AdamY

Octopus Gardens would have made quite a nice scare zone area... Just sayin'... But in all seriousness, the main Lost City path from Colossus' final turn, up over the bridge and down to the entrance is surely the obvious place to put one. More spacious, and totally avoidable if you don't want to go in. Of course this still leaves the question of theme and execution, but I'd say that if it was kept simple and clear it would be hard to do badly. There are dozens of potential themes to explore which are simple to communicate, require little in the way of props, and could be done straight-up scary without becoming laughable. I agree with you though, scare zone = good idea.

Best thing to do with it IMO would be leave it for now, then tear it out as part of a remodel of Neptune's Kingdom / removal of the beach. If they absolutely had to have a ride around there rather than open space, they could then put whatever the ride happened to be closer to the beach, creating more space near X and then have the much requested open space / picnic-ey bit where the beach currently is. Possibly even demo the Megastore and build a new one as part of the new area next to the dome, where Wet Wet Wet currently is. This would also mean a wider path to Swarm... Everybody wins, and we don't have Storm Surge any more

You make some interesting points there, pluk. I agree to a certain extent - as I said at the end of my original post there is still some good stuff out there if, as you suggested, you know where to look. I also agree that the corporate stranglehold faced by so many doesn't help the situation - this is partly the issue with WDW as I mentioned. I believe Imagineering are still capable of coming up with good ideas - Cars Land was still quite formulaic but at least on a grander scale - but TDO aren't willing to finance that kind of thing for the Florida parks, it would seem in recent years. In games, too, few studios have the luxury that say Bethesda do, to spend 4 years on a single game to make it the best it can be. Most are at the mercy of their finance department to keep churning out mediocrity, as are the many artists who are signed to a record label on a six-album contract. At the same time though, I don't think the dilution of the market is to blame. If you consider how competitive all job sectors are, but the creative arts even more so, there should be enough talent to go around. For one example, Weta receive 50 portfolios a week from hopefuls. The fact that there is more 'stuff' around shouldn't necessarily mean what is there is of lower quality; I don't think they are linked particularly strongly. I see why you say it, but seeing as consumer tastes and preferences are so diverse in creative products, there should be more than enough demand to deal with a high volume of high quality. Build it and they will come - if the offering is good enough, there will still be plenty of people to take it. They may not be the same people who bought the other game two weeks ago, or saw the other film, but there will be someone there who is looking for something they want or are interested in. Don't you think after a point, the 'safe' repetition of something to guarantee success has precisely the opposite effect? If it seems too 'safe' people will be bored and won't bother. If I see something new and exciting on a shelf or on a theatre poster I'm more likely to take the plunge and chance not liking it than I am to go for something exactly the same as something I've already experienced just because I liked that. Am I alone?

MTV are bangin' out the tunes today - had S Club 7, Westlife and All Saints... into the modern day now though, they're playing Pon de Replay! I'd genuinely forgotten the existence of this song. Edit... I realised Carly Rae Jepsen's album Kiss came out a few days ago, out of curiosity more than anything I've just stuck it on in Spotify. I'm only up to track 6, but so far it's actually pretty good! Some quite decent sounding songs, will take a few listens to know what I really think of it but it at least shows some promise so far

Windseekers are utterly pointless rides anyway, hence any attempt to work out answers to any of this is hopeless Gotta feel for those people though, 4 hours must have been nasty.

I’m scared. I have been scared for some time now. The cause of my fear and apprehension is quite simple, but also quite worrying: it seems to me that creativity is a dying art. The lightbulb moment which made me realise this came at a bus stop in London recently. As the advert banner scrolled over from another pair of trainers from some sports brand or other, the poster which replaced it piqued my interest: “Loserville”. Being me, an ad for a new musical generally excites some interest. I was sad to note it was opening in the former home of a great now-closed show – Chicago – but variety is the spice of life and all that. Out with the old and in with the new, right? Except, there was another problem. The main image on this advert was of a strangely familiar looking stereotype – the geeky, ugly, generally weird-looking ‘dork’ stock character. Under his image was the tag line: “If you <3 The IT Crowd, you’ll love LOSERVILLE.” This made me stop and think. Something, somewhere, is not right with this, I thought. Since when is it ok for new creative material, whatever the medium or genre, to directly trade off a predecessor? I looked back at the guy taking up most of the space and realised where I’d seen him before: The IT Crowd. And The Big Bang Theory. And The Inbetweeners. This all made me realise where the crux of the problem with many creative industries and products is at the moment. New, fresh, innovative ideas are becoming rarer and rarer. It’s a problem which is manifesting itself everywhere – it provides a convenient tie-in to theme parks for the purposes of this site. Opening in a few months is the majority of Disney’s New Fantasyland in the Magic Kingdom. This is a $350m, all-singing, all-dancing blockbuster addition to the Orlando park, fit to beat down the toughest of enemies in the theme park world. But what is in it? Another omnimover, a restaurant, and a meet and greet. Oh, and another Dumbo. We already had it, but two is better than one, right? I’m not impressed. I’ll even stop and make a rare criticism of Universal here – flushed with the unprecedented success of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, they are taking their new-found popularity, their new money and the potential of all the IPs they own or could obtain, and are building... more Harry Potter. Um, I’m disappointed. It’ll be fantastic, no doubt – ground breaking even, in terms of technology (in this respect at least it is better than Disney’s efforts) – but it’s more of the same. Sigh. The situation is repeated wherever you look. This year at the box office has been, save a couple of superhero blockbusters (neither of which introduced anything new either, I might add), slow. Certainly in terms of fresh ideas and characters it has lacked. What was the last completely original, well-crafted, enthralling and exciting film you saw? I’m struggling to remember. Perhaps Inception deserves a mention, but even so, it’s hardly Hitchcock’s Vertigo or the Ealing classic Passport to Pimlico. In the other major creative industry –gaming – I also despair as I watch the masses flock out to order Fifa 13. If someone could tell me what marks Fifa 13 out from Fifa 12, or for that matter Fifa 11, 10 or 09, I’d consider myself enlightened. What a boring world we live in, that this repetition and generic production is deemed acceptable in a world of boundless possibilities. Developers could be building fantastic fantasy worlds beyond our wildest imaginings, exciting plot lines and complex characters we could empathise with, but instead they churn out another annual instalment of the same old thing. What are we on now, the ninth Call of Duty? I’m dying here. So it is with cautious optimism that I look to a couple of things which are in the pipeline for the next few months which seem to be bucking this trend. Uncharted developers Naughty Dog are wrapping up production on The Last of Us, a game which adds a distinctly human touch and character-driven narrative to the generally over-used zombie apocalypse scenario. Likewise, the National Theatre continue to stage new and thought-provoking plays from new writers in an effort to combat the lower echelons of musical and dramatic theatre which seem to be filling the West End recently (for example, I saw this ad for a musical called Loserville...). So I ask the creatives of this world, whatever your speciality – be it films, games, theatre, theme parks, or just a good old-fashioned novel – pick yourself up and create something extraordinary. And consumers, demand a better quality product. Don’t settle for something which existed 5 years ago. Ask for something new. Give life back to the decaying remains of originality and creativity.

The Dark Knight Rises It has to be said, totally amazing! I had the fun experience of the 9-hour, 3-film marathon at Odeon Leicester Square which made it even more epic, but this film is just total quality. Certainly the most comic-ey of the three, with more all-out good guys vs bad guys fight scenes than The Dark Knight, mostly as a result of Bane being a more physical adversary compared to the mind games of Joker. That's not a criticism in any way though - between the three of them there is a great mix of mystique, tension, psychological games and all-out action. Although everyone knew it would be nigh-on impossible to equal Ledger's Joker, Tom Hardy does an admirable job as Bane. It really is a fitting end to Nolan's trilogy - he carried it off perfectly, and given he originally didn't even want to make a third (asking "how many good third films are there?") he sure did an epic job. Epic scale, gritty, action-packed and generally badass. With the significant bonus of Ms Hathaway's Catwoman riding a Bat Pod Going again ASAP.

Takes the ****ing piss. Good news: if they lose they'll be left utterly destitute and fall into a very dark, poverty-filled financial abyss. Excellent.

The reviews of Leviathan seem to actually be saying it rides very well. Seems like it feels must faster than it looks and actually gives some ejector as well as floater on the shallower speed hills. Can't believe this actually needs saying again, but yeah... Judging by videos... Etc etc. Sigh.

Great update from Inside The Magic today, after Disney gave a select few a behind-the-scenes tour of New Fantasyland. The article contains some interesting info: http://www.insidethe...orld-expansion/ But even better, is this video! It's looking gorgeous, and restoring just a smidgen of faith in TDO Hit 1080p, and enjoy in full-screen glory.

Love it!

Well... That was pretty much the intention. It's a retrospective of 100 years of their films. Why should that have a story? Future years of the show will probably slow the pace and focus on fewer films for longer, because they won't be trying to put in a sample of 100 years. That's a big ask for a 20 minute show. But you have to put this in context - this is the first new night show Universal have created in 10 years, and only the fourth in 20-something years. They have authorisation to run this every night, which with the restrictions they have is a huge achievement. They've invested to put the infrastructure in. Plus, this is only a part of a massive improvement in in-park entertainment this year with the new parades etc. There's no denying Universal are moving themselves into a much more positive direction. Give it time, and it'll be even better.

Oh Universal, you do know how to put on a good show

Well the labels have the Wing Coaster code on them, so that's good enough for me And sshhh Mark you love it!

On supports and footers, we can only assume Given Cedar Fair don't have one yet we could make a fairly sound guess they won't want to be left behind for too long, given how popular these have been so far. Cedar Point are getting a new coaster in 2013, perhaps this is it.