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I have an impossible time believing that Six Flags would buy a fourth Nitro train. There is absolutely no reason to run more than two during Holiday in the Park, and they run three for the rest of the season without issue. My guess is that the 30,000 lb shipment is either a replacement lift drive and other parts for Green Lantern which was scheduled to be open for HITP but broken for the entire event (lol good) or 30,000 Nitro operations manuals with minimum temperature guidelines that they can use in the Holiday in the Park fire pits next season. As for the name, it’s dumb but I also don’t care. Just paint it… holy shit does it ever need it.

Universal has announced a "one of a kind theme park" geared toward children and families to be built in Frisco, Texas, near Dallas! https://corporate.universalparks.com/universal-parks-resorts-plans-to-bring-new-concept-for-families-with-young-children-to-frisco-texas/ Universal Parks & Resorts announces a one-of-a-kind theme park, unlike any other in the world, specifically designed to inspire fun for families with young children. The new park concept, set in a lush green landscape and featuring immersive themed lands, celebrates Universal’s iconic brand of entertainment, humor and innovation and brings to life its beloved characters and stories in ways that will wow even the youngest theme park goers. The proposed park will be designed to be more intimate and engaging for younger audiences and will be sized for a regional audience. It will be full of family-friendly attractions, interactive and playful shows, character meet and greets, unique merchandise and fun food and beverage venues. Although smaller in size, it will still carry the same quality as Universal’s other larger resort destinations. Part of 97 acres of land recently purchased by the company, the proposed park also has plans for an adjacent themed hotel and room for expansion. The entire area is intended to have a completely different look, feel, and scale than Universal’s existing parks and will appeal to a new audience for the brand. Universal Parks & Resorts selected the city of Frisco, in North Texas, as the area for this new concept given the city’s growing population and ability to attract businesses to the area. The proposed location for the new concept is ideally situated east of the Dallas North Tollway and north of Panther Creek Parkway. “We are excited about the opportunity to partner with the city of Frisco and Mayor Cheney as we work to bring this innovative, new concept to life designed specifically for a younger generation of Universal fans,” said Page Thompson, President, New Ventures, Universal Parks & Resorts. “We think North Texas is the perfect place to launch this unique park for families given its growing popularity within this part of the country.” “Frisco is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. and has been recognized as a great place to plant professional roots and raise a family,” said Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney. “This new Universal concept will continue to enhance our tax base, expand employment opportunities and bring even more fun to Frisco benefiting our residents, businesses, and visitors.” More details about the project will be revealed over time.

^ Your space bar has become self-aware and is rebelling.

So excited for CP to finally bring the world’s tallest and fastest Aquatrax to life

Thanks for the heads up! Bummed about WW since I've never gotten to do an RMC single rail but oh well..... I can head up to SFMM when/if they get their act together. Definitely planning on getting the FL platinum at SFFT. Unfortunately my flight back is Sunday morning so Saturday is the only option. Thanks again!

