No Name
Well-Known Member
Technically it doesn’t open until April 4th! Imagine how much the trees will have grown by then!!
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The Miscellaneous Thought Thread
- Thread starter mickEblu
- Start date
Rich T
Well-Known Member
Okay, I recently made a decent indoor rollercoaster dark ride in Planet Coaster.
And here’s a little park I’ve been working on.
I’d love to add my new coaster into this park, but…
…well, you can see the problem with the show-building. Darn. Back to the drawing board. I’d rather not use the new coaster than create an eyesore, even in my silly little make-believe park. Sight-lines are important, dang it!
And here’s a little park I’ve been working on.
I’d love to add my new coaster into this park, but…
…well, you can see the problem with the show-building. Darn. Back to the drawing board. I’d rather not use the new coaster than create an eyesore, even in my silly little make-believe park. Sight-lines are important, dang it!
waltography
Well-Known Member
This is what Universal meant when they said they wanted to open regional parks.Okay, I recently made a decent indoor rollercoaster dark ride in Planet Coaster.
View attachment 699288
And here’s a little park I’ve been working on.
View attachment 699289
I’d love to add my new coaster into this park, but…
View attachment 699290
…well, you can see the problem with the show-building. Darn. Back to the drawing board. I’d rather not use the new coaster than create an eyesore, even in my silly little make-believe park. Sight-lines are important, dang it!
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
Ugh. Not again.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Ugh!
I always feel badly for the CM's in this situation. A Saturday night, mostly new CM's and low-seniority managers working that unloved shift. And then they have to deal with that.
I know we're all supposed to do the fake "Thoughts & Prayers" thing for the dead person when this happens, but I mostly just think about the CM's who are left to deal with that person's selfishness and idiocy and then work around it as tens of thousands of people come back to their cars after the fireworks.
This is at least the fifth or sixth time this has happened at that parking structure. It's an enticing venue to kill oneself apparently, likely because it's a rare tall structure in OC with open sides that is always open to the public. But at what point does TDA do something about the structure physically to keep people from being able to access the exterior? Fences and screens along all opening? Ugly.
But in this day and age, they can't ignore it any longer. TDA is being forced into doing something with the structure design and access.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Not sure a dog whistle is needed, as I mentioned it in an earlier post I think, but it's an excellent point and a wonderful element of the BRILLIANT federal system our Founding Fathers created. Our very wise founders allowed each individual state to be it's own separate laboratory of democracy and ideas to serve their residents!
All 50 states have the autonomy and ability to create their own laws and their own socio-political systems that best serves their residents (AKA the taxpayers that fund it). If a state's democratic laboratory cooks up something the residents no longer like, they get to choose to move to a different state that may have a different way of doing things. So smart, and so uniquely American!
And our Founding Fathers never could have imagined how easy it would become with the invention of U-Haul!
But when a state suddenly starts losing residents, mostly middle and upper-middle class taxpayers in their prime earning years, then that's going to be a big problem for the state that's left behind. California's tourism industry and the state subsidies that help tourism infrastructure and development will be one of the first things to be cut when budgets suddenly get tight.
tcool123
Well-Known Member
Well thanks to Christine McCarthy in her advanced wisdom all the portion cutting should help guests lose weight by the time their boarding group is called for TronGreat TR, thank you! And yes, I do NOT envy what those Tron CM's are about to go through once they start trying to get average American tourists from the Midwest and South into those cars.
That said, that I'm-Unable-To-Fit caboose car they tack onto the back of the normal train is absolutely hilarious to me. It's a Meme or an episode of The Simpsons or South Park just waiting to happen! The bad PR on this when it opens to the public is inevitable.
What was TDO thinking when they approved this thing for Americans?!?
Great TR, thank you! And yes, I do NOT envy what those Tron CM's are about to go through once they start trying to get average American tourists from the Midwest and South into those cars.
That said, that I'm-Unable-To-Fit caboose car they tack onto the back of the normal train is absolutely hilarious to me. It's a Meme or an episode of The Simpsons or South Park just waiting to happen! The bad PR on this when it opens to the public is inevitable.
What was TDO thinking when they approved this thing for Americans?!?
Yikes. Even if they figure out a fix for the ride vehicles, or turn half the trains into I'm-Unable-To-Fit cars, there's still this sitting there.
It's clearly obvious the executives running WDW have lost the plot and are not making good decisions. And the upper executives in Burbank who are responsible for giving the TDO executives their money and their titles are just as guilty, if not more.
This is just embarrassing. And that it's only there to host a 90 second ride like Tron, with all its issues, is baffling. There's no good excuse here.
Exactly. That’s why I always say they re lucky to be standing on the shoulders of those who came before them. If every attraction was implemented like Tron they wouldn’t be the Disneyland and MK everyone fell in love with. It seems they’re intent on chipping away at the mystique and legacy that took years to cultivate.
Rich T
Well-Known Member
If current Disney was building Disneyland today:
“A BERM around the park??? Ya know how much that would add to the budget? But here’s a good compromise: We’ll surround the park… With BILLBOARDS.”
Orrr, it was a compromise that led to the Civil War...
..."This domestic outmigration is concentrated among Californians with lower incomes and lower levels of educational attainment, who likely struggle with the state’s high costs for housing, gas, and other essentials."...
Racial/Ethnic Differences in Who’s Leaving California
The flow of Californians moving to other states has accelerated in recent years. Even within income groups, there are wide racial gaps in who’s exiting.
www.ppic.org
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Oh, my gosh, I love that! It's perfectly said. And 110% correct.
If Disneyland had been built and expanded in this way, or Magic Kingdom Park had been built and expanded in this way, they'd only be as good as the original (and hokey) incarnations of Six Flags Over Texas, or King's Island, or Freedomland. And none of those places resonated or were as successful as Disneyland or Walt Disney World, so they just devolved into coaster parks where everything is tired and every surface is sticky.
They are coasting on fumes out there at WDW. And things aren't that much better in Anaheim, where the tank is below 1/4 and nearing Empty.
They are definitely chipping away at the mystique when it comes to both the hard product (rides, hotels, physical things) and the soft product (CM standards and training and supervision), but at some point it goes over the edge and they just start flipping it the bird.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Well, I doubt any of the Founding Father's could have foreseen the Civil War 90 years later any more than they could have foreseen U-Haul rental trucks 200 years later.
But I think your point is valid in that the founding of the nation was imperfect, yet the Founding Fathers's set it up in a way to continually evolve so as to form "a more perfect union" as thought and humanity progressed. They were very smart guys after all. Not perfect, of course, but I have yet to meet a perfect human.
Has anyone met a perfect human being that is not only correct in the current time, but also correct 50 or 100 years into the future?
TP2000
Well-Known Member
..."This domestic outmigration is concentrated among Californians with lower incomes and lower levels of educational attainment, who likely struggle with the state’s high costs for housing, gas, and other essentials."...
Racial/Ethnic Differences in Who’s Leaving California
The flow of Californians moving to other states has accelerated in recent years. Even within income groups, there are wide racial gaps in who’s exiting.
And yet the rest of that paragraph shows the nuance...
"But there are large racial gaps even within income levels. For the lowest-income residents, whites have a much higher net flow out of the state (-10.9 per 1,000) than African Americans (-7.7), Latinos (-4.2), and Asian Americans (-1.6). At the other end of the spectrum, higher-income Asian Americans are notably more likely to move into the state than out of it (4.8 per 1,000). In contrast, higher-income African Americans are about equally likely to move into or out of the state (-0.2 per 1,000), while higher-income Latinos (-1.6) and whites (-2.9) are more likely to move out of the state."
I wasn't the first of my extended social group to leave California, but I probably won't be the last. Several others are discussing it. Racially, the folks I know who have moved or are considering moving are about 50% white, 30% Latino, and 20% Asian. There is one Black spouse also who has moved. Socio-economically they are all living comfortably, retired professionals, and would be labeled as upper-middle class.
I can only imagine the struggle a newly married young couple must face living in California. Faced with high rents, no real hope of affording an actual house with a yard, very high taxes on income and purchases, and not much to show for it except the weather. A tough way to start a family!
But for a state that depends so heavily on income tax and capital gains taxes, that's a very dangerous game to play to chase those folks away!
PiratesMansion
Well-Known Member
Yes, with the disclaimer that it hasn't at all been recent, really (my last visit to Dollywood was back in 2014). But a few things that haven't changed. Here are my thoughts/recommendations for Dollywood:
-Make sure you get the cinnamon bread with the icing from the Grist Mill. And when you're eating, stick to the non-normative theme park stuff: Ham & Beans, Fried Chicken from Miss Lillian's (who is quite a character if she's out during your meal), etc.
