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Post by skinnyguy on Dec 8, 2009 17:23:03 GMT -8
AMEN!!!
;D
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Post by wolfblood on Dec 9, 2009 12:46:13 GMT -8
Thanks jspider, I just simply sit back and pay attention to what works, what doesn't, what should there be more of and what should dissapear for a while etc.
While I like Disney, I tend to focus on the smaller parks since they have their own unique charm...and can provide much more unique concepts and themes. (While that may be a bit of a whack against Disney, I'm AE_Fan on Micechat...I've read plenty to get a good idea what the parks need to fix.) It's still cool though you have Imagineers in your family.
Yeah, matenince is still a factor, though I have three words for that...labor of love.
As for capacity, to me while one can have the idea a darkride may be bad if there's no wait...I'd rather have a high capacity attraction since it'll be quite nice when the park get's busy. (Last time I was at the park in the Summer, there was over 9,000 people.)
As for themes, I will admit in the park I get a blended feel of Victorian and western. Though there are plenty of possible new lands the park can use.
-Ghost town/Mining Town The park has somewhat of a western feel, so these kind of lands can help add to it. Plus there's plenty of attraction ideas one can use for it.
-Classic 50's/60's area. If I recall, Gary Norton does like classic cars. So this would be a nice area since it's the era of Diners, Drive In theaters etc. (Hence why I posted the coaster idea for a Drive In theater, seriously...many parks have the 50's/60's theme but none of them have ever used this idea!)
-Steampunk Victorian town This kinda hit me not too long ago, Steampunk is pretty much the sci-fi/fantasy of Victorian times. For me this would be a very cool add on since there's untapped potential here, since Jules Vern is an inspiration to Steampunk...there are plenty of attraction possibilites such as unique flying machines, high powered steam trains and fainciful inventions.
There's really only two places that's tapped into the visuals of Steampunk and Jules Vern, that would be Disneyland Paris's Discoveryland...which in my opinion is the best "Tomorrowland" out of all the Disney parks. The other place would be Tokyo Disneysea, which has several lands that tap into the look.
Another nice advantage to the Steampunk look is it's also been used in some western themes, so it can fit with the Victorian and western feel of the park.
As for darkride transportation, when it comes to the interactive darkride the trackless cars would be ideal. For an atmospheric darkride a boat would be ideal, or a suspended vehicle like for Droomvlucht over at Elfting in the Neatherlands.
For a more haunted darkride, there's the omnimover a la' The Haunted Mansion...though I would like to see a moving motion simulator a la' Spiderman for a more scary darkride. (While Busch Gardens Europe has done this with Curse of Darkastle, I feel they missed major opportunities with that ride.)
As for rides that focus on simple 2D projections, I'll admit I'm not a fan of those. It just seems really cheap, and cannot come close to even simple animatronics.
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Post by jspider on Dec 9, 2009 16:18:50 GMT -8
Ahh ok. I'm Jspider at Micechat cool to meet another person here. Didn't know any Micechatters were from Washington . I think there's room for both type of parks. I do like Disney as its larger budgets allow for more encompassing lands and innovative ride types. But I hate the way coporate culture starts to rule over the park after a while. Everything has to either market something or come in at such a price. I do like the charm of smaller parks like Silverwood and as I've come to enjoy thrills I've come to respect smaller parks more as well since most of the time smaller parks make due with the thrill rides as they're cheaper to buy. I do tend to overlook the Victorian aspects but your right they're there. Western setting and the silvermine in particular are the most recurring themes for the park. As such I suppose those are the themes I think of when I think of Silverwood and would like to see more of. As such I think I'd like to see the ghost town first and formost even if they could just theme up a bit more of Coaster Alley I'd be happy. Country Fair is probably the most jumbled area. Wish they could get some facades going on the carny games and open up the area a bit more. I really like the bumper boats area though for some reason. It just looks really cool. a Classics area would be great fun though I'm pretty sure it's been done before in several other parks. Steampunk would probably be the least likely. It'd be a hugelly different area then what they presently have but it'd probably be pretty high above the budget they're going to see anytime soon. I suppose the thing is, I've only seen a decent wait for Deja Vu and maybe Termors. I'd really hate to see guests