The Master

I played on these playgrounds a lot as a kid. I can still remember runningbover the arch bridge and thd smell of the rubber padding on a sunny day. 

4 minutes ago, Yoshi said:

Yeah they require the credit card and ID. I am curious what happens if in between the time someone buys the pass and goes to activate it, they lose the credit card or the number gets stolen somewhere and they get a new credit card with a different number.

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Busch Gardens Tampa finally opening up the Skyride after it being closed for almost 4 years and making it an upcharge for non pass holders. $5 each way so $10 for a round trip.

https://buschgardens.com/tampa/rides/skyride/

 

Wow that is chintzy. The theme park industry is heading in the wrong direction. At least it isn't torn down.

It would have also been nice to get page for the original house. I saw it again last Dec on the Christmas hayride during HITP. Sadly the house is in bad shape. I saw it has missing roof shingles exposing the plywood decking which certainly means roof leak. Roof leaks can destroy a building pretty fast. 

14 hours ago, Yoshi said:

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they want to reduce the animatronics. On the current rides that have them, it seems like there has been a decline in upkeep with some missing from rides for months at a time and others not having any motion repeatedly.

 

It also seems like there are a lot more breakdowns than I remember in past years. Almost every visit to a park, a ride I want to go to or am in line for breaks down. On Thursday night, it was Spaceship Earth closing at 8 pm and never re-opening. At Hollywood Studios 2 weeks ago, it was Runaway Railway breaking down when I was in the pre-show room.

 

Some of the Youtube outlets have said Disney has been cutting back their maintance budgets as well as spending money on PC changes to rides instead of proper repairs and refurbishments. 

It has been anounced that the Splash Mountain makeover will see a big reduction in the number of animatrionics in the ride which is a shame. Disney will probably replace many of them with projection effects. 

There is also the debacle of the new plaza over in Epcot. The fancy new lighting failing within a couple of day because of too high pressure washing and the general disappointment from guess over the design. Disney probably should have kept the fountain IMO.  

I would not be surprised if Disney bungles the Simpsons like they have with so many other IPs in recent years. That is besides the show having been in decline Iong before Disney's buyout of Fox. Still I would like a return to BTTF but that is unlikely. Ironic enough the Simpsons are not that much younger than BTTF. 

Just as the title says, does anyone have any suggestions for park forums or other sites similar 5o the GAH forums? There won't be a replacement for this forum but perhaps an alternative place would help alleviate the sting a little. 

Screamscape reported there are some rumors that Universal may replace the Simpsons with another IP when the current contract expires, possibly with Pokemon.  I can see it since the Simpsons are owned by Disney now, then again that hasn't put an end to the Marvel Island in IOA. With possible replacements I rather see a return to Back to the Future than Pokemon.

With the uncertain future of the GAH forums and that they may close down soon, it might be a good idea to post our goodbyes to one another and the forums while we still can. I certainly have had a good time here and will miss this forum and I apprecate the years of Harry's fine work on covering the history and current happenings of GADV. In case I don't see everyone here on some other format in the future I wish to say goodbye.

I will hopefully get to post a few more messages on other threads here before things close down. If there is anything anyone else wants to post in this or any other thread onnthe forums, better do it now. 

It would be sad to see the forum go as this is one of the few laidback park forums that lacks online drama. I been a member here for a long time now and glad I lasted this long. I rather not join Facebook as I don't approve of that company and I have no experience with Discord. Is that a membership setup similar to Facebook? Most of my online experience has been with forums.

Its just seems to be one of those situations where it rains, it pours. I can't find fault in not wanting to spend hundreds to support a forum that has low traffic. I wish the best of luck for whatever the future holds for GAH. Best to enjoy whatever time we have left for the forum. 

My condolences for your loss and Harry will be greatly missed by all of us here. 

On 1/16/2024 at 3:28 PM, 29yrswithaGApass said:

I like to consider myself an optimist, and can find some good in almost anything. An exception to this would be Operation Spy Girl at Six Flags Great America. That show was terrible.  I could not wait for it to end.

It was really that bad? 

Hopefully they replaced the floor panels, the diamonds are worn off the the diamond plate flooring in those gondolas. 

It would be nice to see a new shooting gallery in the park as I do enjoy them but I doubt it will happen within the current political climate. Moreover, a shooting gallery would be kind of redundant with the Justice League ride now, though the grips bothers my hands. 

I remember that back when the Shoot Out was still in operation it was a lonely location that rarely had other guests around.

One thing that would quite a bit woulx be to remove the poison ivy overgrowth that has taken over some of the river banks and exit stairway. 

On 12/20/2023 at 10:20 AM, Swashbucklerfan16 said:

it's sad to hear the parachutes are being scrapped in the offseason. The skyline won't be the same without it.

The park won't look like GADV. Seems like many parks are removing their unique rides. 

Agreed, HH used to have such nice theming they let rot away. Planting some cold hardy sub tropical plants would help with the theming. 

On 11/17/2023 at 5:48 PM, GAcoaster said:

On Justice League, bring back the 3-D effects and glasses-- they made the ride better! 

 

Fix the effects on The Dark Knight-- it started out as a decent family coaster, but has been allowed to deteriorate over time.

 

Improve the masking for Skull Mountain and make it dark again, or even add some interior themed elements and lighting. 

 

Skull Mt still does have some theme elements inside, the park, just doesn't light them anymore. All the indoor dark rides need repair work.

Hopefully if they restore the l8gbflume they will remove the sprayers. 

So I take it that this won't be an actual toboggan coaster? Still looks like a neat coaster. 

I can see them pulling a Wells Fargo Center with these bricks in the future. https://6abc.com/wells-fargo-center-commemorative-bricks-philadelphia-sports-fans/13973068/

Its pretty bad not to have an indoor heated show during the cold weather around this time of the year.

The current quality of the haunts are not worth $30+, that is for sure. The first Power Hours I went to lacked any shows but the next week I visited they at least seemed to have the drum show which they renamed Blade Drummers this year. A play on the title of the cult scifi film Blade Runner I think.

That reminds me of another issue with the upcharge weekday FFs, they lack the live shows which are GADV's FF strong points. 

4 hours ago, pashacar said:

 

I get that the principle is annoying, but I have to say it was easily worth the $10. Walk-ons for every ride, nearly every haunt, and surprisingly full staffing in the haunts and even a couple of the scare zones. Would do it again in a heartbeat.

But some of GAdv's were not worth any price, especially Aftermath which was mostly old park junk in the dark, just a very poor haunt. Bloodshed and the 3D Circus houses were pretty good, almost Dorney good. The rest were just ok.  Despite Dorney's many issues, they do have far superior haunted houses, especially considering they aren't upcharged. Unlike most of GADV's haunted houses, Dorney doesn't just mostly use old park junk, they purchase actually Halloween props. Now if GADV's houses were the same caliber as Dorney's houses I would not mind the upcharge as much. Upcharges need to have value.