netdvn

People from Germany aren't going to BGW just like the audience that visits BGW isn't going to Europa Park (which is regarded as one of the best theme parks in the world), Heide Park, or Phantasialand. Over the summer, I saw maybe one or two families that claimed they were from Germany. Giving KD an award will attract people, but it won't attract the same number of people that Disney attracts, nor would it warrant full year operation. 1. Rides are a major factor for attracting guests. 2. People will still wait in line for the coasters no matter what's new there. If the B&Ms can still draw 60-90 min waits on busy days, that should be enough proof right there that a good chunk of the visitors are there for the rides. A good chunk of people are there for the shows too, but that doesn't mean that they'll avoid the rides. The public visits theme parks based on a lot of factors (closeness, costs, rides, etc). The park already advertises as far north as PA and Jersey and that's generally where most of the guests come from. I'm pretty sure the park doesn't have the money to expand its advertising further out than that and the people in those areas would rather visit parks that are closer anyway. As for V-bolt, just wait for next year. There wasn't much info about Mach this time last year either.

^ Roller coasters and rides are not the main reason why people flock to the park, but they are a main factor. A good chunk of the vacationing guests I've dealt with this year were there for Mach Tower and those guests will be at the park for V-bolt too. The shows and atmosphere are also a major factor. As for the Golden Tickets, just another way to advertise the park. Disney is a family destination, but not in the same vein as BGW is. BGW is a regional park that's part of a vacation package with Colonial Williamsburg, VA Beach, the other tips of the Historic Triangle, the shopping, etc. Disney is a destination park. People go to Orlando from all over the world for Disney and everything else is a side trip. Nobody outside of a few enthusiasts is gonna go to Williamsburg in the dead of winter just for BGW, even with a resort on premise, especially when everything else is closed and the weather is crappy. That doesn't make much sense for a family of four, especially when they can visit over the spring/summer and experience everything. As for Blackstone operating a few parks. The Universal parks and both Legolands are located in spots where the weather is fine and there are other attractions that open year round in the area (Disney, beaches, touristy stuff). On top of that, they've already been established as destination-style parks (Universal Orlando) or have a popular name attached to them (Legoland). - In the end having BGW operate year round makes as much sense as having KD operate year round.

1. The area might not experience much snow, but the temperatures can get to freezing. I'm pretty sure a good chunk of the rides won't be able to operate by then. 2. While V-bolt's theming *might* be able to rival Disney's theming and the company is backed by Blackstone, I doubt BGW can compare to Disney/Universal in a lot of aspects. Having worked at the park over the summer, I can't tell you how many people I saw walking around with WDW/Universal t-shirts and merchandise, even compared to the number of people wearing BGW shirts (for every few BGW shirts I saw, there was someone with a WDW shirt). That shows a lot about who Disney attracts and where they come from (people from all over the world). Disney/Universal have the marketing budget and like RD said, the characters/major movie tie-ins, not to mention the perfect location for a park. Most people coming to BGW are either locals or visitors from neighboring states (PA, NJ, MD) from observations I've made and they're not there just for BGW like people traveling to Orlando are for Disney. 3. Outside of the Oktoberfest update, the park hasn't really expanded that much in recent years. Most of the "expansions" were to replace existing attractions (Griffon replaces Le Mans, V-bolt replaces BBW, Europe in the Air replaces Corkscrew Hill) or to fill in gaps that needed to be filled (Mach Tower). Even if the park adds a resort and makes the long-rumored Spain expansion, I don't see the park opening full year if the temperatures keep people away and keep the rides down.

That doesn't stop SFMM from sticking a gigantic spider on Colossus every fall. I think SFGAm does the same with Eagle. Actually This quote sums everything up best.

Theme park maps looked so much cooler back then. Today's CP map looks similar, but there's some sort of cartoony vibe to them that I really don't like (same with the other CF maps outside of the Carowinds/CGA maps). I've got Getaway Guides from 2009-2011 and they certainly don't look as cool as the older ones (although the 2010/2011 ones are a tad nicer than the 2009 ones).

WOW! Looks like BGW is putting that $50 mil to good use. Hell we may even expect *gasp* near Disney-quality theming . Well probably not, but it can't hurt to dream. I've got some pretty high hopes for this. I'm so excited for next year!

^ Actually small kids (especially young boys) are crazy about cars. My 5 year old nephew has a huge collection of Hot Wheels and I played with Hot Wheels sets and RC cars a lot as a kid. Disney and Mattel seem to be making a killing off cars and car-themed merchandise, not to mention Nascar is real popular with kids as well as adults. From what I've heard, the park hasn't been doing as well from the beginning. Hopefully the park works something out.

I think you need to revisit a lot of those concepts. They all look phenomenal. Maybe extend the life of that park you're working on and implement some of those projects. You could stick that watchtower into your MW3 coaster and it would fit well (maybe change the roof/supports to something more military). A good chunk of those coaster projects would be awesome for the park. Plus you've already done the trackwork. You just have to stick some theming elements and call it a new ride.

Can somebody explain how the first turnaround is a barrel roll again? It looks more like an overbank to me. Oh and does it count as an inversion? I think I might've missed the memo on that.

My birthday is today! I read the Steve Jobs book too. It was nice.

