Jew

^Beat me to it. It's the only info they have on their official "website."

Neonpolis is a dump. And a ghost town. Star Trek won't last long there.

Why is it shady? A lot of the parks change/end promotions with the start of the summer season. Knotts has an online ticket deal ending May 16th, Disney's 2fer ticket deal ends June 3rd, and USH's buy a day get a year free deal ends June 14th.

10 days until opening and their website finally has crucial info such as a park map and park hours for the whole summer. Still need to give up on the whole "blog" idea and finish transforming the site into a traditional park site with detailed descriptions, online ticketing, hotel partners, etc. The whole "blog" thing reeks of someone in marketing thinking they are cool for being right on the forefront of the blogging/facebook/myspace/twitter craze. I'm not a fan of the press release barrage either. Isn't that one of the things they cited that the old management did wrong? Relying solely on word of mouth/press as opposed to an actual advertising campaign? I disagree about the commercial too. It was fun, and would be a great commercial for something that is already established. But for a commercial selling the grand re-opening of the park...it fails miserably. They spent the whole time focusing on a B&M looping coaster, then closed with calling the park family friendly?!?! Not to mention the fact they didn't even mention the grand re-opening of the park, any deals (which is typical for most parks to place at the end of an ad), any other attractions in the park, or any other information besides linking to that horrible "blog" of theirs.

BTW, for those of you who might not have known: Ken Parks has been writing/directing (and sometimes acting in) the Hanging at Haunt for the last 10 years or so. He's also done a bunch of stuff for Disney over the years. A very talented guy. I'll definitely be checking this out at some point.

^^That's exactly what I am saying. I'm sure giving all the press this has received, the people actually selling/printing the photos will be on "high alert" when browsing the thumbnails...but they aren't going to catch them all.

^I read the article. I get that there is no specific positon for screening anymore. I even posted as much. But I'm also guessing that the sales staff themselves have a thumbnail view available to them. They obviously won't have the time to screen and sell photos, but I wouldn't be surprised if they are also now instructed to take a bit closer look at thumbnails as they are helping a guest pull up/print out their photo.

I think you guys are missing my point: I believe someone will still be screening them, but it won't be nearly as selective. I assume that the person actually selling the photos has the ability to look at thumbnails to assist in finding a guests photo, which also means they will have the ability to delete offending content from their servers (thus, pulling them off the monitors) if they spot them on the thumbnails. I could be completely off base in my assumption they can see thumbnails, but I have yet to see an on-ride photo system where this isn't the case.

They built the roads they needed to. You don't buy a steel coaster with the intent to have to retrack it 17 years later. You're assuming that everyone knew along the ride would tear itself apart, which I highly doubt was the case. I also highly doubt all the trees were there when the ride was built...a lot can change in 17 years.

^I understand that specific position was cut, but the on-ride photo booth itself is still going to be open, right? Admittedly my assumption is based on how the system works at USH, but I would imagine that the people actually selling photos have some control over the photos as well? Which is why I said that the chances of a bad picture getting put on the screen will increase, but probably won't be an issue.

^Shouldn't the person actually selling the photos have some control over that? I know USH's systems are all controlled right at the point-of-sale terminals themselves. I assumed that was the industry standard. I guess I assumed wrong?

^^I can only guess that those pictures come from employees. Just because they are deleted from the viewing screens doesn't mean they disappear.

^A simple mouse click will take care of that. The picture will be gone so quick they won't have the opportunity to take a photo of the screen. It seems like all removing the photo editing position does is increase the chances from 0% to 5%. Still a very minimal opportunity to exploit the system IMO.

Considering that link comes from the Community Relations page, I suspect its a charity effort...

I don't understand why this is even a news story: now the people selling the picture will simply delete the photo instead of editing. So there still won't be anybody actually getting their "flash mountain" photos...

The ride is custom designed and built into a very heavily vegitated area. Retracking is probably not such a simple, cost effective option...

^I don't believe Orlando's ride actually uses all the space inside that building though. Plus, how do we even know RCDB's information is correct? I also don't think wikipedia's list of attractions is correct.

12 days until opening... Still no operating calendar, hotel partners, ride information, online ticketing system (btw, the SC and NC resident discount isn't even listed on their site)... I hope for their sake the are bombarding locals with ads...

^^Do we then not allow any more praise for the ride? Lots of people have been praising the ride since September too! Now that details are coming out about the themeing, I think it's a perfect time to start the discussion again since the pictures/details only reinforce what everyone has already said (good and bad).

^We can only discuss what we do know. Which so far is only what Tim said at WCB and the pictures/details that have been released. This thread would be pretty boring if we waited for the finished product to discuss anything.

The video of the ride speaks for itself. The ride clearly pushes the limits of what an Arrow suspended coaster can do. Which like Bob said, also means maintenance is expensive. Hopefully new trains or some other re-design can save it.

^The point I was trying to make is that for all the people complaining about others who aren't big on the themeing...it was SFMM management themselves that were boasting about the themeing in the first place! They were the ones who made it a topic of discussion in the first place. There wouldn't be so much discussion about the themeing if Tim's presentation was more along the lines of "This will be the best GCI yet...it will feature the most airtime, a new element, etc...AND will also have $1 million in themeing to make it the complete package." (which for the record is how I view the ride: I'm happy there will be an awesome new ride at SFMM for me to enjoy. I don't care about the themeing at all. I'm sure I'm not alone in that sentiment either.) But to your point: The thing that makes it really stand out is the fact it will most likely end up being the best wooden roller coaster on the west coast. There's already a Terminator themed attraction in So Cal, but there sure as hell isn't a brand new GCI elsewhere in So Cal! As a side note: I would be slightly concerned about what TPR members are saying about the ride. Not only has Jay said numerous times himself that this site provides great feedback and that we should be posting our opinions...if you google "Magic Mountain Terminator," guess what is the #1 link?

The only reason there is so much debate on the themeing is the fact SFMM management were the ones who pushed this as "the most themed attraction" at the park with "1 million in themeing" during WCB. It wouldn't be an issue if they pushed the ride as "a kick ass wooden roller coaster that just happens to have decent themeing in the queue." I personally think that is how they should be selling the ride.

You could always include USH on your hollywood sightseeing day. [/shameless plug] It really just depends on what you want to see...within two hours of Anaheim you can pretty much do anything: nature, shopping, sports (baseball), casinos, tourist trap stuff, historic stuff, cultural stuff, lots of great food, etc. Could you give a little more info on your preferences?

^Agreed. Life sure is good for the Dodgers.