Arkham Assylum Facade work

[Gold Coast Amusement Force 379]

I know I saw this in another thread but I couldn’t find it. Progress has been made at Arkham Assylum and the pathway to SDSC.

[pushbutton 739]

Funny time of year to be doing any sort of unnecessary construction work in a theme park. 

Anyway I hope whatever they're doing looks a lot better when it's complete!

 

[Thrill Seeker 22]

Looks like the have created offices upstairs

[Mc coaster 72]

I think what they did was either remove or cover up remenats of the Chinese style buildings. When I was there last April I noticed that the roof had the original roof designs and there were quite a few patterns on the sides of the buildings left over from Chinatown alley just painted over in gray it was not super noticeable but me and my friend did see it. If this work is to remove it I am really impressed because it is not something that they really have to do and it wil make that area look just that much better.

[themagician 2,662]

A lot of work is happening in the courtyard, I do hope they theme it to like how it used to be and don’t just leave it as blank simple walls

The back of the entrance sign has been refurbed as well 

 

[Gold Coast Amusement Force 379]

Update from Saturday

[pushbutton 739]

Just looks pointless to me so far!

[AlexB 3,402]

14 hours ago, pushbutton said:

Just looks pointless to me so far!

You're always one to bang on about theming.

It's fairly plain to see that they're retheming the buildings that surround Arkham courtyard to make the whole place seem like part of the asylum.

The space that has the awning, and fencing around it used to be fully chinese themed. They made some changes to that area while working on scooby, and its probably prompted them to continue \ complete the look by fully immersing the area into an 'arkham' theme (which looks fairly straightforward from what i can see)

Either way - you should either be cheering that they've taken the steps to retheme, or at least be optimistic about whats coming, rather than describing it as pointless.

[Levithian 89]

Replacing like for like it seems more than anything. The facade has been up there since lethal weapon, i imagine a fair bit of rott and water damage makes its way into the timbers and reaches a point where it needs gutting and replacing.

[Skeeta 2,083]

1 hour ago, AlexB said:

You're always one to bang on about theming.

It's fairly plain to see that they're retheming the buildings that surround Arkham courtyard to make the whole place seem like part of the asylum.

The space that has the awning, and fencing around it used to be fully chinese themed. They made some changes to that area while working on scooby, and its probably prompted them to continue \ complete the look by fully immersing the area into an 'arkham' theme (which looks fairly straightforward from what i can see)

Either way - you should either be cheering that they've taken the steps to retheme, or at least be optimistic about whats coming, rather than describing it as pointless.

To be fair.  The whole area needs a re-think-a-rooney.   The most underwhelming area that MW has never been able to get right.

[Naazon 40]

13 minutes ago, Skeeta said:

To be fair.  The whole area needs a re-think-a-rooney.   The most underwhelming area that MW has never been able to get right.

 

Money being no issue, what would you put in that area?

[AlexB 3,402]

There is enough space in that little precinct that you could transform it from a ghost town to something quite worthy of drawing guests. The catch is to make sure the scooby evac points aren't obstructed.

Quite honestly I think the solution for that whole area is pretty simple -

• knock out the old shop and associated structure, clearing the way for a pathway behind showstage, and past the scare sheds to West to become a permanent addition.
• Get a flat or two between the courtyard and west. theme them appropriately.
• Ensure that maintenance access to arkham isn't obstructed in this process
• Make sure the transition is done right
• Demolish the stupid raised queue platform in front of the old arkham theatre
• Use the theatre, and the space left by the queue platform for some sort of asylum themed outlet - perhaps to replace the old lethal shop, or even maybe as a food outlet serving treats or meals themed around an asylum (nothing comes to mind but i'm sure creativity exists that could fill the void)
• Carts could find a home up against the old chinatown building wall (backend of scooby queue) - again themed appropriately - potentially other outlets (hole in the wall style) could find a home here - get a 'jailhouse' (temporary) tattoo... Mugshot (greenscreen) photos, move special effect makeup... these are a few simple ideas, but i'm sure with the technology out there theres a bunch of other things you could do with the spaces..

I'm sure there's plenty of other things to go with, and i know you said money being no issue, but i'm not out to be extravagant with this, i'd like to be more realistic so they can fix this area of the park...

[Skeeta 2,083]

21 minutes ago, Naazon said:

Money being no issue, what would you put in that area?

 

Not 7 randomly stacked boxes in an open area.

19 hours ago, Gold Coast Amusement Force said:

 

 

 

 

You've being watching too much ParkChatLive with that question? 😋  Even the holy grail of Disney has budget constraints for projects.

 

 

This is the area MW should've turned into Super-Villains Unleashed.

 

[themagician 2,662]

@Skeeta Agreed, and it would've fit perfectly. I just measured up the areas, and DD as is now with the queue would have fit in the courtyard, providing they had demolished the the old AA ride photo booth and reworked the AA queue path. It would be unlikely that they could have all the other elements of the villains areas because of the SD and SE exits, and possibly the reason nothing was ever done to the area, which is a shame, because it could be an awesome area of the park. 

