As an Internet Service Provider and corporation built upon it’s own innovation, possession, and eventual resale of intellectual property and patent rights, Theme Park Innovations stands in strong opposition to this bill. Our interpretation of this bill leads us to question it’s true underlying motives, is this bill being created to increase the level of protection for rights holders, or to violate internet users rights of privacy and freedom of speech.

It’s coverage is so broad that it has the potential to open up the flood gates for frivolous litigation for any website owner, for copyright holders to silence individuals expressing their right to free speech when it is convenient for them, and to otherwise force criminal prosecution efforts in an otherwise civil matter. It would seem that this bill also requires extensive (Aka expensive) changes to the existing internet infrastructure to implement, on top of that it would require one to decrease security and police our own networks on behalf of rights holders. The additional cost of such drastic changes could potentiality derail efforts to raise venture capital, hurt small business, stifle innovation, and decrease job growth.

After reading this document, I have to ask; Why on earth would we authorize the expenditure of $50,000 in networking gear so that we can decrease security of our customers systems, and implement intrusive deep packet inspection to police our networks for “infringing traffic” so that another company can enforce their own intellectual property rights and profit off the litigation(or threat there of). The internet was build upon an open standard and is what I believe the final frontier for truly free speech. It must be protected at all cost.

There is a time and place for the enforcement of Intellectual Property rights, it called civil court. It is a place where the burden of proving Intellectual Property theft is the responsibility of the right holders. A burden, responsibility, and expense that falls on the right holders and the right holders alone. Not one that should be bared by all of the service providers and users of the internet. It would seem that those behind this bill have illusions that it’s passing will stop online file sharing and Intellectual Property theft. The passing of this bill is pointless and futile, as the world has shown time and time again, people will find a way around any road blocks put in place by any form of authority. Just look at how long it took the I-Phone to get out of cellular Jail.

In opposition of this act, we will be joining other major service providers in a 12 hour service black out on January 18th 2011.

January is the only time of year when the Theme Park industry is slow enough that we can safely step away from it all with out causing interruption. Even with the majority of our customers seasons ending Nov 1st, we remain incredibly busy through out the holiday season servicing the remaining customers. We are one of only a hand full of Theme Park companies who will actually go out and procure and install holiday decorations with it’s customers.

Do not fear, we will be back from our tropical holiday environments on February 1st. Hopefully there will be less snow on the ground then.

2011 was a spectacular year, I cannot wait to see what 2012 will bring.

As you look around at this group of people you can feel the energy that they bring. These people have done an amazing thing, they have come together as a team to put on this performance for the guest entertainment. A show filled with dangerous and expensive machinery that must be operated safely and efficiently in climates of varying extremes for extended periods of time and arguably marginal pay. They have handled hostile guest and severe weather, cleaned up vomit and kept the guest safe. Today is Labor day, the last hoorah for the summer travel season, school officially starts tomorrow. At 6 PM this team will cease to exist as it is today, for the majority of them the job is over, there is no tomorrow. They leave with just an employee ID to turn in, and a locker to clean out. For those of us who stay behind for the rest of the season we are tasked with filling the shoes of those who left. You can rip the heart and soul out of this department, but we will rebuild. We will always come back bigger and stronger.

We wish to thank the thousands of seasonal employees that made this summer possible. Stand up, take a bow, you guys earned it.

Yet even with out the thousands of guest in park, we will still be very busy. From now until the end of the year we will assist our customers in transitioning their parks through three major holidays, each one requiring extensive redecoration every 29 days. We will string more then 100,000 feet of Christmas lights, convert over 5,000 gallons of fog fluid into a fine mist, and create many memorable moments for our clients and their guests.

With that being said, We know the big question on everyone’s mind is will TPI make an appearance at IAAPA this year. There has been much discussion on this internally, but no official decision has been made yet. We are currently focused on finishing this season out strong and preparing for weekend operations. We expect to make an announcement one way or another by Sept. 1.

There was a recent report published by several national media outlets which gave the erroneous suggestion that Theme Parks are unsafe. It’s entire basis for this report was citing two entirely different incidents, at two entirely separate parks, with two entirely different outcomes. The first, a fatal accident at Darien Lake in which a guest was ejected from a roller coaster. The second,  a stranded unit at the top of the New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas. A park with which several members of this organization are very familiar with.

The incident at Six Flags Over Texas is really a non-issue. The ride likely through some sort of trouble light as a result of PLC input (Parameter not as expected), or operator command (Ride Stop, Lift Stop, or E-Stop), to strand the unit at the top of the lift. You can of course safely unload from lift, however it does take time, and guest do tend to get frustrated the longer they are up there. They tend to start to panic and that’s when things can get out of control. If they could have restarted the ride in a short amount of time, they would have just jogged the train over the lift. Its much quicker to clear a trouble light and move a unit then it is to unload a train from the top of the lift. The media took this out of context and ran with it and the parks media relations group responded. If it was a bad wheel, and the ride was shut down by its operator, then the operator did his or her job, and did it well. Having operators who can think their feet and are not afraid to stop when something is out a place is a honorable trait.

The accident at Darien Lake on the surface would appear to be straight forward to the average person. A guest with a double leg amputation riding a large roller coaster ride who’s primary restraint system relies on pressure at the waist, was ejected from the ride. The investigation will likely not focus on how he was thrown out of the ride, but how he got was allowed to board the ride in the first place. Much like when an airplane crashes, there is often a series of events which build upon each other, which lead up to a fatal accident. The investigators will also likely probe into the knowledge and training of the operators as well as the operating conditions that day. Being proactive means you cannot react to what it is unseen. I feel sorry for the operators of the ride, because it is possible that they may not have even seen this coming. Operators are only human, they can make mistakes.  Unlike a computer they can suffer from heat exhaustion and emotional compromise, they can be overwhelmed with sensory overload to an extent that they can no longer process everything they see or hear, but are operating the ride by repetition.  Sometimes mistakes are caught and it becomes a non-issue, other times they are not, and then they become headlines.

Before the investigation has even been completed, the media and the general public is already pointing fingers and assigning blame based on misinformation and lack of understanding. It is what it is, an unfortunate accident, and no one wins. The operators of the ride will likely never operate again, their lives will changed for ever.  The parks history will be forever altered. Our industry will pull together and make changes to operating procedures so that it never happens again. Within six hours of the accident hitting the news, we were already auditing ride safety systems, operator knowledge, and training material. We want to re-enforce our operators knowledge on the mechanical limitations of the ride including it’s life safety systems, even if its redundant training. We operate in one of the most litigation prone industries in the world. If there is ounce of prevention to be had, you can bet that we will extract every pound of cure out of it.

Ride Operators are often high school and college students trained to operate expensive and dangerous machinery in climates of varying extremes for extended hours and minimum wages with little to no hope for career advancement. The pay they receive does not equal the burden that they carry on their shoulders. Every time they cycle that ride it’s passengers are somebody’s mother, father, brother, or daughter. They understand that they are ultimately responsible for overseeing safety of their ride at all times. Many will go above and beyond the call of duty in the event of an emergency, but sometimes the operators do every thing they can and it’s still not enough. No amount of signage or spieling can help an operater when the guest is the one at fault. Experience will tell you that often the most difficult job of a ride operator is to protect the guest from themselves.

With the 2008 recession, the outsourcing of our space and defense programs, and the retirement of the space shuttle program. President Obama has essentially laid off a large population of the worlds best and brightest scientific minds. Specialist in the space industry, mathematicians who have figured out a formula for calculating the effects on gravity variations on orbital objects. We are in Houston to take advantage of this new workforce availability. We figure if you can send a rocket in to space, you can get a train through a vertical loop with out much hassle. Houston also has a major shipping port, an international airport with daily flights to most major cities, and relatively low operating cost such as rent and taxes. We also have very little competition in the region.  For a company that is out in the field 300 days out of the year it’s all about location, location, location. Pushing the limits of Strategic planning with out a doubt.

This year Theme Park Innovations will celebrate 5 years of operation. While this may not compare to the 25 or 50 years some of our competition has its just the start of many more anniversaries to come. Let’s not forget after all that they to once celebrated five years along the way. Our critics have called us the underdog, the new kids on the block, the wild card. To which we can only respond, and? Keep your eyes peeled, I promise you the next two years are going to show the world what Theme Park Innovations is really capable of.

Please Contact Us for more information.

To answer the medias questions:

While we are Houston based, Theme Park Innovations does not provide any consulting services to Ray Cammack Shows, the operator of the “HiMiller” roller coaster, or the Houston Rodeo. We are not familiar with the operation of the ride, its operating safety features, or it’s past or present safety record. However ride operators are required by Texas law to report any accidents or injuries on their rides, as such you can view the list from the Texas Department of Insurance website here. Similarly you can view the Texas Amusement Ride Safety and insurance act laws from the states website here. It would be against our organizations beliefs to provide speculative commentary on ride equipment which we are not familiar with, under circumstances which we have no factual basis to make any determination as to what events might have transpired. We will be happy to answer any general industry specific questions you may have.

Theme Park Innovations last visited the rodeo in a guest capacity in 2010 in which we briefly observed the “HiMillers” operation from a distance, we did not ride it. The following photos were taken at that time and are available for inclusion in your media reports with proper citation.

Theme Park Innovations is announcing the general availability of and support for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 to all of our customers. Current customers with a managed support plan will be automatically upgraded to Exchange Server 2010 over the summer. End users will see the following new features available to them after the upgrade:

Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will be end of life cycle on 4/10/2012.