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TPR trips are back! Today we pre-games a bit before the real trip starts at Jardin d'Acclimatation and hung out in Paris, France! We are posting daily updates to our Instagram and Facebook Stories so be sure to follow along there! IMG_5444.MOV IMG_5451.MOV IMG_5453.MOV IMG_5459.MOV IMG_5466.MOV

I went to Carowinds yesterday with my daughter and dad for Father's Day and it wasn't crowded at all. We were there for rope drop and left around three. I don't think I saw a line for any coaster over 10 minutes or so all day. My 73YO dad hadn't ridden a coaster since 1990 and chose Fury to dip his toe back in the water. He loved it!

Looks like a missed opportunity for WoF to market it as a new attraction.

When The Joker at Great Adventure opened, it had the same sort of extended funhouse queue as the one out here. Same sort of issue. The line never got long enough for people to need to utilize it, and there was no quick passthrough, so it frequently involved a lot of people hopping or ducking over rails. I believe it was during its sophomore season that they ended up removing a set of rails along the left hand side to allow people to more easily cut through the funhouse section. I'm honestly surprised they haven't done the same at other installations of this ride by this point.

Universal Orlando has announced that Universal's Great Movie Escape, two themed escape rooms inspired by Back to the Future and Jurassic World are coming to Universal CityWalk! Universal Orlando Resort will soon debut Universal’s Great Movie Escape – featuring two escape rooms. Packed with innovative storytelling and theming, the destination is inspired by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment’s blockbuster films Jurassic World and Back to the Future. Concepted and designed by the same creative masterminds responsible for the wildly immersive haunts of Halloween Horror Nights, Universal’s Great Movie Escape will bring two distinct and extraordinary escape adventures to the heart of Universal CityWalk. Through interactive state-of-the-art missions, captivating storytelling and intricately detailed sets, guests will be swept into the dinosaur adventures of Jurassic World or the time-traveling chaos of Back to the Future.

