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To be fair, we've used the Minnie Van service several times and it has always been above and beyond expectations and I was actually super bummed with the rumors of it never coming back were out there. This is a service I will most like make good use of in the future, and I say that as an Orlando local with a car!!!

1. The area does but keep in mind that doesn't guarantee mean the cave tour itself will be running at that point. I dont know if you can definitively find out ahead of time; calling the day before might work? But yes absolutely spring for the lantern tour if your schedule allows. 2. Personally I usually hit Powder Keg first thing because A: it almost always will go down at least once during the day and B: it tends to get very long and slow moving lines, at least in part due to A because a good chunk will just sit in line til it's running again. A big caveat though is it isn't always up and running by the time the park's open, so that approach can really backfire on busy days. Your plan is fine though. Hit the swinging bridge on the way to TT! 3. If you want to ride Mystic River Falls, earlier is better. That line gets big even in off season; during the height of summer? No thanks!

It's a hill...

I finally got to SDC last week. I've wanted to ride Fire In Hole for 35+ years. Had to do it before they rebuilt it. Also wanted to do Flooded Mine since it had been 20+ years since I rode it at Dollywood. SDC is incredible. Top tier park. Time Traveler is crazy but the back car is nuts out of the station. Can't wait to go back. Did the regular and latern cave tours a couple hours apart. Both guides were so good.

I would def start from back to front. Hit the back two coasters, do some water park activities as soon as they open, then the rest of the park. If it makes it easier, the water coasters have single riders lines.

Well, here's a park you don't hear too much about on this site... ...Dutch Wonderland, in Lancaster, PA! Truth be told, aside from the obvious credit hunting, I also needed to go this park to process my Palace/Parques Reunidos platinum pass for my trips later this year to Kennywood, Idlewild, and their northeast parks. My parents brought me here once as a small child (probably around 6 or 7 years old), and my only memory of the park is being scared to death of the animatronic crocodiles that popped out of the water on the lagoon boat ride. I don't think they ever brought me back after that, and I can't recall if I ever rode the Sky Princess (what they called their wooden coaster back then). Despite a solid woodie and the original Mad House, this is decidedly a kiddie park that adults won't find much to do at. Anyway, on to the park! That big purple dragon is Duke, the park's mascot, and heavily featured throughout the park. I absolutely love their height grading system. Just beyond their simple main gate... ...lies the first ride you come across, a miniature train that dates to 1963. Unfortunately gas powered, but what are you gonna do. They've got a classic skyride... ...kiddie whip... ..and mini-rotojets. This was one of the many, many show venues that the park has. They've also got a Chance Yo-Yo. And this! The Dutch Wonderhouse; it is an in-house built Mad House from the 1960s, similar to the modern-day Houdini's Great Escape at the Six Flags parks. As you can see, it is super, super tiny. This was probably my most anticipated ride of the trip, but unfortunately was out of commission both today and when I swung by the park on my way home the next day. Major bummer. Moving right along, they've got a tilt-a-whirl themed to turtles. A surprising find a kiddie park, a bar. Standard amusement park beer prices (no beer jail!), and some food offerings. I later had the cinnamon dessert pretzel, which while good, wasn't quite $10 good (with season pass discount). Back to more kid's rides... They've also got bumper cars, which are... ...legit Lusse Scooters! Sadly not run anywhere near as fast as those at Knoebel's, but it's the thought that counts, right? One of their more recent additions is the Exploration Island section... ...which has some drive-'em cars and a on-rails boat ride... ..a digging pit... ..and some tiny Dinosaurs Alive-esque walk through. Here's the other end of the Sky Ride... ...a modern kid's spin-and-bounce... ...and finally a roller coaster! This was Joust, a mid-90's normal Chance kiddie coaster. Adults can ride without kids. Got 2 laps, but nothing to note (no air or laterals). Always fun, though, when coasters are just sitting on concrete... Next up was the Sky Princess!...er, Kingdom Coaster. I swear the old name was so much better. This is a 1992 CCI which runs PTC junior trains with buzz bars, though unfortunately also seat dividers and seat belts and clamp brakes. I got two rides, one front and one back. The back row has a surprising amount of laterals and 2 or 3 good pops of airtime. The front row has about 6 pops of air and even better laterals than the back. A solid ride! 7/10. Amusingly, they don't do any kind of "all clear, dispatch!" spiel at any of the coasters here; once the restraints are checked, the trains just kinda roll out. They've also got a small 1977 Arrow log flume, which was skipped due to time (this was the only ride in the park with a substantial line), though it didn't seem like people got too wet. Yet another two show venues... ..some more kids' rides... ...including a rare Chance Trabant.... ...an animatronic scene of Amish life... ..and then it was finally time for their last credit, Merlin's Mayhem. Apparently, the storyline is that Merlin has lost Mayhem, his pet of some sort, and you're on a quest to find it? I don't know, and the on-board audio didn't help (it seems to have cut out after the first main drop). Anyway, this is a S&S family invert, and was quite mediocre. I had a 7 minute wait for back row, and it was quite short, and it felt like the wheels were octagons. Honestly the best part was the queue and the station. 5/10. Here's some photos of the queue line and station: The back side of the queue doors, with a cool in-house opening mechanism. Nerd shot? Nerd shot. The obligatory carousel... ...yet another show venue... ..and some kiddie hand cars wrap out the list of rides here. They also have a monorail that runs the perimeter of the park. Anyway, after hitting the three coasters, I hung around for a while hoping they would get the Dutch Wonderhouse operational, but it was not to be, and I continued on to Hersheypark. Like I said at the start, this is a quaint little children's park with not a whole lot for adults to do. I can't recommend stopping here unless you've got a Palace Platinum Pass, especially when the daily ticket price at the gate for an adult is $65(!). I leave you with some pictures of the gift shop at the exit, with plenty of costume items for you little Knights and Princesses! Sadly nothing adult sized. Up next, Hersheypark!

just rode IG twice. i liked it so much i actually queue'd for it since my fast pass included only one ride on it. it stomps SV and i do not see this ride being bested for at least 10 years. it's truly spectacular. BGT has one of the best lineups in the world. Montu, Kumba, IG and CH are all Iconic. As far as operations go, im new to SE Florida but it appears everyone is critically understaffed at the moment.

^ yup. . and they are PROUD of acting like a-holes. . just look at the youtube post. the park should study that post, and ban them all.

^ what he said, at rope drop Raven, Legend, and the kiddie area in the front of the park is where everyone heads first and then work their way back as it gets closer to water park opening time. When the water park opens you'll have you pick of which dry rides to ride.

You picked the right time to go because when the water park opens and depending on what's going on at the Exhibition Center/State Fair grounds it can be a mad house with very slow operations.... * The Dutch Clogs ride if I'm remembering right was originally from Kings Island and brought here when KI retired the ride * Yes, our wonderful water rapids ride is set to a sewer plant/ice manufacturing plant from the original Penguin villain DC theming from the Six Flags Era * The amphitheater where they are doing the new Birds Show (not necessarily brought in from Herschend, believe it started last year after COVID) used to be home to a Hollywood Stunts type show with motorcycles, cars, and pyro * Yes, KK is definitely the place to be if you're into plane spotting, in the water park on the tallest and only drop slide you're almost eye to eye with the pilots. They actually had to coordinate with the airport and FAA to have a Crane Window so they could put the drop box and upper level in for that water slide * Thanks to Six Flags we lost our best coaster in Chang not that I'm bitter or anything.... as well as a crazy mouse that was themed to the Roadrunner and Coyote which was a fun coaster too * The park was such a mess after being shuttered for 2 or 3 years after Six Flags had their tiff with the Fair Board - they did no winterization on any of the water park attractions, tall weeds and some tiny trees had grown up in between the lumber openings on Thunder Run, and Wicked Sisters aka Storm Chaser was an awesome dueling coaster that hadn't been touched even longer and pretty much was written off. Ed hart and his company spent a whole lot of cash just getting the park back into what it is today - it's the 2nd time he stepped in and saved it but he absolutely hates coasters and refuses to ride them... lol * At one point the Kochs were in talks to save the park and reopen it but they bowed out of the deal

Completely agree on both Storm Chaser and Lightning Run... The small bunny hills mixed with the trains are just brutal for me. We rode LR once and I literally could not do it again, it was horrendous. I was able to manage a few more on Storm Chaser, but the ending sequence is what ruins the ride for me (much like the endings on most RMC's...). The trains are comfy/fine on RMC's until you hit any ejector airtime and any potential fun turns into terrible discomfort, if not pain for me. I don't like the sensation of my shins being snapped in two, I guess. Twisted Timbers and Steel Vengeance are two other perfect examples of this, where the front half of the rides are great, no issue... But then the back half just ruins it. After a single ride on Twisted Timbers I had visible bruising on my shins, it's crazy. If they designed the rides with a touch less intensity in the airtime department, they would be much better off for it.

Warning: if you go counter-clockwise, be prepared to huff and puff up Hugo's Hill Street (aka "Cardiac Hill" as many like to call it). You can avoid the worst of the hill by going past American Plunge and next to the Knife and Leather shops.

Thats actually my Kamado Grill I use for my wood fired pizzas (among other things). It's a ceramic outdoor grill, either charcoal or hardwood lump for the fuel. That first picture is just looking down in while it's cooking through the flue.

So. I say skip all that and go to SFSTL. I see you're going to SDC. If I had my choice between WoF and SFSTL, I would pick the latter. We have everything you'd ever want, except for a hyper and a Merry-Go-Round. It's hard to tell which of those we're more likely to get first.

1 - I believe that's still the case, but if you're interested in the cave tour, consider doing the lanternlight tour they offer at night. It's an extra ticket, but not expensive; I think it was $15. It's much more fun to see the cave that way, and you get to go into places the normal tour doesn't as well. I absolutely loved it. 2- That's what I did last summer, and it worked out just fine! 3- It's near the entrance to Mystic River Falls, sort of diagonally across the main path there. Very hard to miss. (Which is good, you should never ever miss the cinnamon bread...) Other advice...I'm sure you're already planning on it but do NOT miss Outlaw Run at night. It's okay during the day. At night, though, /wow/.

This. Then, you can go in whatever the hell order your heart desires.

Orion is a people eater. even a long line on that moves fast. do Diamondback, MT, and Beast first. (that's the order you'll get to them if you go right). if you go straight back behind the Tower, you'll hit Beast, MT, then DB in that order. there is a Skyline Chili near the front gate, that was good. the "Tom & Chee" (grilled cheese place) in front of Diamondback is really good too. I'd recommend both of those. the menu at the french restaurant near the tower looked great too, tho we didn't try it. yes, you can ride the train without getting off and going into the waterpark. dont' sleep on Adventure Express . a very fun mine train, or the Bat - never has much of a line, since it's such a walk to get to the station (it's near Banshee for entrance to the Bat queue) you should move heaven and earth to figure out a way to get FL+ tho. .. even if not too busy, FL+ will cut out a TON of the walking in the queuelines.

TeacherKim... It was very "cool" and breezy that day. They loaded the test trains with sandbags. We had cranes and wench's ready in case it valleyed. The first train went up and around and then whoosh- all the way around at an awesome speed. Everyone on the platformed was in awe. The construction crew cheered for 10 minutes. The concern was cresting that second hill. It was 'scary" back then because of it's size. Now - to me- it is just awesome fun. Somewhere along the way My Dad was given an Eagle Head- used on the sides of the trains. I still have it... it's pretty cool still. The other day I found old name tags- my Six Flags watch and my Eagle Belt Buckle for 1976.

