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Not yet but the boy is mostly working SkyScreamer now that Eagle is closed so I will tell him to try to get some info out of the supervisors. Of course he is 18 so he's not very talented at spying yet.

Theme Park Review was invited out to get a construction tour of Sesame Place San Diego. Slated to open in Spring 2022, Sesame Place® San Diego will be the only theme park on the West Coast based entirely on the award-winning show, Sesame Street®. Conveniently located just 20 minutes from San Diego and 2.5 hours from Los Angeles, this theme park is perfect for families with kids of all ages. The new theme park will feature 7 themed dry rides, an interactive musical play area, and 11 water attractions including a 500,000-gallon wave pool – one of the largest in Southern California. The park will also feature an interactive Sesame Street Neighborhood complete with the iconic 123 Stoop, a live character show, a daily parade, photo opportunities and of course, everyone’s favorite furry friends. The tour started with an unveiling of the new Sesame Place San Diego entrance sign. Clint Brinker, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Corporate Project Manager, then took us around the construction site to see where some iconic Sesame Street areas will be. 123 Sesame Place, Community Center and Abby’s Garden, Elmo’s window, Sesame Street Subway Station, Big Bird’s Nest, and Hooper’s Store will all be part of the Sesame Street San Diego neighborhood. We also got to see the near completed family roller coaster, Super Grover’s Box Car Derby.

I spent the day at Dollywood yesterday and I have to say I've never seen it as dead as it was. There were no lines for any rides all day long. It was funny to look up at the monitors on each ride showing zero wait times for all the rides in the park. Except for Lightening Rod, which was, as usual, not running. The sign in front of the ride said temporarily closed, but I didn't see it open before I left which was a major disappointment. I think at this time Dollywood either needs to sue RMC, completely rebuild the coaster or just tear it down and start from scratch. Dollywood has to be mad about the constant down time and it is a big black eye for RMC. Does Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point have the same issue with down time? Probably not with its standard lift. Other than that. all the other rides were running well, food lines were non-existent and the parking lot was only partially filled into the C area. It was very humid, but still a great day at the park. There were also a bunch of new employees that I haven't seen before, which is typical for fall when students go back to school.

They bought a Galaxi, apparently (unless these are parts from the old one but it looks like it's been painted in that case). - Midwest Coaster Fans

Saturday - this was gonna be the big question mark at the con - they were NOT going to be selling one day passes this year, to help control the crowd (set at ~50% capacity, around 42K people). Saturday is usually THE most packed day of the con, as its the day of the Parade (this year only badge members were allowed to observe it, but it was being broadcast on local television so the folks in Atlanta who typically would head to Con could still watch it). we got up and grabbed a light breakfast (and Caribou coffee) and went back to the room to eat, and watch the parade from our balcony. Honestly, not something I ever spend much time doing, and I dont seem to have taken any pictures of it. my friend JP had pinged me and asked what I was up to, and told him I was thinking about going to the Art Show (since it's held in the lower levels of the Hyatt, away from the main convention center). . so I headed down there and he met me there. we wandered the art show, which was MUCH smaller than usual. . a lot of the regular artisans who set up there, but really none of the "amateur" art, that makes the art show so fun to wander thru. I guess with the skip year last year, they simply hadn't put out a call for submissions? Hope it's back to full amateurs/Pros next year, as the Art Show really is one of the fun things to wander thru (usually lots of pics of dragons and cats doing cutesy things from the Amateur artists) tho I did like this piece: the area was so dead without the Saturday sales (I figured most had gone to the Dealer's room, or were still out at the parade) I decided that I wanted to check out the Dragon*con store that's in the Marriott (as I hadn't seen them in the dealer's room the prior day) so we headed thru the habitrails to the Marriott. . but first. .anyone who knows me knows I can't pass a photo op: in the Marriott, we saw one of the Spiritual Leaders of the Cult of Jon - who was blessing folks with the Googly Eyes so of course: a quick stop at the Dragon*con store, showed that they were already almost completely sold out of most things (I guess they had ordered light). . but I was able to pick up a Dragon*con 2021 shirt with very short wait. No reason to register for 2022 actually AT con, since it's all done thru GrowTix now, and the price was the same until 9/20 (so I waited until I got home to buy for 2022). . but I was curious about some of the other shirts they had already sold out of in adult sizes. . so I suggested to JP that we head to the Sheraton where there's a big Dragon*con store at Registration. (and I could say hello to my friend at Registration, since I'd seen him so briefly at Badge retrieval, and if was slow could actually visit). but since we were right here at the lower level of Marriott - which happens to be where the "Walk of Fame" is. . curiosity got the better of us, and we wandered thru to see just how they were handling the Covid restrictions for autographs/pics, since many of the guests had shown up. I must say, well done. . even if it looked like the celebrities were behind glass at the meat counter (note: my pics are of booths were the celebs currently weren't there, so I wouldn't get in trouble for taking a picture without permission.. since most of them make $$ this way, selling autographs and selfies to fans): saw some good costumes in here while walking thru tho, and stopped to snag a couple of pics: this was clever: Beloved old Marriott Carpet pattern Spider-Man/Spider-Gwen we walked thru, headed over to the Sheraton, where I visited my friend and JP rested from the walk over. He got a text wanting to meet for lunch, and since I wasn't hungry, he headed off and I walked up the street to the Westin - a hotel I hadn't been in yet this year, but typically one I spend some time in since the Horror Track tends to have it's conference rooms there. I also wanted to try to catch the tail end of a swag & seek meet up, that some of the queerios folks were attending and they had made some "minecraft" heart magnets similar to the one on my badge (and I got lucky and they were still there, so I now have a Leather Hearts, and a Bear Hearts magnet to wear next year) but while I was over here, I figured I'd check out the rooms and see what was going on, and it turned out the Walking Dead cast panel had just started about 10 minutes prior, so peeked my head in to see if there was space. to my surprise, the room was 3/4ths empty. . so feeling REALLY safe, I sat down and went to my first panel at Con. that's LtR the actors who play: Father Gabriel, Aaron, Magna, and Jerry! not a huge turnout for a pretty big draw panel like this one on a Sat. . so yeah, the no Sat. sales really kept the crowd down. view of the seats behind me in the room. . I was in maybe row 8? since I was right there, I wandered into Merchandise Mart to see how they were handling the Gaming this year at con (something I NEVER do - the tabletop gaming). . looked like they did a pretty good job spacing out all the tables, even tho it was petty busy in here: I was so close to the dealer's room, i went back in (no wait this time) and headed to a booth I had seen the day before. . where I ordered these 3 prints that should be here this week (shhhhh. .don't tell my spouse. . .LOL) I was starting to poop out, and it was close to 2pm, so I decided I'd head to digi for a little bit (nice to see folks again in the daytime), and then back to our room for a nap. The Queerios meetup was in the Hilton tonite, and that was at 5, with the big Spectrum party starting at 10pm - this year in the Hyatt Regency Ballroom. So I figured the perfect time to grab a 2 hour nap. . . alas, was not to be, as when I got back to my room, there were 3 people in there hanging out (friend and some kids), shortly joined by another friend and another kid.. . so not much nap going on, since by the time I shooed them out? spouse was calling me, as I had told him 2 hours earlier I was going to lay down for a nap. oh well.. . con. what ya gonna do? eventually I showered and changed, and headed to the Queerios meetup (they really are a lot of fun, and it's different folks showing up each meetup, so that's why it tried to go to multiple): and it was fun hanging with these folks talking and drinking. . but eventually it broke up and it was way too early to line up for Spectrum party at 9pm. . so what to do, what to do? Digi to drink and visit, of course: on the way to Digi, I ended up in front of Gypsy in the Habitrails. You're NOT supposed to take pictures in the habitrails.. can really mess up the flow of traffic. But I was walking and didn't stop, so technically didn't break any DCon rules: Hanging out, killing time, until time to go down to the Spectrum Party. Cynthia (sitting next to me with the Red Hair) came with me to wait in line to get in and go to the party for a bit. . really one of the most fun parties at Dragon*con leaving Digi to head down..what happens when Drunk Bert meets Drunk Alan on his way INTO Digi? why: and then we were in line to get in. Yeah. . because of reduced capacity, once they hit the 2/3rds (or whatever they were doing) it became 1 out- 1 in. . so we had to wait: but while waiting in line (with my strong drink in hand, of course), I got called out by Beefsquatch. . . which was my friend JP in costume for the night. . LOL he had mask under his mask, and I was buzzed. . so my mask came off for the pic Eventually, Cynthia and i made it into the party. for the most part, mask compliance was really good: the "theme" was Toga.. but most came wearing whatever they wanted. Some costumes from the party: DJ Neon the Glo-Go-Bear (yes, that's what he goes by professionally) and one of my favorites - if you look close? his mask has the beard/mouth printed on it.. so it looks amazing! Comics accurate Hercules I actually shut this party down (it was fun and I danced). . staying until ~2:15 when they turned on the lights and made us leave: Rocky Horror was going on in the Centennial Ballrooms across the lobby, so I wandered over and stuck my head in - the film was at the point that Riff had just poked Rocky with the candles and had forced him to break his chains and run. BUT. . the ballroom was packed to the gills. (because Lips Down On Dixie, the local RHPS troupe was performing in front of the screen as they usually do). I really, really wanted to stay, but I felt really, really unsafe.. . full room, with people shouting at the screen? yeah, so 1st time ever, I didnt' sit thru RHPS at Dragon*con and instead headed up to the room, showered, and passed out. all in all? a successful Saturday. .and I even went to a pretty fun panel. to be continued.

