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As someone of Irish descent, I feel that putting a Saint Patrick's Day land with a leprechaun coaster into a park that doesn't serve beer is highly offensive.

Yeah, I expect this ride to be exactly the same unless you haven't been on it yet and you ask a coaster dork about the refurbishment in which case the old version was way better and it's a shame that you didn't ride it before they ruined it.

I feel like the park gets slightly uglier every year and all you ever here is "But wait until it's done!". Between cutting down tons and tons of trees and not even always clearing them, Wildwood Grove (just... all of it), removing the theming elements and leaving an abandoned track piece on Mystery Mine and this it seems like they're much less focused on aesthetics and small details lately. I love the park, but it does seem like it's taken a few steps backward recently in that area.

Theme Park Review was invited to experience the opening weekend of Knott's Boysenberry Festival! The tasting card has raised another $5 in price compared to the last event to now be $50 for adults, but now offers a 6th tasting item. Here are a few helpful tips for attending the event: -We recommend starting at food locations towards the back of Ghost Town instead of making an immediate left towards the booths near Ghostrider, as just like with Halloween Haunt, a large number of attendees go there first. Come back to the booths near Ghostrider at the midpoint of your visit. We very much enjoyed the "Boysenberry Lane" section of the festival which offered a large food booth with many umbrella-shaded benches to enjoy your Boysenberry overload! -If rides are a priority during your visit, we recommend you arrive right at park opening, and ride as much as you can. With a park opening of 9am, and arriving at 10am for our visit, we were surprised to see a 120-minute wait for Ghostrider, 130-minute wait for Silver Bullet, 30-minute wait for Pony Express, and a 45-minute wait for HangTime, just 1 hour into the operating period. -Many food items can be found at multiple food locations, so check to see if one of your desired items can be found at a location off the beaten path. The event is scheduled to run through April 24. To plan your Boysenberry overload, visit this link for more details: https://www.knotts.com/events/boysenberry-festival We love these continual Knott's food festivals, giving us a reason to come back again, and again. Thank you so much to the Knott’s team for your hospitality! Welcome back to the Boysenberry Festival! This suits us: First item: Boysenberry Filled Donut Open-faced Chicken Sandwich topped with a Bacon Jam and Arugula (though it seems just to be bacon bits and not a bacon jam, as a bacon jam and boysenberry seems redundant). Mini Crab Sushi Roll with a Boysenberry Aioli. Surprisingly refreshing on a warm day, and one of the seemingly best "values"! All-Beef Meatballs in a Boysenberry BBQ Sauce on Mashers. Consistently great year after year! Boysenberry BBQ Chicken Pizza. Picture=Terrible. Taste=Perfection! Trio of Sausage with Peppers and Onions on Boysenberry Polenta. Another "good value" dish, very sharable. The sausage and peppers were good, though the boysenberry polenta didn't translate for us. Boysenberry Mudslide. Yes, yes, and yes again! Now for desserts! You can (jokingly) choose between either the listed "Boysenberry Mousse Chocolate Cake", or the written out "Boysenberry Mouse Cake"! Either way, you can't go wrong! Our favorite sweet item of the day! Finishing up with a Boysenberry Pie Bar! We visited Town Hall in Ghost Town to learn a bit about Knott's history. The Blacksmith is always a great place to see the old-time charm of Knott's alive and well. Oh hey, Catawampus! A fun photo backdrop in Boysenberry Lane just beyond Ghostrider. We highly recommend this area. Finishing up with a bit of entertainment, we visited the Camp Snoopy theater and enjoyed a show with the Peanuts friends: Finally, The Bird Cage Theater in Ghost Town present a Melodrama, all centered around Boysenberry Schnapps! What could be better than that...and air conditioning! At more than 30 minutes in length, this is a great way to enjoy the shade and relax between Boysenberry courses! Thank you again to Knott's for inviting us to the opening weekend, and here is to a great Spring full of food!

I doubt it. The only invert to open since Banshee is Monster and it sports the standard trains. If this overhaul is anything like Hulk, it’s going to be an exact replacement taken from the original blueprints and wouldn’t be able to accommodate the wider trains anyway... I also think that parks have taken notice at how horribly jack-hammery Banshee is with that new train design. Why would any park want that when they could get the standard train? Still not sure why B&M insisted on messing with perfection with those trains.

the best part of the tunnel was it was a nice spot to go and get cool under when it was hotter than the devil's balls. There's very few spots left now to go and cool off now.

https://www.europapark.de/en/theme-park/attractions/ba-express Closest you're gonna get, probably.

Friday was also my first time to this park, and I thought it was great. Nighthawk was the only one I didn't get on. Fury, Afterburn, and Copperhead Strike are all awesome. Harmony Hall had some great food too. Really impressed with Carowinds.

Photo TR: Saturday, March 19th, 2022 My friend Ian and I made the trek down to Kings Dominion on Saturday, March 19th, for my first park trip of 2022. Though the park hours were short (only 11-5), this worked out since we had a concert (Alice Cooper!) to get to in the evening anyway. This was my first trip to this park in probably 5+ years without Fast Lane/Plus, so yeah it was a bit of an experience haha. We arrived around 10:15, then just hung out in the one very-out-of-the-way smoking zone at the park, outside the gate, way down in the corner behind the old Season Pass office, until 10:30 when the entry line got moving. Man did it feel good to be back. I figured the overcast skies would lead to lower crowds, but not so much. The temperature turned out great for the day (starting in the mid-50s and ending at almost 80, with moderate wind but no rain). Yep, definitely good to be back (me on the left). International Street looks so weird with bare trees. Guess it's been a while since I've seen the park open this early in the year. Our first stop, since there was no early entry (and Ian didn't have it anyway), was Dominator. A one train wait for the 2nd row, I was in the right middle seat. Running all three trains! Usual rattle in the second half, but overall a great first coaster to start off 2022; amusingly, this was my next-to-last coaster of the 2021 season! After that ,we grabbed a quick ride on Berserker (half-cycle wait for the second row from the left). Took normal than longer to get to an inversion, but got the standard 3 full rotations once it got going. I see you peaking through the trees over there... We then hopped on Woodstock Express before the lines of kids got too bad (3 train wait for the back row). Notably, they were only running one train here, and the graphics from the front of the lead car were missing. Afterwards, we made our way into the new Jungle X-Pedition area to check out the changes there. Here's a whole ton of pictures of the revised area: No more Outer Hanks/Bubba Gump Shrimp... ...No more Hungry Hippo... ...and no more sea of blacktop! Pretty sure this should have a sign on it? Some other decorations: Poor old Volcano queue house/station. Hopefully being saved for whatever will eventually go there. Still nothing going on behind the fence. So I had some super-high hopes for the Scrambler re-theme into Arachnidia. While the new paint definitely looks nice, it appears that the went from a shitty 1980s lighting package to no lighting package whatsoever. It was still only the second weekend, so maybe it's still in the works? Avalanche Reptilian is also back accessible, and looking great, but was sadly not running first thing in the morning. It did open later, but had a line backed up past the old Volanco building, so we decided to pass. So glad they decided to save this, being the only one in the US and a rarity throughout the world. So here's what everyone's really excited about...Tiki Twirl! Sorry, I guess I'll start using it's real name: Tumbili. Okay, new ride review time! Tumbili: Though this is a shorter model than the "standard" that has been cloned ad-infinitum at most Six Flags parks, I figured that would actually work in my favor, since I was not a big fan of Joker at SFGAdv. Yes, it's braked around each of the turn-arounds, just like all of the others, and has spin-inducing magnets on top of the first hill and just before the second turn around. Yes also, the station is only designed to load/unload one car at a time (there are two total), and they use the same parking position for both activities. In good news, there is no mandatory locker situation; instead there is a box for loose articles/bags accessible directly before entering the loading area, which is also completely accessible to the next group and anyone exiting or waiting to use a disabled-access-pass. Wasn't the biggest fan of this from a security standpoint, but I guess it's better than mandatory-use lockers. There is a nice soundtrack as you climb the lift, and in the back set of seats you get a great view of the park from the lift. Also note that there is a Fast Lane queue built; it merges before the split to go to either side of the station. It was not in use this day, nor was there any signage indicating that's what the second path was for. Here's a video of a complete cycle: VID_20220319_120518455.mp4 What did I think? Meh, just like Joker. 