PeoplemoverMatt
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Posts posted by PeoplemoverMatt
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So all someone needs to do is lie about an effects malfunction and they get a free re-ride?
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Beetlejuice was awesome! Spiderman Rocks and Fear Factor Live? Not so much.
I'll reserve judgement for now, but I will gladly settle for an improvement over Fear Factor. Even if it is just a slight improvement.
Fear Factor wasn't the greatest show of all time, but it was fun to be a contestant on.
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Well that's why I posted it here, because if someone did see it on their news, they'd say something about it! Nice to see it did get some mention...
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There's a difference between being cheap and being efficient. Back in the 80's the capacity/attendance trends/economy were different. Times have changed since then. A park has to find that balance between efficiency and fiscal responsibility. If the park is only predicting 10,000 guests, it doesn't make sense to run more than 3 trains (or whatever the number might be).
I'm OK with a park doing what you call "being cheap" as long as they react accordingly to any crowds/lines that do build up. It's being smart with their money.
This is another topic for another thread, so I'll leave it with this:
It's just amazing to me that any park would take the 10,000 guests they managed to get for granted like that, when operations would suddenly be different if those 10,000 all brought a friend with them. Joey I know you're a manager, and I'm not, but it seems to me like being smart with your money is giving those 10,000 people the time of their lives so they'll come back AND bring a friend with them. Might cost a little more initially, but that money will come back if done right. Making them wait 45mins when they don't need to doesn't accomplish that goal. That's all I'm going to say in principle about that.
Fortunately, it looks like Magic Mountain is at least trying to show that in some places, they're taking more of the 'give the 10,000 we have a great time' route. They're not perfect at it. There are some gaping holes still. But I hope the kind of 'invest in WOW' thinking they've been using eventually finds its way into all facets & all nooks & crannies of the park. That will be nice to see.
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Apparently this didn't make the news at all over on the East Coast, including the Orlando, FL area. Guess they just don't care about the real movie studios, and just like to pretend their way through the mostly-fake ones at Universal Orlando & WDW?
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I agree 100%, just thought I would explain that Disney, like every other theme park, has a budget to adhere to and therefore you're not going to see them running at full capacity all the time.
You call it running on a budget, I call it being cheap. As Robb said, operations aren't what they used to be. The top brass actively choose where not to spend money, knowing full well what the consequences will be, and it comes down to you as running on a budget. I get it, but I still don't like it, especially when Disney did just fine not doing that in the past.
I can understand trains breaking down affecting capacity. I can understand configuration of a system basically setting what the capacity will be. What I have a very low tolerance of is any theme park charging as much as possible for parking/admission, etc and then turning around and purposely cheaping out on those guests. This can be done by not running more than 1-2 trains on weekdays. This can be done by hiring minimum wage slackers who'll spend more time chatting with each other & on a cell phone than actually doing their job. This can be done by building two loading stations for your attraction, and then rarely, if ever, using both sides. It's very transparent when it does happen. That's why people complain about it & have complained about Six Flags doing it for years.
To see Disney taking the cheap way out is just flat depressing. Magic Mountain is at least saying they're trying to do their best with what they have, and Six Flags is pretty deep in debt. Disney is hardly having financial problems. For them, budget is no excuse IMHO.
-- PMM
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Having side-by-side loading stations (or multiple load/unload locations) only works when/if the park decides to staff every area. Even Disneyland doesn't bother doing that for Screamin' and Indy during the weekdays anymore (or at least didn't for the entire month of May). Really frustrating when a park actively chooses to make people wait longer because they can't be bothered to run their attractions at optimum capacity, yet charges the same for admission 365 days a year.
For 5 consecutive weeks I saw Screamin' loading one side running with 2 trains on Mon/Tues. On weekends, it was 5 trains loading both sides. I always thought Disney crews held themselves to a higher standard but I guess on weekdays they go back to "if it's good enough for Six Flags" mode...
-- PMM
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The road construction on The Old Road in front of Magic Mountain's entrance seems to be going well. That all is finally looking like something & should be pretty easy to move around once it's all finally done with.
I really feel sorry for the people trying to get to Magic Mountain by exiting I-5 south at Magic Mtn Pkwy and having to go through Tourney Rd w/ 2 left turns. Exiting Valencia Blvd isn't much better since you'd have to make a left off The Old Road in the middle of the construction when it funnels down to one lane. Bad bottleneck experience.
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Robb come on, are you really saying X is to X2 as BTTF is to Simpsons ride??
Floorless Shiekra I'll grant you, and I thought that was pretty overblown as well. Not that floorless vertical isn't cool, but, at least it was a change in the ride experience. Is there going to be a change in X's ride experience besides a new commitment to stuff like capacity & maintenance that should have already been done the first go-around, and maybe some fire? Because if not, the billboards should say "X2: We're finally trying to get it right, AND WE'LL HAVE FIRE! OMG^2!"
