Erik Johnson Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 I was able to attend the first half Theme Park Review's: Florida Amusement Industry Tour today. It was simply amazing. Robb and Elissa was able to organize a trip to help benefit The Give Kids The World Village. The first half of the trip was a tour of the world famous Sally Corp headquarters in Jacksonville, Florida. I am sure close to 100% of TPR's readers have ridden a Sally Dark ride as they are many of them located all around the world. I wanted to thank everyone that helped make this happen as I always wanted to take a tour of the place. Are you ready for some pictures? Let me know if you find Waldo too. This is as far east as you can go on I-10. The Santa Monica Pier is only a few blocks away from the west end. Do you know what is close to the east end? Sally Corp! This is where awesome dark rides are made! Let us take a tour, shall we? Hello there Scooby Doo! Yes they are! I love the reading material in the lobby. We all got to meet this amazing singing bear. My personal favorite Scooby Doo ride. One of many of Sally's Dark rides. I thought it was really neat that they had these ride models on display. This was the first showroom we saw. We were then introduced to the Sally Team. This would be the prototype. Some of our European readers may recognize this guy. This would be a model of his ride. I am sure a lot of you have ridden this one. Or that one. Sally Corp President, John Wood, and Senior Designer, Rich Hill, talk about ride design. Here is a close up of a preliminary ride layout. Cool theme in my opinion. Sally was the first to come up with silicone to build their models. Pretty neat! There is a lot of work that goes into building one of these figures. John is testing out figure movement. This could work in my living room. I wonder what could be in this crate. Hello Mr. T-Rex! Roooooarrrrrr! We got to sample Power Blast, which is one of the newer concepts. I this one of the new Justice League ride vehicles that were built. Neat sign! We then got to check out the black light room. Which is more evil? Normal lighting. Black lighting. Hi there Shaggy. Do clowns scare you? There is a lot of work needed to make these figures to come alive. The director. The pirate was my favorite. I think some of these are from Boo Blasters. Random! You can see how things work clearly with this bird. Here is another mock up. To me, this looks like Boo Blasters. This is what it looks like under normal lighting. this is what one of these robots looks like without anything added to it. This is what is required to make things move. Another head in testing phase. Meet Sally 6.0 How many of these do you recognize? John shows off some of the hardware that goes into the ride vehicles. Yes, I enjoy looking at circuit boards. Did someone say cake? The Sally Corp tour was simply amazing! Thank you for having us! I would not be a TPR tour without a credit, right? Jacksonville's Adventure Landing has one of these. I finally got the credit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 (edited) I've always wanted to take the Sally Factory Tour. And since I'm not a complete whore, I still need that Wacky Worm credit. Erik - Did you stop at the big horse in Waldo? Edited April 7, 2013 by larrygator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azza29 Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 Great pics! These guys did an awesome job with Justice League - I'm looking forward to experiencing more of their rides in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 I'd love to tour the Sally Factory, too. Curse of Tutankhamen at Walibi Belgium is one of the best shooting dark rides anywhere. Great shots of the black-light room. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Coleman Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 Looks like a great tour. I wish that more waiting rooms had comics to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 Very cool to see, close up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barge84 Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 I've always wanted to take the Sally Factory Tour. And since I'm not a complete whore, I still need that Wacky Worm credit. Erik - Did you stop at the big horse in Waldo? If I've learned one thing about you, it's that your favorite ride is the Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 I've always wanted to take the Sally Factory Tour. And since I'm not a complete whore, I still need that Wacky Worm credit. Erik - Did you stop at the big horse in Waldo? If I've learned one thing about you, it's that your favorite ride is the Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge. Haha! The only Sally ride that I truly hate, but I still love Peanut Butter Cups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 Reese's Extreme Cup Challenge would be greatly improved if you could shoot the two sportscasters and make their heads explode for bonus points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moinab Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 'The Sally Corp tour really is awesome, for all theme park fans. There's something fascinating, everywhere you look, in there, and the staff is great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chroniq Posted April 7, 2013 Share Posted April 7, 2013 Awesome TR.. I'd love to visit Sally someday.... My favorite photo, though, is this... No person under 6 inches tall is allowed to ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Really cool TR. So jealous of you all. I love how unassuming the entrance to Sally Corp is. I don't think I would have known what it was if I had driven by. By the way, the most important information has been left out. How was the cake!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dandaman Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Really cool TR. So jealous of you all. I love how unassuming the entrance to Sally Corp is. I don't think I would have known what it was if I had driven by. By the way, the most important information has been left out. How was the cake!? Better than normal sex. (No, seriously, it was a really awesome cake!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cameron Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 Awesome pictures, Erik! Very envious of that tour.. Did any of the Sally staff mention if they're in need of a talented embedded-systems programmer?! Cameron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted April 8, 2013 Author Share Posted April 8, 2013 ^ They already have a few, but you can always ask if they need more. I work in Jacksonville a lot. I had driven by the building many times before I knew what it was. I knew of the company, but I had no idea it was in Jacksonville up until a few years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moinab Posted April 8, 2013 Share Posted April 8, 2013 I used to drive by Sally every day, on my way to work, when I was at St. Vincent's. The building does stick out, in the surroundings,with the bright colors, but it doesn't give away anything of the wonders inside. Chris - I didn't even read the sign. That's hilarious! Adventure Landing is actually on my way to Mayo, and yet, I've never been on the Wacky Worm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arby Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 It was great to get a look inside of Sally Corp! I almost love dark rides as much as I love coasters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 I LOVE THIS TR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jedimaster1227 Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 This was such a great experience! What an awesome day that was! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 I want one of these for my front yard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jray21 Posted March 1, 2014 Share Posted March 1, 2014 That would be amazing. So jealous of those on the tour. There was a lot of amazing things to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts