Cedar Point and Kings Island

[LORisAwesome]

Hi

 

I just returned from a vacation to some Amusement parks in Ohio - Kings Island the Cedar Point.

 

I took some photo's of the ferris wheel at Cedar Point.  It looks like they are using RGB Pixels on the Ferris Wheel.  I also spotted some LOR controllers in another part of the park.

 

The animations on the Ferris Wheel were really cool.  I don't know if they were using LOR software on the Ferris Wheel, but I guess it is a possibility.

 

Jerry

[caniac]

Hi

 

I just returned from a vacation to some Amusement parks in Ohio - Kings Island the Cedar Point.

 

I took some photo's of the ferris wheel at Cedar Point.  It looks like they are using RGB Pixels on the Ferris Wheel.  I also spotted some LOR controllers in another part of the park.

 

The animations on the Ferris Wheel were really cool.  I don't know if they were using LOR software on the Ferris Wheel, but I guess it is a possibility.

 

Jerry

we have a traveling carnival that comes thru here and all of their rides are outfitted with some sort of RGB's, the effects are awesome.

[Orville]

Yes, seems the Carnivals everywhere have gone to the RGB L.E.D. lighting.   We've had several here and every one that has had a Ferris Wheel has been fitted with the RGB lighting, some of the other ride attractions also were outfitted with the RGB L.E.D. lighting too.

[LORisAwesome]

Forgot to mention.  Kings Island had a light show set up too.  I saw some leaping arches, and some big stars.   I couldn't tell what kind of controllers they had.

 

The sequencing on the arches was disappointing.  All they did was fade random segments in and out.  No leaping at all. 

 

The big stars were nice.  They were five pointed stars, it looked like they had multiple colors, but only red was in use as far as I could tell.  The stars seemed to be divided into six channels, the center pentagon being the sixth.

 

Jerry

[steve synek]

Cedar Point had a great light display on the Frontier Trail two years ago .........but cut it back last year.  

Did they have the lights going on the Wind Seeker? It has pretty nice LED's on it?

 

Steve

[LORisAwesome]

Yes the lights were also on the Windseeker, they looked to be RGB also, but I didn't get any photos of it.

 

They still have the light show on the frontier trail.  That is where I saw the LOR controllers.  Just animation though no music.

 

We were there to ride the rollercoasters.  Love the Millinium Force, Maverick, and Top Thrill Dragster.  The new Gatekeeper is ok, but kind of tame.  Unfortunately for us some of the rides we wanted to go on were down the whole time we were there. 

 

Jerry

[james campbell]

during Christmas the Cincinnati zoo does the festival of lights..My sister started using or for the  first time this year and after a trip to the zoo she sent me a pic of a lor control used in the show. she thought that was cool. here is a link to some of the show

[morte615]

I actually work on the frontier trail show at Cedar Point and know all the inside info. When i get to a real computer in a day or two I will type a bunch of it up, so anyone have questions I can answer?

Also the giant wheel does not use lor they use phillips color connects software for that and windseeker.

[steve synek]

I actually work on the frontier trail show at Cedar Point and know all the inside info. When i get to a real computer in a day or two I will type a bunch of it up, so anyone have questions I can answer? Also the giant wheel does not use lor they use phillips color connects software for that and windseeker.

Morte615

  I get a season pass and visit every year but don't get there till July.  I will ask why they cut back on the show and how come it looks like they (C.P) doesn't take full advantage of what some of the lights can do. Specifically- It appears there is/was  a large amount of RBG dome type lights on the ceiling of the covered passage way under the Millennium Force.  They always seem to operate in a very simple color -like blue or white-and not take advantage of RGB ?  There was also a star type pattern on the roof of the Wood shop last year that didn't seem to work.   Is there further cuts in the lighting this year?

 

As a Christmas Light guy, this was a little disappointing to see the cut backs. I do appreciate all the work for the little time the lights can operate. It doesn't get dark till after 9 and the park doesn't have much operating time remaining for the night.

 

 

Steve

[morte615]

Sorry that should have read I have WORKED on the trail. I am not working for Cedar Point Live Entertainment this year (currently working for Opera Saratoga in Saratoga NY) but I was involved with the Starlight Experience (the actual name of the show on the Frontier Trail) in 2011 and kinda in 2012. In 2011 the trail got hit by lightning right at the beginning of the 2011 season and it was decided not to spend the money to get the show completely up and running again. That entire season was spent doing what we could  (part time at that, no full time people anymore) to get it working but the park just didn't want to spend the money to fix things.

 

Last year with Luminosity opening they decided to strip the staff from the trail and just put the lights on automatic without a soundtrack and no maintenance for bad strings. This year they kinda threw it in with the main midway but they are just maintaining and not improving. I have a write up on another forum for theater people (http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/multimedia-projection-show-control/26483-cedar-point-starlight-experience.html#post234552) you may want to scroll up and read the entire thing for a behind the scenes look. Also there is a video from the events opening season that shows a good background on what is used. (https://vimeo.com/5167405)

 

As for Steve's question above the little globes in the tunnel and the woodcarvers shop (former) and the Glass Blowers theater are RGB pixels by Philips Color Kinetics and they are capable of so much more than they are used for but the original programmer for the show didn't use them and the park did not want to pay to reprogram them. My partner on the trail did some work with them and programmed an american flag bit for the fourth of July that was put into regular rotation.

 

Mostly the park spends lots of money on a show when it starts and then doesn't spend any money after that. That's "ok" for a show in a theater but for a show like this you need an ongoing budget for repair and programming to keep it fresh. Last year we were originally told that the trail would not run at all, then 3 days before the park opened they asked us (my partner and I) to set it up to run on it's own and replace what we could, then they would not do ANY maintenance during the season so they just wrote it off. At this point I would rather see it gone completely then the butchered version it is at now. Sorry rant over but I spent a lot of time on the trail and hate to see it just drift off like that.

[LORisAwesome]

Thanks Morte, very interesting.

[Frybread]

For those Geeks among us. (which I am guessing is most of us) that was a neat video to watch.

Does anybody else find it ironic that all the highend electonics and controls are held in a log cabin?  

[steve synek]

Sorry that should have read I have WORKED on the trail. I am not working for Cedar Point Live Entertainment this year (currently working for Opera Saratoga in Saratoga NY) but I was involved with the Starlight Experience (the actual name of the show on the Frontier Trail) in 2011 and kinda in 2012. In 2011 the trail got hit by lightning right at the beginning of the 2011 season and it was decided not to spend the money to get the show completely up and running again. That entire season was spent doing what we could  (part time at that, no full time people anymore) to get it working but the park just didn't want to spend the money to fix things.

 

Last year with Luminosity opening they decided to strip the staff from the trail and just put the lights on automatic without a soundtrack and no maintenance for bad strings. This year they kinda threw it in with the main midway but they are just maintaining and not improving. I have a write up on another forum for theater people (http://www.controlbooth.com/forums/multimedia-projection-show-control/26483-cedar-point-starlight-experience.html#post234552) you may want to scroll up and read the entire thing for a behind the scenes look. Also there is a video from the events opening season that shows a good background on what is used. (https://vimeo.com/5167405)

 

As for Steve's question above the little globes in the tunnel and the woodcarvers shop (former) and the Glass Blowers theater are RGB pixels by Philips Color Kinetics and they are capable of so much more than they are used for but the original programmer for the show didn't use them and the park did not want to pay to reprogram them. My partner on the trail did some work with them and programmed an american flag bit for the fourth of July that was put into regular rotation.

 

Mostly the park spends lots of money on a show when it starts and then doesn't spend any money after that. That's "ok" for a show in a theater but for a show like this you need an ongoing budget for repair and programming to keep it fresh. Last year we were originally told that the trail would not run at all, then 3 days before the park opened they asked us (my partner and I) to set it up to run on it's own and replace what we could, then they would not do ANY maintenance during the season so they just wrote it off. At this point I would rather see it gone completely then the butchered version it is at now. Sorry rant over but I spent a lot of time on the trail and hate to see it just drift off like that.

Thanks for the reply Morte.............you do confirm my observations...............I can't imagine your irritation as I agree the initail hard work is just slipping into disrepair.

 

Steve