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Fear the Five: Howl-o-Scream 2023 Begins Maniacs, swamp people, chainsaw-wielding clowns, and more took over Busch Gardens during the opening weekend of Howl-o-Scream 2023. Theme Park Review was invited to the Media Night on Friday, September 8 for a reception and a chance to experience this year's fiendish goings on. So, what's new for Howl-o-Scream this year? Lost Mines: The Descent (new maze, Escape from Pompeii building)--a group of miners are possessed with desire for the gems they unearth and become freaky mutants with bad attitudes. The park did a good job redressing last year's somewhat generic Inferno maze with claustrophobic earth-and-rock walls and shored-up tunnels. As usual, some of Howl-o-Scream's best sets are in this building. Fest-Evil (new TERROR-tory, that is, "scare zone," Festa Italia)--this party of fiendish, soul-stealing Mardi Gras revelers ties into the Death Water Bayou maze nearby. Watch out for evil harlequins, gator people, and voodoo masters. The returning four mazes have been "revamped," as Busch Gardens likes to say--that is, they've been tweaked and reworked a bit. Death Water Bayou: Full Moon (Festa Italia near the Roman Rapids)--I don't think this voodoo maze has changed all that much from last year, although that's OK, because it's still the best one. I did notice some more blacklight effects, so this indoor/outdoor maze is best experienced after dark. It's the best haunt they've put in this space since the original Ripper Row maze. KILLarney DIEner: Infested (Ireland, Battle for Eire building)--looks like the cannibal diner has a bug problem, so pest control been called in. But be careful. They're not too picky about who or what they exterminate. Nice sets and creatures, but there's still that long exit walk where nothing happens. Nevermore: Chapter 3 (Germany, old Drachen Fire station)--more creepiness courtesy of the stories of Poe. There are a few slightly different scenes, and I think they made the maze a bit more disorienting than last year (more twists and turns). I'm a fan of Poe, so I always enjoy this one. Witch of the Woods: Scorched (Germany, entrance on the left of the Festhaus)--the local villages tried burning the woods to get rid of the witch with predictable results; that is, they just ticked her off. The maze does have a scorched look and smell to it now, although it really hasn't changed much otherwise. This outdoor maze is best after dark. But be warned--it's a bit of a hike from the Festhaus to the entrance, which is behind Verbolten. You can still run from fiendish childhood characters on Scary Tale Road (Germany); be served up on a platter in the Meat Market (New France); get stoned in Gorgon Gardens (Italy); and survive being harassed or offered a "good time, dearie" by the denizens of London's Whitechapel at Ripper Row (England). The Terror-tories were pretty active last weekend, and there was a roving Hack Pack of chiansaw-carrying clowns. These "scare zones" used to be a weak spot for Howl-o-Scream, but they've been improving over the last few years. All rides, with the exception of water attractions, are running during Howl-o-Scream (including Verbolten, which had been closed for over a month). The kiddie rides and Forest of Fun shut down at 5:00 pm, though. Three Howl-o-Scream shows are currently running all day: Jack Is Back (of course) in Ireland, Phantoms of the Festhaus (Germany), and Skeletones (Italy). Monster Stomp on Ripper Row opens on September 28 in the Globe Theatre. The mazes and TERROR-tories usually open at 6:00 pm. My Media Night experience was disrupted by a thunderstorm. I was waiting for it get darker for the outdoor mazes and ran out of luck, so I went back Sunday night to check out the rest of Howl-o-Scream. Despite the stormy weather, they're off to a good start. My thanks to Busch Gardens Williamsburg for having TPR at this event. I look forward to Howl-o-Scream each year. "Fear the Five" . . . what? There are five mazes and five TERROR-tories, which makes 10. Just pick the five you're most afraid of, I guess. The Virginia Beer Company strikes again! This time, it's a nice cream ale. The park put out a good spread that night. All this terrifying merch can be yours if the price is right! "Oh, I made them some lovely finger food, but was it good enough for their high-toned reception? Bah! They can be yours for a few shillings, dearie." "You! Seen any signs of the Ripper about?" "Ripper? Why no . . . no Ripper here. Why do you ask, officer?" Do I need one of those helmets with a lamp on it? A candle? Maybe a canary to check for poison gas? "Don't go in there! They ain't got no workin' toilets! Why, I barely made it out before . . . well, maybe you don't want to hear the end of that story." "We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig dig! We did the whole day through!" "Yeah, it's hard work, but you meet all sorts of interesting people . . . who you get to eat!" Whew! After being stuck in that mine all day, I'm ready for something more festive, like Mardi Gras. Yessir, I just want to . . . er . . . let the good times roll? "Hey, you got just the soul I'm lookin' for!" "Yes, you'll hope this party will never end . . . and it won't!" "Helluva a party, eh?" Maybe I can lose them in the fog. "Oh, did you come from the Fest-Evil party? We know how to have a good time here, too. Just remember: . . . . . . Don't look into her eyes!" Busch Gardens has been renovating the Italy/Germany bridge all year. It's looking good. Damn! I am sick of all these @!$%!! phantoms in this @!$%!! festhaus! Shall we ponder a quaint and curious volume of long forgotten lore? "Could someone get me some Neosporin and perhaps a bandage? Thank you," Wow! Tempesto must be a really dangerous ride! "Yeah! When they tell ya to keep your hands, arms, and legs in the ride vehicle at all times. you best pay attention!" I think I would've gone with a closed casket, but maybe that's just me. They're still partying on at Fest-Evil. I think I'll peacefully commune with nature in this fetid, evil swamp. What the hell. Hmm--when pumpkins start dismembering people, the party is getting a bit out of hand. "Gimme a shilling or I'll sic the Ripper on ya!" Somehow, I got out alive. Thanks for reading!