I really appreciate this perspective, and I have ridden Prowler so many times and have TRIED to like it, but I just don't. I never get off thinking "that was fun!" It usually is something more like "that was work" and that is a shame. It makes me wonder if I like "fun and floaty" more than I like "intense and snappy," but Maverick is one of my favorites and the Batman clones are always solid. I think Prowler just needs to have a few moments of coming up for a breath of air. Getting tossed about and whipped back and forth is only fun when it is smooth, and a good floater hill would give a moment to break things up. I think it is worth saying one more time just to clarify: Timber Wolf is no longer terribly rough and is totally re-ridable. Everyone in my group talked about how smooth it was. Ride it while it lasts!

Photo TR: My first visit to SFoG, September 4th, 2021 After several planned mega-trips this summer that were cancelled for a variety of factors, I managed to swing a trip to Georgia for SFoG and to visit my friend who I haven't seen since 2014 over Labor Day Weekend. Anticipating major crowds, I splurged for the Platinum Flash Pass, but probably would have been fine with the Gold at the end of the day. Anyway, on to the report. First off, the drive. Google told me 11-14 hours to drive from Delaware, not counting bathroom stops, so I was definitely anticipating closer to the 14. Thankfully, it only took me 12 (including stops), which marks a new record of longest consecutive drive for me. Being from the northeast, I was definitely getting annoyed in NC, SC, and GA....everyone just chills in the left lane under the speed limit, randomly jabs their brakes for no reason, no one understands what a flash of the high-beams from behind means, and my biggest gripe of all - NO ONE uses cruise control. It's so annoying to be cruising along at XX mph, you go to pass someone slower, then they're passing you back, and back and forth for 50 miles. Ugh. I've driven to GA before but didn't recall the drivers in these southern states being so terrible. Second off, the hotel. Wow. Nothing but praise for the Brick Lodge Norcross/Atlanta. It's about 20 minutes northeast of the city proper, so about 40 minutes from the park, but this was hands down the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in outside of Las Vegas or Atlantic City. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but man were the rooms quality. Oh, and there was this in my room, totally unexpectedly: After the 12 hour drive, I spent about 30 minutes in this thing. Wonderful. My only two gripes with the hotel were that the elevator was super slow, and the tubs didn't have a stopper mechanism to enable baths. Okay, enough about ancillary stuff. here's what you're really here for: the park! I arrived at around 8:45 for a 10:00 park opening, thinking that they open the parking gates an hour early like very other SF park I've been to. First one in line for the "small" lot, which I would later learn is the preferable lot to be in due to the shorter walk. Alas, they didn't open the parking gates until around 9:30. I will say, I appreciated the scenery of coasters on my walk into the park. They opened the main entry gates at around 9:50, and I bee-lined it over to the Flash Pass building to cash in my voucher (none of that "on the phone" nonsense for me, thank you!), and then snapped some pictures of the entry way. I'll say this, the park offers plenty of shade, and is quite scenic, especially for a SF park. Clearly, they were setting up for Fight Fest. A nice fountain/stage that was not in use. See? Plenty of shade. I made my way towards Dare Devil Dive, learning here that it tends to be the slowest operating of all of the coasters, and made it to the station (first one!)... ...only to have it break down, with the employee tester stuck on the vertical lift hill. I didn't stand there and watch, but she was still up there around 30 minutes later when I passed by again. Anyway, at this point I met up with @Kyndmusicand we wandered a bit, discussing the parks history, trying to find something that was actually running aside from Georgia Scorcher. He did turn me onto Monster Mansion, which I'm glad he did because I probably would have skipped it, but I'll talk about that when I got on it. Great to meet you, sir. As of approximately 10:30, pretty much nothing in the park was running aside from Scorcher, so I went to find something that I sorely miss from Cedar Fair Parks: The park has a pretty nice atmosphere.... ...with plenty of shade... ...but is still Six Flags. Are they going to reinstall the Sky Ride at some point or what? LOL After wandering around for a while, I decided to make my way back over to Gotham City to see if anything was running back there. That poor ride op was still up there... Got into Gotham City... ...and proceeded to grab a whole bunch of pictures of the good assortment of flats, most of which were not running. Joker (one of two rides here that bear his name), not running and wouldn't run all day. Crime Wave, not running and wouldn't run all day. But I gotta give it to the park here, they really nailed the theming on this one. Toxic Spin. Wild Whirl, not running. Maybe ran later in the day? And finally, Catwoman Whip, which I would ride later in the day. For now, though, it was time for Batman! I would wait 13 minutes because I couldn't find the Flash Pass entrance. Back row, right edge. Definitely smoother than the one in NJ, and I like this paint scheme better (still not as good as the original black/black with silver rails though). Amusingly, in the station the two back rows were blocked by a giant fan, but they were still letting people board them from the other rows' chutes. Just too lazy to move the crap out of the way? And this brings me to a good time to talk about the staff. While none were downright rude, and they were doing countdowns in the station to try to hurry people up ("You have 10 seconds to board your seat...9....8...."), most didn't seem to really care to be there. The only enthusiasm I would see from employees was at Mindbender later in the day. They also frequently did not have anyone manning the merge points for Flash Pass/general queue, meaning that the investment was largely a complete waste. I get it, short staffed blah blah (the panel operator at many coasters was also checking restraints!), but come on. Anyway, on with it. After Batman, Mindbender was still not running, so I headed back to Dare Devil Dive, which was now running. Walk on for front row (with Flash Pass). Interesting ride, only my second Gerstlauer. Very intense restraints though...they power-lower when you're in the station and clamp you right in. Did I wander into a Cedar Fair park? I then decided to hit Georgia Scorcher, since I was right there. 16 minute wait for row 7 left edge with the Flash Pass. Surprisingly smooth for a B&M standup, not terrible at all. Now that the park was starting to open up, I made my way to Goliath (back row inner right). Very impressive, nice bit of ejector air on the hill and substantial positive Gs at the helix turn-around. Better than Nitro and even Mako in my opinion. Next up was Monster Mansion. How this continues to exist in a SF park blows my mind. Super-cute, awesome animatronics, very long, great visual effects (the evil face projected onto the wall of fog was great). With some research after the fact I learned that this was one of the original rides in the park, and most recently underwent a major refurb in 2009, right in the middle of the RedZone bankruptcy phase. Impressive. Next up was Joker Funhouse Coaster. A better ride than Blackbeard Quinn's Lost Crazy Train at SFGAdv, but still a kiddie coaster at the end of the day. Took some time to just peruse the park's shaded, but hilly, terrain, and came across this: The remnants of the old splash boat ride, just hanging out and deteriorating. Closed for three years now, this just looks horrible from a guest perspective. And worst off, it still shows on the park map in the Six Flags app. This is the Six Flags I know. This definitely isn't: a 1908 carousel, perched at a a top of a hill overlooking another section of a park, completely shaded by trees. Made my way into Metropolis (got enough DC-themed areas here, SFoG?) and rode Great American Scream Machine, my second coaster with that name. I don't get what everyone complains about. Rode in the front, found it to be very smooth and a great classic coaster. Next up was Superman: Ultimate Flight, the OG. 17 minutes for the back row. Only one train running; second was in the never-used other loading station and the third was disassembled in the storage area. Definitely better than it's NJ counterpart, entirely due to the use of the terrain as opposed to being installed in a parking lot. Next up was the mine train, which I found to be better than expected as well. Front row, 17 minutes. Three lift hills, nice and long. Came across this nice monument to Angus Wynne, Jr, the founder of the company. And yet another shaded walkway. And then it was time for coaster #200, Twisted Cyclone. Train shot and nerd shot in one! The wild pre-lift area. 21 minutes for the back row. Wildest pre-lift section that I've seen yet on a RMC. Too short, but a good ride...that inverted-cobra-roll whatever they call it was awesome. Better than Wicked Cyclone at SFNE, but just barely scrapes into my top 5 hybrid rankings. After that, I made my way back to Blue Hawk, which was now running. Very picturesque coaster here, and I think the blue/grey paint scheme works great over the water. 