» Spoilers: Season 12 and earlier Options

[Miss Alli]

I am pinning this final warning to ensure that it can't possibly be missed.

If you can be shown to read this thread (that is, you post in it) and you are found going elsewhere on the boards and using spoiler information which you are trying to pass off as speculation, that is a warnable/bannable offense.

Seriously, it's really unfair to other posters, and it's also really lame, because it comes off like you're cheating and trying to make yourself look like you're just a very good guesser.

Please, please stop this. I have had more problems with this during this season than during any other, and I'm determined to get it stomped down as we get closer to the end. I don't want the show ruined for other people. Please don't continue to engage in this, if you're engaging in it now. Thanks very much to the great majority of you who are careful about this.

[Slowhatch]

The nice man I just talked to at the Film office said that the permit was for August 13th, and covered O'Hare airport and Buckingham Fountain.

Just a one-day shoot? That's possible for a starting point, I guess. The paperwork would clear up a lot. If Andy or Chiggy or any other Chicagoans want to visit the office, you can ask for copies of all paperwork (not just the permit) connected with the shoot. The name will probably be "WRP Group" although "WorldRace Productions" is possible.

Does anyone know what time of day people were seen in Chicago?

If past performance is any predictor, they get the wave-off at 11-ish.

The Harry Smith thing is entirely possible; some TV Guide writers ran a phony second leg of TAR3.

This post has been edited by Slowhatch: Aug 20, 2004 @ 4:53 pm.

[Lancer]

That would be the most reasonable explanation, although the Blue Line is very crowded at anytime of the day so it's fairly likely a large group of people with cameras would have been noticed on the trains. Maybe most teams took cabs and one or two took the train to save money, much like getting out of New York on TAR1. Would they need filming permits from the CTA?

Does anyone know what time of day people were seen in Chicago? 
If past performance is any predictor, they get the wave-off at 11-ish.

If that is the case, it would be almost impossible that the teams were not seen by large groups of people, it's too popular of a destination on a summer mid-afternoon, especially if any of them went near Millennium Park. I haven't seen anything in the media yet. This gets more and more interesting.

This post has been edited by Lancer: Aug 20, 2004 @ 4:47 pm.

[Rabrab]

It's under WRP Group, Inc. of Marina Del Rey, CA. As soon as I said that the man knew what I was talking about.

[ChiggyAstro]

Lancer: If that is the case, it would be almost impossible that the teams were not seen by large groups of people, it's too popular of a destination on a summer mid-afternoon, especially if any of them went near Millennium Park. I haven't seen anything in the media yet. This gets more and more interesting.

This is the part that I find the most curious. If they started at Buckingham fountain and took public transportation, they should have been seen by A LOT of people. I mean, shit, they were spotted by one person at the Reykjavik airport. How could only "Mike in Chicago" have seen them and realized what he saw? That's the only thing that doesn't gel with me. Otherwise, I totally agree--they may have been given the choice of taking a cab or the train (although I think that the train is the time-saving choice, not just the money-saving one). In fact, TPTB may have started downtown on a Friday because the traffic to O'Hare is so notoriously bad that taking the el is the thing to do over taking a cab.

[Rabrab]

There's also the possibility that they were seen by large groups of people who just didn't process what they were seeing, and/or didn't post anything to any boards about it. The online community of TAR fans is only a percentage (probably a fairly small percentage, at that) of the TAR fanbase, which is only a percentage of the audience. The dedicated spoilers are a small percentage of the online community.

[theschnauzers]

In TAR 1, teams had to make their own way to find the three specific flights. They were not told which NYC airport and could use any means they could afford to get to the right airport.
I can see how teams might be having to find their own way to O'Hare (taxi or public rail or bus transportation); there are only a few major international airports within the U.S. with that capacity (Atlanta being one) and I think it forces teams to work things out right off the bat. If these spoilers are right, then I, for one, am glad to see it.
August 13th as a start date? Then add about 29 days and be on the lookout for an finish mat around that weekend. (My math says that means the weekend of September 10th-11th-12th.)

This post has been edited by theschnauzers: Aug 20, 2004 @ 6:24 pm.

[chicagofan]

It would also be interesting to know the terminal(s) at O'Hare where the teams were spotted if anyone has any sightings there. While O'Hare has a separate international terminal that handles all international arrivals, quite a number of international departures don't originate there. Lufthansa leaves from United's domestic terminal (terminal 1), as would United international flights, and American international flights could leave from terminal 3.

I also checked Orbitz using a Friday departure (8/27) with a starting point at Chicago O'Hare and an end point at Reykjavik, Iceland (assuming the sighting posted above on Saturday, 8/14 is correct), and found the following 1 stop options...

A number of United departures (7:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 12:55 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m. 4:55 p.m.), all connecting with Icelandair flight 632 departing Boston at 9:30 p.m. arriving in Reykjavik at 6:30 a.m. the next day.

A number of American departures (7:01 a.m., 9:25 a.m., 11:56 a.m., 1:05 p.m., 3:54 p.m., 4:48 p.m.) all connecting with Icelandair flight 632 (same as above) departing Boston at 9:30 p.m. arriving in Reykjavik at 6:30 a.m. the next day.

A number of United departures (6:35 a.m., 8:15 a.m., 9:15 a.m., 10:30 a.m, 1:30 p.m., 3:45 p.m.), all connecting with Icelandair flight 642 departing Baltimore/Washington D.C. at 8:45 p.m arriving in Reykjavik at 6:25 a.m. the next day.

A Delta (Comair Inc.) departure (1:10 p.m.) connecting with Icelandair flight 614 departing New York JFK 8:50 p.m. arriving in Reykjavik at 6:20 a.m. the next day.

