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Where to even start with this incoherent word salad post. It DOES affect everyone. I am one of its employees, and for the past 23 YEARS I have been paid more to work there than if I decided to work anywhere else. I also live in Orange County, and I cannot afford a $2000-4000 tax bill JUST because #DeathSantis hates gay people. That's what this all boils down to. He wants to grab as much power as possible and does not care who he hurts in the process. I am hoping that Disney with its massive wealth and power does not blink and instead supports whoever runs against this lunatic. This meme sums it up perfectly:

Looks like the Schwarzkopf is almost about done with the painting. Photos are from Indiana Beach Facebook group.

I hate that people are now talking about nostalgia with a coaster that opened in 1996. How old am I and when did this happen? Anyway, everyone is entitled to their opinion and we all like different things. It's important to respect that, but my nuanced, measured response to this would be counterpoint: fuck that awful ride .

This is frustrating because this topic actually is relevant and it would be interesting to be be able to discuss the logistics of it and predictions on how it will play out but it's 2022. It's now absolutely impossible for grown adults to have this conversation without aggressively injecting their own political views into it to the point where it turns into a flame war within like 3 posts.

THIS.

Will be writing up a full report sometime, but let me just say that this is by far my favorite coaster element ever. What a masterpiece. Intamin did it again.

^ Personally I thought it was interesting and wish I could have spent more time reading and looking at things, but my children wanted to get through quickly to get to the zoo section and the playground. I understand why some people would have no interest at all in the Ark Encounter, but I'm a Christian and it was designed for my demographic, so I can understand why people would be really interested in it and why some people would have no interest at all. Hard to know from a forum what people would be interested in, but it is a thing between Kings Island and Kentucky Kingdom that some people may be interested in. If you're not that's fine, you can always just drive right past that exit and that's fine too.

you not only have no idea what the fuck you are taking about . . . but that you felt the need to drop BS Florida politics into the DisneyLAND thread? yeah . cements your stats as a troll. so I guess. . .

TR from the past 3 days at Universal! Flew down with lovely Frontier on Sunday which wasnt too bad, but upon arrival it took an hour and 5 minutes to get luggage at the carousel (no joke) and then after shuttling to Aventura and checking in, it was already pushing 6:00. My wife wanted to go to the Mardi Gras parade at 7:30 so we unfortunately had to miss Velocicoaster the first day and headed to Studios. Parade was good. It was a parade. Once that ended around 8:00 we headed to Diagon Alley for the first time and wow. It's absolutely amazing how well of a job they did with it. The attention to detail is incredible. They didn't miss on anything. We took advantage of a 30 minute line for Gringotts and hit that real quick. After gawking at the amazing job they did with the interior of the bank, we made our way into the mindf*ck elevator and then wobbily made our way to the station. As for the ride, I'm going to get a lot of shit probably, but I was let down quite a bit. IMO it's very short, not any more impressive than anything else at Universal, and Forbidden Journey blows it away. I know I'm in a very small minority by being underwhelmed, but at least skipping the 2+ hour lines for it will be easy for me lol. It was pushing the 9:00 closing after that, so we set off for City Walk to find food which turned out to be an impossible task. It was mobbed, the sit down places were full for the night, and the fast food places had mile long lines. Eventually admitted defeat and headed back to the hotel and ordered a pizza. Awoke Monday morning and there was only one place I was heading. Velocicoaster had a 50 minute line posted which wasnt bad at all for a coaster of its newness and magnitude. Not to mention that line never stops moving. They do a great job with ~55 second dispatches and the great theming makes the line go even quicker. I've intentionally avoided any discussion or videos on this thing since it opened as I wanted to be surprised by it. I didn't know about the barrel roll or the stall until I saw them while walking up. So the first half of the ride was a real blind experience as you can't see it from the line. It kind of meanders a bit, but a few small pops of good air and a fun inversion. But then, from the second launch out it just turns into one of the greatest coasters on earth. The air on the top hat is phenomenal as well as in a few other places in the 2nd half. The stall is great. But then, that barrel roll. You get launched directly at the water and I screamed "HOLY SH*T!" so loud when it happened. My first experience with the Rolling Thunder hill on El Toro and my first ride on Skyrush were the only other two times I can think of that blew me away like that. But those are just great ejector air moments. This is upside down ejector air mere feet above the water, hanging from a lapbar. RMC has done great things the past 10 years, but no one builds masterpieces like Intamin (when they're not broken down lol). Anyway, after that ride we looked for lunch but Jurassic Park (and Hogsmeade) were Kings Island Haunt on Columbus Day weekend busy. Finally got all the way to Comic Strip Cafe to find a line less than 10 minutes. Food there was fine. Made my way to Hulk and got on quick from the singles line. Always a fun, intense ride on one of the most iconic coasters in the world. Speaking of fun, intense rides, I kind of just made my way back to Velocicoaster because I just had to get another ride. Headed for Hogwarts next (grabbing a butterbeer on the way) and grabbed a ride on the best Potter themed ride between the two parks, Forbidden Journey. Great theming in line and the ride is phenomenal. This was the only thing they had built last time I was there and I loved it then and it's still just as good as I remembered it. After grabbing a beer at the Hogs Head we hopped in line for Hagrids. Posted at 50 minutes, we were excited when we got to the preshow within 10 minutes. But WTF, why is the preshow followed by another 30 solid minutes of lines? Anyway, the coaster is a ton of fun and a home run as a family ride. I forgot it has a backwards section and it even got a little intense at some points. But a lot of fun. After hitting the restroom with sounds of Moaning Myrtle piped in (which makes sense from the movies but still f*cking weird) we had a bizarre incident at the train. We got in line and after 5 minutes, suddenly the hosts were like "EVERYONE NEEDS TO EXIT THE LINE NOW!" and some of them were literally running trying to get everyone out. The hosts at the front of the line just said it was down temporarily but there's no way they would act like that over a mechanical issue. I later read (on Twitter, take it with a grain of salt) that they totally blocked off the Diagon Alley end and that there might have been a bomb threat. Not sure how true that is, but based on how urgently they cleared the line I can kind of believe it. Good news is I used that time to get one more Velocicoaster ride before heading to NBC Sports to watch the end of the Celtics sweep over Brooklyn with some great food and beer. Then checked out the rooftop bar at my hotel which is an awesome spot. Tuesday we decided to make it a dedicated Studios day. We really planned it well and between 2 and 6 we basically had free reign with lots of walk ons ans rode everything in the park. Honestly, I'm not sure anything really stands out here with Mummy closed. ET is a nostalgic favorite, and I like the Simpsons, but everything else just blends in to me and started to feel repetitive. Rockit has potential with a lot of intensity and some ejector air, but god do those trains suck. Saw Bourne Stuntacular which was pretty awesome. Visited Diagon (and Knockturn) Alley for a bit before finally successfully getting on the train. They absolutely nailed this area too. So well done with all the detail. Plan was to close the night with Velocicoaster but it was throwing an Intamin maintenance fit and Poseidon was also down, so hit some Seuss stuff to end the day. Wife loves One Fish Two Fish (and I got soaked because the song lies) and then I have a soft spot for Cat in the Hat so fun enough way to end the day even if it wasnt mind blowing upside down ejector air. Two more days left at Universal, tomorrow will be for hitting some of the lesser ridden stuff at IOA and then Thursday will be spent mostly at the paddock most likely. Then we ARE going to Disney after all, just one day on Friday. Starting at Epcot and ending at Magic Kingdom. May slip into one of the others if Queue Times suggests its worth it. Saturday is a rest day (AKA Fun Spot Day) followed by my first ever day at BGT Sunday and first trip in 10 years to Seaworld Monday.

I don't really understand the point of posts like this. In this specific instance we are talking about realistic things this park could use like kiddie rides, but even if not and it was about a hyper or something, so what? Are we supposed to not discuss this kind of stuff on a theme park message board in a thread dedicated to this actual park? Anyways, in an effort to provide content, yeah, a legit kiddie coaster would be nice. Mine Train is a good kids/family coaster as is Pandemonium, but the height requirement for both is the same as Screamin' Eagle. Bumper Cars, a tilt a whirl, some other mid range carnival style flats would go a long way for the family demographic. As-is right now, you have either the big thrill rides or the baby rides, not much in between save for the Scrambler and Log Flume.

I just ignored it, John . . . since the poster clearly has not idea what they are talking about.

Life gets in the way so took me over a week. .but here's my TR from Fiesta Fest at SFFT on 4/9/22 FiestaFest is an event put on by American Coaster Enthusiasts, but ACE also invited those in the Thrill Seekers United (Texas based group) to participate as well if they wanted to. SFFT goes all out for events like this, and I try to attend when I can- and it's great to see all my friends from TSU (and ACE as well). here are LOTS of pics: best thing about these events, is that the check in is usually well before the park opens. . so even tho there were other events going on today (a cheer competition, and a car show in the parking lot). . still ended up with really up close parking. right next to the Valet parking (which - shocking to me- some people later in the day DID use, at $70 a spot!). Guess that's why Six Flags is doing that now. Got checked in and met up with my friend Sean (a local Austinite whom I often drive up to San Antonio for TSU events with) once we were all checked in (think the total count was ~125 people if not mistaken), we were brought into the park, and past rope drop area where Jorge gave us a welcoming to Fiesta Fest, and explained the agenda for the day (and how our badges would act as Flash Pass - yay!! that was super unexpected, and super appreciated!). .and then they brought our group back to Wonder Woman where tho we didn't have ERT, we did have 1st rides of the day on it before the park officially opened. Here's Jeff (not Jeffrey Siebert, who'd we see later, but the other Jeff in Promotions), who also "managed' our group today, and was telling us about the up close tour we'd be getting of Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger Coaster in about an hour. . they had just finished putting in the last piece of track the day before and it was now a full circuit! skipping past Wondy rides, and the other assorted stuff to about an hour later, and here's Jorge leading us back into the construction area, and giving us the stats and directions about being careful where we step and where we could and could not go. the construction guys were working on the lift hill, and stopped to wave hello to us. yeah. .we were gonna get really close! see? either a paint test for the Patina. . . or Dr. Diabolical has already started her experiments on unsuspecting workers! the transfer bay to work on the coasters, and the work that had already started on the Station (all that wood, and foundation work on the right) this is truly looking impressive as hell in person! and it just LOOMS over the biggest outdoor stage at the park. the great lawn, where we'd be later to watch the 30th Fireworks/cliff show. YEAH!!!! since the Train is not operating right now during construction, we were able to walk along the track to get some unique views of the new coaster LOVE this rare picture. . and have to thank Chris from SFFT for taking this pic of me. really love it. but here's the main reason we went up the tracks. . to see the Golden Bolt - the last piece input to complete the circuit. This will be visible from the Queue line if you know where to look for it. . . really cool. Unique views from the train tracks: after the tour, we were free to enjoy the park until 5 pm, when it was time for a performance of Rockin at Rockville High - one of the classic shows the park has brought back for it's 30th Anniversary. even tho we had ERT on it after park close, we also had Flash Pass, so we headed right over to Iron Rattler. I really like how they have added Single Rider lines, in addition to Flash Pass lines to several of the Big coasters now. then we tempted fate and got in line for DareDevil Dive. I've actually only once before gotten in line ,and ridden it without having to wait out a shutdown and maintenance having to come reset. but the universe was on our side today, and we not only - using Flash Pass - got up to the station pretty quickly, but we actually got on it and got a ride with no breakdown! since we hadn't really eaten yet today (tho I think that there were perhaps cookies handed out in the morning. . can't recall. . LOL). . but it turned out that SFFT is doing a 30th Anniversary Food festival too, and added bonus to our event were some food/drink coupons to the special booths (most of the food is also avail as a "snack" on meal plan, so I recommend trying them out. Of course, I headed here - and ended up convincing everyone I was hanging with to try the Armadillo Egg. . OMG . .it was so good. nearby at the Pour Haus festival pop up, I got the 30th. . . wow, this thing is kinda scary, in that it tastes like a wonderful fruit punch. . .but man does it sneak up on you! Recommended and of course, we can't go into Sangerfest Halle without stopping to grab a pic with Sweet Connie. I love the renovations in here, and I'm not sure that Jeffrey Siebert really knows just how much I appreciate that they "saved" Sweet Connie when they re-did everything. Yes, I've told him multiple times how much I appreciate it, but not sure he "gets" how wonderful I think it is that she exists in this park. She's an ICON. .LOL me, Paige, Conne, Sean, and Juan (my "hang out crew" for most of the day) it had gotten hot, and the water rides were pulling huge lines . . so we took advantage of the Flash Pass to ride both Gully Washer (the waterfall was on, and we got soaked. . so no pics, because phone was put away), and also Bug's Whitewater Rapids. . . I did not feel guilty at ALL bypassing this massive hour + line. Sam and Dragon at the Flash Pass entrance! Sean didn't want to get wet, so he took this pic of us as we left the station: and yes, we got a bit wet - much of it from that darn spitting dragon, that TRACKS the log, and gets everyone soaked! around this time, I left the park for 30 minutes to run across the freeway and check into my hotel (had to do it in person to make sure everything went smoothly since i had a free night I was using to make up for a major S#!tshow the last time i stayed there). . worked out well, and had a nice stay this time. Soon enough was back in the park. . and stumbled across a Sylvester and Tweety photo op. Yes please! since all we'd eaten was that Armadillo Egg, and was feeling the 2nd drink.. we headed into the Sangerfest Halle to grab a light lunch as we knew we had dinner at 7. the area is looking so nice. . hard to believe it's a Six Flags, but SFFT really is a jewel in the chain. my "snack" - Brisket stuffed Baked Potato. Yum and the entertainment is back in the Halle too! German themed band. .but for the life of me, I dunno why they played "Sweet Caroline". . tho we all sang along to the "BA DUMP BUM BUM" parts. we can't be in Sangerfest and not ride the Carousel right next door tho. unfortunately, they were running it with no music, and when I queried why no music? I was told that it had broken (I responded "what? they just refurbed this within the past couple of years!". . . so we sang "Sweet Caroline" while riding and here's the infamous pic that my Spouse thought looked like an Orgasm . . . . LOL we headed to the Boardwalk next - letting the food settle - and took a spin on Pirates (where my glow in the dark boots really live up to the promise) I do not like Disk-O's. . so I rode "bench" while Sean, Juan, and Paige rode Hurricane Force 5 after it was time for our special seating at Rockville High. the show was great, and even tho they have made some changes to it? well worth seeing (and bonus: indoors/air conditioned, with cushioned benches!). the whole cast is great, and all the female leads have really strong and great voices. after the show, everyone there for Fiesta Fest got to go up on the stage, and they took a group picture of us. (pic from ACE) The show is not as long as it used to be, but it's still a good 30 minute show. . so after it was over, we made our way over to the Picnic Grove for dinner. oh, before the show, we had seen Park President Jeffrey Siebert and said hello to him. When he asked how my day had been, I mentioned my surprise that the Carousel music had broken already and wasn't working anymore. He made a confused face and got on his radio immediately, and made a call. And as we passed the Carousel on the way to the Picnic Grove? yeah, the Carousel music was playing loud and clear. That's why he's such a great Park President. this is me "not too hungry". .but I had a really decent Pulled Pork Sandwich, a spicy hot link (so good!), and potato salad. after some speeches and door prizes were handed out, we were interrupted by Dr. Diabolical's assistant who crashed our dinner, to announce that we didn't NEED the Doctor. She was able to create the anti-aging formula on her own, and if we followed her she'd perform the procedure on us. who could say no to that sweet face? she led us back to the lab, and as she was getting ready to bring us in? Uh oh. . .she looks pissed. but since we were at the lab already, and had shown her respect? why not? after this wonderful train reveal, we headed back into the park for another hour or so until it was time for the evening fireworks. this park looks so good at night, and in particular the new paint on Poltergeist looks so great at night. the skyline forever changed (from the Poltergeist porch) ooo.. we got reserved seating for the fireworks/cliff show. with chairs even! I've not ever actually seen the fireworks here, as they take place so late, and I always have to drive back to Austin. But since was staying across the street this time and was closing out the park? I was excited to see them. really impressive the projections, lasers, and animation they show on the cliffside wall - they turn off the waterfalls for this. dancing fountains and FIRE !!!! a great fireworks show. .with some gigantic fireworks.. some of the biggest I've seen. and so close to us. and then it was time for Iron Rattler ERT. (but on the way over, Jeff, Jorge, & Chris brought out a mobile Ice Cream cart and handed out frozen Snickers, Twix, and all kinds of ice cream treats for us to enjoy, while the park finished draining the general line (~20 minutes). most of the FiestaFest folks stayed for at least the 1st ride on Iron Rattler. . but even then, not too much of a wait: but by 20 minutes in, the ERT crowd dropped to only ~30 people.. so got multiple night rides on Iron Rattler. including the front row (which I rarely do, since this is a back row coaster, and front row always has longest line anyways). But too fun. soon enough tho..it was time to call it a night, as I was exhausted (having been up since 6am to leave Austin. . and it was closing in on 11). and I had to be at SeaWorld San Antonio at 9am the next morning for Great White's Birthday. so we slowly made our way towards the front gate - taking the opportunity to snap a pic with the 30th Anniversary statue in the front plaza (rare to get without so many people around). the back side of it: all in all, a fantastic day at a fantastic park. (and we rode a lot more that I didn't take pics of. . but we got a lot of riding in and enjoyed the event). hope you liked the pics shared.

After spending most of the last few years with minimal travel, the bug to get out of Orlando was itching and I set my sights on the Smoky Mountains... The last time I had been here was with TPR during the Deep South Tour in 2009. I'd kept up with the growth and development of attractions in the region during that time, especially of Dollywood which had nearly doubled in size since my prior visit, so I knew this could be an option to enjoy a long weekend. Our first day was focused on some of the nature, kitsch and touristy elements of Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, saving Dollywood for our second full day. Why goats? Well Goats on the Roof was our first stop of the day... Due to a storm the night before, the alpine coaster here wasn't up and running but we'd be back later in the trip to give this one a go. On the drive to Gatlinburg from Pigeon Forge we witnessed the Shrine Fun Fest Parade under way on the main stretch. Next up was a ride to the peak of Anakeesta Mountaintop Park. This "adventure park" is not unlike a ski resort with shops, dining and activities, minus the skiing. It is a more modern buildout which definitely made it feel more comfortable/inviting and less "kitschy mountaintop attraction." They have an alpine coaster here (the region's only single rail alpine coaster) but unfortunately it was closed due to rain and fog during our visit. It is important to note that general admission to Anakeesta is required to ride the Rail Runner, plus an added cost to experience the coaster. Had this not been the case, we would have happily returned on a different day of our trip just to ride the coaster. Plenty of great views to enjoy here! They've done a really nice job dressing up the facilities to fit into the mountain setting. The path to the top of Anakeesta is certainly picturesque! Postcard worthy. AnaVista Tower is downtown Gatlinburg's highest point accessible to visitors. And the views of the Anakeesta complex it delivers are great! Tell me more. You can see Ripley's Mountain Coaster (formerly Rowdy Bear) in the distance. The Glider Coaster sits above it but is not currently operational. There are glass flooring sections at the top of the AnaVista Tower for those that like the thrill of having transparent flooring beneath them at heights. I was honestly very impressed with the design, landscaping and overall feel of Anakeesta. Time for a BearVenture! I definitely wasn't going to trip and fall on my face in an embarrassing fashion here. Definitely not. Not sure what to make of this but here it is. There are some fun treehouses for the kids to explore. No dancing on your toes here. The Treetop Skywalk ended up being our favorite activity at Anakeesta and it is included in your base admission price. You can go through it as many times as you'd like! It's like I'm in the Ewok Village on the forest moon of Endor!!! Seriously fun stuff here! In both directions you can take the "Chondola" to/from the mountaintop or you can ride the "Ridge Rambler" which is an all-terrain vehicle that takes you on a scenic road trip up/down the side of the mountain. This Rowdy Bear location recently became Ripley's Mountain Coaster. This is the shortest of the mountain coasters in the region (approximately 5 minutes long). Unfortunately the pricing options were a little unreasonable with only two rides per person for $25 or three rides per person for $29 available (no single ride options available per person). By comparison, Goats on the Roof was offering single rides for $10 and several others were between $12-$15 per ride (with coupons available to bring down that price). For this reason we passed on this experience. I was hoping to get to ride the Glider Coaster during this trip but it wasn't open and it isn't even referenced online or in the ticket office. Over in Downtown Gatlinburg I couldn't visit without experiencing Earthquake The Ride. Having grown up with the attraction at Universal Studios Florida, this piqued my curiosity. The entry to the attraction is decently themed and there are people in line already! (Spoiler: they're not real people, they're mannequins, which is a common trick at all of these knock-off attractions.) I'll give credit in that the ride entrance is cleverly themed. Sitting down in the "train" my life choices already seemed questionable. Also these seats tilt in all kinds of wonky directions as you move (back and forth) through the experience. The ride starts with another train coming at you from the subway... Which makes sense. The ceiling collapses from the earthquake, which also makes sense... But random other things like an attacking gator start to happen around you which... Makes less sense. Don't mind the angry gorilla trying to escape his crate in the subway station during the earthquake. It all makes sense. There's a couch (with a man sleeping on it) and a locker room in the subway station because that is exactly how subway stations are in San Francisco. It makes sense. Angry gorillas often break out of their cages that they were being transported in on the San Francisco metro... Authentic and makes sense. A flood of rats pour from the fallen ceiling... Totally logical and a great way to end our authentic, realistic, true-to-nature journey on Earthquake The Ride. We rewarded ourselves for surviving that realistic catastrophe with edible cookie dough. Also wine. The Moonshine Mountain Coaster ended up being our first alpine coaster of the trip. No photos allowed while riding but this one has a fun layout and solid speed (if you don't brake). The icing on the cake is that Mario Kart music starts to play right as you exit the lift hill to start down the track! We ended up riding this one twice during our weekend. We decided to visit the DreamMore Resort at Dollywood to explore the grounds and grab some lunch. The property is well designed with some solid resort amenities. Definitely going for a moderate-to-deluxe style feel when compared to the higher end properties at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando. Lunch was good and solid in The Lounge at Dollywood's DreamMore Resort. Dollywood's HeartSong Lodge & Resort is being constructed right by DreamMore and will open in the Fall of 2023. The Alpine Coaster Pigeon Forge was another great alpine coaster! We ended up riding this one twice as well. The layout is fantastic in that it has lots of turns, dips and helices! Plus night rides are awesome on this one! Back at Goats on the Roof... Goats on the Roof has the fastest alpine coaster in the region. I love the lift hill the brings the karts over the entrance to the parking lot. You can feet goats on the roof by pedaling food up to them on a conveyor bike. It worked. Baby goat! You can also buy goat feed from inside the shop for a more up-close goat experience. The real reason I came to Pigeon Forge. I love the trick of putting mannequins at the entrance of these knock offs to make it feel like people are going in. "Time... The ever flowing river..." The technology inside is astounding. Some of the dinos are actually pretty realistic... Others, not so much. My favorite part of the entire experience is a kid getting picked up by a Pteranodon and flown away. Meet this dino's biggest fan. I feel like I'm really there. Feaster's on Teaster's biblical dinner theater was definitely tempting... I saw it and kept moving on... Like anyone should. What happened to the other half of the ship? Could they only pick up one half from the ocean floor? I strongly debated trying Paula Deen's Lumberjack Feud (I'm ashamed typing that sentence) but the ticket price and the fact that all I really cared about was the zipline coaster deterred me from biting on the rough $40 per person price of admission. We ended our night at the Mountain Mile... Unfortunately all three of the thrill complex's attractions were closed. There's a drop tower... There's also a slingshot on this side and a more traditional skycoaster style experience (though seated instead of face down) that swings from the arch opposite side. Given that I couldn't experience any of these thrills for the evening, we pivoted to moonshine tastings at the Junction 35 Distillery in the same complex.

Some pics from our visit today!

There are more to parks than coasters. I'll put in in CF terms, maybe that'll help: Cedar Point, without any argument, ultimately has the better top-tier lineup of coasters than Kings Island. No one will question that. However, many people believe that KI is the overall "better park" - I'm one of them. KI just blows CP out of the water in terms of ride operations, Fast Lane offering and access design, food operations, food offerings, layout, overall quality of of coasters, and type of adult flats. Others really love Knott's Berry Farm for all of the shows and the historic Ghost Town section. Point is, you can't judge the quality of a park simply by it's top two coasters.

Six Flags Darien Lake is teasing the re-tracking work taking place on Predator!

The longest wooden roller coaster in the world gets an overhaul within a matter of months, but the carousel at SFSTL is going to take at least three years to complete.

and they JUST updated an hour ago. . it's opening to the public tomorrow! UPDATE: After more than six months of retracking work, The Beast is scheduled to re-open to guests on Sunday May 8. The 43-year-old wooden roller coaster -- the longest in the world at 7,361 feet -- has received over 2,000 ft. of replacement track and a steeper first drop.

I ended up taking tndank's advice, and although I wasn't able to get the passholder rate at Cabana Bay, it did end up saving me about $500 off my previous lowest attempt. I took a look at all the different deluxe hotels and sure enough, Portofino Bay was the cheapest with that passholder rate discount. The others didn't have it available for the dates I was looking at. In any case, the trip has been booked! Thanks again everyone for your help, and looking forward to finally getting back to Universal next month and getting our first rides on their elite coasters. Robb's recent video has definitely amped up my excitement.

Well, that's okay. They still haven't opened a park that's an hour from your house with a drop tower and 5 coasters that are open 365 days a year.

I don't think it's a secret that the BGT operations have left A LOT to be desired the last few years. It's really quite disappointing as the park is actually quite amazing, but if it's hot out and you're dealing with full queues with lackluster employees it can be annoying. Also, it's dumb putting ChickFilA in parks, I'm saying it!!!!

I just got back from an Orlando/Tampa trip and was able to ride Iron Gwazi. It was a fantastic ride, but it unfortunately did not live up to the hype for me. I rode Velocicoaster earlier in the week, and I much preferred it; it really shows how far theming can go to make an experience complete! Comparing to other RMCs, I put it behind Steel Vengeance and Twisted Timbers. Interestingly, I really enjoy the second half of SV that brutally nails you with a bunch of airtime hills that was described above. Because of the length of SV, it also feels like more of a dramatic experience. Even though IG has incredible pacing until the end of the ride, it feels as though it runs out of elements during the second half. The first drop, sideways airtime hill, barrel roll of death (way more crazy than I expected) and wave turn are incredible. After that, the stall and twisty bits just don't match up. It is kind of the opposite of Velocicoaster, which ramps up from beginning to end.

Fun night with @PKI Jizzman getting night rides on this beast! Look how short the line was! Went into IOA around 3 and was once again treated to walk ons and short lines everywhere. In the first hour I was able to ride Hulk twice, Dr Doom, and Spiderman twice. Forgot how fantastic Spiderman is, definitely one of my favorites from either park. Made my way around for a few first-to-me rides, starting with a quick 5 minute wait for Kong. This was terrific and IMO much better than F&F. River Adventure was next, also a first for me on an IOA classic. Kind of cheesy, but really fun and naturally we absolutely drowned after watching people come off bone dry. Always seems to work out that way for me! Went over to Poseidon, also for the first time. While it is a bit time consuming, it's a fantastic attraction with tons of cool effects. Didnt know what to expect going into it, but it really delivered with the wow factor a few times! Hit Velocicoaster next and went to row 2 to get the front experience without actually being in front. The first half of the ride really stands out up here. Seems like a lot more great ejector moments and that dive loop is mental up there. Met up with @PKI Jizzman at the Hogs Head for a beer and we made our way into the line for Forbidden Journey. Well, joke was on us. The ride was a total walk on and we had to stand aside for a few minutes to finish our beers! Anyway, this is by far the best dark ride I've ever ridden and I can never get enough. It pulls off the flying effect perfectly and there are so many great sets. Such a home run. Finished up the night with a couple mental night rides in the back on Velocicoaster. You can't see in the first half and some of those turns are surprisingly forceful when you can't see them coming. The air over the top hat is second to none in the back and then the barrel roll blows my mind. Every. Damn. Time. So sad I have to leave this thing behind after tomorrow. Great to meet a new TPR member, thanks for hanging out Zach! Down to one more Universal day, then it's off to the Mouse.

Holy schnikes, three years?! This isn't a refurb, this is demolishing and building something completely new! I'm excited to see what they're gonna be doing! It's not like we're losing anything here, seeing as it's a copy of California and Hong Kong's version right now. Give me new funky stuff!

While doing a purge of our house (and there is a LOT of crap here!), I found a folder of pictures I took for my photography class while in college. Not the best pictures, but I took them in the fall of 1984 while on a day trip to Geauga Lake. Found some more this afternoon so I am adding them on as well. Enjoy!

If both Chapek gets replaced and DeSantis loses in November because of this then it will be considered a win-win for everyone.

It should have been "an epic battle between The Wolf Man, Dracula, The Mummy, and Brendan Fraser".

So we were at the park 6/6 & 6/7 for the ACE Spring Con. Probably not fair for me to give a lot of opinion on operations since we had most everything at some point on ert and had just been there over Christmas so not like we were trying to get on everything in one day. It was busy enough on Sat that with no evening ert we left about 5 since we had to drive on into Orlando. The only thing I am aware of that was down both days was Falcon's Fury (and for you Lorikeet aficionados the interactive part of the exhibit was down due to caution over the avian flu that has been spreading in the wild). IG was insanely fun and exactly as expected and our meal in the big, and wonderfully air conditioned tent, near IG was pretty good. Lots of the food festival stuff was pretty good too, but I tend to enjoy that sort of thing. The bigger news is for anyone that might stay at the Hampton Inn right across the street. As has been discussed the area around the park "ain't the greatest of neighborhoods", but I thought Hampton Inn, known entity, fairly secure. And several of the other attendees were there as well. Most of you are probably familiar with the typical free hotel breakfast you get there. Came down to eat, nothing special UNTIL about 5 women came storming in all at once through the lobby and were grabbing food left and right. Immediately the ladies that ran the breakfast area started screaming at them that the police were being called and 3 of the women bolted for the door, the fourth grabbed a few things but got out quick, but the fifth casually kept eating and claimed she was being harassed even though she was clearly stealing food. Turns out the 5 "ladies" were local prostitutes that are sent in by their pimp on a regular basis to steal food. Not exactly high priced call girls either since the brazen one that stayed had some open sores on her neck and she preceded to eat right out of the pan of eggs over and over which of course then had to be dumped. In the end she took about 5 plates of food out to said pimp, yes I saw him, and caused a ton of wasted food since she touched about everything. Thing is if she had quietly come in an just gotten a plate of food I'm not sure most of of us would have noticed. Anyway if you like a show with breakfast apparently this is a regular thing, if not you might want to avoid. Since it was during an event I've dubbed it the "Thoosies and floosies variety hour" AND this was the day after a strange meatball incident at the Tampa airport involving a man dropping a whole crap ton of meatballs from a carryout container all over the jet way as we exited the plane which happened right in front of a man exiting with his service dog. Needless to say said dog was completely incredulous that his owner expected him to bypass free meatballs that were all over the floor and available for the taking. Use your imagination for the chaos that ensued.

Churchill Downs as a facility is what I was suggesting, not a horse race, you wont see a baseball game at the Louisville Slugger museum, KK still has a roller coasters and you are correct about the Ark Encounter. Next time ill try and cater my suggestions to your unknown tastes. Id suggest hitting the Kentucky Bourbon Trail but I assume you dont like that either.

Can we take a moment to talk about the graphic design team at this park?

See? We're finally done with Covid! America is healing!

Kings Island just posted an update on Youtube: BEAST UPDATE: Track work has been completed on the world's longest wooden roller coaster, and trains have begun cycling. The exact date the ride will open this month has yet to be determined. #KI50

You've saw it right, so why didn't YOU post it lol???

is this guy serious

My brother and I made our first visit of the 2022 season to Canada's Wonderland on April 30th, which was Opening Day. Below are some photos of the new facilities that have been built over the off-season, as well as the new large dining facility that is still well under construction, and some other changes around the park. Here is a look at the new dining facility under construction. It will be themed to a mountain lodge and will be able to seat many people when it opens. Here's a side view of the new dining facility. It looks to be massive from the ground and above! Nearby the new dining facility behind Wonder Mountain a new Coca-Cola Refresh station was constructed during the off-season. It is tucked away off the path and looks like it has always been there despite being brand new. In order to make room for the new dining facility behind Wonder Mountain, the Mountainside Bakery (formerly Cookie Café prior to 2016) was demolished. Instead of removing it completely, the park constructed a new building across the path which will be home to the new Cookie Café. Across the Windseeker in Action Zone, a new structure was built across from Windseeker. It replaced an older structure which was home to Fast Lane sales. I believe this new structure will serve the same purpose and possibly more! For the 2022 season, Dairy Queen is no longer at the park. The locations have been replaced with park-ran ice cream shops serving soft-serve ice cream and sundaes. Pictured above is the Swiss Dip shop on International Street. Below is Arthur's Sundaes & Cones in Medieval Faire. Also new this season, The International Marketplace Buffet in Medieval Faire has been retransformed to the All's Well Hall, which it was known as in the 1980s. I love seeing the park continuing to revert rides, attractions, and facilities to their original names over the past few years! Also, the Tim Horton's location in Kidzville has been replaced with Tree Top Café. It will now serve Starbucks. More photos from opening day can be found on my blog, Amusement Views.

Hey everyone! I went to Six Flags Great Adventure yesterday, and on the way home I went to Coney Island on whim to check out the progress on the new rides. Also, I snagged credits for Phoenix & SkyFlyer at Deno's. The roller coaster (Tony's Express) is mostly done and the log flume (Leti's Treasure) still needs plenty of work. The pieces that still need to be installed are sitting right next to it, next to a bunch of construction equipment. Here are some photos I took:

Hi - it's me again. Took the little guy yesterday. Park was EMPTY which was nice. Actually had 2 walk-on rides on Daredevil Dive. I'd forgotten how much fun that ride is, as the line is usually miserable so I skip it. I finally got to ride Catwoman Whip, which was okay. Not as good as the Wheelie was, but maybe that's because I'm old. I'm really grateful that my kid is a daredevil, and will ride anything he can....but he decided Blue Hawk / Ninja is his favorite ride there. The new trains and track work make it tolerable and okay for a ride every once in a while.....but a mini-marathon on it almost killed me. I remember being a kid and being able to ride the roughest rides around with no problem. I sometimes feel like a kid on the inside, but my body is reminding me today that I am certainly one no longer.

^^

Don't show this to the SFStL thread...according to their fanboys it takes two years to properly renovate a carousel.

Forget Halloween. DIN TAI FREAKING FUNG coming to disney was the best announcement of the day!!!! Not just for you guys over in SoCal who already have one like 20min away, but to me this is a gateway to getting one in FLORIDA!!!!!

I think it's going off discussion but i'll try and put a cap on this since Osaka is only a 90 minute flight we've been checking in quite often: The country is very likely to be opening up in the late summer or fall months but it's pointless debating until there's some kind of official announcement. In terms of this discussion about closed vs not closed, yes tourists still can't go in. Bert is also right that you can go for business through his work. HOWEVER, you need a sponsor and Japan as a culture are pretty respectful of rules. If you've gone on a business visa and someone be it a person or company have put their name and reputation out there by sponsoring you, you're expected to try and be a part of the corona fight by limiting what you are doing to business. I'm sure you could do a trip to TDL while there but your sponsor might not be too impressed.

