O-Town77

I was pretty cynical of this expansion when it was first announced -- mostly because Fun Spot's current ride lineup is fairly lame beyond their nice go-kart tracks. But, the GCI looks really damn amazing -- and the other rides look top notch. I'm getting pretty excited about this expansion at this point.... Can't wait to see it built.

But it's cheaper to fly directly to Abu Dhabi -- which is what I was saying. Maybe I didn't phrase it correctly. I don't really trust the taxi idea -- I've been taken "for a ride" a few times overseas....

Well, attendance wasn't really the problem for Cypress Gardens Adventure Park. It was the owners racking up crazy levels of debt for the park's expansions/repairs/Starliner restoration that doomed it. CG hit capacity for most of its concert days. Even with the lousy weekday attendance, they were still hitting 1.2 to 1.4 million visitors a year. With Legoland's stated attendance goal of 2 million, they should be able to hit that goal eventually. I've been really impressed with everything Merlin has done so far and can't wait to see how they transform the water park.

It really is a shame that the park is struggling so much. I'm really not surprised -- the location is holding the place back. I'm a huge car nut -- so I've been trying to go since it opened. But, the travel options are so limited compared to Dubai.... Hopefully, I can get down there before/if it closes.

I'm pretty excited about the Topper Track. I've always loved the Cyclone wooden coaster and its clones -- and this is the closest one to where I live. Can't wait to see how the new track affects the ride quality.

I know a lot of people, including myself, who strongly disagree with this. Strongly disagree. I gave it a chance. Two, in fact. And I don't ever feel the need to ride it again. I'm not a comic book fan either, but I don't mind riding Spiderman. I'm not a Star Wars fan, but I like Star Tours. I actually HATE Winnie the Pooh, but I absolutely love Pooh's Hunny Hunt. Why is that? Forbidden Journey, and the land itself does a horrible, awful job of telling anyone who doesn't know about Potter anything about the franchise or the story. It assumes that anyone who enters the area is fully educated in the Potterverse, thus leaving most people who aren't in the know, totally confused. To me, the ride and area is just a bunch of silly "unicorns and fairies", and it doesn't do anything to even try to invite me into that world. Why do I want to stand in line for two hours to buy a stick? I dunno. The land doesn't give my any insight as to why I should be doing that. Fail. After my first visit to Wizarding World, someone asked me "What did you get out of the land?" and I responded "I guess the characters live in a castle, drink butter and fight some kind of sheet monster?" I honestly had no clue. The sad part about all of this is, since I'm someone who has never seen any of the movies or read any of the books, Wizarding World, in theory, should be the perfect vehicle to introduce me to Potter, and try to get me hooked. It completely fails at doing this. I'm actually surprised JK Rowling even let that happen. If anything, Wizarding World turned me OFF from wanting to know more about Potter as it had that "You're not a Potter fan? F**k you! You don't belong here!" vibe, and I thought that was really lame. --Robb I completely agree with your assessment of Forbidden Journey, Robb -- and I'm a HP fan for the most part, but the FJ ride is kinda dull for me. I personally think they are milking the HP franchise to death with the upcoming expansion -- and would have rather seen a different movie theme for their cool "Spider-Mummy" dark ride plans. I know the new dark ride will be technologically amazing -- but HP is plain getting overexposed IMO. I'll probably spend more time at Disney's "Avatar" land to protest

That's the most subjective load of crap I've ever heard. Also, it's called inflation. Look it up. It figures in. FACT: The first Star Wars movie was released 35 years ago. If Lucas partnered with Disney to create a "Star Wars land," it would probably be just as, if not 1000 times more popular than Potter. Oh, and did I mention the popularity of that franchise spans three and a half decades? These arguments are stupid. +1 These arguments are stupid. I also call total bullsh** -- Justice is conveniently leaving out the billions of dollars worth of toys and video games that the Star War franchise has generated. Star Wars is just as strong as Potter as far as I've seen.... and I think will have greater longevity IMO (my opinion, obviously), SW has already been going strong for 3 decades. We'll see how Potter is doing 20 years from now......

My guess is that London replaces Amityville. It will be far less cramped (than the IOA version) with lots of shopping and large restaurants. I think we get a larger version of the Mummy ride themed around Harry Potter. I think they will incorporate some Transformer/Spiderman special FX into the roller coaster. There will be a London Style steam train, powered by electric propulsion which starts off by smashing through a wall like the movies do. That train will park hop with IOA via a tunnel (like Disaster!) to Wizarding World. I also think you will see special effects used on the exteriors of London.

Transformer 4 is currently in development. Even Michael Bay has backpeddled a bit and now is in negotiations to direct it. www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=transformers%204&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CD4QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nme.com%2Ffilmandtv%2Fnews%2Fmichael-bay-to-return-for-transformers-4%2F254913&ei=EB3xTrnYBOKEsAKfoPS-AQ&usg=AFQjCNHIXp9v6psWENAllpGBXXywsfkgIw&cad=rja

I know a lot of people are still in the dark. Nothing all that big happens for 2012, unless you believe the Mayan calendar..... anyways.