An American departure (4:03 p.m.) connecting with Icelandair flight 653 departing Minneapolis 7:20 p.m. arriving in Reykjavik at 6:20 a.m. the next day.

...so a starting point of Chicago would be feasible and tie into the Boston sightings.

[princesscub]

chicagofan:

I also checked Orbitz using a Friday departure (8/27) with a starting point at Chicago O'Hare and an end point at Reykjavik, Iceland (assuming the sighting posted above on Saturday, 8/14 is correct), and found the following 1 stop options...

Yep - I double-checked w/ my girlfriend in Iceland and she was at the airport to pick up her father from a 6:20AM flight (not sure where he was coming from, though) on Saturday the 14th.

ChiggyAstro:

I mean, shit, they were spotted by one person at the Reykjavik airport.

Well, one person that happens to have a friend who reads TWoP...how many people in Reykjavik do you think read this (no offense to any of you who may be from Iceland, of course)? I'm sure the site of red/yellow flags w/ teams of Americans caught other people's attention - they just wouldn't know to put it on the Spoiler thread.

Unless, of course, you mean that they were actually spotted by a person in Iceland and that news made it here...if that's the case, then just forget what I said previously. TIA!

This post has been edited by princesscub: Aug 20, 2004 @ 10:22 pm.

[Slowhatch]

Airwise lists flight schedules for the 13th similar to what chicagofan posted: different airlines connecting with IcelandAir with flights arriving the next morning. Half past six must be a very busy time at the Reykjavik airport.

[ChiggyAstro]

princesscub: Unless, of course, you mean that they were actually spotted by a person in Iceland and that news made it here...if that's the case, then just forget what I said previously. TIA!

That's exactly what I meant. They were spotted in Iceland and we've already heard about it. But they (we think) ran through Chicago on a weekday morning during the summer (when there could have been a lot of people around) and we've only heard one report of them being spotted. I understand that the number of people that care about online spoilers is actually pretty small, but I would have thought word would have made it to the web if they'd been spotted by a large number of people.

I wonder if they didn't leave really early. It would mean they'd have to sit at an airport for a long time, but it'd also mean they were much less likely to be spotted downtown. In previous TARs (aside from TAR1, which was shot before the show had ever aired), they have stuck to somewhat isolated areas and/or down times of day. A Friday morning in downtown Chicago would be neither, unless it was really early.

[Bart Ender]

The Chicago Park District allows rental of the Buckingham Fountain and the Grand Park Rose Gardens (adjacent to Buckingham Fountain) for special events.

I'm thinking a run through the Rose Gardens, running towards the Buckingham Fountain or with the fountain in the background, would make a really awesome opening shot.

Also, here's a really good map of downtown Chicago for reference.

This post has been edited by Bart Ender: Aug 21, 2004 @ 7:28 am.

[Masem]

Also, using Grant Park, a couple other thoughts:

First, that's effectively one end of the original (Route 66 (there's a commerative marker there to indicate that over on Jackson street, but who's counting?). Maybe the end city is LA to complete it?

Also, by the map Bart Ender posted through you can see that right off Grant Park you can jump onto I-290, which feeds into the Chicago mess o' highways, but will eventually get you to O'hare, though it's not a simple drive. But if they park the provided modes of transport right there, there would be no need to navigate downtown Chicago (and having lived there, you don't want frantic racers trying to determine one-way streetage for the first time) but still need to be aware of how to get to O'hare. The typical kick off at 11am would also be good - traffic should be sufficiently light on a Friday getting out of the city at that time.

I could see how they could pull this startoff off without any people spotting them. Again refering to the map, S. Columbus Dr. is not really a well used road (Michigan and Lake Shore are), and down in that part of the city, most of the high-rises are apartments and finacial offices. It's a bit too far south, save for the fountain, of touristy spots. So this isn't a high pedestrian traffic area either. If this was well coordinated that effectively, the line of racers, camera crews, cars, and the like were only assembled in that one spot for, say, 5-10 minutes, the event would be overlooked. Maybe the dramatic entrance this time is pulling up to the marina (at the end of Monroe, a couple blocks away), but otherwise, that would be a cool sendoff.

[Bart Ender]

The end point for Route 66 is in Santa Monica, less than a mile from Santa Monica Pier, so there may be a "last season/this season" theme to the beginning.

It is pretty easy to change terminals at O'Hare--a hell of a lot easier than Detroit. There is a light rail system that runs through the airport. When I flew to Chicago in May, I landed at Terminal 2, and then used the system to get to Terminal 5, where I joined up with some family members to start a trip to Europe. It took only a few minutes to transfer terminals. I can't remember if you can hoof it between the domestics. Terminal 5 is the International Terminal, and if they're going to Iceland and not flying direct, they'll have to use the domestic terminals.

[Rabrab]

Here's the terminal map for O'Hare. They'll be in the domestic terminals only, I believe; Icelandair doesn't even fly out of O'Hare. In fact, unless they aren't told which terminal to go to, or someone goes to the wrong one, they won't even have to change terminals. American and Delta are both in terminal 3; American has most of the G concourse to itself and I think that Delta has virtually all of H and a chunk of K. American Eagle is at the far end of K, but they're a commuter feeder line, mostly.

This post has been edited by Rabrab: Aug 21, 2004 @ 1:26 pm.

[bman]

I'm sorry, but everytime I read about Buckingham Fountain I find myself singing "Love and Marriage" and images of Al Bundy pop into my head.

Would be a cool place to start though. I have always wanted to go to Iceland. Damn CBS for not picking me.