NEWS: Baker Leisure Group considers "Orlando Thrill Park"

[99er]

A good friend of mine always talked about building a "thrill park" in the Orlando area. I always thought he was nuts,

Sounds like a genius!

[dragonskeep]

I read an article that stated the tallest ride would be 425 feet and the park would have coasters with vertical Tophats. A 425 foot drop tower would be a fun little ride. If they added the type of thrill rides we don't have I think they could do ok. There would have to be several very good attractions and something big like a hyper. If the plan is to bring in Zeppelin don't bother. To make it work they would need some deep pockets.

 

And... if you want to build a thrill park then build a thrill park, let the families go to the other parks, you will not be able to compete. We already have Fun Spot and we already have Skycoaster, Slingshot, Star Flyer, SkyVenture etc so I wouldn't try to do any of that.

[BarryH]

I'll make sure to head out there on whatever their projected opening date ends up being, and take picture of dirt fields and chainlink fences for y'all.

 

Surely the photo captions will be hilarious!

[Homer]

Am I the only one who sees this as "NEWS: 13 year old builds park in RCT, wants to build it in his backyard?"

 

Because this is what this story sounds like, one wild pipe dream.

[gisco]

This has FAIL writen all over it.

[Midgetman82]

They're starting a little too big 'in my opinion'. Green Day is gonna have to rename their song to "State of Broken Thrills" because I too don't see this happening.

Link from disneyfan1313's post[/url]"]Rendering of a typical ride envisioned for the proposed amusement park on International Drive.

 

Typical? What could possibly be the better/more insane coaster?

[A.J.]

At least most of the awesome rides that get built in the park will get sold to better owners once the park fails.

[Midgetman82]

I smell Disney's most intense ride coming!

[Hilltopper39]

Call me optimistic but i think if done right (and I really don't know what right is) a place like this in Orlando could have a chance. I mean all the parks currently in Orlando are starting to get really really expensive, over $100 dollars for a single day park hopper, $75ish dollars for a single day to SeaWorld. If a park opened in Orlando with some really good big time thrill rides (because most Orlando parks are more family oriented), and priced the place appropriately as a "less than Disney/Universal/SeaWorld with more exciting rides" it could have a chance. Orlando is a big enough city with enough locals to possibly support it in a different way than the locals support the bigger parks. I know when I was a local living in Orlando I didn't visit the parks there nearly as often as I though I would because Universal is somewhat un accessible with the parking garages and the several mile walk to get in, Disney Parks were always kind of out of the way and the same dilemma with getting in and out of the parks. And when you did get in you could almost always expect an hour long line for the major attractions at most parks most of the time. And most of the major attractions at Disney/Universal really are not that re-ridable (to me atleast) Tower, Rockin, Mummy, Hulk, Dragons, Spoace Mtn, RIckIt, MIB is about it. In other words as a local it was hard for me to just stop in for a few hours here and there and grab a few rides on the good rides. But a place like this that seems to be fairly easy to get in and out of has some big time thrill rides might be more accessible to locals could work. And that location near the outlets, those outlets are packed all the time!

 

Another thing about the ticket prices in Orlando, it's clear that a multi-day ticket to all the major park chains in Orlando is the most cost effective way to go, but a lot of families heading to Florida for a vacation don't want to spend 5 days at Disney or 3 days at Universal or Busch Gadens/SeaWorld. A park like this might be a nice option to stop by for a day coming to or from Orlando.

Just trying to be optimistic, if Disney wont build bad ass thrill rides I just wish someone would.

[Capitalize]

I'll remain optimistic about this. If priced right for FLA residents I think it could work. When I lived in Oviedo no one had passes to the major parks that I knew, most people avoided the parks and touristy areas for the most part; something like this might work for those people. More of a traditional amusement park in the Cedar Fair/Six Flags sense than an all out theme park...

 

Certainly not expecting good news or great things, but more parks/coasters is always fine by me.

[Inukaza]

Here's some more photo's I found.

[RoCo]

^"Project Name Here" is an even worse name than "Freestyle Music Park..."

[Midgetman82]

Wow, so what it looks to be is a ZacSpin, S&S tower, possibly a crazy eurofighter, A strata coaster, and a parking garage! Well, the Idea seems to be coming along.

 

Edit: dragonskeep mentioned a top hat coaster and a ride 425ft tall. I think that's what the arch thing is on the third photo. Look carefully to the right and read how high it goes!!!!!