30-45 minute wait. Ian and I got three full flips, and noticed our side-mates (two small children) got like 7, so if you're lighter you'll get more rotation. I think it's a great addition to the park and will help draw crowds away from other lines, but one and done was enough for me for my lifetime. Ian felt exactly the same way. Unfortunately it will also draw more crowds to Reptilian, which is still my #3 ride in this park. 5/10. After Tumbili, we made our way over to Mac Bowl for some always-delicious Mac & Cheese. The portion size is back up slightly, but still $15 a bowl and still no extra scoop if you're not getting a protein. I did like the little flags. We then went to get in line for Racer 75 (right side only running), but the queue was halfway to the entrance and they were only running one train, so we passed. Twisted Timbers had an empty train stuck on the lift hill, so instead we made our way to the hidden Grizzly. As always, no real line here, and we had a three-and-a-half train wait for the front row. They were only running one train here as well. Saw a bunch of new wood throughout the course, which this ride has always needed, so it's good to see the park investing in it. We took a walk up to the log flume and found it dry (normal for this time of the year, but was hoping), and made our way back down Candy Apple Grove to the not-formally-themed Alien Invasion: NASCAR Edition area of the park, and found Flight of Fear closed and Intimidator 305 with a line 3/4 of the way back to the entrance (but no switchbacks open), so we passed there too. I checked the app and saw Twisted Timbers was running again, so we made our way back over there and grabbed a back-row ride (45 minutes) I've said it before, and I'll say it every time, this is such an incredible ride with a stupid loose article policy. The locker-area attendant was also doing a horrible job, since once we got past the checkpoint we had a straight shot into the rows for the station and only had two pairs in front of us for the back row. Several rows were going out empty on every train. It seemed like they were only allowing one or two people into the locker area at a time, and holding up everyone (even if they didn't need the lockers) until those in the locker area finished. I checked the gift shops for any Reptilian shot glasses to add to my collection, but found zero merchandise for it. There was plenty of Tumbili, though. Maybe in the re-designed shop in Jungle X-Pedition, which was not yet open? We headed out after this, since we had to get north to Hanover Maryland for the concert, and DC traffic is always a bitch and a half, even on a Saturday. All in all, a good, if not short, day at the park to start my 2022 park season. I've also learned my lesson about trying to do parks without skip-the-line passes...nope, not going to happen again. Bonus! They were handing out "First to Ride" pins after people got off Tumbili, and Ian had managed to grab one before we even got on the ride, so I've got three. I don't collect coaster pins, so if anyone wants them, shoot me a PM and we'll work out the details. That's all for Kings Dominion on their second operating weekend of the year...next trip I have planned is to Kentucky Kingdom/Holiday World/Kings Island/Stricker's Grove around the 4th of July, but I'll probably get somewhere else before then.

Pretty awesome days yesterday and Friday at the park. Friday crowds were nonexistent because of the slight rain, and yesterday was a bit windy, but great weather overall. Fury and Intimidator were closed most of yesterday because of the wind, but I was able to sneak in two rides on Intimidator during periods of being open, and able to ride Fury Friday night, so no biggie there. I was very pleasantly surprised with Copperhead Strike, and really enjoyed that. Also a plus that it and Afterburn stayed running in the cold and high winds, and were right next to each other so I could keep going back and forth lol. I didn't know what to expect being so early in the season, but the only major coaster still down was Nighthawk with no train even on the track yet. But such is life, and as a first time visitor, I really enjoyed this park. I definitely hope to be back sooner rather than later.

