- Stories from a Theme Park Insider - Robert Niles
- Walt Disney World Hidden History - Kevin Yee
- Walt and the Promise of Progress City - Sam Gennawey
- Disney Sing-A-Long Book
- Retro Mickey Mouse T-Shirt
- Awesome Star Wars Christmas Jumper (Disney owns Star Wars you know)
- Simpsons DVD Boxset (it's at Universal, so it counts!)
- Kinect Disneyland Adventures Game
- Epic Mickey 2 Game
Monday, 31 December 2012
A Nutty Theme Park Christmas
What do you get a guy who is nuts about theme parks for Christmas? Well there is a lot of park gear and passes available in the various parks around the world. But I am a slightly different nut to most. So here is a selection of the awesome theme park related gifts I got this Christmas from my awesome wife and daughter:
Monday, 3 September 2012
The Myth of Story: Response
Just read a fascinating article from 2006 on The Myth of Story from the Reimagineering Blog. The basic hypothesis of this article is that the attitude of "It's all about story" hasn't had the great affect on Disney theme parks that the wider community thinks it has. It is an interesting theory, which I am very much sympathetic too. I definitely agree that story is not the be all and end all of theme park rides and can be used badly. However, I must admit that most of my favourite theme park rides, contain a story or at least story elements.
There is a lot made in the article about the difference between rides with story elements, and rides with a conventional linear story. My view is slightly different to the authors of The Myth of Story article. They maintain that the first generation of imagineers didn't frame everything as being part of a story. This may be true. My reading tends to suggest that they used the phrases experience and show; which are undoubtedly looser terms than story. However, I find it hard to believe that they never used the word story. My view is that what we describe as a story has subtly changed over time, particularly in the American film and television industry, and by extension the American theme park industry.
When people use the word story, it is very normal to think of a conventional linear stories, with a begining, a middle and an end. There is no doubt that this is the dominant form of story in literature and film these days. But this hasn't always been the case. Indeed you only need to look to other international film industries, like the French industry for example. For me the last 15 years of the American film industry has been centred around more and more similar stories. Structures are similar, plot lines are similar, even the characterizations are similar. Even more frustrating for me is the rise of sequels and reboots. This combined with the increase of analysis and criticism of the entertainment industry, and the corporatisation of creative decision making has lead us to where we are now. We now have an extremely narrow definition of story.
For me, the focus should not be whether Walt used the word story, or whether story elements forming an experience are always better than conventional linear stories for theme park rides. The focus should be that there are many rich types and structures of stories that should be being used as the basis for theme park attractions. It shouldn't always about having to search for something. An attraction can be just about things you fear, or about the wonder of beuty, or the joys of other cultures, etc. I totally agree with The Myth of Story article, that we have plenty of major attractions with conventional linear stories. That doesn't mean it can't be done well, it just means people want a more varied experience. While I feel this is clear in the world of theme park attractions, where we constantly speak of story versus thrill, it is also true for the entire entertainment industry.
I don't always want a story. When I do want a story, I don't always want it spoon fed to me. Sometimes I want to marvel and not understand. Sometimes I want to be surprised or confused. Sometimes I want gags without structure. And sometimes, just sometimes I want the conventional linear story.
There is a lot made in the article about the difference between rides with story elements, and rides with a conventional linear story. My view is slightly different to the authors of The Myth of Story article. They maintain that the first generation of imagineers didn't frame everything as being part of a story. This may be true. My reading tends to suggest that they used the phrases experience and show; which are undoubtedly looser terms than story. However, I find it hard to believe that they never used the word story. My view is that what we describe as a story has subtly changed over time, particularly in the American film and television industry, and by extension the American theme park industry.
When people use the word story, it is very normal to think of a conventional linear stories, with a begining, a middle and an end. There is no doubt that this is the dominant form of story in literature and film these days. But this hasn't always been the case. Indeed you only need to look to other international film industries, like the French industry for example. For me the last 15 years of the American film industry has been centred around more and more similar stories. Structures are similar, plot lines are similar, even the characterizations are similar. Even more frustrating for me is the rise of sequels and reboots. This combined with the increase of analysis and criticism of the entertainment industry, and the corporatisation of creative decision making has lead us to where we are now. We now have an extremely narrow definition of story.
For me, the focus should not be whether Walt used the word story, or whether story elements forming an experience are always better than conventional linear stories for theme park rides. The focus should be that there are many rich types and structures of stories that should be being used as the basis for theme park attractions. It shouldn't always about having to search for something. An attraction can be just about things you fear, or about the wonder of beuty, or the joys of other cultures, etc. I totally agree with The Myth of Story article, that we have plenty of major attractions with conventional linear stories. That doesn't mean it can't be done well, it just means people want a more varied experience. While I feel this is clear in the world of theme park attractions, where we constantly speak of story versus thrill, it is also true for the entire entertainment industry.
I don't always want a story. When I do want a story, I don't always want it spoon fed to me. Sometimes I want to marvel and not understand. Sometimes I want to be surprised or confused. Sometimes I want gags without structure. And sometimes, just sometimes I want the conventional linear story.
Saturday, 1 September 2012
Movie World Fright Night 2012 Rumours
Okay, so there has been talk of a leak of information on this years addition of Fright Nights at WB Movie World on the Australian theme park blogs for a number of days now. The story is that a page on the MyFun website was accidentally made public while it was still under development. I've ignored the rumours at this point because you can't really tell how accurate a leak can be. However, Thrill Zone International have posted on their facebook a number of images relating to shows and mazes for this years event, so I thought I might share the rumours.
So the talk is that there will be a zombie based maze (no surprises there) called the Walking Dead maze. There is no indication yet whether this will be related to the tv show Walking Dead, as the mae in Halloween Horror Nights is going to be. There will also be a Film Vault maze, which will have villians from movies past (very fitting for Movie World, and undoubtedly cheap for them too). The other new maze will be based on a hillbilly psychopathic killer preying on completely suspecting victims (I mean how many hillbillies do we really have around here, if it was a psycho bogan maybe..). Finally, we will be seeing a return to the maze that just won't die, the Psycho 3D maze! Thrill Zone has also posted that there will be a show called "Death Derby" in the Hollywood Stunt Driver arena. Zombies and car stunts, sounds about right. Rumour has it that this years Fright Nights has been done entirely in house by Movie World, which should mean it is at least a little different to previous years!!
I will keep you posted as real news becomes available, and I'll let you know when tickets are on sale!
So the talk is that there will be a zombie based maze (no surprises there) called the Walking Dead maze. There is no indication yet whether this will be related to the tv show Walking Dead, as the mae in Halloween Horror Nights is going to be. There will also be a Film Vault maze, which will have villians from movies past (very fitting for Movie World, and undoubtedly cheap for them too). The other new maze will be based on a hillbilly psychopathic killer preying on completely suspecting victims (I mean how many hillbillies do we really have around here, if it was a psycho bogan maybe..). Finally, we will be seeing a return to the maze that just won't die, the Psycho 3D maze! Thrill Zone has also posted that there will be a show called "Death Derby" in the Hollywood Stunt Driver arena. Zombies and car stunts, sounds about right. Rumour has it that this years Fright Nights has been done entirely in house by Movie World, which should mean it is at least a little different to previous years!!
I will keep you posted as real news becomes available, and I'll let you know when tickets are on sale!
Sunday, 22 July 2012
What a difference a year makes!
When I started this blog just under a year ago, I had no idea what a huge year of Australian Theme Park development lay ahead. This past financial year would have to go down as one of the biggest in recent memory for our parks. Each in their own way expanded and enhanced their offerings in surprising ways, and all are promising more to come! For this quarterly essay I'm going to focus on breaking down everything that has happened during the 2011-12 financial year at my 4 local Theme Parks. I might even speculate on a few changes we'll see in the year to come!
Where we began
The 2010-11 financial year was a quiet one for Australian parks. Due to the dipping tourism market, and the heavy discounting of Annual Passes, profit for the overall sector had been quite flat. I prefer to think that the parks were preparing for the year to come, rather than resting on their laurels, but from the outside it is very hard to tell. The most significant changes from that financial year was the closing of two long standing rides in the Bermuda Triangle at Sea World and the Looney Tunes River Ride at WB Movie World. Dreamworld took some time to revamp and relaunch one of their signature rides, the Tower of Terror. The creatively names Tower of Terror 2 launched on September 2010, featuring a new tunnel, some extra light effects, but most importantly, an escape pod travelling backwards. Amusingly, the only park to add a brand new major attraction in 2010-11 was Aussie World on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. It opened it's biggest thrill ride, The Giant Redback, a 2 million dollar Disk'O on April 1 2011. We had very little idea that this was the first clue of what was to come.
Dreamworld
The first of the big 3 parks to fire a shot in this war was Dreamworld. In April 2011 they announced that by June they would be opening a new family ride. On the 25th of June they opened there own Zamprela Disk'O Coaster called Shockwave. At the same time, they had mysteriously started removing theming from the Nickoledean Central kids area. This area was also relaunched on the 25th of June as the ultra generic Kid's World. Speculation was rife as to what had happened between Nickelodean and Dreamworld, and what Dreamworld would do to this area. In September Dreamworld launched their big ride for the year, the Maurer Söhne SkyLoop coaster Buzzsaw. Themed to an old haunted saw mill, this attraction certainly added to the Dreamworld skyline in a dramatic way.
The third big opening for the park this financial year, was announced in November last year. DreamWorks was coming to Dreamworld. This was met with some initial scepticism from the Australian park community, as they weren't known for putting in the most detailed theming. When the major phase of the DreamWorks experience opened for Easter 2012, everyone was pleasantly surprised. Together Dreamworld and DreamWorks had created a wonderful and detailed world, perfect for the market they they were trying to meet. The very end of the 2011-12 year was tinged with sadness for the Dreamworld community, as Mohan their 18 year old White Tiger passed away.
WB Movie World
After news had broken that Dreamworld was planning on adding 2 rides within 12 months, there started to be rumblings about something big occurring at Movie World. Initially pegs in the sand out the front of the park, turned into shipping containers with green track, which finally turned into the S&S El Loco Green Lantern Coaster. The coaster soft opened on the 16th of December, for an official opening on the 23rd of December. Before opened Movie World reported that it would have the steepest drop in the world, however when the ride was officially measured it was only the second steepest drop in the world after Takabashi in Japan. The official advertisement correctly claimed that it is the steepest drop in the southern hemisphere. In late 2011, Batman Adventure the Ride 2 closed to make way for a new attraction in late 2012 (which has now been announced to be the Justice League Alien Adventure 3D).
Around the same time we started to hear rumours that the ageing Lethal Weapon suspended looping coaster was going to receive both a new train and also a new theme. This was well supported in the Australian Theme Park community as the ride had been wildly criticised for it's increasingly rough and uncomfortable ride. On the 7th of April Lethal Weapon re-opened as Arkham Asylum - Shock Therapy. While the new trains and restraints were well received, many theme park fans were more impressed by the theming. Without spending much money, they were able to transform an old empty shed into a tour through the Joker's Insane Asylum from the Batman video game. The final major change for Movie World in the 2011-12 was the replacement of the Journey to the Centre of the Earth 4D with the Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs – The 4D Experience on 23rd of June.
Sea World
At Movie World's sister park Sea World, there were also a number of changes this financial year. The biggest change was the removal of Sesame Street characters and the addition of Nickelodean characters which were stolen from Dreamworld. The centre piece of this was the multi-million dollar SpongeBob ParadePants Parade. This parade has been critically acclaimed as one of the best shows in this already show heavy park. SpongeBob is a great fit for Sea World, and the show is truly impressive. They also opened a smaller show based on Dora the Explorer and a SpongeBob 3D Movie. Sesame Street Beach was replaced by Beach Break Bay, which is inhabited by generic Sea World characters.
Finally in mid June 2012 Sea World opened a brand new (but sadly temporary) attraction called Dinosaur Island. This attraction had life size animatronic dinosaurs with sound and smoke effects covering a small "island" within the park, as well as inside discovery centre and a shop. The very best part of this attraction was the enormous T-Rex at the very entrance to the island. I'm sure there was more than a few confused dolphins swimming next to these pre-historic beasts.
Aussie World
The smallest genuine theme park in South-East Queensland was definitely striving to enhance it's credibility this year. After opening the Giant Redback late in the 2010-11 financial year, they followed it up this year with another major investment for a park this size, the Plunge log flume ride. This opened in December 2011, and had it's theming enhanced (with water shed added at the top) in early 2012. The also opened a fairly standard Giant Slide in September 2011. They were rumoured to be opening an Australian theme playground in early 2012, but unfortunately I have not been able to visit and verify that. The opening of these 3 rides account for a $2 million investment by the owners of Aussie World. On the back of record attendance, the rumours are there might be more of this to come.
2012-13
All of the 4 parks have signalled that while they have been happy to spend during the 2011-12 financial year, none of them are done yet. The attraction that we have heard most about in the last few months is the replacement for Movie World's Batman Adventure the Ride 2, the Justice League: Alien Encounter 3D. This dark 3D projection and live action shooter is being developed by Sally Corp, who have said it is one of their biggest projects to date. If it is done to the quality that is being rumoured, this could be a fantastic addition to the DC Superhero area of Movie World. What remains to be seen, is what will become of the Looney Tunes River Ride. While it is not taking up valuable real estate, it was a great ride for families which also soaked up a lot of guests at time. I hope that a revamped kids dark ride with improved animatronics would be an excellent enhancement. We can only hope that Sally Corp continue working with Movie World, and give us a couple of great things in the next few years.
Not to be outdone, Dreamworld is planning their final expansion of the DreamWorks experience, which will be themed to the Kung Fu Panda movies. Rumours have been extremely varied, but even in the last few weeks we have seen closures to the bumper cars as part of work in this area. This joins the near by Avalanche as possible places for the rumoured new ride/attraction to be built. I'd love to see a dark ride themed to Kung Fu Panda, or a dark theatre show at the very least. It's the one area where Dreamworld has never really challenged Movie World. DreamWorks finally gives Dreamworld a decent piece of IP that is worth of a dark ride. Although I'd love it, the chance of Dreamworld having real life panda's is extremely small from what I have heard. Dreamworld have also announced a partnership with the Australian government to re-theme it's Australian Wildlife experience to include Indiginous Australians.
Being just as mysterious as Dreamworld is being about Kung Fu Panda, both Sea World and Aussie World have signalled there are upcoming attractions that they don't wish to talk publicly about. At Sea World action has been seen around the back of the Bermuda Triangle building during the last year. Very little is known about this, but speculation is rife that a small park like Sea World can't afford to have a central and prominent location like the Bermuda Triangle out of action for much longer than they already have. There has been a report of demolition permits for the internal structure of the Bermuda Triangle building. Interestingly, popular website Parkz has reported that German manfucturer Mack have announced they will be building a water coaster somewhere in Australia in 2013. While this might not be at Sea World, it stands to reason that it would be a good fit for this park. Mack rides have been linked with planned but not completed Sea World projects in the past. A water coaster with a dark ride elements would be perfect for Sea World. I've even heard speculation that Dinosaur Island has been design to test the waters for a full dinosaur themed ride.
Just as mysteriously Aussie World have announced that they are in discussions for the addition of another million dollar ride in 2013. It would be nice to see a full circuit coaster added to Aussie World's lineup. Something like a compact woodie would be a prefect fit for their market.
Summary
If every 12 months of theme park enhancement was the same as the 2011-12 financial year, the parks would run out of money in no time. Having said that, we would have some truely world class parks. We can only help that the rumours of what is to come for the parks in 2012-13 is going to be exciting enough, and also increase park number enough, to keep up this level of investment. Personally as my first year as a theme park twit/blogger, the last 12 months couldn't have been much more exciting. My only hope is that next year is even bigger!
Where we began
The 2010-11 financial year was a quiet one for Australian parks. Due to the dipping tourism market, and the heavy discounting of Annual Passes, profit for the overall sector had been quite flat. I prefer to think that the parks were preparing for the year to come, rather than resting on their laurels, but from the outside it is very hard to tell. The most significant changes from that financial year was the closing of two long standing rides in the Bermuda Triangle at Sea World and the Looney Tunes River Ride at WB Movie World. Dreamworld took some time to revamp and relaunch one of their signature rides, the Tower of Terror. The creatively names Tower of Terror 2 launched on September 2010, featuring a new tunnel, some extra light effects, but most importantly, an escape pod travelling backwards. Amusingly, the only park to add a brand new major attraction in 2010-11 was Aussie World on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. It opened it's biggest thrill ride, The Giant Redback, a 2 million dollar Disk'O on April 1 2011. We had very little idea that this was the first clue of what was to come.
Dreamworld
The first of the big 3 parks to fire a shot in this war was Dreamworld. In April 2011 they announced that by June they would be opening a new family ride. On the 25th of June they opened there own Zamprela Disk'O Coaster called Shockwave. At the same time, they had mysteriously started removing theming from the Nickoledean Central kids area. This area was also relaunched on the 25th of June as the ultra generic Kid's World. Speculation was rife as to what had happened between Nickelodean and Dreamworld, and what Dreamworld would do to this area. In September Dreamworld launched their big ride for the year, the Maurer Söhne SkyLoop coaster Buzzsaw. Themed to an old haunted saw mill, this attraction certainly added to the Dreamworld skyline in a dramatic way.
The third big opening for the park this financial year, was announced in November last year. DreamWorks was coming to Dreamworld. This was met with some initial scepticism from the Australian park community, as they weren't known for putting in the most detailed theming. When the major phase of the DreamWorks experience opened for Easter 2012, everyone was pleasantly surprised. Together Dreamworld and DreamWorks had created a wonderful and detailed world, perfect for the market they they were trying to meet. The very end of the 2011-12 year was tinged with sadness for the Dreamworld community, as Mohan their 18 year old White Tiger passed away.
WB Movie World
After news had broken that Dreamworld was planning on adding 2 rides within 12 months, there started to be rumblings about something big occurring at Movie World. Initially pegs in the sand out the front of the park, turned into shipping containers with green track, which finally turned into the S&S El Loco Green Lantern Coaster. The coaster soft opened on the 16th of December, for an official opening on the 23rd of December. Before opened Movie World reported that it would have the steepest drop in the world, however when the ride was officially measured it was only the second steepest drop in the world after Takabashi in Japan. The official advertisement correctly claimed that it is the steepest drop in the southern hemisphere. In late 2011, Batman Adventure the Ride 2 closed to make way for a new attraction in late 2012 (which has now been announced to be the Justice League Alien Adventure 3D).
Around the same time we started to hear rumours that the ageing Lethal Weapon suspended looping coaster was going to receive both a new train and also a new theme. This was well supported in the Australian Theme Park community as the ride had been wildly criticised for it's increasingly rough and uncomfortable ride. On the 7th of April Lethal Weapon re-opened as Arkham Asylum - Shock Therapy. While the new trains and restraints were well received, many theme park fans were more impressed by the theming. Without spending much money, they were able to transform an old empty shed into a tour through the Joker's Insane Asylum from the Batman video game. The final major change for Movie World in the 2011-12 was the replacement of the Journey to the Centre of the Earth 4D with the Ice Age Dawn of the Dinosaurs – The 4D Experience on 23rd of June.
Sea World
At Movie World's sister park Sea World, there were also a number of changes this financial year. The biggest change was the removal of Sesame Street characters and the addition of Nickelodean characters which were stolen from Dreamworld. The centre piece of this was the multi-million dollar SpongeBob ParadePants Parade. This parade has been critically acclaimed as one of the best shows in this already show heavy park. SpongeBob is a great fit for Sea World, and the show is truly impressive. They also opened a smaller show based on Dora the Explorer and a SpongeBob 3D Movie. Sesame Street Beach was replaced by Beach Break Bay, which is inhabited by generic Sea World characters.
Finally in mid June 2012 Sea World opened a brand new (but sadly temporary) attraction called Dinosaur Island. This attraction had life size animatronic dinosaurs with sound and smoke effects covering a small "island" within the park, as well as inside discovery centre and a shop. The very best part of this attraction was the enormous T-Rex at the very entrance to the island. I'm sure there was more than a few confused dolphins swimming next to these pre-historic beasts.
Aussie World
The smallest genuine theme park in South-East Queensland was definitely striving to enhance it's credibility this year. After opening the Giant Redback late in the 2010-11 financial year, they followed it up this year with another major investment for a park this size, the Plunge log flume ride. This opened in December 2011, and had it's theming enhanced (with water shed added at the top) in early 2012. The also opened a fairly standard Giant Slide in September 2011. They were rumoured to be opening an Australian theme playground in early 2012, but unfortunately I have not been able to visit and verify that. The opening of these 3 rides account for a $2 million investment by the owners of Aussie World. On the back of record attendance, the rumours are there might be more of this to come.
2012-13
All of the 4 parks have signalled that while they have been happy to spend during the 2011-12 financial year, none of them are done yet. The attraction that we have heard most about in the last few months is the replacement for Movie World's Batman Adventure the Ride 2, the Justice League: Alien Encounter 3D. This dark 3D projection and live action shooter is being developed by Sally Corp, who have said it is one of their biggest projects to date. If it is done to the quality that is being rumoured, this could be a fantastic addition to the DC Superhero area of Movie World. What remains to be seen, is what will become of the Looney Tunes River Ride. While it is not taking up valuable real estate, it was a great ride for families which also soaked up a lot of guests at time. I hope that a revamped kids dark ride with improved animatronics would be an excellent enhancement. We can only hope that Sally Corp continue working with Movie World, and give us a couple of great things in the next few years.
Not to be outdone, Dreamworld is planning their final expansion of the DreamWorks experience, which will be themed to the Kung Fu Panda movies. Rumours have been extremely varied, but even in the last few weeks we have seen closures to the bumper cars as part of work in this area. This joins the near by Avalanche as possible places for the rumoured new ride/attraction to be built. I'd love to see a dark ride themed to Kung Fu Panda, or a dark theatre show at the very least. It's the one area where Dreamworld has never really challenged Movie World. DreamWorks finally gives Dreamworld a decent piece of IP that is worth of a dark ride. Although I'd love it, the chance of Dreamworld having real life panda's is extremely small from what I have heard. Dreamworld have also announced a partnership with the Australian government to re-theme it's Australian Wildlife experience to include Indiginous Australians.
Being just as mysterious as Dreamworld is being about Kung Fu Panda, both Sea World and Aussie World have signalled there are upcoming attractions that they don't wish to talk publicly about. At Sea World action has been seen around the back of the Bermuda Triangle building during the last year. Very little is known about this, but speculation is rife that a small park like Sea World can't afford to have a central and prominent location like the Bermuda Triangle out of action for much longer than they already have. There has been a report of demolition permits for the internal structure of the Bermuda Triangle building. Interestingly, popular website Parkz has reported that German manfucturer Mack have announced they will be building a water coaster somewhere in Australia in 2013. While this might not be at Sea World, it stands to reason that it would be a good fit for this park. Mack rides have been linked with planned but not completed Sea World projects in the past. A water coaster with a dark ride elements would be perfect for Sea World. I've even heard speculation that Dinosaur Island has been design to test the waters for a full dinosaur themed ride.
Just as mysteriously Aussie World have announced that they are in discussions for the addition of another million dollar ride in 2013. It would be nice to see a full circuit coaster added to Aussie World's lineup. Something like a compact woodie would be a prefect fit for their market.
Summary
If every 12 months of theme park enhancement was the same as the 2011-12 financial year, the parks would run out of money in no time. Having said that, we would have some truely world class parks. We can only help that the rumours of what is to come for the parks in 2012-13 is going to be exciting enough, and also increase park number enough, to keep up this level of investment. Personally as my first year as a theme park twit/blogger, the last 12 months couldn't have been much more exciting. My only hope is that next year is even bigger!
Sunday, 15 July 2012
Ovo Review
I very rarely tred outside of Theme Park news and reviews on this blog, but there is one type of event that will make me break this rule time and time again. That is when a touring show of Cirque Du Soleil comes to town. The quality of theming, showmanship and thrills in any given Cirque show have few peers, even in the rich world of Theme Parks. This is probably why I enjoy them so much.
Last night I was able to catch one of the first Australian perfomances of Ovo, one of the more recent shows in Cirque catalogue. As always the show exceeded my expectations in many ways, and left me with a fantastic feeling of euphoria.
To be honest the story of Ovo is not one of Cirque's richest. A group of insects find a big egg and as a result they do a bunch of circus tricks. What Ovo lacks in richness of story, it more than makes up for in theming. The world of insects is richly and vividly portrade in a way that may even surpass the previous touring Cirque shows. The costuming, lighting and staging was extremely well done.
