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LEGOLAND New York Resort has announced the addition of the Minifgure Skyflyer, a gondola attraction that is both a themed experience and a method of transportion between sections of the park. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/legoland-new-york-resort-soars-into-the-2024-season-by-partnering-with-local-ski-mountain-to-reveal-its-new-attraction-the-minifigure-skyflyer-302060732.html LEGOLAND® New York Resort is giving guests a fun way to groove while they move when visiting the Park this summer with the addition of its newest attraction: The Minifigure Skyflyer. Opening this summer, the new gondola-style ride – a first for LEGOLAND® Resorts – offers an interactive new way to travel between themed lands of the Park. In anticipation of the new ride, LEGOLAND New York Resort has partnered with Belleayre Mountain to give families an early taste of what's to come and bring the same party-in-the-sky experience to life via two specially-themed ski gondolas. Starting today through April (weather permitting), skiers can catch a lift on two special gondola pods on The Catskill Thunder Gondola wrapped in the image of the LEGOLAND New York Minifigure Skyflyer Pirate Party Pod as an immersive and fun-filled way to ride to the top of the ski mountain. Belleayre skiers who catch a ride on the LEGOLAND New York Minifigure Skyflyer gondola pods can scan a QR code and receive exclusive access to "Kids Go Free" tickets, with the purchase of an adult ticket, so families can return to LEGOLAND New York this summer and be one of the first to ride the real Minifigure Skyflyer. It's a Bird, It's a Plane! It's the Minifigure Skyflyer! LEGOLAND New York guests can expect a fully immersive, interactive experience on the Minifigure Skyflyer from queuing to disembarking. Prior to boarding, guests can help "charge" the cable car batteries through hand-powered cranks then follow the rainbow road before reaching the boarding platform's disco-themed dance floor. Complete with LEGO® brick disco ball lights, the dance floor invites families to show off their most imaginative dance moves to help the Minifigure Skyflyer truly fly! Before boarding, guests are greeted by the Resort's famous minifigures who tell the story of how they designed and built the new Minifigure Skyflyer – but they need guests' help to make it fly. Once in flight, families can use their imaginations to help "power" the ride through movement as they dance while traveling across the Park with the best views over MINILAND and more – all from the sky! Once aboard one of seven individually themed Party Pods, ranging from pirates to space to disco, it's time to partake in the in-flight interactivity features. Guests will learn how to speak like a pirate, talk in a space alien language or participate in a sing-along all while flying through the sky. All pods are ADA accessible and seat up to ten people. "There's a lot to enjoy at LEGOLAND New York, but it's a big Resort and our fans asked us for more ways to move easily from the upper and lower levels of the Park," said Divisional Director of LEGOLAND New York Stephanie Johnson. "We take our guests feedback seriously and the Minifigure Skyflyer gives them a way to do exactly that while igniting creativity, sparking imagination, and inspiring movement through disco and dance." Family flyers who enjoy the Belleayre gondola party pods are encouraged to snap, post and share their experience tagging @LEGOLAND.NewYork as you party through the sky. To learn more and buy tickets for the upcoming season, visit https://www.legoland.com/new-york/.

Samesies. When we visited last September I understood why Universal Studios closed early, it was an HHN night, but IOA was only open until 8pm that night, as well. Like, holy hell, if you're gonna boot everyone out of one park, at least keep the other park open to a decent time. We only had one day to do both parks. Thankfully since it was such a slow week we were able to bang out every single attraction, even the horrible ones (F&F&F: Fast & Furious & Fallon), but it would have been lovely to have the extra evening time to enjoy IOA's atmosphere and a few more rides rather than going back to our hotel and being bored. Dinner at Antojito's was friggin great, though. They put us right next to the stage and the evening guitarist was wonderful. Edit - Just for comparison's sake, the next day we were at EPCOT by 9:30am and didn't get back to our hotel until nearly midnight. Park closed at 10, we took our time after the fireworks to walk from the Japan pavilion, browsed the gift shop, and were among the last few groups walking out of the park, never once feeling pressured to GTFO. Universal felt like they were actively pushing us out of the park the instant the HHN corrals began around 3pm and IOA had a ton of disinterested employees that were happier to talk amongst themselves than engage with the park guests. It felt very Six Flags in terms of service.

We did After Hours on Monday and it was a really great event, but somehow even 6 hours, 3 of which were in a totally dead park, didn't feel like enough! Part of that was our fault, the wife insisted on dinner at Be Our Guest which was at 9:00 and kind of ran over into the After Hours portion of the night. Also we watched the second fireworks show, then rode Astro Orbiter before heading to Tron. I feel like everyone watching the fireworks all marched right over to Tron afterwards which resulted in us probably hitting the line when it was at its longest (40 mins). Missed Big Thunder which is a bummer as it was down when I circled that end of the park. Also missed Pirates for some reason. Like I said, those 6 hours go very quickly. But walk on Jungle Cruise, Mansion, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarfs, etc was really fun and it was a cool atmosphere in the park late at night. It was borderline bizarre on the Adventureland side of the park which was totally deserted. I would definitely do this again for Magic Kingdom and, as someone who very rarely gets to Disney, I also feel like it would be totally worth it to do this at Hollywood Studios. Just a heads up, and everyone else might already know this, but be aware that the Monorail stops running before the park closes and you have to take the ferry which had a line and it was almost 2 am when we got to the car.

Day 17: Monday, June 19th part 2 (of 2) - Kolmården had to be careful, as the ride was in operation. . but we were guided between the moving Gondolas and to the transfer track area. . and it was explained that at the end of each day, this is where the Gondolas go to "sleep". .and they perform maintenance on any needing some TLC. it wasn't a big building, just a small shed. . so I was a little confused. . . until we rounded the corner and saw the massive staircase, that leads to the huge underground area empty, because all the Gondolas are currently on the ride Q&A session down in the underground area. . . they offered anyone who wanted to, could climb up on the walkway into the main control booth and take a look. .. but as I'm not a fan of tiny walkways high off the ground? I opted for another ride on the Safari while many in the group took turns going up to the control room. this time I got my own car, and so was able to move back and forth to get some good pics. my Gondola was Giraffe themed. . again, such a beautiful park/zoo I spy Erik taking a picture in the gondola before me wait. .are those people over there in the distance with the Giraffes? (answer. . yes, those are. . as we were to find out shortly) the Bears were up and about this time. . and using tree as a scratching post. the Lions were also mostly up and prowling around their enclosure on this trip. safari over, we were sent off on our own to enjoy the zoo. . . but first, they wanted to offer us another unique opportunity, if we were interested. passing by the Chimps enclosure. . . where were we going? Safari Camp? yes, you can actually camp out here at the zoo (on the grounds) as an option. well. . hello there! these were our guides at the Safari Camp area. . . where not only can you pay to camp out, in pretty nice tents / campground. . but you also get to get up close and personal with the animals we had seen from the Gondolas. including feeding them. i have an inkling, these Giraffes know that if there are people here? they are gonna get food, as they all came up to the fence right away. Ryan feeding a Giraffe! a baby!!! I fed the baby looking back at the campground (the Giraffes are behind me). . it's a nice set up, and would be fun to spend a night here for nature lovers. our group that fed the Giraffes. seems there's not all of us tho. . . what happened? oh.. we split the group because half went to go see the Bears up close, while we did Giraffes, and then we swapped. dawwwwwww !!!!! yeah. . we didn't go feed this lady. . .LOL. . but we saw her thru the fence watching us. then we headed over to the Bears. . . Kristen told us all kinds of neat facts about Bears, while this guy sat there and ate non stop. (I can relate). hug a tree, save a cowboy.. . or something like that? then we were cut loose to enjoy the rest of the day at the zoo, until it was time to meet up for ERT later on Wildfire. it's a large zoo, with lots of animals, and some really nice enclosures. in particular? the Tiger enclosure really impressed me. perhaps my favorite "warning" sign at Kolmården - as you head down to the "sunken bus" one would think they didn't NEED this sign. . but since they have it? some fool clearly got too close to the bars the tigers are everywhere! every time I thought I had seen them all? I spotted another one. towards the end of the afternoon, it was time to meet back up at Wildfire. Didier and myself enjoying "Bench: the ride" - it's a very large park, with lots of hills. it was a LOT of walking today remaining general public thru the line, and time for ERT for TPR! I really liked this ride, but could only ride it so many times. The forces on this, combined with the restraints? hit me just perfect on my bladder. and literally every time I rode, I had to get off, and run to the toilet to pee. LOL after the 4th time in a row it happened, I started taking breaks between laps but I did ride it, and I loved it, as prooved by Robb's rider cam! all in all, a fantastic day, and the mask I wore most of the day really did seem to help the allergic reaction I was having to whatever is in the air in Sweden's wilderness. after a great and exhausting day, we headed back to the bus for the drive back to Stockholm.