Onto everyone's favorite candy-themed amusement park, Hersheypark! I got to the park around 5:40 PM for my "preview night," just enough time to get 2 of my 3 missing credits from this park. While in line for the Wild Mouse, I noticed that Wildcat has a new(-er) sign than I remember: As for the Wild Mouse, I had an 18 minute wait for the back row, car to myself. There were ZERO brake application during the initial back-and-forth part, leading to some insane laterals, and the final brakes didn't try to throw you out of the car. There were also like 5 cars out on the course at a time; this is how you run a Wild Mouse, Kings Dominion! Anyway, probably the best wild mouse I've ever been on, but still a wild mouse...6/10. Up next was Laff Trakk, which I had skipped on my previous visits in 2020 and 2017, as at the time I didn't do spinning coasters at all. Now that I've realized they're not so bad, I had a credit to grab! Cute little cutout in the queue line... As for the ride itself, meh. Had a 40 minute wait to start backwards. Still not a big fan of most spinning coasters, but this one was made better by getting paired with a 30-something year old woman who wouldn't stop screaming the entire ride. 4/10. I got off Laff Trakk at like 6:56 (for a 7:00 closing), and tried to make my way over to Fahrenheit to get in a lap on my 2nd favorite coaster here before close, but it was not to be. I arrived back at the park at around 10:40 for a 11:00 opening, and found this awaiting me: Eeesh. Anyway, upon entry I bypassed Candymonium (I wasn't very impressed back when I first rode it in 2020), and made my way to my last missing credit from this park: Cocoa Cruiser! Yes, the kiddie coaster. I had a two cycle wait for the back row. Whatever, it's a kiddie coaster - nothing that notable. 4/10. I then hopped on Fahrenheit, with a 15 minute for the back row. Awesome ride as always (greyed out a little bit on the pretzel loop!), but starting to get a little rattle-y, and despite running only two trains, still stacked upon return for the station (this would be the theme of the day). 8/10. Obligatory nerd shot: Next on the agenda was Lightning Racer (one train wait for back row on Thunder side, won the race). Good enough, but has definitely started to develop Wildcat/Apocalypse syndrome and is getting a bit rough. 6/10. Honestly hoping for it to be torn down in favor of a massive water park expansion, which this park desperately needs. I took a detour through the Boardwalk, which was dead on this cool, overcast day, and noted that the lazy river has been added to Fast Track. About damned time (cue my detractors who think I only care about the skip-the-line experience at parks. ;)) Made my way over to the "new" area with the two Jolly Rancher rides: Mix'd Flavored by Jolly Rancher and Jolly Rancher Remix. Yes, these are the actual names of the rides. Having been on plenty of boomerangs before, including this one, I skipped it, but I did wait 10 minutes for the Zamperla NebulaZ. This was my first time on one of these. A Zamperla ride with uncomfortable seats, you don't say? Meh...didn't really do anything for me; couple of nice bits of floater air at the top of the rotations, and a decently long enough cycle, but one-and-done. 6/10. Next up was Storm Runner, which had been closed during my 2020 trip. 20 minute wait for the front row; I really forgot how awesome this ride is. It's no Top Thrill Dragster, sure, but neither is that ride anymore being closed indefinitely. 9/10. While in the station, I noticed something on Trailblazer (which is closed and sectioned off): Is that possibly a magnetic brake? One can only hope. Anyway, I grabbed a side of mac & cheese from the smokehouse (delicious) and hiked up the hill to Great Bear. 35 minute wait for back row, left edge. Great ride, but once again stacked on the brake run for 5 minutes. 8/10. Afterwards, I made my back down the hill and into The Hollow, to be greeted by this at Comet: ..and this at Super Dooper Looper: Both were showing 60 minute waits in the app, which I had noticed was optimistic on previous rides. SkyRush was closed for rain, so I wandered over to a smoking zone (thank you, Hersheypark, for still providing these!) while I waited out the "storm." I also grabbed this cool shot of the Wave Swinger, almost completely dismantled: After the mild rain had ceased, SkyRush opened back up and I got in line. Had a 12 minute wait for the back row, left wing. Such an awesome awesome ride, trying to kill you at every opportunity. On my way up the lift hill, it started to rain again (they would shut down after I got off again), and the feeling of being pelted with raindrops while having your torso realigned was insane. 11/10. SDL's line had died down a bit, so I hopped on (30 minute wait for front row). Not sure when this happened, but all of the trim brakes along the course were either off or gone, leading to an awesomely fast ride. See, Magic Mountain, it is possible to run a Schwarzkopf without being trimmed to death! 9/10. Swinging past Comet again, finding a 45 minute wait, I started to make my way out of the park and grabbed a pretzel from the place by the carousel (also delicious), and then headed out and headed home. All in all, it was a great day. Hersheypark operations definitely leave something to be desired though. It certainly wasn't a lack of staff (each coaster had one or two greeters and one or two groupers, in addition to station personnel), but for some reason every single coaster stacked on the brake run for anywhere from one to five minutes. But still, despite this, it was a good day. This really is a very nice park, with a good collection of top-tier coasters and a decently selection of mid-grade rides, and tons of shade, and I don't know why I don't come here more frequently. Thanks for reading!

I can’t even make sense of what this argument is about, but everyone really needs to chill out.

If both Chapek gets replaced and DeSantis loses in November because of this then it will be considered a win-win for everyone.