Mr. Starr
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Posts posted by Mr. Starr
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Were they forced into this as a response due to Blackfish? Or has this been in the works for a while now?
Seaworld's poor second-quarter earnings report caused stocks to drop by 33% on Wednesday, I'm assuming that would have something to do with this.
I'm inclined to think that while the movie-related fallout might've moved up the timetable of the announcement, the project itself has probably been in the works for some time.
Definitely not doubting that, but I think they've just been waiting to announce this the second that Blackfish affected the company's bottom line.
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Were they forced into this as a response due to Blackfish? Or has this been in the works for a while now?
Seaworld's poor second-quarter earnings report caused stocks to drop by 33% on Wednesday, I'm assuming that would have something to do with this.
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Was at the park yesterday too, and only knew of the ERT as we were walking into the park which was a nice surprise. Longest wait I saw for Goliath was 210 minutes but the longest we waited mid-day was an hour.
I would agree that the Raging Bull crew was pretty bad. Just a lot of fooling around, which is fine, but they were also stacking every train really bad. The Batman crew on the other hand was amazing.
Goliath ERT was great, almost no wait 30 minutes into it and the park handled the closing crowd very well. Great night ride, and I was told about the single rider process earlier in the day too. They have you wait in the overflow and then go up the Flash Pass stairs. The employee and security guard that I spoke to about it knew about it and didn't seem confused so I'd guess that they've gotten the process down.
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Just curious, what are everyone's thoughts on Diagon Alley not being open at all for HHN? I understand that this comes with JK Rowling's rules, but the area would be a big draw and pack a lot of people during the event.
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Universal landing Harry Potter was the best thing that ever happened for the fans of parks around the world. It's created new innovations, competitions, and has officially raised the bar of theme park experiences.
Exactly. With Kong coming from Universal and Avatar coming from Disney there is so much more to come from the more recent surges of theme park expansion.
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^ From what I've heard, it was really more than Disney didn't want it. They seem to like to either buy properties outright or have full autonomy with a property that they license. I doubt that JK Rowling would have provided that.
This makes sense. Universal was in much more of place to let JK Rowling and Warner Bros take control of the project, and it paid off for them. I think that both phases of Potter for USO opened up the resort financially and creatively, and no matter the franchises or lands built by Disney or Universal, competition is good for the area. The amount of development between Transformers, Simpsons, Potter, New Fantasyland, and Avatar is insane and is only upping the quality of parks that we and the general public are experiencing.
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To add to this, I think when Disney was approached with the idea of Harry Potter they only wanted to add some rides and slap the Harry Potter name on it, but that's not what JK Rowling and WB wanted to do and why they ultimately went with Universal.
Where did you hear that? I highly doubt that is what Disney would've done, I'm sure they would've put just as much detail into the area as Universal did. I'm pretty sure the reason Disney declined the project was because JK Rowling is freaking crazy when it comes to her precious Potter franchise.
Read it a while ago but I had heard that Disney did not want to build a "land" of sorts and only a ride/ttraction in one of the parks. JK Rowling obviously didn't like this idea and opted for Universal's idea of two connected lands in the parks.
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^^With the expansion of the Wizarding World, we are seeing a new innovative ride from the Escape of Gringotts that I am almost certain has a ride building bigger than that of the Forbidden Journey. Also, we have the new inclusion of the Hogwarts Express. This with many different shops and interactive experiences in the world, I wouldn't say that it lacks in rides. The Hogsmeade area already had Dragon Challenge (Dueling Dragons before) and Flight of the Hippogriff (Flying Unicorn). They just received the Harry Potter theme. Diagon Alley is most certainly bigger, with more detail and greater experiences. So while there are more rides in the Hogsmeade area, Diagon Alley definitely doesn't lack at all.
This actually brings up a VERY interesting point. To someone who is a "casual" Potter fan (maybe seen some of the movies, but not all, etc...) who maybe likes it enough to check out the lands, but not enough to, let's say buy a wand, and has never been to Universal before, not knowing that all those rides in Hogsmede were there before Potter, does Diagon Alley all of a sudden seem "light" on things to do?
Just throwing that out there and thinking about things from your "average" guest perspective, not your die-hard Potter fan.
Thoughts?
I certainly agree with you on the "average" guest perspective. I believe that Universal was simply trying to create the ultimate Harry Potter experience as the characters lived and breathed in the films. I feel with Diagon Alley, which does host one mind-blowing new ride system which I am sure cost a lot, Universal stuck with creating the land as it was in the movies rather than adding a bunch of rides themed to Harry Potter. There were some posts a long way back when someone stated how Universal could have added a ton of rides with not much theming and just slap the Harry Potter name in it and it would be a hit. Universal, however, focused on bringing the movie series to life to experience. Thus allowing the creation of the new ride systems as what the characters actually experienced in the film (Forbidden Journey, Hogwarts Express, Diagon Alley), creating new shops to buy what the characters bought, bring in new food items like the characters had, and actually believe that you are in Harry Potter. So while Universal didn't add a lot of rides to Diagon Alley, I simply think it is better that they didn't. We now have Gringotts and many world-class additions that I think Universal did a great job in bringing the movies to life.
