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coin! and ~3 plays for 10 Krona coin if I recall

Ooooooh all those pinball machines. Gotta love that. Were they coin operated, or did you have to buy tokens, Bert?

Absolutely positively. As you should know by now, some on this forum have nothing better to do but be negative. While it is true no one visits a park to see a new entry plaza or retaining wall, it is nice to see the improvements that make the park look better!

We were up bright and early the next morning to traverse the island, heading first to the Kualoa Ranch. This insanely picturesque, privately owned section of the island is famously favorited as the hottest spot to film movies and shows with tropical, mountainous or forested backgrounds. The ranch's notable filmography includes films from the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World franchise (earning the ranch as second moniker as "Jurassic Valley"), 50 First Dates, George of the Jungle, Kong: Skull Island, LOST and many, many more. The Kualoa Ranch offers a variety of tours and experiences, including a horseback riding experience. While tempting as that was, we were here for something a little more rugged. It is important to note that none of the individual tour options cover ALL that there is to see at the Ranch, so if you're tight on time like we were, you have to choose the one that visits the landmarks and points of interest that matter to you, or plan to experience multiple tour types to maximize your access. Reservations are absolutely recommended and walk-up availability is not guaranteed. Today we'd be piloting UTVs across the grounds of the Kualoa Ranch, the best way to get a sense of adventure off-road while seeing some of the best locations across the property. Kualoa Ranch is expansive and has coastal sections with amazing views as well as inland valleys and forested areas where you couldn't feel farther from the ocean if you tried. Over the years, film/tv production has facilitated the creation of sets that, rather than demolition when production has ended, the Ranch has maintained and reutilized, both for future productions as well as for tours to visit. The money shot. Fans of Jurassic World will recognize this as the station for the Gyrosphere attraction. This bunker was featured in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom--a key location on Isla Nublar as the island is being engulfed in lava from the re-awakened volcano. Absolutely unreal. You do get a chance to exit your UTV for several stops along the tour. This was the partially-built Indominous Rex paddock used in the filming of Jurassic World. Movie magic and digital effects completed the rest to make a fully constructed housing for the villainous dinosaur hybrid who wreaked havoc on the film's namesake park. Iconic imagery from Kong: Skull Island can be found along the tour. Seriously stunning. Another bunker along the route... Notice the tour bus to the left and the open air bus to the right of the bunker. Both are different types of tour options to explore Kualoa Ranch. A breathtaking view which also serves as the perfect location for the finale shot of Jurassic World where the hero T-Rex roars over the remains of the park before the film cuts to the credits. We filmed a ton of footage and took so many more photos over the course of our time at Kualoa Ranch but this magical place is best experienced in person and I can't recommend it enough. Next we drove to the North Shore to experience CLIMB Works - Keana Farms for an amazing zip-lining tour across this side of the island. After our ascent to one of the highest points of Keana Farms, we were met with an opportunity to crack open fresh macadamia nuts with rocks by hand and it was all kinds of fun and tasty. The experience includes zip-lines, rope bridges, rappelling and even some climbing along the way. This was a very active (sometimes tiring) course so it is definitely recommended that you come prepared to work for the reward of getting across the course. Keana Farms is an active agricultural farm as well as a wind farm, so you get some really neat views along the way. You get all kinds of neat views along the way! Did I mention that you rappel several times along the way? The experience includes 8 dual lines (which was great for us as a couple being able to zip alongside each other), 2 rappels, 3 sky bridges, a floating staircase, an ATV ride and a few surprises (hope you have core strength in your body!). Proof it was me who endured all of this. The guides are awesome and ensure you have a safe, fun and funny trip along the way... They encouraged us on this one line to try experiencing it upside down, so this was my POV. That's me on the left, just hanging out. I mentioned earlier that LOST was filmed at Kualoa Ranch, and while that is true, the production spanned much of Honolulu (and at times, beyond). One such famous location was the "Others' Camp" which is actually a YMCA on the far end of the island. With permission from the operating staff, you are allowed to visit the grounds to see this notable location. It has been repainted from its recognizable orange color but the Dharma Initiative houses-turned Others' homes-turned Oceanic Flight 815-survivors' homes are still the ones you would have seen on the show. We made the long drive back to Aulani and checked in for our first official night at the resort. In case you're wondering what a room in Aulani looks like, here you go. Such a fun touch! Color me intrigued! After a very active day we decided to take in some stargazing with our outdoor dinner at Makahiki. The restaurant has a beautiful interior that really looks great at night. Some incredibly fresh ahi tuna for dinner. Leave it to Disney to help us celebrate in small but meaningful ways! Roasted Pineapple Cobbler with a Haupia Gelato for the win! And since it was Valentine's Day during our visit we picked up some special macarons from the resort to enjoy! On the walk back to our room we noticed this neat mural. Quite incredible. The next morning we were greeted with a beautiful sunrise over Aulani. And the view from our balcony... We returned to Makahiki that morning for breakfast complete with a serenade... And a first for us--Red Velvet Minnie Waffles (accompanied by more traditional Mickey Waffles)! Punaluu Sweet Bread French Toast was my treat for the morning. Part of the benefit of breakfast at Makahiki is that you get to meet several characters in their Aulani gear! Goofy's hard at work in the kitchen! And Max has taken up being a server for the day! We also saw Minnie and Pluto during our visit. And yes, fans of POG Juice can rejoice that they have it available for breakfast at Aulani... I might have had so much that they sent me out with a to-go cup for the road. Stitch caps this update off... But there was a lot more fun at Aulani still to come!