23 minutes for front row. Very intense, especially the butterfly element. Wish it would have stayed in Wildwood. I also noticed this: Like, seriously, that just looks like shit. I get not cleaning the rails around the whole course, but in the station where everyone sees it? Just looks horrible. After Blue Hawk, I had ridden everything I figured I was going to here. The log flume was closed, as was Acrophobia, and I don't do spin-and-swings like Pandemonium. So, I made my way back into Gotham to see if Mindbender's preview period had started yet, and it had! Awesome!. 26 minutes for the front row, and I'll just copy-paste my review from a few posts earlier here: -The whole operating system has been replaced. Brakes, sensors, drive tires, lift chain, presumably the PLC, basically everything except the track itself appeared to me to be brand new. Even the track *appears* brand new, because of the paint, but we all know its not. -Capacity was great. They were chugging through the trains, and the ride ops here actually seemed to have some enthusiasm for the job (can't say the same for the rest of the park). Since it was just preview, Flash Pass wasn't an option, but I waited 26 minutes for the front row, with about 4-5 trains where I didn't move since exit-pass people jumped to the front. Probably would have been under 10 minutes had I gone for any other row. Notably, I entered the line maybe 10 feet out of the station. SFOG's lack of groupers didn't help here, so the station got very crowded and at one point a group of people waiting for the front blocked the entire line and some empty rows went out before they made an announcement to fill in the station. -The trains: Yes, they are lab-bar only. Yes, there are seat belts. Yes, there are carve outs for your butt with the little bit that goes between your thighs. I have to imagine it was better with the original Schwarzkopf trains, but as it stands these trains were not bad at all. Yes, there are only 5 cars, but there are 3 trains (though they double-stacked every cycle I saw). -The ride itself: It's a Schwarzkopf, which means positive Gs. And you get them in the loops here, even the "non-loop" in the middle of the ride. No grey-outs for me, but it did force my arms down at the entry to the two true loops and at the bottom of the non-loop. That said, it is what I believe to be tamer than it once was (entirely speculating here); the lift slows considerably before cresting, and each of the trim/block brakes at the start of the turns definitely took off some some speed. Without those, this ride would be absolutely insane, but even with them it was still pretty damnned good. and the fact that they chose to invest so much into this instead of just scrapping it wins a lot of points me with. And here's some nice action shots: Catwoman Whip (I still say it should have a 's in it) was running now as well, so I hopped on that. A poor replacement for a real Enterprise. As with most Zamperla rides I've been on, the seat/restraints are just not comfortable...and me being super short (26" inseam) had some struggles getting in and out of the seat. I did not particularly like how the swinging of the seats "locks" into place when the ride gets to its max elevation; spin it faster if you don't want the seats to fall over. After that, I decided to hit the road at around 4:00. It was hot (85 and no breeze) and I was exhausted from the hills. I did take a glance in their tiny water park, and decided to pass based on the lack of things to do. A note on food before I wrap it up: Every where I went had massive, massive lines. Often, the line for mobile-order-pickup was just as long as the standard line and was taking just as long. Also, food and beverage here is STUPIDLY expensive. $6 for a 20oz drink out of a machine (though "only" $4.25 for water), $8 for a shitty pretzel, etc.) I don't know if all SF parks are like that these days, since I try not to spend any money when I'm in SFGAdv or SFA, but wow. In closing, this park is tough to describe. It's definitely Six Flags, but some rides like Monster Mansion are decidedly not modern Six Flags. Decent coaster collection, but nothing that really stands out as incredible. Very scenic in most places with lots of shade, but the remnants of the splash boats and Skyride detract from that. That said, probably my favorite Six Flags park overall. I think Great Adventure has the better ride lineup, but the overall experience at SFoG is top notch (for Six Flags LOL). I probably won't be back until their next major ride (thanks, Six Flags, for your new Season Pass policy), but still my favorite park in the chain. And now, some rankings: Coasters at SFoG 1. Twisted Cyclone 2. Mindbender 3. Goliath 4. Batman 5. Blue Hawk 6. Great American Scream Machine 7. Superman: Ultimate Flight 8. Georgia Scorcher 9. Dahlonega Mine Train 10. Dare Devil Dive 11. Joker Funhouse Coaster Six Flags parks (that I've been to) 1. over Georgia 2. New England 3. Great America 4. Great Adventure 5. America Thanks for reading!

Pics of the new trains wasnt open For me but train was on brake run and one of the safety guys gave me the ok to walk up the exit ramp to take pics ill have full tr up in a few days (in airport for flight home now) will fix orientation issues then too

I did! Great to meet you @Kyndmusic. So I'll post my full report when I get home, but here's some bullet notes on Mindbender. Keep in mind, that I never rode it in its previous iteration. -The whole operating system has been replaced. Brakes, sensors, drive tires, lift chain, presumably the PLC, basically everything except the track itself appeared to me to be brand new. Even the track *appears* brand new, because of the paint, but we all know its not. -Capacity was great. They were chugging through the trains, and the ride ops here actually seemed to have some enthusiasm for the job (can't say the same for the rest of the park). Since it was just preview, Flash Pass wasn't an option, but I waited 26 minutes for the front row, with about 4-5 trains where I didn't move since exit-pass people jumped to the front. Probably would have been under 10 minutes had I gone for any other row. Notably, I entered the line maybe 10 feet out of the station. SFOG's lack of groupers didn't help here, so the station got very crowded and at one point a group of people waiting for the front blocked the entire line and some empty rows went out before they made an announcement to fill in the station. -The trains: Yes, they are lab-bar only. Yes, there are seat belts. Yes, there are carve outs for your butt with the little bit that goes between your thighs. I have to imagine it was better with the original Schwarzkopf trains, but as it stands these trains were not bad at all. Yes, there are only 5 cars, but there are 3 trains (though they double-stacked every cycle I saw). -The ride itself: It's a Schwarzkopf, which means positive Gs. And you get them in the loops here, even the "non-loop" in the middle of the ride. No grey-outs for me, but it did force my arms down at the entry to the two true loops and at the bottom of the non-loop. That said, it is what I believe to be tamer than it once was (entirely speculating here); the lift slows considerably before cresting, and each of the trim/block brakes at the start of the turns definitely took off some some speed. Without those, this ride would be absolutely insane, but even with them it was still pretty damnned good. and the fact that they chose to invest so much into this instead of just scrapping it wins a lot of points me with. This was my first trip ever to SFoG, and rode all of the coasters, but Mindbender is a solid #2 or #3 at this park for me. I've gotta review my notes for a full coaster ranking, that's just off the top of my head.

