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At the start of the season they had said it would by ready by summer. That never happened. What are we going on, 5-6 years now? Laughable at this point. The Zoo just started to redo their carousel.

This past Wednesday I did a massive 14-hour park hopper marathon across 3 parks, hitting pretty much everything new to Disney since 2012 (except Magic Kingdom since I was just there in February). I started the day at Animal Kingdom right at 8am and marched right over to Navi River Journey since it was still a walk-on at that point (I had a Lightning Lane for Flight of Passage at 10:45). First off, Pandora looks absolutely amazing and I see what all the commotion is about. I only wish I could have seen it at night. Anyway, Navi is a really well done boat ride with amazing visuals. To quote my wife, it is probably now the best of the Disney boat rides. I wouldn't necessarily jump into a 60+ min wait that this sometimes gets, but otherwise I would easily ride this over and over if I had the time just to try to take it all in. Heading back into the center of the park, I noted that Kilimanjaro Safaris still had a 10 minute line. My only must-dos left were Dinosaur and Tough to Be a Bug, however I only had a limited amount of time in this park as we had to be at DHS for a lunch reservation at 12:05. I knew heading over to Safaris would probably remove the chance of trekking up a particular mountain in this park, but I've made that trek several times before and decided we should see animals while we were at Animal Kingdom. The safari ride was amazing as usual, and on a decently cool morning the animals were very active. When it was over I was happy to have chosen this over Everest. I had never ridden Dinosaur before, so we headed there next and walked right on. I don't know why I haven't heard more positive remarks about this ride in the past (honestly I had no idea what to expect) because this thing blew me away. The vehicle's movements are way more out of control than I expected, the darkness of the ride is pretty crazy, and overall I loved this thing. I hope they do it justice when they retheme it with the new area in a couple years. On the way back over to Pandora, there was a major nostalgia trip that I needed to make before it goes away this winter. I loved It's Tough to be a Bug when I was a kid and I just had to see it one more time. Unfortunately I did not get the full experience, as the water effects did not work in my seat nor did the "bugs leaving the theatre before you" effect. I guess they've already given up maintaining the ride. But it's still a fun show and I'm glad I got to see it one more time. Back into Pandora, I had a few minutes until my Flight of Passage reservation and spent that time at Satu'li Canteen chowing on Burger Pods. These things tasted amazing and that whole restaurant had a really nice atmosphere to it. Absolutely stop here if you're in Pandora. Anyway, 10:45 came up and we headed to Flight of Passage which I'm sure everyone else on this board has probably ridden already, but this thing was amazing in every way possible. The theming both outside and inside the ride, the presentation, and the ride itself. Incredible. After getting off Flight of Passage it was already 11:15 and we had to book it out to the car and head over to Hollywood Studios. I was sad to have had to rush Animal Kingdom, I love the park and definitely look forward to getting more of a full and more relaxed day next time I go. And I absolutely have to see Pandora at night. Sad to see Dinoland USA have to be killed off, but I'm sure they'll do a great job with its replacement.

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has announced "Wild Oasis" coming to Jungala in 2025. This updated corner of the land will feature a refurbished and updated family drop tower (formerly known as "Wild Surge"), a new climbing structure, new water play areas and added animal exhibits. https://buschgardens.com/tampa/kid-friendly/wild-oasis/ Wild Oasis Opening Spring 2025 to Entertain, Educate and Inspire Busch Gardens Tampa Bay invites explorers of all ages to "Wild Oasis", an interactive, re-imagined realm designed to entertain, educate and inspire. Guests will be immersed in the sounds and sights of the rainforest and engage in activities that touch on its many elements, including a newly themed drop-tower ride with engaging special effects, a high-energy climbing canopy, a new multi-species habitat and interactive water play areas. Guests are challenged to explore even further by engaging in a scavenger hunt highlighting the connections and relationships between different species in the rainforest.

^ I would imagine if there were anything dire it would have been recognized some time ago and wouldn’t have been allowed to continue operating if it was significant enough to lead to a permanent closure. While I’m no expert in code/safety violations, I can’t imagine a scenario where any agency or inspector would allow unsafe conditions to go unaddressed while the ride still operates in violation/at risk. Immediate closure with the latitude to reopen once the issue has been satisfactorily mitigated would likely be the best case outcome in such a scenario. I think it is much safer to err on the side of Phoenix Rising opening right next door as a justification to replace one (aged, increasingly costly/difficult to maintain with low ridership/demand) moderate thrill coaster with another (brand new, marketable, easy to maintain) of the same class, with no real need to operate both.

Keep in mind that this coaster has been operating with one train and reduced operating hours for some time… And it still hasn’t garnered significant wait times or demand. If you compare that to the ridership counts of other legacy coasters in the chain like Loch Ness Monster, the ROI for operating Scorpion just isn’t there. While Scorpion is a solid coaster and a good entry-level option for guests to choose for their first inverting coaster, it hasn’t warranted a major sendoff campaign and the ridership and guest trends will back this up. The coaster has been operating on borrowed time for years and guests haven’t been playing trips to the park specifically for it before, so there’s zero reason to believe that a significant amount of guests will flock to the park in the next nine days to send it off.

I miss theme parks. I haven't been to any of them in ages due to a combination of the pandemic, my weight, multiple leg injuries, and the skyrocketing costs of having fun. ;-;