elitch gardens

4 Kasım 2012 Pazar

Disney + Lucasfilm: A Match Made in Heaven

To contact us Click HERE

Disney acquires Lucasfilm. Now that's some big news! About $4.05 billion worth of news, to be exact. After acquiring Marvel a couple years back, Disney has again set its sights on a big purchase, and this time it comes complete with the Star Wars franchise, along with Indiana Jones.

The company is already planning to release Star Wars Episode 7 in 2015, with more films in the future. Star Wars has already been successfully incorporated into many Disney Parks via rides and attractions.

As an amusement park blog, it is natural for me to wonder how this purchase will bring future changes to the theme parks. It goes without saying that the power of Star Wars is massive, and it doesn't take long to start to dream of how new rides could be worked into Tomorrowlands or a property like Disney's Hollywood Studios.

MiceAge has a story about the purchase that eludes to how the parks could be effected, but its probably too soon to really know for sure. Personally, I'd love to see the company find a way to reboot the Indiana Jones series in a good way (meaning not like Crystal Skull), and then bring more of Indy's famous adventures to the parks. The future is bright!

The Greatest Battle You'll Ever Ride - Universal Studios Florida 2013

To contact us Click HERE

Perhaps not the best kept secret we've seen in a while, but no matter, the announcement was still worth the wait: Universal Studios Florida will be opening their own copy of Transformers The Ride 3D in Summer 2013.

The park made the official announcement last night as part of their nightly Cinematic Spectacular lagoon show, a most impressive way to do it. Park guests were in for special treat if they were at the park for the day!

Already open at Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Studios Singapore, Transformers The Ride takes guests on a 4D quest to save the world along with the Autobots. Plans for the attraction to be built in Florida started just days after the ride opened in Hollywood, and since then it's had the fastest build schedule of any Universal ride in their history. Why? Simply put, the ride is a home run and once it opens it will be quickly embraced by Florida visitors.

The two story attraction uses a motion based vehicle to take riders past various sets and 3D projections, much like Islands of Adventure's popular Spiderman ride. In Orlando Transformers will have a more heavily themed building than in Hollywood, along with some queue changes. The actual ride experience will be the same as the other versions.

For some great shots from the announcement, and some additional details from a press conference with the ride's designers, follow this link.

Getting Exciting at Gold Striker's Construction Site

To contact us Click HERE

California's Great America has made additions to their gallery of construction photos of Gold Striker, and boy things are starting to look good, real good. Even though the park has closed for the season, they were able to get some shots from the park's observation tower, showing off the coaster's progress so far.

You can also start to pick out some of the more intense banking that the ride will feature, such as that on the turn after the dive past the station, which tilts sharply to the right as the train heads upward.

There's also this little gem, which will take place just before the turn I was describing above. Talk about a head chopper! The train will plummet down the drop, around a fast curve, past the station, and then pass under three separate sections of track - right where this photo was taken. You can be sure many riders will duck as they approach this.

Looking good!

We're Back, and We're Stuffed

To contact us Click HERE
Well, after a Holiday Hiatus, we're back! First thing I want to do before getting to some editorials is to catch up on some of the bigger news.

So, the Transformers ride is opening. This is considered big news, so here's a recap. It's basically a new version of the Spiderman ride in my viewpoint, but I suppose this is a good backup plan for Universal if and when they ever lose their Marvel license to Disney. Slashfilm reported recently that the attraction vehicle is an actual transformer. Your car is a character. My good friends over at Topless Robot had this to say:

Transformers: The Movie: the Ride is just about ready to open in Universal Studios Singapore, and one of the local news stations did this report on what getting to the ride will be like. I feel like it's notable for two reasons:
1) That it could take up to 1.5 hours of waiting in line to actually get on Transformers: The Ride. The idea that anyone would wait up to 90 minutes for a ride based on Bayformers -- unless they were some sort of war criminal, and this was their court-mandated punishment -- depresses me to no end.
2) On the other hand, as the newslady is happy to point out, the walls surrounding the queue will be full of buttons to press and switches to flip, so that people can "entertain" themselves while waiting. By pressing buttons and hitting switches. Like developing infants do with toys.

As harsh as that sounds, I can't disagree. However, I'm sure I'll be amazed with the technology once it opens. You can make up your own mind by viewing this video.

In other news:

-I should point out that we have seen a new type of ticketing system put into use that could possibly eliminate turnstiles.

-Coney Island is celebrating its roots with some new construction work.

-Kennywood sold Pitfall, so could a new ride be on the way?

-TDS celebrates its 10 birthday just in time for the holidays.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! And if you didn't, it could be worse. The Pilgrims had to catch their own turkey. I'll leave you with a look at what that might have looked like, courtesy of Sally Dark Rides.

...we're back?

To contact us Click HERE
Hello readers!

First of all, I definitely need to apologize for the lack of updates. I've been ridiculously busy with other things over the past several months, and I regret not updating this sooner. Sadly, I simply haven't had time. Thank you to those who have continued to visit and check on the site - I appreciate it greatly.

On that note, I'm hoping to get the site going again with news, Impressions, photos, and other possible new features. What better day to pick back up than on our one year anniversary! That's right, we've been up for one year today (even if we have been gone for several months), and that's an achievement I'm quite proud of. Thanks once again for your readership.

So, what have we been doing? Spring break this year included stops at Thorpe Park and Disneyland Paris, so expect to see reviews for those up sometime in the near future. On top of that, I still have one to finish off from last year; again, oops. Right now, I've just uploaded 100 photos from Thorpe to our Facebook page, including lots of pictures of The Swarm. Head on over and check it out, and maybe go ahead and like our page while you're at it ;)

I'll be sure to post as often as possible, but I can't guarantee daily updates right now. As always I'll do my best. For now, enjoy the Thorpe Park photos, and thanks for sticking with us!

-Wynn

13 Ekim 2012 Cumartesi

The Texas Chute Out's Final Fall

To contact us Click HERE

Blowing up rides is so hot right now, no? We recently saw Cedar Point use the pyrotechnic method to bring down the Space Spiral, and today Six Flags Over Texas did a similar job on their famous Texas Chute Out ride.

The park had previously announced that the ride, along with the Flashback roller coaster, would be removed before the 2013 season when the world's tallest Star Flyer, dubbed the Texas SkyScreamer, will open. That ride will stand an amazing 400 feet in the sky, twice as high as the Chute Out.

The Texas Chute Out was one of only two parachute rides still operating in the U.S., now the only one standing is at Six Flags Great Adventure. It looks like the ride fell directly onto the former location of the Flashback coaster, which has already been removed from the park.

For the video of the ride coming down, check out the Dallas News, and also for some neat shots of the rubble afterward check out this gallery at the Star-Telegram.

Celebrating Legoland Florida's 1st Birthday

To contact us Click HERE

Can you believe that Legoland Florida has been open a year already? Well, almost a year I should say - the park's official first birthday is October 15th, and the park is planning quite a celebration.

For starters, they're offering 5,000 tickets at 50% off the gate price, which is quite an amazing savings if you are visiting that day. Another sweet treat planned are cupcakes for the first 5,000 visitors. Mmmm, cupcakes.

Legoland Florida’s Prize Patrol will also be out roaming the property with hundreds of gifts and will sporadically surprise guests throughout the day with them. Some of the items they are giving away include:

·         Meet & Greet with a Master Model Builder
·         Tours of the Model Shop
·         Free Food Vouchers
·         Free Hero Passes for front-of-the-line access to rides
·         Free Single Day Admission Tickets to Legoland Florida
·         Free Standard Annual Passes which includes unlimited 12 month access to Legoland Florida
·         Free Merlin Annual Passes USA which includes unlimited 12 month access to Legoland Florida, Legoland Water Park and all Merlin US attractions throughout the USA, free parking and more

Legoland Florida will be open from 10 to 5 on the 15th - sounds like quite a party!