b.mac said:
Party Rocker said:
Actually, this would be the biggest anchor attraction since Aquazoid.
Don't mind Meltdown, it doesn't seem to exist. Until Vanish Point was added Meltdown had one of the longest lines in the park.
Meltdown is nowhere near on the level as Aquazoid. The toboggan idea from Meltdown is certainly interesting, but Aquazoid was (and still sort of is) a truly groundbreaking water attraction with a touch of theming and special effects.
I would say Hubba Hubba Highway is an anchor attraction. To be honest, it's my favorite attraction at the park... it's unique and has cool, cheesy and overdone theming (in a good way; cheesy and overdone theming is better than no theming at all), and it's just fun.
I certainly hope that this new attraction incorporates some sort of theming and doesn't have too much of an impact on the already less-than-beautiful look of the park (if they try and put this ride in the middle of Hubba Hubba Highway, I will be livid). The past few additions (Rock & Roll Island and Vanish Point) have been seriously lacking in theming, which really detracts from the feel of the ride. There was actually a time when there was some subtle theming for all of the rides, which gave them some sort of fantasy and adventure. I would hope this new ride gets theming AT LEAST akin to the subtle theming on Aquazoid, or even better, Hubba Hubba Highway.
When I visited America's largest water park, Noah's Ark in Wisconsin Dells, many of their rides were themed. One very interesting slide was one of those "Toilet Bowl" slides called Time Warp. The story was that you were taking your "time machine" (your raft) back in time; simple as that. The entrance and queue were filled with big and small quirky clocks with hands spinning in all directions, with signs saying different things as you ascended the stairs like, "Back in time..." "Way back in time..." like the Primeval Whirl coaster at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The mouth into the slide had a giant clock over it. Once on your raft and descending down into the "toilet bowl" of the slide, strobe lights, sound effects, fog, and even a moving dinosaur head near the exit of the bowl. This made the slide a very cool experience.
A smaller, single-person toilet bowl slide at my hotel was also loaded with theming, despite being a smaller ride. Called the Black Hole, as rider ascended the stairs, a preshow on TV monitors revealed that riders were on a secret, dangerous mission into a black hole in outer space. At the top of the stairs, blacklit walls painted to look like stars created a cool facade before entering the slide. Light, thunder, and fog effects take over for a total sensory experience in the toilet bowl.
My point is, a lot of theming can be done on something as simple as a water slide, and it makes an enormous difference. Riding a slide that looks like a toilet bowl isn't half as fun as a wet chase into another dimension in the dark. WCUSA can easily make this new ride a one-of-a-kind experience. Perhaps that is what they're doing: maybe the ride itself will not be anything super special, but maybe... just maybe BGW/WCUSA are planning to do something new and over-theme this new ride a la Verbolten. Just an idea--but I think it could be possible, and it would certainly be popular.
That all said, we know pretty much nothing at this point. Heck, with what we know, they could be planning to move Loch Ness Monster to Water Country and convert it into a water slide. Guess we'll just have to wait and see--luckily, 2014 is only a few months away.
