Jump to content
  TPR Home | Parks | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram 

tntornadox

Members
  • Posts

    368
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by tntornadox

  1. There have been talks of that, but I don't see Costa going away or re-branding due to the fact it's a very proud name in Italy with a great heritage, it wasn't a name Carnival came up with, they bought Costa from the remnants of the founding family. The line was founded in 1854 to run olive oil, they began passenger service in the late 40s before being sold to Carnival Corporation in 2000. Costa has since grown to a fleet of 16 cruise ships, is Europe's largest and most popular cruise line and alone accounts for nearly 20% of Carnival Corporation's overall revenue, as well as being Carnival's pre-dominant international brand. Costa operates in more regions of the world than any other Carnival brand, even here in the U.S. (Canada & New England) as well as the Caribbean. I think what you will see happen is a cleaning of house at Costa... then a major PR campaign and slashed rates to lure passengers back. Indeed, Costa is still growing and will need to fill at least two new vessels- another Concordia class vessel enters the fleet this May and a Costa variant of the Carnival Dream-class enters service in 2014 and will have the honor of being their largest ship in history. (Random fact, Royal Caribbean was interested in Costa and even went as far as sending people to look over their books before withdrawing in the mid-90s due to their own debt troubles. After RCL left the picture, Carnival swooped in. Given their acquisition of a European brand, RCL felt compelled to make a European purchase of their own- they purchased Celebrity from Chandris the following year.)
  2. The refund and 30% off future cruises is for those who had Concordia booked, not those who were onboard the night of the accident as has been reported and ran with by the media (surprise, surprise), apparently it was never intended for survivors. Some journalists took the press release, read between the lines and ran with it. Costa is refunding the cruise, any out of pocket expenses for returning home for the survivors and further compensation will be forthcoming. EDIT: Great article on Cruise Critic outlining all compensation: www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=4716
  3. What you see is Costa mishandling this in every way possible, as has been noted, CCL (the line) has typically offered much better compensation in the past for much less serious incidents on their ships... but Carnival Corporation is keeping its distance from this mess.
  4. I have been following this aspect to the story as well, they are gonna have a very hard time trying to sue from the United States... the cruise line is Italian, the ship is Italian registered and the accident occurred off the Italian coast, many say it can't be argued from the US.
  5. I thought the 20/20 special was disgusting, lazy reporting and a smear job against Carnival myself and I am not the only one... they mentioned the George Smith case but didn't mention it occurred on Royal Caribbean, yet never missed a beat when slamming one on Carnival. The first fight they showed was on RCI as well, but once again, wasn't named. It showed Princess as well, not named either. They did conveniently note their parent, Disney, has a cruise line and showed fireworks and everything when they showed their ships... but didn't call to attention the British crew member who went missing off the Wonder last year. The fact is, passengers can be unruly on any line at any time when they have a bit too much of the creature.
  6. ^ Sorry dude, my mind played tricks on me and I didn't read your post correctly... LOL!
  7. I know that, but if it shows flats then it could mean they do intend to add some conventional theme park elements later?
  8. It may just be me... but look very closely (zoom in) on the expansion already shown on the site plan... it looks to me as if there could be some regular flat rides there. Is my mind deceiving me? I can see a 'tower' of some sort quite easily... then again, I may just be insane..
  9. I agree, overall I think it's amazing to see a Gaylord Entertainment CEO and Dolly on stage together forming a partnership, those of us who remember the competition of Opryland vs. Dollywood in the 90s find it an amusing contrast, I know I do. From what I understand, it will be themed to music much like Opryland was, which may make for some amazing theming. I am quite excited for this project and still believe it will be a game changer for waterparks when it opens.
  10. Yeah, but they dunno what all this project is gonna entail yet and they already think it sucks... it's a bit ridiculous if you ask me. This land was never gonna be home to a new theme park anyway, it's not large enough.
  11. You're a little behind, Fox News has been reporting all along that President Obama ordered the socialist giant squid to do this.
  12. I am amazed CNN hasn't reported a giant squid was secretly behind all of this... Every story is becoming headlines, it's like a giant soap opera.
  13. The comments section on the Tennessean article on this makes it seem like Nashville doesn't deserve this investment. They want a park but then complain when one is announced?
  14. They must be pretty confident in this park because the 'future expansion' space already shows an expansion on the site plan. I think it's a great idea, personally. It won't compete with Dollywood and I think this could potentially be a new breed of waterpark with some attractions not typically found in one, it also appears there may be a few outdoor theaters as well, so there may be some entertainment as well. I am looking forward to this project.
  15. No, Opryland is where Opry Mills is now, next to the river. This park should be safe from the flood waters should they strike again.
  16. Correct, I am not saying the parent company shouldn't be blamed. But there is a distinct difference between Carnival Cruise Lines and Carnival Corporation, and that Carnival Cruise Lines (the subsidiary) shouldn't be the one receiving flak, as it currently is because the media only refers to it as 'Carnival'. CCL is no more at fault here than Princess or HAL or Cunard or any other Carnival Corporation subsidiary.