What's this? An actual theme park update?! Indeed so! 06: Authentic Taco Toast That TPR bus life. But to where...?! This isn't really much of a cliffhanger, if you're reading Chuck or Bert's trip reports. Or read my first update where I literally spoil everything. Turns out you have to be a superhero to visit BonBon Land. But that's okay because I can talk to animals. I'm also extremely lactose-tolerant. Fun story. No, wait, what's that other thing? Tedious. Tedious Story. I was somewhat more familiar with this park's layout and history because my internet-friend JazzAnden recreated it on the DKMP OpenRCT2 discord server as park of a timeline park "contest." (I was also part of that contest, though my park was entirely made up, and also not as good.) I am telling you this for a reason, though the payoff won't be until the next update, at which point you'll probably have forgotten. This park is very normal. Founded on/with/because of a candy factory in much the same way Knott's was built around a berry farm or Plopsaland De Panne was founded on honey--except that this candy is gross. Or at least it's themed that way. I've never actually had it. I did buy a bag, and brought it home--but strictly for display. Smisty found her jam. And I found mine. I am among my people. Although, my people are apparently very weird. I'm all for a themed log flume--even if that theme is cheese-making sewer rats--but this one had some rough, clunky transitions (not unlike Diamond River at Legendia). *sigh* ... the dogfart coaster There's a bit of this sort of thing. I think this is supposed to be an albatross. But, thanks to Bert, all I can see now is "transvestite chicken." Have you ever wanted to say that you've ridden the very first Eurofighter? I didn't. On the other hand, this spinning coaster was quite good. With the highlight being that bunny hill on the right, which offered a nice pop of airtime whilst the car was spinning. Smisty and I were able to get a car to ourselves, and sit together, early in the day. (And, baby, you don't know what "imbalanced" is until you've ridden with me!) Oh, Henry. You are one gastrointestinally-distressed doggo. Is this the world's longest coaster train? Let's not do any research and just say that it is. Speaking of gastrointestinally-distressed, it was time for a group lunch at gross-candy-themed Danish theme park Mexican buffet. I'm sorry, "Mexican" should really have quotes around it there. If you're worried that this might prove to be too spicy, a.) don't, and b.) congratulations, you are Danish. I was trying to figure out what the turtle's problem was, and then I realized he was skewered on a spinning pole and had chair swings attached to the bottom of his shell. BonBon Land doesn't have a proper dark ride, but they do have an outdoor boat ride with scenery. Which is the next best thing in my book. It's fun how the unload station is just "get out during the ride and then walk into the actual station even though the boat is moving and you're just impatient but no one will be mad at you because you're in Europe so that's fine." And also there's only one ride op and who even knows if there are rules? Just, the best photo ever. My finest work. Hundreds of young people are gathering for the latest craze An acid house party in a disused warehouse This child thinks his hands are guns. Because he's stupid. Super hidden rapids ride. Which is also smelly according to that goat. But I rode it and it was fine. And not even particularly wet (though there is of course an element of randomness). The theme is beavers. But just kind of regular beavers, not gross candy ones. Newer stuff really does not embrace the whole gross mascots thing. Which is sad, but also...yeah. Listen. y'all, I live in Cowboy Town. *salutes in American* Not a dark ride. Dark. And shooty. But not a ride. Just a room with guns. So, like, America. That skeleton has eyes but no skin. Also, where did that other one get their shirt? Because it looks like it's really held up in a way that mine never do. Also, is he a prisoner, or...? Fun story: When I was a kid, I thought if someone got prison time of "life plus [x number of] years" that they just left them in jail for that long after they died. I also thought all dogs were male and all cats were female. This all really explains a lot, huh? I should shut up. Let's get the hell out of here, Hankatten. On a scale of 0-10, with 0 being a park I have no desire to return to in its current state, and 10 being one of my 10 favorite parks, I give BonBon Land a 3. Which is probably not as bad as it sounds, but yeah this park was just okay.

