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Main Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance FastCast - Thursday, September 5, 2019In 1993, a film premiered that was unlike anything that had come before it. Audiences worldwide were shocked by the incredible monsters it featured and the sheer terror wrought upon its main characters. Meanwhile, a 7-year old boy in Minnesota watched the film and thought, boy, that would be an amazing theme park. That film, of course, was Steven Spielberg’s masterpiece, Jurassic Park.
Our story begins in 1996 on the lower lot of Universal Studios Hollywood. There, the creative minds at Universal brought a small section of Isla Nublar to Southern California in Jurassic Park: The Ride. In th...
2019-09-0504 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance FastCast - Friday, September 5, 2019For those that love studying the history of the Disney parks, every once in a while a unique concept is stumbled upon. Something that is a little different from the castle parks and Vacation Club resorts. Every once in a while information comes out about one of Walt’s regional experiments, be it the famous Mineral King project in California or Riverfront Square in St Louis. Often these are seen as the Disneylands that never were, but there was one project that did come to life, and actually operated all the way up into the 1990’s. Located in my adop...
2019-09-0504 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance FastCast - Wednesday, September 4, 2019For today’s CreatiCore, we’re going to be talking about the segment’s namesake, Communicore. Designed as a two-in-one pavilion at the heart of Epcot Center’s Future World, Communicore was the community core of the park. While Communicore’s twin structures provided more context and detail about the themes of the Epcot Center pavilions, at its heart, Communicore introduced the public to the new and emerging realm of computers. In fact, Guests could see a presentation that showed them the nerve center of the entire park. Originally called the Astuter Computer Revue, it was quickly replaced with Backstage...
2019-09-0404 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance FastCast - Tuesday, September 3, 2019Today for our attraction spotlight, we’re going to incorporate a bit of a review as well. Nestled in the corner of Nickelodeon Universe at Bloomington, Minnesota’s Mall of America is an attraction that is simultaneously unique, yet very familiar. Inspired by Disney’s famous Soarin’ attractions, FlyOver America brings the flying theater concept to a very different venue. Opened in 2016, this attraction is the brainchild of Stephen Geddes and Andrew Strang, who originally opened FlyOver Canada, which is currently operating in Vancouver. After demonstrated success at that venue, the partners looked for a new location, and found it at th...
2019-09-0403 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance FastCast - Monday, September 2, 2019“A rising tide lifts all boats.”
Today’s motivational Monday quote is actually more of an aphorism. The source of this saying is not 100% known, but it is said to have been a part of the Chinese language for hundreds of years. While this phrase is often used in the context of economic development or politics, it actually can be quite appropriate to the realm of location based entertainment.
Let’s first look at a man named Walt in Southern California. No, not Walt Disney, rather Walter Knott, founder of Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park...
2019-09-0203 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance FastCast - Friday, August 30, 2019Imagine yourself in the early 80’s. You’re into the future, all of the promises of tomorrow, in fact, you’d love to get a glimpse of what the future has in store for you. Maybe you’d like to see a house of tomorrow. You hop in the family car and head to a destination that will show you exactly what you’ve been dreaming of. You step outside the car, and what do you see. Why, you see an incredible piece of fantastical architecture. Is that a UFO, or a space station? Eagerly, you line up for your ticke...
2019-08-3004 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance FastCast - Thursday, August 29, 2019Today, we’re going to be heading to infinity, and beyond, as we talk about that infamous Space Ranger, Buzz Lightyear, and his many attractions around the world.
Now, when talking about the many attractions to bear Buzz Lightyear’s name, it’s easy to think of Magic Kingdom having the original, but that’s actually not the case. As a matter of fact, Magic Kingdom was beaten by it’s now defunct quasi-sibling a few miles away, DisneyQuest. Buzz Lightyear AstroBlasters opened with DisneyQuest in 1998. Looking like a bumper car on steroids, AstroBlasters combined the driving and bumpin...
2019-08-2904 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance FastCast - Wednesday, August 28, 2019Welcome to very first CreatiCore! In the CreatiCore, we’re going to bring you stories and tidbits about the design and technology of Location-Based Entertainment. Today, we’re going to start with an example of design that often goes unnoticed, but really is interesting when you take a deeper look.
Main Street U.S.A. is the entryway into five of the six Disney castle parks. A love letter to turn of the 20th Century America, Main Street U.S.A. has been called an idealized view of Marceline, Missouri, the boyhood home of Walt Disney. Interestingly, many...
2019-08-2803 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance FastCast - Tuesday, August 27, 2019Welcome to our first Attraction Spotlight! Today, we’re not going to be talking about a theme park, a ride, or a museum, we’re going to be talking about something very different, and very popular. Sports and games really are a fundamental part of the human experience, from team sports like basketball and football, to digital sports, board games and even those games that get made up on the fly. But we’re going to focus on one sport today and a novel way it’s been brought to the masses. Today, we’re going to head to the links...
2019-08-2703 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance FastCast - Monday, August 26, 2019Welcome to the very first Main Entrance FastCast. As we mentioned last Friday, Monday’s will be Motivational Mondays. So what does that mean? Well, it means we’re going to start with a motivational quote and explore the quote in the context of a Location-Based Entertainment story or anecdote. We hope you’ll find these quotes and stories inspirational and that they’ll help get your week started on the right foot. So, here’s our quote for today, which we hope is appropriate to our new endeavor.
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you'r...
2019-08-2603 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance FastCast: Motivational Monday - August 26, 2019Welcome to the very first Main Entrance FastCast. As we mentioned last Friday, Monday’s will be Motivational Mondays. So what does that mean? Well, it means we’re going to start with a motivational quote and explore the quote in the context of a Location-Based Entertainment story or anecdote. We hope you’ll find these quotes and stories inspirational and that they’ll help get your week started on the right foot. So, here’s our quote for today, which we hope is appropriate to our new endeavor.
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you'r...
2019-08-2603 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance Cast Thought of the Day - August 23, 2019Greetings adventurers and welcome to the Main Entrance Cast Thought of the Day, a companion to the tri-weekly Main Entrance Podcast. I’m your host, Teknikipedia, and here’s your Thought of the Day for Friday, August 23rd, 2019.
Today our Thought of the Day is a little special in that it’s actually the very last one. Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere. Like we mentioned in Episode 4, the Thought of the Day has always been a placeholder name until we found something that better represented the spirit of what we are trying to do. We’ve trie...
2019-08-2302 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance Cast Thought of the Day - August 22, 2019Greetings adventurers and welcome to the Main Entrance Cast Thought of the Day, a companion to the tri-weekly Main Entrance Podcast. I’m your host, Teknikipedia, and here’s your Thought of the Day for Thursday, August 22nd, 2019.
Today marks the beginning of the Minnesota State Fair, also known as the Great Minnesota Get-Together. For the next 12 days, citizens and visitors will descend on the Twin Cities to experience the live entertainment, livestock and craft displays, unique shopping opportunities, and, of course, all the food. French fries, cheese curds, corn dogs, milkshakes, pizza, deep-fried Twinkies, so many food...
2019-08-2202 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance Cast Thought of the Day - August 21, 2019On this Wonderful Wednesday, we’re going to turn our attention to a natural wonder.
Location-based entertainment is wonderful in its endless diversity of experiences, and today we’re going to talk about one of the very best natural experiences out there, Mammoth Cave National Park.
The Mammoth-Flint Ridge Cave System is the longest cave system currently known in the world. The United States National Park that bears its name was established in 1941, but the cave has quite an interesting history that goes back thousands of years. Mammoth Cave was formed by acidic groundwater dissolving thin...
2019-08-2103 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance Cast Thought of the Day - August 20, 2019In 73 days, things get a little dark for a night. That’s right, we’re less than three months away from Halloween, and in the themed entertainment industry, perhaps no locale is more iconic than Universal Studios and their Halloween Horror Nights events. This year, Universal Orlando is featuring 10 haunted houses, 5 scare zones, and multiple live shows.
While there are countless great haunted events around the world, what makes Univeral so special is their ability to include beloved and even infamous franchises in terror. Among the sure-to-be stellar houses this year are Netflix’s Stranger Things, Jordan Peele’...
2019-08-2003 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance Cast Thought of the Day - August 19, 2019Have you ever heard the saying that, in design, no good idea goes to waste? This is a concept that has popped up multiple times, especially in the history of Disney parks. It’s not uncommon for an idea to get shelved for years or even decades, only to re-emerge at the most unexpected time. Today, let’s talk about one such idea, Edison Square, planned for Disneyland in California.
As told by Disney historian, Jim Korkis, the idea for an attraction based on how technology has improved life was dreamt up when Disneyland was a mere todd...
2019-08-1903 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance Cast Thought of the Day - August 16, 2019Is there a special place in your life that you would fight to protect, even knowing that the experience might be antiquated or obsolete? Let us know at connect@mainentrancecast.com. If you’d like to hear more about the balance or boundary between outdatedness and nostalgia, check out the latest episode of the Main Entrance Cast, “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Yesterday” available now on iTunes, and all major podcast sites.
2019-08-1603 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance Cast Thought of the Day - August 15, 2019What’s in a name? Names are obviously a key component of opening or operating an attraction. Names can tell Guests in an instant what something is all about, what it has to offer, or what they can expect from that visit. As long as tastes and marketing efforts change, name changes will always be a part of the location-based entertainment game.
2019-08-1503 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance Cast Thought of the Day - August 14, 2019For over 15 years an old exhibit sat abandoned at the Minnesota Zoo, hidden behind walls and under floors. Imagine how many people have walked around or over that space not ever realizing it’s even there. Most, we would imagine, don’t really care, or would find it a curiosity, but we find ourselves more and more intrigued by what was left, building on a fascination born in distant memory.
2019-08-1402 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance Cast Thought of the Day - August 13, 2019Attractions such as Disney’s Kilimanjaro Safaris give animals a chance to live within a realistic environment with space and room to spread, while simultaneously removing the scourge of poaching and disgusting cruelty of man. A great deal of time and energy goes into the design of these environments to ensure the maximum amount of comfort for these magnificent creatures.
2019-08-1302 minMain Entrance Cast: Thought of the DayMain Entrance Cast Thought of the Day - August 12, 2019Motivational Monday
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