Theme Park Fun Facts

[Coaster Justin]

I don't think that this topic has been done before, But everyone loves Fun Facts. I'll start.


- Raging Bull was to be named Undertaker.

- Tokyo DisneySeas is regarded as the second most loved Disney park after Disneyland.

- Animal Kingdom was built, just to take people from Busch Gardens.

- Orphan Rocker Coaster in Australia has been under construction since 1984.

- Marriott was considering buying Six Flags in 1982.

- Raging Bull was originally going to be 230ft.

- The new CEO of Gaylord (The actual name) found no explaination as to why Opryland closed.

- The Village of Gurnee loved the park when Marriott owned, but disliked it when Six Flags purchased it in 1984.

- Great American Scream Machine at SFGAd was going to be called Ninja.

- There is only one real, natural, Wooden Coaster in Australia, The Scenic Railway.

- Only one Wooden Coaster opened in 2005, Hades.

- Before El Toro at Great Adventure in 2006, the last wooden coaster to open at a Six Flags Park was Timberhawk at Wild Waves in 2003.

- Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point was the last Intamin Accelerator coaster to have lapbars.

- Phaethon at Kyongju World in South Korea is the first and only B&M Coaster in South Korea; It opened in 2007.

- Six Flags/ Premier Parks owned Wyandot Lake and I believe the only changes they made from 1995-2007 were a Go-Kart Track and an Update to the Bumper Cars.

- Atlantis Adventure at Lotte World in South Korea cost almost 30 Million Dollars and Opened in 2003.

- Blackstone owns Legoland, Tussaud's Group, Gardaland in Italy, as well as half of Universal Studios Orlando (They are mostly a Financial Aid).

- In the Station for Batman at Great America, if you look at one of the screens, and is the right time, you will see a CGI video for Batman the Ride at Six Flags New England.

[coasterkid94]

I love hearing tons of interesting facts about anything. Does anybody know why Raging Bull was not made 230 feet? Thanks, CoasterBoy!

[Coaster Justin]

According to my friend Ken, the reason why its only 202ft and not 230ft was becuase The Village of Gurnee didn't have a tall enough ladder if the ride stalled on one of the hills.


Sometimes I wish we had The Village of Sandusky and not the Village of Gurnee.


Hope this helps, Please people, post more fun facts.

[coasterkid94]

^ If there was a hill where the train could stall, why wouldn't they just but build stairs and an evacuation platform next to the track? I know that it would be somewhat costly, but it couldn't add that much to the total cost.

[Danhockey04]

We weren't even supposed to get RB to begin with. It was built without permission, the park bought and built it, not corporate. Corporate wanted to put Medusa there, but the park already had RB somewhat built. The pieces came to the park unpainted and plain, which is why some of the support ties are painted and some aren't.

[SheiKra13]

I wish we would have got Medusa....

[Trailblazer Tony]

^How could you say that about Raging Bull?

Is that fact about Animal Kingdom really true?! As for a random fact....

A coin operated roller coaster AND a self pedal powered coaster exist

[rct2wizard360]

^Those coin ones are all over Europe if I'm not mistaken.
Those cheap little butterfly coasters?

http://cache.rcdb.com/pictures/picmax/p13290.jpg

[cycamps]

^I've never seen that before.

[Coaster Justin]

When I was getting ready to fly home from Baltimore this year, I met a Disney cast member employee. He told me the only reason why Animal Kingdom was built was because of Busch Gardens. Also, believe it or not, Disney cast members get free admission to the Disney Parks.

[coasterkid94]

^Those coin ones are all over Europe if I'm not mistaken.
Those cheap little butterfly coasters?

http://cache.rcdb.com/pictures/picmax/p13290.jpg

That looked pretty....interesting.

I think it would be really cool if they had a drop ride that was self-operated. They could charge the rider around $5-$10 per ride. After inserting their money into something, an air gate will open allowing the rider to board. To make sure that the rider is tall enough to ride, there will be weight and height sensors implemented inside the seat (they already have this in my dad's Audi). To make sure that nobody is standing on the platform that is used for unloading/loading, there will be weight sensors on the platform also, and the ride will stop if somebody steps onto the platform. When the rider is ready to start the ride, they could push a button connected to their seat, the harness would automatically come down (similarly to many Huss rides), and the ride would start.

So that's just my little idea for a self operated drop ride .

^How could you say that about Raging Bull?

Is that fact about Animal Kingdom really true?! As for a random fact....

A coin operated roller coaster AND a self pedal powered coaster exist

.


You can see a picture of the pedal-powered roller coaster here: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03 ... rstyle.php.

[cycamps]

^The picture doesn't come up.

[Danhockey04]

When I was getting ready to fly home from Baltimore this year, I met a Disney cast member employee. He told me the only reason why Animal Kingdom was built was because of Busch Gardens. Also, believe it or not, Disney cast members get free admission to the Disney Parks.

First, that is the worst thing to do, listen to what a cast member says; well depending on the cast member. Second, DAK was created because they wanted a different kind of park that was never done before, a park that actually had African animals in it. It had nothing to do with a response to BGT. BGT is far enough away and it doesn't really draw the crowds from Disney. Granted, DAK is the one park that has the hardest time drawing a crowd because it isn't a good park, which is why they close the park so early. Just wanted to straighten that out, BGT may have been a very small influence, but not much at all.

About the free admission, every employee there gets a "blue card" which gives them the ability to bring up to three friends in for free one day for twelve times a year. The ticket is a park hopper as well. There are many benefits with working with the Disney corporation, but ride operations-wise, I heard it isn't that good to work with.

[Clonebiscuit]

Granted, DAK is the one park that has the hardest time drawing a crowd because it isn't a good park, which is why they close the park so early.

Fantastic. You want to re-classify that as opinion, or do you have some sort of proof?

[Danhockey04]

There is proof to that. Go look at the calender to WDW and see that DAK closes at either 5 or 6 every day while all the other parks remain open till at least 7:30, with MGM closing the earliest and MK and EPCOT open till 9. Don't give me that the animals have to rest, the park is open late in peak seasons cause it will be crowded regardless, but during normal times, it can't stay crowded. I have been there 5 times this summer, all 5 times, the park was dead after 2:00, Everest was no more than 25 minutes and most the other rides were walk ons.

The part of it not being a good park is not a stated fact out there, but a common conception among many people that I know. It opened lacking rides and it still lacks a good selection of rides. Though that will change soon, but still, that park needs some rides and more to do. They just added the first Table Service restaurant there and a second coming. They are finally adding to the park, but they need more attractions, Everest is only going to last so long. I guess you can call it the Sea World of WDW, but without the great shows SWO has and it has land animals instead of sea critters.

You may think it is a good park, but I feel it lacks the most at the WDW Resort property. Anyways, this is my opinion, they built DAK way too early, they should have waited at least 6 years before they should have built it to better layout the park and add more to do there.

[Clonebiscuit]

I wasn’t arguing the point that the park closes earlier, I just think that saying it closes earlier because “it isn’t a good park” is painting with a pretty broad brush.

In my opinion, AK falters because it wasn’t set up as a good post-dusk park. The largest capacity attraction (Kilimanjaro Safaris) is practically useless once the sun goes down, lacking the ability to illuminate the habitats without destroying the themeing. And although it has a beautiful lighting package for night, most of the park’s detail (in my opinion, its strongest feature) isn’t fully appreciated under artificial light.

Granted, things are getting better, and if Rivers of Light ever gets past the planning stages, it will continue to improve. On its worst day, it looks like paradise compared to say, DCA.

And I happen to love the fact that AK loses a lot of its guests by mid-afternoon. Sure beats tripping over strollers and weaving around rubberneckers at the Magic Kingdom around the same time.

[SheiKra13]

the only park i like is magic kingdom.

[Danhockey04]

BTR often closes in rain because it drips rust on peoples clothes.

I found that one out from Curty when we were talking this year towards the beginning of the season

[DejaVu2001]

^ I found that one out in 2004 when my Raging Bull shirt was ruined

[cycamps]

I never knew that...

[Bob O]

DAK has 2 excellant shows, The Lion King show and The Nemo show, both are top-notch!!!

The trouble with DAK is it was built unde Eisners reign and like other parks built under his supervision they were built with not enough to do when compared to parks like MK/Epcot.
This also happened with MGM/DCA and the park in Europe and Hong Kong. Eisner tryed to build parks on the cheap to get them up and running sooner to start bringing in money, than adding more attractions as time went on. But in Japan they were lucky because the OLC which runs the disney parks built Toyko Disney Seas from the get- go as a park that was a full day experience from the beginning unlike Eisners parks.

[Danhockey04]

/\ That is well stated, Eisner was a joke. He was the downfall of the Disney corporation and brought it to its low level that its at now. They are slowly working it back up with closing basically every ride they have for long term refurbs. DAK should have never been built in my opinion, but the two shows there are both excellent. Also, Eisner killed the whole conception of EPCOT, which is also being brought back to its former glory under Iger.

[zjohn1988]

Granted, DAK is the one park that has the hardest time drawing a crowd because it isn't a good park, which is why they close the park so early.

Fantastic. You want to re-classify that as opinion, or do you have some sort of proof?

I can be proof of that.

Anyways, this is my opinion, they built DAK way too early, they should have waited at least 6 years before they should have built it to better layout the park and add more to do there.

Studios was also built too early....

[zjohn1988]

BTR often closes in rain because it drips rust on peoples clothes.

I found that one out from Curty when we were talking this year towards the beginning of the season

Anyone remember when BTR got its new paint and it chipped off everywhere?

[BP317]

/\ That is well stated, Eisner was a joke. He was the downfall of the Disney corporation and brought it to its low level that its at now. They are slowly working it back up with closing basically every ride they have for long term refurbs. DAK should have never been built in my opinion, but the two shows there are both excellent. Also, Eisner killed the whole conception of EPCOT, which is also being brought back to its former glory under Iger.

Eisner brought Disney out of enourmous amounts of debt, before Eisner was CEO they were talking about selling off theme parks/other assets. He made Disney a huge company in the corporate world compared to what it was before. He had a rough stretch at the end of his Disney carreer, but for the most part did an outstanding job.