Part 9 The Day Is Yours, So Enjoy It: Tusenfryd The original entrance sign at Tusenfryd used to day “dagen er din,” which means “the day is yours” in English (or so says Google Translate). I remember hearing someone translate this as “enjoy your day” back in 2006 when I first visited the park with TPR, but I might be misremembering what was said. Whatever it means, Tusenfryd is still a very good park in the beautiful Norwegian mountains. It looks like a ski resort with coasters and other rides. This is my third visit to Tusenfryd, the last being in 2009, and the park has changed since then. Gone is the old “Viking ship simulator,” but the excellent Speed Monster and the cute-as-a-button Teeny Weeny remain. They’ve done some nice work upgrading some sections of the park, too, such as the spruced-up Route 66 and the new Dragonville. Speaking of Dragonville, this is the home of the park’s newest coaster--a Gerstlauer launched suspended ride called Storm. If you like intensity, you’ll like Storm. It also has some rather violent airtime, particularly during the first half. On the “transitional” hill, the airtime was so crazy that it felt like someone was driving spikes into my thighs. The second half of the ride isn’t as intense (and it’s more fun), but my legs were pretty sore that day and the next morning. Then again, I was also the oldest person on the trip. I’ve come to appreciate more “floaty” airtime. Even thought I’ve liked this ride during past visits, the park’s woodie, Thunder Coaster, has not aged particularly well. It now sports Timberliner trains, but I think it could use some re-tracking. It’s very bumpy. But Speed Monster is still excellent. This Intamin launched coaster is smooth as glass and has a great, twisted layout with plenty of airtime. ERT on this coaster was great--I could ride it all day. Oh, and the old Arrow loopscrew, appropriately named Loopen, still exists. My memory of it was evil, so I didn’t ride it this time. Others in the group didn’t think it was all that bad. But you know how coaster enthusiasts love to kid people. We spent the previous night in Oslo, so let’s start the photos there. Sheesh! Thor is sure careless with that hammer. He left it lying around Djurs Sommerland, too. No wonder Odin gets impatient with him. Here we have two naked people on top of what appears to be a giant dildo. You’re welcome. Oh hi, Ligeia! My, how you’ve grown while I’ve been away. TROLL! A beautiful Norwegian sunset. “Nice city you got here. Shame if someone were to poop all over it.” Time for the day to be ours at Tusenfryd. We started the day, which was ours, here. Mike, you’re gonna hurt yourself! Save your strength for Storm. Storm starts with a forward launch, a rollback into a backward launch, then a drop into a stronger forward launch. This seems to be the latest fashion in coasters. I prefer the second half of this ride after you fly by the station. This is the painful transitional airtime hill. But the little dragon head on the front of the train is cute. Look! An Old West-style town! I know you’re all very surprised to see this. (“Will Kane” was the name of Gary Cooper’s character in “High Noon.” I guess the “Morgan” part comes from “Morgan Earp.”) Marshal, I think they’re doing more than just laundry at Kitty’s House if you get my drift. Morgan Kane City is the home of the buck naked version of Big Thunder. Norwegian tacos, anyone? Thunder Coaster is growing older and crankier. Well, don’t we all? Nice setting, though. “Oh, great. We’re on Teeny Weeny. People are taking pictures and shooting video. Life is good.” Livin’ the dream, baby! Based on what I’ve seen at Tusenfryd, . . . . . . Vikings like to get really wet. (I think this is either an AJ or Andy photo.) Thor’s Hammer is a good 3D dark ride--sort of Norway’s answer to Curse of DarKastle. Few are honorable enough to carry the Hammer of Thor. My . . . that’s a big one. Matt has found his soulmate. I guess he’s into really big Viking guys in armor. Who knew? A jungle-themed ride in Norway? Eh--why not? Here’s where you can “get your kicks” . . . oh, gawd, that song’s as old as me. Why Loopen--what a great big new sign you have. Why, this new sign and the fresh paint will make all the difference for this old Vekoma loopscrew. Godspeed, my friends. I salute you . . . from a safe distance. They said it wasn’t that bad . . . or was that the concussion talking? This whole section of the park looks much nicer than it used to. Route 66 is a fitting home for the park’s best ride. There are two ways to ride Speed Monster. Like the little boy . . . . . . or like the little girl. Whatever you decide, this is a great launched coaster. It don’t need no stinkin’ backward launch. I spy with my little eye two familiar faces in the front row. “Whee” is the appropriate response here. Any ERT spent on Speed Monster is well spent, indeed. I see nothing to dislike here. AJ wishes he were on this train. Now there’s a good way to end a ride--well done, Intamin! My thanks to whomever took this photo. Long may Speed Monster run!

