...and it was fine. I definitely have notes. As expected, the animatronics and sets by Sally are extremely budgeted but very much appreciated. That said, the overall execution could've been better.
The recycled castle exterior is disappointing. Was great for Scooby but really doesn't set the theater tone this new attraction is going for.
The interior queue / preshow is fine. The audio can be a little hard to understand, which seems like a common complaint. The cats voice is also annoying. Frustratingly, the No Legs Larry preshow instructional video looks awful. It looks like was made with microsoft paint and they use "Larry" making it himself as an excuse for why it looks that way. Seriously, why not make it look like it's drawn with crayon with stick figures, you could have Larry drawing himself as being jacked. You could even have it drawn out in real time like a ghost is drawing it. Like their own explanation for the video could've led to a much more humorous, and pleasing looking instructional video than what we got. A wasted opportunity.
The hallway immediately following with the portraits doesn't really work for me. Artwork looks like adobe after effects manipulation, possibly even ai, but it's the portrait filter effect that completely blurs the image when viewed from an angle. Probably shouldn't have put these in a tight hallway, as they work better from a distance.
Now onto my biggest disappointment with this attraction, the interactive elements...or lack there of. I felt like I had no effect on the scenery or outcome of the story. Hitting a ghost note didn't do anything other than increase your score. In Scooby Doo I had different targets to hit which could revel secrets within the scene. Ghost notes on the other hand just feel like an after thought. Like the entire attraction was built already and they decided at the last minute to project notes on the background of all the scenes. No variety, no invested interest, no replay value. If it's between interactivity and ride capacity, I'll take the capacity.
Another problem with the attraction is the tone. There is no variety. The original Phantom Theater had spooky moments to go along with the goofy moments. This new version seems all goofy. None of the characters have angry faces anymore and most of the scenery is free of dust or cobwebs. It's just the same bright lighting and smiling faces all throughout. After awhile it all starts to feel samey.
Lastly, the big "show" scene with all of the acts together is terrible. This replaced the show stopping peppers ghost scene from the original but damn does this need a lot of work. To start with, the staging is BORING. The characters are cramped in a plain looking room (stage), all evenly spaced apart, all standing on circus stands. They should all be spread out on different levels of the stage, surrounded by unique props and scenery representative of their acts. Remove the rotating Larry to expand the scene if you must, as a lone rotating character serves no purpose.
End of the day, its an improvement but also a missed opportunity.
Beyond that, this was my first visit to Kings Island since the Cedar Fair takeover and I'll just get this out of the way; I miss Paramount. The ambition is gone. The variety is gone. They no longer seem to be trying to grasp the family market. It's now just a coaster park aimed at teens. If you can't do coasters or flats that spin, you're out of luck. Seems a shame.
On the positive side, International Street is still amazing. Designed by an ex-imagineer, just full of personality and a pretty relaxing place to get away from the Cedar Fair. Flight of Fear is also a brilliant piece of themed entertainment, although the ride is a little too rough for me now. In my eyes The Beast is still the best ride in the park. Absolutely relentless.
On the unfortunate side, Cedar Fair started dumping coasters anywhere they could without any consideration of atmosphere. International Street is no longer isolated as coasters now spoil the sightlines when you couldn't see any attractions before but the biggest casualty of Cedar Fair thoughtlessness is Rivertown. Cedar Fair dropped two coasters right in the middle of it and removed WAY too many trees from a forested themed area. Not even sure what its supposed to be anymore.
Maybe it doesn't bother anyone else, but to me it was just sad to see an abandoned 3D motion theater, the abandoned Tomb Raider dark ride, the Vortex graveyard, and the mediocre Italian Job coaster with EVERY SINGLE one of its effects disabled (seriously just tear out that coaster and put the antique cars back behind the Eiffel Tower to have them reunited with International Street where they belong).
No comments:
Post a Comment