I was at Marineland yesterday and took some more pictures of the new Topple Tower. You can click on the images to see a larger version.
This is a picture of the ride and surrounding area
Since I was there last Friday, almost all of the paving stone has been put down. As you can see, the area is still fenced off
This is the main building where the queue line will be. It’s quite large, so they must be expecting it to be busy
I was by this part of Marineland around 7 pm. Since it was late, no workers were around, and the seats had been lowered to the ground
This is a close-up of the walrus that sits on top of the ride. As you can see, it doesn’t have a crown, so I doubt it is King Waldorf. They are probably just trying to keep with the nautical theme
Since I was there, I asked 3 different people when the ride was going to open…
The first one, was someone who was at the entrance to Dragon Mountain. I asked him if he knew when it was going to open, and he just shook his head no and didn’t say a word (great customer service). I pushed him a little, and he said he assumed was opening soon. He said the ride is working, and they just have to put the fencing around the ride and put in the queue railings.
The second person was at the snack bar near Topple Tower and Dragon Mountain. I asked her if she knew when the new ride was going to open. She was cleaning the popcorn machine, and with her back to me said she didn’t know. She never even turned to look at me (great customer service).
The third person was in the Whale Shop. She was a lot nicer, and said she thought it was supposed to open this year, but since it wasn’t open yet, she assumed it wasn’t opening this year. She said they don’t tell them much around there.
So the bottom line is that the ride is obviously close to being done, but there doesn’t seem to be a firm date of when it will be open.
Related posts
- Marineland development update (Topple Tower and Dragon Mountain)...
- Topple Tower progress at Marineland...
- Yet another Marineland Topple Tower update...
- Topple Tower almost open at Marineland...
- Marineland Topple Tower video...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Surprise surprise. It’s the great customer-service levels of the amusement industry!
I’m actually more surprised that they’d treat you like that at a independant park vs. a chain like Six Flags or Cedar Fair… because family-owned really have to depend on good service for happy guests to return back vs. the gimmick of another new ride or attraction. I’d express my displeasure with guest services (if they have one) of the wonderful attitudes of customer-service.
There’s nothing that makes a park more fun than employees really interacting with the guests. Either a ride-op, food service, or even maintaince… nothing makes you feel more welcoming at a park when an employee acknowledges your existance and interacts.
As for Topple Tower… is there a sign that this is the actual name for the ride, yet? How big would you compare that queue-line to, in terms of other amusement attractions around the area (Darien Lake, Canada’s Wonderland)? It does look rather large… especially when I’ve experienced Marineland crowds that were less than stellar on a sunny summer weekend at that!
Marineland is a park that relies mainly on tourists, these people aren’t going to come back for at least another year (most will never come back) so why should we treat them good, we do not rely on return customers or local business but rather tourists that visit us one-time. If you go to Marineland you are treated as a tourist whether or not you are one.
My other question would be what is this rides target audience, is it the children, teens, adults or everyone? From my first impressions I understand that this is a ride geared mostly for children and teens. But Marineland is good because adults can go on pretty much any kiddie ride there maybe with 1-2 exceptions.
First… the ride targets familys & thrill seekers alike.
Second… how can you really say that it relies mainly on tourists when it seems about 90% of their marketing dollars are spent on local media channels for those wonderfully annoying Marineland commercials only targeting buffalo, Toronto, Rochester, Erie, & Syracuse?
I have been waiting for this ride to open for at least 2 or 3 years.
This ride is more geared towards young adults / teenagers rather than smaller children.
PS: I am sad, but not shocked that they skimmped on the ride, it was supposed to have a water fountain at the bottom… so when the ride dips all the way to the side that people would get sprayed from the fountain.
Check out the ride in action: http://www.hussrides.com/digitalvideo/mpg/ToppleTower.mpg
Thanks for the link to the video Scott. Good stuff!
I never heard that there was going to be a fountain (as is shown in the video). The original announcement never mentioned a fountain.
That’s because it never was supposed to, Graham… that is only one of the concepts, and one of the many themes that it could use, but in the press-release & even from Huss’ website, it was never mentioned that Marineland’s version would have a fountain.
Thanks for the photos. Interesting HUSS has changed the design of their manufacturer plate after all these years.
HUSS shifted all their manufacturing to Budapest, Hungary a few years ago; around the same they changed their name too (Park Attractions). They laid off most of their fabrication team to focus mostly on design of non-transportable flatrides.
I guess I never really noticed anything wrong with the MarineLand employees any time I visit; I don’t usually talk to them, but if I do they’ve all been friendly or eager to help. The people who work with the animals, anyway, are obviously really proud of what they do.
Sara and Dan, I agree with both of you. I do think they don’t worry enough about the locals, and may consider tourists a one-shot deal. Not great thinking either way. Many Pittsburghers go to privately-owned Kennywood at least once a year - and if it were run that way, I don’t think Pittsburghers would put up with it. We are lucky to have such a great amusement park. They don’t overdo TV advertising here as far as I see.