Day 9, continued. Plopsaland De Panne: part 2 this was a pretty neat chair. . . you sat in the spilling coffee/nutrella. . . what's this? a slowly moving spinning boat ride? yes please! it was across from the next coaster we were going to ride, but that was in testing mode and hadn't opened yet. apparently the boat ride is called "Tik Tak Junier" so we hopped on it to see if the coaster would open by the time we finsihed absolutely no clue what it was supposed to be about. . which made it that much better! WHEEE!!! and as we exited the boats? the gates went up and the next coaster opened. apparently this is themed after a TV show, which seems to be about High School Kids? yet it's a very junior family double figure-8 layout. I present: Hashtag: Like Me Coaster empty queue as it had just opened. . . see why I'm assuming the show is about high-school kids? it doesn't do much.. but it IS pretty speedy, and I liked how hidden in the trees it is. it also was in the running for "longest train" for any coaster we rode on the trip! I mean.. look how long this thing is! the Starflyer is themed to another show, this one about a vampire, a warewolf, and a witch (I think?). . .they had a photo op set up across from it. and you could choose which character you wanted to swing under. it wasn't open yet either, so we continued on to come back later. the flowerbeds and greenery in this park are so nice. It would be a pleasant day just walking around. we were there on a Wednesday, so this wasn't open, unfortunately - which I know disappointed some of the group. it's a sit down restaurant that only sells deserts. so we continued on to the other "thrill coaster" in the park, Anubis. train! doesn't the conductor look thrilled? NOT the Eye of Sauron. . but the Eye of Anubis with lots of Egyptian theming out front. which disappears the moment you get into the queue. I was very confused, but upon looking it up on RCDB, it seems this Gerstlaur launch coaster is themed after a Finnish Television show, about teenagers who search for treasure in their spooky boarding school. Sorta harry potter, I guess, but not - since the starflyer is also themed to a sorta harry potter show? anyways, here's the queue: (yes, we waited in this line rather than use our quick pass, as I wanted to see the queue) I believe I have AJ to thank for this pic. it's a great pic. .but man did this coaster rattle, and was really only tolerable to me in the front row. (think I rode 3 times, twice in front, and once in middle row) Swinging ship, and Ride to Happiness across the lagoon as I said a few times: beautiful park. having hit all the open coasters, we looped back to try to get Dragon Coaster, the Dinosaur Flume Ride, and Heidi the Ride (wooden coaster) Lookie lookie! James and I have joined K3 (creepy as hell, so of course I loved this photo op) oooo. . another one of these! I had never seen one prior to the one at Holiday Park's indoor section. Yeah, it's stupid and doesn't do really anything. . but I still had a ball, and stopped to ride it. and I wasn't the only one ' don't I look comfy sitting on a "chicken" [GeorgeTakei] OH MY!!! [/GeorgeTakei] we had ERT on this later, but wanted to ride it early to check it out, as noted, supposedly it's very similar to White Lightning, but with the wood supports really quite smooth, and ends with a little "dark ride" section. was it insanely thrilling? not really, but i liked it . . a lot, and rode every time during ERT later. and of course, you exit thru the gift shop. no idea, but these seem to be the characters the ride is based on. and because I'm 12 years old mentally? sent this pic home to Nick too. Heidi: the Ride is right next to the Dinosaur Flume, which still wasn't operating yet. The park claimed it was opening, but at the moment the flume was still drained. however. . what's that I see zooming towards us? the Dragon Coaster had started running. like the rest of the park, the area over here by Heidi is really cutely themed. with several photo ops. it was after lunchtime, and we were starting to get hungry, so headed to the "mushroom elves" ? section, which seemed to have the most options for food, even if it was mostly "Six Flags" type theme park food. this was right next to it tho. . . ooooooooo they had a test bunny out for photos, and test seat. So hopped on that , but wasn't sure if adults could ride. once the operator confirmed "sure, adults can ride". .did we ride it? you betcha!!! the lines were a bit too long, so since nobody was really *starving* - we'd had a big breakfast - we headed over to the section of the park we hadn't been in yet. there's also a DISC-O over here. . which I don't believe I rode here. I did join the folks I was hanging with at one part to ride it. .but think that might have been Holiday park. otherwise? not really a fan of these. a kiddie firefighter ride. (having done this in Japan, I didn't feel the urge to ride this here) a large building was over here on the left, which looked like it used to be a Carousel - was under construction, which made me a bit sad. I later found out it used to be bumper cars (?) and they were turning it into a theater. but the biggest joy in coming to this section - which was mostly kiddie & teen rides - was up ahead on the right. No, not this. . . This. yes. Plopsaland De Panne has a Dunkin' on property. with LOTS of donut options (and lots and LOTS of bees attracted to the sugar) most importantly tho? THEY HAD A MILKSHAKE ON THE MENU. (and it was described as what an American Milkshake would be). . . so absolutely had to order one, to wash that vile memory from the prior day of what I had and was called a "milkshake" this one was quite satisfying, and good. the donuts were good too and got to eat my snack surrounded by Purple Penis trees. i mean. .what else could they *possibly* be? one ride over here did look interesting. . tho we didnt' ride it either. it's a Tractor ride, similar to what we rode at Europa