Need help with another Theme Park Show Idea!

[larrygator]

Here's one - An episode on how the hell Universal Orlando managed to build and open a giant ride like Transformers in 9 months!!!

 

I'm still amazed that 6 weeks prior to it's opening Luna Park sill had not done any groundwork yet including not pouring any concrete

[Superbatboy]

^Well Disneyland too, weren't they working their butts off until opening day? Pretty amazing

[RCF]

I would like to see some more behind the scenes of the major coaster being constructed at Lagoon. For it being the biggest roller coaster to be manufactured in-house by a family owned park would make it a nice story, and could even put in other rides into the mix like Orphan Rocker that never opened, (if it was a project without an actual manufacturer) or Flying Turns which finally opened after so many years of complications.

[Dr. M]

I'd love to see a detailed story on coaster design, from inception to planning to completion. How involved is the park in the actual layout of the ride? Does the park say how intense they want the ride to be, beyond simply whether it's a family ride or thrill ride? Does the park ever come up with specific things they want to see in the layout? I know a lot of these things probably depend on the park, it'd be awesome if you could maybe contrast the relationship John Wardley has with the coaster design process versus, say, the people at SFOT. What kind of software do the designers use? Do any coaster designers consider themselves artists, beyond simply engineers? If the show expanded to PA, I'd love to see the show tell more of the backstory behind Flying Turns and Skyrush, particular challenges faced in each case. Ah so many questions. I'll try to think of some more specific ones.

 

Here's two I just thought of: How do they make sure the catchcars on boomerangs and coasters like that never release too early? How do construction crews get the different pieces of track to line up so perfectly so high in the air?

[FreeFaller]

I would love to get to know how the marketing department is involved in all the planning process of a coaster! When they announce a ride, the park was planning to build that ride many years before that date, but how does the park know when they have to start with social media etc.

 

I would also love to get some information about expenses of a park! Do they have times where they are in debt or do they really win a lot of money with admissions, food etc?

[Cyrbuzz]

I would love to see a show about defunct theme parks. Parks that were big in their heyday but for some reason went out of business and became victims of other development or abandoned in place with remnants still visible that they even existed. I don't recall seeing too many programs like that. Just think of the number of parks we've lost over the years: Astro World, Celebration City, Hard Rock Park, Boardwalk and Baseball, Guega Lake, Idora Park, Sea World Ohio and the list goes on. I'm sure there's enough archive footage to put something together.

[PoisonedPirate]

It would be interesting to see behind the scenes of the Halloween Events that Parks hold. What goes into planning the mazes/attractions? I would like to see the creative process but also how much work goes into setting up the event and what can happen during the events.

 

I would also love to learn more about advertising techniques. Thorpe Park in particular always use outlandish stories (e.g. The Saw Maze using real urine) so it would be interesting to see how the shock tactics are thought up and whether they are effective.

 

Also, the history of rides and how they can be moved from park to park, or adapted to be something different would be really interesting to see. I've always wondered what happens to defunct coasters. How do you scrap such a massive structure?

[Thunder_Run]

I think it would be particularly interesting to see something along the lines of Powder Keg at Silver Dollar City be featured on this show. Besides being an interesting, semi-unique coaster in the region which would be great to see behind the scenes, it'd be even more unique to show it as a prime example that sometimes a faulty, mediocre ride can be turned into something spectacular.

 

It still would be nice to see the details of it as Buzz Saw Falls and as Powder Keg, but what I think would be the highlight would be seeing how S&S reworked the ride, the incorporation of elements it retained from Buzz Saw Falls, etc. Heck, any coaster that had a transformation like Powder Keg did would be a neat little feature!

[CrazedZooChimp]

Agree with everyone who mentioned the behind th scenes of the entire coaster design process, starting with how the park decides what they want to add, how the park works with the designers and manufacturers to locate and design the ride, how it goes into actual construction (and how they get it done so fast) and up to the testing/marketing of the ride. I've especially always wondered about the breakdown of who does what between the park/designers/manufacturers in the planning stages (like how much does the park already know what it wants versus letting the coaster designer go wild).

 

Another thing I thought of was specifically looking at unique coasters and "first of their" kind coasters, and how much extra care needs to be done with something like that. I'm thinking about rides like the first flying coasters (or even all flying coasters based on how long Tatsu has problems) or the first LIM/LSM coasters. Sort of looking into how designers and parks come up with these ideas, and what extra efforts they need to put into them to make sure they'll be safe/reliable/fun when they're doing something basically brand new.

 

And of course, any behind the scenes about park operations are interesting, especially if you cover a wide range of parks that maybe have different requirements.

[PeoplemoverMatt]

Personally, I'd prefer to not see 30 minutes of a "Physics Day" presentation about coasters. It's been done, and done, and done some more.

 

I'm probably dreaming here but why not have a focus on Japan?

 

Journey to the Center of the Earth has to rank right up there as one of the best attractions ever built. How about a behind the scenes tour, maybe a glimpse at some of the designs and such that went into that? Mt. Prometheus with Journey inside would certainly be a "modern marvel" of theme park attractions. Tokyo DisneySea as a park is a great place to feature seeing it is hands down the most spectacular theme park on the planet. The greater Tokyo Disney Resort as a whole could have an interesting feature on it seeing as it sits on reclaimed land.