-Do the train for sure, checking the schedule at the depot for different departure times.
-Dolly stuff: For sure do the museum. In the past they also had her tour bus out that you could tour. This was also fun, though naturally they can only fit a few people on there at a time. There's a replica of her childhood home you can walk through, as well as a super cheesy Dolly show from the 90s that's called Heartsong near the train station.
-If you don't feel like paying the full rate to park, you can park at Patriot's Park and take a trolley over for considerably less money.
-Coasters: Tennessee Tornado is a great, smooth looping coaster. Thunderhead used to be one of my favorite wooden coasters-reports have been inconsistent since my last visit, but it was fantastic back in the day. Mystery Mine is the best themed coaster but is a headbangy mess-if you're going to skip a coaster, make it that one. Firechaser Express is a fun family coaster. Wild Eagle isn't my favorite thing in the world, but lots of people love it. Blazing Fury is billed as an "indoor roller coaster" but Space Mountain it isn't-it's a dark ride through a burning town with a few drops at the end. I love it, and it's cheesy as hell, but it's a coaster more by a technicality than anything else. Among the ones I haven't done: Lightning Rod is an RMC like Twisted Colossus, but it is EXTRA unreliable.
-They have a huge collection of non-releasable bald eagles and a birds of prey show too, in addition to the others.
-There are a fair number of shows, skewing country/bluegrass/gospel/etc. Lots of live musicians, including a show put on by Dolly's relatives, which may or may not include them interacting with a pre-recorded video of her as they go through the show.
-Check out the live craftsmen and the above-average-for-a-theme-park shopping selection.
In terms of the surrounding area, there's a ton to see and do, and that area has only continued to explode in growth. There's more tourist trap stuff than you can shake a stick at, some of them quite good. Gaitlinburg tends to be slightly classier than Pigeon Forge, but really the attractions are very comparable. There's a Soarin' knockoff at The Island at Pigeon Forge (a quasi DD sort of area), if you're interested in the upcharge. I'm definitely not super up on what's there now and how it differs from 2014, I would recommend either of the sitdown restaurants at the Apple Barn-back then they had very similar menus, and you would get complimentary apple julep, apple butter, and apple fritters in addition to some outstanding southern cooking.
Not much I can really say about the national park proper except to fill up before you get inside. We had to backtrack from a planned drive to Cades Cove because it felt like we were driving forever only for the sign to *still* say it was fifteen miles away, and eventually it became clear we'd run out of gas if we didn't backtrack.
It's a fun area. Have a great trip!
waltography
Well-Known Member
Finally got evac'd off a ride! Thrilled to cross that one off my Disney list, haha.
Of course, it was at Runaway Railway; we got evac'd right at the drain before the city scene. We were let off the cars and we walked backwards through all the sets, so it felt like a really cool backstage tour (we could see the enormous fans in the tornado room, the track that's painted on the floor at the beginning, and the little holding area Mickey and Minnie are in when they enter the tunnel).
Of course, it was at Runaway Railway; we got evac'd right at the drain before the city scene. We were let off the cars and we walked backwards through all the sets, so it felt like a really cool backstage tour (we could see the enormous fans in the tornado room, the track that's painted on the floor at the beginning, and the little holding area Mickey and Minnie are in when they enter the tunnel).
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
Ugh!
I always feel badly for the CM's in this situation. A Saturday night, mostly new CM's and low-seniority managers working that unloved shift. And then they have to deal with that.
I know we're all supposed to do the fake "Thoughts & Prayers" thing for the dead person when this happens, but I mostly just think about the CM's who are left to deal with that person's selfishness and idiocy and then work around it as tens of thousands of people come back to their cars after the fireworks.
This is at least the fifth or sixth time this has happened at that parking structure. It's an enticing venue to kill oneself apparently, likely because it's a rare tall structure in OC with open sides that is always open to the public. But at what point does TDA do something about the structure physically to keep people from being able to access the exterior? Fences and screens along all opening? Ugly.
But in this day and age, they can't ignore it any longer. TDA is being forced into doing something with the structure design and access.
I think they could install some nice decorative bars with mickeys or something involved, that could be used for suicide prevention.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
They're going to have to do something. The top floor will need to be fenced very high or domed somehow.
Hey, has anybody seen the goalposts? They were here a minute ago...
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