jedimaster1227 Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 (edited) So after being backlogged with collecting and posting news for the forums, I was finally able to take a moment to compile my photos from the TPR Florida Amusement Industry Tour, an amazing experience offered this past April by Theme Park Review, The Yum Yum Cupcake Truck, Give Kids the World, Sally Corporation, Adventure Landing and Bob's Space Racers! Over the course of this amazing day, we were able to experience so many awesome things and look behind the curtain on some of the industry's greatest providers! Rather than do a lengthy writeup along with my photos, I'll just tell the story as we go... So let's begin! The Yum Yum Cupcake Truck provided us with some awesome breakfast muffins to start of our morning drive to Jacksonville! Our first stop: Sally Corporation! These are the folks behind such classic dark rides as Ghostblasters, Jocco's Mardi Gras Madness, and my favorite, Moody Blues Nights in White Satin: The Trip at Hard Rock Park. The Great American Dark Ride Company has more than earned its "Great" title with its huge list of attractions in its portfolio. We walked into the "Robot Factory" only to be greeted by a bear, and not just any bear... This one sings! The showroom features working interactive set pieces from some of Sally Corp's most notable shooting dark rides from the past. Throughout our visit we had the very humbling chance to speak with the many creative minds behind this awesome company! The Robot Factory features many overhead models of rides designed (and some built) by Sally over the years. This one is the old shooting dark ride from La Qua at Tokyo Dome City. I believe this ride was replaced to make way for a MagiQuest complex. For those of you that remember Six Flags New Orleans/Jazzland. The prop building area of the Robot Factory features some fun little items, including this bust of Arnold Schwarzenegger. I seriously love how the Starro stars from Justice League: Alien Invasion 3D have taken over much of the Sally factory! In the tiki, tiki, tiki lanai... King Koopa's re-evolved from the ooze and he looks none-too-pleased. Join Starro! I'm still hoping that someone picks up one of Sally's Goosebumps dark ride concepts--seriously, a great IP to be used for a dark ride! The factory is home to several working shooting dark ride rooms, this one coming from Ghostblasters. Yep, Sally is behind Holiday World's Gobbler Getaway! We had the chance to chat with Rich Hill, Senior Designer at Sally Corporation. You can just tell by his awesome desk that he enjoys his work! Remember that great Power Blast demo station from IAAPA? They let us try it out again during this visit! Sally even had a full ride vehicle from their most recent project, Justice League: Alien Invasion 3D on display! Ready to experience the art of dark ride painting? Voila! Moving over into the animatronics department, we we able to see an animatronic programming system and learn about the different layers of programming that go into making these figures move in multiple ways at once. Aren't you a little short to be an animatronic? Moff Bison? One of these things is not like the other. One of these guns does not belong. And it's... Not actually a gun at all. It is a patented Turkey Caller. Remember, you point and pull the trigger while aiming at a turkey to call it. Makes sense to me. I'll take a moment to zoom in on one particular model that caught the attention of many including myself. Sally produced a dark ride concept based on the original Ghostbusters animated series, billing it as the "greatest dark ride never built." The vehicles would've turned to allow for riders to shoot at the many ghosts that were attacking New York City. There was a themed pre-show room... There would have been huge New York sets filled with shootable targets. The ride's story appeared to have spanned much of the affected New York City including Central Park. Riders even would have had a close encounter with multiple slimers! After a great tour (and lunch) at Sally Corporation, we moved on to the surprise stop of the day, Adventure Landing! CREDIT!!! How about a Terry Point of View? Next up was Bob's Space Racers, the makers of many of the midway games you seen at your local theme parks. Their most widely known product? The Whac-a-Mole! Grab a seat! Just don't use it... Bob's Space Racers isn't just making games for small parks, but building themed offerings for major players like Universal Orlando, Ferrari World and more! Here is the "Wall of Moles," where you can see a huge selection of mole heads that have been produced for buyers around the world. There is even a mole head themed to look like an actual mole (the skin kind, not the animal)! Bob's Space Racers designed those awesome custom games for Paradise Pier's Games of the Boardwalk addition. They also created the custom versions of the games found in the Mad Arcade at California Adventure's Mad T Party. Not actually a gun at all. It is a patented Turkey Caller. Remember, you point and pull the trigger while aiming at a turkey to call it. Makes sense to me. But I was soon brought back down to Earth to witness the final announcement of how much money was raised through this tour (and by its partners) for Give Kids the World! This was a truly humbling experience to be a part of! We then drove back to Orlando to end our evening at World of Beer for a relaxed after party! Thanks again to Theme Park Review and all who were involved in making the Florida Amusement Industry Tour such an amazing experience! [vine] [/vine] At Bob's Space Racers, I felt like a giant among men. Edited May 28, 2013 by jedimaster1227 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 There are certain Vine videos that I wished might not have ever re-surfaced... This is one of them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Kind of looks like the trailer to a horror movie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TyRush Posted May 29, 2013 Share Posted May 29, 2013 Haha cool photos! And i love that vine...Robb stares me down Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GO MUFC!!! Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 There are certain Vine videos that I wished might not have ever re-surfaced... This is one of them! Come on Robb, the video is great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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