Standard & Poor dropped Disney's credit rating to its third lowest level recently. While expected, it still marks the second time S&P has lowered it this year. And they don't expect it to rise for at least a year.
THE DISTANT FUTURE MIGHT BE BRIGHT
Entertainment Weekly - Oct 4
Abarat Website
Clive Barker takes on Harry Potter! Yes, you read that right. The creator of Pinhead has just published his first book for junior. Why is this important to TPI? Because Disney wisely made a deal with Barker. If the books take off, and there does seem to be a lot of publicity for them, Disney is chomping at the bit to turn the graphic (that means pictures, not gore!) series into their own Harry Potter merchandising frenzy. This would include probably at least a theme park land if not a whole park. Check out the Harper Collins site for the look of Abarat and for what Disney might look like in the future.
THIS BITES
Orlando Sentinel - Oct 3
In SeaWorld's continuing quest to provide theme park attractions no other park can offer, they are now swimming with sharks. Well, people paying $125 can swim with them, or more accurately go down in a shark cage with them. Along with the recently opened false killer whale program ($200), SeaWorld is offering a lot of options for those willing to fork out the big bucks on vacation.
THIS SUCKS
CNN - Sept 30
The Romanian government is having problems in its bid to turn a chunk of Transylvanian land into a Dracula theme park. Some are claiming the park will be environmentally problematic, while other bemoan the cultural clash in the medieval town of Sighisoara, where Vlad the Impaler, the person Count Dracula was modeled on, was born. Others think the park will bring blood-drinkers and Satanists to the area. Apparently some people have given up on organizing Harry Potter boycotts.
1 - Will the "Abarat" books make great park attractions? Will movies have to be made first?
2 - Is getting cagey with the sharks worth major bucks? Sand sharks and such aren't exactly great whites.
3 - What do you think about a Dracula theme park? What would it need to be successful?
So why doesn't Universal cash in and create an entire park, or heck, just a land, devoted to its classic monsters?
I've pitched the idea for a Monster Drive-In attraction before on some thread around here. Basically, you'd sit in classic cars in a large indoor auditorium made to look like an outdoor movie theater (think Sci-Fi Drive-In at Disney-MGM). You'd be watching a clip job of classic Universal monster flicks when some of the monsters would jump of the screen and start attacking the audience. (A little Terminator influence here).
That's when you find that your "cars" are actually trackless ride vehicles, guided through a computer-controlled wireless system.
The monsters then "chase" you and the other cars through a show building a various scenes as your cars race to escape the drive-in. The system can be programmed with multiple ride scenarios, a la Indiana Jones, so no rides would be the same.
Why doesn't Universal build this? (Yeah, I know, money. Blah, blah, blah.) Do this in California as the centerpiece of a new "Classic Monsters" land, though, and Universal wouldn't need gimmicks and discounts to fill up that park.
