ALTERNATIVE REALITY WHILE OTHER ENTERTAINMENTS STRUGGLE, NEED FOR ESCAPISM KEEPS THEME PARK ATTENDANCE SURPRISINGLY HEALTHY.Byline: Jerry Rice Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962 in Crawford, Mississippi) is a former football wide receiver in the NFL. Rice is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in NFL history, consistently showing exceptional performance and strong work ethic on and off of the field. Staff Writer IF THEME park attendance can be used as a measure of how Southern Californians are doing, the mood may not be as bad as one might expect. Despite the war in Iraq, an economy that remains stuck in the doldrums and the continuing orange security alert, attendance at attractions in the region is holding steady in 2002 - and in some cases running slightly ahead of last year. There's an explanation, says Tim O'Brien Tim O'Brien can refer to:
``It's natural, for Americans especially, that unless we are so mired mire n. 1. An area of wet, soggy, muddy ground; a bog. 2. Deep slimy soil or mud. 3. A disadvantageous or difficult condition or situation: the mire of poverty. v. down in doom and gloom doom and gloom n. Gloom and doom. doom  -and-gloom adj. on a one-to-one basis, like in our own
neighborhood, we are going to continue living our lives,'' he
says. ``A parent wants to make their kids as happy as possible. A lot of
people are concerned about the war and all that, so what better way is
there (to forget about your concerns) than get out and do other
things?''
Although theme parks generally don't release attendance figures, representatives at four of the seven major Southland locations say that recent turnout remains strong. (Spokesmen for the other three wouldn't comment for this story.) If that is true, it would mean theme park attendance is at odds with other measures of how Americans are spending both their dollars and free time. Consider: -- Business at the nation's movie theaters has been depressed since before the start of the war in Iraq, with last Friday through Sunday off 10 percent from the comparable year-ago weekend, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. box-office tracker Nielsen EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) The electronic communication of business transactions, such as orders, confirmations and invoices, between organizations. Third parties provide EDI services that enable organizations with different equipment to connect. . -- ShopperTrak RCT RCT Randomized Controlled Trial RCT Regimental Combat Team (infantry regiment with their own artillery, engineers, medical and tanks) RCT Rollercoaster Tycoon RCT Randomized Clinical Trial RCT Rhondda Cynon Taff , which surveys customer traffic in malls, discount stores and other retail outlets, reported a 9.9 percent decline in sales the last week of March compared with 2002. -- And while ratings are up at CNN CNN or Cable News Network Subsidiary company of Turner Broadcasting Systems. It was created by Ted Turner in 1980 to present 24-hour live news broadcasts, using satellites to transmit reports from news bureaus around the world. , Fox News Channel and MSNBC MSNBC Microsoft/National Broadcasting Company with their round-the-clock war coverage, the Oscars last month suffered their worst viewership numbers ever. So why aren't theme parks suffering more? Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, residents are vacationing closer to home, observers say, making up for the dramatic decline in international travel. But there's more to it than that. ``After 9-11, our guests were very appreciative of the fact that we reopened so they could have an outlet to escape the realities of the world,'' says spokesman Andy Gallardo at Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain is an amusement park located just west of the Valencia neighborhood of Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles. It opened on Memorial Day weekend on May 29, 1971 as Magic Mountain, by the Newhall Land and Farming Company,[1] in Valencia. ``The way things are going now, there's that same type of feeling in the park.'' John Addis, director of entertainment productions for Disneyland in Anaheim, agrees. ``This is one of those safe havens,'' he says. ``Parents always know that Disney will come through with a diversion.'' Four new diversions are debuting this weekend. California Adventure, Disneyland, Legoland and Magic Mountain all are launching new rides or attractions that park officials hope will continue to drive attendance during spring break and into the summer. ``The value of the additions is real important - especially at this time for the industry when the whole season is a coin flip,'' O'Brien says. ``We