm going to re-quote this again because it's one of the only *really* intelligent comments posted to this thread (and I encourage others to re-post this again if the thread goes off on some stupid tangent.)

I'm going to re-quote this again because it's one of the only *really* intelligent comments posted to this thread (and I encourage others to re-post this again if the thread goes off on some stupid tangent.) I don't think that "What to do with the Universal land" was the first thing on their mind when making the deal. Nor does it have ANYTHING to do with Universal makin a deal with Harry Potter or anything of the like. Remember, when Disney makes a business decision (especially a 4 billion dollar business decision) they look at the HUGE picture. How these properties will fit into EVERYTHING they do. Not just theme parks, or more specifically one land in a theme park. And if you look, it is not hard to find some cross-pollination of worlds. For example, here is a Universal Studios commercial posted to the Disney-owned ESPN website: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=3877333 When I worked at the Disney Studios we had to work with ESPN quite a bit, and the way it worked then is ESPN still operated as a sperate entity. They still make their own deals, licensing agreements, and if we needed to work with an ESPN property, we still had to pay certain licensing fees, even though they were owned by the same parent company. The same applied to ABC and I'm going to assume that Marvel will feature a similar buisness model. I wouldn't worry too much about it right now. --Robb

I'm not sure if this is the show, but there will be an upcoming Travel Channel show that will feature some footage shot by Theme Park Review! --Robb

Yes we do! Our DVDs work in all international players and are shipped all over the world! --Robb

Hey everyone! Since we are leaving for China again in two days I figured I'd post one of my favorite segments from our recent "Coaster Expedition Volume 12" DVD for you all to see. This time around it's Happy Valley Shenzhen! The "Original" Happy Valley park in China. This park (and the video) has some very, VERY bizarre rides and antics including the "Christmas Themed Dark Ride" and the water cannons of death! Enjoy the video...post your comments below! [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=happy_valley_shenzhen_5nkx[/coastertube] And remember, you can pick up this DVD along with other TPR goodies in the TPR Store: http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/ Thank you again for all your support! --Robb ps. If anyone is having problems viewing this video, please post ASAP!

13/20 Didn't have on my nerdy patch jacket this time around.

The original video has been uploaded to page 1 of this thread! --Robb "Thank you!!!" Alvey

I can't believe that none of us downloaded it! If you have it, send me a PM! --Robb

^ Just take them both to McDonalds!

^ Yeah, but that's just because people are idiots. I was on a conference call with Universal this week (that was going to be recorded and aired live, and they let us know about it) and some guy asked a question about Thorpe Park! WTF??? How stupid do you have to be to mention another park at something you have been invited to that's going to be aired live? Some people just don't think. Unless your question or comment about a competing park or a different subject is 100% valid or appropriate (And even then it's questionable if you should ask it), stick to the subject matter of which you've been invited to take part in! The PR department wants you there to help promote THEIR park, not mention other parks or other properties. --Robb "My PR advice for the day!" Alvey

Wait.... Let me get this right... There was an episode of... "Dinner: Impossible" for ACE MEMBERS?? L. M. F. A. O!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! OMG! OMG! OMG!!!! That must have been one HELL of a challenge!!!! I can just see Robert Irvine now "NO!!! THAT'S NOT ENOUGH GRAVY!!!! WE NEED MORE GRAVY!!!! THERE ISN'T ENOUGH GRAVY IN THE CITY OF CHICAGO TO FEED THIS GROUP!!!!" BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Ok, ok....I think I'm done. Wow...I hurt now!

In chat the other night there were a couple of people talking about going. I think Crazy4Coasters was one of them. --Robb

Damn...did anyone download it?

LOL! They should just call it "boob cam!"

I do know about this coaster! We are due to go ride it's clone next week in China! --Robb