[dragonskeep]

^Dragster coming to Orlando, I wish. I am pulling for them though. The lineup you mentioned would be enough of a draw if the price wasn't to bad. Seems way to good to be true, but something pretty small and very directly marketed to big kids could maybe work.

 

What you say could be Eurofighter struck me as a X-car, I hope your'e right.

[Midgetman82]

^My bad, I get those two confused and I don't know why, I meant possibly X-Car.

[beatle11]

They had better well do it right if they want to be successful in that market. Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, not to mention all the other small parks in Orlando and Busch Gardens an hour away.

[robbalvey]

Here are some of my quick thoughts on this whole thing:

 

- This is already a much better plan than savethebigdipper!

 

- I don't have much faith in the project if it is indeed the guys responsible for Cypress Gardens/Freestyle Music Park

 

- As much as I would love to see a "thrill park" in Orlando, I don't feel it's the right location.

 

- Why? Because I feel most people coming to Orlando are there for a "destination theme park" like Disney, Universal, or Sea World. The majority of the people coming to that destination most likely already have a "thrill park" within 1 to 5 hour drive of where they live locally. So why would someone, who is going to spend a lot of money for their "destination theme park", spend more money on a park that sounds a lot like their local Cedar Point, Great America, Great Adventure, Magic Mountain, etc, which are regional parks.

 

- Islands of Adventure hasn't been the SMASHING success they thought it would be, and that has the Universal name. So if Universal is having some trouble getting people through the gate, how is no name Orlando Thrill Park going to do it?

 

- If feel if people are going to put effort/money into parks outside of the immediate Orlando parks, they will visit Busch or the new Legoland.

 

- I don't think there is enough of a "local draw" to sustain a park like this. There wasn't for Boardwalk and Baseball, there wasn't for Cypress Gardens, and I'm not convinced there is for this either.

 

- If they want to build a park in Florida, this plan seems more suitable for Miami, which has a population of over 5 million and doesn't have a major amusement park.

Edited October 15, 2010 by robbalvey

[beatle11]

^Miami might work, but to me they are more suited to a boardwalk type park for the whole family rather than a "thrill park". Another state makes more sense. Vegas actually seems like the type of location they would thrive in.

[dragonskeep]

^ Hey don't give them any good ideas, I want it here.

[Electerik]

Dragster coming to Orlando, I wish.

 

What's funny about this, is that rides like Top Thrill Dragster and Kingda Ka are in seasonal parks that are closed half the year. In a weird way, shouldn't "the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster" be in Orlando?

 

Yet Orlando has never had anything like that. I ,too, am skeptical about a thrill park in this market. The only way I could see those kinds of rides here in Orlando is if the major parks got into a thrill ride war.

 

Robb is quite right about IOA. And what has turned IOA into a powerhouse suddenly? A dark ride, some stores, and a new soft drink.

 

Manta was a big success for SeaWorld. But what do people talk about? The immersive aspect.

 

/I have a point in there somewhere, I'm pretty sure.

[King_K.]

- If they want to build a park in Florida, this plan seems more suitable for Miami, which has a population of over 5 million and doesn't have a major amusement park.

 

That's a bingo!

[doom1001]

I'm like 5 minutes from the zoo in Miami they've been talking for years now about adding a waterpark next to the zoo as well as a hotel and entertainment center,this is supposed to be built as it already was voted on and passed,supposedly they're taking bids on who will build and run the waterparks.This however has stalled and god knows if it ever will get built.However in the long term plans there was also mention of an amusement park going in as well.There is room as next to the zoo was Coast Guard housing that's basically a ghost town now,just a security guard making sure nobody goes in.It definitely has much more room than what's in Orlando.I would love some kind of park by me but even I could tell you Miami is a weird place and a park like this would probably have much more steady attendance in Orlando.

[BeemerBoy]

There's a better chance of seeing my testicles bronzed and put on display at the Smithsonian than EVER seeing a park like that in Miami.

[808Freq]

Yes! Put it in Miami. Right next to Dania's.. I'll go all the time.

[televisedconfession]

What really gets me is that it's proposed on 70 acres of land. 70. I mean, it's decent sized, but if someone REALLY wanted to develop a thrill park, you'd think they'd go at LEAST 150 acres. I just can't see fitting all they want to build there successfully on 70 acres. Really? 70?