For what it's worth, I visited the park this past Wednesday with my daughter. After our inaugural visit back in 2019, where she just missed being tall enough to even ride the Shredder, we made the decision to not return until she hit at least 48" so she could ride way more stuff. Well, she finally hit her mark back in April, so we ended up picking up the low-price mid-week tickets that gave us free reign of the park from 12 PM to 7 PM. We didn't end up actually getting there until 2:00 PM (had to wait for her virtual school to end before we left), but once we did, it was a pretty painless process. We picked up our wristbands at the counter after they scanned the QR code from our online purchase. Unlike in the past where they were embedded with RFID chips and they would be scanned at every ride entrance, these are now just your average paper wristbands that we showed upon entry to the park and then never got checked again the rest of the day. Crowd levels were pretty light, as to be expected mid-week. In the span of the five hours that we were there, we rode everything we wanted to ride multiple times. None of the rides had more than a station wait, with the exception of Jimmy Neutron, which was closed earlier in the day but opened back up around 4 PM. For whatever reason they were only loading about four or five cars at a time on that ride, so it took us about three cycles to get on. The first coaster she wanted to ride was her nemesis from last time, The Shredder. This is without a doubt my favorite spinning coaster I've ridden so far (might change whenever I make it out to SDC, but for now, this slaps). The sheer length of it gives a lot of bang for your buck, and with only the two of us in the car, we got some absolutely insane spinning. Both times we rode it, they allowed us to stay on for re-rides thanks to no one else being in the station, so we ended up getting a total of four rides. It's just a great smiles-on-faces ride, and easily a big favorite here. Shellraiser was up next, and it was also a walk-on for us. Sadly, this one ended up being a one-and-done. Although the layout is great, I remembered half of the rides with my son being super rattly back in 2019, and unfortunately, it's only gotten worse since then. I don't know what they can do to fix this ride, but it's shaky to the point of the car feeling like it's going to tear itself apart mid-ride. We noticed at many points throughout our time there they were just sending empty cars throughout the course. Here's hoping they find something to do with this ride that makes it more enjoyable for everyone, because as it stands, this record-breaker is definitely the biggest flop in the park. Slime Streak was listed on the website as being down for maintenance from the 4th through the 20th, but for whatever reason, it was open that Wednesday! I was a bit apprehensive about riding as I had heard it was not particularly friendly towards larger body types and I'm still trying to shed those extra lockdown pounds, but I'm happy to say that although the trains were on the small side, the restraints were not overly restrictive. We did this one twice throughout the day. It's your average family coaster, nothing too special or thrilling but gives a nice view of the park. Timmy's Half-Pipe Havoc was open for the first time for us, originally being closed back during our 2019 visit. This was my second Intamin halfpipe coaster and my daughter's first experience. More ridiculous fun, with the back and forth launches and the rapid-fire spinning. We only did it once but wouldn't mind riding it again. Sandy's Blasting Bronco was also operating, but due to the height requirement being 52" and my daughter being short by 4 inches, we skipped it. It looks hecka fun, though, and hopefully the next time we go back and my son is along for the ride, we'll get a chance to give it a spin! Other rides of note: Kraang's Pandemonium is an absolutely bonkers mini-pendulum that picks up speed super fast, and the interaction with the ceiling (and ceiling fans!) is sure to thrill. Skyline Scream was operating as well, and this S&S tower runs a combo program; it shoots you up to the top and then bounces several times before pulling you the rest of the way up for a beautiful panorama of NYC and New Jersey. You are greeted up at the top by Spongebob and Patrick figures before you plummet back down. While it apparently can rotate, it wasn't rotating during any of our three rides on Wednesday, but it was still a lot of fun. Last but not least, while the Reptar carousel is cool to look at, it's a total pain to ride. Not sure whose idea it was to have the spikes on the tail poking your butt if you slide even slightly backwards. There were a number of new Zamperla kiddie rides scattered throughout the park, including a Crazy Bus themed to the Loud House, a Happy Swing themed to Dora The Explorer's monkey Boots, some cupcake looking teacups themed to Butterbean (whatever that is), and a mini-whip themed to Paw Patrol, but the only one that was currently operational was a Bubble Guppies themed spinning balloon tower. Here's some photos of the ones currently under construction: Foodwise, they're still only operating a single food stand located near the Half-Pipe coaster, with primarily pre-packaged sandwiches, hot dogs, popcorn, snacks, and the like. However, we noticed they were bringing more structures into the building as we were leaving Slime Streak for the second time, one of which said "Burger Bar" on it. Hopefully there'll be a little bit more options for food in the near future, especially considering that they aren't offering re-entry to the park currently. If you want to check out any of the other food options in the mall, you'll forfeit the remainder of your ticket. I'm definitely happy we visited on a slow day with the cheaper tickets and smaller crowds. I wouldn't want to visit on a weekend, where you're limited to timed entry and exit periods and the crowds are heavier, as I feel like you simply wouldn't be able to get through everything here (and it's not even as if there's a whole lot for that matter). Last but not least, the parking fee. It's free under two hours, and $2 for any length of time over 2 hours. This is ridiculous... and by ridiculous, I mean ridiculous to complain about. Literally go anywhere else in New York City and try to find parking anywhere near as cheap as that. Or for that matter, any other amusement park that isn't named Knoebels. Hell, the Queens Center Mall charges $3 for an hour of parking and all they have is a damn Target and Red Lobster. I get that people are looking for something to whine about, but this ain't it, chief.