PeoplemoverMatt

Some photos from Knott's Berry Farm! Good morning Knott's! Ready to go Coasting For Kids? Taking a morning stroll over to Coast Rider for our first session of the day. The weather was just about perfect for us in the morning. Knott's was kind enough to put out this great breakfast spread for us to enjoy in Coasters during our time to ride Coast Rider. After breakfast, it was time for Team TPR's first rides of the day! We're looking pretty fresh for having just done 20+ rides on a wild mouse, wouldn't you say? Afterwards it was group photo time. You can probably figure out where Team TPR is lol We reduced Jaguar! to one train op for the day guests, but those who asked and learned about what we were doing didn't mind the additional wait at all! Some Xcelerator goodness while Jaguar! is down? Why not? After a short downtime, Team TPR was back on Jaguar! and appeared to be having way more fun than the train filled with day guests! Lunch was set up on the former Windseeker plot. Since it's Knott's, our lunch included Mrs. Knott's Famous Fried Chicken and lots of cold drinks and granola bars. That was perfect since the heat came on during the afternoon. We really felt the love from Knott's throughout the entire day! After lunch came the long haul on Jaguar! from about 1pm all the way through until 5pm. At least one member of Team TPR was on every cycle for the entire time! Lift hill porn! Front Seat View of my 60th ride on Jaguar! of the day. Team TPR still standing after 80+ rides on Jaguar! and 100+ rides overall throughout the day. Way to go Team TPR! Overall Knott's Team TPR raised a total $2,745 for Give Kids the World. This was my first time and I had a blast. I nearly tripled my record for most coaster rides in one day, and all to help make a difference in the lives of the kids who GKTW supports and their families. How awesome is that? Also can't thank Knott's Berry Farm enough for all they did for us to help support us and make the event possible. Also I want to thank TPR and Nick for doing a great job facilitating things and everybody here on TPR who donated to my page. I couldn't have been there without all your great support. To anyone who hasn't done this before but is considering it, DO IT! It's for a great cause and is a great experience. Can't wait to do it all again next year!

Before it closed, Maelstrom was actually in Tier 1 IIRC. No reason to think it won't go right back there when Frozen opens. People who have a thing against animation probably shouldn't be visiting anything with the name "Disney" on it.

Not to take anything away from the amazing donation tally, but I have a couple of questions for those who have done this before. What, if anything, are riders permitted to have with them? Is it SOP like any other coaster ride on any other day, or are the marathoners allowed to bring articles such as water, music players, books, cushioning of some type, etc onto the ride? Any advice for us first timers on actually surviving the day?

Someone really needs to tell that news anchor that people are dying, yes actually dying, in the most horrifying gruesome ways imaginable on freeways and highways every single day, including in the UK.

I've gone inside it. The inside looks just as dated as the outside. The gift shop was more NFL merch than any other sport.

For those of you wondering how SeaWorld San Diego dipped so much in attendance, the answer should be pretty obvious and it's not *just* Blackfish. Ask yourself what reason SeaWorld gave to the LA market to make the drive south to SeaWorld last year. Can you think of one? I can't. Those tide pools at the entrance aren't any sort of big draw. Sure they'll make the entrance look better than it was, but who would make a special trip down just for that? So that, the wonderful demonstration of how not to have a 50th anniversary, Blackfish, combined with what their competitors all did and yeah, not a good attendance year for Orlando or San Diego. As for Disney/Universal, I'm just happy that Universal wants to keep building up as much as they are. It doesn't matter what Disney does in response, if anything. What it means for a theme park fan is that we will continue to enjoy all these new & amazing experiences. I, for one, will look forward to having a great time doing exactly that.

Done! Go Team TPR!

Hey I found one of those people the news media interviews in those way overblown all coasters are death traps stories.

Oh I never meant to imply that the event wasn't mishandled big time, it was. I stayed away because I didn't want to deal with the ensuing nightmare that happens when one or both parks hit capacity. Empty queues etc while the gates were still locked is an embarrassment. All I'm saying is both parks hitting capacity and having their gates closed fairly early on in the event is exactly what Disney wants. After that, as much they mucked up how to handle two parks at capacity big time, we've seen these before how Disney's mishandling of these events create nightmare scenarios, and the parks still are crammed to the max during the next one. Even with that momentary embarrassment on social media, I think what's going to matter most to them is the financial success. My guess is they'll focus mostly on that, and spend a small minority of their time on what caused the disconnect that led to empty queues for Pirates and such.

Gotta remember that two parks filled to absolute capacity is exactly what Disney is looking for with these events. It's one of those problems they want to have. How it is handled is ultimately irrelevant unless something drastically goes wrong, which it didn't. Some temporarily inconvenienced guests complaining on Twitter won't matter a lick in the face of the fact that they had two parks completely filled to capacity with people buying food, buying merch, giving the parks all sorts of social media buzz, and soaking up their product as much as possible. Anybody who thought a plan that totally fell apart was going to keep people from going to the next 24 hour event should have learned otherwise after all that went wrong during One More Disney Day in 2012 did nothing to impact attendance at the next one. As long as these 24 hour events are limited to once or twice a year, people are going to cram them as much as possible to take advantage of the rare chance to be in Disneyland riding stuff and hanging out all night long.

2015: They learned NOT to debut a new nighttime parade, new fireworks, new DCA nighttime show, and release a ton of new X0th Anniversary merchandise on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend during a 24 hour party. But in all honesty, when all the above happens, these problems are going to happen regardless of whether or not there's also a 24-hour party going on. DLR is just not big enough to handle the crushing demand from the millions who live within driving distance who feel that they MUST be there for the first day that all the new stuff shows up.

There's barely a few hours between Grad Nite's end and next day's opening. The park should have known and planned to have enough time to perform necessary maintenance in order to have the ride ready for opening. A little late could be understandable but NOON?!! There's really no excuse for that. I hope they gave the Gold Pass people some sort of re-admit to come back once the ride opened.

So...we unlock quests or download them in updates only to ignore them? Makes sense.

Well then I'd imagine people are going to be irritated quite a bit.

Thanks so much!

Wow I'm at $465. That's a lot higher than ever thought I would get, and I'm only $35 away from the $500 mark. Anyone want to help me get over $500?

Well you're not going 20-30mph for the entire ride. Most of the enhancements look like they're going to be seen right after the lift hills when the train is moving relatively slowly. It's going to take a while to get used to a new Abominable Snowman roar after hearing the same one for all these years...

Having multiple loading stations would have been a waste since the park would never have staffed them consistently. It's just not what this park does. Cue the "better than nothing" mentality! The park gets its cool dueling optics for the publications and media, then proceeds to simply operate the ride according to the relatively low standards it generally sets for itself.

The ride ops have to move the entire nosecone containing what's "under the hood" and the blaster holsters of each car during load/unload. When the car returns to unload, the ride op has to pull it back so guests can get out and the next guests can get in. Then the ride op has to shove it back forward and secure it for the next cycle. Moving it forward is awkward because of the clearance. There's a metal bar that runs horizontally attached to a bulkhead beneath it with the blaster holsters above it facing the guests. I'm 6'2", not exactly far outside average size, and the only way my knees can make it under the bar without the bulkhead hitting my shoes is if I cross legs at the ankles. So I have to get in, sit down, and immediately have to get under the bar and make sure the bulkhead underneath doesn't get me, or else the ride op has to stop so I can get out of the way. It's pretty awkward and can take an extra little bit of time to get it right. I'd imagine many others are experiencing similar issues, which can lead to a diminished throughput number. 25 seconds to load/unload? Not bloody likely. There's also all the moving parts involved in getting that front panel to move back and forth each load/unload cycle. During the preview I saw issues with the panel sticking and the ride ops having to exert extra effort to get it to move. I'd imagine these little parts/pieces are under heavy wear & tear and are going to need replacing on a pretty consistent basis.

Capacity issues were on full display yesterday. Not only was the queue terribly long and slow, with three hour wait reported by ride staff at mid-afternoon, but the disabled access queue moved at a glacial pace usually only seen at overcrowded ERs. The poor ride ops stuck managing that queue needed the patience of UN diplomats to keep everything civil. The worst problem? Anyone and everyone who was using a blue card was required to access the load/unload area via the elevator along with those using a wheelchair or ECV. Up on the 2nd level, the holding platform the elevator lead to was not big enough to hold more than a dozen or so riders. If there were any wheelchairs or ECVs brought up to the 2nd level, that number would be cut in half. This low capacity compounded the low ride capacity that needed disabled parties only boarding every third or fourth train that went by, or else the regular queue simply wouldn't move. As a result only a couple disabled groups were sent up the elevator at a time, with period of 45 minutes or more going by with no movement in the queue at all. Then after a supposed ride breakdown earlier in the day, some disabled groups were escorted through the queue or around it and sent up the elevator by ride staff. With no way to see or understand any of this, some waiting in the disabled queue began loudly voicing complaints at the ride staff, started accusing other riders of violating the rules regarding max number of accompanying riders, etc. Some parties began splitting up sending some to sit and wait nearby or taking kids into the arcade to pass the time only to attempt to rejoin the remaining members of their party reached the front of the queue, further angering those around and especially behind them. The ride staff handled this pretty well IMO. They were patient and willing to explain as best they could to any guest who would come and ask. I even saw them provide a folding chair to one guest with a mobility issue who couldn't stand for all that time but couldn't sit on the concrete either. It was clear to me that they were doing their best to make the best of the bad situation they were placed in. The biggest problem to me was the issue of requiring EVERYBODY to go through the elevator. When there was a stairway built for FastLane that hooked up to that same queue free and clear of obstruction, there really was no reason why some in the disabled queue that didn't need the elevator couldn't have been sent up that stairway to join the regular queue. I was told by the ride staff that wasn't allowed because of the additional wait on the second level, but the alternative was requiring everyone in the disabled queue to stand and wait on the ground level and not move at all for much longer than that additional wait would have been. Despite this, no riders except FastLane were ever allowed up that stairway yesterday. I hope this is something the park management will recognize as a potential solution should the disabled queue be similarly overwhelmed in the future. On the topic of solutions to long waits because of low capacity, to restate, this ride DESPERATELY needs a Single Rider Line! It really can't come soon enough. As far as the ride itself goes, everybody seemed to have favorable reaction to the ride despite the long slog in the queue. I didn't hear one complaint or mention of visible projectors. Kids seemed to enjoy it. Parents were talking about similarities to Midway Mania at DCA. I think once the newness wears off, this ride will essentially be the Midway Mania of Knott's, especially with its capacity issues. Most likely 30-45min waits during the day. It's a solid addition to the Knott's ride lineup. It might not be at the top of the list of the most thrill-seeking battle-hardened ride enthusiasts out there, but it's great for families and those just looking to have a fun time while visiting the park. Also, to restate, this ride DESPERATELY needs a Single Rider Line.

That new marquee for Soarin' looks great. Now Soarin' has a consistent logo between DLR & WDW.