tear apart a good darkride. I want a good capacity going for it but I also want it to sport a ten min wait most days like everything else. a Spiderman simulator would be expensive and an omnimover would probably be capacity overkill as far as cycling empty cars goes. Here's a question. What if Silverwood had to buy a used darkride like how they bought Dejavu? Which darkride would you like to see them rebuild? I'd perfer they get something that isn't a stock ride since I've noticed a few companies design those. I was looking at some videos on youtube of Kings Island's Phantom Theator and I have to say, it looks fun and the figures have a good amount of motion. I wouldn't mind it coming to Silverwood. I suppose I'll be happy as long as a darkride is above Garfield level (my gosh did that ride have such basic and bad movement to it). I would agree with you on 2D animation as well. Grand Fiesta Tour is a rare exception for me and I'm not sure that Silverwood could get the budget or the music to pull it off. Grand Fiesta tour just seems to ooze of the happy for some odd reason and riding on a boat is fun. The resturant beginning is great and the screens are bountiful. Not sure that Silverwood could pull off the magic mix that makes something that should suck by all technical merits make me smile
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voodoobones
Thunder Canyon
It's not that life is so short, it's that you're dead for so long!
Posts: 180
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Post by voodoobones on Dec 10, 2009 21:27:53 GMT -8
I guess my problem is that I have a soft spot for darkrides. They are my favorite and I tend to wish for them. On the other hand if they are done poorly then they just look trashy.
I remember Knotts when I was a kid about 35 years ago. I thought it was so cool walking through the old west. I felt like a regular gunslinger. They had the windows on the second floors of the buildings that were animated with a character. They had the panning for gold attraction where you could take home "Real Gold". They even had an old "Boot Hill" graveyard. And at night time the themeing (sp?) even looked better.
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Post by jspider on Dec 11, 2009 2:56:44 GMT -8
I guess my problem is that I have a soft spot for darkrides. They are my favorite and I tend to wish for them. On the other hand if they are done poorly then they just look trashy. I remember Knotts when I was a kid about 35 years ago. I thought it was so cool walking through the old west. I felt like a regular gunslinger. They had the windows on the second floors of the buildings that were animated with a character. They had the panning for gold attraction where you could take home "Real Gold". They even had an old "Boot Hill" graveyard. And at night time the themeing (sp?) even looked better. There is never a problem with liking darkrides. They're my longtime favorite ride type and I often which more rides could have the eye candy. I just get concerned about audience especially when hearing the kinda abuses darkrides actually receive over the years. I know Disney has issues with people always stealing the Wicked Witches Apple and I also remember the time they caught those kids stealing wicker baskets in the Haunted Mansion and they were walked out mid ride (and captured on tape). I REALLY do want a darkride at Silverwood especially since it would give me a ride to take my more fearful friends on as well as give them a demonstration of why I like Disneyland so much. I've never been to Knotts but from what I've seen through the internet and heard from friends it seems like the Knotts that existed before the sale to Cedar Fair is the type of park Silverwood should pattern itself after. Especially with the similarity they have between their themes. Scenery is definitly something they should be looking to add more of. I almost wish they'd start their own mini placemaking project of sorts and add tweaks to facades and whatnot over the next decade or two and look for a better way to place the flatrides to make the park more engaging. I keep thinking that whatever darkride it gets should be unique and not a franchise but I think that would cost too much. I wonder what it'd take to get Phantom Theater rebuilt over on this coast. I suppose now I regret not going to Kings Island in the 90's. This is the best video I can find but it looks like the ride had all the classic effects. Kings Island still has half the videos left over along with the figures so reconstruction should be a doable thing and the cost could even be in Silverwoods limits I think? The ride had Peppers Ghost in it and a projected face effect (my favorites!). I also like that the queue has some theme to it. Alot of people in Ohio seem to love this ride so there could even be some chance for bringing over hardcore fans. But I think I'm just dreaming now. I'd love to have a classic haunted ride though. Still I'd expect only tweaks to the Haunt for the next year or so.
