Photo Trip Report Archive
Archived Photo Trip Reports of Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, and Donkeys!
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By savetheclocktower · Posted
I'll use Hersheypark terms in here so that it's still "on topic". There should be no shame in riding Cocoa Cruiser if it's fun to them. You can still have good clean fun as an adult while still acting maturely, such as not hogging the front from some kids who waited a long time, waiting one ride if a group gets split up because of you, not being loud and yelling things like "they ruined our ride, they turned the trim on!", not filming anywhere near the ride, etc. I typically don't ride family coasters because I don't find them fun, but my younger brother who is also an adult likes to ride them for the credits, and I will shamelessly ride with him! Don't be embarrassed to enjoy life! Doing enjoyable things helps reduce stress and increases self-esteem. One could question the creepiness of an adult at Hersheypark as a whole. After all, people might consider it a "children's candy park", but that shouldn't matter. Heck, Disney is even more of a place geared toward children and many adults go there because it is fun to them. Even if they are judged because of it, who cares? I think that it is more mature to be able to face the criticism and not let it ruin a way of having clean, G rated fun that does not harm anybody or break the law. Why should "adult" fun have to be R rated behavior that can be considered morally questionable and has the potential to harm yourself or others? Even the legal way of having "adult" fun is boring! Amusement parks are way more exciting than watching the news, discussing politics and the stock market, or betting money on football teams only to have it go to waste! I do agree, there are people that are creepy, and it's unfortunate that they ruin it for people who are not looking to cause trouble, but that still shouldn't stop you from having fun at an amusement park. We all end up the same way eventually, and 100 years from now nobody will think we're a creep for riding family coasters. -
By Hilltopper39 · Posted
Nice update, I always have a good time at their Spooktacular festival with my kids when they were younger and overall it still looks like a pretty solid way to spend a day. -
By SoCalJasonland · Posted
So Castle Park got rid of their two kiddie coasters before this year. The Screamin Demon - spinning coaster was just recently removed and Merlin's Revenge is up for sale; so all four coasters will be, or are already gone. The Sally dark ride was closed and drywalled over without any warning earlier this year. The spider and crazy plane rides were removed this year. They only had one show, Anthony the Magic, and it was canceled and replaced with a dance party. I can't find any of their other rides listed for sale besides the coaster so I am not sure that the ride park is closing unless they plan to move the usable flat rides elsewhere. Either way, if you live nearby, you might want to visit just in case they decided to tear down what is left of the park before you know it. The golf course still looks nice if you don't look at all of the empty broken fountains. Are other Palace parks liquidating assets? Is Palace in financial trouble? -
Went to the park for Pride night on Saturday, the new front entrance is coming along nicely. Lots of new things that are clearly NOT Six flags... concrete squares instead of blacktop, etc., and all the rides were running better than last year. Seems everyone's favorite of the night was Eagle (red), running like a bat outta hell. MaxxForce is back to 2 trains again; easily the most comfortable *new design* trains I've ridden in a couple decades; that ride is my favorite launcher (besides the old Schwarzkopf shuttles). -
I had my hands up for the first few rides I took, until I rode the back seat alone (nobody else wanted to ride back there). It owned me (in the valleys, as coasterbill mentioned), and then I braced with 2 hands and 2 feet. After all that, I heard the rule. I love flat track, even if it's elevated. It adds variety and great scenic views, can't wait to ride it again.
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By prozach626 · Posted
For me: No wooden coasters. Hypers are always hands up. Anything else, I play it by ear. Usually I'll put them up on the first drop, and after that not so much. -
By jedimaster1227 · Posted
This weekend I had a chance to stop into SeaWorld Orlando for the first time in a while, both to experience this year's SeaWorld Spooktacular fun with my family but also to ride Penguin Trek for the first time. SeaWorld Spooktacular is the park's daytime Halloween event, offering trick or treating, characters and some light entertainment offerings to supplement the normal day at the park before it closes to turn over the operation to Howl-O-Scream Orlando, which is a more mature, separately ticketed event. Penguin Trek took over the former Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin dark ride, but also manages to take up a significant portion of the land outside of the former ride's show building. It is hard to understand just how creative they got with plugging this coaster into the building until you're walking through it all... Sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. The queue is improved for its (expanded) of the former interior space--it makes you wonder just how much space the short, short-lived dark ride actually took up inside. The path to the station has you going upstairs and downstairs, at levels that the previous attraction never utilized, making you realize how tall these buildings were for no prior experiential reason. Where it gets a little wonky is the exit path from the ride, which ultimately leads you back to the existing penguin exhibit, crossing through the ride's entrance queue and stopping at the exit of the exhibit which now has a SeaWorld team member pulsing guests between doors that must be opened and closed in order to minimize the loss of cold air in the exhibit. This wasn't a challenge in the space before (as the exit used a revolving door) so I'm not sure why this change was made but it makes for a strange bottleneck in a space where Guests may not want to be stuck for an extended time due to the cold. On to the photos! This cute billboard marks the start of the SeaWorld Spooktacular treat trail. That's about as spooky at this gets. You can meet a mermaid here... The trick or treating starts at 11:00 AM and the initial rush can be a little surprising but it dies down later in the afternoon. Keep in mind, to participate in the trick or treating (at least to the full extent) you must buy a SeaWorld bucket or bag from the park. I've seen other people use other bags and in some cases be turned away, in others, be given less candy than those with one of the park-sold bags. I love Haribo candies, so this was right up my alley. Portions of the park are decorated for the event. A look at all of this year's sponsors/candy providers. Some more character meet and greets along the way. Behind the dogfish and catfish is a space where story time takes place during scheduled portions of the day. For the parents there are drinks and bites to get you through the Halloween day. You bring your bag up to a station and the SeaWorld team member drops the candy through the chute. My son's favorite part of the event... Is it even a Halloween event if you don't walk through a giant pumpkin head? New this year is the Harvest Maze, a cute little maze that is backstage near Journey to Atlantis. A cute little diversion. This was my candy haul at the end of one lap. We could go back as many times as we wanted to but with the heat being what it was, this was plenty for us. There is a DJ booth over by Journey to Atlantis which marks the end of the treat trail. Why I really was here today... Portions of the former Antartica queue are still intact but the building was definitely updated to accommodate the new coaster. I went through the Quick Queue line so I didn't have the chance to experience the standby queue during this visit. I had no where in the existing building I was at this point of the queue. This does feel radically different than what was here before. The train does look pretty sleek. I was pleased to find that despite this being a two-train operation with two-across seats, the operation moved abnormally fast (by SeaWorld standards). The coaster exits from the same station as you load, but dumps you out to an expanded window which used to be where the Antarctica ride vehicle would look into the exhibit before returning to the station. Perhaps the reason it is called Penguin Trek is because of the hike you have to make back to the exit. My sense of where this was in the former attraction is so lost. Next thing you know you're walking through the old interior queue--this was where the "mild" or "wild" experience used to be split up. And then you end up back in one of the pods that led to the exhibit. You're dumped out into the exhibit but walking along a path created by having walled off the former Antarctica: Empire of the Penguin ride exit station. You can still see the penguins up close. But now you have to wait to be pulsed between exit doors... Not sure what went into this decision making process but I'd argue that it is the one misstep I spotted with Penguin Trek over its predecessor. After leading you back out into the existing two-story viewing area of the exhibit, you finally exit into the newly-built, enclosed gift shop. Queue logistics aside, Penguin Trek is a really solid coaster. The launches aren't as aggressive as you'll find on other launch coasters but the track is B&M smooth and the maneuvers are fun to experience. Plus it is a pretty fun coaster to watch from the ground! My favorite elements of the coaster are these two twisty hills. Just a really solid addition to the park. Over at Wild Arctic, work continues on whatever is replacing the former simulators. Here's hoping we'll find out more soon. And obviously the most important update of the day is the addition of a new boba bar at The Waterfront. -
10 years later from when Universal Studios Korea was supposed to open and that piece of land is still struggling to make any progress on any kind of theme park Source -
By jedimaster1227 · Posted