I have never seen more than a one cycle wait for Cedar Downs even on the most crowded days. You shouldn't have any issues with riding it to your heart's content.

The Swedish park Furuvik has teased a new attraction - most likely a coaster – for the 2023 season. The park is owned by Parks and Resorts Scandinavia, famous for turning Kolmården into a true destination park for coaster fans park with the addition of Wildfire a few years ago. What could it be that they are planning this time? Mynewsdesk.mp4

Take a ride on the "New Texas Giant" at Six Flags Over Texas:

Hmm--I'm not a fan of "donut sandwich" concoctions, but that chicken-and-Boysenberry-donut thing looks pretty tempting. I'd definitely go for the Boysenberry Mousse Cake.

Excellent article.

Disneyland Paris has announced that the Disney Village will undergo a multi-year transformation that will enhance the space with new dining options as well as updated shopping and entertainment experiences. https://disneylandparis-news.com/en/disneyland-paris-announces-a-multi-year-transformation-plan-for-disney-village/ In the midst of the 30th Anniversary at Disneyland Paris, the resort-wide transformation continues! Along with the Walt Disney Studios Park expansion plan and the Disneyland Hotel royal transformation, Disney Village will see its own transformation over several years including new dining options and refreshed shopping and entertainment offerings. Disneyland Paris is sharing a first look at what to expect in the future for this 428,000-square-foot complex. A multi-year transformation plan for an enhanced Disney Village experience Located at the heart of Disneyland Paris, Disney Village is the retail, dining and entertainment complex between the theme parks and Disney hotels. The district, which celebrates 30 years in 2022, has more than doubled in size since its opening, constantly adding new options to reinvent the guest experience. By the end of the year, a phased transformation of the entire area will begin to give the district a brand-new visual identity and introduce exciting new offerings into the mix. By combining the best Disney know-how with select complementary brand concepts, the reimagined Disney Village will celebrate timeless, family-friendly environments that are uniquely Disney. By day, stylish boutiques and innovative restaurants will draw guests in, and by night, thousands of lights will transform the area into a bustling wonderland. When the transformation is complete, Disney Village will feature a relaxing lakeside park and boardwalk, enhanced pedestrian walkways, brand-new facades, relaxing terraces and patios, and lush landscaping. Its diverse eateries and collection of shops will expand dining and retail options for guests with innovative concepts from some of the world’s most exciting brands for a completely enhanced experience complementing the theme parks. “Our plan to transform Disney Village is yet another example of how we continue to reimagine Disneyland Paris at the resort level, notably with our major expansion plan in progress at Walt Disney Studios Park,” said Natacha Rafalski, Présidente of Disneyland Paris. “We’re very excited to bring new iconic and timeless concepts to the district that will appeal to a new generation of guests, whether they visit from our nearby resort hotels or from the local area. We can’t wait for our guests to be surprised and delighted by what we have in store.” Rosalie, a new lakeside French brasserie to open in 2023 The first step in the transformation plan will be a contemporary French brasserie in place of the current Café Mickey restaurant. Groupe Bertrand, with its portfolio of renowned Parisian brasseries, has been chosen to take over the location and bring in a fresh new concept that will both elevate the culinary experience and expand dining options for guests looking for French flavors in Disney Village.  Rosalie, the new two-floor restaurant will feature 500 seats in contemporary interiors. Inspired by Parisian brasseries, it will celebrate renowned French “Art de Vivre” and classic cuisine in a modern yet elegant setting, with expanded terraces looking over Lake Disney. Honoring both regional diversity and product seasonality, the restaurant will cater to all cravings. In addition to table service, a counter will offer French bakery-inspired options for take away like viennoiseries, pastries, sandwiches and salads, as well as a selection of products satisfying every taste and level of service. Seasonally, an outdoor terrace will welcome guests on the lake’s edge. “As we continue to collaborate with exceptional brands that we share strong values with, we are delighted to welcome a new restaurant managed by Groupe Bertrand as a first step in our Disney Village transformation plan,” said Laure Albouy, Vice President Business Strategy & Integration, Disneyland Paris. “We believe this unique, family-friendly restaurant will elevate the guest experience at our resort by offering famous French specialties in a unique setting, and we can’t wait to make this new partnership a reality.” Stay tuned for future updates about this highly-anticipated restaurant opening and other construction milestones coming to Disney Village.

