Day 3- Install The Dark Knight's Skyline

[Mike13]

Nope,on slower days we still have to have guests watch the pre-show before riding.Well that's how it has been when I've worked there this season,I never was allowed to let anyone skip the pre-show.

 

 

 

 

[Ol'FormerRideOp]

Look, it's the park's responsibility to shape the customer's expectation for the ride. Angel Aristone collects a nice cheque I'm sure every week to do this. Mark Kane stood there on "TDK Opening Day" saying "You know how Six Flags builds coasters...". Considering Six Flags is known for Kingda Ka, El Toro, Nitro, Batman, Batman & Robin: The Chiller, and Superman; what do you think the customer is going to expect? Outside of the pre-show, it's not a dark ride. It's an enclosed coaster that fails to tell a story.

 

The fact "The Dark Knight" isn't a family friendly movie is failure #1 on Six Flags's part. An analyst questioned Mark Shapiro on a 2008 Conference Call regarding this matter. Shapiro stumbled about his words, before finally admitting he didn't know who "The Dark Knight" movie's target audience was. One of the primary reasons Tim Burton was fired from the Batman Franchise was the dark nature and PG-13 rating for "Batman Returns".

 

Failure #2 was not properly marketing the ride as "an in-the-dark experience set to The Dark Knight story". The park could have still used the wild mouse coaster as the mechanism to tell the story, but utilize breaking and themed cutouts to reflect what's going on.

 

Failure #3 was half-assing the theming effort and slashing the ride's budget prior to its opening.

 

Failure #4 was opening "The Dark Knight" in the same year they removed "Batman & Robin: The Chiller", as well as installing it in the same area. Many people saw "TDK" as its replacement. Despite the fact one had nothing to do with the other, it left many disappointed.

 

Your example of comparing "The Big Wheel" to "The Buccaneer" isn't analog. A Ferris Wheel is not a swinging ship. They're not even remotely similar. "TDK" is a coaster, like "Batman The Ride" is a coaster. Now, when the park's GM, head PR lady, company CEO, and subsequent advertising hype a "thrilling in the dark coaster" on the "Six Flags" Level, people will expect a ride on that level. Look at it this way. If Dick Kinzel said, "You know how Cedar Point builds coasters", what would you expect?

 

I stopped patronizing Great Adventure with the 2009 season. My family just lacked the enthusiasm to go. We all like coasters, but they asked me what else is there to do anymore? They remember the "Joust-a-Bout", "Enterprise", "Musik Express", "Bumper Cars", "Swiss Bob", "Calypso", "Freefall", "Riptide", "Condor", all the elements so blatantly missing in the park today. I'm not going to make a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from Long Island all by myself. I mention Great Adventure nowadays and my dad says, "How about we just go to Universal in the fall?" or "How about Dorney? They include a waterpark you know." I went from 5 season passes and spending amounts in the park over the years that may embarrass me, to ZERO. You'll say I'm biased and I'll agree. My family on the other hand could care less about who runs the place. There's nothing to do besides ride some great coasters, and for them that's not enough.

 

Wow - Someone else who feels GA has "lost focus" with all of the "improvements." You hit the nail right on the head!

[Chiller]

Only once or twice on days where no one was in the park they did turn off the preshow and let you right through the line. This was only about a half hour before closing.

[MarioSonic94]

Fun Fact: The concept of a dark ride/wild mouse is nothing new. In fact, it was thought of even before Kennywood opened The Exterminator. It was originally concieved by Walt Disney Imagineering. Twice did Disney attempt to build this ride. In the '70s, a new Disneyland section was in the development stage: Dumbo's Circusland (pretty much an early version of Mickey's Toontown). Among the rides in development for the new section was Mickey's Madhouse: A dark ride/wild mouse themed to black & white Mickey Mouse cartoons. It was eventually canned, along with all of Dumbo's Circusland. In the late '80s, Disney Imagineers were coming up with rides for Disney's Hollywood Studios' Sunset Blvd. expansion. Where Rock n Roller Coaster is now located, there was to have been a subsection named "Maroon Studios". As the name implies, it was to have featured not one, not two, but THREE rides themed after "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". One of those rides was "Baby Herman's Runaway Baby Buggy". Same concept as Mickey's Madhouse, only instead of being themed after early Mickey Mouse cartoons, the theme for this ride was to be a wild ride through Toontown Hospital while riding in an oversized baby carriage. Maroon Studios was cancelled when Steven Spielberg started to be an *** about what could and what couldn't be done with the Roger Rabbit characters.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Up_Up_and_Away
Language. Asterisks or not, we still know your intended word and it wasn't necessary to get the point across.

