Universal Studios- Transformers Ride
Some fortunate individual managed to capture the new Transformer Ride in Universal Studios Singapore.
While I’m not the biggest Transformers fan (movie… I grew up with the animated show and had a ton of the toys), this looks like I would be a lot of fun. Quite a bit like Spider-Man at their Orlando park.
Speaking of which…. Universal announced that they were closing the Jaws ride and the entire Amity area of the park (makes sense since it was so closely tied to the ride). No tears shed by me on this. Jaws should have been scary. It shouldn’t have been the ridiculous Jungle Cruise-esque thing that it became. Also never liked it for the forced-perspective buildings that one was never far enough away from for it them to really work.
Rumors are that a Harry Potter expansion will go in that area. Looking at the layouts of the two parks, it would be extremely hard for this to happen (plus it would be in a completely separate gated park from where the original goes.
To tie it together… I bet Transformers goes into the Jaws/Amity area. A version in Singapore has opened. Another in Hollywood is opening next year. Why not clone it a 3rd time for Orlando?
As for the Harry Potter expansion, that should go into the remainder of the “lost continent” area of Islands of Adventure that wasn’t taken over with the first build. They actually should have done this from the start. Harry Potter is being marketed as almost it’s own theme park. It is really just about half of the Lost Continent Area with a little more thrown in the back. It is well done (except for the size of the shops), but not marketed well. Expanding it into the Lost Continent entirely would be cheaper and really make the Harry Potter land, then land it really should be.
Carve Pumpkins with Cookie Cutters
If you aren’t into Extreme Pumpkin Carving, Fresh Home Ideas suggests using cookie cutters to assist. Good idea since they are basically big dies. Fast and easy.
Happy 40th Birthday, Walt Disney World
It was amazing to get up at the wee hours of the morning and trek out to Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom to be there for the 40th Anniversary.
I arrived at the Transportation and Ticket Center around 7:20 and parked in the 3rd row. The monorails weren’t running just yet, but there was an extremely extended rope queue set up with lots of balloons everywhere. I took the ferry over to the park.
Went through security, but had to wait outside of the turnstiles for a bit. Once they started letting people through, we had to wait in front of the train station for the welcome show. If you have seen this before, there wasn’t anything special added. A 40th banner hung on the fence above the Mickey floral planter and the mayor mentioned it being the 40th. That was it. By the time that welcome show started, the entire area was filled. The turnstile queue was easily backed up to the security tables if not beyond that. Hard to see. Lots of people there. Seemed like everyone was there for the 40th.
Once that was over, most everyone headed up Main Street and staked out their spot in front of Cinderella Castle for the ceremony. I was lucky to get pretty close. About 20-30 people deep from the stage. By the time the ceremony started, it was shoulder to shoulder. People everywhere. It felt like the crowds during a Christmas Parade taping.
Ran into Ricky Brigante from Inside the Magic who shot the above video. Met Ricky a few times at different events. Really nice guy.
Also met Noah from noahfineart.com who seems to be Disney’s current go to artist for all kinds of cool stuff. He was super nice too.
Amazon Kindle Fire- Preorder $199
Wow. It was rumored and now seems to be true. Amazon’s incredible update to their Kindle… the Kindle Fire!
My wife has a Kindle and loves it. I love it too (don’t tell her), but it just didn’t do quite as much as I would like for it too. I’m a fan of the iPad as well (don’t own one). It doesn’t do as much as I’d like either.
The Kindle Fire may be the thing.
Amazon just signed a release with Fox for streaming. Makes a whole lot of sense that they would want a portable device to put this on… and a device that would tie back to their eBook store, music store, and all other services.
Specs look good too. 7 inch display. Wifi. Color.
And just in time for Christmas.
Price — $199! Really? $199?
Me thinks the iPad is going to take a hit this shopping season.
thetikioasis.com – back in business
after a minor setback thanks to wordpress, Mr. Mai Tai has thetikioasis.com back up and running.
he laughs at such set backs… and curses them a bit.
good things are to come for my bruddah
Oh Snap- Mr. Mai Tai’s Tiki Oasis crash!
My buddy, Mr. Mai Tai tried to update his WordPress installation earlier today. He did just as good of a job as I did when I did this back in June. Lost his blog.
I feel bad for him as I do for anyone who loses this stuff. He can rebuild it stronger and better than it ever was before.
Go to thetikioasis.com and watch his progress.
Duct Tape Halloween Projects
Growing up I was always around a lot of duct tape. My father used it for everything. I learned how to properly tear duct tape when I was 4 or 5 (drives me nuts to see people cut it with scissors when they don’t need to). There is a DIY movement afoot to use duct tape for all kinds of stuff. Wallets seem to be a very popular project. Using that same technique, you can do more.
Jim and Tim (aka “The Duct Tape Guys”) show you how to use the common roll of duct tape to create magnificent Halloween costumes, props, and decorations.
Netflix Changes, Facebook Changes, Avatar coming to Disney Parks, and REM breaks up- what a week
Reed Hastings personally sent me an email earlier in the week to say that he’s sorry for the way the price changes were handled. But it wasn’t much of an apology since he only did it to say “and now for the rest” and proceeded to tell me that he is going to make using his service even harder by splitting up DVD by mail and Streaming into 2 companies… and with 2 websites. Thanks, Reed. You used to pride yourself on making the user experience great. Now, it is hard. But I guess this will make it easier to sell off the DVD by mail service.
Disney decides to take bring the Na’vi from Avatar to the parks. But they really don’t say anything more than they are going to put it at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. My guess is that they decided to make the partnership announcement to avoid any leaks (cause it was going to happen… Star Tours II / Fantasyland anyone??). I guess I’m looking forward to whatever they do in 5-6 years. What I find the most interesting is that James Cameron was involved with the development of T2:3D up I-4 at Universal Studios Orlando. That attraction is on its last legs. No one saw this coming. Much like the Marvel acquisition.
Then my buddy Mark Zuckerberg decided that he needed some love too and implemented weird changes to the Facebook UI. He didn’t tell anyone about this, though. I’m sure he messed with privacy settings again too. He likes to keep that a secret as well. Facebook is strong because people don’t want to disconnect with their “friends” and move to another service. I think it is a timebomb of privacy concerns waiting to happen (BTW- like this post at the bottom.. thanks!)
Not to be left out, REM announce that they are breaking up. I don’t really know what this means. Their last few albums have been weak. And they haven’t really put out a lot of stuff either. Maybe this was just to stop the major fans from asking about the next project. Maybe it was just to start building anticipation for a reunion tour in a few years. With the boys from Athens the best. Your music was a big part of my teenage and college years.
And holy cow… it is only Wednesday!