When traveling between Atlanta and Pigeon Forge on an amusement park tour, you'd be advised to not skip... Lake Winnepesaukah - Thursday, June1st This is an often overlooked quaint little park along the lines of Waldameer, Idlewild, or Quassy, and while they do have one full-scale coaster, it is not the star of the park. What is, then, you ask? Press on... Even their own signs abbreviate the the full name! Pricing? Pricing. And yes, it is rather expensive for a thrill seeker, but is totally worth it. As the name implies, there is a Lake, that actually features into the star attraction... I love when parks put up cute little drawn maps like this, even if its not up to date (the last-one-in-the-US Eyerly Fly-O-Plane had been removed several years back). They've got some small park staples, such as a Baloon Race... ...Ring of Fire... ...CP Huntington Train... ...Flying Elephants... ...Tilt-a-Whirl... ...and a small Ferris Wheel. But they also have a super-rare Moser Rides Maverick asymmetrical Top Spin clone so originally called "Twister." It was not operating, but seriously click through that link. These look even more bonkers than a regular Top Spin. There were of course some food stands... ...and no park would be complete without any games... Their pirate ship, mounted over the water as they should be. Some of the kiddie rides (there were plenty): Including a Hampton Amusements drum: Most parks have at least one spin-fast-in-a-circle ride; this park's is their Matterhorn. For those fans of the spin-fast-in-concentric-circles, we have a Scambler: The required drive-'em cars. A mini golf course And the not-quite-as-rare-as-I-thought-before-park-traveling jungle gym: It was around this point that I was approached by a security officer and asked what I was doing taking pictures of everything, resulting in my usual spiel about how I catalog different parks and write reviews, showing him some of my past TPR reports, yada yada. Funny how this only happens at tiny little out of the way parks...we all gotta get them more exposure and popularity so they're used to it haha! Anyway, it was time for some rides! First up was their dark ride, Wacky Factory. Seven-and-a-half minute wait. Cute enough exterior design (at least the front of the building), and I couldn't find any manufacturer information on the internet about it...anyone have any ideas? Either way, it was meh overall, with lots of different things hobbled together over years...there was one well designed scene (which I won't spoil because I didn't record what that scene was in my notes). Next up was one of two coasters here, Wacky Worm, interestingly located right behind the Wacky Factory. Meh, whatever, it's a wacky worm, 2 laps. Amusingly they did not apply the brakes at all when going through station after the first lap, resulting in some surprising laterals going around the unbanked turn before the lift. They also have a 1916 PTC Carousel, for those into that sort of thing: Some of their other rides, starting with an Orbiter and a Hrubtez Round up in the background. One of those weird "don't get wet" water slides and a Conestoga-themed magic carpet. A tiny tiny ARM drop tower (named the "Oh-Zone!" of all things) and a Paratrooper in the background Some bumper cars... ...a Frog Hopper... ...and a Wave Swinger round out this park's collection of flat rides. And finally we come to the main reason most enthusiasts come to this park, Cannon Ball: A 1967 PTC woodie with lever-controlled skid brakes and buzz bars? Yes, please! Walk-on for the back row, plenty of airtime and great laterials This was my 300th Coaster, and it was a worthy addition to the list. 8/10. But this was not the star attraction here! This was: Introducing the Boat Chute, a 1927 mill chute ride, believed to be the last original style chute operating in the US. Since someone else already wrote about the history, I'll let them talk about it: Sure, all it does is go down a straight tunnel for a while, make a u-turn, climb a rickety lift hill, then splash down into the lake, but you are literally riding history and a one-of-a-kind experience. 5 minute wait, didn't get too wet, pure awesome, 11/10. And that wraps up Lake Winnie. Without kids, there is admittedly not a lot for adults here, but park enthusiasts and history buffs would be well served to stop by just for Cannon Ball and Boat Chute alone. Onward, towards the final and largest part of this TR, Dollywood!

Part 11 A Most Unusual Day: Skara Sommarland This may be the strangest day of the TPR Scandinavia Trip for two reasons: One of the group, Barry, had to spend some time in a Swedish hospital after getting an enormous splinter in his foot at the park's wake-boarding attraction. Tranan, a notoriously unreliable S&S Free Fly coaster, ran pretty much all day while other, simpler attractions broke down frequently. Did I say "splinter"? From what I understand, Barry impaled his foot on a huge piece of the wake-boarding pier. He rode in an ambulance to a hospital in another town, accompanied by Colin, one of his trip mates, and caught up with the group in Stockholm by train after being released. Barry and Colin were both real troupers during and after this incident; Barry was able to get around the rest on the trip using crutches and wheelchairs and the help of other TPR folks. As for Tranan, it's fun but very weird as you cruise over, under, and beside the track. ERT on this ride, and on the park's bizarrely named new bumper cars, Badrings Bumpers (the park's webiste also refers to them as "Swimming Ring Bumpers"), went well. But other rides were having issues. For example, Robb and some of the group got stuck midcourse on the park's spinning mouse. A technician rode up on a bicycle, reset the ride (which resumed operating), then rode off again. The ops sent the next car full of riders, which got stuck in exactly the same place. Newton, the park's flume ride with cute little whale-shaped boats, also kept breaking down. Even the deck outside the restaurant where the group had lunch had some technical issues. Seating inside was limited, and it was a rather hot day (especially for Sweden). Fortunately, awnings provided shade for many of the tables. The staff extended the awnings, which work with electric motors controlled inside the building. At the table where I and some others were waiting, the awning extended, then slowly retracted, leaving us in the blazing sun. They tried three or four times to get the awning to stay in place; each time, it retracted. Finally, they let us eat inside. Good lunch, as I recall. Well, we did grab some ice cream before we left--yay! On to Stockholm! Skara is a popular campground with a surfing-beach-themed water park. So maybe this should be "Valkommen-a-bunga." Would you trust these birds on Tranan? Looks like they may have smoked some weed this morning. "Er, these birds look a little stoned. Is this a good idea?" "I'm sure it will be . . . fine." Lord, what the hell is happening? The bird is upside-down? How is this even possible? This ride provides a different sensation than any other coaster I've ever ridden. It is, indeed, unique. You feel really exposed on these very open trains, and you're held in by nothing more than a rather funky seatbelt. I think it's fun but just really weird. What has this bird been drinking, and where can we get some? Tranan can have strange effects on people. (I think this is an Andy or AJ photo.) The theming of the new bumper cars is rather . . . interesting. Lots of manspreading here. "I can see everyone's crotch, which fills me with joy." Thank god my shorts held up! (Photo by Elissa, I think.) Time for a manly lunch on a Manly Beach. This weird snake ride used to be at Grona Lund (the same people own Skara). I'm sure Robb got some interesting footage. "We broke the ride! I can't wait to post the POV!" This is as close as Eric and I got to riding Newton. I know there's some ice cream around here somewhere. But where could it be? Goodbye, Tranan! See ya around, Snake! Catch you later, Karp Pond!

