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Your Least Common Opinion?

pvnks said:
Not a slight against the effort, creativity or work ethic of those performing but I find almost parks' roaming entertainers are unbearable cringe. Not in a good way, either.

You can see the anxiety levels of those crossing the Thorpe Park bridge upon exit just trying to get it over and done with as the latest gimmick is to have entertainment staff cheer and dance in people's faces as they leave...

By extension; the stage shows are drossy and largely unattended / promptly walked past at both Thorpe and Alton Towers. Even the children these endeavours are aimed at are raising their eyebrows.

These personnel would add greater value in other roles, surely?

I fully realise this makes me sound a killjoy.
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I demand you make 2 exceptions to this rule. The first is for those three dudes in orange jumpsuits that roam Port Aventura playing musical wheelie bins, cos they're fab.
The second is for that 4 piece German Oom-Pah band that plays outside the entrance of Hansa Park as you go in. Instant smiles.
The third (yes I know I said there were 2 exceptions but I've just thought of another) is for the acrobats twirling about on ribbons high above the turnstiles at Efteling in that amazing entrance building.
 
Seemingly not (thankfully!)

But let's be clinical here;

What's the purpose motive of roaming entertainment?

Does it achieve its purpose to any demonstrable effect to justify the money invested?

I can't see it other than one or two pissed-on-cola toddlers in front of the Towers stage in amongst a smattering of people with chins resting in the palms of their hands watching on whilst still digesting the overpriced German hot dogs...

If the beer isn't popular, you don't order another keg and in this case it's Watney's Red Barrel, I'm afraid!
 
pvnks said:
Seemingly not (thankfully!)

But let's be clinical here;

What's the purpose motive of roaming entertainment?

Does it achieve its purpose to any demonstrable effect to justify the money invested?

I can't see it other than one or two pissed-on-cola toddlers in front of the Towers stage in amongst a smattering of people with chins resting in the palms of their hands watching on whilst still digesting the overpriced German hot dogs...

If the beer isn't popular, you don't order another keg and in this case it's Watney's Red Barrel, I'm afraid!
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I enjoyed it because I thought it created an atmosphere in areas where there normally is very little. It is clearly designed to appeal to the younger adult (club goers) and whilst it might be a little bit cringe, it certainly created an atmosphere that many of them 'may' both enjoy and be familiar with.

I can also see why many people will hate it too though.

It's also nice to see that Thorpe are refocussing their effort on that target audience they seemed to be drifting away from. For a few years the place seemed a little bit confused in who it wanted to attract. This year there's no mistaking it's target audience... (It isn't us though, haha.)
 
Nicky Borrill said:
I enjoyed it because I thought it created an atmosphere in areas where there normally is very little
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Maybe this is an unpopular opinion on my part then, but I'd argue that the Amity area where the entertainers are - alongside Swarm - is the area within Thorpe that has one of the best atmospheres. The WWTP radio track. Tidal Wave (usually) splashing down every couple of minutes. A bustling pathway filled with people even on quiet days. It's got all the atmosphere!
 
JoshC. said:
Maybe this is an unpopular opinion on my part then, but I'd argue that the Amity area where the entertainers are - alongside Swarm - is the area within Thorpe that has one of the best atmospheres. The WWTP radio track. Tidal Wave (usually) splashing down every couple of minutes. A bustling pathway filled with people even on quiet days. It's got all the atmosphere!
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I think we’re talking about the roamers… I was anyway, I saw them with their music blasting near swarm, at the exit, and round towards old town. :)

(Although I agree, that area is buzzing on busy days and nights!)
 
I love Joris, as well. The interaction between the two sides is awesome and the small dips and turns are very nice, too. I think I like them better than Troy and Wodan. Too bad that my next visit to Efteling will be while Joris is still in refurbishment. But as it's the last two days of the scheduled downtime I'm still a bit hopeful that they get finished earlier.
 
Energylandia has the best ‘top 2 coasters’ of any park in the world.

By that I mean that I think there are parks that potentially have ‘a’ coaster that could beat Zadra in my rankings… (Cedar Point for example.) But I can’t imagine there are any parks that have 2 coasters that would beat both Zadra and Hyperion…
 
In a similar vein to the post that @Nicky Borrill made above, a potentially uncommon one of mine is;

With the installations of VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s, Islands of Adventure’s ride lineup may possibly be “firing on all cylinders” more than that of any other theme park in the world, in terms of breadth and variety of top-class attractions on offer.

That may seem like a slightly odd thing to say, but what I mean is that if you look at the categories of coasters, dark rides and water rides (what I’d call the 3 main categories of attraction for a major park), I now honestly believe that Islands of Adventure can say that it has top-class attractions in all 3 of those categories, if we look at the overall consensus opinion. And that’s something I’m not sure that many other parks can say.

Even when I last went in 2016, prior to the coaster selection being enhanced, I would personally say that the park had at least 2 top-class dark rides (haven’t ridden Kong) and at least 2 top-class water rides (haven’t ridden Dudley). And while I haven’t ridden VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s, their rave reviews would suggest that IOA now has at least 2 top-class coasters as well, which I’d argue that they didn’t necessarily have in 2016.