Oh wait, they've already got that last part on billboards.
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^^ You're treating X2 like it was a new coaster, expecting a Media Day & so forth when it very much is not. X2 is X w/ new paint, new trains, and maybe a fire effect or two. That's about it, plus hopefully some tweaks in procedure to increase capacity & reliability. $50 is pretty steep for something like that IMHO, but feel free to enjoy the ERT.
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But again, if you were at WCB & heard the explanations from Tim, he explained that weight actually works backwards than conventional thinking with X2's trains (meaning if anything, heavier trains will produce a smoother experience), and that a lighter weight was there so the new trains wouldn't require as much maintenance as the old ones did. He made it a point to say that X2's trains were NOT designed to run any smoother than the old trains did, and said the outer seat being rougher phenomenon will likely be the case with the new trains as well.
More people need to go to these events. They can be quite informative!
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Well when nothing's been changed in the design of the train or the track to make the ride smoother, the best you can hope for is that it's now accidentally smoother. Don't think the odds of that are too great.
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^ It was said at WCB that the new trains weren't meant to reduce any sort of roughness, so I wouldn't expect X2 to feel much different.
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X2: OMG^2
WORST COASTER BILLBOARD EVER!
Seen on CA 126 going east just coming out of Fillmore.
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FYI - I talked to Jay and Neal about the campout last night. Sounds like the goal here is to have a smaller, more 'exclusive' group for this event.
Eh, I guess, but exclusivity is a confusing move for them to make. They ought to want as many people as they can possibly cram through the gates to see all the many improvements SFMM has made, including this awesome "new" coaster. Not sure what goal exclusivity accomplishes...
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People can easily live with OTSRs, as long as they don't cause pain. People don't like pain. It hurts too much. Maybe I'm deaf, dumb & blind about it, but I wouldn't consider it a difficult thing to swap Revy's existing OTSR's with ones that don't cause pain.
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Also doesn't DCA have cheaper local resident prices than Disneyland?
Only if you're referring to the '2fer' which allows DLR guests to get into one park on one day, and then go into the other park free on a different day. Guess which park most people pick as their free park?
Robb, wasn't WestCOT supposed to be a lot larger than DCA turned out to be? One thing seriously working against DCA is the cramped and awkward space they decided to squeeze it into. Even with the CarsLand expansion that *might* happen as we know it today, DCA's still a rather dinky park. Going by acreage, DCA could easily fit inside World Showcase Lagoon!
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I think another Tower of Terror or Soarin' Over California *absolutely* would bring more people into DCA and keep them there. But this ride? I don't think so.
But even Tower didn't really bring more people into DCA or keep them there. All it really did was almost mandate the selling of 1-day park hoppers.
DCA either needs to be on equal standing as Disneyland, or be cheaper to go in than Disneyland (and no, 1-day park hoppers didn't do that). Until then, Disneyland will always win. Building one attraction at a time, even if it's Journey to the Center of the Earth, isn't going to 'save DCA'.
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Robb, just stop it. Accept you're just a whiny AP'er and just think positive!
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This is going to end up being a fun waste of 20-30mins or so from entrance to exit, but not much more than that I'm afraid. It isn't too terribly impressive, but, it is one more attraction than was there before. That's something...I guess...?
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Some of the new non OTSRs could go a long way in improving Revolution. Hopefully it's on the "To Do List" but I'm not holding my breath...
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Yeah appearance is a bit of a problem for Superman:TE's being considered a 'family coaster'. That looming 400+ft structure & the F-15 fighter-sounding noise it makes doesn't exactly say 'kid-friendly fun' to me.
Fortunately there are plenty of other attractions & shows at Magic Mountain that ARE kid-friendly and fun for the family to experience together.
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I dought there gonna get a launch coaster... Knott's has one most people in california that wanted to ride one have gone to Knott's
Knott's having a launch coaster is irrelevant. DCA also has one, and Knott's is even building another one. Maybe you should put your "dought's" aside.
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Curious about something Elissa hinted at...
Elissa said Magic Mountain didn't give TPR the same kind of deal for this that was given for the Tatsu campout. So I'm a little curious as to what's up with that and why the park wants to charge $50 for this and NOT allow Season Passes to be used for admission. Not asking out of any sort of bitterness, just asking out of curiosity. Can anything about this be shared?
The Six Flags Magic Mountain (SFMM) Discussion Thread
in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Posted
Oh it certainly could be. Keep in mind that Jay opened a second, smaller Johnny Rockets serving shakes & fries over towards the entrance to the park. So if that's what you're after, that place is likely a great alternative from big lines at the big Johnny Rockets down by the Midway.