Tomb Raider Is Already Showing Signs Of Aging

I just got back from PKI on Tuesday, and I would I noticed that Tomb Raider is already showing signs of aging. Its not really Top Spin itself, its more of the theming. When I went to Tomb Raider the second day it opened the theming in the main part of the ride was great. Budha's face turned striped and evil when the budha got angry, and the eyes and other stuff worked fine. Now they eyes barely move and the face doesnt turn "evil" when it gets mad. I mean, you can even see a ladder that they left in there to work on the ride during the whole day. Certainly adds to the realism of the ride *sarcasm*

Also, the fog machines are already slowing down and not covering the same amount of area that they used too. You can see that in the enterance area and during the ride.

I really like the ride, but I think they should keep it up to the PKI standards that they have. I like that ride alot, but it takes away from the fun when the ride components dont work.

-----------------
You are the passengers on a most uncommon elevator, about to ascend into your very own episode of the Twilight Zone

It's a Brahma, not a Budah. ;)

-----------------
Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

I think your looking into it too much. I think they just left the ladder there. The ride seems to be operating pretty consistently now. As far as the glowing and special effects, I understand they are sort of playing with those settings right now, and I believe any differences you see they have done on purpose. The ride has changed dramatically from opening day though. I liked it better too when the Brahma glowed. I'm not sure why they changed it though.

The biggest disappointment for me is how badly the public has treated the themeing. You can constantly see garbage and gum and food thrown all over the place. Look at how badly the railing that are supposed to look like bamboo have been scratched up, the paint is almost completely gone. I never understood why people have to deface things like that. Even the plants around the outside ques right before entering the building are almost non-existant now because people have just picked at it and torn it down. What a shame. It was nice........

Eric

-----------------
That is alllll........

Ya your right the ride is different, but they are playing with setting, not trying to over fog, I also noticed taht the steam on the lava pit is quite warm.

-----------------
Can we change the name of Top Gun to your mom so no one wants to ride your mom?

What is the PKI standard of keeping up theming?

When FoF was first built, there were all kinds of lighting and sound effects in the queue, cued to the video. No more.

When Adventure Express opened, there was lots of fog in the first and third tunnels, the snakes lunged, the spears thrust, there were sound effects in the first two tunnels, etc. No more.

When Top Gun first opened, there was a huge 3-D mural, lots of fog in the queue, and lots of special "aircraft carrier" type effects and props in the queue. No more (I don't think the line even goes through there anymore).

Not a very good record. Of course none of it bothers me because I think theming is kinda dumb altogether.

-----------------
He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking; can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

"Of course none of it bothers me because I think theming is kinda dumb altogether"

Then why call it a THEME PARK right? ;)

Trust me, I'd prefer an AMUSEMENT park any day. :)

-----------------
He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking; can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

FoF's queue is still the same, sans the Outer Limits references.

-----------------
Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"As far as I can tell it doesn't matter who you are. If you can believe, there's something worth fighting for..." - Garbage, "Parade"

See, the problem here is a normal park trying to operate a Disney / Universal type of attraction. They don't know how. Disney and Universal know how to keep their rides in top form. They have the funds, they have the experience, they have the need to keep them at top form. Disney and Universal go around every morning and make sure things are working at their top form. They scrape all gum off the walls, clean all graffiti, repaint where it's needed.

PKI just doesn't care enough to keep things the way they should be. If they promise a fully immersive dark ride experience, they damn well better deliver. Obviously, they have not, and this is one of the reasons I'm changing my vacation plans from Ohio to Florida. I was gonna go do CP, PKI, and SFWoA again, but instead, now that I"m hearing all this stuff about how it's gone downhill, I'd rather go ride a TRUE fully immersive dark ride...Spider-Man. That is at least worth it.

Parks like SIx Flags and Paramount should stick to the thrill business. Leave the themeing to Disney and Universal. They're good at it. Cedar Fair learned their lesson after Kingdom of the Dinosaurs...let's hope Paramount follows suit.

-----------------
-Kyle Brylczyk
KoRn - Untouchables, June 11th, 2002

---

Coaster131 said:

PKI just doesn't care enough to keep things the way they should be.

I can't speak for anyone but myself but I haven't seen anyhting regarding them not taking care of Tomb Raider yet. Perhaps I am not looking for it or something?

If they promise a fully immersive dark ride experience, they damn well better deliver. Obviously, they have not, and this is one of the reasons I'm changing my vacation plans from Ohio to Florida.

Not to start a war with you but don't you think you should ride the attraction in question before thinking like that? I mean, if I decided to skip every attraction I heard wasn't worth my time for one reason or another, I could be depriving myself of something that is possible awesome.

I was gonna go do CP, PKI, and SFWoA again, but instead, now that I"m hearing all this stuff about how it's gone downhill, I'd rather go ride a TRUE fully immersive dark ride...Spider-Man. That is at least worth it.

That all depends on what you consider immersive I am also a HUGE fan of the Spiderman ride but don't think Tomb Raider and Spiderman could even be compared. They are two totally different rides and really have nothing in common with each other.

This reminds me of when the park announced Tomb Raider last year. There were those folks that were certain it would be a ride like Spiderman. I said many times that it wasn't going to be a Spiderman type ride but there were still a few folks that insisted I was wrong.

Guess who is complaining about 'not getting what they wanted' now?

It's not me that's for sure.

-Sean

---

Well, i thought Tomb Raider was an awesome ride. One specific ride could have been a little less painful but i think they did a good job with it. The theming is good, and i didnt notice anything that I thought to be out of place except an AC vent and that wasnt bad, it just didnt look right. To me, I think Tomb Raider was a great investment, aging is not showing greatly, and PKI is doing a fairly good job at keeping it up.

Those vents aren't AC vents they have to be placed there, state regulations I am sure. I have yet to see any signs of aging sans the railings outside, thats not their fault its the GPs for scraping off paint. The other thing is, Tomb Raider is being toyed with as I already said. They can't stop people from taking trash in. People will still sneak them in.

-----------------
Can we change the name of Top Gun to your mom so no one wants to ride your mom?

I really liked how the face turned evil, they will fix it soon though i bet

Who cares? Quit complaining that the park doesn't do this or the park doesn't do that. Anyone who thinks the theming is going to hell, is wrong. As for the trash in the que lines and grafitti, it's not the parks fault that rude people come and damage property. As for the face and eyes being different, they are probably just toying with different things to see wich has the best response. So just ease up on it, it is a great ride. Totally immersive.

-----------------
Holiday World, it's impossible not to have a good time

Sean, I believe I was the first one on this board to claim Tomb Raider would be a Top Spin in a box. I never said it would be like SpiderMan.

Anyways, I don't really care. I've never been a huge fan of Paramount parks, and I probably never will be. But, it doesn't really matter. I'm a Disney and Universal freak, like many other people. Sure, I may be biased in my opinion, but all I'm trying to say is that those parks should stick to thrills, and leave the large budget show attractions to parks that are able to back it up.

-----------------
-Kyle Brylczyk
KoRn - Untouchables, June 11th, 2002

If I recall the face didn't turn eveil friday and saturday opening weekend. Anyone else there remember this or am I just forgettin it did?

-----------------
It's his turn to feast, when you ride the Son of Beast.

Paramount should have stuck to what the parks where originally intended for: great coaster and flat rides each themed to the area in which it is place. Not special effects movie type of theming that they refuse to upkeep. Paramount is far from being a Florida-type park in that aspect.

It's all about $, Remember, fog and maintenance on special effects costs $. Special effects that don't work don't make the ride any less safe, it just makes it less enjoyable for the patron. While all parks are there to make $, Paramount is as wrapped up in cutting costs and upcharging every way possbile as six flags, often at the expense of the customer experience. Just like when the pull out good flat rides that help to disperse the crowds.

In my opinion.

If PKI doesn't keep up the effects of the ride over an extended course of time, then this ride is a flub. I've yet to ridden it and I'm not stating anything about how the ride is operating now, this is speculation. If PKI let's things eventually degrade to a point where 6 years down the road the lighting, water and motion effects are non-existant then they screwed up royally in my humble opinion.

The effects for the queue of FOF is still working like the first time I went but I have seen them not using any of them. But this in no way affects the ride for me. You still get a kick butt indoor coaster that is basically in the dark, no matter what happened in the queue line. Adventure Express definately isn't running like it used to, but again to not much of a detriment to the overall ride. Sure the effects were better but it's still well themed and a good ride. BUT if TR:TR goes the way of Adventure Express then it will significantly impair the ride and ultimately become the flat ride in a box that has been spouted forth so many times.

TR:TR was built to be an immersive experience, and without all of the theming, especially in the final chamber, I find it hard to believe that it would still qualify as immersive. It would become another top spin, just enclosed with some theming, but nothing that grabs your attention.

I have yet to ride TR:TR, but like I said, I'm merely speculating. I was dissapointed in them getting a top spin, not because I didn't want one, but because I'd rather they spend the same amount of money and throw one up outdoors and use the remaining cash for a giant frisbee or such. The reason they didn't do that was to offer something more, an immersive experience. If they keep on top of the effects, kudos and they probably have a great ride for years to come. If they don't, PKI just blew a whole lot of money. Here's hoping that they stay on top of things.

Two comments......

First, I believe a theme park is different than an amusement park, as in a theme park you will find certain types of rides dressed up to fit in with a specific themed section of the park.....not necessarily the individual ride being heavily themed itself. For example, KCKC wasn't an especially heavily themed flume....it basically just rode above the tree tops, but it was in Rivertown - an area of the park originally designed to have an "old 1800's Ohio frontier" river theme to that entire section of the park. Putting Tomb Raider in Rivertown totally negated the reason for Rivertown having the theming it originally did. TR may look like it fits into a wilderness/jungle area, but it really has nothing to do with Ohio's river frontier of the 19th century. An amusement park, on the other hand, might have heavily themed rides, but they could be placed anywhere in the park. Do I think PKI is a "theme park"? No, I don't. It stopped being that a long time ago when it started putting a mishmash of rides here and there in the park. For example, Top Gun may now be in the Action Zone, but when it was first built, it was in the part of the park that was themed to jungle-type theming. Adventure Express has nothing to do with Oktoberfest. And FoF is a themed ride that has nothing to do with the traditional feel of the old Coney Island amusement park. If PKI is going to keep being deemed a "theme park", it needs to return to the way the park was originally planned - that is, rides placed in themed areas of the park because they "fit" in that particular area. Otherwise, it doesn't really say much for the park when it comes off calling itself a "theme park", yet neglecting the theming of it's rides, and it also makes the park look like it has an identity crisis.

My second comment..... It may not be the park's fault if it's patrons throw garbage around the rides, or scratch paint off railings, or put gum on the walls. HOWEVER, it IS the park's responsibility for making sure that the railings are touched up, and the gum scraped off walls, on a daily basis. It is only in their best interest to do those things for the maximum pleasure of it's guests, and also helps boost it's reputation. If PKI is going to spend exhorbitant amounts of money on a heavily themed ride, it should be able to at least make sure the "effect" is maintained.

But the ride has been opened for only a couple months! I know they need to maintain things but it's prolly a big job to do all those things. If PKI could maintain FOF, then they will definantly be able to maintain TR.