DaptoFunlandGuy

I'm judgmental, but i'd like to think i'm a little more balanced. I have never desired to ride a kids ride as an adult until I had a kid to go on with, and its cool to be able to check out things like driving school and spongebob coaster while riding with him. I probably wouldn't choose to ride it myself without him, but power to others if they choose to. I'll sit back and judge them silently.

I don't know what is more sad. A grown adult judging other adults for having fun in their own way, or that you really struggle to be anything but negative about other people's opinions.

I thought the police already did that?

Happy to pay more if the plan is for attention to detail and continuous investment and growth.

So if they had the money, and if they retired a coaster which at that point they had no intention of retiring, and if they installed jet rescue elsewhere, and if they built So IF they build Jet Rescue on vipers space, IF they retired Viper - which at that point they had no intention of retiring, and IF they built storm over the current JR footprint, IF they had enough money for it, IF they were ok with taking up space now earmarked for Leviathan which at that point they'd have had no clue about building, we could have had a bigger water coaster? is that it? If your Aunty had balls she'd be your uncle.

Judging by the flotsam lines around green lantern that I saw yesterday, the water covered the gravel beneath the ride, but does not seem to have reached the line of track - which is maybe 2 feet above the gravel at the lowest point. There were deep channels in the gravel yesterday, which I assume were plowed in by maintenance to assist with drainage. The timber retaining wall holding the gravel in just near the final dip before the brake run looked to have been damaged - it was bulging outwards at quite an angle, and much of the gravel and soil surrounding one of the footers on that last dip had been washed out, although I assume the footers are deep enough that there are no structural integrity issues with that. There are a few low path points in that area, including in Rivals queue, (and the ladders behind the rivals station had a bit of flotsam gathered around the second bottom step), so some queues would have been submerged, but it appears much of the infrastructure is high enough to be safely out of harms way.

I've always regarded Disneyland as the first stop for any Disney Park virgin, but in terms of affordability, a quick trip to Hong Kong isn't too big of a difference. Almost everything in park is in English, but you can ride Jungle Cruise in three languages by choice of queue, and the Golden Mickeys - or whatever it is now - is a cantonese language show, with English subtitles shown on screens to the side of the stage. I found that Golden Mickeys was an enjoyable watch, largely ignoring the subtitles as they were a distraction from actually watching the show. Many attractions in other languages follow similar themes, in that you can still enjoy the ride\show without necessarily having it spoken to you in English. if you're unsure about foreign language parks, but can't hit L.A. first - try HKDL instead.

The Main Street Gazette is a great channel for anyone interested in Hong Kong Disneyland, right down to the minutiae. I too have been watching the castle construction intently, waiting for it to be completed (and for the unrest to settle down or come to some form of conclusion) as Hong Kong is a special place for my family, and I can't wait to go back and see this big castle!

Well, 2020 won't be the year for Sea World anymore, so its definitely possible! You're an idiot. Well put Brad. In short, when a kid comes onto the board and starts spouting that they know shit, and their rep count is 18, you're gonna have some doubts. SOme will ask for proof, or sources, others will discount you altogether, some will remain open minded. its human nature to be skeptical. On the other hand, when someone with a 3500 rep count says something, they've earned a little credibility on the boards. It doesn't make what they're saying true, but theres a high chance they're getting it from some sort of well connected source. And, as Brad mentioned - sources stop being sources if you reveal who they are.

If i bought one of those and transported it to my house, i probably would be in the dog house...

If it comes with a recording of Zoe swearing to play over a loudspeaker system, i'm sold.

This is the second time the folks in Queanbeyan have tried to sell these. I can't imagine they're usable, so they'd be no more than a collector's item, and they're quite bulky to move - making the purchase for an individual collector a difficult but not insurmountable one. I guess he's trying his luck again...

But they spaced out their floats better and have different lighting displays in scooby now! Why do you have to nitpick?

isn't that what they did with wipeout? isn't that why they announced TOT closure in advance, so people could get one last ride? isn't that a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't, and won't make people happy no matter what, so you do the best you can by listening to all the feedback, positive and negative, and do your best to fix up the little things like bins in the... nevermind.

*only if its open in the first year

Yeah because if someone is cutting, the cast should see it? if they can't put up an actual barrier of seatbelt strap between two poles, then the least they can do is have a cast member to manage the queue \ greet the guests. if they aren't going to shell out for another minimum wage student to manage the queue, then yes, tape isn't acceptable and they should use a fucking tensa barrier.

Probably, but its still a damn sight better than "we can't use that anymore" A renovation to the Gremlins corridor on the western side, to make the emergency exit doors into an actual entrance, and a stack of arcade machines you've already got on site, plus some electrical overhead racks is sub $30k. As I mentioned, There's short term uses, and long term plans. with the right plan, budget forecasting and concepts, it could be really well done, and 100k spent a year or two down the track on a modest but engaging attraction would be worth it IMO. I'll agree some were a little comical - but since for example they already do green screen photography in two different locations - i figured it was a good fit, and building a mini kiddie land in there to enable them to revamp WB kids - its a concept previously suggested for the other half of LTRR sound stage, so can't be that far fetched. How many cast members are managing it when it's in use?

I was pretty clear it was the tape I took issue with. Tensa barriers or portable fence panels or anything else above ground level would have been preferred - and they have plenty of rope barrier pole things they've used before for main street parades, that anything besides tape wouldn't have cost much. My main issue with "tape" queues, is there's no delineation, and queue jumping occurs easily. i've seen it happen, and it pisses me off, but rather than leave the queue, find a cast member, i stand, i watch it happen, and i fume. because a few fence panels or tensa barriers would have made it that little bit harder or more obvious that someone was cutting line. Ok, olive branch here. You're right - there is improvement in the detail. I can't deny that... but: They keep going. they take on the feedback of the nit picks and the small details that irritate their guests, and they keep going. Instead of taking the attitude of "fuck this, why bother. we improved scooby and they're still complaining" - they can go "ok, these things are irritating our guests like the bins in the parade and the parade pacing, what can we get with quick wins?" there's lots of little things they aren't doing, that would cost them nothing to fix up. if we aren't pointing them out, they aren't getting fixed. If we'd all got to our knees for scooby and praised them for doing something with 'warehouse the ride' - would they have invested anything further into fixing it up to the current standard? of course not. but if we keep complaining, and we keep seeing things fixed, THAT is what turns the attitude around - not the other way round. Take a look back at the adventure world discussions with Mark. Things like Abyss not being mown because they thought overgrown suited the theme. lots of people (myself included) commented that it made it look like crap. he mowed it. it looked great. well done adventure world. because we saw we were being listened to, as opposed to being made to seem ungrateful because better spacing of a parade float wasn't enough.

And this is probably a big part of my feelings on this - sure, QFES says evacuating a queue that big with all its chains and barriers is a death trap. Ok. sad, but ok. Shutter it. Sad, but ok. But - instead of your staff saying "we can't use that side anymore" or pretending it doesn't exist when it's neon pink and visible from the highway *cough* - why not the age-old theme park adage of "this area has been closed to make way for an exciting new attraction!" (it worked for Vikings Revenge). They don't even need a big concept art, or have the idea of what its going to be - just acknowledge that you've closed it, and you aren't pretending it isn't there. Here's some ideas (and to be clear, i'm not saying the park should do any or all of them, i'm just coming up with ideas to promote discussion). Start by making the dividing wall permanent. Make it fit in with the existing "themeing" (or what's left) and fix up the rest - the fountain, the firepots. Bring back the castle themed walls. or don't. but do something. there's plenty of theme pieces left over from the movie currently rotting outside calypso you could put up against the walls with a nice spotlight and a fact card about the prop, where in the movie it was used - maybe even a still frame from the film showing the prop in the background of a shot with one of the main characters. Make it WB Showcase - Scooby Doo edition. Put up signage about the other side of the room (if you don't make the dividing wall floor to ceiling). Guests will remember the room used to be bigger and wonder why. acknowledge it and explain its 'making way for an exciting new attraction' - make sure your staff running the entrance know this story too so they can give a similar story instead of 'i don't know, we just can't use it' - then... (and here's the real kicker...) COME UP WITH A USE FOR THAT SPACE. Have a brainstorming session with the boffins and decision makers in the company to come up with short term uses and long term plans.... Open the wall facing Villains Unleashed and turn it into a merch store. Put a green screen photo centre in there. Move the intencity arcade machines over there so you can use the intencity showbuilding for mazes permanently without pissing people off. install a new (or a couple) flat rides that fit within the building envelope move some kiddie rides in there, and buy a couple cheap ones from zamperla with suitable themes for the kids, enabling you to have an offering at the park while you COMPLETELY GUT AND REFIT WB KIDS WORLD. (All of these ideas would involve an appropriate redesign, and potentially additional exits or fire escapes, and would involve the necessary consultation with fire safety advisors to ensure compliance with state fire safety codes and regulations) I know this all needs money. some ideas don't need a lot, while others involve a larger expansion, but anything has to be better than "we can't use that side anymore for fire safety reasons".

You agreed the projection spaces were shit. You then said everything was back as it was. I pointed out things that weren't back as they were. combined, those things plus the projections, if I haven't covered 100% of what's in the ghost train section, it's pretty damn close to it. The queue house is still 'empty warehouse' - the firepots where the queue enters the narrow hallway are broken, the fountain isn't fountaining, nor is it fogging\misting\steaming. hell, one of the lights that light the gargoyles is currently floating upside down. The station lighting is constant, but i'll buy that one as fire safety, but there's no lightning cracks and accompanying sound effects, and the windows on the opposite side of the station no longer flicker with lightning either. there is tremendous sound bleed from the effects in the ghost train section coming into the station which never used to happen, presumably because the station used to have much louder ambient noise like wind and lightning that are now missing. You can call it nitpicks, and in isolation, each one of them is. But small hills make mountains, and yes - from the outdoor queue tape right up to the reverse drop at the top of the elevator, its still a pile of shit. I agreed it wasn't a steaming one didn't i? Disco room is looking much better. i'd have loved the original green lasers bouncing off the mirrors, but i get that the original laser design isn't easily replicated, and what's there is looking much better than what it was 12 months ago. the 'final drop' room is nice (I miss the fakeout laser drop, but what can you do) and the Tiki screen in the brake run approaching the exit station and associated paraphernalia is good too - so yes, from the reverse drop to unload looks great, and load to elevator looks shit. ...so it's half a pile of shit? can we meet in the middle? I'm certainly not crying wolf. This is genuine critique. fine, it might be insignificant in your eye, but perhaps that sort of attitude is why MW's standards have slipped? because nobody cares about the small stuff and they think guests shouldn't care either? I'm not trying to be argumentative or antagonistic - i genuinely care, and I remember a time when the park cared about things like taking down the christmas lights. preserving the illusions that a 'movie world' was supposed to create.

the laughing masked figure, who spins as you round the 180 degree turn is in total darkness. one can hear his laughter, but unless you know to look for the figure, you won't even see it. It used to have a spotlight on it that would light up when the effect was triggered. the figure that rolls forward and raises it's arms as you approach, as if trying to grab you triggered late on the last two rides i was on, and wasn't lit. By the time it started moving, our car was turning the corner and moving away. the swinging blades are now so well lit, you can see the drop, so the scary near miss is lost. last two times i rode, the camera didn't fire either, so that blinding part right at that nearmiss to scare you further is lost - plus the scene ahead is more visible because your night vision hasn't been impacted by the flash. the rest of the ghost train segment is the digital bucket of shit, and as you say, i hope they fix it up too - but I disagree with your statement that 'other than that, the ride is pretty much the same'. There's also the matter of the queue house, which is a sad hollow shell of it's former, well themed self, although I applaud the projection change to the actual film, which actually creates a pre-show to the new ride concept. Riding the elevator in the rear car sucks. you can't see the front screens at all, and the sides are too close to really appreciate. Nice concept, dreadful execution. As for your dreamworld comparison (and please remember, I am quite openly DW negative), DW identified safety issues with log ride, and stripped it back to bare bones, and then reopened. The precise same thing happened to scooby. The difference is Dreamworld didn't then trumpet the return of some theming, and some pathetic lazy windows 95 projection mapping as the second coming of jesus. At least Dreamworld reopened their log ride instead of fencing it off and pretending it didn't exist SBNO. You get so passionate about things you're involved with. But here's the thing - i'm a guest, like any other guest at the park. my opinion is just as valid as any other guest at the park, and i'm not the only one with this opinion. You can't tell me an opinion is wrong. You're welcome to disagree with it, but as I mentioned, i'm sure theres a large number of people out there that would rather the park just returned scooby to the way it was. No, you're right. the cleaner saw the lack of bins in the queue of a ride that's been open for more than 2 decades, and that's what triggered the immediate installation of bins that they just happened to have lying around, but didn't see fit to install in the first place.

What if you kill four people?

but coke and streets give you the fridges for free in exchange for having exclusivity on their products... you can't say no to free! (i agree with you)

No, thats absolutely correct. Usually their viewpoint is "this is what they've shown us is likely based on their previous track record" Which is what i said. I remember a time when the park would remove the christmas lights from main street so that the theme of main street wasn't cluttered by strings of permanent lights. Or the cobweb gatherers that are the main roof icicles. They've really shown a contempt for their guests and the quality of the park has gone downhill. And everyone knows i'm a VR fanboy and not the biggest fan of DW (and i'm a bit critical of some things DW have done recently, but they're headed in the right direction), while Village on the other hand don't seem to be doing much to turn around their reputation about actually plussing the guest experience... and that is my PERCEPTION as a guest, and it isn't wrong just because i'm an "enthusiast". I mean hey, don't get me wrong - its great that they've finally recognised a problem with their next generation attraction, and have brought someone in competent enough to actually make some worthy changes... the ride is still a pile of shit right now, it's just not steaming anymore, and i'm sure most people here would agree with me that right now, they'd prefer the ride (including the queue house) returned to its original themed state (with whatever changes are required for fire safety) rather than the abomination they have now. The disco room is probably the best part right now. But for anyone who wants to dispute the current status quo for village, we only have to look at the fact that we're having this discussion in a thread about fucking BINS being added to west after someone posted photos of the mess in the queue line. Nothing seems to get attention unless it is complained about publicly - and when thats the status quo, thats what happens.

It'll happen.... it'll open in the coming weeks.