I completely agree with you on this point. I firmly believe that nostalgia was the driving factor for these relocations, never good business practices or plans. I'd say nearly every park that had paid to relocate a wooden roller coaster would have been better off with a clean sheet design instead. For the cost of documenting, transporting and rebuilding most of these structure... Those respective parks could have probably had a larger and more modern attraction for the same amount of cost. I actually think Kent would have probably spent less on the Starliner if he simply started from scratch using its blueprints (like what they did for Zippin Pippin) -- instead of the labor-intenstive documentation, disassembly and cost to move all that lumber.... which mostly ended up rotted out anyways. It's the business decision that bankrupted him and he lost 2 amusement parks because of it.

Looking back at older posts in the thread, the early tests had it running at 130km/hr, and then when it was set to open in June of this year, it would run at 160km/hr, and then work its way up to the 217 km/hr in 2012, so they might have been having troubles with it at slower launch speeds as well. I don't know if running it slower than 130 km/hr is possible without it roll-backing though. That would be my guess, too. The lower speed probably wasn't enough to get over some of the hills. Its a shame they don't retrack the elements that don't work instead of completely scrapping it... Maybe they feel that their thunder was stolen by Ferrari World?

As a huge fan of Dark Rides -- this is an amazing thread. I'm glad there seems to be a resurgence of this type of ride after it seemed like it was starting to fade away a few years back.

I'm still a relative newbie -- still learning the "tone" thing. Hopefully, I've gotten better with it over time.... because I've definitely been trying. As for the double posting -- I apologize, that's mostly my lousy (WildBlue) internet connection.... My ping sometimes creeps up to 2000 ms or drops completely in the middle of a submission.... Satellite internet is awful, I'm about ready to go back to 56k. But DSL and Cable aren't available in my neighborhood.

Darn, I was holding out for RC Cola. Just kidding.

I'm always sad when any park closes. Especially one that had been in business for 50+ years.

Yeah, blame the lawyers and insurance companies for that one.

I'm looking forward to some major mini-golfing marathon in CityWalk!

You are correct about Miami. I was simply speaking about South Florida in more general terms -- I lived in Broward for 18 years. Broward and Palm Beach Counties have huge senior populations.... Perhaps, my comment were too vague. I also agree with you about weather being similar to Central Florida.... Walt was very wise to build so many indoor attractions at his parks.

I really don't have any idea why you constantly seem to have an axe to grind with me. All I've done is post my opinions -- call them stupid if you like. But I've never been a troll.

The Potter expansion is slated for both parks, but not as extensive to IOA as I had thought it would be. We are basically getting a recycled Mummy ride for Universal Studios themed to Harry Potter. I was totally wrong about the train, though -- they are indeed planning a park hopping train using a ride system similar to Disaster! I guess I underestimated the scale of their expansion.

This expansion is really coming together quickly. Ever since the demise of 20k, I've always felt that area needed something big -- it just felt vacant.... This really fixes that problem in a big way. Can't wait to see the new coaster in action.... I'm wondering if they can make the mine train roller coaster concept feel different enough from Thunder Mountain -- since they will be relatively close together. Can't wait!

I completely agree. I think a company like Schlitterbahn will do fine because they have experience with operating theme parks and have relatively deep pockets. All the projects that already failed in South Florida nearly always just flat ran out of money (Hurricane Andrew damaged Atlantis and owners couldn't afford rebuilding it, Pioneer City / Pirate's World went bankrupt, etc.) Weather was also a huge factor that these failed attractions never addressed. All of these park were nearly 100% outdoor offerings, where violent thunderstorms occur on a daily basis during the prime season. As for Senior Citizens, Florida is #1 in the nation for this population based on percentages (there are more Seniors living in CA and TX, but they account for a dramatically higher percentage of the population in FL). The ratios get crazy south of Port St. Lucie -- with some cities reporting populations exceeding 60% seniors based on the latest census. It's a shame, I grew up in South Florida and always wanted a local park. But, knowing what I know now -- I realize why South Florida will probably never get a major offering.

Pirate's World was located in Dania -- only a few miles away from where the Dania Beach Hurricane is located. Security problems (crime) doomed the park.

I completely stand by what I said. Pioneer City was nearly as ambitious as the entire Walt Disney World resort -- which is exactly why they went broke after only 2 years. They had purchased 5,000 Acres with the plan of building hotels, multiple theme parks, etc. It all collapsed by 1968. They had even planned a "World's Fair" park like Epcot and a "Coney Island" park loaded with thrill rides), but financing fizzled. Atlantis was a very ambitious project, especially after Six Flags purchased it. It was among the largest water parks in the world when it finished construction in 1984. I can't imagine how it wouldn't be a "major" theme park development. Pirate's World was equivalent to an average Six Flag type of park during its era (the late 1960's). It had a very similar ride lineup to say Six Flags over Texas, despite having less land than SFOT. But the high crime / concert incidents doomed this park to an early death. Africa USA is really the only one I'd consider not being a "major" theme park -- it was more of a drive-in zoo. I think it is historically significant because Walt tried to buy it. South Florida does have a lousy history of supporting local amusement parks -- my guess, its largely because of the very high percentage of senior citizens that live there (and never would go to one).