Wednesday, December 3, 2008

A Distubing Trend


So last week this video of the Poseidons Fury attraction at Islands of Adventure in its current form without its famous water vortex effect hit the internet, I got to thinking. Why exactly was the highlight of the attraction turned off? My mind then got to thinking about how this was similar to the current status of Expedition Everest where the incredible Yeti animatronic has been stuck in B show mode since mid-summer.

In my opinion the water vortex and 'A Show' Yeti are two of the best effects in all of Orlando, and right now neither one is operating. The Yeti is rumored to be down because the base of structure is cracked and can no longer support the force of the massive animatronics thrust (if you remember any of the press around the opening of Everest, they couldn't go a few sentences without mentioning "The Yeti Has The Force Of A 747" which has apparentely come back to bite them in the ass). The rumors around the demise of the Poseidon Vortex aren't great and I've heard anything from budget cuts to resort wide infrastructure upgrades.

The depressing part about the Yeti which according to reports would need a significant rehab to fix, has no such rehab scheduled. I have to think that with the reports circulating on just how bad the tourism is going to get in central florida (see Disney's "Buy 4 Get 3 Free Promotion" or Jim Hill's Report That Disney World Only Has A 35% Occupancy Rate For January). That I could see neither of these effects being fixed for quite some time and wonder if some other pricey effects could be on there way out as budget cuts continue (I am thinking Mummy's Roof Fire or Great Movie Ride's Exploding Buiding).

While the theme park nerd like myself or all you wonderful blog readers are upset over these thing, I have to wonder if John Q Public would think any differentely of these rides with the effects they never knew existed were turned off.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

From the dollar point of view, and I hate to say it, I'd do the same thing: turn off the stuff that costs extra to run in order to save money. Granted, this can make or break some attractions, giving someone a "meh" or "ok" experience instead of the intended full potential. This can also neuter an attraction to the point of "why bother?". Yep, scary comprimise. Translation, it's tough to find a happy medium between ops costs and keeping the all the bells and whistles on.

One thing worth mentioning is how Magic Mountain restored Valencia Falls after the dormant time follwing Tatsu's construction. Sure it's a little thing, but I thought it was really nice. Those little things, can mean a lot to enthusiasts and the public.