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"In the World of FROZEN...." Disney has now released a new video 'tour', with a drone circulating through (most of) Arendelle, still in construction. It doesn't show much of the Sliding Sleighs coaster, but the close up on Elsa's ice castle is really cool. Oops. Forgot to add this second video, of an AA Elsa singing those immortal lyrics. Looks like there will no face 'mapping' on this one, lol. Enjoy them both.

I would take all of this with a grain of salt. One person can post about it being restrictive on Twitter and there are endless horrible clickbait Disney blogs and YouTube sites that will cite that one tweet and make it a huge news story. Whenever Disney opens anything, there are hundreds of “articles” from sites like this finding some major flaw and then 99% of the time you never hear about it again because it’s not actually a big deal. Remember the “Skyliner doesn’t have air conditioning!” articles? When was the last time you saw anyone care? I’m not saying that this issue isn’t legitimate, but let’s wait and see. I have a suspicion that this is probably overblown.

Yeah, it just takes some practice to get on it if you have big legs or a big build. Most people have not ridden a real motorbike coaster like this before. That's the problem. They think they have! They think Hagrid's is a motorbike but it's not at all. This Vekoma version is the real deal and you lay down like on a sport bike. I saw people yesterday refusing to get in the proper riding position and then getting angry that they couldn't fit. If you can't get in the position or you have VERY large legs, just go ride in the back modified seats, no big deal.

Because it costs more than $6 to operate and they're Busch Gardens Tampa.

Wait wait wait... the Gold pass is now only good for 8 months? What fresh hell is this?

Well it turned out to be true. Universal is opening a year round haunt which will be located on the expansion of Area15 called the district.

So El Toro is my number 1 coaster after 15 years. I still haven't ridden a bunch of RMC's and other newer Intamins, but I feel like it would still compare favorably with newer classics like Steel Vengeance, Iron Gwazi, and VelociCoaster (will hopefully ride the latter two in the next month or two). As someone who has struggled with their weight, being able to fit on El Toro was tight back in 2008. When I returned to visit in 2014, I got denied. I haven't bothered to return to the park since. I am happy to report that, in the midst of a weight loss journey, today I weighed in at my "El Toro weight". 258 lbs was what I was when I rode in 2008 and I hit that mark today. Here's hoping SFGADv figures things out and I can ride once again in 2023!

Hit closing day for about 5 hours. With the gorgeous weather it was much busier than I've ever experienced for HITP and while the coaster lines were still pretty short, the crowds kinda took away from the "magic" HITP usually brings. I know I always drank way too much Great Adventure Kool Aid with that statement, but the light crowds and family atmosphere always made it worth only having half the park open. Today felt like Frightfest but with half the park open. I didn't exactly hit a big variety of rides today, but from what I would tell everything was open except Green Lantern. On the other hand, getting food was a bit of a challenge as a lot of stuff was closed and what was open was very busy most of the afternoon. One of my favorite HITP traditions was Bacon Wrapped Pork Kabobs and last year on closing day they sold out by like 4pm, so when we got to the park we went right over to Jersey Devil BBQ and the place was already closed and mothballed. Guess having secondary food places open doesn't fit the premium experience mold as we would see quite a few closed and after walking into a mob scene at Granny's, we had to go over to Yum Yum Cafe for lunch that didn't require waiting 20 minutes. Around 4:30 we finally started riding stuff. Pretty much just hung out in Movietown, hitting Nitro, JDC, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Skull Mountain. Mostly short waits, but by 7 everything was a walk on. After a couple more JDC rides, I decided to do what I did with Superman on SFNEs closing day and spend an hour parked in the back row of Nitro. Had to relocate to row 8 a couple times and briefly ran off for a front row ride on Batman, but returned for a few more laps including the final ride of the year with fireworks in the background for added effect. There was a temperature inversion which was really neat, as the temp would drastically drop in the valleys but warm up on the tops of the tall hills. Briefly ran into coasterbill and crew a couple times at Nitro, ironically I believe this marks the first time I ever met a TPR member outside of a bar. Getting out of the park was a real premium experience as they have a grand total of 4 turnstiles for people to go through, but they are too narrow for strollers to fit so people with strollers had to cut across the mob to get to the wider exit path. That said, the usually mundane task of exiting the park couldn't be done without some people yelling at each other and employees yelling at people because New Jersey. Fun first day of 2023, and keeping the coaster party going tomorrow with a quick stop at American Dream in the works on the ride home.

Currently in Orlando: 43 degrees. Hulk and Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit closed for temperatures. Currently in Jackson, NJ: 15 degrees. Put a coat on, pull down your lapbar, and enjoy your ride on Nitro.