Leaderboard

Unnecessarily long lines for the same experience as you could have a week later for a fraction of the wait time. Plus the rest of the park will be equally swamped with the people who didn’t realize the Iron Gwazi line would be so bad. If you truly “must be first” you’ll need to plan to get to the parking lot early (several hours before park opening) and be prepared to wait in your car until the toll plazas open. There may be some gratification that comes from riding on opening day or being among the first, but ask yourself how much that is worth. The ride operated previously for employees in 2020 and has been doing passholder previews for weeks. You’ll be far from the first to ride. What can you expect from attending on opening day? A less enjoyable version of an enjoyable day at Busch Gardens a week to two weeks later.

Despite how chilly it was yesterday, I had a fantastic time at SWSA. Strike that. .it wasn't just "chilly" it was damn cold! like 37 & drizzly all day. in Texas! but I had already made plans to go with my friend Sean, and we stuck to them despite knowing that it had to be at least 40 degrees before any of the Coasters would operate. of course, the "Passport to Thrills" preview for Tidal Surge was a big draw, but the main reason I wanted to go was the last weekend of Mardi Gras and I wanted to try the food! So I was prepared to have a good time, even if none of the rides operated due to the weather made pretty good time, and pulled up just at 11:30, time for check in for the Passport to Thrills event.. overcast and looking really cold. But hey, "front row" parking - sorta. .in the non - up-close section. but figured the park would be pretty slow today due to the weather. I actually hadn't planned to wear my facemask today, but had brought it with me just in case. Glad I did, as it was so damn cold, it was nice to keep my face warm. also glad I had worn layers - including something with a hood, that could help with the wind. here's Sean and I waiting to get our wristbands for Passport to Thrills - which would allow us to get a ride on Tidal Surge (assuming it opened at some point) Walking to the main entrance gate for SW, you get a great view of the brand new Aquatica attraction (that went up SUPER fast): Riptide Race. this slide complex opens to the public Next weekend: 3/5/22 Heading back towards the gathering place for Passport to Thrills, I get my first look at the completed Tidal Surge from across the lagoon. Yeah. .it's pretty imposing: they dont' have a ride sign up yet, but there are two ways to get to this new ride. . the main one for us was under this Inflatable arch - which I'm assuming will be the main entrance until the sign (and test seat) are installed up close, this is even more imposing. . I think this just might scare off a lot of folks. SeaWorld San Antonio acknowledged the weather, and provided us with Cookies and Hot Chocolate, as a thank you for coming out, even tho it was so nasty on Saturday. so we enjoyed our cookies and Hot Chocolate, and hung around ooooo ing over the ride, and chatting with other Passport to Thrills folks. . . for about 20 minutes. But the temperature was still hovering around 37 degrees, and we knew what it had to be for this to operate (Ray Gonzales told us 40 for this too). but we eventually decided to take a walk around the park, and check out what shows might be operating today, and enjoy the views. and walking would warm us up. everything appeared to be staffed up, but we knew that until the weather cooperated, nothing would run. Texas Stingray looks so beautiful, even when sitting quiet. LOL. . yeah.. it was THIS crowded ~12:30 pm. Those loveable nutjobs at SWSA had Rio Loco running all day! yes! the whitewater raft ride was running, despite it being too cold to operate most anything else. . LOL. Even tho the waterfalls were off (I asked). . we still weren't about to brave a water ride today! But we did see a couple of folks just riding it over and over. shhhhhhh. . the coasters are sleeping (although Spoiler - just around 2pm it warmed up enough to hit EXACTLY 40 and several of the rides did open up - including Texas Stingray, Wave Breaker, Sea Swinger, and Tidal Surge. pretty much the only "big" rides that never opened yesterday were Steel Eel, Great White, and Riptide Rescue) but we took a wonderful trip thru the Penguin Exhibit - which was actually warmer than it was outside. .so it felt amazing, even with that wonderful smell in there. and that exit just *happens* to be near Currents gift shop. Which when I asked someone earlier at the Hot Chocolate, was mentioned that it was the only place in the park that sold gloves. sooooo.. . with Passmember discount? best cheapie pair of $9 gloves I've ever bought. they really made a difference! it was time to try out some of the Mardi Gras food. . so we popped into the pretzel place I had the Pretzel wrapped Boudin with a side of Beer Cheese. the Boudin was spiced with Jalepeno, and was so good. It LOOKED a bit overcooked. . .but it actually wasn't, and ate way better than it looked We walked around a bit and ended up in Sesame Street Bay of Play - which looked to have about 1/2 of the attractions staffed. I'm not one to pass up a Carousel, and it was staffed (even tho only one other family was waiting for it). . so we took a ride. the SWSA Carousel requires ALL riders to be seatbelted in. . and I had so many layers on. . . LOL.. it was a struggle to get the seatbelt on, and Sean had to get off his horse to help buckle me in. but oh so worth it! I would have actually ridden Grover's coaster (for the 1st time ever) but it was one of the non-staffed attractions. . think it was just too cold for it. The Muppets were out doing their Meet & Greet, and there was *nobody* there. .. the handler actually waved us over. Meet the muppets with no line? heck yes! and I even got to Tickle Elmo.. he wasn't expecting it. .and this picture came out absolutely awesome and is one of my favorites EVER! (he was doubled over going hehehehehehehehehee! ) And her reaction is perfect! even if it does look in the next pic like I went all Negan on his ass (as my friend Russ said on Facebook). we were heading back towards the Orca stadium just after 2pm, when we heard what sounded like Stingray on the lift hill. .. so we came around the corner and sure enough, they were cycling it. We kept heading that direction, and then saw the train go with two maintenance guys (one in front, one in back) and I said to Sean - "that's the last thing they do before opening it up, let's go to it" so we went over that way, and got there to join the short line of folks, and they opened the queue line up less than 5 minutes later. We waited one cycle for back row ride, and by the time we got off, we saw Tidal Surge was testing.. . so we headed over there. It's a new ride, so it had some issues even after the official "go". . . . we were on the 2nd cycle and it took them a good 10 minutes to resolve a restraint not giving green light, and then the ride faulted out during our ride and never got up to full swing. But hey, it's a new ride, it happens. They figured out the issue and got it back running after about 20 minutes, and all in all, I got two rides on it. (I'll write up a way more detailed assessment of TS with lots of pics after the launch event later in the week (it officially opens to the General Public on 3/5). WaveBreaker was running by this point, but we decided we'd rather get another ride on Stingray, so we rode that again before deciding we were hungry (it was almost 4pm) and it was well past time to try some of the main Mardi Gras food. So we headed to the main booth that sold that on the way towards the front gates. Meeting the muppets with no lines was fun, as was getting some rides on Tidal Surge. . but an absolute highlight of the day was bumping into Chef Scott, and having a nice long conversation with him about the food at the park (among the best of any Theme Park) and what's gonna be coming up for the 7-seas food festival . . . .which all sounded amazing! he made suggestions on what to try, and hung out with us as we sampled and chatted about the recipes and how he created them. Was a great ~45 spent with a really cool guy! Clockwise from top: Shrimp & Sausage skewer with Dirty Rice, Jambalaya, Boudin Balls with mustard sauce Beef Po-Boy (Sean took a few bites of it before I could get a pic). .LOL and the man himself, Chef Scott Ronczkowski : I was way too full to try the Benigets but they looked amazing too. it was just at 5, and the park was closing.. . short, cold, day. . but man did I have a LOT of fun today. cant wait to go back soon, and to try out the food from Seven Seas Festival, which kicks off in a few weeks.

It’s shocking to me that any park would consider not having their busiest event of the year. If you need more security, hire more security. If you need less crowds with that insane demand, black out low level passes and raise prices to make even more money. It’s crazy to me that Cedar Fair would consider this but this is the chain that closed Dorney for staffing on the 4th of July and opened everything 2-3 months late last year for no reason and operated at a loss while all of their competitors turned a profit so maybe they just hate money. As a fan, I like the sound of less crowds in September and October but from their perspective… lol

Come on an "out of this world" adventure with us aboard the Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser at Walt Disney World!

So, what, are they gonna shoot silly string at you while you ride? Because I'm OK with that.

The Scrambler is being rethemed to Arachnidia for Jungle X-Pedition: https://www.kingsdominion.com/blog/2022/aannouncement

Thanks for the input, I'm from out of state and how my universities spring break works out opening day is really the only chance I'm gonna get.

I was far too lazy to make the effort to actually go into the park on a weekend and deal with people, so here’s the birdseye quick update:

I really think if they scrapped the rooms and sold this at $300/person for four hour dinner party experience I’d consider it. Or even $500/person but include Hollywood Studios ticket, the lightning lane passes and lunch. That to me would be the better move.

Glad this part of the park is finally getting love. Avalanche is one of the best rides in the park (definitely the best family ride). Thrilled to see that they are working on it rather than ripping it out.

So... what were we supposed to get excited about this season? All I read was better chicken strips and some sprucing up of front gates. Nothing seems to be near term. I'm glad they recognize Six Flags Saint Louis has enough thrills. We've been spoiled ever since Boomerang.

Red Force at Ferrari Land would like a 110mph word with you. Superman at Magic Mountain would like a 100mph, 25-year-old word with you, as would Tower Of Terror in Australia.

Iron Gwazi is AWESOME!!! Take a front seat and back seat ride on this amazing new roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa! VIDEO: