Darksin

Today I give you... The bathroom story, as dug up from an old LJ post! The Setting: Unsuspecting me is standing at information for a show, directing people on where they need to go and answering questions as they pop up. Insert one Darwin award winner here. Man- "Where are the bathrooms?" Me- "Well, there is one set directly behind you" *Points, is used to people not being able to read* "And there is another set around the corner next to the Waterside Cafe". Man- *Wonders away for several minutes, then comes back* "But where's the bathrooms?" Me- *Blink* "They are directly behind you sir and there is another set at the Waterside Cafe" Man- "But I can't find them, can't you show me?" Me- "I'm sorry sir but I can't leave my position but If you look behind you at the green and white building? They're right there" *Points directly behind the man to said bathrooms* Man- "...but where?" Me- *Mental Facepalm* "Right there sir.. See the tree? They're right beside the tree" *Points again* Man- *Blank look* "..but I just need to use the bathroom!" *Raised voice* Me *Thinking: Here we go..* "Sir, I'm trying to help you but I can't leave my post. They are directly behind you" *Points again* Man- *Is now yelling* "I JUST NEED TO USED THE BATHROOM? WHERE IS IT?" Me- *Starts pondering if the penquins will eat human if it's sliced up small enough* "Sir, I'm sorry your having difficulties but they are right there" *Points again* Man- *Foaming at mouth* "B.A.T.H.R.O.O.M. THE SHITTER! THE POT! TOILET! Don't you speak english you stupid bitch?" Me- *Counts to ten, wonders if I can behead him with a waterkey* "Sir there is no need for that kind of language, we're a family park. The bathrooms are directly behind you or at the waterside..." MAN- *Snarl,growl,hiss* "ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU DON'T HAVE BATHROOMS?! WHAT KIND OF SHIT PARK IS THIS?!" Me- *Trying to hold on to patience* "Sir, please don't cuss. The bathrooms are.." MAN- *Starts to just cuss, F**k this.. F**ck that..* Me- "Sir if you continue to keep up that kind of language I'm going to have to call security..." MAN- *Struts around* "Oh yeah?! Bring it on! I'll kick all their asses and.. wait.." *Starts to remove pants* "I'll just go right here!" Me- "Oh hell no.." *Stomps over, grabs phone and calls security* In the end this jackass got his pants down just as our rather joking security showed up, this had drawn a rather large crowd. Dude got tackled to the ground and hauled off to those nice people called "Orange County Sheriffs"!! ((Edited for language in the original post)) Later tonight if I'm not to busy at work, I'll see if I can't find the "A guest took WHAT?!" story!

Yet another tale from Seaworld. Let us now move over to another part of the park, I was bounced around all over the park ops department anytime they needed someone competent to work one of the stadiums or exhibits. Apparently people have REAL issue believe Seaworld has LIVE animals! Me- *unsuspectingly cleaning the glass around the sea lion and seal exhibit.* Idiot- "Excuse me.. why does Seaworld let these birds roam free?" Me- *blink* We don't ma'am. Those are snowy egrets, they're native to Central Florida and come here in hopes of stealing fish" Idiot- "Well they shouldn't just let them run around! That's somekind of animal abuse...neglect...something!" Me- *Groan* "Ma'am I'm sorry you feel like that but those white birds with the long legs? They're wild birds, they don't belong to seaworld but if you notice we do have small bird feeders in the park for them" Idiot- *Now yelling loudly* "IT'S ANIMAL ABUSE! WE NEED TO CALL PETA!" Me- *Thinks- Good luck lady, they're not allowed threw the gates* "Ma'am.. they are Native birds of Florida. They where here before the park.. however I can get one of the animal care people to explain.." Idiot- *Cutting off* CALL PETA! THEY'RE KILLING THOSE BIRDS" Me- "Ma'am... please read the signs, they explain that they are local.." Idiot- "ABUSE! ABUSE!" *just screaming this over and over, people are just staring at her* Me- *Pulls out radio* "Security to Pinniped please..*Walks away* Lady ended up being removed from the area to calm down, I never did find out if Animal care got the point threw to her! I shall dig threw my old LJ to find more of the stories if anyone wants to read them. I've got a ton of them but those are the two I STILL recall word for word what happened. ...or we can always go threw "Stupid Questions People ask at Disney!"

*facepalm* Does this ever bring back things I wish I could forget. I worked for the theme parks in Central Florida during High School and a bit afterwards. I have no END of stupid people stories as I'm still convinced that when they go on vacation the GP leaves their brains at home. But allow me to tell my favorite story... This is between me a guest outside of shamu stadium, while waiting for the show to finish up. -"I've been to Disney, everything is Fake. How maybe people are inside the shamu suit?" Me-"None, it is a real living animal" -"Hahaha thats funny, my kids are sitting down. Come on, tell me how many people it really takes to drive that thing!" Me-"Sir, it's a real animal." -"Now don't get lippy girl, I want the truth. How MANY?!" Me-"None. They are real animals. The one preforming now is Una, she's the small whale that just did the jump" -"YOU BETTER TELL ME RIGHT NOW!" Me- *Long suffering sigh* "It's not an audioanimatronic sir, it's a living animal..." -"STOP LYING TO ME!" Me- "Sir, I'm not lying. I can take you to talk to any of the trainers if you.." -*cutting me off* "THEY WILL JUST LIE TOO! YOU TELL ME!" Me- *wonders why guest if foaming a tthe mouth, can't believe the stupidity. "Sir it's a real..." -"HOW MANY?!" Me- *looses patience* "Three... three people drive the shamu robot" -*Idiot grins* "See! I knew it! Wait till I tell me wife!" Me- *Looks at manager standing four feet away* "Remind me why I don't kill them?" Manager- *between hysterical fits of laughter* "Well it isn't because we pay you well! Go to lunch hun.. tell 'em it's on me today. I probably would have clubbed that one a few times myself!" -"See that wasn't so hard, I knew it" (This is a real conversation. I had this with a guest in '97 with my Operations manager standing four feet behind me trying not to laugh but not butting in either. At least he bought me lunch!)

^ Bobafett AUGH! Wildwood is going to be chaos this year with them doing all the work over there! At leas the double pier coaster sounds rather cool, will probably be one heck of a sight to see when it's done. I'd heard rumors of the waterpark but nothing solid until now. Haven't really kept up much with whats been going on since we move. Will have to check that out this summer!

Personally I think an over 21 event would be great but as someone had said, it should be done as a solid ticket only event. It should be done after hours when the park closes at 9pm. Run from 9pm-2am with that solid ticket admission, this way you get your ADR from your family groups as well as the adults only event. It would also probably work out much better if you did these events during pre-season or end-season months (April or September) on weekends. At least thats about the best way I can figure that one to work, this way no one would get turned away during a operating day and you could have a speical event at the same time.

BobaFett, I wonder what Morey's plans to do with Golden Nugget. I know a few years ago they had a big thing on the website asking people if they should re-vamp and re-open the ride, from what I saw the vote was hugely popular. My husband and I used to live out in EHT so we went to Wildwood all the time. I wish they would re-open it, I'd love to ride it at least once! I've got a soft spot for closed parks, there is just something about them that's fascinating and sad at the same time.

I'd have to say I still LOVE going on Chair Swings, no matter how old I am anytime I see on in a park I have to stop what I'm doing and ride them! Other then that I'd have to say my other favorite kiddie ride (that is still around) would be Peter Pans Adventures at Disneyworld.

I'm with FeeltheForce. Give us the B&M Already! Kennywood is one of the more "perfect" parks in my opinion (I'm biased) and other then that much wanted/promised B&M I can't think of much I'd like to see changed. Perhaps adding in another dark-ride saved from another park but other then buying out land for expansion room I can't think of anything I'd change there for normal park operations. Their Phantom Fight Nights however, I'd bribe some of those nutballs out of Universal and up the bar on the event. Make it over 16 only, alcohol and just push that envlope as far as I can possibly get away with! Now Idlewild, on the other hand.... -Completely Re-vamp Rollo-Coaster -New Paint on EVERYTHING -Add in a few more Flat Thrill Rides (Swinging Chairs, Gravatron, Wave..) -Add in a small B&M (If Dorney can squeeze in Talon, so can Ildewild) -At least one more family flat ride (Was thinking something interactive, like MIB or Buzz Lightyear) ..at least in my dream world it'd work like that!

Kennywood Amusement Park Announces Ghostwood Estate New Dark Ride for 2008! West Mifflin, PA - Kennywood began its gift giving on Saturday, December 8, by announcing specifics of its new ride for 2008, a state-of-the-art dark ride named Ghostwood Estate, to attendees at the Great Ohio Coaster Club holiday party in Columbus, Ohio. Though the coaster fans were the first to hear the official announcement, rumors of the ride were already finding a home in cyber space and beyond. The eight room haunted house replaces the Gold Rusher, which was retired this past August. “Ghostwood Estate is clearly an indication of Kennywood’s commitment to dark rides,” explains Jerome Gibas, Kennywood General Manager. “It combines the newest technology available - a trackless conveyance system with cars programmed and monitored by a computer and includes over 200 interactive targets and numerous CGIs (Computer Generated Images).” Guests will be armed with blasters, developed by LaserStar, Florida. The blasters provide guests the opportunity to compete with others in the vehicle by targeting haunted characters throughout the estate. Each vehicle is also equipped with four individual scoreboards. Designing all haunted effects is Halloween Productions Inc. (HPI) of St. Louis, MO. Kennywood first became accounted with Larry Kirchner, HPI president, in 2001 when it purchased three walk-through Halloween mazes as a base for its now hugely successful Phantom Fright Nights. Jeff Checcio, Director of Maintenance Administration, says of Kirchner, “He’s extremely talented and knowledgeable - certainly one of the founding fathers of today’s Halloween industries.” The $2 million project is expected to be complete for Kennywood’s opening in May of 2008. Tags: Ghostwood Estate, Kennywood LINK HERE MOD's I searched and didn't see this anyplace, if I missed it please excuse me

*Bows down to Seaworld* MAJOR WIN! *Cackles with unholy glee as her park once again gives Disney the finger* Oh man, now I gotta go back to Orlando...again! I guess that can fit in for my "go see friends, hit up seaworld-taunt operations managers with my freedom, go to Disney-don't pay admission, go to Universal-have fun and laugh at tourists, don't pay admission" trip this coming fall.

A-ha! Thats probably why I thought it was a pretzel ride then. Something really damn funny about Xanadu? That place survived untold ammounts of weird weather and being abandoned with nothing more then broken windows (and the rain that got in) but still stood up better then my parents house in Orlando when the three hurricanes of 2004. If I ever find myself living down in Florida I'm building my house like that! But yes, there where 3 of them built. Even more funny? A guy down off the gold coast built a house off that general design and concept which survived a direct hit from Charlie. ..okay I'm done now!

Oddly enough that "Moss covered shack" was the last standing Xanadu: Home of the future. There was one in Orlando but like everything else it went the way of the dino's and was demolished in 03-04. Oddly enough I believe Knoebels still has an orignal pretzel dark ride.

You wanna see scary? Allow me to show you... And that my friends, was Fun'n'Wheels. They're long out of business now but I recall going there a few times with friends (circa early 90's) and even then is was crap-tastical. Yes, it looked about the same the entire time is was open!

Rye Playland in Rye, New York. It's pathitic and a deathtrap. A few years ago all you heard about was someone getting hurt there at least once a week. Blue Diamond Park in New Castle, Delaware. That place is a carnival that never left. We didn't even buy tickets, it scared me.

Well this year is pretty busy for me outside of the theme park circuit so I'm not going to get to as many as I'd like. So I'll post up my "For Sure" list and my "We're going here, if I got the money we're going" list also! My "For sure" list are things at are mostly within a five hour drive of where I live, everything else is in area's I know I'll be travling to during the season and my possibly get to go to. Parks "For Sure": Kennywood Cedar Point Idlewild Kings Island Busch Gardens Europe Dorney Park Geauga Lake/WWK Conneaut lake Parks "Possible-If I got the cash" SF Great Adventure SF Over Georgia SF Buffalo Kings Dominion

Anyone know how all this ties into Nickleodeon pulling out of Universal Orlando?

I know I'm probably going for a long shot here, but I figured if there was ever the group of people who MIGHT have something random like this..it's got to be everyone here! I'm looking for a copy of the old Seaworld Orlando, Sealion show called "Hotel Clyde and Seymore" which was the show that happened before the tacky pirate ship showed up! I'd be willing to pay shipping, DVD cost and what not for anyone who can provide me a copy of the show (if full if at ALL possible?!). Thanks everyone for any possible help!

Very Nice Collection! ...and I thought I horded weird theme park bits!

I'm just going to give my own opinion here based on things I've heard and facts. As well as the opinion as someone who put in time working for the rat, the fish and the woodpecker. (Sorry, that's my running joke about working at one time for all the Central Florida parks!) I don't remember when it was but Disney at one time said that they would never purchase and "disne-fy" a park not of their own building. I wish I could remember when it was so I could find it on a website! It had something to do with not being able to design systems and such the way they wanted. While I do think Disney will expand into other cities, it will be things like DisneyQuest. Because it's an enviroment they can control and lets face it, Disney as a whole are OCD control freaks at heart. While makes me believe if they ever DO build a real park outside of California and Orlando, it would probably be someplace like Virginia (EXAMPLE!) where they could go mostly year round as well as put a entertainment companies panties in a knot. You have to look at locations, Disney wants to be open year-round so that really limits the area's we could speculate on. They'd establish someplace that already has somekind of smallish tourism market as well as major airport/highway nearby. Disney much like people, sometimes amaze me. People go into debt in order to have the "Disney World Experience" as well as the entire Central Florida vacation. I've seen this frist hand, I've heard the numbers and my mind boggles. The average family will save for ten years for a 10 day vacation to WDW/Florida, the same goes for ten years worth of debt. The thing that keeps Disney World in record attendance is the "memory" factor. People went there as kids and in a world of ever growing distance in families people will take their's to Disney to share that experience. I personally have not been impressed with WDW for the last 6-7 years and feel that the reason for the records numbers are because of the memory factor. Disney is loosing ground to other more advanced thrill parks and they know it, which was a big part of the "Memories" campain they had not to long ago. You also need to look at where this business is coming from, there has been a huge spike in international visitors to Disney, most of this is because the US dollar is worth jack right now. Thus making those vacations VERY affordible to those outside the US, so it's also a factor to look at. The Villian thrill park has to happen just based on the need to keep up. Universal and Seaworld are also drawing record numbers lately because they have enviroments similar to WDW but with the thrills to appeal to all ages and the adults shelling out their lives savings to have them! At one time Disney was the leader in theme park technology, that can't be said for the last 10 years or more. Thats why I feel that somekind of Disney Thrill park will be coming in the future. At least in my opinion!

I honestly don't know in regards to their lease. I know before Universal Entertainment bought them out that the park the property where the park sat as well as where the parking is. I know at one point they also owned the entire lakeside but an unsure of that now. I remember when they sold simply because as a seaworld employee at the time we all got a nice little notice saying "Guess what?! We now get into Wet'n'Wild for free cause UE bought them!" which kind of surprized me. I don't remember anykind of annoucement going out to the public or even happening in the news. It's a lot of speculation. Who knows but it would be sad to see it disappear either way.

Good point, didn't they just re-vamp Surge and put an additional slide onto that platform in the last 3 years or so?

Yuck, UER! Sorry that needed said. However I would seriously doubt the credibility of anything listed on their website as the fact that many people over there have the tendency to use other peoples pictures and take credit for them. However unless your into UE or praticed in the art of trespassing I wouldn't reccomend trying it for youself. Places like SFNO aren't the best of places to get into or to get around in without being discovered.

I seriously doubt that WNW will ever fully close down, that place is packed constantly even in the off months. During the summer the place hits compacity nearly everyday (or at least it did about 4 years ago). It's cheaper then the Disney parks and even with Universal Entertainment owning it I seriously doubt it would shut down until USO get's their own park up and running. It's far to risky to shut it down now, not with Aquatica opening this spring. However massive renovations are needed, I know they haven't done anything like that in at least 10 years or so when it happened one winter to re-marsite all the pools. Besides, you don't go to WNW for the view. You go to ride, to eat, to drink beer, to picnic and have fun. If you want a view take yourself off to one of the over-priced Disney waterparks. I'm sorry but I wasn't overly impressed with them, even by disney quality I thought that River Country had more appeal then Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach but that one is currently SNBO. Not even to go into the fact the local's would probably riot. You should have seen the *#&$ storm that happened with Water Mania shut down, it wasn't pretty. Just my .02 cents.

Well walking down I-Drive near Universal Blvd is always a nice little time. Plus you can get some decent picture's of the odd things that have sprun up in that area. There is Old Town which is nice to browse around, more of if you like old cars and such. On the weekends they have a car cruse night which is always amusing to see. Universal City Walk are always a great time for a stroll around, plus you can get some good shots of universal at nighttime! You can also drive down Turkey Lake Rd or Vineland Ave and stop at this one gas station and get some great shots of Dueling Dragons! Downtown Disney doesn't give much but you can walk all the way down and get some good shots. There is also the Boredwalk Hotel which you can walkdown which gives a nice view of Epcot at night plus if you come at the right time you can see all the fireworks from Fantasmic also! If you are on Disney property one night and catch a bus into Ft. Wilderness Resort down by the water (take the bus till you hit the end of the loop, which is the Outpost and Hoop-de-doo Review)you can catch the fireworks and the castle which is one of my personal favorite places to watch them for free! Seaworld is more tricky but you can walk from your hotel down I-drive to get pictures of Kracken. If you walk down more you can probably see the new Waterpark also from Central Fl Parkway! From the backside you can walk up Westwood Blvd and up this small backroad that leads into the old Employee Parking lot and see the fireworks! If you want directions on how to get to any of these places just shoot me a PM and I can give you exact one's right from your hotel! (Oh the joys of having spent 20 years in Orlando and most of that time working for the theme parks!)

Seeing those pictures just give me warm and fluffy feelings! Finally Disney is doing something the right way, been hoping for that for more years then I can count. Now if we can get them to do something about that damned MGM hat life can go back to some acceptible level of Disney. However I have to say I agree with Moofygirl and as the Disney Purist I am, I shall also demand the return of 20,000 leagues and Mr. Toad! (Well, I can dream at least!)