Justice

But the contract isn't about 3rd parties. Its about the Walt Disney Company itself. Its the Hong Kong Government arranging a deal with the Walt Disney Company that WDC cannot reproduce these attractions 5 years from their opening date. That is completely different than "sacred Chinese contracts" because there is no 3rd party involved. They aren't protecting these attractions from other Chinese theme parks, but rather other Disney parks. If thats not a legit contract, than nothing in the industry is.

Except that all the current expansions have exclusivity written into their contracts for a set number of years. Its not just marketing, its the entire perspective of management Actually, what Larry said is 100% accurate, sorry. I don't buy that another Disney park couldn't get Grizzly Gulch if Disney wanted them to. That makes zero sense. I don't buy your information for one second. This was a key aspect of the press releases when the expansion was first announced. Whether or not it "makes sense," it was a part of all the major press releases. Its pretty clear and its straight form the Mouse: http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr08-09/english/panels/edev/papers/edev0630cb1-2090-1-e.pdf The main point is not only to attract overseas visitors but also to ensure that Shanghai doesn't end up as a carbon copy of HKDL, which could possibly hurt the resort even more.

Except that all the current expansions have exclusivity written into their contracts for a set number of years. Its not just marketing, its the entire perspective of management

Just to show how much the exclusivity matters to HKDL, go to their website all on the homepage on the Toy Story Playland slide right underneath the logo it says "Asia exclusive" and underneath the Grizzly Gulch logo it says "World exclusive". Clearly its important to management that they keep these things unique to Hong Kong.

Shellie Mae.

WET didn't work on WoC FYI. However, I hope this won't be a severe set back on their future projects.

Thanks for the feedback Robb! I think one reason people don't like the outside portion is because during the day, the transition from indoors to outdoors is very jarring. But at night when you rode, it has fantastic lighting which really suits it well. But thats just my 2 cents

Yes, its where the moved all the props from Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

I actually really do like what they've done. Its not perfect, but its a much welcomed refresh for a clearly aged ride. This as a whole does feel much more "Epcot" to me. However, I still think the ending is one of the most disappointing things in any Disney Park. There's no "falling action" at all. You go fast, then the ride ends abruptly. That alone makes me prefer RSR which feels much more complete in the ending.

I would read to much into the vehicles because if what we hear is true, the vehicles are going to be completely unlike anything we've seen on a coaster before so no matter what the manufacturer is, its going to be entirely separate from everything they've ever done before.

Its definitely not the same track as Mummy firstly because the cross ties are flat between rails. Coroflot has an amazing gallery of track renderings but the flat cross ties leave me thinking that its most nearly between Intamin and Vekoma. I'm leaning towards Intamin due to the sheer width of the track itself. Link to images.

My guess is that will have to do with the station, and brake run and will have practically nothing to do with the layout.

The likelihood is, 99.995% of the visiting public at Knotts will not notice/care.

Am I the only one that surprisingly loves the direction they took here? This feels so old school Knotts. Just going off the concept art, they're actually bring a boardwalk to the boardwalk. I love the placement on the Scrambler and new Flying Scooters out on the water, plus with Coast Rider this will feel much more quaint and intimate than the area ever was with Perilous Plunge. The Wild Mouse will add a lot of kinetic energy with vehicles constantly whizzing around the track and if there is even a hint fo the lush landscaping as seen in the concept art, I actually think this is a brilliant addition. And while I know its another "family addition" lets make it clear that before Wipeout was the only family friendly ride in the boardwalk area. Now we've given up a useless "thrill" for a collection of 3 classic family rides bringing boardwalks total family rides to 4 (3 new + WipeOut), and 4 thrill: Riptide, Xcelerator, Supreme Scream, Boomerang. Its certainly a big disappointment for those who's dream is the ultra huge giga coaster. But for those who want the Wacky Soap Box Racers to return, I think this is a big step in the right direction by Cedar Fair. I know its just concept art, but even if it looks half as good as that, this is a huge step in the right direction for Knotts.

I would just love to know who genuinely thought "Dapper Dans Sing Boy Bands" was a good idea.

Completely agree with you there. TSMM and LM were more side projects for the DCA expansion when compared to their main focuses (WOC & Carsland), so they probably focused a lot less on the queue detailing. That's actually not true at all. Those attractions absolutely were part of the master plan. You go tell Disney financing that their $100 million dark ride was a "side project" and I think you'll get laughed out of the Roy O Disney building! I completely agree. For being the only ride outside for Carsland in the $1.1 billion expansion (Toy Story was separately financed), there is no reason why Mermaid shouldn't be pulling huge lines.

I stand behind this statement, but allow me to refine it. Mack's Megacoaster is their trademark coaster style now. Its highly versatile, with a huge range of possibilities including either launch or lift, and family friendly or thrilling. Not to mention, they've proven thus far to be incredibly reliable (I've heard truly wonderful things about Blue Fire's maintenance). The trains are comfortable and overall, Mack introduced a product that was ready from the start. Intamin on the other hand seems to be having trouble in recent years finding their way. And I completely stand behind this. Intimidator was suppose to be the introduction to their new mega coaster style. The design was not ready for the public. Simple as that. I simply don't see why parks would jump to an Intamin when a ride like Intimidator has massive maintenance problems through the year, so much so that an entire section of the ride had to be redone. Then we have SkyRush which in theory should have been one of the greatest coasters on the planet and again Intamin introduces a new train and restraint system. SkyRush opens and then there are complaints about the restraints to no end. I didn't ride this so I don't know how warranted these complaints are, but these are complaints none the less. You don't spend $25 million on a ride to get complaints from even the most educated of coaster enthusiasts. Both of these were major Intamin flaws. Not to mention smaller circumstances like the Cheetah Hunt opening delay, Maverick's heartline roll removed, the Intamin cable incidents and so on. Now we go back to Mack, who is still in its infancy. Yet none of their rides have had problems. At all. Here's another example, B&M introduces the wing-rider. It works flawlessly. They proceed to build 5 more in the span of 2 years. Mack introduces Blue Fire in 2009, now we have 5 Mack projects in the pipeline for a 3 year span. So sure, Intamin may continue to build the better rides, but I don't see parks going to them as often anymore and instead shifting to Mack who is continuing to provide a more reliable product. I hope this clarifies things, and if you still don't agree, thats fine. But I don't think its fair to call this the stupidest thing you've read. If it still is, I highly recommend you go and checkout the Outback Oasis thread.

Its an interesting you bring this point up but I completely see Mack taking over Intamin in the next years, if they haven't already. Not to say that they will make better coasters but Intamin simply still doesn't have a trademark coaster style anymore. Sure, they've tried with Intimidator/SkyRush but each of those have had their own respective problems. While they may be better rides, I don't see parks being willing to go with Intamin as they simply can't get their act together in terms of reliability and maintenance costs. Mack on the other hand has clearly perfected their new coaster style and it has received major attention, especially for its versatility. Basically, my guess is that if Cheetah Hunt would have been built in 2014, it would have been built by Mack, not Intamin. This is just my prediction in where the industry is heading. But I'm sure someone will know more than myself on the topic.

I'm guess no coaster planned for 2013. I just can't see them announcing a coast for 2013 this late in the game. Designing the new area to have temporary flat rides and a new area makes sense. They can plan what to do with the new space and mark it out for a new coaster for 2014 as they are building it. Knotts isn't on a normal schedule. They could easily open this December 2013. I wouldn't count 2013 out just yet.

I don't understand this at all. The entire point of a comparison is to compare two different things. They are both new coasters at parks in the Bay Area. That completely validates a comparison. I think Gold Striker will the vastly superior experience. A longer ride, more complete in terms of forces, and has a much better visual appeal (sorry, but I hate the Superman red-blue color scheme).

Lets not forget Hollywood Dream: The Ride. Its the only B&M coaster that isn't a flyer to feature a dual station, and its the only B&M coaster in the world with 4 trains. High capacity indeed.

Sadly I think the best iron horse candidates are just about exhausted, save Mean Streak, which won't happen. I don't expect too many more unless someone decides to build one from scratch. Perhaps this project will be much cheaper than NTAG, and will attract more attention. I think thats an awfully closed minded view. I could easily see the Iron Horse treatment on Ghostrider, the Boss, Colossus, Viper, etc...

I personally think you guys are setting yourselve's up for disappointment. I would be surprised if this isn't a standard Maurer Sohne spinning coaster. I certainly don't see a ZacSpin at all.

I honestly am not sure. You would have to literally tear apart a significant portion of the mountain and then completely redesign the layout. Honestly, I don't see it being worth it at all. I think a better solution would be to take the technology to an entirely different ride, like a new Tomorrowland coaster.

I am willing to bet CGA will not get a coaster back to back years. Be happy you're finally getting the wooden coaster.