[Great Adventurer]

Look, it's the park's responsibility to shape the customer's expectation for the ride. Angel Aristone collects a nice cheque I'm sure every week to do this. Mark Kane stood there on "TDK Opening Day" saying "You know how Six Flags builds coasters...". Considering Six Flags is known for Kingda Ka, El Toro, Nitro, Batman, Batman & Robin: The Chiller, and Superman; what do you think the customer is going to expect? Outside of the pre-show, it's not a dark ride. It's an enclosed coaster that fails to tell a story.

 

The fact "The Dark Knight" isn't a family friendly movie is failure #1 on Six Flags's part. An analyst questioned Mark Shapiro on a 2008 Conference Call regarding this matter. Shapiro stumbled about his words, before finally admitting he didn't know who "The Dark Knight" movie's target audience was. One of the primary reasons Tim Burton was fired from the Batman Franchise was the dark nature and PG-13 rating for "Batman Returns".

 

Failure #2 was not properly marketing the ride as "an in-the-dark experience set to The Dark Knight story". The park could have still used the wild mouse coaster as the mechanism to tell the story, but utilize breaking and themed cutouts to reflect what's going on.

 

Failure #3 was half-assing the theming effort and slashing the ride's budget prior to its opening.

 

Failure #4 was opening "The Dark Knight" in the same year they removed "Batman & Robin: The Chiller", as well as installing it in the same area. Many people saw "TDK" as its replacement. Despite the fact one had nothing to do with the other, it left many disappointed.

 

Your example of comparing "The Big Wheel" to "The Buccaneer" isn't analog. A Ferris Wheel is not a swinging ship. They're not even remotely similar. "TDK" is a coaster, like "Batman The Ride" is a coaster. Now, when the park's GM, head PR lady, company CEO, and subsequent advertising hype a "thrilling in the dark coaster" on the "Six Flags" Level, people will expect a ride on that level. Look at it this way. If Dick Kinzel said, "You know how Cedar Point builds coasters", what would you expect?

 

I stopped patronizing Great Adventure with the 2009 season. My family just lacked the enthusiasm to go. We all like coasters, but they asked me what else is there to do anymore? They remember the "Joust-a-Bout", "Enterprise", "Musik Express", "Bumper Cars", "Swiss Bob", "Calypso", "Freefall", "Riptide", "Condor", all the elements so blatantly missing in the park today. I'm not going to make a 2 and 1/2 hour drive from Long Island all by myself. I mention Great Adventure nowadays and my dad says, "How about we just go to Universal in the fall?" or "How about Dorney? They include a waterpark you know." I went from 5 season passes and spending amounts in the park over the years that may embarrass me, to ZERO. You'll say I'm biased and I'll agree. My family on the other hand could care less about who runs the place. There's nothing to do besides ride some great coasters, and for them that's not enough.

 

An amazing quote, really. Everything you say provides a legitimate basis upon which to criticize the ride, especially in the replacement aspect. After Chiller, this seemed like such a child-oriented ride. And that's coming from someone who never even rode Chiller (though, believe me, I desperately wanted to). Add that to the fact that the Musik express and bumper car area is destroyed, and you've got a huge disappointment.

[Up_Up_and_Away]

OK folks, back to the skyline installation as our wish...

[The Master]

I would like to see something done to the big grey box, maybe theme it as a warehouse on the outside or a studo soundstage.

[Great Adventurer]

I'd love them to repaint it to be the skyline, but even if that weren't possible, at least light it up nice so we have something to look at in the night...

[ThemeParkRider]

The building is visible from the whole right side of the park, they could either paint one side green and put some trees in front of it or give the back more themeing, like the chiller.

[MarioSonic94]

One of the primary reasons Tim Burton was fired from the Batman Franchise was the dark nature and PG-13 rating for "Batman Returns".

 

Actually the real reason Burton was fired from the Batman franchise was because Batman Returns didn't live up to Warner Bros. expectations at the box office (it made half of the 1989 Batman's box office revenue). Warner could really care less about the PG-13 rating that all the Batman movies had (though Batman & Robin should have gotten PG instead of PG-13).

[Up_Up_and_Away]

Let's keep this thread focused on the installation of TDK's skyline, shall we?