To add to this, I think when Disney was approached with the idea of Harry Potter they only wanted to add some rides and slap the Harry Potter name on it, but that's not what JK Rowling and WB wanted to do and why they ultimately went with Universal. Universal took the initiative and created an immersive world that was built up to certain standards. Universal has always been about immersing yourself into the movie world, and if walking into Diagon Alley or MIB or Transformers doesn't do that for you then I don't know what will.
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I'm in for another year!
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Just watched this today, interesting film to say the least.
I went into it with an open mind, not really knowing what it was about other than the "filmed in the parks" thing. I enjoyed it, for what it was. Kind of hard to understand what is really going on in the film for the first hour or so, but it puts an interesting spin on the idea of the Disney corporation as a whole.
I enjoyed the portrayal of the classic ECV guest (an utter idiot), as well as the use of the line "I think you found my hidden mickey!" during a pretty raunchy scene.
A lot of it is pretty WTF, but the way it's filmed during the park scenes makes it worth a watch.
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Some more new Diagon Alley concept art:
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I'm glad that the construction cam is finally up. http://content.sixflags.com/comingin2014/greatamerica/goliath/
Wow is this the first SF park to use a live web cam or a web in in general to cover a construction project??? I know it's the first one I can recall, I know CF usually has webcams for their projects I hope more SF parks start using webcam coverage.
SFGAm has done it for numerous projects, including X-Flight and Hurricane Harbor construction.
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Something that some of you may be interested in. Six Flags is now doing running races, the first one is at SFDK on Dec. 7th.
I'm actually kind of involved in this so I'm pretty excited that it's finally time to release the info. You'll also notice when you register that park admission is involved but if you have a Season Pass the price is 1/2 off since you don't need admission.
Glad to see Six Flags getting into this! Great opportunity for them, as well as runners looking for interesting places to race. It lists SFGAm as hosting a 5K next year, I'd totally be down for that!
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Great to see Goliath coming to the park next year. I was pretty surprised with it after getting X-Flight in 2012, but this is already proving to be a great addition to the park. Everyone I know who has seen the pictures or video is amazed, and the world records are great for marketing purposes.
I don't understand any complaints that the ride already has, Goliath is perfect for the park and the area that it's in. I'm honestly surprised at how massive it is and how they were able to fit a great layout in that space. It also will fill a void that has been left untouched for a couple of years, and will definitely help liven up the area as a whole. Should be a pretty busy coming year at the park!
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A side note from the 2014 announcement talk, NBC 5 Chicago will be doing an investigation report into apparent emergency medical care issues at the park. I haven't heard of anything wrong with the parks medical staff, and I've even dealt with First Aid on numerous occasions and they have been absolutely wonderful. It seems more prompted by the recent SFoT event. Also interesting that the report is airing tomorrow night at 10, same day as the park's big announcement.
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From the park's Facebook page:
What's new in 2014? Here's your first "look." The official reveal happens on Tuesday, August 27! -
Nothing is confirmed yet as to whether or not the queue is staying, everything on the map besides the layout and station outline is just there for reference.
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If it's for the water park, it'll most likely be similar to the "Dive Bomber"/"Bonzai Pipelines" speed slide complexes recently added to SFGAm and SFStL.
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Hank Salemi (park president) is drinking a "YOLOcoaster" energy drink and the folders say Guinness World Record. Could we breaking the largest loop that YOLOcoaster set this year?
EDIT: I guess you can't put "F ull Throttle" on here without it correcting it to "YOLOcoaster". Funny...
Why would SFMM build Full Throttle with the record breaking loop only to have a larger one built at SFGAm a year later?
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How deep is the canal? I'm just trying to imagine how one of the boats would even flip. Sad to see all the problems this ride has had
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If anyone needs a Netflix Instant suggestion, God Bless America was awesome. It's essentially about this guy who goes on a murderous rampage of annoying people, killing reality TV stars and genuine assholes. Here's the imdb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1912398/?ref_=sr_1
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Mr. Starr
Name: Ryan
Friend Code: 0103-9963-2238
AC Name: Ryan
City: Solisle
Fruit: Cherries
I started playing Thursday so I'm pretty new, I usually open my gate between 8PM-1AM EST
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Story was featured on CNN for a bit and they interviewed two guests who were definitely frightened, but said they would cruise again (with RCCL) because of how the staff successfully handled the situation. I can't imagine being in a situation like this and having flustered crew members not knowing what to do!
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Looks like the soft openings for Transformers this weekend have been cancelled due to problems with some of the ride vehicles. Earliest softs would be late next week.
Walt Disney World Epcot Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
Smart move by Disney. A movie that has grossed 1.2 billion worldwide is obviously something to continue to capitalize on in the parks.
I think a lot of people criticizing this whole thing are people who just aren't into Frozen, which makes sense. If a bunch of young girls were posting here, there would be a lot less complaining. This addition just isn't meant for the middle-aged male demographic, which is why it is being criticized here.