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Post by wolfblood on Dec 12, 2009 0:00:15 GMT -8
Well here's another thing to discuss, over on Silverwood's Twitter they've made two interesting tweets.
The first one
"looking forward to 2010. Many enhancements being talked about. More details to come... "
Not too long ago, they then tweeted this.
"going out in the cold to take pictures of game areas for possible expansions. "
So chances are the park will be seeing some enhancements, though what I'm curious about is the more recent post about possible expansions from game areas.
Now I did recall the park was looking into getting a kid version of Panic Plunge, they mentioned it quite some time ago along with the possibility of Aftershock. (*aka* a suspended looping coaster). A kid friendly tower ride could easily fit where some of the game areas are.
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Post by jspider on Dec 13, 2009 21:11:16 GMT -8
Well here's another thing to discuss, over on Silverwood's Twitter they've made two interesting tweets. The first one "looking forward to 2010. Many enhancements being talked about. More details to come... " Not too long ago, they then tweeted this. "going out in the cold to take pictures of game areas for possible expansions. " So chances are the park will be seeing some enhancements, though what I'm curious about is the more recent post about possible expansions from game areas. Now I did recall the park was looking into getting a kid version of Panic Plunge, they mentioned it quite some time ago along with the possibility of Aftershock. (*aka* a suspended looping coaster). A kid friendly tower ride could easily fit where some of the game areas are. I think your probably right. If they place a new ride among the games will they move some of the games to the further ends of the park or just axe them completly? I'm not quite used to following Silverwood's expansion can't wait to see what they do for Halloween next year
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Post by wolfblood on Mar 27, 2010 20:00:03 GMT -8
Well looking back at the various game areas Silverwood has, I think I can pinpoint where a kid friendly drop tower could go.
I'd say the most likely spot would be the Hi Striker game between Krazy Kars and Tilt-a-Whirl, remember that spot was the original location of the Skydiver so a small kid drop tower could easily fit.
Another possible area would be the games area in coaster alley, though a few of the buildings there look to be permanent additions. While the least likely game areas for a kid drop tower would be the Battlezone/Thunder Mountain Rock Wall and the main midway in Country Carnival.
Now a thing to keep in mind is the tweet just mentioned "Possible Expansions" So we don't know weather or not the game areas will be used for something, and if so we really don't know what kind of expansion it would be for. The only things we know their looking at is a kid friendly drop tower, hotel...and if the rumor is true, a interactive dark ride.
As for keeping up on the park expanding, I'd say the park is doing a great job of surprising us. When we think they're not adding something big they do...and remember they did say they wouldn't start thinking of a Halloween event until a hotel was built. (Though I say one big reason they went for doing Scarywood is that can help bring in money for bigger things.)
Now as for just general speculation, even with the unpredictability of the park...when they finally expand the theme park I think it's safe to say they will be expanding onto the airstrip. There is plenty of space for plenty of new attractions, with the main questions being how big will they generally expand and what new lands and attractions will be a part of it?...right now, in due time. (I hope)
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voodoobones
Thunder Canyon
It's not that life is so short, it's that you're dead for so long!
Posts: 180
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Post by voodoobones on Mar 28, 2010 21:07:06 GMT -8
I can't think of any better direction except across the airstrip. Of coarse it makes me sad to see the airstrip go. However it isn't usable anymore so they might as well use the space. I think eventually they will need to get ride of the on site housing as well.
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Post by jspider on Apr 5, 2010 23:02:23 GMT -8
I can't think of any better direction except across the airstrip. Of coarse it makes me sad to see the airstrip go. However it isn't usable anymore so they might as well use the space. I think eventually they will need to get ride of the on site housing as well. I've always wondered about that onsite housing, how does it work and who stays there? I can't see the park extending THAT far back for quite some time, Steps should be taken with gardening or whatnot to draw attention away from the houses though, feels like the train only gets a bit too close to the onsite housing near the end. I think they have plenty of land to build housing on if they ever needed to, though I'm always curious about what they consider for park expansion and what they don't Kinda wish they'd map some of this stuff out for long term expansion so they can spread the paths out well and make sure the park layout stays cohesive over the years. I know they want to eventually have a good garden feel for the park going right?
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