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Minor theme park news

Matt N

Matt N

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Hi guys. I thought this thread would be a good idea in order to discuss the more minor pieces of theme park news that don’t really warrant their own thread.

The reason I made this thread is because would seem that the BLM movement has made its way into theme parks, as there is now a petition to retheme Splash Mountain at the Disney parks due to its links with Song of the South, a film about racial relationships: https://www.cinemablend.com/news/25...ash-mountain-and-it-has-the-perfect-candidate

One person even designed them a retheme based on The Princess and the Frog.

What are your thoughts? I personally think that Splash Mountain is fine as it is, because it omits all of the film’s more controversial, race-based elements, and to be honest, I wouldn’t even have linked it with a film about race having ridden it.
 
Splash Mountain is one of my all time favourite Disney rides. It is in no way racist. Yes the source material is clearly racist and you will struggle to find Song of the South anywhere online. But Splash Mountain makes no reference to Song of the South; I did not even know that it had any links to a film until I learnt as much at a later date.
 
Totally agree with Rob here, it's a non-story. There is nothing racist about the ride itself whatsoever and, indeed, Disney has done everything in its power to disassociate itself from the source material it is (very loosely) based on.

I'm sure it will all blow over. People's outrage is much better focused elsewhere.

I'd also point out, @Matt N, that the film itself is far from being "about race". Rather, it contained some deeply offensive and damaging stereotypes.
 
Ah right; thanks for the clarification @D4n! I must apologise for my poor choice of wording; I’m not particularly clued up on older Disney films, I must admit!
 
There is a great post on that at Yesterland https://www.yesterland.com/splashtheme.html

The ride is based on the Br'er Rabbit character, that in itself is really a folk story that existed prior to the Uncle Remus stories. Almost all of Disney's films are based upon fairytales and folk stories to some extent really, the issue with Song of the South is the framing device of Uncle Remus rather than the actual Br'er Rabbit characters I think and therefore I don't particularly there is a huge issue with the ride in isolation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laughing_Place and particularly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Br'er_Rabbit#African_origins fill out some of the Br'er Rabbit story as well.


Also it wouldn't really work as a Princess and the Frog ride, there are no mountains in New Orleans.
 
Just destroy another classic, I'm thinking Guardians of the Galaxy, Mission Splashout.

Really though, what rubbish. Splash Mountain is twice removed from Song of the South and doesn't have even a hint of racism about it This sort of crap devalues the real cause.
 
RicketyCricket said:
I give up with people.

What shall I be annoyed about today? *Checks notes*. Of course, a Log Flume.
Click to expand...

I don’t think a 21,000 strong petition is a big concern really. People have a genuine reason to be annoyed about racism and when any issue gets traction it pulls a lot of the more unusual ideas in its wake.

Just because some people are focusing on a log flume does not represent the core of the concerns people have, and almost certainly won’t get any traction. If Disney retheme the ride it will be a continuation of their obsession to have financially interesting IP’s attached to attractions rather than a concern about the rides tenuous links to Songs of the South.
 
Not sure if this is the best place for it as it's a European park but here goes,

Funland at the Tropicana is returning to Weston Super Mare on 11 July with a new selection of rides including a spinning coaster (I haven't looked into which showman it belongs to yet).
 
In a bizarre conundrum for credit counters, White Lightning at Fun Spot America is being fitted with GCI’s new steel track in portions of the layout:
Very interesting! I wonder how the ride will feel with this new track?
 
Sorry to revive this thread, but I have a very interesting item indeed; the well-known and well-loved RMC are now delving into family roller coasters! The company has now unveiled a family hybrid coaster model: https://www.rockymtnconstruction.com/family-hybrid-coasters/

Some interesting items of note are:
  • IBox Track is being used here.
  • 3 standard layouts are on offer, with the ability to design a custom layout also available.
  • The trains have Class 3 restraints (I don’t know whether this is any different to RMC’s thrill coasters, but I thought it would be worth noting).
  • It’s implied that these rides have a lower height restriction than RMC’s thrill IBox coasters (“This allows patrons to enjoy a smooth ride as a family with a thrill level more suitable for those who are maybe too short, or just not ready to ride an extreme RMC hybrid roller coaster”).
What do you guys think to this news? To be honest, I think it looks like great fun; I always thought an RMC family coaster might be interesting, and I’m thrilled that they’re giving the family market a go!

In other news, it would appear that RMC has discontinued Topper Track in favour of a new product named 208 RetraK, that is being touted as a product exclusively used for wooden coaster refurbishment: https://www.rockymtnconstruction.com/wood-coaster-refurbishment/

This also means that the company is no longer selling ground-up wooden roller coasters using Topper Track (rides such as Lightning Rod, Wildfire at Kolmarden etc.); ground-up Topper Track coasters have now been discontinued by RMC, and the company has bowed out of the ground-up wooden coaster market, leaving GCI and Gravity Group as the only prominent players in that department. I guess the writing was on the wall for it, in many ways; the fact that Zadra, arguably a prime candidate to be a wooden Topper Track coaster, was built as a steel IBox coaster, and the fact that a good 2/3 of Lightning Rod was retracked using steel IBox track recently, would suggest that the model was being phased out, but I guess it’s still sad that RMC aren’t building huge new woodies anymore, in a sense.

But it’s all very exciting from RMC at the moment, don’t you think?
 
Matt N said:
The trains have Class 3 restraints (I don’t know whether this is any different to RMC’s thrill coasters, but I thought it would be worth noting).
Click to expand...
European and American standards are basically identical in terms of restraint classification, both use a scale of 1-5 where 1 is basically no restraint at all (vanishingly rare on coasters but not uncommon on dark rides) and 5 is the most secure (i.e. multiply redundant by design, both in structure and locking mechanism). The type you require depends on the ride forces - a high-thrill coaster like a standard RMC will always use a class 5 restraint. This being a class 3 would suggest a much gentler ride.
 
I’m bumping this thread as it seems like a good one for discussing some interesting little news stories about the amusement park industry.

I saw an interesting article today on the BBC News website saying that some parks such as Dollywood are warning guests to switch off certain models of mobile devices including the iPhone 14 and Apple Watch 8 because of the risk of it’s crash detection system being triggered the drops on various rides.

Apparently it’s happened quite a few times at Kings Island where automated calls have been made to the emergency services from devices that guests are wearing on rides, stating “The owner of this iPhone was in a severe crash and is not responding to their phone”.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-63157888

And from Coaster101 on Twitter the other week.

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