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Alright, so yesterday was pretty dang awesome. The park was a bit slow to wake up with a bunch of coasters being closed until 10:30/11am or so, but once things were in the groove it was smooth sailing. Crowd levels had waits at 15-30 minutes for most everything. Operations could use a little work as I noticed every single coaster stacking trains, though. Still, every coaster that had the capability to run three trains WAS running three trains. Stacking or not, that's appreciated. Hate to see that go-get-em attitude disappear once the Six Flags merger completes and we're down to one train being half-loaded. Coasters - Orion - Hoo buddy, this one surprised me. This bad boy RIPS through the layout and has some damn good airtime to boot! Definitely a front seat ride, though the back ain't bad at all, either. The wind in front, though, is the cherry on top. Diamondback - The airtime on this ride is legitimately scary. This isn't standard B&M floater air but instead it's "bucking bronco trying to send you into Kentucky" air. Back seat is best. Mystic Timbers - Fast and wicked ride through the woods with a phenomenal first drop. Tons of laterals and some nice air pops. The shed is a complete waste of time, effort, and money, though. Back row is intense, especially getting ripped down the first drop. Banshee - Holy hot dicks from hell! I had absolutely NO IDEA how great this ride is. I'd heard the good reviews and I've seen the POVs but lawd almighty this monster is completely different than I was expecting. It rides like a mid-90s Beemer! Forces out the yin-yang on every element, especially the batwing and second vertical loop. Back row is is my fave, if for no other reason than that first drop. Best ride in the park alongside... The Beast - It's The Beast. It's one of the greatest rides on the planet. It also has some truly awful trims in the first bit (first drop, second hill, and the long shed) but after the long shed it returns to the incredibly wild run through the woods we all know and love. The trim before the helix has mercifully been moved to the top of the hill, so now you hit the tunnel full-bore and go screaming around that bitch like a bat out of hell. All hail the king, especially in the front row. The Bat - I love this ride, even if it does have a horrible location compared to the rest of the park. IIRC, back in 2003 it was much more visible and accessible with SoB in the area. Instead it's now a relic hiding behind a 5-mile hike with an entrance hardly seen at Banshee's exit. Damn shame, because this is a very fun and fast suspended coaster. Racer - Third row has some great airtime on this classic. Fun stuff! Backlot Stunt Coaster - Great launch and helix, boring everything else. Slowest line in the park. Flight Of Fear - Closed most of the day, broke down when I was entering the UFO. Didn't ride. Adventure Express - Packs a punch! I love me a good mine train and this one didn't disappoint. Ride it in the back to get the real janked-out experience, ya jabronis. This ride is great. Invertigo - Pass. I rode Two-Face when it was at SFA. I'm good. Other Rides - Boo Blasters - Yeah, this has seen better days. Cute enough and an easy way to escape the sun, but the guns hardly work and there's a large amount of broken effects. Delirium - Fun ride but after riding a larger version it didn't feel as wacky. Windseeker - This was my first Windseeker after riding many Star Flyers. Let's just say there's a reason these haven't been built in a while. Star Flyers are a much simpler mechanical ride and much more reliable. This was also pretty uncomfortable, for some reason. Good view, though. Blue Ice Cream - Yummy yummy in my tummy.

Penguin Trek is opening on July 7th Pass Previews start on July 2nd. The e-mail was just sent out with the dates for pass holders: https://www.wesh.com/article/seaworld-orlando-opening-date-penguin-trek/61195796 "Ready to be among the first to ride the ALL-NEW Penguin Trek? As a Pass Member, you can join us for previews from 8 a.m. – park close on select dates based on your tier: Platinum Pass Members: July 2–3 Platinum and Gold Pass Members: July 4 Platinum, Gold, and Silver Pass Members: July 5 Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Pass Members plus Fun Card holders: July 6" I'm hoping the previews wont be too crowded with it being a holiday week and schools on summer break. Ice Breaker and Pipeline were 5 minute waits for me during those previews but they were in the winter and spring on days when local schools were open.

Why not just ask the source? I asked ChatGPT5, "How will artificial intelligence (AI) be able to assist with roller coaster designing and engineering?" I got this last little bit when I first asked, "How will ChatGPT5 be able to assist with roller coaster designing and engineering?" We'll be the assistants. Are they really going to need 100 engineers after AI can do calculations that took people months to do in a matter of seconds? People say that's not possible, because we have to check and make sure AI isn't making mistakes. But, what if you have two separate AI programs double checking each other? Isn't that called a safety redundancy? Aren't safety redundancies pretty common in the industry? It's dollars and cents. People will lose their current jobs. The optimist on my shoulder reminds me of the mass fear of job shortages when computers took over basic functions completed by humans. However, the tech boom actually created jobs. The pessimist on my other shoulder says the masses will be on universal basic income within the next ten years, because they won't have a damn thing to do. If you're not following the AI boom, do it. If you have the availability to get involved in AI integration at your current positions at work, do it now. Be part of it, not a victim of it. If your job and only skill is data entry, you should probably enroll in trade school to be a plumber or electrician. Those jobs will be harder to replace... and the country needs a lot more of them in the immediacy. On a somewhat related personal level... I'd scrap my hard earned degree in a heartbeat in order to wire new buildings and not worry about a fucking thing once I clocked out. Pay cut be damned. There would be no emails to check, text message inquiries on my days off, court standby, or calls at 2:30 AM to put on my shit and come in, because someone just got deaded. Here's to the AI boom. Cheers.

Hay man! Us fulk frum Illinois resint yer statemints about the superier corn mayze! I kid. But seriously guys, thanks for all of the great advice.

Everything looks great, especially the Monster version of HPFJ, but annoyed that every theme park press release these days is half full of entertainment offerings that you know will be cut and never return once budgets are an issue.

I am amused and intrigued by the idea of an Invisible Man walk-around character.

^ someone needs to remind them and introduce them to Skynet.