After our time at Dollywood we rushed over to The Island at Pigeon Forge to experience a little more kitsch, a little more moonshine. It would be our last evening in town and the following morning we'd have just a little bit more time before we'd have to drive back to Knoxville for our flight. An anchor attraction in The Island at Pigeon Forge, SkyFly Soar America is kind of like Soarin' but focused entirely on American destinations. The experience lasts 20-30 minutes and includes several pre-shows that add to the steampunk-ish story that bookends the soaring-over-America portion of the experience. I appreciate the nods to the World's Fairs of the past. This pre-show was a clever way to pulse groups before the main show. You take a "tram" that bullets you across rails to the station where dirigible in which you'll be flying over America is found. Pardon my finger. The experience has a fun set of hosts, a father and his daughter who are your hosts for the journey. There's a classic Soarin'-style preshow... Complete with a "Nice job, pal!" nod. The experience is familiar but different to Soarin'. Unlike Soarin' where the riders are raised up into the screen, in this attraction, the platform that holds the seats rotates to a vertical position, moving the front row to the bottom portion of the screen, mid-to-mid and the third row to the top of the screen. The film itself was fine--about 6-7 minutes in length with some real footage shot with drones and some CGI elements. My main complaint is that the visuals, whether real or CGI did not seem to be made for large-scale use. This was 720p-1080p footage at best stretched onto a massive screen where inevitably, the pixels would be easily seen. It was probably relatively cheap to produce but it makes this somewhat-new attraction feel dated because it looks less clear than the 2001 film-based attraction it was inspired by did when it debuted. The majority experience is derivative for those that have been on Soarin', from the safety video to the ending where you soar over the attraction's home (in this case The Island at Pigeon Forge, poorly animated in CGI) into the sky, only to be met by CGI fireworks that actually pop in the same formation as Mickey ears. You can get a better idea of how the platform moves from this angle. I needed a drink after that experience... And as fate would have it, I could sample a bunch of Ole Smokey Tennessee Moonshine for $5 across the way. The good stuff. They had amaretto too and it was bliss! They had some small flat rides and a spinning coaster here but I didn't feel the need to bother with any of them. They have a giant ropes course here that even had two of those glider tracks that we used to see at IAAPA. A brave soul takes the plunge at the end of the ropes course! I don't often find that cities with a giant wheel merit the need or have a view that would make it worthwhile, but in this mountain setting, I think it would be worth it for some visitors. Not something we felt compelled to try but I understand the appeal. The Island at Pigeon Forge is filled with shops, experiences and restaurants and features a really nice fountain show out front. Nothing Bellagio or World of Color-level but still a nice plus in the evening. That night we went back to the Rocky Top Mountain Coaster and the Smoky Mountain Alpine Coaster for night rides on each. While daytime rides are fun, you need to experience these at night thanks to the unique lighting! The next morning we woke up to a beautiful day, loaded up the car and drove back to Gatlinburg for a few final stops... It had been closed due to the rain two days before, so we were intent on trying to get back to Hillbilly Mini Golf if we could before we headed home. We were among the first golfers of the day, so we took the inclined railway up... Which is a unique experience in and of itself. You arrive at the top of the incline railway where you can choose to play one of two 18 hole courses. While the holes are a little more standard from a mini golf standpoint, there are some neat added options along the courses to throw in a little more fun. To their credit though, the setting is super unique. We had a great time roaming the course and it should be noted that the employees working here were the nicest out of anyone we encountered the entire trip, and that includes at Dollywood. Feels like I have to share this. With our flight just a few hours away, we made the quick call to drive from Hillbilly Mini Golf to the Moonshine Mountain Coaster for one more run. This was the first alpine coaster we had done on our trip and the one that set us off to go ride as many as we could throughout the weekend. One more time would be appropriate. And with that it was time to head home. One last drive through the Smoky Mountain National Park. We waved farewell to one of the greatest of Pigeon Forge's attractions and saw Jurassic Jungle Boat Ride next to it. I really wrestled with whether or not we should pay the insane price to go experience Paula Deen's Lumberjack Fued, if only to try the zipline coaster. Maybe next time... But probably not. Country roads, take me home... Oh, and I might have brought a loaf of Dollywood Cinnamon Bread home with us.

This thread has helped a lot. At least I'm prepared for a total shit show for our trip in a couple weeks.

^I think they are doing a great job on the park this year, much better than the past few. And I typically think Six Flags' parks do everything wrong, so it feels good to say the opposite. Plus, Great America continues to take immaculate care of our classic coasters and rides, leaps and bounds over the other SF parks. Down to Whizzer's perfectly upholstered green seats and padding, awesome to see. A park cannot control all guest behavior. If they hadn't designed their queues and stations overwhelmingly frustrating*, these things would happen less. Personally, I'm fine with paying more for a nicer experience. *Single turnstyle on the exit side of stations - turnstyles belong at station fronts, and there should be multiple station exits. Six Flags loves super-long exit pathways (keep the guests busy, work up appetite and thirst; this also extends the ride experience (not in a good way). There are a few things they can do about all that poor design now, but going forward it would be nice to design stuff for crowd flow (see most other parks, including other large non-SF coaster parks). The Joker coaster was designed with a HUGE back-and-forth queue. When there is no line, you still are required to walk back and forth a bunch of times; there are no open/close pass-through gates (those typically found at every other amusement park). This sets up a situation where teenage employees have to stand there annoyingly (including to themselves) and repeat "go around/walk all the way around/don't jump over/don't jump the rails." Of course people will try to jump over or under, it's absurd to walk back and forth through and empty queue that many times. Design a system where you don't have to constantly correct your guests. Six Flags just doesn't have the good daily-working relationship with guests that many other places have. Hopefully stuff continues to change. I got a bit away from your question, but anyway think I made some good points.

Real shame that they couldn't have at least done a 6-wide configuration. Videos demonstrate the capacity of the one at Great Escape is atrocious. Six Flags should have never considered this ride model.

How long were the waits for TC, Tatsu, and Phul Thrahtul?