Not the exact same spot but pretty darn close. This is from November 2021, I believe I was standing between the Spidey ride and the Spidey gift shop.

I too like to bang Cedar Downs.

I'm sure they have a plan for this hillside, we just don't know what it is yet. Lots of rumors have circulated around it for years and they keep making progress on it. The removal of the tunnel really opened the space up. The retaining wall is old, quick fix would be a painted mural or something. The mountainside is still cleared here, likely pointing to a development yet to be announced. This is also probably why they needed to open the space up. It's not as bad in person and I am sure will be nice once the flowers grow in Believe me, I'm usually very critical about Dollywood, and visit 50 - 100 times a year. So far this year, I have no complaints. Maybe it's because I'm visiting larger parks more and I see how much better Dollywood is, or learning to not be in a hurry at amusement parks because lines and crowds are to be expected, or maybe it's because they are making progress of becoming a much larger destination.

True...I just like to bang it out early while making my way down the midway.

I feel like dragster is as likely to be removed as the F-150 is to stop production. Dragster is going to open just how it operated before, no new launch system. The safety upgrades will be barely noticeable on the track components and trains. They don't have to do much to make the public come back, and they already passed their government inspections with contingencies to fix the issues.

Are we just now realizing the throwing stick that comes back to you isn't new? Oh boy. I'll be exited if the new area has anything besides asphalt. Low expectations.

Yes you can. Looked at some FB posts to confirm.

We started our next day at Disney California Adventure, with a focus on revisiting old favorites and experiencing more of the new and seasonal offerings in the park. We weren't the only ones with this idea. I love Buena Vista Street and seeing it for the holidays was no less special. Cars Land during the holidays is even more charming. I love this so much! Don't mind if I do! A personal favorite landmark of mine in Cars Land. This attraction will never cease to amaze me. I've only been able to experience Ramone's side of Radiator Springs Racers a few times. "...And quattro to go!" We didn't win this time. I marvel at the fact that this was built stateside. My second ride for the morning yielded a pit stop at Luigi's. We won this time! The entrance to Avengers Campus from Cars Land is neat in that it features a more antiquated space from the form SSR base on the grounds. Looking forward to the attraction announced at the D23 Expo a few years ago opening here in the future. The Kirby Krackle is real! I'll never turn down a chance to experience Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout! I love this preshow (and attraction) so much! Shawarma Palace for breakfast! Ant-Man was among the many heroes we saw in Avengers Campus on this day. I met Phastos from The Eternals! Very cool. The world is upside down. I really like what was done to the tunnels when California Screamin' was transformed into the Incredicoaster. We always try our hand at the Games of the Boardwalk at Pixar Pier. This time, the tokens were familiar because they were from the former Mad T Party that used to be hosted in Hollywoodland. This photo does a good job of giving the impression that I actually nailed this shot. I'll let you decide if I did. Captain America (Steve Rogers), Taskmaster and Black Widow battling atop the Avengers headquarters... Time for lunch at Pym's Test Kitchen! I love this tap handles! To give you idea of the different presentations of food here... I was so ridiculously excited to try Pingo Doce and I was by no means disappointed. I wasn't going to pass up a chance to try this Buffalo Chicken Loaded Pretzel! I knew I had to try the Celestial-sized Candy Bar, Choco-Smash. This thing is intense and contains Dark Chocolate, Peanuts, Caramel, Nougat and Chocolate Brownie. I struggled to finish it but it was so good! I love the holiday cavalcades they had running through the park during the day for the Festival of the Holidays. So glad I finally had a chance to experience Cars Land for the holidays! The seasonal overlays for Mater's Junkyard Jamboree and Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters were both great! The Wasp was at Avengers Campus too! Roz was in the holiday spirit. The Super Store Featuring Avengers Campus was a fun extra option for Marvel-inspired merchandise. Hi Elissa! Still one of my favorite spaces in any Disney park stateside. Grizzly Peak is always fun to walk around, but it is especially plussed for the holidays. One of my favorite views in the entire resort. I love that the Country Bears still have a presence at the Disneyland Resort despite the show being closed decades ago. Nick and Judy from Zootopia! We really enjoyed the performance by "Mostly Kosher" at the Sonoma Terrace. It was especially fun for us to hear traditional Jewish tunes (presented in a far more modern, accessible format) for the holidays. We both wished we had found them earlier in the trip so we could have come back for a second performance! Quite a delicious Gingerbread Mickey Mouse Cookie to be had. It didn't make it home to Orlando. Evening begins to fall on Avengers Campus... Cool! As the sun began to set, even more Marvel characters began to arrive at Avengers Campus...

