MattyD

/\ My original idea was something along those lines - like it! Whilst coming up with my idea I stumbled across this image, just thought I'd put it on here incase anyone wanted to use it as part of thier idea! Looks awesome but you must have some serious time on your hands to do something like this! Park Entrance?

If you're after soul it has to be an Alfa... Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione all the way - that's if I win the lottery of course! I am probably biased as I drive a MiTo...

Ok, so photoshop is definately not my strong point... but I am very bored at work so thought I'd give it a shot. I present my idea of some new theming for Cypress... I mean... Legoland Florida! Official Entry: New Theming...

Just wanted to drop a quick post and say thanks for the holiday card Mike! It arrived after Christmas but it was a lovely suprise when it dropped through my letterbox when I thought it may have been lost in the post, it takes pride of place on my wall o' crap! (Alongside all my gig tickets, park tickets etc) Also, glad to see my card made it and arrived safely at Big Mike Headquarters in time to appear on the table with all the other cards! I counted 5 Duckies - but sadly I am too late to enter - that's what happens when you don't get a chance to read the Big Mike Roadshow everyday, learn from my mistakes and always keep up with the Big Man! Regards, Matt

I haven't been able to check this topic untill today and I know I am a bit late - most things have already been covered - but you wanted opinions so I thought I should air my views! I honestly think 'Club TPR' sounds a bit pretentious but after your explanaition Robb I completely understand, if it gets you more recognition from the parks (Although most would already know and love TPR from previous trips) then it is worth it, gives the premium membership more perks. Can I see myself joining? Honestly?... I think I'd have to wait and see how it pans out in the first year, as an international member (UK) I would worry it is more difficult for you to arrange park discounts etc for us, which I understand, but would possibly put me off as I don't think I'd get value for money. On the subject of the $15 store credit, I agree for some it doesn't seem a good option but I think if you worded it differently maybe it would have seemed a better deal, for example if you said that included in your membership you can choose a free T-Shirt from the TPR Store or you receive a TPR Hoody in your membership pack or something along those lines people will likely see that as more of a perk. I have to say though that I personally like the $15 idea because it means you can choose whatever you want, be it T-Shirts, DVD's or Downloads. My main concern is that I don't want to see TPR divided by the two levels of membership. TPR has always been a very friendly and accepting community in the few years I have been reading and enjoying it, I know we have the mods and Robb and Elissa are in charge overall but there has never seemed to be any real hiararchy, everyone's opinion counts. For example, Robb is quite happy to comment on any subject, add his opinions, share in other people's and on the odd occasion I am sure he would admit when he is wrong - no different to any other member, there is no real bias between a member who has 1000posts or one who has 100 - as long as they enter into the spirit of TPR and are not wasting everyone's time with spam and poor quality posts they are treated as an equal member of TPR. My worry is that this new system could alienate people from TPR by dividing a close community in two. I know that I won't be joining Club TPR straight away and I would hate to feel like I was a lesser member of TPR because of that. However, I must also pass on my thanks to Robb and Elissa for putting forward this idea and putting a lot of time and effort into it, I know you are always striving to provide the best possible experience for every possible member and that it is not easy to do this without some kind of financial contribution from the membership of the site and dividing opinions. Thank you for all your hard work, and although I have my doubts and concerns about Club TPR I wish you the best of luck in getting this idea to become a reality. I hope you can pull this off and create a better TPR for all the members, sorry to not be 100% behind you on this one but I am sure you will do your best to make this idea work for everyone. Happy New Year to everyone on TPR, apologies for the long post! Matt

Hey Mike, This is the first time I have posted in your thread for a long time, but do not fear, I have been reading intently on an almost daily basis! Just to let you know your card is in the post, it may not arrive in time for an official card to come back my way (it is coming from England afterall!) but I don't need anything in return, just wanted to pass on my festive wishes to the big man! Have a great christmas and a coaster-filled new year, MattyD EDIT: Just discovered this is my most active topic - now I just need the banner and I've covered all 3 bases!

I'd completely forgotten about that! But again, you can get the same stuff elsewhere plus more, they really needed to have something really special or different if they wanted to pull in the crowds! Matt

You've highlighted the main problems that the place has always had. I only live about 10mins from Dickens World and work 5mins from it. I could probably take an hour for lunch and see all the attractions. There's simply not enough there, 10 out of 10 for theming but barely even 1 out of 10 for content! You also have to take into account that people who are within an hours drive of Dickens World are also within an hours drive of Thorpe Park, Chessington, Legoland and these all offer far more attractions for your money and so people are far more likely to go there! If they had put it more attractions, maybe even a small rollercoaster or some more dark rides, maybe even a shooting dark ride themed around one of the books then more people would go. The problem is it seems to have been set up more for education than entertainment whereas if they'd set it up with rides etc. that were both then more people would have been interested! Thank you for the trip report Dave, it was nice to see an independant observer confirm my feelings about the place. Makes me feel less cynical!!! Matt

I know some of you are saying that the park isn't worth visiting but I completely dissagree, I would LOVE to go there, I think it looks like an interesting park with a good theme and some interesting rides, I would definately like to go, but the difference between HRP and the parks in Orlando is that there isn't anything else to justify foreign tourism, and as someone pointed out - this is what keeps the Orlando Parks going. You go to Orlando you have the entire Disney and Universal Resort complexes, you have I-Drive with lots of shops mini golf courses and other bizarre attractions, there's gatorland, you can book an excursion to Busch Gardens, there is plenty enough to keep you busy for 2weeks, but if you went to HRP there is pretty much just the park in that area to keep you busy, you'll spend about 2days there max and then what do you do for the rest of your holiday?! As I said before, the key is in attracting foreign tourism with a resort and/or other attractions but if we give them a chance you never know, they might pull it off! Matt

If they are going to succeed then what they need is a resort! A hotel or two, a 'Downtown Disney' or 'City Walk' type area, a few restaurants, a water park etc. From what I have gathered there is very little else to attract people to that area so if they are going to succeed they need to make sure they have plenty of stuff to attract the masses! I haven't seen any advertising at any of the Hard Rock Cafe's either, let alone at Travel Agents or anything like that, but that's the problem, until it's a proper destination then they can't justify advertising it around the world because the tourists just won't come! However if I was to look in a Virgin brochure and see holidays advertised (like they are for Disney and Universal Resorts in Florida) for the Hard Rock Resort then I would fly there just for that. It comes down to, Marketing and Location as everyone is saying, good marketing will help but you also need to be in a location people will want to travel too, and people won't travel long distances just for one park! Matt

Great TR so far Mike! However I think I am going to decline entering the competition for two reasons: 1) You already give us so much with all these brilliant trip reports and constant entertainment and so you have already given me enough without paying for a season pass as well! and 2) I think there are far more deserving readers out there - I haven't even managed to meet up with the Roadshow (although that has a lot to do with being trapped in England!) But I would like to say I think that is a brilliant prize and you are a very generous man to give us all these great trip reports, hours of fun for those who meet up with you at parks and then this prize on top of it all. It's no wonder the Roadshow has got so much attention and you've made so many friends along the way! Keep up the good work Mike, and good luck to everyone on the competition! Matt

I am sooo glad I decided to do a random check on the Ask Alvey Forum now! Post Of The Year by a long long way! Matt

because throwing clocks at people is a great game! Why does it always rain on me?

^Now that I would like to see! I loved Poe's works when we read them for English GCSE and some of those would make some pretty gruesome dark rides and other attractions! You'd just have to hope they did a better job then has been done with Dickens World! Matt

It's just down the road from me and is, from what I've heard, a huge waste of money! However, that does means it's never very busy! It has very little in such a huge building, a boat ride and a few shows and that's pretty much it, so it is probably alright for school trips etc but definitely not what I would regard as a theme park due to a distinct lack of anything rideable! A lot of local people are very unimpressed and think the council wasted a lot of money for nothing, and personally I can't say I'm that impressed with it, when the council first put the idea in our local paper we thought we were getting a small theme park with a few rides related to Charles Dickens but it hasn't worked out like that! If anyone does visit I'd definitely be interested to see a TR about it, maybe you could change my mind about the place?! Matt

Ah Man, why didn't I post that I counted five, I actually played the game but I won't get a BMP (Big Mike Point) because I forgot to post it... I will have to try and get some BMP's another way! Keep up the good work on the Roadshow Mike! Matt

That character creator is awsome dude! I found it a bit confusing at first but that was mainly because there were so many options, once I worked it all out it made sense and it's really brilliant! Matt

