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You get my point here.

Worlds of Fun announcement on 8/11/22 https://twitter.com/worldsoffun/status/1551971879866535936?t=_MaXvO7KmKmkMyhd2DvIsA&s=19

Just think, only a few more years before we all complain about rough rides on The Beast and say it needs retracking. Then, a couple shameless fanboys will mention RMC, and the other shameless fanboys will scorn them and call for justice. Others will compromise and suggest whatever X company came out with their newest topper track at IAPPA should work on The Beast, but keep the layout the same. Ten years of mixed roughness reviews later, The Beast will get some new track work, flaunt a couple degrees added to a banking turn on social media, and we'll all be talking about how it's the best ride ever for one whole season. People will come from near and far to ride it. (Kentucky) Until... the cancer returns with one comment similar to: "Man, all of my rides on The Beast last season were 'epic zen rides' during the Coaster Smash Bash Marathon Buffet Trivia Back Stage Scavenger Social ERT Awkward Fest 4th Anniversary Event, but this time I sat in row 25, seat 14, far left side, and it was brutal." Long live the endless cycle of the wooden coaster.

I feel like I haven't written up one of these in forever, but I'll give it another shot... Visited Kentucky Kingdom again this past Saturday. It was my second visit this year since May 1st (missed out on visiting other weekends due to many other travels and other personal life hurdles). I knew it was going to be 100f/37c with over 50% humidity, so I had full intentions of spending the majority of the day within the water park. I basically wore my swim clothes throughout the day including a rash guard shirt. I arrived minutes after the gates had opened 10am, with the immediate morning crowd having already dispersed into the park, and went straight for the water park. I had totally forgotten the park was doing a Gold Pass early entry for the water park and would open to everybody else at 11am. It took some other hopeful swim guests by surprise too. I flashed my pass and went to rent a $15 small locker to stuff my things in. I was hoping I could get my day's workout over with by summiting the Deep Water Dive stairs immediately, but learned the entire water park is roped off except for the wave pool for gold passers. I'm personally not a big fan of wave pools (love lazy rivers tho), but considering it was empty enough to my liking and it was already getting pretty hot, I went ahead and took a very relaxing swim in it for several minutes. The hour passes, and I join a line to get into the newer half of the water park. Once everyone was let in, I was first to go up the Wikiwiki Wai slide complex and did all three inner tube slides back to back with the same tube with virtually no wait each time, and then left and went straight for a very peaceful swim in the adventure river. The crowd level in the water park at this point was very tame, with plenty of tubes and swim noodles to use for cooling off. Getting to the water park right away in the morning seems very ideal for anyone looking to take big advantage of the water park. This changed drastically in the afternoon, but we'll get there soon. The only thing I would probably do different would be getting on a couple dry rides for the first hour the park is open before going to the water park when it opens at 11am. Walked by Deep Water Dive and Wave Runner, water was flowing but no lifeguards manning them. I asked a passing supervisor if they planned to open it, and they said yes, so I ventured off to the older section of the water park to do an inner tube slide in Mt. Slide Hai and the other lazy river while I waited. It was unfortunate seeing not only Deluge retired, but so was Voodoo Express body slide. Deluge's spot certainly opens up a lot of future possibilities at least. My hope (if they're listening) is bringing in a mat racer to round out the park's collection. At this point, the ground was getting very hot and DWD was still closed, so I did a few more laps in a more crowded Adventure River again before drying off for lunch. I skipped doing the long line at the water park food stands and went to the front of the park for the hot chicken sandwich stand next to Scream Extreme instead, then returned to the backside of the park afterwards. Started off easy with a nice breezy star flyer ride on SkyCatcher, then hopped next door for a lap on Kentucky Flyer. T3 still only has the one orange train. The line was full inside the station, so I got in line for a moment before it went down for some minor maintenance issue. With the station already packed and incredibly hot, I chose to leave instead. With the crazy hot weather, I considered doing Mile High Falls, but it seemed everyone else had the same idea. Full queue. Unfortunately it was only running one boat, so I stood on the bridge instead for a quick cooling-off splash before going back by Storm Chaser. Really, really looking forward to this event! Pretty theming AND night rides until 10pm return? Yes please!! HallowScream was quite a fun even to shake things up at the park, so I'm happy a night event is at least returning to the park in some capacity, with a family-friendly edge this time. Still absolutely bonkers of a roller coaster! And what they say is absolutely true, this thing SOARS when it's hotter out. Those final bunny hills are murderous, lol. Me in the front going "holy crap!" from the sucker-punch of intense ejector. Despite being a Saturday and the crowds picking up in the park by this point, Storm Chaser was still a walk-on with one train ops. It felt great getting four back-to-back laps, but certainly hope Herschend does something to entice more people back to this area of the park and on this coaster. The ride photo booth was selling snacks and drinks along with photos, and there was this tornado simulator for $5. Honestly felt pretty nice. More effective at drying than those haystack dryers I'd see at other parks. There was another located in the water park, but I think they also need one at Mile High Falls. From here, I wandered back past T3 to see Deep Water Dive still closed. it was past 3pm and I wasn't planning to stay the whole day anyways. I cut my losses on the water park entirely at this point because the majority of guests in the park were in the water park by this point. I hopped on the 5D cinema for some quick air conditioning with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ride film, got a quick one-cycle wait for Cyclos, walk-on for Bluebeard's Bounty and Fearfall, then refilled my Gold Pass cup before heading out of the park. I don't normally visit parks on a Saturday, but it was nice to at least see how very manageable the water park is first thing in the morning, a very good time to take advantage of getting laps on slides before the crowds get a bit too much. All in all, a good visit! I need to do more mornings solely focused on hitting up the water park again.

