Last fall, an Animal Kingdom employee by the name of Karen Price was hit by a coaster car on Primeval Whirl, and died as a result of her injuries. Four months later, Disney is taking steps to ensure this won’t happen again, but installing sensor mats in the area where you enter and exit the coaster cars. I’ve been on the ride several times, and have noticed more than once that you need to move pretty swiftly around the cars to make it in and out without injuring yourself.

The sensor mats won’t change anything for riders, who will still need to move pretty quickly to enter and exit the cars, but the rides will shut down if anyone steps in a designated area beyond the loading area.

For those of you wondering what Hollywood Studios is, that’s the name of the theme park formerly known as Disney’s MGM Studios. You’re probably also wondering how Disney / ABC got a Fox show into their theme park? Let’s begin at the beginning…

The attraction will be a live performance show. Instead of listening to people who can’t sing on your television, you’ll be able to enjoy it in person at the theme park. The attraction, which will open later this year, will give people the feeling of really appearing on American Idol. Performers go through hair and makeup, get tips from a voice coach, and then they’re off to perform. I can picture it now - three lookalikes standing in as Simon, Paula, and Randy insulting and raving about singers, calling them “dawg”, and acting drunk. (You guess who gets to do which bit!)

Winners of the daily shows go to the grand finale at day’s end, and those champs get a special pass to the front of the line for a real American Idol audition.

Disney got the rights to do the show attraction from the Idol co-producers, so Fox wasn’t involved at all. Disney is also working on the real Idol stars making special appearances through out the year.

It’s been confirmed that the man who died this week on Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom (part of Walt Disney World) had a heart condition. An autopsy showed that Jeffery Reeb had an enlarged and weakened heart. Since visitors with high blood pressure, heart, back and neck problems are asked not to ride, I don’t think Disney will be getting sued over this one.

I just heard on the news that a man died yesterday after riding on Expedition Everest at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park. This is without a doubt, one of our favorite rides at any theme park. Even my son, who is normally scared of larger coasters, goes on Expedition Everest. It’s not a wild ride, but it’s unique in that it goes backwards inside of the fake mountain at one point, with the track shifting behind you so that you go forward in another direction. At the end, you go down an 80 foot hill.

The name, Jeffery Reed, was 44 and I’m assuming in good health, as visitors with high blood pressure, heart, back and neck problems are asked not to ride. When the ride ended, he was no longer conscious, but he was alert during the photograph portion of the ride, which is done just before the 80 foot drop.

Disney officials verified that the ride is working properly, but it will remain closed. This is the most recent death at Disney since a small child died after riding Mission: Space at Epcot.

We’ve got plans to go to Busch Gardens this weekend with friends. I can’t even remember the last time we went to the park, despite having season passes. I know it was before Sheikra went floorless. Speaking of Sheikra, my 11 year old can’t wait to ride it, and she’s trying to convince me to do the same. No way, man! I’m trying to convince my 10 year old to join me on Montu, but she wants to try Gwazi. That’s the wooden coaster that gives me a beating every time I ride it. It has to be the roughest coaster I’ve EVER been on. No thanks! I prefer Montu - smooth ride, nice loops, and dangling feet!

In addition to the after 5 prices being offered at Universal right now, passholders are eligible for one more special perk - early admission! Taking a page from Disney’s “Extra Magic Hours” book, Universal has decided to let annual passholders enter the park an hour early Monday through Friday to beat the lines for their biggest attractions. From now until September 3rd, you can enter early and ride Shrek 4-D and Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast at Universal Studios, and The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk Coaster at Islands of Adventure. (We waited in line for an hour for Hulk, so if you can skip the wait, DO IT!)

Florida annual passholders of Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure can beat the heat and take their friends to the parks for a great price, now through August 18th.

If you’re a passholder, and a Florida resident, you can purchase a guest admission for a friend (Premier and preferred passholders pay $19.95, power passholders pay $24.95) and enjoy the parks from 5pm till 10pm.

If you’re got younger kids in your group, I recommend Universal. If you’ve got thrill seekers, I recommend Islands of Adventure. Either way, the price is a great way to get in for a few hours and enjoy what the parks have to offer! You can purchase these special passes at the ticket window upon arrival.

Got July 4th plans yet?

If not, you can head over to Busch Gardens on Tuesday, July 3rd, and Wednesday, July 4th. The park will have “The Guess Who” there on Tuesday, and “Grand Funk Railroad” on Wednesday. Fireworks on both nights, too!

We were there for fireworks once - I don’t think it was July 4th though. At any rate, it was pretty neat to see fireworks from the top of the roller coaster!

We’re off to Disney again this month, where we’ll be using our Florida Resident Seasonal Annual Passes. If you’re a resident of Florida, the pass is a great way to get reduced admission to the Disney parks - it’s got blackout dates, but I don’t mind not being in the parks during the middle of the summer!

If you’re not a Florida resident, but you still want great deals on Disney World tickets, you can buy them online from Theme-Park-Tickets.net. You’ll actually save money if you buy them online instead of waiting in line once you get to the parks, and unlike other discount ticket sales companies, this place includes ALL taxes in the price shown, so you won’t get sticker shock. They can save you cash even if you’re not going to any Disney parks, because they also sell Universal Studios tickets, and tickets to the dinner shows around Orlando, like the ever popular Pirates Dinner show. (I’m sure that show is really enjoy a big boost in attendance with the Pirates of the Caribbean movies out!)

Once you’ve ordered your tickets online, you have the option of getting them via mail, picking them up in person, or even having them delivered to your hotel in Orlando - how’s that for service?

This is a sponsored review.

I’m so bummed.

One of the first times I went to Universal Studios Orlando, back in 1991, I rode on the Back To The Future ride, and it was a favorite of mine. Years later, I went back with my kids and took them on it. You got to meet Doc Brown, fly through Hill Valley, home of Marty McFly, into the past, and then back to the Future. Visitors rode in their very own time machines, along with 7 other guests, to try and stop Biff from messing with the past. The time machine was actually a motion simulator, and you viewed the action on a 7 story high Omnimax movie screen. The combination was pure magic, and the ride was a bit hit.

I guess the problem with rides based on movies like that is that eventually, people don’t remember the movie it’s based on. Back To The Future was a great movie, in fact, I liked all 3 of the Marty McFly movies, but the ride has lost it’s relevancy. The ride will be closing soon, and March 30, 2007 is the last day to ride it before it closes for good. I’m bummed that I won’t get a chance to make it over to Orlando before then. It’s the end of an era!

Possible replacements for the ride include a new simulation ride based on the Transformers (bleah), a Fast And The Furious theme ride (boring) or a ride in Otto’s School bus, a la The Simpsons (fun, but Universal already has a cartoon ride - Jimmy Neutron’s Nicktoon Blast. Remember when that was The Flintstones ride?)

Here’s a video someone made during their recent Back To The Future ride, so if you can’t get to Universal for a last ride, you can pretend: