Theme Park Review

I think one thing that a lot of "should have gone with Intamin" takes are missing is... Cedar Fair owns another Intamin accelerator coaster that's been a huge pain in recent years. In March 2022, Xcelerator at Knott's went SNBO for the 2nd time in only 5 years.   The first closure lasted 8 months, the second closure would last almost 2 years.  So while CP was planning for a Dragster renovation during the 2022 season, it's sister coaster was facing even more long term downtime while waiting for the manufacturer service department.  That, plus all the other issues with Dragster, had to have influenced the choice to find another supplier.

Superman at SFMM is counted as a credit, and held two world records... and arguing that attraction counts as a coaster takes WAY more mental gymnastics and "well technically" justification.

I'll chime in that I always wear mt bike shorts when going to a park.  I've got a few different pair that all have 2 big zippered pockets so no way anything's gonna fly out.  The fabric dries out extra quick too if I get drenched on a water ride!

"They opened the gift shop for you, Misty. You *have* to get the big one!"    

I mean TTD dragster broke a few weeks into its first season if not the first week and was down for a month if not longer.  

Well, to be completely fair, the bar for "more reliable" when it pertains to TT2 vs. TTD is pretty damn low.

I'd love to see a long trip report from someone with a fresh perspective -- Cedar Point does have some hidden corners and gems to explore. The Frontier Trail was always nice and is still a bit of a respite from the madness; I've never been in their waterpark and have been going to CP since 1975; the beach is nice with rentals if you're into that ... take pix of anything that catches your eye! We're all enthusiasts here

With Triple Loop now open at IB, I wonder if they will ship their now experienced refurbishment team up to the Niagara/Buffalo area to start working on the shuttle loop for Niagara Amusement Park. That could be dead in the water though. Haven't heard anything about it in what feels like a year at this point. 

Well it is good that they identified a problem and are getting it addressed before anything happened. At the same time, it is less good that the whole stated mission of this Zamperla overhaul was increased uptime and it is down for an extended, unknown amount of time pretty much right out of the gate. Hopefully this is the one big issue the ride will have and it will be reliable going forward afterward. 

Looks like they got the former Dreier Looping open!   Here a couple of vids found on YT.      

Checking into the hotel, and some sightseeing around Helsinki after we arrived. . as we got closer to Helsinki - the last city on the trip (that had the last park on the trip, Linnanmäki), some "industrial" architecture started to appear. and stopping at a light, up on top of a hill, was Linnanmäki. . . pics taken from the bus. we were staying at a hotel near the center of the city, if I'm not mistaken. . that was close to the landmark Helsinki Cathedral, the College, and the waterfront. as it was a Saturday evening, there weren't a lot of folks around this part of town right now.   but the city is lovely, as most of the places we'd been were. the hotel was modern. . I think maybe it was a Marriott?  with a view of the Courtyard / garden from our room.   Jon reached out - or maybe I reached out to him? - and we decided to go roam the city, as we had the evening free. So we met in the lobby, and headed out towards the Helsinki Cathedral, passing thru the College Campus area coming up on the backside of the Cathedral - it truly is lovely from all angles.  Tho from the Front is the best. here's from the side we ALL float down here . . . . bwaaa-haaaa-haaaaa. . . (creepy, right next to the Cathedral too)   This cracked me up. . . so I was taking a picture of the Helsinki City Pride Museum (which sadly was closed as it was later in the day now. .maybe 8pm?) and as I finished snapping the picture, I said to Jon - "hey. . that guy over there is pissing!" I mean there are public toilets, but he just went right across the street from the Cathedral (it's literally to our right in this pic) and whipped it out to piss on a building. when I uploaded the pics?   yup. . I got him in my pic. LOL !!! (I made sure nothing naughty is showing tho. . .blur feature!!!).   Turning to the Cathedral, they have this lovely sign out in front for pics. . . so of course! consulting google maps, it looked like we were close by the waterfront. .and the Helsinki Skywheel (and flying theater) was there. so we decided to head over that way. WAY more people over here, as there were multiple pop up restaurants, and a few bars over here. that was my goal tho - to ride the Ferris Wheel (and get Jon on another one). Turtles! I think maybe these are supposed to have giant umbrellas on them? some of the pop up restaurants, behind the seagull I decided I wanted a picture of. really loved the archetecture down here in the area   oooo. . a couple of special cabins were avail.  This one on the right is the VIP cabin (that gives you alcohol as you go around), and on the upper left is the Sauna cabin. (I had sauna-d the day before for the first time, and wasn't ready to steam myself during our ride). so we went for "regular" tickets. for some reason, the cabins are all tinted very blue. some great views, but all blue-y at the open air bar next door, there was a concert going on. .and the crowd got much bigger (almost double the size) while we were riding. the operator told me they were a Finnish band that were very popular.    tho the music wasn't quite to my taste, so we didn't hang around after our ride. oooo. . nice view of Linnanmäki from the Skywheel! will see ya tomorrow! after our ride, we hung around for a little bit just so I could get a better picture of the Sauna cabin. and then we headed back towards the hotel, but taking an alternate route that would bring us along the college bar/restaurant area in the bay. very pretty. . almost Tokyo DisneySea level pretty 😛 the restaurants weren't very full, which was surprising to me for a Saturday night.  But maybe they just fill up really late, since the sun is up so late. we were starting to get a little bit hungry, and spotted the McDonald's across the way. i had managed to avoid most fast food the whole trip, and wasn't thrilled. . but was willing.   So we crossed over. and found an open supermarket - that was JUST about to close - next door. so Jon and I went in there and bought stuff to bring back to the hotel to snack on, instead of McDonalds. some interesting art in the Supermarket lobby. and Coi. and with that, we said our goodbyes in the lobby and headed to our rooms. tomorrow was the last day of the trip, and our final park, Linnanmäki   I was really looking forwards to it, as I had heard this park was kinda F-ed up, and I expected I'd love it (I did).

I also rate the three hour buffet as the best water ride of the trip. Smisty is right, as usual, except when she encourages my husband to get even more stuffed animals!!!

Not sure exactly how everyone else does it, but my method feels overly time consuming. I just can't find a faster way that gives me the results I want. First, I go through all the photos (mine and Smisty's) from the place or places I want the update to be about, to familiarize myself with what I've got, and to make the next step a little easier. Then, I go through again, copying every photo that I find good, interesting, or that supports the story I think I want to tell, into a separate folder. Then I take all those photos and start numbering them into a reading order. If photos are similar, they'll get the same number, since I endeavor not to post overly similar photos. Then I go through the photos in order, over and over again, deleting down to just the very best essence of the story, and eliminating "duplicate" photos. Things often get reordered during this stage, as well. When there's nothing left to eliminate, then I'm done. I upload the photos and start captioning them. But often I'm so exhausted by this point that proofreading basically becomes impossible for me, so Misty does that part. Meaning that much of my, *ahem* humor just comes from being delirious. Then I sit back and await my accolades!     And wait.     And wait.     🫠

don't let jealous, judgy, assholes stop you from doing a trip report. I'd love to see your first impression of a park that's been on your bucket-list.  

Update from Thursday last week. With the track complete, it looks like they are working on the station building. The annual pass previews have been moved from May to June. I thought May was kind of optimistic.   There is also a wall up heading into the Tree Top Trails are of Jungala.   Also if anyone is planning to ride the Sky Ride when they visit, I suggest riding earlier in the day. When it first re-opened, it closed at 4 on Monday - Thursday when the park closes at 6. Then it changed to closing at 6 with the rest of the park. On Thursday, no times were listed and it was already closed for the day at 3:45. I guess now it closes whenever they feel like it (it didn't appear to be weather related).