Saturday, August 28, 2004
Golden Ticket Awards: Part 2
Now that I have a little more time, I can talk about the results. You can see last year's awards here and see how things have changed a little bit.
Raven and Boulder Dash have switched places. When this happens it is mostly because of an operational change at the park (i.e. new policies about restraints) or because something on the ride has changed (new restraints, just getting old). Thunderhead premiered at number six and most say that was well deserved.
Over on the steel side Millennium Force is back at number one after losing it last year to Superman: Ride of Steel. Magnum moved up again (it used to be number one for many years) and Top Thrill Dragster broke into the top ten (most likely because it was running more often this year). In inverted coasters, Nemisis left the top ten and Montu appeared just above Raptor at number nine.
Finally, complete list of winners (and some promotional information) can be found in this PDF.
Friday, August 27, 2004
Golden Ticket Awards Announced
The Golden Ticket Awards are the Oscars of the amusement park industry. They are put out by the Amusement Today magazine and are mostly accurate to what rides people love.
Top 10 Wood Coasters
Top 10 Steel Coasters
Park and Ride Winners
Cedar Point agian dominated the awards (they were even announced at the park). Check it out to see if your favorite ride made the cut.
Another Naked Coaster Ride
This time at Alton Towers on the Nemisis inverted coaster. The hope to break the record just set at Alton's sister park.
An attempt to break the world record for the number of naked rollercoaster riders is due to take place at a Staffordshire theme park on Friday.Thirty-two nude people hope to ride the Nemesis attraction at Alton Towers, in which thrill-seekers are suspended at four times the force of gravity.
A TV company is filming the stunt to mark the 50th anniversary of the Guinness Book of Records.
The aim is to beat the record set by 28 riders at Thorpe Park, Surrey, in May.
A spokeswoman for Alton Towers said managers were looking forward to the attempt and were "quietly confident".
Sunday, August 22, 2004
An update about me
I just moved into my new college dorm, so I don't know when I will be able to post the next update. Hopefully soon.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
Underwater Coasters
It only happens for a split second, but in the developer interview video you can see the water level being raised to a point above a contructed (and operational) inverted coaster. Can't tell if you rides will run like that though, the got rid of the water really quick.
More RCT3 Stuff
After viewing the "Peeps" video at Gamespot it looks like you will be able to hire "Park Inspectors" to go around your park and see how things are going. The one they showed was currently "Evaluating refreshments". Also on the Human Resources screen, it looks like there are 4 types of employees to hire and 6 under "Show", which may mean some types of employees that get automaticly hired. There was also a "AI:" text. Not sure what that could mean in terms of the game. Listing the AI (Artificial Intelligence) is not often done in games.
Also, it seems that rides will not be the only thing breaking down in RCT3. A message repeatedly came up warning that "Cash Machine 02 is still broken. Consider hiring more mechanics."
New RCT3 Videos
They are at Gamespot and I don't know if non-members can download them. I am a member (and no, I wont be posting them for you) so I can tell you a few things. First... one of the videos has the person playing with the menus and we get to see the rollercoaster type selection. Among the new coaster types I saw were Screaming Squirrel and Stratocoaster!
The Squirrel is a prototype ride from S&S Power which has yet to be built in a park. Stratocoaster is the name Cedar Point gave to its ride to mark a coaster over 400ft (like hyper for 200 and giga for 300) tall. I'm guessing in this case it refers to the launch part of Dragster, seeing as Giga style was also something in the video (Gigas in RCT2 can be built over 400).
The video then went to the Junior rides menu and hovered over the Spiral Slide for a second before hitting the "Snake Helter-Skelter". The game said: "Adventure themed Helter-Skelter in the shape of a giant snake and a internal spiral slide." This ride and be seen in a few of the early screen shots, but it brings up a concern. Just like how RCT2 separated different coaster trains into separate rides, RCT3 seems to have done the same with themes. Each theme version for the rides (the flat ones at least) is a separate menu item.
The video showed flying saucers for a second before moving on to the thrill rides menu. The mouse hovered over "Top Spinner: A rotating arm which is connected to rotating gondolas placed in a star formation." and then "Zipper: People ride in cages that spin freely while traveling along a rotating arm which also spins."
The player then proceeded to build the Zipper. It showed up as a 3D model and was red where it couldn't be placed and blue where everything was clear. The construction was just like RCT1/2. Find a place to put down the ride then place the entrances and exits.
That is all for now. I will be looking over the other videos (and this one some more) and post what I find.
Nashville City Council Approves Study On Theme Park
Not much in the story. They are going to do a study to see if a theme park in Nashville would be a sucess or not.
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Orlando Parks
The Orlando parks did end up closing early on Friday. The suffered minor damage and opened again Saturday. Everything looks fine.
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Orlando Parks To Remain Open Durring Storms
Not much to the story. I hear they are stocking up on supplies and securing things down too.
Central Florida theme parks planned to keep their gates open this week as Florida braced for a potential double dose of strong storms Thursday.
Local 6 News reported that theme park officials are monitoring Hurricane Charley and will do whatever is necessary to keep guests safe. But there are no plans to close Walt Disney World, Universal or SeaWorld theme parks.
The last hurricane to shut down area parks was Floyd in 1999.
Paramount Announces Two Themed Coasters For Two Parks
Both Paramount's Kings Island and Paramount's Canada's Wonderland will be getting a launching roller coaster themed to recent The Italian Job movie. Looks like you will be riding in cars styled after MINI Coopers and there will be plenty of special effects. Here is the press release:
From the video (and few pictures), it looks like this will be very similar to the Mummy ride at the Universal parks. Should be interesting to see how these rides turn out.Stunt drivers dodge near-collisions, chase through tunnels and narrowly escape massive explosions triggered by gunfire from a menacing helicopter.
Another Hollywood big-screen spectacular comes to life at Paramounts Kings Island with the addition of THE ITALIAN JOB: Stunt Track, a new multi-million dollar fast-track coaster experience for 2005. Based on the high-action finale of Paramount Pictures The Italian Job (2003) starring Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Edward Norton, Seth Green, Mos Def, and Donald Sutherland, this new wild ride takes families on a high-speed stunt car adventure through movie sets and scenes inspired by the films climatic chase sequence.
Park guests will experience what its like to be a Hollywood stunt driver and go behind the scenes of an action movie. Guests board their very own MINI Cooper S tricked out with audio special effects adding to the multi-sensory sensation of the experience. Once strapped into their custom stunt car, rubber meets the road as the MINIs peel out to begin their chase sequence. Drivers twist through a parking garage, dodge near-collisions, race down stairs, chase through tunnels and narrowly escape massive explosions triggered by gunfire from a menacing helicopter. Tires skid out one last time as the stunt cars crash through a billboard and splash down into an L.A. aqueduct concluding the chase sequence and their trial as a stunt driver in this screen test!
Monday, August 09, 2004
20K Leagues Under The Sea Ride Website
I found this great new website today. It is dedicated to my favorite Disney World ride of all time and sadly one that I hardly remember. He has a ton of pictures (including behind the scenes) and videos, interviews, a history and more. Check it out.
Thursday, August 05, 2004
Six Flags Great Adventure's New Coaster Being Built
It is hard for me to comment on parks that I haven't been to if only because I don't care much about them. I'll try to stop selectively posting news about parks close to me. Six Flags Great Adventure is currently working on their new coaster for 2005. Parts have started to arrive and land has been cleared. The website explains most of the pictures and equipment.
The supports indicate an Intamin ride and the size of them is similar to Top Thrill Dragster. This leads many to wonder if we will have a new king soon. Rumored stats of the ride, however, put the total track length at less than Dragster which would mean a slower and less-tall coaster.
Will this new ride be the record breaker or will Dragster hold on for another year? Time will tell.
Universal Studios Hollywood
My first park in California was Universal Studios. They offer several different ticket options that we considered. They have a ticket that includes a front of the line pass for all the attractions all day. The cost of that is $100 (a regular ticket is $50) and we almost bought it because we didn't know how busy it would be and we wanted to do everything. We did go on a Monday and it turned out the park was not busy at all, so we picked the regular ticket. We managed to do everything (and some things twice) and still leave the park early for dinner. If you do go and find that you want a front of the line pass added to your ticket, you can get that done inside the park at Guest Relations.
The other option is the VIP tour, which costs about $150. I don't know much about it, but I did see the tour down on the backlot. They have their own personal bus and are allowed to walk around the backlot to take pictures and hear more about the area. The VIP tour also gives front of the line access to every ride, but you go as a group so it is not unlimited.
The first thing we did was the Studio Tour and something that should be done every time. It really is much better during the weekdays because that is when all the shooting is being done. We were able to see into a few soundstages but we didn't see anyone famous.
Next was their newest ride (and first coaster): Revenge of the Mummy. The first time we waited about 30 minutes in line and the wait stayed that long for the whole day. The ride is very interesting (and I wont spoil it here) but very short. If the wait time is very long, I suggest using the single rider line (which we used the second time). I have heard that the one in Orlando is much longer and much more fun. I hope to ride it soon.
I rode the Jurassic Park ride for the first time as well (in Hollywood, I had done the one in Orlando before). It was fun, but you don't get very wet at all. Don't bother buying/wearing any kind of protective gear. The only difference between it and the Orlando version is one cool "falling car" effect. For that, this ride is better.
Shrek 4D was also new since the last time I had been at a Universal park. It is really a great movie with a great preshow but not a great queue line. I recommend it to anyone.
The Van Helsing maze/haunted house was a little disappointing. I don't often get freighted by haunted houses but there was really NOTHING in this one at all. I think I scared an actor more by catching them coming back from a break then any of them did to me. I wonder how long this will last now that the movie is a flop?
The Spiderman Rocks show is one to skip. Universal has the rights to the comic but not the movie, so if you are not really a Spiderman fan beyond the movies you won't find much here. Not to mention that it is just a bad musical.
T2:3D, Back to the Future, and Animal Planet Live were the same as always and worth a visit.
When we had finished everything we decided to go on the Studio Tour again (last ride is at 6:15) and from all the differences between the two experiences I have to say that doing this more then once is a must. The second time we learned a lot more about some of the movies shot in the backlot and we got to see a few other things.
Finally, I must comment on Universal City Walk. It is a really nice place and superior to Downtown Disney in California. Plenty of restaurants, music, shops, and movie theaters. The Japanese restaurant had great sushi and dinners. The Mexican restaurant had great fajitas (and a cool fountain). We bought some Popcorn at Popcornopolis and I was not disappointed. Try some next time you are there.
Tigger acquitted of fondling teen
The trail started today and ended today. It took the jury less than an hour to find him not guilty.
ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- A Walt Disney World worker who portrayed the character Tigger was acquitted Wednesday of charges he fondled a 13-year-old girl while posing for a photo with the teen and her mother.
Jurors found Michael Chartrand not guilty of lewd and lascivious molestation, a felony, after deliberating for less than one hour. He had faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
Chartrand hugged his attorneys when he heard the verdict.
Earlier this week, he rejected a plea offer that would have given him probation.
Outside court, Chartrand, a native of England who lost his fiance and had been suspended without pay after his arrest, said he'd like his job back, but that the experience "has ruined my dream to be a character."
Disney spokesman Bill Warren said, "We can have a conversation with him, but at this point we really don't have a comment."
Prosecutor Will Jay and members of the girl's family left court without commenting.
During closing arguments earlier Wednesday, a defense attorney donned a Tigger costume in the courtroom in an effort to show jurors how difficult it is to maneuver and see in the outfit.
Defense attorney Jeffrey Kaufman -- who also moonlights as Tigger and Goofy at Walt Disney World -- first strapped on Tigger's tail and then put on a neck cloth, the enormous orange-and-black striped head, and two large orange mitts to show jurors how the costume limits peripheral vision and arm movements.
Jurors said the tactic had no effect on their decision. "There was no evidence to convict," juror Zach Kauffman said. "They couldn't even prove who was behind the Tigger mask."
On the stand, Chartrand answered "no" when asked if he had ever touched anyone inappropriately while working as a costumed Disney character. His testimony and acquittal came on the third day of his trial.
Chartrand, 36, said he wrote a letter of apology to the girl, but only at the urging of a detective investigating the case. The detective told him it would make the girl feel better, even though Chartrand said he did not remember the girl.
"I believe (the detective) was trying to get me to admit to something I would never do -- fondling or groping a female," Chartrand testified.
Chartrand's defense attorney has contended that the girl's mother was merely after money and planned to sue Disney. The mother also claimed Tigger touched her breast during the visit to Disney World last February, although no criminal charges followed her allegation.
Under questioning from Kaufman, the mother conceded that she had met with a lawyer about the case. But asked if she thought she could make a lot of money from Disney, she told Kaufman, "No, I didn't."
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
Geauga Lake Ride Ops Fired After Not Closing Coaster Restraints
Three ride operators at Geauga Lake have been fired after they let the Double Loop coaster dispatch without locking the restraints. Like all old Arrow coasters, each car has a foot pedal that must be pushed down to open and pushed up to lock the restraints. It seems the Ops didn't do that so a electronic sensor noticed and stopped the ride before it left the station. It is always nice to know that even on old rides there are always plenty of safety features.
On a personal note, I am back from my California vacation. I visited three parks and I will have full write ups of them in the coming days.