Have you ridden it this season? It has been running the fastest it probably ever has and I am not exaggerating. A new control system was put in and the chain does not slow as the train goes over the top of the lift. And the mid course brakes have been light to non exsistent. I had a ride a few weeks ago in the evening and could not believe the final hills. The reviewer here said the last stretch "wasn't that great." I usually ride in the third row or even second row and get great air on those hills. The change has made many people enjoy that ride so much more. I hope it stays that way. Two train ops started yesterday and it appears that it was still running about the same, as I saw empty trains heading back as fast as full trains used to, if not faster.

If you think Timber Wolf is rough now, good thing you didn't ride it a couple years ago before the near complete retrack.

Wow, I missed a lot in this thread. That was a fun experience. It’s fun watching so many professional engineers talk shop. As for the teaser, teaser campaigns aren’t really my thing but I hope the new thing coming to Wildwood Grove is trees because that entire area is absolutely hideous.

All the details for new ride/section will be released Aug 5 at a passholder event.

Looks like you still got it. Thanks for sharing.

Perhaps the pass expires on September 30th because that is the earliest they can be foreclosed on? How many bond payments can they miss before the lender takes it over and either finds a new operator or closes the park? It looks like the water park has a similar pass deal. https://www.americandream.com/dreamworks_season_pass/tickets DREAMWORKS WATER PARK SEASON SPLASH PASS $179 Enjoy the best of DreamWorks Season Splash Pass. For one price, dip in again and again, as often as you want from now until September 30.

I came here to post about the new ride teaser. They have hung those signs all over the park, after I saw about 10 my wife said we should call the number. Mentions an expedition starting next spring in wild wood Grove. Definitely a teaser of things to come next year!

Amid all the calls everywhere for "family coasters", I'm always left wondering what that "demographic" is that they're really targeting... I only ask because my 8 year old has been riding the biggest coasters he can get on for years now, rode a 300 foot coaster at 7, and a 400+ foot drop tower that many adults are too terrified to ride at 7. So "family coasters" are fine and all, but it seems their target demo is either a fairly small group of kids and their parents, or my youngsters have just been rarities among kids, in that they wanted the "adult" thrills at a young age!

My brother rode it a few weeks ago. He's a big MCU fan (and I mean BIG), and he loved it so much that he was fighting back tears at the end of it. So yea, I imagine it depends on what you're looking to get out of it.

Hersheypark and. . . WOF????? /s lol lol

Guardians is such an awesome ride! This website may be of interest to you as far as boarding groups and lightning lane are concerned: https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/attraction/epcot/guardiansofthegalaxycosmicrewind/ Boarding groups (at least in the afternoon) have been lasting several hours, so it's certainly not hard to get a boarding group. The ride has also been very reliable. On another note, mid-September is a couple months away and the virtual queue may be gone by then, but seeing as the indoor queue only holds 30 minutes or so of people, it may still be in effect.

It's a little surprising to see no posts in this thread since Guardians opened almost 2 months ago. I'm looking for some advice from the Disney experts out there (which I am most definitely *not*). I do not have an annual pass, however I am looking at purchasing a single day (possibly park hopper) for EPCOT so I can experience Guardians (I am looking at going on a Saturday or Sunday in mid-September). Does anyone know how difficult/easy it has been lately to get a boarding group for the ride? And they are still doing the boarding groups, correct? I would be going to the park alone, so I don't know if being a single rider has any benefits when trying to get on the attraction. Any advice would be appreciated, or any info regarding the current operations of the coaster. It looks awesome. I am just hesitant to purchase a ticket for a day at the park and have a very low chance of actually getting on the ride. Thanks in advance!

Nuhhhh uh. Mamba isn't 'fine'. Mamba is fiiiiiiiine! Great airtime front and back, some laterals in the turn, it's like a mini prototype Steel Dragon!

The entry is the original Scandi gate or essentially back entry to the park. The original gate was located near where Steelhawk is now. Trams would take people from the parking lots to the gate or people walked to the Scandi gate. When the trams went away, the American gate went away and the Scandi gate became the main entrance to the park.

Okay, time for part 2. And this will be the longest one, I think. So let's get started! Part 2: Germany in Germany Day 4 of the official trip began with a park that had been on my radar for quite some time, Erlebnispark Tripsdrill! Tripsdrill is a small, oddly laid-out, oddly-everythinged park that seems to be transitioning to bigger park status. This is the park-end of their "main street." I've always been fascinated by this ride (G'sente Sau) and the way it interacts with their log flume (Badewannenfahrt zum Jungbrunnen...because screw you if you don't speak German). I was even more excited to ride it after experiencing Vilda Musen at Grona Lund back in 2019. However, it turned out to be quite tame. Still, it wasn't bad, by any means. This ride is famous for a small dark ride section that features an animatronic that drops her top to show her boobs. Sadly, this animatronic was broken and had her top permanently in the down position--which, obviously, is an outrage. Through no fault of my own, I came off of this ride overboobed. Smisty ditched me to ride with other TPR members. That seems okay...right? Being left behind in the station did allow me to witness some German teens throw their bags across the track, and one leap *over* the track to gently place his bag on the other side. He didn't even get fussed at by the operator. That was even more mentally assaulting than the continuous unbroken boob exposure. Tripsdrill has two of these weird spinning-tub-on-a-powered-track rides. Please note the guest barrier between the midway and the ride area. Speaking of which, please take a moment to examine this duck ride. No fences, no signage, no queue. You just get on a duck when it stops, I guess. Look, I spent many years of my life as a ride op at various US parks. This is noteworthy to me. Shoot an egg out of a chicken's ass into the mouth of the animal or human of your choice. I am not being vulgar. I'm just describing the thing. Of course, it will cost you money. Making this someone out there's exact kink. Maybe Mr. Erlebnispark. Mammut, as I understand it, is the only wooden coaster ever built by Gerstlauer. And I can see why they stopped. To be fair, the layout looks nice, the queue has some stuff to look at, the restraints aren't bad, and there's a cool little malfunctioning-sawmill dark-ride scene between the station and the lift--but otherwise this ride is quite dull. Just very slow and forceless. And yet, it still manages to have a notable push-pull shuffle throughout the entire ride. I can't even hate this ride. I feel sorry for it. It only has one train, also. Like, they could RMC it and I wouldn't even be mad. And if you know me, that's really saying something. Climb up a ladder and an animatronic come out of the window to shout at you in German. I like to think they're yelling at you for climbing up their ladder and trying to look in their window. You are a perv. Inside the building is a walk-through attraction that consists of a dark, narrow, twisting hallway with buttons on the wall that will light up a little mannequin who will tell you their life story (I think). Guess what her life story is. This not-quite a tilt-a-whirl is themed to baking. Literally translated, "Gugelhupf" means, "You are a muffin." Probably. This park is quite pretty. And there's a wine museum, if you're into that sort of thing. There's also a quite simple, rustic-looking