Tomb Raider the Ride at KI, no music now?

No, it would be silly to relocate the ride. Just turn off the lights instead.

The funny thing is, I remember Jeff Siebert on a tour during a previous BeastBuzz saying how they could roll scenery out of the way and open the giant doors to get in there and change all of the theme elements if they ever needed to. Now, I suppose they could just pull them out and truly make it what enthusiasses called it to begin with: A Top Spin-in-a-Box!

^^ I LOVE Tomb Raider, but the ride is mostly based around the tomb/themeing.

Is the lightning near the end of the ride still there? When that stuff started flashing around me I almost wet myself! lol.

Someone said earlier that the lava no longer shoots up water bombs, but if memory serves me, there never were water bombs. But its a shame the water crystals arent working anymore. I'm going to the park next Tuesday so I will give an update on the ride.

Jeff messed up my arrow!^ lol. *** Edited 6/26/2007 4:25:53 PM UTC by DantheCoasterman***

Here's a thought: When I rode this ride, which was in the year it opened, I thought it was a lot of fun, but also got the impression that the "abruptness" of it was caused, in the end, by the themeing. The ride program needs to hold the carriage in very exact places in order for everyone to be facing the correct "effect" at any given moment. This is unlike most outdoor top spins that I've seen, where it's mainly governed by gravity and no two rides are exactly alike.

So I'm thinking that IF CF decides not to repair/maintain the theming, the ride might fare better out in the open? The ride movements themselves might be smoother when it doesn't have to "hold" the ride so precisely, and certainly the sight of a (the only?) giant top spin would draw attention if midway guests could actually SEE the machine. I actually think the effect of a giant TS is somewhat wasted by being hidden away. Certainly Delerium would have less effect and "buzz" if it were housed in a building (which I know is virtually impossible).

Just my thoughts.

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Shaggy said:
It's still operating... so debating whether TR:TR *is* or *was* "short livED" is moot.

Shaggy *** Edited 6/26/2007 2:47:00 PM UTC by Shaggy***

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Once again, I said I think it will be Short Lived, Not was or is.

Chuck, who don't think my opinion's anymore Moot than yours.

Depressing thread. Almost happy I haven't been to the park since 2001.

"Once again, I said I think it will be Short Lived, Not was or is.

Chuck, who don't think my opinion's anymore Moot than yours."

Geez Chuck, don't be so sensitive. I wasn't directing that at you.

Shaggy

Im not, I know ya and respect your views as well.

Chuck, who has nothing against you, Matter of fact, I agree with about 95% of it.

I shouldn't have said "relocate", because I was thinking more along the lines of removing the building around the ride (I had a brain fart and didn't phrase it correctly). I assume that the building is air conditioned... surely it costs a lot to cool a building that size, right? That's why I'm thinking that "removing" the ride from the box might make for a better idea if and when the time comes to do something.

Meh. I think removing anything is more effort than they are willing to invest. More likely they will just leave non-mandatory things broken and in the dark. It's easier. I'll bet the music will return, but I don't have any hope for any of the other features of the ride which are gone now.

What was the ride like when everything operated correctly?

Like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GHCg2eYe4s

Glamorized for tv... a bit... but gives a great idea of how the theming (when working) makes all the difference.

Shaggy

I always thought it was pretty sweet, even an Orlando-quality experience. After going through the initial queue, dressed as a found underground passage, you split into three rows where the "stone" statues from the movie watched you. Then you entered the pre-show room passing through a very cool door, with the Brahma statue from the movie (with the bowl of liquid and the swords) and coordinated lighting. After the pre-show, the big door opened and you boarded the ride.

The ride itself positioned you near various set pieces that included an icy face (with cold water dripping) on top and hung you over "lava" with steam blasts. Dramatic music boomed. I forget the story line exactly other than the fact that you pissed off some god or spirit or something.

The technical issue with the ride is that if the two arms got even slightly out of sync in their movement, the ride is stopped to prevent the gondola from being twisted or torqued in a bad way. Even though the computer makes adjustments in real time, it can't quite do it fast enough, scaling the various motors to various speed changes to correct for any synchronization issues. It apparently get worse if you load the entire gondola end to end, which is why they spent a lot of time running it without people on the ends. If you ever get to see the ride move from the operator booth or the computer room (which we did a bunch of times on BeastBuzz tours), you'd get to see just how much mass is getting thrown around. It's truly awesome to see all of that moving, and not surprising that they'd have the problems I mentioned.

The show system is pretty impressive, with a bank of computers and digital audio, electronic dimmers, and a whole lot of amplifiers. It's all in one room in a series of racks, and feeds the pre-show and the ride.

In the event that they don't take care of it, I sure hope that they at least send the movie parts to a place they can be kept, because they are pretty cool.

Based on its current state, once the Tomb Raider rights lapse, they could always rename it Son of Quake.

I'm sure that TV spot really "dresses up" their experience but it does look like a pretty well-themed ride... probably a lot better than Italian Job, which is a fun ride but not very well-themed. Too bad I'm not a huge fan of Top Spins, although if we had more time than we did at KI last year, I would have made an exception and given it a shot.

I'd rather see rides either unthemed or completely themed so hopefully CF realizes that the ride was pretty good when it opened and decides to put some money into it. With all the new Tomb Raider games hitting the market within the past year, surely there is a way to promote the franchise in some way... make the ride relevant until a better theming option comes along.

Thanks for the video! It looks scarrier than it actually is IMO lol. *** Edited 6/26/2007 8:55:16 PM UTC by DantheCoasterman***

Interesting to hear the ride operations from Jeff...I only rode this thing once (mainly because in the past it was always down and people who had ridden it before claimed it "sucked") being on Memorial Day of last year, and I must say, I actually remember a lot of that themeing still being there (even through the queue) and working!? So that's only a little over a year...

But does the fact that my seat was on furthest of the outside make that ride position rare??

Either way, ok ride, but far too short...hopefully the one at MOA is a lot longer!!

Yes, I have edited this post, because maybe I read things wrong, but I still want to make the following points.

Do you really think that enthusiasts are the only ones who notice when effects don't work? Season passes are available to everyone. We're not the only ones who go to a park more than once a year. And if we're going to be realistic about things, a lot of enthusiasts buy passes to go to other parks in the chain, whereas the public buys them for repeat visits to the local park.

There's no doubt that there are some enthusiasses, but come on, I think we'd all like a working soundtrack, working effects, and a decent ride

Would it be a better ride without trying to synch-up to show-elements? I'd like to think so. I think changing the theme of the ride altogether so is doesn't have to make pre-programmed stops would also be better.

*** Edited 6/26/2007 11:09:21 PM UTC by Intamin Fan***

^Can you quote where Jeff said any of that?

Maybe I'm missing it but I read back through the thread and it seems Jeff is pretty bummed the effects aren't working. Like I said maybe I missed it.

I emailed Cedar Fair last week to ask about the state of Tomb Raider, Unfortunately they have yet to respond to my email. If they are or are not planning on removing the themeing from the rides at Kings Island I feel they should at least do minimal maintenance on the ride's themeing, like having the audio playing. Shame on you Cedar Fair for letting this good ride slipping below even Paramount standards.

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Jeff said:
No, it would be silly to relocate the ride. Just turn off the lights instead.

The funny thing is, I remember Jeff Siebert on a tour during a previous BeastBuzz saying how they could roll scenery out of the way and open the giant doors to get in there and change all of the theme elements if they ever needed to. Now, I suppose they could just pull them out and truly make it what enthusiasses called it to begin with: A Top Spin-in-a-Box!

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Maybe I didn't get the humor in the statement, but it sure doesn't come off as being nice at all. Anyone who knows me, or has read my posts knows that I'm a huge flatride junkie. I travel to carnivals usually every year to ride the rare and/or newest flats out there, not to mention that I like riding some flats at parks I go to.

I'm sorry, I've ridden Tomb Raider the Ride twice now, and my opinion has not changed one bit of it--it's a Giant Top Spin in a huge metal box that's extremely jerky, and now that most of the ride doesn't work and is all lit-up in the beginning and the end, what's the point? One of the things I thought was really cool was that you couldn't see the ride when loading--only your seats.

If according to the YouTube video, the ride is supposed to be telling a story, and it's not doing that, than shut-it-down and get someone to fix-it-up properly.