Parc, but here? it weaves in and out of animals that just roam around the tracks. I guess the animals are smarter than some people, in that they easily moved out of the way if a tractor was coming. we stumbled across this one, and I'm glad we did. it was an indoor dark ride in boats. as with most things here, I had no idea what the storyline was supposed to be (tho I recognize the hat in the ride logo, so its based on one of the park's mascots). . seems to be about gnomes, or elves. . and you enter into thru the Gift Shop. . where I saw these. So gotta wonder if this was once a Smurfs ride? It would fit, and be easy for them to have made the changes (just repaint a few things from Blue). this lift actually resulted in a little bit of a splash that got our boat moist. Tho maybe because it was 5 adults in a small boat? LOL coming around to the front of the park, we peeked into MayaLand, to see what food options were at the restaurant in here. we didnt' stay to ride or eat anything (typical hotdogs/burgers), but a nice small assortment of rides and slides for kids to play on. Cutting back across to the Mushroom food area from earlier, thinking it was later now, there likely wouldn't be a line still (there was, and it took a while to get something to eat. . but we were in realaxed mode at this point having gotten most of what we were hoping to ride today). . . .we found a pathway that passed right next to Anubis for some good pics and must be where AJ got that pic of us on it earlier. but before we got to go eat. . SuperSplash was open (the Shoot the Chutes). . so we rode that and didn't' get any wetter than we already were from the dark boat ride. phones were put away just in case, so only have the entrance sign as a pic. and then we saw that Dino Splash (the dinosaur flume) had opened. . so we went directly there next. The donut / shake snack really helped curb appetite, LOL again, phones put away just in case, so only have entrance, but I do recall it was fun, and I THINK it had a backwards section too? NOW it's time for food. . . but since we're passing right under Ride To Happiness on the walkway there, sure, let's stop and take a few more pics of this amazing ride. the food we waited a bit too long for, and was OK for theme park food. this park more than makes up for it with atmosphere and a world class ride (RtH). . but yeah, if the desert restaurant is not open, I'd just stick to Dunkin to eat here. lots of birds over here too. . so they must get fed a lot of french fries. . they weren't scared of people at all. having eaten something, we treked back over to the starflyer to get a ride. Even the churro stand was themed to the supernatural show over here by the starflyer at this point, I think we had about an hour left before park close, and a few folks wanted to go back to Anubis (I passed) or Ride to Happiness. . but once I found out there was a Carousel here? I split off and went to ride my must do: beautiful, and hidden way back here in the far corner of the park! double decker, so I immediately went uptop, only to be told that I could not ride any horses or cups, that upstairs adults may only ride on the bench. so I rode the bench: (still happy tho) and then I went downstairs and took another ride, this time on a horse. as noted..it's way back in the corner, so not very busy back here. but look how happy! I wanted to buy some magnets or souveniers, so I headed back around to the front plaza. . but stopped to snap a pic of the workmen who were transforming that space I had thought was the carousel. and walked thru the petting zoo area over here too.. that was on the opposite side of that tractor ride. the petting zoo is behind me, but they also had sculptures of animals in the sandbox, so kids could "pet" them without being scared of a live animal. good call on the park's part. ah. .I DID take a pic of the actual petting zoo too. swag purchased I made my way around back to RoH to meet up with the group, and happened across the parks parade. wasn't very long, but it was cute - or creepy - depending on your "person in suit" tolerance. now there were some kids driving in this attraction. I can't recall if we had ERT this evening as we'd had this morning, or if just everyone had saved their skip the line passes (I do seem to remember it had gone down for a few hours, and when it came back up, the line got slammed). . .but I went into the Gift Shop first. a little bit of sticker shock - I totally would have bought a T-shirt, but you can tell this is a "sponsored by Tomorrowland" installation, as the shirts were (I think) all $50 or more. I ended up with a magnet I loved, and that was "only" $20. but so what, I liked it, so I bought it. I rode it two or three more times. . and then stepped out to take a few more pics of it. park was closing, so those of us at RtH headed over to Heidi: the Ride, the coaster that would close out our day at Plopsaland. I wasnt' hungry - at all - but it would be a lie to say I wasn't tempted a bit. I settled for just pictures of what they were offering at this cart on the pathway. and then it was on to Heidi. all these pics are courtesy of Elissa or Robb. and I rode it every time during Evening ERT. as I said, I enjoyed it a lot, as you can tell from the giant smile I have in every pic. . . and then it was time to head out. We'd had a lot of fun in the park, and it seemed to fly, but this really is a one day park. however, if they keep updating with rides like RtH? I can see them drawing tons more people than that ride is already drawing to the park. closing out with pics from Robb that he shared with us on the bus on the way back to the hotel. taken by his coaster camera in the morning. these are incredible, and LOL. my face in that first one. . gravity sliding me into that inversion. and then I got the text back from Nick that changed my mood: "hi Hun, don't worry. I'm in the hospital, my lung collapsed. I'll text you later and update you. 143" yeah