fun house. And a death slide. Karacho has the most alarming beginning of any coaster I've even been on. You roll out of the station into a tunnel, where you take a quick dip, turn, slow roll inversion, and launch, all in total darkness. Um...spoilers, I guess. Maybe I should've said that first. But I suppose if you don't want to be spoiled, maybe you shouldn't be looking at a trip report. Take some responsibility for your own actions, man. Anyway, Smisty really liked this one. And I thought it was okay. The restraints weren't the worst. What the...? Why?! Every other parks' water cannons are a lie. The rapids ride is themed to laundry. Although...I'm not quite sure from what era. All of them, I guess? A fairly uninteresting splash battle, the famously "don't look that scary" drop towers, and their two new Vekoma family coasters, Volldampf (which means "goat-sex") and Hals-über-Kopf (which means "head up your butt.") Goat Sex was kind of boring (which...frankly, was a surprise to me) but Head Up Your Butt was the best coaster in the park. Not that I was here for the coasters. I was here for weird. And despite the lack of a proper dark ride, Tripsdrill delivered the weird. But there's no time to consider what just happened! Back on the bus! We left Tripsdrill early in order to get to Holiday Park before they closed, in order to have Expedition GeForce ERT at the end of the day (when the ride was good and warmed up) rather than the next morning. Rain came in, but many hardy souls kept riding anyway. Proof that I rode it. And I also took this photo. Because I'm that good. So...did I like it? Well, I didn't dislike it. But here was the problem.... [Feel free to skip to the next photo if you don't want a long boring explanation about restraints and the way they fit me.] I usually like these Intamin T-bar and European-style seatbelts just fine. They tend to be tight, as the parks shorten the seatbelts in order to be the determinator of whether or not someone is too big, and then allow the lapbar to rest comfortably in one's lap--which allows me slight upward movement (i.e., airtime) even as the seatbelt is holding me (tightly) back toward my seat. But Holiday Park does it differently. Here, the seatbelt is relatively long, but the lapbar has to be down to "within two fingers" of the seat side bar. So, I fit, but I was so stapled that any and all airtime was experienced by me as pressure on my upper legs. This wasn't painful, but it also wasn't particularly exciting. Kind of what I imagine a deaf person's experience of music might be. Like, they can't actually hear it, but they know it's there because they can feel the bass. None of which is me complaining. I'm just trying to explain why, for me, even though I love rides like Millennium Force, Ride of Steel, or Goliath at Walibi Holland, Expedition GeForce didn't do much for me. Seems like most other folks on the trip quite liked it, though. After ERT, Smisty and I headed to a German grocery store because....well, why would we not do that? Because we needed water. Yeah, that's it. Water. Biggest bathroom of the trip. Not sure if everyone's was like this. I assume not. The next morning we had ERT on Sky Scream. That's the red Premier Sky Rocket in the back, not the leftover piece of old-school Vekoma track there for decoration. This one is special because it has lapbars rather than over-the-shoulder restraints. Not special enough for me to ride it, though. Smisty did. I just asked her what she thought of it, but she doesn't remember. These are cool. I like that you can kind of tailor the ride to the kind of experience you want to have (although it takes skill if you want it to be wild). Haunted Mansion rip-off #2. I say "rip-off" with love, though. This one was the most torture-y, as I recall. The back of the park had a beach-themed area. We rode the Sky Flyer three times in a row, by ourselves, because no one else was back there yet. And we like those. It had a nice view. And it was already hot out and the breeze felt nice. Look, I don't need to explain myself to you. Also, this is not the Sky Flyer. I don't know what "Wickie" is but a couple of park's we visited had really similar "Wickielands." It seems to have something to do with cartoonish viking characters. Also, log flumes in Europe have no faith in themselves. They're all about turntables and backward sections. Just be log flumes, guys. I love when parks have little museums dedicated to themselves. Holiday Park has theirs as part of a restaurant. So that's pretty cool. Two parks on this trip had dinosaur-themed water rides. I intended to ride both, but wound up riding neither, for whatever reason. Hey, you gotta roll with the situation, you know? Wow. That's quite an admission, Holiday Park. I mean, yes, it's true. I just didn't expect *you* to put it out there like that. Back on the bus! A quick drive through beautiful German resort areas brought us to Wild- & Freizeitpark Klotten. (And yes, that hyphen is part of the name. Yes, in the spot, with a space after it and then the & symbol. Don't ask me.) We only had about 2 hours to explore this very strange place, but it's not particularly large. It is weird, though. Like, weirder than Tripsdrill weird. Self-operated rides? Yup. Allow me to explain how this one works. I have no idea. It's powered? And there are multiple buttons, some of which are red and some of which are black. And you have to climb over bars to get into the seats. And then you push the buttons. Which do something...? Or maybe they don't? No one on the ride could figure it out either. Oh yeah. So this is just a small kids ride that goes in a circle. But it has water guns that you shoot at the park's mascot in the middle. So it's got that going for it. A saucy puppet show. It might not have been saucy. I didn't watch it. But I have watched Futurama. Um, no thank you, Hey, it's another one of those Gerstauler Bobsled coasters like at Tripsdrill! Oh s#!t, no it's not! This thing is waaaaay wilder. It also wraps around a big round...um, castle thing...that also houses a log flume and a shooting dark ride. Zum Rittersturz features a spiraling vertical lift and a trim brake on the drop...?! Also water. Lots of water. I did not take this photo. I think Robb did. But I'm borrowing it because y'all need to see this. So, here's what I think happened: The park said they wanted magic wands instead of guns, but the designer wasn't sure what those should look like, so they googled "magic wand" but didn't realize that safe search was off, and well...this was the result. It's quite a short, simple dark ride. But they did a good job of hiding how little is actually going on. I do mean that as a compliment. It feels like they had very little money but made it work. Maybe someone donated the, um, "wands" and they just went with it. Here's another photo of Heiße Fahrt. And it will make you fahrt! Wait, that just means "journey." Airtime could be described as a journey, right? This isn't working. Look, there's airtime. And laterals. Sometimes at the same time. I liked it better than Expedition GeForce, let's just say that. Wait, that's going to get me hate mail. Look, cute animals: See, Klotten is also a zoo. Grizzly bears! Wait...are all of these animals from North America? I mean, I guess that's cool for their normal clientele. But all these guys live down the street from me! I didn't travel all the way to Germany to see American animals! You're not fooling me, Trash Gremlins! Homemade whip type thing. I would've liked to have ridden it, but when the German-only-speaking ride op asked me how many kilos I was, I had no choice but to fold. Um....800,000? Does that sound right? I would like Klotten to be my home park. Not so much because of it, but because I want to live here. It was cool, though. Our hotel at Phantasialand. Are you tired of my coaster opinions yet? No? F.L.Y. was terrible. It was cool staying in a hotel that was built all around a coaster, though. The weird, ugly proper entrance to Phantasialand. Which I'm not sure is bad, actually. It makes for quite a dramatic transition once inside the park, certainly. Phantasialand's "main street" is interesting in several ways, not the least of which is that rather that being full of shops and services, it's mostly eateries and attractions. It's also called "Berlin." Their main street is Berlin. "Berlin is on this map!" "So it is." For example, their hotel-themed fun house is located there. Which contains this weird elevator that doesn't go anywhere and an operator with fake ponytails who only communicates via whistle. Maybe not quite as fun as the one at Grona Lund, but elevated by its awesome crooked house hotel theming. Misty doesn't like fun houses, so this is what she did instead. The far end of Berlin, where you must then choose to go left or right. The park's layout is weird. In fact, I'm not even going to try to explain it. Okay, I will. Imagine the roman numeral 3, but not connected at the bottom. Kind of like this: TTT And that middle part is Berlin. Or just google a map of Phantasialand. That might be easier. The park's newest dark ride, Maus au Chocolat, is also in Berlin. It's like Toy Story Mania, but better and way longer. The covered midway that connects Berlin to Wuze Town. On the left is the only gift shop in Berlin. That's just fun to say. So, they're all about dragons in this park, with each dragon representing a separate themed area. Whereas I am all about chocolate-covered fruit. I opted for the pineapple, whilst Misty got grapes. Also pictured, apples (of course) strawberries (sure) and pears(!?) Looks like it's