Of course, this all ultimately boils down to personal opinion, but I’d argue that Islands of Adventure now has attractions that the general populace perceives as world-class in all 3 categories out of coasters, dark rides and water rides, and I genuinely can’t think of another park that does. I can think of a few competitors that appear to have nailed 2 of those areas and made a decent stab at the third (for instance, Phantasialand has the likes of Taron and FLY for top-class coasters and Chiapas and River Quest for top-class water rides if general consensus ratings are anything to go off of, and 1 or 2 of Phantasia’s dark rides seem decently rated, but they don’t seem to have any hugely revered dark rides in the same vein as Spiderman or FJ), but no other park I can think of seems to boast such a wide breadth of attractions generally considered “top-class” as IOA does. And given IOA isn’t the largest of parks, I think that’s pretty remarkable myself!
 
Nicky Borrill said:
I enjoyed it because I thought it created an atmosphere in areas where there normally is very little. It is clearly designed to appeal to the younger adult (club goers) and whilst it might be a little bit cringe, it certainly created an atmosphere that many of them 'may' both enjoy and be familiar with.

I can also see why many people will hate it too though.

It's also nice to see that Thorpe are refocussing their effort on that target audience they seemed to be drifting away from. For a few years the place seemed a little bit confused in who it wanted to attract. This year there's no mistaking it's target audience... (It isn't us though, haha.)
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I personally love some roaming entertainment when done right. Europa is a good example, seeing people walk around on stilts, playing music, and showing off skills is pretty fun. Alongside their kinda "we're gonna make our own characters up" approach. I believe parks like Alton have also kinda used to a much smaller degree.

Thorpe though, i think its cool and all they are doing something for the kiddos, i think them going in a direction is a good thing.
I really wish this reflected on the ride lineup? They have some family rides don't get me wrong, but are young kids going to stay entertained for long enough, IMO no. Flying Fish is their headlining family coaster, there is not a bridge ride between this, their second best family ride (Storm Surge) has a throughput of 400 a hour (and thats optimistic), and Rumba is closed half the time, and when its open its easily the worst merlin rapids but a mile. They didn't help themselves shutting their huge new dark ride off to anyone under 12, and equally making their vekoma family coaster also too scary for under 12's.
 
Nicky Borrill said:
Energylandia has the best ‘top 2 coasters’ of any park in the world.

By that I mean that I think there are parks that potentially have ‘a’ coaster that could beat Zadra in my rankings… (Cedar Point for example.) But I can’t imagine there are any parks that have 2 coasters that would beat both Zadra and Hyperion…
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Not only do I fully endorse this take, but I'll go one step further and say the competition isn't even close. There are certainly some notable pairs out there (Carowinds, Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Silver Dollar City, Busch Gardens Tampa, Phantasialand all come to mind), but I struggle to think of a single pair that makes me even second guess my view that Zadra & Hyperion are the tag team champions of the world.
 
Nicky Borrill said:
Energylandia has the best ‘top 2 coasters’ of any park in the world.

By that I mean that I think there are parks that potentially have ‘a’ coaster that could beat Zadra in my rankings… (Cedar Point for example.) But I can’t imagine there are any parks that have 2 coasters that would beat both Zadra and Hyperion…
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Not an uncommon opinion at all fella.
Indy said:
Not only do I fully endorse this take, but I'll go one step further and say the competition isn't even close. There are certainly some notable pairs out there (Carowinds, Cedar Point, Kings Dominion, Silver Dollar City, Busch Gardens Tampa, Phantasialand all come to mind), but I struggle to think of a single pair that makes me even second guess my view that Zadra & Hyperion are the tag team champions of the world.
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Fab little thread here discussing it - https://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/best-coaster-one-two-punch.44638/
I think Energylandia has it by a whisker from CP with SV and Maverick and there's a few other contenders.
But I think you could definitely argue that BGT has a shout now with IG and Montu.
 
DelPiero said:
Not an uncommon opinion at all fella.

Fab little thread here discussing it - https://coasterforce.com/forums/threads/best-coaster-one-two-punch.44638/
I think Energylandia has it by a whisker from CP with SV and Maverick and there's a few other contenders.
But I think you could definitely argue that BGT has a shout now with IG and Montu.
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Damn my memory is bad... I just went to post in that topic and found my previous post...

Almost tempted to quote my post with 'Yes I agree' since I can't remember making it!
 
Nicky Borrill said:
Energylandia has the best ‘top 2 coasters’ of any park in the world.

By that I mean that I think there are parks that potentially have ‘a’ coaster that could beat Zadra in my rankings… (Cedar Point for example.) But I can’t imagine there are any parks that have 2 coasters that would beat both Zadra and Hyperion…
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In a hypothetical tag-team tournament, they would be hard to beat!
 
Based on reviews, that doesn’t seem to be overly unpopular @Nicky Borrill. The Hyperion-Zadra duo appears to have a phenomenally high average rating compared to most other parks’ top rated 2 coasters. The only possible competitor I could think of is Cedar Point, as Steel Vengeance and Maverick both seem phenomenally rated, too. Although that one is a little more up for debate, as TTD also seems pretty popular…

And ironically, Cedar Point’s highly rated duo also consists of an RMC and an Intamin…
 
Matt N said:
Based on reviews, that doesn’t seem to be overly unpopular @Nicky Borrill. The Hyperion-Zadra duo appears to have a phenomenally high average rating compared to most other parks’ top rated 2 coasters. The only possible competitor I could think of is Cedar Point, as Steel Vengeance and Maverick both seem phenomenally rated, too. Although that one is a little more up for debate, as TTD also seems pretty popular…

And ironically, Cedar Point’s highly rated duo also consists of an RMC and an Intamin…
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If we are going to do duo's, Goliath-Mindbender, Goliath-Twisted Cyclone, or Mindbender-Twisted Cyclone would probably be considered better duo.
 
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