don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. how things are going to go in terms of the world situation and economy. We've never entered a (busy) season more unbalanced than we are going into this one.'' 4 new ways to have fun FOUR SOUTHERN California theme parks are launching four new ways to have fun. But there's only one reason the debuts are going head-to-head this weekend: ``It's spring break,'' says Bruce Gordon, the Walt Disney Imagineering project director behind Disneyland's new ride, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The other three parks giving guests something fresh to check out are California Adventure (``Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage,'' a show featuring Disney Channel characters popular with preschoolers), Legoland (Bionicle Blaster, a spinning ride using the toy line as its theme) and Six Flags Magic Mountain (Scream! - the region's first floorless roller coaster The floorless roller coaster is a fairly new concept brought forth by coaster manufacturers, Bolliger & Mabillard. Floorless dive coasters have a trapezoid in the front. The first ever floorless coaster debuted in 1999 at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, USA. ). ``Four extremely different things are opening up at four different parks in different locations. It should be great,'' says Legoland spokeswoman Stacy Slingerland. Two other Southland theme parks are waiting until next month to open their new attractions. SeaWorld will have the 4-D movie ``R.L. Stine's Haunted Lighthouse,'' and Universal Studios Hollywood will be countering with its multisensory multisensory /mul·ti·sen·so·ry/ (mul?te-sen´sah-re) capable of responding to more than one kind of sensory input, as certain neurons in the central nervous system. feature ``Shrek 4-D.'' Both are expected to open by Memorial Day. In the meantime Adv. 1. in the meantime - during the intervening time; "meanwhile I will not think about the problem"; "meantime he was attentive to his other interests"; "in the meantime the police were notified" meantime, meanwhile , here's a look at the attractions opening this weekend: Six Flags Magic Mountain Get ready to Scream! - literally. Magic Mountain's 16th roller coaster offers a ride experience unlike any other, says park spokesman Andy Gallardo. ``Scream! combines traditional coaster technology, but it adds a unique floorless train design where riders are strapped, basically, into flying chairs,'' he says. ``Their feet dangle dangle Nursing A popular term for the first movement a Pt is allowed, either after surgery under general anesthesia, or 'under local', where the recuperee allows his/her feet to dangle over the side of the bed in the air above the track, and there's no track above their head and nothing on the sides of the seat. You're going to feel like you're flying - similar to a hood ornament on a car - around this track.'' Reaching speeds of 65 mph, and featuring a first drop that measures 150 feet, the three-minute ride is in the park's Colossus Colossus - (A huge and ancient statue on the Greek island of Rhodes). 1. Scream! joins a roster of world-record roller coasters at the Valencia theme park. Magic Mountain already has the tallest roller coaster (Superman the Escape), the tallest and fastest stand-up roller coaster A stand-up roller coaster is a roller coaster designed to have the passengers stand through the course of the ride. Typically, the passenger is restrained by an adjustable, bicycle-like seat and an over-the-shoulder (OTS) restraint. (Riddler's Revenge), the tallest and fastest suspended looping boomerang boomerang (b  `mərăng'), special form of throwing stick, used mainly by the aborigines of Australia. coaster (Deja Vu), the tallest looping coaster (Viper)
and the only hairpin-drop roller coaster (Flashback flash·backn. 1. An unexpected recurrence of the effects of a hallucinogenic drug long after its original use. 2. A recurring, intensely vivid mental image of a past traumatic experience. ), among others. Says Gallardo: ``Now we've got the first floorless coaster in Southern California to add to that list.'' California Adventure It's show time for Bear, Rolie Polie Olie, Stanley and other Disney Channel characters in ``Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage.'' The 21-minute show - which takes over the former ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. Soap Opera Bistro in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot Hollywood Pictures Backlot is a themed land at Disney's California Adventure park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. The area is based as a backlot of a Hollywood studio and has attractions themed to