closed. No doubt to be replaced soon by Spectre, now that they have the rights. That joke is really just for me. Don't worry about it. Chiapas is quite a well-regarded log flume, and rightfully so. A bit on the wet side, and the restraints are awful (I suspect for everybody, not just me) but the theming is great and it has a neat soundtrack! On the other hand, it's in Europe, so it goes backwards for entirely too long. Still, it was really good! Phantasialand has a reputation for great theming. And I think this is a pretty good example of that. But I will say that it seems like there are several areas that are highly-themed but just have like one thing in them. This is Mexico, but really it just has Chiapas. At least, that you can see here. I guess there are technically two other rides in "Mexico," but it doesn't really feel like it. This isn't really a complaint so much as me saying that in the grand battle of Europa versus Phantasialand, I much prefer Europa's ride layering. Meanwhile, in a completely different part of Mexico, the famous Talocan--combining fire, water, intensity, inversions, and nope. The African section, which contains Black Mamba and...um...this stairway. Okay, so when you're in a foreign country, you don't want to be problem. We went to ride Black Mamba and got in line for the front row, when a ride op came over and told me that I had to ride in row 5. Now, I know what's going on here. I'm fat, and he's directing me to the big boy seat. Of course, I can usually fit in any row of a B&M invert, but I don't want to argue with the guy. And, like, what if he's right and I insist on the front only to not fit and I hold up the whole operation? I don't want that. So we moved to row 5. And the ride sucked. Look, Black Mamba is supposed to be themed. I say "supposed to be" because you can't see anything on a B&M invert unless you're in the front, So who knows if it's themed or not? Not me. I can tell you that it was intense in a way that I didn't really care for (ball-crushing positive g's in every pull out) and probably wouldn't have liked in the front row either. So, yeah, one and done for me. No big deal, though. It was unlikely that I was going to love a B&M invert anyway. Moving on. Presented without comment. Colorado Adventure is themed to the old west and located in Mexico, allegedly. What's the most frightened you've ever been on a roller coaster? For me, it was the moment I realized that the entire middle third of this arrow mine train was going to be in complete darkness. Good ride, though. The Asia section contains *two* rides, a super goofy kung-fu themed mad house and the park's other dark ride, "Ghost Rickshaw." Yes, it's Haunted Mansion rip-off #3--but this one distinguishes itself by being filled with weird monsters from Asian Mythology (I assume). And, as such, it was the best of the 3. Beware of hitchhiking ghosts! Ah yes, the 4 slushie flavors of the apocalypse: Flamingo, Gummibarchen, Waldmeister, and Fresh and Cool. The Asia section looks quite nice, though. This is a full-service restaurant, in case your curious. The queue for River Quest, the park's raids ride, located in the (*ahem*) Mystery section of the park. That's an option?! You can just have a "mystery" section? Nobody tell Six Flags. I knew this ride had some tricks, so I wanted to check it out. However, I was kind of disappointed. Yeah, the vertical lift and the 3 drops were fun, but otherwise it just meandered around, with no rapids to speak of. And the theming was (appropriately enough) a bit of a mystery. I mean, it's a castle, I guess. And the boats have bats on them. But there's nothing else to suggest, say, vampires or whatever it's supposed to be. And the name doesn't help much. It's just kind of a mystery castle. Mystery Castle. It's a completely enclosed drop ride. But not like Tower of Terror. More of a normal drop tower, but with a variable programs and some theming. So like Tower of Terror. But not really. I normally skip drop towers these days. But the theming drew me in. And I enjoyed it! Of course they built an enclosed one because of neighbors-who-complain-of-noise, but I think it all worked out in this case. Now we enter Klugheim, which as near as I can tell is part of "Mystery." It's also home to a full-service restaurant that serves meat to the brave. And let me tell you I am brave. Smisty had soup. Klugheim is also home to two intertwined roller coasters: Raik, a Vekoma family boomerang--and Taron, a custom Intamin launch coaster. For my money, Taron is the best coaster in the park. Fast, smooth, airtime, some laterals...it's just fun. Wuze Town. So for those of you keeping track, the themed areas are: Berlin (a city in Germany), Rookburgh (a made-up steampunk place), Mexico (which includes the American Old West), Asia, Mystery (which includes Klugheim, which is again made up), Africa, and Wuze Town (which is made up also, I think?) This indoor section was interesting but felt a little rundown and dingy. As for Winjas, they were fun...but both tracks kind of seemed to be fighting against themselves in terms of spinning, as they both pretty much just follow a right turn, left turn, right turn, left turn pattern. Having said that, it seemed like most people I talked to preferred Fear, but I actually like Force better. For one thing, I thought it's track trick was more interesting. But also, for me, the larger drops of Fear didn't combine particularly well with the ride's seat horn. Some neat-looking kids rides sort of hidden at the top back part of the indoor area. Okay, so the other thing people talk about with Phantasialand (besides the theming) is how little room they have to work with. Which is interesting because they have this area, which is like a quarter of the park and consists of a long winding path around some grassland and a lake that contains nothing, and a gigantic "calm boat ride" that clearly used to be Splash Battle but isn't any more. I can only describe this area as "unpopular," as it only seems to be (briefly) visited by people who are on day 2 at the park (like us) and the profoundly lost. Clearly, this can and should all go. And, I can only imagine, will. The orange and yellow building in the background of the last photo can probably go as well, as it houses a long-closed dark ride (Hollywood Tour, which I would've liked to see) and Crazy Bats, an indoor coaster that's been give the VR treatment. We did ride Crazy Bats, and it was my first ever VR coaster (a concept I have little use for, but it wasn't an upcharge and we were here and had time, so why not?) It was...fine. I mean, it probably would've been better in one of its previous regular-indoor-coaster iterations, but whatever. Yeah, fire sale this whole area. (I mean, not Wuze Town. Wait, is this Wuze Town? What even is this area?) Back to the Charles Lindbergh Hotel. I probably should've taken a picture of it before we scattered our junk everywhere, but hey. I must say that I didn't love this room as much as I thought I would. I dig small spaces, but the thing is, if you're going to design a small space, the you can't afford mistakes. Everything has to work together. You can't have, say, a really low, shallow sink and a really high faucet. Or effectively no air in the room and a window that's just a big round door. (I mean, I know Europe has a different view of air conditioning than the US does, but at least give me a window I can open with a curtain over it.) I suppose it's a bit of a metaphor for all of Phantasialand. They do their own thing, and they march to their own drum, but it just doesn't always work they way they think it does. Nice view, though. Okay, so F.L.Y. Look, I don't really like flying coasters anyway. I just don't find them very coaster-like. It doesn't feel comfortable or natural to me to be facing downward. But, this is a new generation Vekoma, so I thought there might be some hope. But it was kind of just like lying face-down on the ground while someone jumps up and down on your back. It's certainly intense, if that's what you're looking for. And there is one moment of airtime (which is cool, if kind of weird). But even with nothing to obstruct the view, it turns out that, even with all that theming, the ground is mostly just ground. As an aside, this is also the first coaster that ever put me through a metal detector. I wasn't particularly bothered by it...but still, wow. To be fair, most of the group seemed to love it. But Misty didn't like it either, so it wasn't just me. Overall, though, I do think Phantasialand is a pretty good park. I like Taron and Chiapas and Maus au Chocolat quite a lot. Colorado Adventure and Geister Rikscha were pretty good too. They have a cool fun house, some beautiful theming, and some amazing sweets. Okay, whew. That was a long one. Join me again in like two weeks to hear me complain about some parks in Belgium!

Sounds like the new coaster is Big Bear.

As seen on Facebook earlier today! Looks like we have our first official attraction teaser for 2023.

Thursday was a similarly light day! The park was overall pretty dead, even the water park. Storm Chaser is awesome, and its location allows for many rerides. I can honestly say that I wasn't expecting Lightning Run to have more intense airtime than any RMC I've been on though. That thing is bonkers! Their water park was also a pleasant surprise, and better than I had expected. We didn't anticipate staying until close, but we did because we spent so much time in the water park. We also picked up some cinnamon bread on the way out to eat in the car. I really enjoyed this park more than I thought I would!