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I think with it just being a fake snow surface, the appeal will die out quickly except for diehards. I think an indoor ski slope with real snowmaking capabilities (like Dubai) would have been a huge hit, but probably cost prohibitive.

Isn't Detroit one of the poorest major cities right now?

Honestly, considering the ride was originally built with that track...I would assume that it is an essential part of the structure. Unless it's a government contract (I'm looking at you Metro!), no one wants to spend more money than they have to by demolishing something they don't have to.

Even though Disney will always own Orlando, Universal is being very aggressive in trying to make UO a true resort!

^I actually entered the casino from the convention centers/banquet halls thinking it was the main entrance (since it's the closet doors to the parking garage). People are freaking out because it's one of the last links to "old" Vegas---but it's really only a link in name.

Looks like a building to me too. But perhaps the roof will be the fake snow material as well.

Well, in Florida Springfield is not right next to Wizarding World of Harry Potter either. Great way to hide the two lands from each other.

Not to derail this awesome TR further (I love seeing the perspective of first time visitors), I think his overall point was that the level of detail in Potter is so high the rest of the park can't compare. To that extent, I would tend to agree. It's not that the things are terrible at UO by any means, but the level of detail in the Potterlands is just so high the rest of the park is going to look worse by default.

I would argue that FastPass and other free ride reservation systems actually help keep wait times down since they serve as an incentive for guests to stay spread out around the park. Without FastPass, there is no incentive for the average person to do anything other than the E-ticket rides. With FastPass, guests can be spread around the park to shows/restaurants/rides with smaller waits while they are waiting for their time to arrive. Lets say it's opening day for a new major E-ticket and there are 10,000 guests waiting for the park to open to head straight to the new ride. Without FastPass, all 10,000 of those guests are forced to wait in line. With FastPass, those guests are spread throughout the whole day, which actually decreases the standby wait times since their time to come back is hours from now.

^Research and development =/= love for the rest of the park. I would say if you feel it is debatable, provide some examples. This was just his opinion based on his first visit.

The place was really depressing. I checked it out before the implosion Poorly laid out casino floor that was almost a ghost town. Only downside to losing it will be one less independently operated (and low budget) hotel on the strip.

Unless SFMM has hired a bunch of new people to work in their cycle shop...I don't think they have the resources to fully rehab all the trains. Probably just being pulled off to facilitate the painting and perhaps re-paint of the wheel covers to match the new scheme.

It's now owned by the group that operates Mall of America & West Edmonton Mall and hoping to open in 2016.

I will ALWAYS buy the skip-the-line option if I am visiting a park on vacation and it would be impossible to return. It's a great insurance policy to ensure I get on all the rides I want to do (assuming they are open of course). I also don't care that "skip the line" passes increase wait times, since I would rather a park be a successful business and continue to operate and build new rides than worry about waiting an extra 10 minutes.

I would say that depends on what job you are looking for. Theme parks are notorious for hiring from within.

Sounds like they tried to build the mall on the cheap and are now paying the price for it.

Well, that area of the park would otherwise be pretty dead. I'm sure they did that by design to increase traffic to that section of Hollywood.

^The Chance version is a KMG design. Chance manufacturers and sells a park model.

The remains of the original park burned down. If I remember correctly, the old parking lot was used as the staging area for law enforcement during the Christopher Dorner manhunt. I don't think this is going to happen. I think the developer is looking for money still.

If a smaller park like Fun Spot can operate an Enterprise, I am going to guess someone still manufacturers parts for it. Reverchon made the cars in the past, and Zamperla bought their assets.

The vast majority of the HW thread posts are surrounding the build-up of hints & speculation around Thunderbird and some of the other big rides like Voyage. The hints and way HW announces their additions are the main cause of the page count. So basically, HW marketing > SFStl marketing. so if the how many pages of comments a park has holds true, SFSL is better than the Magic Kingdom? Let's keep using that logic! I never mentioned anything about the quality of the parks themselves. Just the marketing of two parks competing with each other. The fact is Holiday World has a much larger online reach. TPR's thread is just one example of that. Holiday World also has more Facebook likes, more twitter followers, etc. That's because they don't just do a press release and be done with it---they engage their online followers (whether they be on TPR, twitter, Facebook, instagram) and keep them hooked and talking about the park year round!

The thing about any construction project is that there are so many variables even the best contractor isn't immune from problems. RMC could have a sub-contractor fail to deliver, so even though that is not technically their fault...it's still their fault. On the flip side, as has been the case with other SFMM projects...SFMM can mess up things on their side in terms of permitting and the contractors they are responsible for (station, queues, etc.)

There are two things you can count on when SFMM builds a new coaster: 1. everyone in this thread becomes an expert on construction, structural engineering, logistics, electrical engineering, and so on. 2. The ride won't open on time. And it's not always the fault of the ride company.

The vast majority of the HW thread posts are surrounding the build-up of hints & speculation around Thunderbird and some of the other big rides like Voyage. The hints and way HW announces their additions are the main cause of the page count. So basically, HW marketing > SFStl marketing.

Yes, but were the USB ports working?! Perhaps the working USB ports caused the animatronics to lose power when someone plugged in their phone?