Day 17: Monday, June 19th part 1 (of 2) - Kolmården - and the insane amazement of Wildfire! getting up this morning, I was feeling much better, but still pretty congested. I realized there is something in the air in Sweeden that was trying to kill me (and several others, who were also having extreme allergic reactions). as today was going to be another full day spent out, basically, in the woods? I not only drugged the hell out of myself, but decided to wear a facemask today to see if it helped (it actually DID help quite a bit, tho I still hacked and coughed thruout the day - tho nowhere near as much as I had the prior day). anyways. . onto the bus and headed out to Kolmården - a huge zoo, likely best known by coaster fans for the amazing RMC coaster, Widfire. the Country continues to be absolutely gorgeous, even tho it was a bit overcast today. passing by the main parking lot for Kolmården. . . .it was already starting to fill up, but as the zoo is SO big, it never really felt crowded. in fact, the zoo is SO big, we were directed around back to the 2ndary parking lot, and allowed to enter thru that back gate. this way we were much closer to the "rides" portion of the zoo, than if we had started at the actual front gates. (very hilly, and quite the walk, really, so it was greatly appreciated!) I spot Wildfire thru the trees! Park Map from where we actually entered. . we were in the lot on the right - that you can see the path they let us use, that walks into the back of the park. a better look at Wildfire's lift and turnaround before drop, from inside the zoo grounds. my masked self - since outdoors. on the right is the entrance to the zoo's famous "safari" gondola ride. and that's where we were going to head to first. I believe the zoo had already opened (hence the family ahead of us in this pic). . but I was just blown away from the theming over here. VERY much reminded me of a Disney-esque queueline. this is a fairly long - if recalling correctly, it was about 25 minutes - lovely gondola ride that covers the large area in the zoo that I guess would be called the Serengeti if were at Animal Kingdom or BGT parks. Lots of interacting animals - tho several predators too, in sectioned off areas, and the gondola "tracks" criss cross each other several times. so it's a long ride, and really does give some incredible views. and it has narration in 3 languages, so you can get descriptions of the animals as you pass over those areas. starting off with Wildfire, as you leave the station. the group I rode with: me, Doug, Hans, Ryan, David, and Hawk. I mean. . . just stunning views from the Gondolas Bears attempting to sun themselves on this overcast day zebras! yeah. . these folks are in their own area. . . tho this early in the morning, most were sleeping. but good lord, what an amazing view you get from the Gondola! as we were crossing over the "track". .snapped this pic to show some of the criss crossing the ride does. you get a bit high up in some spots too. could be a postcard. amazing that it's just a pic on an iPhone and coming back into the station. we were headed to Wildfire, but first, I believe, it was almost lunch time, and the Park guide wanted to bring us down to eat, before we did any further things. so we passed by Wildfire for the moment, and headed down to the food area, that's over by the "big" rides - the park also has a very large "kids rides" area. I don't think we had the "Mexican". . . I didn't' take a pic, but I THINK it was burgers? But this Mexican pirate amused me, so snapped a pic of the sign. the view while we ate. one of the two other Roller Coasters in the park, a Vekoma Junior coaster. (the other being a Zierer kiddie coaster) themed to a Dolphin! so cute. and then we headed over to Wildfire, to check it out, and get some rides. loved the theming in the station. no axes allowed? Noted! lovely train design, tho it has those RMC restraints that I just don't really care for (I always feel so uneasy in these restraints). LtR: Didier, Eric, Shane, Jon whee!! Jason and Big Mike in front row! but they had a surprise for us, if anyone was interested (we were!). . we got to go into the Maintenance and get up close and personal with the ride and trains! so cool! and the ride watches you thru the windows in the workshop. . . wonder what THIS does? (and yes, jokey picture taken with permission to touch the sledge hammer) the coaster's layout on the board in the Maint. shed. the group on the shed tour. . . we really did get to get really up close to the ride, while it was operating! I mean. . really close! getting a few more rides in before moving on. . . here's more of the TPR group enjoying Wildfire. and this is Tomas, who was the main guide walking us around Kolmården today, and showing us the zoo's shining gems. they had another surprise for us - if we were interested - we could go under the Gondola ride and see the Maint. area for that if we wanted. So we headed over that way to be continued. . . .

Yup, a one park ticket to Universal is $5 less than an Animal Kingdom ticket today (the only Disney park with the same total hours of operation) which is insane when you consider Universal annual passes are about $1k less than Disney. And the other Disney parks are only $15 more for 2-3 more hours of park time. Edit: Velocicoaster is back up to 3 trains today with a consistent 1:06 dispatch rate! I guess the hunt is on! Reedit: As soon as I got in line they went back to two trains and it's dispatching as slow as yesterday. Line is in the outdoor section, so I got out. Not waiting an hour longer than I did yesterday.

When a ride is that good, you don't get rid of it. I look forward to seeing my grandkids ride it someday.