Thoughts In Line - Blog(ish)

Too often I experience music being too repetitive in a queue. A longer audio playlist, maybe 2 hours, should fit the bill or even a streaming music service. Granted, I don't know the logistics or cost but the same one hour play list seems weird to me. While waiting for Nemesis at Alton Towers, the audio back-story plays on occasion broken up by ambient sounds and ride theme music. Disney parks also do great in this area... Space Mountain, Indiana Jones Adventure especially. I think the original Tower of Terror classic playlist rises to the top of the list. Universal Orlando rides often have cool backstories for the attraction for rides like Spiderman and Hulk. I remember when Six Flags played old Looney Tunes cartoons on queue TV's which passed the time. Some smaller parks I've heard where they might just tune into the local radio station. 

I excitedly hope to write about ride attraction music and theming another time. 

Theme parks and amusement parks are not carnivals, I feel people at the game booths shouldn't have to act like carnies. Yelling at guests to play is a brash tactic; thankfully, parks have seemingly improved in this area in the last two decades.  It seems games areas are being reduced in size so there are fewer options. Major rides may have entrances and exits near these areas. Six Flags Over Georgia is good at this, while people are waiting for their friends and family- there's lots to do. Games placed in the center of midways instead of some out of the way corner also work so barkers don't need to call guests over. It's attractive for parks to get guests to play, there is great profit in it. Especially if they have prizes guests want.

I tend to accept coasters as they are and suggesting any change is weird for me. I'm a long time fan of the Beast at Kings Island and always will be; maybe that why I'm passionate about it. To me, there is something cathartic, primal, fun about it. 

Since my first ride in 1987, I always wondered why the long break run in the first half of the ride isn't tunneled? The roof, some side supports are there, it would fit the style, it might be good for marketing: "The Beast Gets Darker" - I don't know. Actually it might place it as "the wooden coaster with the most tunnels in the world"; if those are bragging rights worth seeking. Instead of experiencing a long necessary process in which the train's speed is decreased, maybe tunneling that section can turn it into into an additional (granted minimal) thrill. If that brake area is covered it could help with maintenance too. Just a thought.

My first amusement experience was a walk through fun house at Coney Island called The Magic Carpet... Though I see the implied risk (trip hazards) of walkthrough attractions one cannot deny a good "permanent" walk through fun house or haunted house. I wish this classic experience was still regularly found at parks. I've experienced attractions like Noah's Ark at Blackpool, Skaersliden at Tivoli Gardens,  Ghost Ship at Morey's Piers, Lusitga Huset at Grona Lund and Spokhotellet Gasten at Liseberg. They are unique, interactive, tactile and a great way to bond with family, friends or a date. Often in America we find these as portable attractions at carnivals and fairs... which bring their own unique history. At European fairs some fun houses are on a whole different insanity level - where watching people navigate the course poorly draws crowds!! I digress, as a starting attraction fun houses can be quite perfect for kids before venturing into the darkness of haunted houses or the heights of thrill rides. More importantly fun houses and haunted houses often bring laughter to a park. There is a wonderful, (not traveling) Mirror Maze in Gatlinburg I have visited more than once. When I see families there it reminds me how cool these permanent attractions really are. 

Kudos to Hersheypark for Laff Trakk an indoor roller coaster with a fun house theme, touching on a couple of my points on this page..       

You'll just have to take my word for it.. I never had a forum to express ride idea's prior. In the late 80's before I knew of suspended coasters I thought up the idea using enterprise cars as the suspended coaster vehicles as inspiration because they which hang and swing. Through the program No Limits I created an outward banked turn, downward barrel roll and extreme spinning wild mouse coasters before any were produced in the real world. In my minds eye I even imagined a shared track spine as seen on a portion Full Throttle at Magic Mountain. 

My current unrealized idea I also designed in No Limits 2 years ago is a varying experience coaster. The idea is after the train leaves the station a "switch track" engages which can take guests on a variety of finale's after the vehicle passes a block break. The finales might be the actual motion a vehicle traverses (hills, inversions, turns)  or maybe themes. Toward the end of the ride the vehicle traverses another block break / switch track to align the vehicle with the station. If a Ferris Wheel lift coaster,  a tilt coaster or a switch track launch coaster can be built, anything is possible.   

I have been "lucky enough" to ride some historic flat rides. Though I am not necessarily a fan I knew one day they'd be gone. Rides, like the double Ferris Wheel, Rotor, Zipper and Loop-O-Plane don't always agree with me for one reason or another but they have their place in amusement history. However, there are two (non spinning) flat rides that are disappearing from the scene. 

Firstly, haunted swings (bug houses, mad houses or whatnot); a rarity to behold. A ride in which guests sit still in a "vehicle" whilst the room rotates around them that stems from the Victorian era. This "attraction" is fit for all guests and one of the few where guests can close their eyes on to not feel the "ride". I think all the antique ones are gone but there are a few contemporary versions still active, I am especially a fan of Villa Volta at Efteling and Hex at Alton Towers. I recently learned of Spuk Haus at Tanus Wonderland. I got to ride Frontier Meeting House at Hersheypark and Blackbeard's Revenge at Carowinds before they closed in 1989 and 1999 respectively. 

Speaking of Carowinds.. Outside of Missing White Lightinin' and Thunder Road next on my list is the Wild Bull. A Bayern Curve attraction that was invented in the 1960's. Yes, the same style ride as the one formerly at Kennywood (which I rode many times). Great Adventure, Kings Island, Cedar Point, magic mountain and a handful of old school defunct parks had one. It's my favorite flat ride and it's disappearing. It has some minimal roller coaster properties so I understand my interest. I'd love to see a modern version. Maybe larger, faster? I got experience Skyline Express possibly a one of a kind similar ride with two helices. Word is Knoebel's will be installing one for the 2023 season. The last one I got to ride was the Berserker at California's Great America, where we know this park will be closing.  

Another summer has come to pass and another round of announcements roll out talking about next years new roller coasters. For many parks, if not all; it's a great idea. EXCEPT: if a park has a coaster just down the midway highly lacking maintenance and beating people to death. Guests often visit the same local park over a series of years and get an affinity for certain rides. Yes, it's great advertising to say the park has it's 200th coaster installation (exaggeration) on billboards and social media but guests would like to come back and experience their favorite rides again and again in a ridable state. Off season is not just for installing a ride, it's for maintenance and updating. I even had a ride on my top ten that dropped to "never ride again status" yeah 99% decrease in enjoyment for me - that's a darn shame; it's also how people get hurt. Which leads me to wonder - how often is an accelerometer and other like devices used to measure inertial forces during the off season. Maybe, just maybe, measuring these types of forces before a ride opens to the public should be used more often than just grand opening. If that is already happening; then maybe I am getting too old... because it's a scary thought. Please, fix and remove the problems on existing rides before adding new ones. Kill your guests with kindness; not stats.

 Forthcoming