 

Then branching out from Tokyo Disney...there are numerous other parks in Japan all with great coasters and various kinds of rides. Sega Joypolis is a marvel of an indoor "theme park" that has many interesting features. Consider Tobu Zoo, Nagashima Spaland, etc etc.

 

An American audience relatively unfamiliar with Japan's parks would drool over all the eye candy and uniquely wondrous attractions, as well as the huge mechanism behind a mega resort in Japan and how it may differ from one in the USA. Tell the producers we want to see Japan!

[Tmcdllr]

^OMG Dive Coaster Vanish!

[railsrust]

How about the various parts and systems of a roller coaster that help keep it safe for the riders? From chain dogs, rollbacks, and upstop wheels, to the complicated computer system, to the components that bring the train to a full, safe stop. If there's one topic not talked about enough in the amusement industry to the GP, it's what helps make the various rides SAFE.

[Xcoaster]

^^^ While we're on the subject of the awesomeness of Japan, I've always found Thunder Dolphin to be pretty spectacular, between being one of the tallest coasters in the world stuck in the middle of Tokyo, riding along rooftops, and threading a ferris wheel. Granted, it doesn't ride as well of some other Intamin's, but it's definitely awe-inspiring.

 

On the subject of coasters built in odd environments, something about the construction of Nemesis and that required excavation work would be cool. For that matter, just going into some of the height restrictions that Alton Towers has had to deal with might be interesting. And as was mentioned a page back, Hex might make an good topic (especially considering American audiences have probably never seen anything similar). I especially liked how the park loosely based the story of the ride around a local legend. Plus, it's built inside a actual castle.

 

Also, I could always use more Europa Park. I've found their function as a Mack showcase to be fascinating, and I think a segment about how some of their more unusual attractions work might be interesting (Euro Mir, Arthur, the vertical lift on Matterhorn Blitz, Food Loop).

[kenshinmac]

I would love to see something about the maintenance of coasters and rides in general. I mean the daily/weekly/monthly/annual tasks that go into keeping a ride running. I would love to know how often ride wheels need replacing and what sort of things they look for. Even more amazing would be the Intamin hydraulic launch rides as those look completely insane mechanically. It would also be cool to see a train teardown. Maybe a bit on safety mechanisms as many people seem worried about them. Obviously all of this could be considered proprietary information which could make it hard to cover. I still think it would be fascinating.

[Tmcdllr]

I would love to see something about the maintenance of coasters and rides in general. I mean the daily/weekly/monthly/annual tasks that go into keeping a ride running. I would love to know how often ride wheels need replacing and what sort of things they look for. Even more amazing would be the Intamin hydraulic launch rides as those look completely insane mechanically. It would also be cool to see a train teardown. Maybe a bit on safety mechanisms as many people seem worried about them. Obviously all of this could be considered proprietary information which could make it hard to cover. I still think it would be fascinating.

 

I like that idea, I would be interested to see that. I have always wondered what is involved with a train rebuild. I think it would be neat to see a time lapse of one.

[rcdude]

How about an episode focusing on the implementation and impact of virtual queue technology and line skip options in theme parks? The episode could cover how Disney came up with and started using Fastpass, then branch off into various other line skipping options (Q-bot, Fast Lane, etc.), and finish by showing where the systems are headed for in the future. It would be really interesting to see how parks have managed to implement these systems without having a negative impact on the average visitor's day and/or how they have affected traffic patterns at major theme parks.

[rcjp]

I would love to see something about the maintenance of coasters and rides in general. I mean the daily/weekly/monthly/annual tasks that go into keeping a ride running. I would love to know how often ride wheels need replacing and what sort of things they look for. Even more amazing would be the Intamin hydraulic launch rides as those look completely insane mechanically. It would also be cool to see a train teardown. Maybe a bit on safety mechanisms as many people seem worried about them. Obviously all of this could be considered proprietary information which could make it hard to cover. I still think it would be fascinating.

 

I like that idea, I would be interested to see that. I have always wondered what is involved with a train rebuild. I think it would be neat to see a time lapse of one.

I like the idea too. And perhaps if people got to see how much maintenance works and safety checks are done they could, like kenshinmac said, worry less about non existing issues.

[djrappa]

Yeah I think 'what it takes to KEEP a theme park running' would be a good topic. Most shows focus on building a new ride but end with the first successful dispatch.

 

I think the public would be amazed to learn things like how in depth a coaster train re build is where every single bolt is removed, replaced, the whole thing x-rayed, re-painted and put back together and this happens ALL the time.

 

So much major and minor maintenance goes into keeping a ride running, that some of those processes would be interesting to document. A nice plus side is the not so glamorous jobs of the maintenance workers get their five minutes of glory in the spotlight

[WFChris]

Behind the scenes of the Sheriff's Department at SFMM (or any other park with an on-site police station, if any).

[smells_like_team_disney]

I would love to see something on how landlocked theme parks maximize on limited space. This has always fascinated me from an urban design standpoint. For example, one would never guess that Disneyland's Autopia is literally on top of the Subs show building, or that Alice is on the second story of Mr. Toad's.

[urzishra]

Which comes first the theme for a ride or the ride itself? This is more geared toward I guess inception of the ride rather than "we have this coaster but the license expired." kind of thing.

 

On a similar note, how does a park with non-heavy licensed theming decide on what to theme and how does that process go along?

[walibi owner]

What do you think of "Polderpret" (YouTube) It is about Walibi Flevo in 1998. The park is just bought by Premier Parks. The show is in Dutch, but maybe it is something you're looking for!