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Always better to set a far timeframe and beat it than a near timeframe and miss.

If that's what it takes to make things safe, I can wait another year.

Friday evening update from Mr. Siebert's twitter. Dang. this thing is really getting imposing! Gonna be incredible when the queue goes among the coaster

but

Maybe they're putting all their eggs in the "we'll allow foreign workers back" basket?!!? That's insane!

I had no idea this was even a controversy, but I can think of many other parks where Valravn would be a crowd favorite. Hell, think about Worlds of Fun. At this point they would gladly take Corkscrew, let alone Valravn.

^ Valravn at most other parks would be the pride of that park. That's just true and can be accepted as such by people who don't want to buy Cedar Point's trash.

You've been blacklisted from the Six Flags hiring offices. Kingda Ka reduced their trains from six to one or two (on a good day) after like two seasons and it's not an upcharge.

When this accident happened, Kingda Ka never even closed (seriously… not even for a day). It doesn’t appear to be something that they’re concerned about on that ride.

I swear to god did everyone's brains collectively turn off with this announcement? Dragster already frequently ran only 4 or 5 trains (there are 6) with no impact on throughput. It's never going to be an upcharge; it still processes almost 1,000 people per hour, which is just slightly behind Steel Vengeance, Maverick and not that far behind Millie. Are those going to become an upcharge attractions too? Why not just upcharge for everything in the park and don't charge an admission fee?

From a reliable source Marineland has been sold and will open for 2022. Dragon Mountain will open as parts for it have been ordered. The sale will be announced later this year and the park's future is bright with a lot of investment over the next few years. Name change will also be coming in the near future.

Mike beat me to it, but an accident is rarely cause for a ride to shut down forever. Rides that have literally killed people have reopened. Insuring the ride is not a barrier. Major reworking of the queue is much more likely, and would be welcome, personally. That queue always made me a bit uneasy.

The same insurance companies that continue to insure rides that people *died* on, and who realize that things are more nuanced than "one terrible incident = shut it down forever." I also wouldn't be surprised if Cedar Fair was self-insured, at least in part. The world didn't end for these types of rides when the cable frayed and whipped someone in the face in 2004.

^ Yep. That's a tall one.

Bellewaerde This hybrid animal and amusement park surprised me. I wasn't expecting the park to look as nice as it did going into my visit. The park was very green and shady. Plus several rides were themed and incorporated animals into the experience. The park was also much busier than I anticipated. Many attractions had hour long waits just 2 hours after opening. I was fortunate I arrived at opening to knock out the major rides. I had to skip two credits for this reason. But it wasn't just the coasters that got busy, several of the water rides and safari rides did too. Bengal Express.MP4 From a ride perspective, I was most surprised to see the park still had an operating Huss topple tower in El Volador. And it was the prototype no less! The ride did have a delayed opening due to mechanical issues (surprise surprise), but I was glad to get back on one even if the ride experience isn't too great. This ride really is a lot more impressive to watch than it is to ride. And Bellewaerde placed this ride perfectly on this elevated structure and added fountains. Wakala was my favorite coaster there. This Gerstlauer creation offers a dynamic ride experience with some fun twists and turns plus a short backwards bit at the end. It rides like Firechaser Express if you take away the little pops of airtime, which still makes it an above average family coaster. Huracan was a hybrid dark ride and roller coaster. The indoor sets in the main dark ride bit were larger than expected and pretty cool. The coaster bit had a few moderately forceful drops and helixes, but there wasn't too much theming during this part. The park has one of the older Boomerangs and it was riding pretty smoothly all things considered. That allowed me to appreciate the forceful ride without getting my neck chopped. The most puzzling coaster is Dawson Duel. Take your average mountain coaster. Now remove the mountain and make guests walk to the top instead of riding up. The descent also removes the levers, so everyone goes the same speed. This ride was a big disappointment. Not only does it have a dreadful throughput, but the downhill course was quite weak between the lack of good elements and odd placement. Bellewaerde is an excellent family park combining a unique mix of rides and animals.

I know both of my kid's trips to HW were in May... the lines weren't horrible, it just depends on how many schools show up that day.

Well, thanks for the replies, everyone. It looks like FL+ works well on a Saturday (unlike Cedar Point). So, it looks like our upcoming trip is solidifying. Here is our current itinerary: Wednesday, July 20 - Fly into Louisville, KY Thursday, July 21 - Holiday World Friday, July 22 - Kentucky Kingdom Saturday, July 23 - Kings Island Sunday, July 24 - Drive to Cedar Point Monday & Tuesday, July 25 & 26 - Cedar Point Wednesday, July 27 - Fly home out of Cleveland, OH This leaves the two parks that don't offer skip-the-line passes on Thursday and Friday (so, hopefully, that gets us relatively low crowds at KK and HW). I'll start another thread with questions about details for this trip in the coming months. However, in the meantime, if anyone experienced with this sort of trip see any glaring issues with this schedule, could you let me know? Thanks again for the advice, everyone. It's much appreciated. -Doug

My random collection (My wife calls it the shelves of random crap): I tend to pick up one small thing with each trip, so most of this is from the Asian parks with a little Paris Disney thrown in. Also we see a lot of Japanese animation exhibitions (but also occasionally Disney, Pixar, and Aardman) as well as international musicals pass through Korea so there's stuff from there mixed in. The nano-blocks were from all the trips to Lotte World, Korea went through a phase where they were everywhere so I used to get them off the Seoul street vendors on my way back form the park.

Sorry about the pay-cut, enjoy the view and make some friends.

No, you absolutely should be.

I tried to edit that post to add "mimmicks jerking off" at the end of it but I'm drunk at work (annual team meeting, stfu yall, I'm wearing a tie) and I can't figure out how to add that at the end. Maybe I shouldn't be daytime drunk TPRing.

I wouldn't plan any Tuesday or Wednesday trips in May or June if I were you. This year's plan to address their endless staffing shortages is to cut starting pay by 25%. Cedar Point Cedar Point now hiring for 6,500 jobs ahead of 2022 season: Starting pay drops $5 an hour compared to last year

They are probably waiting to see what lockdown measures Comrade Pritzker will have in place when it gets closer to opening day.

And I'm sure they love selling you their trash.

Top Thrill Dragster will remain closed for 2022. Link to Sandusky Register