My favorite has always been Dixie Landings (Now Port Oleans Riverside) because we had such an awesome vacation there years ago and it was a lovely resort (hopefully still is!) however all of the resorts I've stayed in have been great. You can't beat the All Star Resorts for value for money though, you get all the usual Disney atmosphere and perks for reasonable prices! I have to say, after staying off Disney property the time before last when I was out there, I have vowed never to do that again! Disney Hotels just kick everyone else's ass!!! Matt

Nice trip report Rik, it's cool seeing some of the culture and landmarks of places as well as the coasters, glad you enjoyed your time here in England too! Erik - it's really easy to get to Disneyland Paris from England, if you're in London you can get a EuroStar from Paddington Station all the way to the gates of Disney, if you're driving around England you can go to Folkestone and get a Shuttle through the Channel Tunnel and drive to Disney, although that takes a lot longer! Hope that's helpful info! Matt

Great TR Mike! I think this is my favourite so far! Big Mike, Two lovely young ladies, One respectable young gentleman, Central Park, Volleyball, Big Mike groupies in underwear... you covered everything! You even got the Rock to come and join in the Roadshow - good work! Glad you enjoyed your time in europe and your trip NYC, I went there a few years ago and it is a great place, keep the roadshow rolling with more of these great TR's and keep on having fun! Always proud to support the Big Mike Roadshow, #1 Thread (ever?!)!!! Matt

^I agree, if it re-opened then everyone involved in the construction and maintainence of the ride would have to have agreed it was safe - although they must have done that before this crash aswell... I honestly don't think this looks good for this company though, the park can recover (they have plenty of other rides!) but if they've only ever built one other coaster and this one has gone so badly wrong then people are not going to have a lot of confidence in them! Once we know the cause of the accident (after the investigation) then I think we can decide where the blame lies, but as I said, it is not looking good for the Manufacturer! Matt (100th Post)

^Haha! PMW being the most important part! Well said! I think some people are blowing this way out of proportion! (Me included - Sorry Joe and McJaco, I missinterepreted something pages ago, didn't mean to!) I don't think the family have actually confirmed they are sueing Six Flags yet and if they do they don't have the best case! It is annoying that they think thier son did nothing wrong but when you're grieving over a loved one you're generally not thinking straight!!! They may sue, they may not, but lets wait untill they do before we start getting annoyed with them, remember they've lost thier son and I am sure anyone on these boards that has a son can imagine how painfully depressing that must be, no matter how stupid he was! On a side note - PMW 4 Eva Bro! Matt

^Chill! I'm sure people know there are many other examples of stupid lawsuits, but some of us only know about the ones that the media latched onto; for example the McDonalds Coffee, I don't think they were comparing the two that critically, I think it was more to point out that famously there have been a few lawsuits in the past that the media have picked up on that have been regarded as frivolous! Is that one a bit close to home? or are you a lawyer or studying law or something along those lines? I just think you're response came across as very defensive of that case and I am sure the person who mentioned that case in the first place wasn't intending to provoke quite such a reaction, merely pointing out that there have been some wierd lawsuits in the past that may have been portrayed as frivolous in the media and this one probably won't be even though in their personal opinion it is! I hope that made sense, I just thought your reaction came across as pointed and un-provoked! However, if you were merely trying to encourage discussion of other lawsuits rather than hearing the same example over and over then I apologize, I must have misinterpreted your response! Matt

I honestly can't remember where I found it - it was a list of the weirdest school projects but thats all I remember! I can't see how it could work either, but the site was actually listing statistics like 35mph at the bottom of the biggest drop etc so I wasn't sure whether they were taking the p*ss or whether kids were riding it on skateboards or something! You can probably find something about it by typing in School Rollercoaster or something like that in google, I just came across it whilst randomly searching the web and immediately thought of this thread!!! But I do agree it really doesn't look rideable! Matt

^ it is possible, but it does seem like that might have come out by now, the other kid is still alive and I am sure that he would have mentioned that pretty quickly after the event if that was the case! However, as far as I have read there has been no confirmation of what happened from the other boy... possibly whilst lawyers talk to him to get his story straight... possibly because he is too traumatized to be questioned right now... possibly because the police haven't released that information yet, we don't know! I just think that from what we've seen so far that is unlikely but anythings possible I suppose! Matt