Day 9, Plopsaland De Panne: part 1 (and as one should expect? LOTS of pics of "Ride to Happiness" ) Up bright and early-ish (8:15 am departure) to go eat breakfast - pics in prior post - and be on our way to the close by Plopsaland De Panne! It was looking like it was going to be a beautiful day/ pulling up to the front gates of the park, they appear to have an onsite Hotel, but I loved where we stayed at Hotel Ambassador De Panne, and glad we stayed there. this was a bit of an odd park. it seemed like it had been around a really long time, and had a set of characters (some superhero, some insects, some warriors, etc). . but then they ALSO had quite a few things themed to Television/Film /pop-culture things. I mean, the big new draw was themed to the Tomorrowland Music Festival. of the six roller-coasters, only two of them would be "high thrill", and one was a really good adult woodie, tho not really high thrill. But also 3 junior/kiddie coasters. And most of the flats seemed to be targeted to teen and younger level, but adults could ride, so of course we did. There were a few young adult level thrill flats tho. all that said? It still was a beautiful park, even if it did seem geared more towards the younger set in most all of the attractions. and I LOVED the giant door at the entrance. . entering into your imagination? one of the characters (the superhero one, I think) that has statues in the opening plaza. I have pics of all 10 of them, but didn't want to overdo it with pics of these, since you get the idea Me popping out of a giant closet. (tho can one come out, if one was never "in" ?) looking back at the outside world, and Robb making sure we herded cats posed for a picture. said picture of the TPR group courtesy of Robb: once inside the main plaza, the "fairy tale" type theming continued. dang, it looked lovely. that "Mayaland" in the background is an entire indoor ride/entertainment area based on one of the characters - I think I recall "Maya" was the bee? but we weren't here early for Maya Land. . .we were here for what was peeking out on the left top over there . . . we were led back to the ride, thru the still empty areas, me oogling the attention to detail. one of those rides like they have at Legoland - where the kids drive the trackless cars (tho I wondered with no barrier how do they keep the kiddos from driving out into the walkway?) and would it be a theme park without sponsored cars parked just randomly in the walkways? I say no! adorable statues all thruout the gardens as you walk along. . not sure if these are some of the park's characters or simply some random animals hanging out? that's Heidi. . a ride that's laid out very similar to White Lightning from what I was told. we'd get to that later, for some evening ERT. . . but for now, we were taking a right at this intersection. (which seemed to be headed into an area kind of like "a bugs land" ? I really liked the flower light fixtures tho. yes, we took that right, as headed here: "the Ride to Happiness" - themed and built in cooperation with the Tomorrowland Music Festival. this amazing coaster (which is WAY up on my favorites list, and on the right day might even be my #1 overall) is a multi-launch, *spinning* coaster, with inversions. it's incredible. . . we had to hang out for a little bit while they did the morning test runs before we got to ride it, so I'll just shut up and show the pictures, and let you enjoy the incredible Aura of this ride: getting to be almost ready for us. . so just making sure my big butt fits. GREEN! note the art-deco train station, that has you slowly coming out of a Keyhole, and directly into an inversion. Green light they are ready for us.. let's ride! as I was getting my 1st ride. . pic Courtesy of Elissa I think! whee!! OMG. .this sucker is AMAZING. Lives up to every bit of hype you may have heard. I know I rode it a ton of times in the morning ERT, since I'm sitting next to different folks in all the pics I have of me but after a few rides, I really needed to pee. so I went down to the restrooms, and took my time coming back thru the main queue so could get some pics of it. outside of the main station, from the courtyard. some close encounters with the ride near the entrance! stepping into the main queue - most everything was automated, with moving "steampunk" parts, and color changing. Very well done from the interior queue, the line goes outside, to a nice area where the brake run laps the queueline. this "castle tower" isn't part of Ride to Happiness. . it's the lift for the Park's Chute the Chutes boat ride - that's the track exiting the tower on the left. up these stairs, and then into some more indoors queue. and finally into the station as our morning ERT time was winding down, I needed a little bit of a break, so hung out on the exit steps, and took a pic of the "hobbit-like" gift shop that one exits the ride thru. I would come back here later to purchase some things. a better view of the Chute the Shoots track, from RtH's exit line. the park was opening up to guests, and the first few "runners" had made it to the ride entrance, so this was our last morning ride, and I snapped pics of the TPR folks who stuck it ou for every ride. (I can't 100% recall, but I know it rode it again later, so i think we also got some evening ERT on this one?) Morning rides done, we were let loose in the park, and most of us headed towards the other coasters. Dragon and Heidi didn't seem to be open just yet (and we had evening rides on Heidi anyways). .so we headed to the Vekoma Rollerskater. passing this guy on the way, who I think IS one of the park's mascots. great views of Ride to Happiness if you're anywhere on this side of the park. (It's hard to not take pictures of it) here's the parks RollerSkater.. . which is themed to . . . . K3 (a dutch girl group) who had a tv show called "K3 Roller Disco". . no, really. got really good pics of most of the TPR crew on it, so gonna share all of em LOOK at all those smiles having seen this at Klotten? I had no desire to ride a boat that will swing out and get me wet. but note the superhero theme at the top of the center. . . I think that's the hero that's spotlighted outside the big front door. more Ride to Happiness pics? of course leaving the K3 RollerSkater to head to the other coasters in the park, you enter into this "oversized" (or maybe we're shrunk?) area of the park. I made sure to stop and take this pic to send home to Nick. to be continued. . .

Neat, though to be fair its always the first Friday in June. Sadly this is the first year in a while (excluding 2020) I wont be going. I think I'll be skipping CP actually, for the first time since....IDK 2016 (again forget that covid year) Much as the thought of a new wild mouse cred has me bursting w excitement....gunna take a break, and hey 2024 TTD reopens so

The amount of appreciation you get from the little things in life is great. Her joy is our deep meaningful joy multiplied. We don't live for ourselves anymore, and life takes on a real purpose. For that, I'll gladly wait in the hour long log flume line to make her happy.