I might be in the minority, but I found the launch on Lightning Rod to be a big nothing. the rest of the ride is great tho, once you crest that lift hill. . . so I have ZERO issue with this change.

And now for Tivoli Gardens proper! This is probably the park that I was most looking forward to before the trip, and while it didn't end up being my favorite, it still has quite a lot to offer. 07: The Flying Trunk Of course we'd already walked around, took photos, and sampled some of the food here while staying across the street these last few days--but now we're actually going to ride stuff! It's a hotel. Disney really did get all their ideas from this place! (Actually, whilst the building itself is quite old, it's only been a hotel for like 20 years.) This park is absolutely charming and wonderful. But...there's only like 2 good rides (in my estimation). And this is one of them. Rutschebanen. Okay, remember the seemingly-pointless story about my internet-friend who did a recreation of BobBon-Land in OpenRCT2? Well, that's him. He's the brakeman. So now we're real friends. WHETHER HE LIKES IT OR NOT Behind the scenes tour. Because, you know, TPR. Also, nudity. Because, you know, TPR. Obviously, with the brakeman controlling the speed, there will be some variation from ride to ride. None of my rides were extreme or anything, but it's smooth, there was some airtime and laterals, and the brakemen really put on a show. Super fun and reridable. (Yeah, I know "reridable" isn't actually a word. But maybe it will be someday.) This certainly feels like the oldest section of the park, so I'll just assume that it is. The Fun House Unlike most other fun houses I've been in, this is not a continuous path with gags along it, but more an open space where you can choose what to explore. Which, to be honest, I didn't like as much. Still, as an American, any fun house is a good fun house (because we really don't have them). Hey, it's me! The middle one, with the ice cream cones and the similar screen name. ICE CREAM CONES (you hush) Hey, it's also me. Except on a Ferris wheel. And for some reason without an ice cream cone. So, a rare photo indeed. Minen, Rutschebanen, the fun house, and a bunch of other little things, all occupy the same "building." Which very much pleases me. Minen is an old mill type ride with a small drop and a weird switch-track that just turns you a little bit (in a way that could have been just as easily achieved with a turn). It's also equipped with very noisy flashlight guns that you use annoy me. Er...I mean, that you use to shoot at randomly-placed static reflectors. This is cool, though. We really don't need the shooting part. Get off my lawn. This is a Smisty and Bert ride. Powered coaster on your right, restaurant on your left. Guess what the next photo will be. If you want your pizzas cut, ask for our "pizzaslicer" Bert was otherwise engaged. Photo by AJ, I'm pretty sure. But don't worry, I found something else to do. Note my pocket napkin technique. This ain't my first ice rodeo. Cute kids ride that I never saw running. Smisty likes spinning. I like ice cream. We both like candy stores. Flyvende Kuffert is the other great ride at Tivoli Gardens. Shown here prior to park open. (Because, you know, TPR.) What is this, a toilet? That would be a great joke if I'd put these photos in a different order.) Anyway, that previous photo was just the facade. The ride itself is mostly underground. Yes, it's a whirlwind tour of Hans Christian Andersen's most famous stories! Complete with narration in either Danish or English (your choice). AJ giving the international signal for "couldn't they have at least put a cover over the hole?" A truly unique and wonderful dark ride! Daemonen is the park's other full-size coaster. And while the layout is compact and interesting, the ride itself didn't really do much for me. I'm not usually a big demand-er of consistency. Different rides are designed differently and that means that what might work at one ride won't necessarily work at another. No sense trying to make one set of rules that everything has to fit into. That, in my opinion, ultimately just ends up making operations less safe. Having said that, it was quite jarring to go from Rutschebanen, where guests can jump on and off moving trains, to Deamoeneaon, where you can't even wear glasses with a strap. Daeameaoneaonea's exit path is barely even in the park. Few survive eating this burger? Is it on the other side of Chuck Norris Avenue? A small but charming car ride. Everyone was excited about the two outward facing vehicles, but I had never been on a condor-type ride at all, so even just the regular cars were interesting to me. I love the ladder. Tivoli is oddly laid out--at least as an amusement park--as there are large areas that don't contain rides at all. But I don't know why I'm mentioning that here, because there's clearly a ride in this photo. Misty, you're going the wrong way. Humans to the left. Tivoli also has a small aquarium. That's maybe mostly exists as a waiting area for a show venue...? A kids area, and behind that, a building with offices (I think) and a haunted walk-through. A statue of Reed Copenhagen, founder of Denmark. Wait, does that say, "Cakenhagen"? It does indeed. This park may only have two good rides, but it does also have some pretty good food options. Most bathrooms in this park--and in Copenhagen--and in Denmark--are in the basement. In fact, it was so common that I just started saying that I had to go to the basement whenever nature called. Yeah, I really should've put this photo before that earlier one. That is a sad clown. Tivoli was good. Maybe not quite great, but good. Erik's score: 8 I'm too lazy to explain the scale again. If you love this park, then just pretend it's on a scale of 1 to 8. And, I guess if you hate the place, assume it's on a scale of 1 to 100. Crap, it would've been way less typing to just tell you what my scale actually is. That's it, I'm

Part 10 At Last, with a Clear Head: Liseberg What was the best thing about TPR’s 2023 visit to Liseberg? For me, it was finally visiting the park with a clear head. I’ve been to this classic Swedish park with TPR on three other occasions, and each time, I caught some sort of Euro crud that left me with a hacking cough, a runny nose, and a head that felt like it was stuffed with cotton. But, even so, a nice ride on Balder, the park’s Intamin wooden coaster, made me feel ten times better. And even with an annoying virus fighting for my attention, I liked Liseberg--a lot. And this year I liked what they were doing with the place. For years, Liseberg has been an urban regional park along the lines of Tivoli Gardens, only on a bigger scale. But its appeal is much larger than that, with much larger rides, such as Balder and Helix, than its Danish cousin. Liseberg is now branding itself as more of a “destination” park. The first stage of this rebranding is done. Liseberg now boasts its very own resort hotel--the Grand Curiosa. This hotel, which just opened last spring, is very good, with fairly large rooms, whimsical theming (such as a carousel and and two-story slide curling down to the lobby), a good family-style buffet, and a rooftop bar and restaurant with beautiful views of the park and city. Liseberg is also building an indoor water park named Oceana, which should give the resort more year-round appeal. You’ll see some photos of it later from our hard-hat tour. This year’s visit was everything you’d expect from a TPR trip--ERT on Helix and Balder (along with the traditional signing of this classic wooden coaster) and an early ride on Luna (their new Vekoma Family Boomerang). The park’s excellent haunt, Hotel Gasten, is no longer an upcharge, and it now has its own “haunted” pub--a fun place to grab a beer or cocktail and a snack with good, creepy atmosphere. Shall we go in? I hope you have good walking shoes, as the park is very hilly (with escalators, thankfully). It’s a lot of exercise to get around Liseberg. In the past, TPR has stayed at a more modest (but nice) hotel a few blocks away. But it wasn’t as grand or as curious at this one. The carousel was for kids only. But did Bert find a way to ride it? Too lazy to walk but not lazy enough to take the elevator? Just slide down to the lobby. “Hmm--we need some more whimsy here. Add a blimp and a Ferris wheel. Those are pretty whimsical. Maybe a big ship’s wheel, too, just to be sure.” The group meets with Pontus, who will be taking us around the park and the still under-construction water park. Time for the traditional signing of Balder. Deep into the Belly of Balder we went--like true Vikings! I stole this from General MacArthur, but I’m sure he won’t mind--being dead and all. Balder has always been great, and it recently had some retracking done. I also believe that it eases a head cold (at least it did during my previous three visits). They need to sell a line of Balder cough drops or decongestants. Luna was a nice family ride. I liked the Jules Verne-like observatory in the station. Are they moving backward or forward? Liseberg does Farup one better by putting their Vekoma Faily Boomerang on top of a large hill. I enjoyed Helix more this visit. I think my head cold kept me from enjoying this ride completely a few years ago. Helix is much more enjoyable without a virus trying to kill you cell by cell. One minor knock against Liseberg used to be its lack of a memorable dark ride. Well, it’s got a good one now--about bunnies in a bunny-themed land of their own. You learn more about the life and times of the park’s mascot, a green and pink bunny rabbit, then you ever expected. He leads a “steampunkish” existence laden with existential dread--and carrots. Nice cottage, though, His arch nemesis is, apparently, an evil magician (or maybe not--hard to say) with a tall silk hat. In truth, he’s more an annoyance that a nemesis. He and Elmer Fudd would not like this bunny-themed world that Liseberg built. I can picture Elmer wandering around, holding his head, and muttering “wabbits, wabbits, wabbits!” Hi, Valkyria. You know you’re much better than Valravn. Just thought I’d mention that. Who needs a drink . . . a really scary drink? Terrifying tables with real, creepy candles! Can you heart stand a beastly beer . . . . . . with some frightening fiends, er, friends? Be careful when you order a “Bloody Mary.” The park’s flume ride is shutting down for (I think) an extensive rehab after this season. Or is it being removed? I forget. At any rate, it was fairly wet. (Photo by Jere.) But the rapids just gave us a good spritzing. (Photo by Jere.) Speaking of the future possibility of getting wet, put on your vest and hard hat, folks. We’re visiting Oceana. No worries about getting doused with water--yet. They’re installing one of these crazy water coasters. You know, there just might be a bit of airtime on this ride. Nice chance for some ride interaction here. Low bridge! (Photo by Robb.) Meanwhile, back at the park, let’s not forget to pay homage to Lisebergbanan--aka, “Banana Coaster.” I think this is Schwarzkopf’s best creation. It interacts with other rides quite a bit (especially Helix). But not Balder, who just stopped in to say “hi.” I see some familiar faces on AtmosFear. (Finally got to ride this thing. It was broken the last time I was here with TPR.) “Catch you later. I gotta go harass some people. By harass I mean ‘poop on them.’” If it weren’t for the Balder and Valkyria being in the shot, you’d swear this was just a quaint European village. Any ERT session on Balder . . . . . . is a great ERT session! (Photos by Elissa and Robb.) Good night, Liseberg. Like General MacArthur, "I shall return"--someday.