I never knew the area well when it was originally LW, but did it essentially be the same, but themed around China Town? I know the queue entrance was up the now pointless ramps, but did anything other than this ever happen in this area?

[Skeeta 2,083]

10 minutes ago, themagician said:

@Skeeta Agreed, and it would've fit perfectly. I just measured up the areas, and DD as is now with the queue would have fit in the courtyard, providing they had demolished the the old AA ride photo booth and reworked the AA queue path. It would be unlikely that they could have all the other elements of the villains areas because of the SD and SE exits, and possibly the reason nothing was ever done to the area, which is a shame, because it could be an awesome area of the park. 

I never knew the area well when it was originally LW, but did it essentially be the same, but themed around China Town? I know the queue entrance was up the now pointless ramps, but did anything other than this ever happen in this area?

Marked in yellow was the pre-ride movie. 

 

I like Super-Villains Unleashed but sticking it in an alley would be more realistic.   Whenever I get mugged it's always in an alley. 😎

 

 

 

[themagician 2,662]

Am I cootect in saying that pre ride movie area doesn’t have any purpose today, as the queue is all to the right of that area for AA?

[AlexB 3,402]

You are cootect, yes.

 

Yes mate, the theatre doesn't appear to have any usage currently.

[Spotty 104]

I think the last time it was used was for a meet and greet for the Janoskian's back in 2012... I had never seen so many teenage girls in my life. They filled up the whole old LW queue, went through the alley and overflowed out in front of scooby just to get an autograph... was all good until around mid-day when all the people were too scared to go on the big rides and ALL flocked to Scooby... Had to set up the outdoor queue very quickly lol.

[Rabbit2014 28]

If they move the exit for Arkham asylum to under lift hill and they could use the old lethal weapon theatre and old courtyard area for new ride/experience 

maybe a drop tower/tilting drop tower

Edited February 11 by Rabbit2014

[AlexB 3,402]

While feasible, it's really unnecessary. The ride has run using alternate exit points on the load side previously, nevertheless, any new experience constructed in the courtyard would have room for a simple 1200 wide pathway down the edge, even if fully enclosed for safety.

And while feasible, it'd be a really poor move to construct something in there that took up so much space, you couldn't even afford to have the exit queue run past it - because that direction towards west is a very natural expansion point that many have pointed out before.

Finally, with Batwing nearby, and GD up the road, i don't think any sort of 'drop tower' attraction would suit the park right now, no matter where you put it - and money could probably be far better spent on other things.

[pin142 661]

I would say a star flyer would fit well in that spot but that would spoil the main sell point of the rivals climb.

[strop 107]

Can a mod please fix the typo in the thread title before some poor kid googles assylum? 

Edited February 11 by strop

[AlexB 3,402]

8 hours ago, pin142 said:

I would say a star flyer would fit well in that spot but that would spoil the main sell point of the rivals climb.

I disagree - although the views from the top would be ok, much of the view is going to be:

• Shed
• Shed
• Shed
• Roof
• Rollercoaster with some sheds behind it
• bush

We've all been saying the park needs a bit more of a theme - coasters are fine because its a bit hard to theme an entire coaster without enclosing it (and even when you have an enclosed coaster, its apparently still hard to theme it - RIP SDSC). I don't think the park needs another 'something that goes high' even if it is as sedate as a star flyer, the sheer height is still prohibitive for many that would otherwise go on quite big thrills.

I'd like to see them do something lower - that stays within the confines of the 'asylum walls'.

• My first thought was a wave swinger - themed to some sort of asylum\joker torture device
• A spinner, like a breakdance - or better - a Huss Airboat (with similar theme to above)
• If the argument is for a tower - perhaps a similar spinner concept like the Huss Condor?

I realise nothing here is 'ground breaking' but it makes me wonder - does it need to be? Are we that spoilt for choice that we'd turn our nose up if the park installed a gravitron\roundup\rotor style ride? I guess what i'm saying is we don't need wow amazing blockbusters in MW right now - we need things to soak up additional capacity to lessen the load on the amazing blockbusters we already have.

9 minutes ago, strop said:

Can a mod please fix the typo in the thread title before some poor kid googles assylum? 

LOL. Just LOL. I've seen that a couple times now, and meant to say something, but never thought of the ramifications of googling it! HAHAHA.

[Original 85]

If they were to keep theatre space from LW I'd love to see them use the space for a Vekoma Mad House if it would fit and use the old outdoor LW queue for it: 

https://www.vekoma.com/mad-house 

It's a dark ride and one you can theme and make immersive. Exactly one of the things MW needs right now. 

[AlexB 3,402]

Given that the exit from that theatre has been walled off by the new Arkham queue - how do you exit the ride?

The theatre is walled in on three sides - queue, arkham maintenance bay, and arkham queue - you'd have to blow through the wall and exit into the Superman alleyway... not impossible, but i've a feeling the Arkham queue redesign utilised the previous emergency door for a reason.

I like the idea, and the crazy nature of the ride would suit the Arkham precinct very well.