I'm missing out on the feed (and I don't have SciFi) so I'll just be in there for the chat. I can watch footage once someone uploads it to YouTube.

Congratulations Justin May your new Bag O Crap be as awesome as your last! Everybody else had some great parks too!

Netdvn, I will be working all weekend this weekend, if you want to come by and say hi, I will be at one of the Oktoberfest games. I will probably have a ton of maps on me. It is upsetting though. the very first night I didn't have any maps, and the most popular question was, "do you have any maps?" type questions or "do you know the show times?" type questions. Ever sine I hold on to like a dozen. Sadly, I have hardly ever been asked those type questions ever since I'll definitely be spending tons of time in Oktoberfest getting pix of V-bolt and meeting up with a few old coworkers from the summer. Are any of the summer games attendants working through Christmas Town?

My family's thinking about heading to BGW this weekend. Anybody wanna do a meetup? My dad was thinking Sunday, but it's not 100% confirmed yet. I'm gonna try to pick up tons of maps to (and take a V-bolt pic or two).

I don't know about you, but to me Carsland looks kickass and was definitely something DCA needed to finally put the park on the map. Would Carsland give DCA the boost in attendance it desperately needs? Yes! Will it be on the size and scale of Potter in Orlando? Probably not. Wasn't it already stated before that a good chunk of people who visit USH are there for the studio tour? Mix that in with a few Potter fanatics (I'm sure SoCal and the surrounding areas have plenty of them lying around), plus the vacationers from the surrounding states, and the locals and you have a nice boost in attendance (at least for the next few years). Transformers should help keep attendance up as well.

^^ It's all about secret passageways. One is a little coffee shop that leads to a shopping area for wizards and the other is a secret train station that leads to Hogwarts. In chat, one of the forum mods (QueerRudie), made a suggestion to add a 70s disaster movie themed area with a Towering Inferno themed drop tower as the centerpiece (sorta like Tower of Terror). It seems like a pretty good idea and there are plenty of disaster movies to choose from (Poseidon Adventure themed top spin anyone?).

It's been a few days now and my package from PA still hasn't arrived yet. Normally mail from there arrives in 1-2 days. All the junk mail we received yesterday was supposed to be delivered 4 days ago (don't get me started on junk mail). US Mail might be worse than the DMV in terms of service.

Decided to revise everything to include the studio tour (blue outline) - Bridges have been added over the tram routes (purple lines). - I moved the flat ride into the corner (white blob with an orange R). - Everything else is largely the same Red = coaster, orange = Forbidden Journey, yellow square = other dark ride, black = shops. This new screenshot program I got is awesome!

Here's a concept. Orange area is Forbidden Journey Blue area is space for a coaster - I was thinking either a regular large-scale family coaster (Zierer/Intamin drop coaster anyone?) or a smaller scale Battlestar Galactica. A Quidditch theme sounds reasonable for a dueling track ride. For a single track ride, maybe a Horcrux themed ride. Purple is space for a smaller dark ride - I like that Horcrux boat ride but that seems to fit better with the coaster. maybe a Triwizard Tournament dark ride. Brown blob is a flat ride - I had an idea for a smaller ride themed to the Whomping Willow. I saw a concept for a ride like that on another forum a few years back. Black area is gift shops - The area closer to FJ would be the Hogsmeade entrance and the area closer to the coaster would be Diagon Alley. I was also thinking about having Hogsmeade sit toward the back of the park with Forbidden Journey and move the coaster/Diagon Alley section closer to the entrance to fit in a bit more with the books/movies. My idea does seem similar to the plan Coasterfreak came up with.

1. Wes is definitely the coolest poster on the forums 2. I'll probably be hitting up CT in the coming weeks and knowing how fast this project has been going up, I can't wait to see what's been done. I just with the park would come up with a teaser site like they did with Griffon (or like most other parks do with major new rides). On another note has anybody scanned the QR codes yet? I'm interested in seeing the next teaser.

OH... MY... GOD! Welcome back! This new project is definitely gonna be sick. As long as it's on par with Six Flags South Carolina or HHE, I'll be fine.

- Getting a job at BGW and being the first to ride Mach Tower before everyone else. - My first TPR Bag O Crap - Going to New York then going on a cruise the week after - Winning a sexy dollar from a TPR member - Meeting my first TPR member the day after I marathoned Mach Tower Overall, not too eventful. Looking forward to a few trips next year!

Even though I'm against the potential cookie cutter aspect of the new Potter land, I fully support this project for pretty much the same reasons everyone else has stated. With Transformers going into the park and the potential new Potter expansion, USH seems to be stepping up its game and will hopefully become as competitive as the other SoCal parks. Disney and Universal are well-known for producing cookie cutter rides/themes and distributing them throughout all their parks (Jurassic Park, Tower of Terror). As long as Universal has a unique ride in mind for USH, having a cookie cutter land shouldn't be that big of a deal. Plus, IOA already has enough unique rides that make the park stand out above the rest.

I could only visit BGW this year, but I did do a nice cruise. Hopefully better luck for me next year. I plan on doing a bit of traveling with family and a few parks are in the itinerary.

^ SF has been pretty good with construction projects lately. I recall Terminator, Daredevil Dive, and both Green Lantern coasters going up quickly. I'm pretty sure it shouldn't take that long for X-Flight to come up.