I too think you will beat the 4th of July crowds, most of those people are liable to come in on Friday and stay into the next week when the holiday occurs. Also, CoasterCon will be there the week before you 6/19 - 6/22, so that is 600+ thoosies that won't be back the next week. Should help put a little dent in the crowds

Finally got my Iron Gwazi ride. Waited about 35 minutes as soon as the park opened. When we got off the ride, it was 120 minutes. I liked it. Still partial to Steel Vengeance with the longer track length and the trip through the wooden structure. one this: they NEED a single rider line. The train before us had 5 empty seats out of 24. Fill every seat and reduce the wait times.

it came from where the riddler pendulum now sits. .tho that spot sat empty for a while after they pulled the Boomerang (Flashback) from the park and sent it to St. Louis. you can see it here on the far right in this 2008 map

2022 Subaru Forester, replacing my wife's 2016 Subaru Crosstrek. The amount we locked in on our trade was ridiculous, and allowed us to close the gap to have the new one paid in full. If you're willing to wait, and you have a trade, now may be the time to buy new.

Just thought I'd bring this account out of the woodwork and confirm that Cedar Fair has indeed quietly moved their headquarters to their Charlotte office. A few corporate departments remain in Sandusky but majority of them have transferred to NC.

but what will the "Corporate Hates this Park" crowd do when they see it????

That's because Harry Potter stuff brings in tons of people that would NOT have travelled to Universal for DD. Sorry, but it is what it is. Just like retiring a ride that starts to cost more to maintain than it brings in. In the end it's usually bottom line and roi.

Let's not pretend that Dueling Dragons was removed for any reason other than to expand Harry Potter land and appease JK Rowlings ego.

You have to walk by the whole park to get to the entrance from the USF la quinta. You are right, about 2 miles total to the entrance, plus 2 miles back, plus another 2 miles to do 1 lap around the park. The walk back probably won't be so fun, and if you're doing it at night, I would say at least take a Uber back to the hotel. Save on 2 additional miles of walking after a long day, and as others have said it's not the greatest of areas. I don't think you'll get mugged taking a walk down McKinley but if you're doing it alone I would probably feel a little uneasy at night.

I have written an article which looks into the application of lawfulness in depth, along with the planning documents, associate images, and speculative details on what improvements we may see. https://www.towerstimes.co.uk/blog/2022/01/25/alton-towers-resort-planning-nemesis-track-replacement/ It will be sad to not experience the classic Nemesis roar - can only hope it is reduced like Incredible Hulk, rather than muted completely.

Nothing confirmed just yet but they could time it to close at the end of 2022 and reopen in 2024 for its 30 year celebration.

Planning application has been submitted to carry out track and support replacments for Nemesis. Source - Towers Times

No, you're just being kind of a prick about minor yet expected issues. I'd get treated the same way if I made a post like that and I've been with TPR almost since it's inception.

You need better friends.