Dino-eye

Originally uploaded by indigoskye

Tuesday night we made it over to Downtown Disney’s Marketplace to experience “T-Rex” the latest addition to the food and entertainment options. Lines were long, but moved fast as guests were entered into a virtual queue to wait for their tables. Inside the place was loud, but everything seemed surprisingly well run for the first night open to the public.

T-Rex, developed by Schussler Creative, Inc. and operated by Landry’s Restaurants, Inc., features dining and retail in a 30,000-square-foot, 600-seat, family-friendly interactive prehistoric environment. The concept is built around water, fire and ice: Guests are greeted with life-size animatronic dinosaurs among cascading waterfalls, bubbling geysers, a fossil dig site and much more.

Invevitably T-Rex will be compared to the Rainforest Cafe, another concept from Schussler Creative. The food selections, although named according to the theme, were surprisingly similar to what you could find at Rainforest Cafe. We found the food to be just a notch above Rainforest in quality and the portions just a bit smaller. The general feeling at our table was that it was a good value for what you got.

We were seated in the absolute busiest part of the restaurant. Everyone walking in had to pass right by our table. It was distracting at times, but you never feel like you’re in a factory instead of a restaurant. A word of advice, don’t let yourself be seated in the Ice Cave. The blue light makes it difficult to read your menu and all the food looks gray under it. Not very appetizing.

The whole place was very loud. Much louder than Rainforest normally is. If I had a child that was upset by loud noises or flashing lights, I would avoid this restaurant.

Decorated as it is for the Dinosaur set, there are plenty of photo opportunities with giant creatures. However, the way the themes but right up against each other was a bit odd.

For instance, I have no idea what the solar system over the store area has to do with the theme of this place. Unless it’s a subtle reminder that humanity is fragile and a single meteor shower could wipe out all life once again. That’s a comforting thought to dine to.

Here’s another comparison to Rainforest Cafe. When you go to Rainforest Cafe, you feel like you’re actually in the rain forest and all the animatroic devices are well hidden. Even the wires, cables, lights sprinklers are hidden too. Whereas at T-Rex, all that is clearly visible. So the verisimilitude is missing. This makes you feel like you’re at a restaurant instead of adventuring with Dinosaurs.

Apparently they spent $35 million on this place but were unable to afford a few dollars to hide the lights and cables. Too bad. It gives the atmosphere more of a kitschy carnival feeling and I think the guests react accordingly.

The end result is our five year old has no desire to return. That’s pretty much their target market. However, judging by the lines and the uniqueness of the audience (mostly one time visitors), I don’t think they’ll be hurting for business. Plus Downtown Disney really needed the extra dining seats.

So all in all I’m glad to see it finally open. Lot’s more photos over on Flickr.

Karen Stabiner asks in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times: What ever happened to being a plain old ‘customer’?

I don’t know about your friends, but my friends never ask me to pay when they invite me over for a good time. "Guest" implies free, or at least it used to. Lately, "guest" seems to mean something new — in return for paying for goods and services, we get the illusion of pleasant social interaction. No surly cuppa joe for a guest, no siree, but a customized, extra-hot, extra-dry, half-caff soy cappuccino served up with a smile, a little conversation and a polite "Thanks, have a nice day."

We used to be "customers," but now we’re "guests." It makes me feel ever so slightly self-conscious, like I should’ve dressed better to stand in line.

I’ve heard complaints liket this one before.  But I prefer Disney’s lingo.

Disney has reported the latest death of a 12-year old girl to the state. The state agency responsible for theme parks is not expected to investigate. Here are some other incidents from Disney’s two Water Parks that have been reported in the last few years:

The most serious water-park incident reported to the state by Disney
since 2001 was in February 2003 when a 31-year-old woman fell on the
steps to a pool at Typhoon Lagoon, fractured an ankle and later died of
a pulmonary embolism.

Three other Typhoon Lagoon incident reports were filed in recent years,
including one 46-year-old male who had a stroke, according to family
members. Five incidents were recorded at Blizzard Beach, another Disney
water park, between 2001 and June 2005, according to the most recent
state records. Most of the cases involved adults with bumps and sprains
but one was an 11-year-old boy who reportedly suffered a seizure.

(via Orlando Sentinel)

Keep in mind that millions of guests visit these parks each year. To average about one trip to the hospital for serious injury or death a year is a very very low rate. The question would be is Disney really reporting all the serious accidents and how many guests leave and goto the hospital on their own without notifying Disney?

