PeoplemoverMatt

Turning the Sky Tower into a poler coaster is a fantastic idea! That would really be awesome to see.

The biggest problem with Sky Tower is that it's not a coaster, or anything else that could be marketable. About 15ish years ago, that park completely lost track of how people came there for more than just coasters. There used to be numerous local families that saw the park as a very good local alternative to a place like Disneyland 60ish miles away. The longer that went on, the less those families and anyone else came to see anything but coasters until that's all anybody went for. It's become a vicious cycle that has lasted since the "Xtreme Park" days. Back in 2006, there was a small effort made to break through that ice and remake Sky Tower as an attraction in the form of a museum. But there were problems that emerged and eventually the efforts to keep that idea going stopped being made. So now, the Sky Tower is basically back to where it was before all that happened. It's back to SBNO, and who knows if any efforts to restore it will go through again after the perceived "failure" of the museum. One of the biggest problems Sky Tower will always have is its location in the park. Given how it's not marketable, people basically have to stumble across it on their own. Sky Tower is at the very top of the steepest hill in the park. There's no way to get up there besides people's own effort, and the funicular. It's not on the way to/from any big draw attractions. Some people might make the effort to go up there, and did, but not the majority. So that lack of foot traffic and lack of marketability are two big hurdles in front of any project to restore/reopen Sky Tower. Oh I have to believe the city council here absolutely hates that. How could they not? But since the park is outside the city limits, and they previously sold the entire park including the Sky Tower to Six Flags, there isn't a darn thing they can do about it. Previously the City has offered to annex the land the park sits on and extend various tax breaks and whatever to help the park have a chance to do things like restore the Sky Tower, but it hasn't happened. Unfortunately those kinds of decisions are not up to the park. It has more to do with laws and procedures involving annexing unincorporated LA County land. So it is what it is, and you're 100% right about it being a real shame. Probably back in the early 80s when Santa Clarita first became a city, nobody saw such neglect as a possibility. It's sad because a lot things could have been done differently to prevent it.

A tighter budget can be a good short term strategy to take while the longer term strategy is being formed. Shutting down the ride to save money and one day revamping the ride RMC-style, or replacing it with a different ride, are not mutually exclusive.

It would be very easy for parks to add selfie sticks to the list of items prohibited from being brought through the gates. Given how they disrupt the guest experience like tripods, and could very easily become weapons, I think it's only a matter of time until they are.

It's the same threat that keeps coming up again & again as the developers fight with environmental groups, and some local organizations that are opposed to the development. Ultimately the plan is to build 20,000+ homes over the next 25-30 years south of CA 126 and west of I-5, basically encompassing the currently undeveloped areas bordering SFMM. Back in May, the CA Supreme Court agreed to review an appellate court's decision to overturn the CA Superior Court's decision regarding the project's environmental impact report. Clearly NL&F is quite eager to begin construction on the initial developments and believe they are only one step away from having the freedom to do so. When fully completed, this project could house 60,000 or more people across 2500+ acres. This is no little housing project to be sure. That many incoming nearby residents could have quite an impact on SFMM's future.

That's what some said about Colossus amidst all the rumors and fantasizing over an RMC rebirth. There aren't the same rumors with Gwazi, but there isn't the same following that SFMM & Colossus have either. It's certainly possible that Gwazi could be a potential RMC target. To me, it simply looks like BGT just doesn't quite know what direction they want to take yet.

Most likely there is truth to both stories.

Ooooh man can't wait to see Soarin' with a 4K projection system!

I've heard the same thing about going to parks and riding roller coasters. If having a sense of humor and enjoying going to parks and riding coasters makes me immature, I have no problem at all with being immature!

Wasn't LuminAria the last time DCA tried to have a fireworks show? That didn't work out so well. Also World of Color Winter Dreams had already integrated Frozen into a nighttime show. People seemed to respond positively to that, and most here have no idea the Frozen fireworks at DHS ever happened. So with that, the fireworks restrictions, additional complaints from neighbors about now two fireworks shows instead of one, etc etc I'm sure the idea of having an additional Frozen fireworks show right next door to Disneyland was quickly shot down. It's a shame though. The Frozen fireworks show did look pretty good. Maybe later this year I'll have a chance to see it at WDW. If Disneyland's Believe in Holiday Magic fireworks show ever gets replaced, you can bet they'll be looking at the Frozen Summer Fun fireworks show for some inspiration.

Where is it written that a park must have an entrance icon? Sure the whole "four parks, one world" thing got people thinking of icons but perhaps that is best left to the past? WDW is obviously thinking far beyond some "icon" for this park and it's probably best that we all do the same. I see the Chinese Theatre façade functioning very similar to how the Carthay Circle Restaurant functions at the end of the new Buena Vista Street at the re-done DCA. It's a nice thing to look at at the end of the "street" that leads into the park from the main gates, but that doesn't make it the centerpiece of the entire park. It is an iconic structure that embodies the park's theme in a very visual way. Isn't that what The Great Movie Ride does, both outside and inside the show building? Think about it. There's a reason Disney did the deal with TCM to restore the attraction. GMR may not be a "park icon" but it can serve as the centerpiece of a park whose theme is a celebration of cinema. Having a giant hat sitting right in front of it takes away from its ability to do that.

I've never understood how/why fatal traffic accidents can happen every single day and it never gets mentioned, but a ride stoppage that ended with an evacuation without any injuries at all whatsoever gets multiple headlines and a helicopter overhead. Way to go after what's really dangerous news media.

It's about 48 degrees this morning a few miles south of the park. Snow doesn't seem likely.

Is anybody else's Tapped Out app doing nothing but crashing after the origin login screen?

Ughh. Was I complaining about SFMM's inability to control wind? Of course not. You read my post completely backwards. I was referring to what others have mentioned since your reply - SFMM's lack of effort to recover guests, provide sufficient compensation for wind closures, or do anything beyond shrugging their shoulders and acting all surprised that it's windy when the park is and has always been located at the base of a friggin mountainy area! Bingo! And given the topography in and around the park's location, guess how often those senarios actually play out. That's the point I was trying to make. Nobody can control the wind, but the park can and should make more effort to show guests they care about a greatly diminished guest experience when several major rides are closed allegedly because of said wind.

Less than 1300 presents away from the nativity scene now. Maybe if I can just get a little more bonus mileage out of the Jingle Bell Wreck quests, I can pull this out...

You'd think a park that's located at the base of a canyon/mountain area, where it's almost constantly windy, would make a little extra effort to help make sure its major rides don't have to be closed because of minor wind.

I never had the amazing experience on Roar at SFDK that Gwazi provided. Never. Gwazi was laughably terrible out of the station. Roar was on the rough side, but nowhere close to the incredible amount of pain and fail that is/was Gwazi. Gwazi even made Millennium Flyer trains give a painful ride. That's how awful it was.

I haven't missed anything and I'm not even at 12,000 presents yet. There's 45 hours left to get that up to 14,000 which ain't happening. Looks like no nativity scene for me.

Rest in pieces you horrible, horrible contraption!

Keep in mind that this time of year the employees you see in the park are the ones who are there year round and actually want to be there. It's much different now than in the summer time when there's a mass hiring of teenagers looking for a summer "job" but really just looking to have a summer vacation with their friends instead of doing too much actual work.

The Luxor in Las Vegas built diagonal elevators to move guests to the rooms in the upper levels of the pyramid 20ish years ago. It probably wouldn't be all that much of a stretch 20 years later to apply that concept to ride vehicles.

Looks like there's a limit on how many Feds can be in any one town. Time to make toys like crazy!

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who wouldn't put credit for these declines solely on Blackfish. It's always seemed to me like the attractiveness of SeaWorld's parks was well in decline before Blackfish, and SeaWorld was not adequately competing in the marketplace. Blackfish just sort of "happened"... a decline was most likely going to happen anyway. Don't get me wrong, SeaWorld has built some good attractions. The Mantas on both coasts are enjoyable, but they aren't on the eye-popping WOW!!! level with Universal's Harry Potter, or Disneyland's Cars Land, or WDW's New Fantasyland. What else has SeaWorld put up in the last 5-10 years? Blue Horizons? One Ocean? People will always consider those the dolphin and killer whale shows that have always been there. There's almost zero new attractiveness that can be gleamed from those unless they completely re-invent the shows and really come up with some amazing new stuff. Antarctica is fun but the dark ride portion is really underwhelming, and no doubt word of mouth has gotten out on that. What does SeaWorld expect to happen with their attendance when they do this, and the other parks in the market are doing what they've done? A rising tide may lift all boats, but it can't do much for a gradually sinking ship. Robb is absolutely 100% correct when he says that SeaWorld is basically neglecting their theme park identity. These declines are very much a result of THAT mistake. Blackfish's supporters will claim credit in their ignorant and boastful way, and they're wrong of course. It's just as lazy for anyone else to just think it's all Blackfish and has nothing to do with SeaWorld's lack of creating something new and amazing. Antarctica was a good shot, but at best it seems like SeaWorld put all their eggs in that basket and wound up with little more than egg on their face for their troubles.

I haven't personally been to SFNE to see Cyclone's footprint, but I would imagine RMC had a LOT more room to work with for that than they did with Twisted Colossus. It's also much simpler to build in New England where designers don't have to factor in the earthquake codes that there are here in SoCal. Those codes make a big difference in terms of foundation and support structure, most likely limiting designers' creative options.