Yeah ok, why not just go there when it opens. It’s like sneaking at plots and sets in a new movie, a great way to spoil it
Some people are interested in how things are built and work, not just the black box that does stuff for them.
A mystery person who spies on theme parks from the sky
31–40 of 58 posts
Re: A mystery person who spies on theme parks from the sky
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I do! And themed dining like Rainforest Cafes and the like. My previous job was famous for their elaborately themed offices (I worked in the Alice in Wonderland building). Wasn't a fan of the job, loved the office themeing.
You might've liked the now-closed themed Hotel Valdivia in Santiago: https://www.google.com/search?q=valdivia+hotel+santiago&sour... My now-wife and I stayed there almost 20 years ago, in the disco room: spa and waterfall, shower in an orange glass hexagon, a toilet room surrounded by mirrors. It was quite the experience. On theme parks, I wonder if there's ever been research into serious fans of them, and if they ha…
That hotel looks awesome! I wish I could've stayed there.
And I wonder the same. My family moved around a lot growing up and one of the few constants was a visit to a specific theme park every year. It seemed to be one of the few constants in my life when I was younger. I'm sure that certainly influenced the way that I feel about them. I bet a surprising amount of other enthusiasts would have similar stories.
Re: A mystery person who spies on theme parks from the sky
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you also like the themed hotel interiors in Vegas like Venetian, Paris, etc?
I do! And themed dining like Rainforest Cafes and the like. My previous job was famous for their elaborately themed offices (I worked in the Alice in Wonderland building). Wasn't a fan of the job, loved the office themeing.
Was that Epic systems? I worked there ages ago and had the same sentiment about their campus - very cool looking but terrible culture.
Re: A mystery person who spies on theme parks from the sky
#34Woah, surprised seeing bio on the front page of HN. I'm a massive theme park fan (which you can probably see from my comment history here) and I follow Orlando theme parks particularly closely. Bio is a huge asset to the community and their tweets are super widely spread on all of the forums that I visit. Like the article says, we don't know much about them except that they likely do use one of those tourist helicop-…
I didn’t realize that theme park fandom was a thing. I suppose it may be hard to articulate, but I’m curious if you can share what you find fascinating about them?
It's such a big fandom there are many completely independent from each other sub fandoms
Re: A mystery person who spies on theme parks from the sky
#35Earlier quoted context omitted.
I didn’t realize that theme park fandom was a thing. I suppose it may be hard to articulate, but I’m curious if you can share what you find fascinating about them?
Like you said, it's difficult to articulate but let me try. Growing up in FL, my family would go a lot of parks even though I was deathly afraid of roller coasters and most rides to be honest (wish I could go back in time and tell myself that I'd regret not riding all these classic now removed Universal and Disney rides). In my early teen years that fear turned to obsession and I was devouring all the information abo…
Thanks, that's fascinating, and so different from my own experience. I'm driven by some similar forces towards nature and mountains and hadn't considered this perspective.
Re: A mystery person who spies on theme parks from the sky
#36Oh no, don't spoil it. Too much attention is just gonna turn loose a bunch of sleuths who will reverse-engineer the time the photos were taken, cross it against ADS-B tracks, and put an end to the fun.
Their most recent images were taken at Universal's Epic Universe, and a quick glance at the recordings from the previous day on Flightradar24 reveals that one helicopter has been repeatedly circling this location over the past few days while doing nothing else. At least two other helicopters I noticed did this as well, but not as frequently. (I'm not saying that this must be this person, but it could be very likely)…
What could universal do about it? I don't think they could easily get a restricted airspace above their parks, even if under construction.
Re: A mystery person who spies on theme parks from the sky
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Their most recent images were taken at Universal's Epic Universe, and a quick glance at the recordings from the previous day on Flightradar24 reveals that one helicopter has been repeatedly circling this location over the past few days while doing nothing else. At least two other helicopters I noticed did this as well, but not as frequently. (I'm not saying that this must be this person, but it could be very likely)…
What could universal do about it? I don't think they could easily get a restricted airspace above their parks, even if under construction.
And why would they want to? This is free marketing/advertising for them.
Re: A mystery person who spies on theme parks from the sky
#38Yeah ok, why not just go there when it opens. It’s like sneaking at plots and sets in a new movie, a great way to spoil it
It's a sign of maturity to come to the understanding that different people like different things for different reasons and sometimes even the same things for different reasons.
You can go to a theme park and enjoy the experience and let that be the end of it and that's perfectly fine and valid. Or you can follow the design and construction of attractions at dozens of theme parks, deeply immerse yourself in the history of it and the people involved and analyze aerial pictures on a near-daily basis. Neither way is "doing it wrong" and both can happily coexist alongside each other as long as there's an understanding that they're interested in theme parks for different reasons. It's like complaining about literary studies being a thing because you prefer reading books for the experience.
Of course there are less reputable sites which abuse the information generated by these people to produce clickbait speculation aimed at "casual" theme park goers but that isn't the fault of those generating that information, that's the fault of the sites trying to turn a buck with it.
Re: A mystery person who spies on theme parks from the sky
#39Yeah ok, why not just go there when it opens. It’s like sneaking at plots and sets in a new movie, a great way to spoil it
Some people are interested in how things are built and work, not just the black box that does stuff for them.
This reminds me of when I first realized some people would genuinely get upset if I tried to understand how magic tricks were performed. It was completely unfathomable to me that some people would prefer not to understand it and genuinely enjoyed a trick less if someone had "ruined the magic" for them.
On the other hand I very much enjoyed shows like Penn & Teller's Fool Us, which were based around the idea that there are known ways to perform the various tricks but the real art was in doing it in such a way you genuinely couldn't tell even when you knew (or in order to win the show: finding a new way to do it and then performing it in such a way that experienced magicians still couldn't tell).
Re: A mystery person who spies on theme parks from the sky
#40Yeah ok, why not just go there when it opens. It’s like sneaking at plots and sets in a new movie, a great way to spoil it
Some people are interested in how things are built and work, not just the black box that does stuff for them.
I very much fall in to that category having been a "Texas Tank Watcher" (the self-appropriated nickname given to those keeping a close eye on the SpaceX development in Boca Chica) for the past 4 years or so.