  17. Robb, I think people are trying to deflect blame off of Carnival Cruise Lines, not Carnival Corporation. There is no reason why Carnival Cruise Lines should receive flak for something that occurred on another cruise line across the globe, and the media just reports it as 'Carnival' and make no distinction between the 'cruise line' and 'corporation'. If you venture to CCL's Facebook page, you'll see what I mean... people are blaming them. Let's twist it this way- let's say, God forbid, something occurred to a Celebrity ship. The media reports Celebrity is owned by Royal Caribbean (not Royal Caribbean Cruises, Ltd., they just say Royal Caribbean) and everyone begins blaming Royal Caribbean International (the cruise line). Same thing.
  18. So, in addition to being a theme park nerd, I am a cruise nerd (maybe even more so than parks! Oh noes!). As such, I have been following this story quite closely on Cruise Critic and other sites from the moment it happened and based off all I have read, it seems this is the likely story as of this moment: - There is a video showing this very ship, Costa Concordia doing a near-miss 'drive-by' of this very island back in August of 2010. The video can be found at this link: video.corriere.it/nave-concordia-al-giglio-/9dfa5ea6-3e9b-11e1-8b52-5f77182bc574. Apparently, some Costa ships veer off course to do this to salute a former Costa commodore who lives here. In my opinion and based off all that I have read, I believe the ship was doing exactly that and clipped some rocks (charted or not). The vessel, according to her track was doing almost 17 knots at the time, so if she clipped rocks, it would have drug them this far at that speed. At first, they didn't realize the severity of the issue, they just knew they had one. The captain did not code in an SOS and did not initiate an evacuation because he would be made a fool of if he did this and it proved to be nothing... so, they told passengers they were having some electrical problems. Once the vessel began to list and it became apparent she was taking on water, the captain did a 180 degree turn (from a pretty high rate of speed) toward the harbor, causing the water already in the ship to shift from port to starboard, causing the vessel to list on the side she was not struck on. Evidence of this is the vertical stabilizers are deployed as seen in the following image. The stabilizers would have deployed automatically to stabilize the vessel in such a dramatic turn: Ships having such a low center of gravity, coupled with the fact it was in such shallow water anyway caused the ship to roll onto the side without the gash. Now, I won't get into the captain and what he did or did not do. But as far as salvage efforts, it has been reported that Carnival Corporation has hired Titan Salvage, one the world's largest salvors. Early reports from them seem to indicate the ship is in better shape than she looks and can be re-floated, however, this may take a month or longer. At that time, an analysis will be done to see if it's worth rebuilding her or not. The vessel is just 50 miles or so from the shipyard where she was originally built, so if they decide to rebuild her (which I think they will, she's only 6 years old), she's already in the region.
  19. HFEC just manages Elitch Gardens and Darien Lake under a management contract similar to how CF manages Bonfante Gardens, more managing operations than anything.
  20. Most of the buildings are simple boxes with facades, however that is the point. Look at Universal Orlando on Google Earth and that's how it is done. All the buildings feature themed queues and illustrations throughout that leads up to the ride story.The Backlot buildings are plain on purpose, working-studio lots are not themed. The Captain America hyper has custom supports as does Hulk, which may not show in their early screenshots. The only coaster without custom supports is Rip, Ride, Rockit and it's not 100% complete yet, nor is the Backlot area in general. I am testing several things to see what I think will work in that area, which in a RCT3 world, is kinda boring anyway.
  21. Yeah, don't expect a huge area or anything, but there will definitely be an Amity/Jaws scene on the tram tour soon.
  22. Actually, there will be a Jaws component of the Backlot Tram Tour, if you look closely at the Backlot overview image, you will see a large open area with a crane in the tram tour, that's where the Amity/Jaws scenes will be going.
  23. It's time for a long overdue update from my Universal project. Sorry for the very long delay, but work intruded in the latter part of the year. Now that Dollywood is closed and I am in 'hibernation', I intend to work more on RCT projects such as this one. As a brief overview of the type of builder I am, I go for realism above all else whenever possible, which is why my updates are not usually as fantastic as some other builders. Regardless, I do hope everyone appreciates the realistic touches I try to add to my parks such as signage and such. So, without further ado, onto the update: Universal Studios is now officially open! The park opens with the following areas: Entry Plaza, Marvel Universe and the Backlot. Toon Lagoon will open next season with other expansions to follow thereafter. Entry Plaza Speaking of expansions, in the short time Universal has been open, CityWalk has been a huge hit. As always, we listened to our guests and tenants and have decided to step-up our plans for a CityWalk expansion project, which will begin very soon. The expansion will be built on the other side of the main gate on the walkway to the Transportation Canopy. The project will feature several new stores and restaurants, with more details to come. Here is a shot of one of Toon Lagoon's star attractions- Dudley-Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls, which is now in final testing stages. It will open with Toon Lagoon next season while a unannounced new attraction will be built next door, details to come later. An overview of the Backlot, the buildings in the center house Universal's soundstages where live productions are shot, tickets are available to theme park guests on a first-come, first-serve basis at NBCUniversal Studio Services. Also pictured is the Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit coaster as well as the Pandemonium giant frisbee. This is in addition to the Backlot Tram Tour. Alot is going on at Universal, please comment and stay tuned for further updates and announcements on further expansion projects!
  24. Actually, there is a trolley stop right in front of the KOA on Veterans Blvd at Dollywood Lane, the Dollywood trolley picks up from there and the fare is next to nothing... (under a dollar a piece)
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/116-terms-of-service-please-read/