And now, for the (not-so-)thrilling conclusion! Dollywood - Day 2, Saturday June 3rd After a relaxing night at the pool, a good nights sleep, and a delicious breakfast buffet at the HeartSong restaurant, I made it back to the park around 10:30, and immediately made my way over to Lightning Rod. With the one-time pass they issued yesterday and my Timesaver wristband from staying at the resort, I had two skip-the-queue rides waiting for me here, and I was determined to get them both. Facing no mechanical issues this morning (thankfully), I succeeded! Front row (10 minutes) and back row (6 minutes) This strange launched RMC was very good, and lived up to the hype...but did not take the crown for "Best Ride at Dollywood" from Thunderhead. This ride was a bunch of firsts for me: RMC without anything on the zero car, RMC with headrests, and the first RMC that I had ever been on that was not the better ride in the back. The back row had a ton of rattles and shakiness that weren't experienced in the front. Quality ride? Of course. but a mid-tier RMC, if you ask me. 9/10. I made my way up the main right-side path, taking in another ride on Tenn. Tornado (2-train wait for row 7). This was still very good, even in the middle of the train. Along the way I snapped some pictures of Barnstomer, and while these type of rides are not my cup of tea, the theming was once again impeccable. With all of my checklist rides at this park, accomplished, I headed back over to Thunderhead for a few more laps. 5-train-wait for front row and 3-train-wait for back row. Still awesome, and still my favorite ride at this park. I then lapped around the park again to take in the Wings of America: Birds of Prey show, but not before grabbing another picture of the historic schoolhouse.... ...and a bite to eat: I opted for the chicken tenders from Hickory House BBQ, which were absolutely spectacular. After that, it was time for birds! The show was quite cool, but came with a bit of a sad story: All of the birds housed at Dollywood are unable to be released into the wild, due to either injuries or issues they've had since birth, but Wings of America does their thing and keeps them healthy here. The show was about 25 minutes long, and featured around 4 or 5 different types of birds, but did have a decent amount of southern "puns" that no one laughed at. Enjoy some pictures of the show! Back to Thunderhead for more laps! 6-minutes for front row and 2-train-wait for back row would close out this trip for me rides-wise (I had an early morning planned for my long, long drive back to Delaware the next day), but I did wander around a bit taking some more pictures... And of course got some Cinnamon Bread from the actual Grist Mill place (and a hoodie and shot glass from the big gift shop up front, in traditional AmyUD06 fashion), and brought it back to my room. Holy crap was that incredible...normally I'm not a huge cinnamon fan, but combined with that icing dip....just wow. I'll close this report out with some videos of the incomparable Thunderhead (which, as a result of TeamFourStar's FFVII Machinabridged series on YouTube, I cannot take seriously). M4H03737 - Trim.MP4 M4H03738 - Trim.MP4 All-in-all, this turned out to be a wonderful trip, and I will definitely be back. Thanks for reading everyone, and I welcome your comments.

Today The Walt Disney Company announced plans to accelerate and expand their investment in the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment, including investments in domestic and international parks as well as Disney Cruise Line! https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-plans-to-expand-investment-in-parks-business/ The Walt Disney Company is developing plans to accelerate and expand investment in its Parks, Experiences and Products segment to nearly double capital expenditures over the course of approximately 10 years to roughly $60 billion, including by investing in expanding and enhancing domestic and international parks and cruise line capacity. Today, Senior Disney executives, including Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger and Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro, gathered with Wall Street analysts and investors at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida for an investor summit focused on Disney’s Parks business and its track record of investing aggressively and intelligently in experiences that leverage the powerful and ever-growing library of Disney stories, which has proven incredibly effective. “We’re incredibly mindful of the financial underpinning of the company, the need to continue to grow in terms of bottom line, the need to invest wisely so that we’re increasing the returns on invested capital, and the need to maintain a balance sheet, for a variety of reasons,” said Bob Iger. “The company is able to absorb those costs and continue to grow the bottom line and look expansively at how we return value and capital to our shareholders.” “We have an ambitious growth story that is supported by a proven track record and a bold vision for the future of our Parks business,” said D’Amaro. Central to the business’s growth strategy will be a focus on stories, scale, and fans. Stories All over the world, Disney leverages its incomparable library of intellectual property through immersive storytelling experiences in its Parks and Resorts, on board its cruise ships, and through its consumer products and licensing business. The Parks business serves as a powerful platform where Disney’s beloved stories come to life in innovative ways, and where fans across generations and geographies can connect with and explore the Disney brands and franchises they love, from Avatar to Zootopia, and everything in between. Disney continuously reimagines its theme park offerings to appeal to more guests by incorporating new stories from its popular films and series. Disney Parks has seen growth following previous periods of significant investment, which included the additions of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure, Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland Resort and Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, Avengers Campus at Disney California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris, and more. Today, as Disney considers future growth opportunities, there is a deep well