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Thanks, and yes other than Cedar Point and the ride home everything else went great! I don't totally blame Cedar Point for my bad days, I was getting tired and after being spoiled by all the wonderful little parks in the Midwest it was a bit of a harsh reality. Obviously I'll be back there sooner than later. But they definitely need to get their shit together on the maintenance end of things. Also thanks for the fun house recommendations, especially the one at Indiana Beach which I probably would not have even looked into. Don't really have the energy and patience to update my top lists anymore, but I decided to look back and categorize how some of the coasters on this trip feel to me. Wildly exceeded expectations: All American Triple Loop, Raging Bull, Hades, Zippin Pippin, Sirens Curse Met my pretty high expectations: Ravine Flyer, Shivering Timbers, Lost Coaster, Cornball Express, Wrath of Rakshasa, Viper, Cyclops, Renegade Disappointing compared to expectations: Goliath, X-Flight, Wild Thing, TT2 Flats/other things that were memorable: Flume, Fun Houses, and Larson tower at Waldameer; Frankenstein's Castle and the waterfront flats at Indiana Beach; Flumes and Sky Striker at SFGAm; Eli Bridge wheels at Little Amerricka and Bay Beach; Flume at MOA; and Scat at Bay Beach.

The next day at sea was a relaxing one with time spent in the ship's pools, and enjoying activities onboard. But the day was less important than the night because it was the always-anticipated Pirates Night onboard! Pirates in the Caribbean is a staple Disney Cruise Line offering across the fleet, and there's plenty to enjoy about it when experienced on the Disney Treasure... Some of my favorite art on the ship can be found along the side of Disney's Oceaneer Club. On the Disney Treasure (and the Disney Wish), guests can access the Disney On Demand content normally found on the stateroom TVs from their phones while connected to the ship's WIFI. Even better, this service is absolutely free! Watching a Muppets film during a Disney Cruise is kind of a tradition of ours at this point. Pirates Dinner is hosted in every rotational dining venue on Pirates Night. The samosa is one of my favorite items! The seafood pasta is my go-to entree during Pirates Dinner. Tia Dalma's Jerk Chicken is a great option for the less adventurous eaters. Can't forget dessert! What a delicious and refreshing ofrenda! Mickey & Minnie's Pirates in the Caribbean is the first of two entertainment experiences offered during Pirates Night! Mickey and the gang come out to teach guests how to serve as a proper pirate crew. The show is exceptionally cute! The show is interrupted by Captain Hook who arrives to put Mickey's new pirate crew to the test. A must visit! Another great towel animal! The second of the entertainment offerings during Pirates Night is the Pirate's Rockin' Parlay Party. Captain Redd and her pirate crew come out to sing and dance to rock and roll tunes. The show is a great time! And there's ;yro! Action shot! One of the highlights of a Disney Cruise for sure. But wait, there's more! Of course Captain Jack Sparrow arrives to kick off the fireworks. And it is quite a show, especially for one being performed live at sea. After Pirates Night activities ramped down, I snuck away to Hook's Barbery, a barbershop by day and a speakeasy bar at night... On this night I did the Premium Whiskey Reserve tasting experience. The five pours are well worth more than the $100 price of admission! Just outside the lounge is this awesome art piece inspired by Luca. And it is filled with lots of hidden details if you look closely enough! The night came to a close after this experience but there were still a few more nights ahead of us.

Guests were quite good actually. I think the chaperone policy helps. I was just at Canada’s Wonderland before this trip and the amount of kids/teens line jumping is frustrating. Wonderland needs that policy too. Employees were good for the most part. Not a whole lot of effort put into filling trains (sending superman out with only 2 people in a row when you’re down to 1 train and an hour wait is hard to watch), but they all seemed to have a good hustle, especially for how hot it was.

I visited Six Flags Great America for the first time this week. I haven’t posted here in a long time but my flight home is currently delayed so I decided to write up a trip report. My home park is CW and I don’t have a lot of parks under my belt, but SFGAm has been close to the top of my bucket list with a strong line up of coasters. Overall, I was very impressed by the park. I was surprised that the park didn’t have a bigger footprint, as they cram a lot of rides into this park. This park has such a strong lineup of quality roller coasters. Unfortunately, Maxx Force was closed while I was there (rumor is it’s closed for the rest of the season?) however I was able to ride everything else. It was extremely hot while I was there and I don’t know if that kept crowds down a bit but it wasn’t crazy busy. Wrath of Rakshasa - This is a phenomenal dive coaster. I only have Yukon Striker & Valravn to compare it to, but it reminds me of a mini Yukon Striker. My biggest complaint about Valravn is how it hits the MCBR so early. Wrath hauls through its entire layout, and really whips you through the entire ride. Maybe a little shaking in the outside seats, but minor in my opinion. This is a slam dunk and I love how the queue and midway interact with the entire ride. The unique theming incorporated with this ride is a very nice touch too. Demon - A fun, classic Arrow looper. I love the vertical loops of an Arrow looper. I wish the lights in the tunnel were working. It’s a minor complaint, but I always think it makes a park seem cheap when there is an obvious feature of a ride that doesn’t work. Whizzer - My first time riding this type of roller coaster, and it was great! It’s obviously a great family roller coaster and has a nice setting as well. Superman - This was my first B&M flyer. I loved the pretzel roll, but besides that it doesn’t do a whole lot. They were only running 1 train and weren’t honouring Flash Pass on it (I paid for Ultimate so this rubbed me the wrong way with Maxx Force already closed as well). I can’t wait to try Manta & Tatsu after riding this. The Dark Knight - A fun wild mouse indoors. I wasn’t sure exactly what the layout was going in so it was fun to experience it in the dark. Families seemed to love this ride. Joker - This was a lot of fun, and spun more than I thought based on some reviews I had read. A short ride but fun when there’s not a line. Batman - My first of the Batman clones, and this lives up to the hype. One train operation which wasn’t great when it had a bit of a line. The inside queue before the station was a million degrees. Mix in the red lights and fake smoke, and it felt like you were being cooked. Even the station was warm enough, at least they had fans for the employees working in there. V2 - This was down for a lot of the day but I got lucky and it opened up as I was walking by. This was my first impulse and I really enjoyed it. The accelerating backwards is a lot of fun, which makes me want to get back to CP to try TT2. Aqua man - It was crazy hot while I was here. I jumped on to cool down and it was a fun ride and got myself more soaked than I was expecting which felt good when it was so hot out. For a park that seems to be lacking space, these water rides do seem to take up a lot of valuable real estate. I wouldn’t be shocked if this gets tore down someday for a new coaster, especially when they make people pay a separate admission to enter Hurricane Harbor. Goliath - An awesome RMC! I had pretty high expectations for this ride, and it delivered. Such a short ride it seems when you’re hauling through the course, but the airtime is great and the hang time is even better. American Eagle - A fun classic coaster, I got some night rides which were a lot of fun. I love that you have to walk a mile in the queue to get back to it. They were running both sides but not racing them unfortunately. (Side note while I’m talking about this area, the kids section back here was extremely depressing looking. It looks like they just threw some rides in an old theatre, and it looks like a haunted house is just left there permanently? This back section of the park could use a re-vamp if they were going to fix an area of the park up.) Sky Striker - My home park is CW, and this blows Psyclone away as this thing was running such a long cycle with so many full swings back and forth. The light package on it is amazing as well. It held a good line and was clearly one of the most popular rides in the park. X-Flight - A solid wing coaster, felt like a smaller Gatekeeper. It doesn’t really fit the County Fair theme (does any ride in this area?) but the flight theme for X-Flight itself was executed well for Six Flags with near-misses and landscaping. Justice League - This was a better interactive ride than I was expecting. The end scenes where you are racing through the city actually feel like you’re moving if you only focus on the screen. The air conditioning felt so good too on a hot day. Raging Bull - This thing is awesome. The airtime you get in the back was way better than I was expecting. The queue and overall theming of this entire area is very well done. Viper - I was very surprised at how good this was. I was expecting a rough old wooden coaster, but it delivered a great ride. Again, the ride’s little bit of theming in this area is great too. (While I’m talking about this area, the six flags app is not great. For some reason it was calling my home park “Six Flags Over Texas” and when you get close to Hurricane Harbor it kicks you out of Great America and shows you Hurricane Harbor instead). Overall, besides the one-train operations on Batman and Superman (and Maxx Force being closed) I was very impressed by this park. I see a lot of potential that the merger could bring (landscaping, consistent theming and ride ops could be slightly better compared to my home park of CW) but this is a park with several quality roller coasters that I’m glad to have had the chance to visit. (I attached a few quick pics I snapped as well).