Yes, one day with FL+ will be enough to get all of the credits at KI, and plenty of re-rides too. FL+ is awesome at this park and puts you in the station on pretty much ride its offered on.

Good to hear it will be open, because I'm tired of people making jokes about the reasonable delay. I'll miss Kim and I fiercely defending it.

Thanks! And of course we will likely share more details closer to opening day, which is March 29th! … I will say currently projects are kinda slow because of the cold, so it’s pretty hard to paint or build. And for those who are interested about the carousel, we are on track to be open this summer, we are thinking hopefully by Memorial Day weekend. But it likely won’t be ready in time for park opening. Trust us… we want it to open just as much as you guys do But I will say from what I’ve seen it looks great!

Pinball! I love Pinball and it's getting harder and harder to find machines as "the claw" is now taking over every arcade We rode that rapids ride with a mom and her kids that were visiting Liseberg from their northern village that was north of the Arctic Circle. They spoke wonderful English so we were able to have a nice conversation and they were as fascinated with us as we were with them.

My God! All this vitriol is ridiculous. I simply said that I thought it was nice that they seemed to be engaging a bit better on FB. If you aren't interested, FINE, don't spend anytime reading it. Again as previously stated there is no negative to this. The people that want to know will be happy, the people that don't care can choose to ignore. Geeez

Hi Everyone! My new years resolution is to be more timely when posting trip reports... So before the holidays get away from me I figured I better get them done. After SeaWorld I wrapped up my Texas trip with a stop at what many argue as one of the better (pre-merger) Six Flags, Fiesta Texas. An I have to say that of the 3 Six Flags I went to last year (OT, FT, and DK) this one definitely felt like the nicest. For one thing it is the newest, opening in 1992, but also when Gaylord designed it your can for sure tell that they cared about the theming and were willing to spend the money to build a nice park. (Definitely makes me wish Opryland was still around). The overarching themed areas (or at least the ones Six Flags hasn't monkeyed too much with) are well done, and details are plentiful. There is still a lot of "Six Flags stuff" which is a shame because I think the park would be even better without the ads, upcharge go-karts, poorly implemented DC themes, oh and the boomerang... But even with this "stuff" it's a very nice park, so let's see what I thought of it's lineup! Iron Rattler is of course the star of the show. The photogenic-ness alone of this ride is enough to impress. And how smooth! For being 10 years old now, it feels like it opened for the first time yesterday. No other RMC that I have ridden is that smooth. My only real complaint with IR is that it felt a little short. 3200 feet is respectable, especially when compared to RMC's built at that time, but it just felt like it was meant to have another 500 feet but the Six Flags budget was like nah... Maybe that's just me though. The surprise of the whole trip for me was Dr. Diabolical's Themed to a Strange Degree Not on the Wall Skydiving Machine (I mean Cliffhanger...sorry got a little carried away with the name). When this was first announced I thought "Cool! Dive coaster on the quarry wall", and then I found out that it wasn't gonna be on the wall and I was like "Ok whatever, next coaster" I knew about the theming going in which I was very impressed with, though I thought it weird that you go outside and bam there's the coaster and the theming ends instantly. I feel like they could have put SOMETHING in the outside portion, literally ANYTHING but no it's just some grass. Theming aside though I really enjoyed this coaster. Granted it was my first B&M dive, but it really surprised me. I'm in the camp that I want a lot of the smaller regional parks to get these small dive coasters. The drop was one, the inversions were pretty intense for B&M, and it was just fun to ride. That to me is a big win for any attraction at any park, is just being fun to ride. Big thumbs up from me, and I'm kinda excited for Iron Menace now too. The next headliner here that everyone talks about is of course Superman. To me this ride was like two-face, first half fun and solid B&M floorless. Second half? POS. It just meandered around some inversions while trying to rattle your brain out of the skull. Not my pick for best floorless (yay, Medusa!). Walked away kinda disappointed as I had heard good things about this ride. Next up was Wonder Woman, and I know this was the prototype raptor but this thing was in rough shape. I think it's pretty evident why this ride is undergoing the refurbishment it is. The drive tires were worn down, the magnetic breaks were all banged up, and the train tracked horribly. Fun layout, which I really enjoy, but man was it rattly. I hope this is not the inevitable future of these rides since that would be an awful shame. I have had the privilege of riding all three prototype raptors and this was easily the worst. Poltergeist and Batman: The Ride Great White Goliath were both fine supporting coasters. The theming in the station for Poltergeist was cool, though the rest of the ride I thought was just ok. Goliath was just a rough Batman clone. Oh, and I rode their Boomerang, no comment needed. Roadrunner was a slightly below average mine train, if it still had the Wylie Coyote statue at the top of the lift I think I would have liked it a bit more. It only beats Pandemonium for me cause it was the last Arrow mine train, and at it has a custom layout. A ride I did not like was Batman, there S&S Free Spin. I missed the one at OT cause of the weather, and I'm actually kinda glad I did. I strongly dislike these rides, there just stupid, uncomfortable, pain machines. I tried the one at SFDK as well and I hope that's the last one I have to ride, at least for a couple years. I also road the train, which was great, and the Bugs Bunny Log Flume. I loved the execution of the Looney Tunes theme on the flume! Imagine if that's how Six Flags did all their LT/DC Comics theming? I think that be pretty cool. And that wraps up my Texas trip. Both San Antonio parks were great, though I think I slightly prefer SeaWorld. I thought their ride lineup was a little stronger, plus the balance with the animals made it more interesting to me. I hope I can find a good excuse to get down to SA again soon! I got three more TR's to do all from NoCal, so we will see you all then!