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(Disclaimer: This is my first photo TR posted from my phone. Apologies if something goes weird or is out of place somehow. ) Last Thursday a friend and I had the chance to visit USH for their first official day back open as a park with rides. Getting a reservation the week prior was a breeze. In minutes I was all set for my visit during the "AP Bonus Days" that USH decided to put on. When I arrived parking, temperature screening and security were all quick and easy. Moved quickly to the park gates where where I was asked for my AP and the reservation code. After that I was through the turnstiles and in a CA park open with rides for the first time since February 2020! Boy was that ever a good feeling. Arriving at about 1pm to a park that would close at 6pm doesn't sound like a long time but it was enough to hit up all that was running. Simpsons and Despicable Me were both closed, presumably because of the CA 15min indoor time limit. Studio Tour, Jurassic World, Mummy, Transformers, and the new Pets dark ride were all open though, as were most all food and merch locations. Of course plenty of covid safety protocols were in place. Temp screening entering CityWalk, social distancing markers in every queue, and hand sanitizer sprayed on every guest's hands before boarding any ride. None of it was any problem at all. Overall it was a great first day back now that CA parks are allowed to operate again. Here are some photos from around the park on its first day back! After a long wait it's finally time to reopen! Yay! I'm 12... New park policies regarding masks, distancing, where to eat/drink were clearly communicated and easy to follow. Anyone who's been to Japan should already be familiar with only eating/drinking in areas designated for that! Distancing markers in queues and signage for foot traffic helped keep things flowing. I could really get used to this limited capacity! Oh, hello kitty! First stop, my first visit to Pottersville in over a year! Limited capacity and it being a Thursday made for a really comfortable time with hardly anyone milling around. No line for Butterbeer! But plenty of markers around for when people do queue up for it. I even had my *very first* Butterbeer to commemorate the occasion! It was frozen and wonderful on a warm spring day. Virtually no wait for Forbidden Journey! Next we headed over to see the new Secret Life of Pets dark ride. The former British street has totally been redone as New York City. It's almost like there was a little Revolutionary War again right here. The entrance is right across from Despicable Me, making this area poised to be kid-central. The queue is one of the best Universal has ever put on. Sooo many AAs to see, such as Buddy pleasuring himself in the kitchen here. Wait, what? Life size AAs of the franchise's main characters chat with each other about all the lost puppies, that's us, they see passing by. The rabbit up above the bed is another working AA. I honestly can't remember the last time I went through a ride queue with this many AAs! The ride is perfect for kids and just a great family dark ride. Of course it also has misters and screens, but it was still very enjoyable whether or not you're familiar with the movies. Even for 12 year old me... Simpsons was down sadly, but how often do you get a chance to take this photo with almost nobody in the way? Bart was very happy to finally be back! Studio Tour time! Couldn't get a photo but the new loading procedures are very well done here. Guests are directed to a car and row directly out of the main queue as though they were boarding a coaster instead of a tram. It's quite efficient and prevents congestion nicely. I loves me some Back to the Future picture cars! Oh no! A flash flood! AAHHHHH!! SHARK! SHARK!! SHARK!!! Overall the Studio Tour looks great for having been closed for a year. Kong/Earthquake/Fast & Furious all move like they just came out of refurb. War of the Worlds here looks as freaky as ever. The Starway to the Lower Lot provides a nice view of Super Nintendo World coming soon. Just so great to finally be back in a CA park with rides open! Splash down after a new encounter with the Indominus Rex. The new additions really help make this ride feel more complete. Transformers was running great also. Maybe I'm just out of practice but it felt like it was bouncing and whipping around with a bit more force. Many lockers were closed to discourage people from bumping up against each other. Heading out after a great day! As a 90s kid who grew up with American Gladiators and Nickelodeon, this view will *always* be recognizable! What better way to close out the day than at my favorite movie-based eatery? OM NOM NOM!!! Awesome first day back at USH. The park looked great. Rides ran great. Employees seemed happy to be back. I'm definitely looking forward to more visits as life here slowly goes back to normal!

^^I don't know how you can call the Gwazi thing a 'fiasco'? I mean, this whole pandemic all park operations have been a mess and a guess at best so it doesn't seem fair to call out BGT specifically. How can they open a brand new ride when they wouldn't be able to accommodate everyone who would want to ride it and it would make the park a mess? I'm cutting them a little slack. Especially compared to some parks that can barely still operate normal hours with not even all of their rides/food.

If I ran a theme park I would not open a major new ride right now. Either you cap capacity and reduce potential returns or you have a huge crowd and when pictures of that crowd go viral you have a huge PR problem. It sucks, but I get it.

Cedar Downs is (by far) my favorite flat at Cedar Point. it's SO much better than it looks when observed from the sidelines. (the Screaming Swing at CP is really good too - tho runs a short cycle. Can't think of the name of that off top of my head.)

yeah! without Iron Gwazi that park just SUCKS. . . no reason to go at all. FFS - I went to TDS knowing that Journey was down for refurb. . but I didn't boycott the park because of that. Instead I just enjoyed what was up and running in a spectacular park.

Because Six Flags webmasters are morons. Quite a few rides that definitely don't go upside down are listed as doing so, too.

This may make me a bad poster. But they lost me and 3 additional admissions for the Gwazi fiasco. We booked flights 4 months ago and we are still going to Tampa cause we have a place there. But they don't seem to care. Busch is expensive and doesn't want to open their new ride. So I'll see them next year I guess.

Track work is moving along on the Blue Fire clone. The first spike of the Power Splash has also been installed which you can see in the corner of the next door's Luge Park construction picture below which interestingly lists Lotte World for an August opening.... Not sure if they're just confusing that opening with the Luge Park because it seems there's still a lot of work to be done. Source Source

Ok I just secured tickets, reservations, etc for Mon May 17, taking an extended weekend trip for the boy's 18th birthday. We are going to go to SFOG on Saturday and then take the scenic drive through Smoky Mt park to Gatlinburg and hit DW on Monday. IF the stars align and we don't get lost looking for preferred parking in the DW lot, it may workout to make LR his 250th coaster, which would be a nice birthday present. Let's hope 3rd time is a charm for him in his attempts to get on it.

I don’t know, guys... I’m having a hard time making up my mind.

^ It's honestly hard to believe that not one person involved in deciding the Covid protocols for the park was like "Ok this sh*t is f*cking stupid".

I don’t know who needs to hear this but stop doing this: so you can make people stand in this twice as long in the name of social distancing. Just load every seat.

^^Hmm--I think your assumption is correct. @Mike240SX I'm certainly not expecting "full operations" before Memorial Day Weekend, which isn't unusual (for example, they usually don' t start operating the water rides before then). But the park hasn't announced anything officially yet, so who really knows? They also have to bring staffing up to speed. That being said, who's up for the . . . Food & Wine Festival Report The park was bustling last Sunday, even with reduced attendance in effect, but this wasn't the busiest I've seen it this year. That was a few weeks ago when all the spring break madness was going on during the first weekend of the Food and Wine Festival. They were really slammed then--especially with two food booths, Brazil and Mexico, closed (on a Saturday). It was smoother sailing last Sunday, despite the large crowd, thanks to all the booths being open. But the food lines got pretty long as the afternoon wore on. Festival operations were a mixed bag. I visited four booths: South Korea, Brazil, Virginia, and Mexico. The first three acquitted themselves pretty well; for example, Brazil had a fairly long line, but it moved quickly. Mexico, however . . . ugh! More on that later. On the upside, the food was very good at each booth, and there was no waiting at the Brauhaus (Grogan's in Ireland had a longer line). Waits for rides were a mixed bag. I waited about 15 minutes for Apollo's Chariot and Griffon. The wait for Verbolten was posted at over an hour. Based on three-train ops and a full queue, I'd say that's about right (at least they were using all the rows). InvadR looked pretty slammed, so I didn't bother, and Finnigan's Flyer was posted at 45 minutes. They had a few more flats open in Festa Italia. They also put up a temporary wall just before the Roman Rapids and the pizza-and-pasta buffet, which hasn't been open all year. (Word is that they want to renovate that restaurant.) The only full-size restaurant open is the Festhaus (and that's with socially distanced seating). So, get ready for plenty of food pictures, although not quite as many you'll see in a typical Adam TR. They've been doing some work around Pantheon, too, which I'm taking as a good sign. Hmm--a few more people than usual milling around England today. Almighty Zeus, Father of the Gods! We humble mortals of Busch Gardens beseech you! Send us a sign! Zeus be praised! I think those metal railings on the ramp and stairs were added recently, too. The lightning-hurling Zeus has blessed us with two signs! But are we worthy? (I think this is the main queue entrance as seen from the train.) Well, being as I'm already in Festa Italia and just got off Apollo’s Chariot, I may as well hit the South Korea booth. There was no wait, so Zeus be praised, again! The pork rib was pretty good. I even like the Korean coleslaw. What’s this? The Brazil booth at a “Dutch angle”? Is it the lair of a 1960s Batman villain? I ordered one Churasco (skirt steak with chimichurri sauce), but they gave me two. Not a complaint, just a yummy observation. The wait for Griffon was a between 15 and 20 minutes. Acceptable. The wait for a shrimp taco, however . . . At least it’s “crisply.” “Crisply-ness” confirmed. It was quite good, but I doubt I’d wait in this line again--especially if there’s another fussy kid in the group behind me. The kid was harnessed in what appeared to be a tricycle combination baby stroller (never seen a rig like that one before); that is, the kid could ride it like a trike, or an adult could push it like a stroller. It was some Radio Flyer hybrid toy. Spring . . . achoo! achoo! . . . time in Virginia. Shore is purty. No wait in the Brauhaus! Star Hill “The Love" wheat been for the win! Hmm--the Virginia booth in Scotland isn’t too busy. May as well score some of these tasty, artery-clogging bacon-and-cheddar hush puppies with honey butter. If you have $49.99 burning a hole in your pocket, you may as well buy one of these new models. With any luck, we’ll see all three of these coasters operating this summer. Get your vaccine, and thanks for reading.

^^ I wondered when you were going to bring Cedar Downs up. And I totally agree about that freekin' Swing, too. Short cycle, but omgomgomgomg! Here it is! And it's called Skyhawk. (Photo from the net)

This is great news.

Fast Lane is back this year as well. Here's the blog post describing the updates.

Look Over There - shooting dark ride named after Jaida Essence Hall's famous quote Crystal Methyd - spaghetti bowl coaster Shaga Cain's Goodies - candy store Sponge - water slide named after Monets dress

Received an email from CP today stating that reservations will be required for the season (at least for now). It mentioned that reservations will open for season pass holders on April 26 at 11:00 am. Guests staying at CP's onsite properties already have a reservation for the days they are staying. So if anyone had planned on going, make sure you are online and mashing the refresh button next Monday! ^ Oh, you must do Cedar Downs. I'm sure others will chime in and say the same.

It still amuses that every time I visited a U.S. park that featured a Giant Inverted Boomerang, the ride was always broken. I had to go all the way to China with TPR to finally ride one. It was fun, but that one had issues that day, too.

New rumors suggest Flash Pass is moving to cellphones very soon. That's one way to fix the 1.5 hour lines to get the device and no risk of losing the device, etc. Good move. Will be interesting to see how parks that are hard on bags and lockers try to accomplish this.

Yeah, at the end of the day the coaster is 20 years old and has never worked reliably. The chain had two other ones that were also totally unreliable. The fact that 10 years ago after having 3 of these things run terribly for a decade they decided to ship it all the way across the country (literally pretty much all the way) and expect it to start working for some reason is really stupid. The fact that they put it next to another Boomerang and had it facing the same direction is also really stupid. The fact that they spent a ton of money and about 2 years of their time on a new train to make the ride worse and not make it any more reliable is also really stupid. Every single thing about this ride's history is really stupid and really weird. Sure, the ride used to be kind-of-good for awhile but it was never worth the aggravation even on it's best day. Now that (in addition to everything I mentioned above) the ride also aggressively sucks just makes me wonder why they didn't do this sooner.

Look for Tommy G. to be Open next weekend!

Next stop was Holiday World. Home to Voyage (and other fun coasters at that time) Got the opportunity to do a walk to the back (turn around) of this coaster and get some pictures from that area. Fun times

Negative: new ride not open Positive: less chance of overcrowded hell.

The station won’t issue all 6 lockers in a row. It is like that to ensure everyone who uses the locker goes specifically to that area to keep the rest of the room distanced, but the operators will control it so there’s never any chance of two groups coming back at the same time. Also, anyone who visits look closely at the windows on the street at pets place. There’s a fun callout to the former inhabitant of the street.

I mean, no...they or any park does not care about you lol or me or any one. Its bad enough enthusiasts already think parks do/should cater to us but what, like if you as an individual write them they will buck their entire policy for you? Believe me, I wish!! I also am shelving my BGT plans bc Iron Gwazi is not likely to be open and I agree, having been there not too long ago Im not willing to spend the extra $ of (pricy) park, extra travel, place to stay etc BUT that's just how it goes....much as I wish I could say "Open Iron Gwazi otherwise I am not going!" and they would listen.......I think our 5 tickets are not exactly enough to sway them. I'm disappointed too but like, cmon man lol EDIT: I re-read your post. You're still going to Tampa? Oh, see I was going there just for BGT, I was gunna tack it on to my visit to Tallahassee so its easy for me to shelve esp as I went to the park in 2018. If you're still going to be in Tampa....not gunna lie, should prob still go lol Still a nice park and wonderful experience, if you're still in Tampa, just do it. Like I went to Cedar Point and had the **** luck of Maverick being closed for those few weeks while they removed the barrel roll, likewise my first trip to SFMM X2 was down and others have gone to CP or DW multiple times and failed to get on TTD or LR. Sometimes we gotta suck it up and dont have the chance to save our $ you should either go OR be thankful you can save your $ on the tix...

^^^You don't have to know a thing about the movie to enjoy the ride.

Thanks! I've not seen it either, but my take was you're a lost stray puppy and the rest of NYC's pets are trying to help you get adopted. It was very cute. My nieces would love it.

Just went there today, Rollin Thunder is worth the price of admission alone. Solid collection of rides and good operations.

Jealous about the height! I don't think KT ever passed the 20th percentile for height! Have fun with the little one!

Great TR of your visit! But - if those blue marked lockers are to discourage people from bumping into each other --- WTF is that with six of them all clustered together, and not marked? They could have figured out a better way to do that, honestly. Or just not do it at all. But no matter - You Were There! And had a great day! Good goin'.

Great discussion, thanks for the info! We are staying at the new hotel right across the street so parking isn't an issue since they have a shuttle. Hilariously a Lyft seems like the best stress free way to get to our Universal Loews hotel from BGT. It's only $94! A car rental starts as low as $85 haha.

So the overly COVID cautious park remained closed in 2020, but it opens its doors in 2021 by serving food during the pandemic...

In fairness to the park, I have not been anywhere recently that is actually still enforcing social distancing in common areas. It’s treated as a suggestion at this point. As others have mentioned, the CDC has found that the risk of exposures from surfaces is extremely low. I should also add that you should not being going to a theme park if you are worried about social distancing. If you are willingly going to a place you know there will be thousands of strangers, you are assuming the risks with that.

Yeah it was running two trains today, and by noon it was a walk on for the remainder of the day. Timesaver definitely not needed if you visit during the week.

Aw yeahhhhh. Also looking at the LR wait times I'm seeing that 1, it seems to be generally running most of the day? 2, the wait times look way down from a bit ago. Im guessing its still running 2 trains? Im thinking by May, with spring break well over, lines should be no issue : D

It's more than convenience. I'll share some of what's included in our typical days at Breakers. In bold is what you can't, or isn't really worth it when staying off site: -Wake up and go for an early job around the peninsula/beach -Grab a Starbucks Coffee and drink it by the beach or in our room overlooking the beach, prior to park opening -Get cleaned up and lounge/relax for a short period, overlooking the beach -Go to breakfast somewhere in the resort -Get to the park an hour early -Fast lane plus -Ride everything at our complete leisure -Go back to our room and eat whatever healthy lunch we packed in a cooler -Ride leisurely again. -Possibly take a dip in the pool later afternoon. -Take a short nap to recharge -Drink a cold beer in the room from our cooler -OR even better: go to the bar and start the evening with a cocktail on the beach patio -Ride rides and eventually get melt. -Take any leftovers back to our room via short walk -Ride until close -Walk around the dead very quiet closed park before heading back (don't skip this) -Grab a drink at the bar (optional) -Enjoy it in our room, on the beach, in the hot tub, on our balcony, etc. -Possibly substitute or add ice cream sold at the Breakers Ice Cream shop It's not just convenience. It's an experience. It's not a strain on our budget, so we get the most out of our experience. If you want to save money, that's your prerogative, and there's nothing wrong with that. But, don't pretend there's very little difference between staying at Breakers Express and Breakers. You're not going to sell me. If anyone hasn't stayed at Breakers, they don't really have a basis for argument. Our several day trips to CP wouldn't be special, without Breakers. For us, it's what separates it from other parks. It's hard to find that kind of package elsewhere. With a couple nights at Breakers and FL+, it takes all of the urgency out of the trip. Of note, we choose to stay in rooms overlooking the beach, since we see the park most of the day. It's turns it into somewhat of two different experiences in one.

#1 argument to stay at Hotel Breakers (for me): PARKING yes, you get free parking at Breakers Express. . but Hotel Breakers is *on property* you do not have to move your car, you can get up and walk to the park entrance. you park your car the day you arrive - in Hotel Breakers lot. . and there. you're parked at Cedar Point (unless you make a trip to the CVS in town to stock up the mini fridge in the room). you do not have to get up early/early/early every day, get in your car, sit in traffic to get across the peninsula roadway, go thru the parking booths, find a spot (in the massive lot), and then walk to the front gate (remembering where you parked for later and dreading staying until close and getting stuck in the mass exodus across the causeway OUT of the park). you also have the benefit of being able to walk to your room, at any point during the day - literally a 5-15 minute walk (depending where in CP you start walking from) if you want to change your shoes, drop off something you bought, get a headache and want to get an aspirin from your luggage, soak your aching legs in a hot tub for 20 minutes. . etc. WORTH. EVERY. PENNY. to stay there. (even if the rooms are basically glorified Holiday Inn.. you're paying for the location, not the quality of the hotel)

New avatar featuring the real life me, celebrating Autism Acceptance Month!