As far as the advertising goes….there are TVs in the hotels where the tourists are. I used to spend more time in the hotel rooms before the casino came along - I wasn’t one for the once-limited Niagara night life. I was bound to see a Marineland commercial between rounds of curling. I think that’s their objective.
Plug for Kennywood….
http://www.kennywood.com/
If anyone likes a great wooden coaster - we have the world’s best - the Thunderbolt. We have a few others that are fantastic, too.
I’m going to MarineLand on July 18th. I’ve been waiting for this ride since i saw a clear space of land beside Dragon’s Mountain. I think tis is going to be a good ride mainly because of the ride sequence. It spins, falls?topples over, then keeps going for like a minute or so.
I’m happy they put this ride in MarineLand for one reason: When you go to Marineland there isn’t usually waits. You could just hop on it. If it were in Wonderland you’d be waiting more than a half an hour for it.
That’s a step in the park’s rides. At Marineland you might have noticed that huge empty piece of land across from Friendship Cove. They should put in a ride that loops around in 360 degrees that’s not a coaster. They have TONS of land left.
Yeah, thats what I was thinking with my comments, the people staying in the hotels will see the commericals on TV and they will come to the park. I am sure Marineland is heavily promoted in the hotels as well. It also doesn’t hurt that the locals are bombarded with the commericals as well.
We have a good amusement park here its called Martin’s Fantasy Island however the park is mainly geared towards the 4-12 age bracket and its really not enough to entertain an adult for a full day, the last couple times I have gone there I got really bored with the park within a couple of hours. Don’t get me wrong its a VERY nice privately owned amusement park but it just does not have enough for an adult to do. This park is perfect for families with children ages 4-12 because it does not overwhelm the kids but has enough for them to do. I don’t personally like any of the rides they have except the silver comet really.
I mainly prefer the carnival-style rides so I usually hit up any carnival I can find or make it to around here.
i agree with rob….i live in hamilton and every 3rd commercial is for marineland..the point is..you hear the dam thing ONCE…and the tune is in yur head for the whole day…i think they planned it that way…lol…ever notice how little kids seem to do the exorcist thing with their head when that comes on??..next time there’s a kid around and that ad comes on….just watch…it’s amazing…
If you don’t bother to turn around, how would you know if the person you just blew off was a local or a tourist, how might you know anyway? When you work in the service industry, your job involves being nice to customers (even when you don’t want to be). But, shouldn’t you just try to be helpful regardless?
I was to Marineland once, about 20 years ago. I don’t really remember much about it, so apparently it didn’t make a big impact. I haven’t really thought of going back. Maybe we should though, since I don’t really remember much about it. HA!
Suze is definately right. I also live in Hamilton and I have a little sister who’s 4. Every time she watches pbs kids or whatever, she knows exactly when the commercial is coming on, past the blue WNED screen. When she sees that screen she starts to smile and then BOOM. She starts dancing. The song in the commercial is catchy, but it also kind of makes you want to go.
We also have another park around here called Canada’s Wonderland. When I go to that park you can’t even wait less than a half an hour for anything, even the kids little helicopter thing. It gets kind of annoying but therides are actually quite fun. It’s only busy like that cause of the name Paramount. I like all the rides there (except the little kids rides) but they are only like 30 seconds to 1 minute and a half, no longer.
Marineland is family so they can’t do the Ride warriors thing. That’s why the commercial has a song. Although the moretime you hear the more imes you find yourself singing along.
I just thought of something, why not put an “estimated to open date x” sign in front of the ride, this would quell customer questions about when the ride is going to open. Or even like, estimated to open october 2007 or something like that. It seems natural that customers will ask the employees when a new ride is going to open, you cannot put up a ride and NOT expect these questions as employees. A lot of parks put the “estimated to open” signs up for that reason.
The song is very catchy especially for children, and it does make them want to go so it works perfectly, I can see how an older kid would be annoyed by the song though.
Sara said to put a expected to open sign in front of it. That is a very good idea only because of the amount of questions being asked. The ride has been there for quite a while, it shouldn’t take much longer. Hopefully the ride opens this week or month. I’m going tomorrow so when i get back i’ll tell you guys bout whats going on over there. I don’t expect it to be open tomorrow though, hopefully by the 25th it will be ready to go!.
Ok, so now I think I want to go to back to Marineland again to check it out. LOL… I started looking up videos to see what this catchy tune was. Not sure I found it but here are a few links:
This video says 1991, I hope they aren’t playing a video from 1991?
MarineLand 1991 French Commercial Niagara Falls
Suzie McNeil - Marineland Sky Screamer
Just a Google search for Marineland Niagara Falls
Oops, don’t think those links are working… sorry
I fixed them for you.
I was just at MarineLand and they were putting in shrubs on the hill around the ride. The gates that are supposed to go around the ride are up. They still have a bunch of shrubs to plant. I’m going back again tomorrow. I asked a guy and he said that it sholud be open next week. They are almost done, they just have to clear out the queue area.
The Walrus’s name is Walter E. Walrus. I named him. LOL