This is not a post I wanted to be writing so soon. Local Orlando News is reporting the death today of a 12-year old girl at the Walt Disney World Resort’s Typhoon Lagoon Water park. The girl was found at 6PM on the edge of the large Wave pool by a lifeguard. She soon passed out and her pulse and breathing stopped. CPR was attempted and she later was pronounced dead at the nearby Celebration Hospital.

Today was a hot and humid day with highs in the upper 90s and humidity pushing the ‘feels like’ temps to aboe 100. I have to wonder if this has something to do with heat exhaustion. On hot days at the theme parks there are frequent calls to first aid for guests who just didn’t drink enough water or powerade. The same holds true at Water Parks where you may not realize you aren’t getting enough to drink. I’m not claiming this is what happened today, but drinking lots of water is good advice for any visitor to Orlando.

[ttags: disney, disneyworld, disney+world, wdw, typhoon+lagoon, water+park, death, accident ]

SeaWorld’s Discovery Cove is an early leader in the next generation of Theme Parks. Guests enjoy a unique experience with a really high ratio of staff to guests (sometimes it’s 5 to 1), no crowds (attendance is capped around 1000), in a highly themed environment. Well, as you might expect, that sort of experience is also quite expensive.

Eric from the Orlando Sentinel has found a way to save some money, use his Florida resident discount. What results is a great story that has me saving my pennies.

Latest reports indicate that 48 passengers were on the two trains. Of those 15 were taken to the hospital with injuries. I’ve assembed this report from various people who were on the scene or heard about it from people who were there. But it seems a fairly likely scenario to me:

California Screamin’ was
running 5 trains at the time. Two trains were in the loading area, one on each side For some reason
the trains were not dispatched in the normal time period.  At this point I don’t know why.
Perhaps a problem with guests getting in and out of the cars. The
third train was just around the corner in the normal "waiting for a
clear spot in the load area" position.  The fourth train (the red train taht got hit from behind) had stopped since
the third train was stopped in the brake zone in front of it. This could be bad news and could cause the ride to cascade to a stop.  Cascading to a stop is a normal operating procedureand. What went wrong is the fact the fifth train
did not stop at the proper spot.

Why it did not stop is the question and
something the California DOSH will no doubt be looking into. Did the computer allow the 5th
train past the brake zone, even though the next zone was "occupied"? Were there problems with the brake fins on the fifth train?? Was it operator error?

California Screamin’ will probably remained closed for safety inspection and any repairs deemed necessary for at least a month, possibly longer. That’s bad news for the park which was having a hard time drawing in the crowds with it’s neighbor, Walt’s Original Park, celebrating it’s 50th Anniversary across the way.

[ttags: disney, disneyland, dca, safety, rollercoaster, coaster, accident, screamin, injury, california+adventure ]

This image from KNBC.com (more images with the story) shows the two roller coaster trains together. The Purple train ran into the back of the red train that sits to the right of the image. They are in a braking zone. The railing on the right of the track is an emergency unloading zone if a train has to stop in a braking area.

From what I can tell this is the next to last braking zone before the train enters the station. Trains entering this braking zone would not generally come to a full stop. But they would if there was a train ahead of them waiting to enter the station.

Firefighters had to use a cherry picker to help some guests evacuate as the rear cars of the second train was stopped outside the emergency unloading zone.

Update: Reports now say that the collision did not take place at a high rate of speed. Which would indicate that the purple train had slowed down some in the braking zone before hitting the red train. The cars feature over-the-head restraints, which I hope would reduce any whiplash type injuries.

More updates here and here.

There has been a crash on California Screamin’ the big coaster at California Adventure, the second gate at Disneyland Resort. TV images and reports indicate that one train stopped partially out of the final braking zone and a second train ran into the back of it. The LA Times reports that over 60 guests were reported injured.

These sorts of accidents just aren’t supposed to happen. Safeties are supposed to be in place to prevent the Roller Coaster cars from getting within two break zones of each other. Being in the same brake zone is just unforgivable. Heads need to roll at Disneyland as these accidents just continue to happen. Let’s hope none of these injuries were too serious.

[ttags: disneyland, dca, dlr, disney, rollercoaster, coaster, injury, accident, safety ]