Not to get lost in the weeds but at that point both the riders and the queen are underwater. Not sure if you've ever tried to talk underwater but that doesn't work too well. Having had a chance to ride this multiple times, I will agree there are some issues story-wise, but to go back to my earlier post, all rides have issues story-wise to an extent. The whole freezing fish underwater thing was demonstrated at the Q&A as a way to avoid having an actual gun shooting actual bullets. They were very careful not to call your weapon a gun, but a blaster instead. They don't shoot bullets. They shoot freeze rays. Does it make complete sense? No, neither does a giant metal crab eating somebody's wooden boat, but who really cares? To me, the projector issue is a non-issue. When I was focused on playing the game, as Ernest would put it, I didn't see any projectors. But if I turned my head a little bit, there they were. So what? Later that night I got a ride on Space Mountain, and OMFG I saw projectors!! Big deal. It's really nothing to harp on and keep harping on over & over again. Triotech is not Garner Holt. They're not trying to be. I don't think hardly any GP are going to notice or care since they're going to be too busy shooting everything in sight. It's not like the projectors are right there in the line of sight. If you go looking for them, you'll find them, but same could be said about numerous other rides at Universal or Disney. To those who think this is some big problem, I would say get over it. That said, the ride does have an alarmingly low capacity. The presentation said 800 people per hour, but quite frankly that's a fantasy. 8 people per train in 2 cars with 8 trains is the ideal condition that won't happen all the time. When it does, it's going to take a long time to load/unload these cars with that large front apparatus that has to slide forward/backward. There were times when it would stick and the ride op would have noticeable trouble getting it to move. Eventually that's going to take a good bit of time making sure people's feet and knees are clear and then fixing whatever is keeping the front panel from moving. Also, this ride DESPERATELY needs a single-rider line. Out of 7-8 times I rode it, almost every time I was whisked through the last part of the queue because my friend got stuck having to work and I was there riding solo, (Yep, that was me) and I could take a seat next to a group of 3. With the capacity problems this ride is going to have, I really hope Knott's works in a single rider line here especially for summer. Voyage to the Iron Reef isn't the best ride I've ever been on, but it's not the worst either. From the presentation, it was clear that Knott's wanted something innovative and interactive, not just a glide-through dark ride. Triotech wanted to try some new things and was eager to build a full dark ride. Both sides seem to have what they wanted with this. Guests will get what they want with a fun shooter dark ride that kids will eat up and want to ride again & again. There's some intrigue. There's some fun. There's some fright with the queen at the end. For Knott's this is a pretty solid ride that fits in nicely with their lineup. That's ultimately what matters isn't it? So I'm going to look forward to visiting Knott's throughout the year and having fun riding this with my gu- errrm, blasters blazing. My favorite part of the Q&A... Guest: "Why did my score go down from what the display showed in the car to what it showed underneath my picture in the exit?" Jeff Tucker: "Taxes."

It's raining pretty good down here. Any word on possible rain-related cancellation/postponement of the preview event today?

I stopped trying to make actual sense of theme park attraction stories many years ago. Indy supposedly rescues us ...right back to where started, only to have to keep rescuing us over & over again each ride. Rocket to the Moon and Mission to Mars both had us on rocket ships where we saw Disneyland get left behind through our window as we blasted into space. Curiously no spacecraft was ever seen launched into space by anyone on the outside. Stitch escapes into Magic Kingdom only to escape again over & over again each ride. Somehow as soon as we walk into the Tiki Room, Tower of Terror, Haunted Mansion and others, it immediately becomes dark as night and/or thunderstormy outside even if it's the middle of the afternoon. Original Star Tours kept having to blow up the Death Star again & again each ride after Death Stars were blown up in Episodes 4 & 6. Maybe Death Stars were being made on an assembly line by then? The USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D supposedly descended into the Las Vegas Hilton's roof at Star Trek: The Experience even though this was never seen by anyone on the outside either. Jurassic Park's dinosaurs are perpetually getting loose and coming after us at Universal Studios. The list goes on. Now there's killer robot sea creatures that want to swallow Knott's even though outside the park seems perfectly safe, and we're freezing the robo-fish underwater... somehow. At some point you just let go and accept that it's a theme park ride and it's ultimately about having fun in what you hope is a high-quality immersive experience. Imagination and what Disney once deemed the "plausible impossible" are to be our guides here. Personally I'm just happy there's a halfway decent looking ride in where Kingdom of the Dinosaurs used to be. Can't wait to see it and finally ride something in that building again tomorrow!

It's weird cause there's only a 10% chance of rain tomorrow, with 80% on Thursday. Maybe they need two consecutive non-rainy days for filming? I'm hoping that I can actually make the reshoot... whenever that will be. The weather service is often wrong by 24hrs either way. The prudent thing to do is just postpone it and not have the crew and people all show up and set up only to not be able to film (and SFMM gets stuck with having to pay for the film crew anyway). EDIT: Now that I think about it, most likely it was the film crew who informed the park that they were going to delay because of the bad weather forecast.