^ this is a silly comment. Japan's boarders are open to international travelers *right now*. . all you have to do is follow the procedures and you would be welcome. Perhaps you are thinking of China? (and no, not all Asian Countries are the same)

Zach, we will just have to agree to disagree, no hard feelings! I realize there are occasionally practical situations where something is better than nothing but I just cannot agree to a half ass it refurbishment being better than taking the time to do it correctly. I'm willing to have patience and wait. I realize you might have a fair argument is saying that's fine for me since I no longer have a young child but when my son was the same age as your daughter they still had the extremely crappy old blacktop kid's area over by the log flume. He doesn't remember a thing about it, by the time he was 3 or 4 and old enough to have some real memories the new Bugs land was opened and it will be the same for your daughter. By the time she's old enough to remember, the carousel will be open. I will say I think Knoebels is not a totally fair comparison. They had to fix a VERY well maintained but damaged carousel, not do a complete refurb on one that had been mostly neglected for decades. Also, the Knoebel's family has a lot of money to throw at just one park. The reason no one else had taken on building a ride like Flying Turns is that it is a maintenance nightmare that actually makes them no money. They just have it because Dick K wanted it and doesn't care that there is no profit from it. Not sure it will survive long after he is no longer with us. That is from a direct conversation with the head maintenance guy there who actually trained his own son specifically to take care of the ride, saw on a bts tour what they have to go through to just warm that sucker up for daily operations and it is super labor intensive. I am glad you will be able to enjoy park time with your daughter, one of the things I treasure most from having summers off most of my life is all the memories at various parks with my son. *Ironically in my son's lifetime he went from loving to ride things in Bugs to running rides in Bugs and hating it, partially due to the annoying theme music stuck forever in his head, lol. And more seriously being the brunt of several Karen like parents screaming at him about stuff completely out of his control.

In 2016 the head PR person at the park told me that part of the problem was that the bands people were able/willing to pay to see had such high performance prices that it wasn't financially feasible anymore and bands with lower costs just didn't sell enough tickets (or tickets at a high enough price) to cover the cost. So essentially the park would lose money on most performances. The days of the park providing a "free" show are also no longer cost effective for them. She also indicated that the bands the park could afford to pay brought in a crowd that created a lot of security issues. So in other words higher costs for musicians coupled with worsening crowd behavior pretty much made all performances untenable. At that time other than the cheer and band performances, they were still having the Christian music festivals, although I cannot remember if those were free with park entrance or an extra cost.......I'm sure someone on here remembers. Too bad. I can remember seeing Chuck Berry play there around 1974 or 1975, when I was 6 or 7 years old. My Dad insisted on getting there super early to get good seats and it was so hot my Grandmother's cheap hair dye started to melt and run down her face, lol. I can also remember, like a lot of you I'm sure, seeing some great bands in the 70's and 80's there. It bums me out but if there is no way to resolve that, and it doesn't appear that there is, then I say use the space for something new. It's just a waste and kind of sad to see it sitting there empty plus makes the park junky looking when there is no reason to maintain it.

...are the pierogies okay?

Not so fast! The park has announced the first of many exciting events for the new season… … go ahead and Google it. I assure you that this is real.

Six Flags today. With a two-year-old. (almost) Antique cars: ate shit, right? Ferris Wheel: closed. great Carousel: Literally has been being refurbished since my child was within her mother. Shows? Nope. I had no idea the other kids rides had little to no height limits, as long you ride with an adult. At 33" tall we did the boat thing, the balloon thing, the rocket ship thing, the little train thing, and she did the small swings thing. We rode the "big train" she's obsessed with. She was pretty stoked when she yelled "Easter Bunny" and pointed to a statue. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was only Bugs Bunny, so I let her touch it as per her request. (All rabbits have graduated to the Easter Bunny title, in her book, since Easter.) I saw like.. some flowers for the spring thing they have going on. The chicken strips were just out of this world amazing the best chicken strips I've ever had. (Six Flag Corporate's big idea to turn the chain around.) Xcaliber was closed, which would have been cool for my kid to watch... cool. Antique cars and carousel tho... She had a blast, which is all that matters. But... only 3 more inches until it's worth going somewhere else... When we rode the train we saw Hurricane Harbor. Man, it just looks like it's in tip-top shape... They're going all out on the Six Flags New Orleans theming. Our daughter doesn't know the difference, which is all that matters. She rode the "big girl rides" in my book. She even rode the kiddie swings by herself, which was the first of three attempts since she's been on this planet. The most disappointing part of the trip was her wanting to ride Boomerang. As such, we had a blast... and we'll be back to "wide wides" later this year. As an adult, I'm looking forward to seeing the new Eagle area and ride. Although, I doubt we'll go alone anytime within the coming years to experience it. Seriously though... fix the fucking Merry-Go-Round. I'm sure it will be fantastic when the ride is finished, but it really is inexcusable at this point. Sincerely, Karen's Husband

No. No, not really. No, not really at all. No. Nah. No sir. The ride operator isn't responsible for understanding how the ride functions. The safety authority trained that as long as the green light was on, it's gud-tah-go. The green light was on. The harness was down to an extent. The ride also said "gud-tah-go." Hit the flashing green button, as trained. Keep those fingers a' point'n, though. As long as it makes you feel better. "SoMe One NeEdZ 2 gO 2 JaLe" Because that will fix everything. Hell, lock em' away right now am i rite?

Too bad they went with yellow as a primary color on WW, with RR sporting the yellow supports right next door. Doesn't stand out as much as it could.