this concept. area - is split into four vignettes that entertain and teach lessons (like the importance of cleanliness). ``All of the segments are very sweet, and they have some sort of lesson or in some way stimulate children into thinking and imagining,'' says John Addis, director of entertainment productions at Disneyland. If your kids are more familiar with Nickelodeon's ``Blues Clues'' than Disney's ``Rolie Polie Olie,'' that's OK. There are nine video monitors in the waiting area that introduce all of the characters. Disneyland Everyone's favorite honey-loving bear and his friends from the Hundred-Acre Wood come to life in The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Actually, there are 3 1/2 minutes worth of adventures: First is the blustery blus·ter v. blus·tered, blus·ter·ing, blus·ters v.intr. 1. To blow in loud, violent gusts, as the wind during a storm. 2. a. To speak in a loudly arrogant or bullying manner. day, then rains come and create a floody place. Tigger quickly leads everyone to Pooh's house, where the silly ol' bear drifts off to sleep, but the dreaded Heffalumps and Woozles invade his dreams. Pooh's dream changes to Hunny Heaven and, at the end, his friends wake him up to wish him a happy birthday. ``Each scene is a very different environment, a different feeling,'' says Disney Imagineering's Gordon. ``All the music and the animation creates quite a fun adventure.'' The ride occupies the old Country Bear Theater, a facility that posed some challenges during the construction. The floors had to be filled in, and the building's ceiling is higher than other dark rides at the park. Designers took advantage of that extra height and created some larger- than-usual scenes. Meanwhile, Disneyland's iconic ``Space Mountain'' ride has closed for renovations and is set to reopen during Disneyland's 50th anniversary celebration in April 2005. Legoland If you've experienced the Mad Tea Party at Disneyland, you'll have an idea of what you're in for riding the Bionicle Blaster. Here's how it works: Twelve cars sit on a spinning platform, and each set of three vehicles on that platform rotates counterclockwise. At the same time, up to five riders control a single wheel, spinning each car: The faster they turn it, the wilder the ride. ``The guests inside the cars really determine how fast or how slow the ride goes,'' says Legoland's Slingerland. Inspired by the Bionicle line of action toys that won two awards from the American Toy Industry Association The Toy Industry Association, Inc. (TIA) is the not-for-profit trade association for producers and importers of toys and youth entertainment products sold in North America, representing over 500 companies who account for approximately 85% of domestic toy sales. , the Bionicle Blaster is the fifth new ride added to the lineup at the Carlsbad theme park since it opened in 1999. And there's more in the works. Coming May 15 is the Lego Sports Center and Sports Cafe. That attraction will have three main themes - basketball, football and soccer. ``It will have some interactive elements like a quarterback toss, a free- throw shot and a dribble and kick for soccer,'' Slingerland says. ``There also will be three life-size NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= 'players' made completely out of Lego bricks.'' The opening is timed to coincide with Lego's new sports line. PLAYHOUSE DISNEY - LIVE ON STAGE Where: California Adventure, 1313 S. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim. Tickets: $47 for adults, $37 for ages 3 to 9. Information: (714) 781-4400; www.disneyland.com. THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH Where: Disneyland, 1313 S. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim. Tickets: $47 for adults, $37 for ages 3 to 9. Information: (714) 781-4400; www.disneyland.com. BIONICLE BLASTER Where: Legoland, 1 Legoland Drive, Carlsbad. Tickets: $41.95 for adults, $34.95 for ages 3 to 12, 60 and older. Information: (760) 918-5346; www.legoland.com. SCREAM! Where: Six Flags Magic Mountain, 26101 Magic Mountain Parkway, Valencia. Tickets: $44.99 for adults, $29.99 for children 48 inches and shorter and seniors age 55 and older. Information: (661) 255-4111 or (818) 367-5965; www.sixflags.com. CAPTION(S): 4 photos, 5 boxes Photo: (1 -- cover -- color) The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh at Disneyland (2) SCREAM! (3) PLAYHOUSE DISNEY - LIVE ON STAGE (4) BIONICLE BLASTER Box: (1) 4 new ways to have fun (see text) (2) PLAYHOUSE DISNEY - LIVE ON STAGE (see text) (3) THE MANY ADVENTURES OF WINNIE THE POOH (see text) (4) BIONICLE BLASTER (see text) (5) SCREAM! (see text) |
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