Six years ago I had the opportunity to sail with Disney Cruise Line on an incredible transatlantic adventure--one that we loved so much that when the opportunity to plan another European vacation came around, we knew we wanted it to be built around another Disney Cruise! Our entire trip would consist of a day and a half in London, an eleven night cruise on the Diseny Dream with stops in Chania, Athens, Santorini, Mykonos, Valetta and Palma de Mallorca and ending with two days in Barcelona. We started our trip off with a day and a half in London, revisiting some of our favorites while enjoying a few new things as well... Norse does the job for cheap direct flights from Orlando to Gatwick... Just make sure you clearly understand their pricing structures and baggage policies because that's where the extra charges can add up. In our prior trip to London, we were supposed to dine at Michelin-starred Indian restaurant Amaya, but due to a transportation delay we missed our chance. This was the first thing we confirmed this time around when the European trip was officially happening. The white sweet potato with tamarind and yogurt was an amazing start to the meal. My first time having oysters at an Indian restaurant and they turned out to be some of the best oysters I've ever consumed! I still dream of this incredible raita. Did you even eat at an Indian restaurant if didn't get some kind of tikka masala? As if I didn't need any more reason to love walking around Piccadilly... One of our favorites! We called an audible and booked day-of tickets for Back to the Future: The Musical at the Adelphi Theatre. The last time we were here we saw the final run of Kinky Boots, which was incredible. And I love that Six is right next door! The lobby of the theatre has been slightly touched up to evoke the feeling of Hill Valley, California in 1985. Of course, there are plenty of merchandise options to choose from. I'll shamelessly admit that I started tearing up the moment the show started. The finale is something special... Do yourself a favor and see it for yourself without spoiling the moment. The final 10 minutes of the show are my favorite and there was one moment that, as a major Back to the Future fan absolutely blew my mind. Opium is our favorite speakeasy hidden in Chinatown not far from Piccadilly. The drinks are over the top and delicious... Not to mention strong! Plus you can order fresh dim sum to go with your drinks! This is one of our favorite places to hang out and I highly recommend it. Reservations are basically required if you intend to get in. I've been to a number of Chinatowns around the world and London's is among my favorites. Last time we were in London, Big Ben was hidden behind scaffolding for a major refurbishment. It isn't a trip to London without at visit to Fortnum & Mason. You had me at marzipan. The Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon may not seem like it would be everyone's cup of tea, but I can assure you this is the place to come for an absolutely incredible meal. As you'd imagine, they serve tea here. But you also can choose from a menu of high tea combinations ranging from savory to sweet. My wife went the route of sweet while I revisit my favorite savory options including this unreal lobster omelette with truffles. All of the finger foods that are served with the tea are all-you-care-to-enjoy, so if you want more, you need only tell your server which ones and how many more. I wish I could have more of these right now. After our incredible meal, we did some damage in the store... For a $25 flat fee, we were able to ship everything home to Florida, so it was an easy choice to make. I was majorly tempted, but knowing we'd be ending our trip in Barcelona, I figured it was best to wait on trying the Iberico ham until we were in Spain. I've traditionally tried at least one new Coca-Cola product with each trip I take... This one was neither delicious nor refreshing. I've long been fascinated with the history of the London Trocadero and Sega World. I wish I could have experienced it firsthand but even passing by the old building feels like being able to embrace a little bit of the history. I've also been interested in The Crystal Maze (because of TPR) for years. If we had had more time on this trip, we definitely would have done it. After years of seeing them at A Celebration of Harry Potter at the Universal Orlando Resort, we finally had a chance to stop by the House of MinaLima. These are the artists who defined the look and feel of most collateral, art and stylings found in the Harry Potter and Wizarding World franchises... Cirque Arcanus is referenced in the second Fantastic Beasts film and will actually be a show/attraction in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Ministry of Magic land in Universal's Epic Universe. After our brief stint in London it was time to fly to Rome... But not before we had a chance to finally try Nando's for ourselves! Worth the hype. It amazes me that Nando's hasn't made its way to more of the US, especially not Florida yet. Everything was so ridiculously tasty! Knowing that we had four days in Greece ahead of us, it felt appropriate to finally get around to watching My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3... This was a mistake. -
By abovethesink · Posted
On that topic, I'd be interested to hear in what everyone else does in terms of "hands up" or not on rides. For me, I put my hands up for negative Gs to float. Sometimes I will do it more than that because why not, I guess, but it doesn't really do anything for me other than during airtime and hangtime. -
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They're repainting Goliath to more match the colors in that section. . I think it's gonna be Poltergeist's old colors. . the more teal blue. -
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By michaellynn4 · Posted
It's a restricted video. Hosted on a page that limits access. Appreciate you clarifying the content in your second post, but this is why it's always recommended to post a description / summary of a link's content up front within the forum in case the link is restricted, behind a paywall, or deleted. EDIT: I see it's no longer restricted, thanks. -
It's still there. It's video of Joker testing shot from the train. Full height swings.
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