A number of the acts fit the theme very elegantly. On the whole most acts were very enjoyable. Certainly the first half of the show was one of the best that I have seen since Cirque first toured here in 1999. My particular favourites were the foot-juggling Ants, diablo wielding Firefly and wonderful dancing Creatura. The first half ended with a wonderful flying trapeze act of Scarabs. The second half was not as exciting for me, but still had some wonderful moments. The Slackwire spider was truely extraordinary, and the Acrosport Fleas were great fun. The finale of climbing wall and trampoline tricks was a little bit underwhelming for me. While impressive there was so much going on, and a lot of it had been seen in previous Cirque shows. In the Cirque tradition, it was over far too quickly, and when the final "Banquete" started, I was expecting it to be one last full act.
Overall Ovo's acts and theming were as good or better than any Cirque Du Soleil touring show I have seen. It was a wonderful show, and I highly recommend it (if you can afford to go).
Last night I was able to catch one of the first Australian perfomances of Ovo, one of the more recent shows in Cirque catalogue. As always the show exceeded my expectations in many ways, and left me with a fantastic feeling of euphoria.
To be honest the story of Ovo is not one of Cirque's richest. A group of insects find a big egg and as a result they do a bunch of circus tricks. What Ovo lacks in richness of story, it more than makes up for in theming. The world of insects is richly and vividly portrade in a way that may even surpass the previous touring Cirque shows. The costuming, lighting and staging was extremely well done.
A number of the acts fit the theme very elegantly. On the whole most acts were very enjoyable. Certainly the first half of the show was one of the best that I have seen since Cirque first toured here in 1999. My particular favourites were the foot-juggling Ants, diablo wielding Firefly and wonderful dancing Creatura. The first half ended with a wonderful flying trapeze act of Scarabs. The second half was not as exciting for me, but still had some wonderful moments. The Slackwire spider was truely extraordinary, and the Acrosport Fleas were great fun. The finale of climbing wall and trampoline tricks was a little bit underwhelming for me. While impressive there was so much going on, and a lot of it had been seen in previous Cirque shows. In the Cirque tradition, it was over far too quickly, and when the final "Banquete" started, I was expecting it to be one last full act.
Overall Ovo's acts and theming were as good or better than any Cirque Du Soleil touring show I have seen. It was a wonderful show, and I highly recommend it (if you can afford to go).
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Forgive the lateness of my reply!
Just a quick note to say that I'm sorry that my promised 3 monthly essay is now 2 weeks late! I even changed topic because I knew I was going to run out of time. It is safe to say that things have been pretty hectic around here in the last few weeks. Both my work and real life have been incredibly busy! I am working on it, and I do have one I'm working on for a couple of months time!!
I should also make one note, this is the first month in a number of years that I haven't held a single annual pass to one of the Australian Theme Parks. My wife and I have alternated for the last few years between Dreamworld Annual Pass and the My Fun 3 Park Annual Passes. We simply don't have the time or money this year! There is a very good reason for this, and it is the same reason why we have been so busy...
my wife and I are just a couple of months away from having our first baby!!!
This is very exciting for us, but I can understand that people who follow ThemeParkNut may see this as bad news in the short term. However in the long term this should mean a lot of trips to Theme Parks with our kids in the years to come! There may even be a Disney trip planned, in 10-12 years time.
So please bear with us as we go through some significant changes! I can promise that I'll still be giving ThemeParkNut as much spare time and energy as possible!
I should also make one note, this is the first month in a number of years that I haven't held a single annual pass to one of the Australian Theme Parks. My wife and I have alternated for the last few years between Dreamworld Annual Pass and the My Fun 3 Park Annual Passes. We simply don't have the time or money this year! There is a very good reason for this, and it is the same reason why we have been so busy...
my wife and I are just a couple of months away from having our first baby!!!
This is very exciting for us, but I can understand that people who follow ThemeParkNut may see this as bad news in the short term. However in the long term this should mean a lot of trips to Theme Parks with our kids in the years to come! There may even be a Disney trip planned, in 10-12 years time.
So please bear with us as we go through some significant changes! I can promise that I'll still be giving ThemeParkNut as much spare time and energy as possible!
Saturday, 30 June 2012
Sea World - Dinosaur Island
Just opened for the school holidays at Sea World on the Gold Coast is a new attraction called Dinosaur Island. What do dinosaurs have to do with the sea I hear you ask? Don't ask questions! Just focus on the fact it fits the Sea World naming convention; animal name then type of place (e.g Dolphin Cove, Shark Bay, Penguin Point, Polar Bear Shores, etc.).
Unlike most of Sea World's attractions, the animals in question aren't exactly alive. So this time, we have (vaguely) life-size animatronic Dinosaur "roaming" an indoor discovery centre and an outdoor island. The animations are triggered by passing traffic in most cases, and some of them have timed audio effects. With added smoke effects, a few fountains and some greenery to help sell the reality. Overall it's not bad. They've clearly tried hard with this attraction, but there are still things that could be better.
The star of this attraction without a doubt is the gigantic T-Rex next to the gate to the area. It does look fantastic. I even saw it scare a small child! Isn't that what going to a theme park is all about?
Since it's raining, lets head into the Dinosaur Discovery Centre:
Inside is a nicely layed out two-level display with some interesting moving animatronics. The focus of the inside section was more educational, although the main point seemed to be that lots of dinosaurs had feathers. But they really just looked kind of hairy, and a little bit wierd to be honest.
Unlike most of Sea World's attractions, the animals in question aren't exactly alive. So this time, we have (vaguely) life-size animatronic Dinosaur "roaming" an indoor discovery centre and an outdoor island. The animations are triggered by passing traffic in most cases, and some of them have timed audio effects. With added smoke effects, a few fountains and some greenery to help sell the reality. Overall it's not bad. They've clearly tried hard with this attraction, but there are still things that could be better.
The star of this attraction without a doubt is the gigantic T-Rex next to the gate to the area. It does look fantastic. I even saw it scare a small child! Isn't that what going to a theme park is all about?
Since it's raining, lets head into the Dinosaur Discovery Centre:
Inside is a nicely layed out two-level display with some interesting moving animatronics. The focus of the inside section was more educational, although the main point seemed to be that lots of dinosaurs had feathers. But they really just looked kind of hairy, and a little bit wierd to be honest.
Is it a bird, a dinosaur or a sloth?
A furry baby T-Rex.
A Velociraptor that I suspect may be wearing a toupee.
No, that's entirely natural.
This little fella was cute though.
Let's head out to the actual island. For the avoidance of doubt when they say island, they don't really mean island. I guess since Polar Bear Shores isn't really a shore, and Penguin Point doesn't have a point; it's not that important. You will notice a few things on Dinosaur Island that may take you out of the moment. For instance, the Lighthouse which has been a part of Sea World for many years. It doesn't detract from the attraction greatly, but it's just enough to give a sharp eyed person a few giggles. As I said before, the star of the attraction is the T-Rex, who is right at the gate. For those that know Sea World, the path leads from the main path before the dolphins out to the lighthouse and back into the kids area at the back of the Dockside Tavern. Let's take a look:
The prehistoric Lighthouse on Dinosaur Island.
Who's a pretty boy?
I'd be worried if I lived in Bikini Bottom!
T-Rex has the best movement, design and sound effects of all the Dinosaurs. I really enjoyed the way his tail was whipping around. He really is the star of the show!
To be honext after the T-Rex, things started to get a little wierd.
It's just things didn't quite look right.
Like when someone's head is far too small for their body.
Or when a dinosaur is roaming in front of a pirate ship. Hey, that gives me an idea for a sitcom.
I liked the trike, but I think his sound effect should have been "Heeeeyyyyy!".
If what you wanted was Dinosaurs at Sea World, this attraction certainly gives you that. The biggest problem that I found was that it was definitely a temporary attraction. Some stuff was very well done certainly, others was just added to soak up some space. In general I enjoyed it, but I couldn't help feeling that this would have been great if it was part of a bigger attraction. If that T-Rex stood outside a dinosaur themed ride, it would be awesome! As it stands the attraction peaks far too early, and interest is mostly lost by the end. Dinosaur Island (nee Peninsula) adds something new to a park that has remained fairly stagnant for the past year or two which is a positive thing. I'd rate Dinosaur Island a 6.5/10.
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