Parkscope Podcasts

The core crew is back to cover the D23 Parks and Resorts 2017 panel. We're super drunk. Beware.

Joe, Sean, and Mike make small talk about changes coming to the auction scene at Pirates of the Caribbean, Siemens dropping sponsorship of Spaceship Earth and Illuminations, crazy Walt Disney World rumors, and cover all the speculation on D23 expo. It's a slapdash episode because... well we don't know what's going to happen! We'll also be doing a live podcast 6PM EST Saturday July 15th to cover the D23 Parks and Resorts panel!

Alan, Joe, Nick, and Sean team up for yet another road trip extravaganza. First we talk about Hurler 2.0, Mine Blower at Fun Spot Kissimmee, developments on the old Wet n Wild property, and dive into the Super Nintendo World leaks and plans. Next up Nick talks about his first trip to Walt Disney World with his child and a review of Pandora: World of Avatar. Then we close up the show with Alan discussing his whirlwind European trip to Port Adventura, Ferrari Land, Tipidabo, Conny-land (with Mammut Tree and Dino Attack), Legoland Deutschland, and Tripsdrill (with the nuts bathtub flume ride).

Alan is joined by Jerry Brick, General Manager of Lake Compounce to talk the history of the park, Wildcat's 90th anniversary and refurbishment, Boulderdash, historical rides, their partnership with the Haunted Graveyard haunt event, their newest coaster Phobia, Milli Vanilli, and more!

Alan, Jeff, and Joe talk about the mess of an opening of Volcano Bay, the inevitability of Pandora doing "well", Flight of Passage ride system issues, Nintendo announcements (no, not the leaked plans), Mean Streak 2.0 teaser, and Kennywood's 2018 plans. Finally they all talk about their trips over the past month to Cedar Point, Lake Compounce, Hersheypark, Holiday World, Kennywood, Carrowinds, and more!

It's a family affair this week as Alan is joined by his cousin Tom Dion to talk about UFC vs boxing, gambling advice, and Tom's years as GM and auditor of various water parks around the country. They talk about how Tom got into the industry, riding slides as "testing", awkwardly auditing water parks for safety, applying for jobs in Tanzania, how a park handles a catastrophic event, and life advice for anyone looking to get into the industry.

This episode Lane briefly joins us from the SunTrust Park to lay out his plan to fix all of WDW for less money than it took to build Pandora, Joe talks about his Cedar Point trip, Sean talks about visiting the Harry Potter Studio Tour in England, and Nick cuts in and out of connectivity. We also discuss Pandora previews, Volcano Bay media day, locals overhyping projects, The Shining and Conjuring at HHN, new hotels, Sesame Street, and then answer your non-theme park questions!

Alan is joined by Tom Mehrmann, owner and founder of Themed Advisers Ltd. They discuss Tom's past as VP of Operations and Entertainment at Knotts Berry Farm, VP and GM of several Six Flags parks around the world, his twelve years as CEO of Ocean Park in Hong Kong, Tom's philosophy on running amusement parks, the future of the Asian amusement park industry, and more!

Joe, Nick, and Lane are joined by Banks Lee of Attractions Magazine the Show to do a quick news run down before discussing Bank's visit to Pandora - The World of Avatar at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Yes there are two Price is Right jokes in the episode.

In this episode Alan is joined by Sean Flaharty who currently works on the touring The Eyes of Freedom touring memorial. They talk about their coaster club origins, Sean's stint as ACE PR manager, Mystic Timbers, California trips, Space World, geocaching, paying to go into Legoland for 45 minutes, taping ones life since pre-teen years, VHS video recorders, and more crazy stories.

We're back baby! Joe's drinking, Sean's talking MST3K, Nick is killing palmetto bugs, and Lane is interrupting. We talk about SeaWorld's investments, Infinity Falls (infinity = 40 ft.), Pandora photos, Star Wars land news, Club 33 at WDW, A Very Merry Potter Christmas, #HHN27, Volcano Bay cabanas, and all the delicious food. At the end Nick gives his impressions of this year's Grad Bash (and Fallon) then Joe talks about his First Rider Event for Mystic Timbers!

Alan is joined by Andrew Hyde, Jon Hymes, and Super Weenie Hut Jr to talk about all the new rides coming to local amusement parks.

Alan is joined by Victoria Wolcott, Chair and Professor of History at University at Buffalo, SUNY to discuss the history of race relations in amusement parks, pools, and other areas of recreation in the United States. Check out her book 'Race, Riots, and Rollercoasters' available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.

In a world where all news is breaking, none of it is. Our resident existentialists Joe and Sean are joined by Nick to discuss all the rumors from Universal and Disney that broke this past week. We cover patents, Dry 'n Tame, Dragons Challenge replacements, WDW resorts hiking prices and planning to sell out, VR Sugar Rush, Tron coasters, World Showcase pavilions and rides, Cars in Test Track, The Great Mickey Ride, Rivers of Light 2.0, Pandora Annual Passholder previews, catches breath, and much much more.

Amelia joins us for her first podcast with Nick, Joe, Sean, and Lane! We all talk about Miss Adventure Falls, Geyser Point, Pandora, Volcano Bay, and then close out with Sean's trip to the Jurassic World the Exhibition at the Franklyn Institute.

Joe had a rough, long day so he had a few fog cutters and sat down with Brian from Orlando United/Inside Universal to talk about HHN dates for a hot second, the merger of OU and IU, and we discuss the first day of soft openings for Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon.

This week's episode Joe is joined by Dani from Touring Plans and Ben from Disney Photography Blog! We open the show with discussions on Universal's new advertising push on TV and their twitter account and news of Fallon TM previews. Then we dive into the meat of the episode and discuss expansions at Caribbean Beach Resort and Coronado Resort, the death of the tiered resort structure, the much rumored WDW gondola transportation system, and close out with a big review of Rivers of Light.

This week Alan is joined by Mark Rosenzweig of Ride Entertainment. Ride Entertainment is a world leader in providing attractions, installations, park development services, and park operations along with the OEM of the SkyCoaster. Alan and Mark talk park operations, their philosophy and methods for selling rides, CRAZY STAN CHECKETTS STORIES like the S&S Sonic Boom, and more. Make sure to follow Ride Entertainment and Alan on Twitter.

Joe, Lane, and Sean return and are joined by our guest Felipe! This week's show covers Volcano Bay, Jimmy Fallon testing, a review of the Celebration of Harry Potter, the Forbidden Forrest rumors, Star Wars and Avatar land opening dates (or years), Rivers of Light, and a quick Marathon Weekends review from Lane.

Our new podcast series hosted by Alan searches his rolodex for friends and industry insiders to talk about the amusement industry. This week's podcast he's joined by Michael, @SuperWeenieHtJr, to discuss Las Vegas, bad coaster designs, the weirdness of Hersheypark, and to eulogize Epcot.