of stories that have yet to be fully explored in its theme parks. Already, new Frozen-themed lands are coming to Hong Kong Disneyland, Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris and Tokyo Disney Resort, as well as a Zootopia-themed land at Shanghai Disney Resort. However, Disney will explore even more characters and franchises, including some that haven’t been leveraged extensively to date, as it embarks on a new period of significant growth domestically and internationally in its parks and resorts. “We have a wealth of untapped stories to bring to life across our business,” said D’Amaro. “Frozen, one of the most successful and popular animated franchises of all time, could have a presence at the Disneyland Resort. Wakanda has yet to be brought to life. The world of Coco is just waiting to be explored. There’s a lot of storytelling opportunity.” Scale Today, Disney has the largest physical footprint of any global theme park travel business, with 12 parks across six sites around the world.[1] Its newest resort, Shanghai Disney Resort, opened in 2016. Disney Cruise Line visits 94 ports in 40 countries, and Disney’s industry-leading consumer products division brings Disney IP into fans’ homes across the globe. Notably, Walt Disney World Resort is twice the size of the island of Manhattan, Disneyland is the most “Instagrammed” place on Earth, and tens of millions of guests travel on Disney’s transportation networks each year. Disney’s Parks business is a key driver of value creation for the company, and positive segment results in recent past quarters through FY23Q3 have come in part from strong performance at Disney’s international parks, particularly those in Asia. Shanghai Disney Resort and Hong Kong Disneyland, which have both shown meaningful growth coming out of the pandemic through Q3 FY23, have even further growth opportunities with the expansions set to open later this year. However, in addition to development plans already underway, there is significant room for further expansion on land and at sea. “We stand alone when it comes to scale,” said D’Amaro. “And while our scale is impressive, we have no shortage of space or regions of the world in which to tell new stories.” In fact, Disney Parks has over 1,000 acres of land for possible future development to expand theme park space across its existing sites – the equivalent of about seven new Disneyland Parks. Meanwhile, Disney Cruise Line serves as a powerful ambassador for the brand in ports and markets around the globe beyond its theme parks, including Australia and New Zealand for the first time later this year, extending the reach of Disney’s high-quality experiences. As previously announced, over the next two years, Disney will nearly double the worldwide capacity of its cruise line, adding two ships in fiscal year 2025 and another in 2026, delivering even further growth potential and introducing new markets to Disney experiences, including a new homeport in Singapore beginning in 2025 to expand its reach further into the Asia-Pacific region. Fans Today, Disney has seven of the top ten most attended theme parks in the world, including Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom Park, which has been the #1 attended theme park on earth for decades. Disney Parks welcome approximately 100 million guests each year. Yet there is still enormous untapped potential for reaching more consumers. According to Disney’s internal research, there is an addressable market of more than 700 million people with high Disney affinity it has yet to reach with its Parks. In fact, for every one guest who visits a Disney Park, there are more than ten people with Disney affinity who do not visit the Parks.[2] “Ultimately what is most important to us is the relationship that we have with every guest,” said D’Amaro. “Guests can spend a day with us at our Parks, a week with us on a Cruise, or the rest of their lives with us through Disney Vacation Club membership.” As Disney expands its footprint and offerings, not only will the company be able to reach more of its existing fans, but it will create new fans and loyal consumers. As the company develops plans to accelerate and expand investment in its Parks business, it looks forward to introducing fans to more of the most powerful characters and stories, expanding its global footprint, advancing its state-of-the-art commercial capabilities, and leveraging its unmatched global talent to forge relationships with new generations of fans around the world. “Throughout our history, we’ve created enormous growth by investing the right amount of capital into the right projects at the right moment,” said Iger. “We are planning to turbocharge our growth yet again with a robust amount of strategic investment in this business.”

Hawk and Doug had split off to find food, and Big Mike was wandering, so I headed down to 3 where there was a lecture about LGBTQ (didn't stay to listen to it, but there were some exhibits on the topic sprinkled around this floor. the exhibits on floor 1 are exhibitions from the artist: Annette Messager - called "Desirs desordonnes" (Disordered desires) creepy! in the trip chat, some of the others had posted not to miss the basement because it was very strange (I think perhaps that was Andy or Steve). . and I had thought they were talking about this exhibit, which was rather Fv@ked up. . . imagine my surprise when I went down to the zero level for a winding batch of rooms in a Permanent Installation that would give Meow Wolf a run for it's money! very retro room. . a fully stocked dorm/apartment. . . complete with a stocked mini-mart and down another hallway, this creepy very Japanese room. . that had a perpetual rainstorm going on. . .complete with lightning, rain falling on the windows, and dripping water into buckets. So freaking cool. and an endless stairwell. . .reflecting into infinity. another retro room.. . complete with accessories one could interact with. and a room that just had a giant, glowing, vibrator in the center of it. which, honestly, was a bit mesmerizing! a quick perusal of the gift shop. . where I picked up this magnet: and then we were on our way. I stopped and asked a guard the directions to Aarhus Domkirke (the well known Cathedral), and she assured us it's an easy walk, up some of the beautiful canals. . . so with her directions, big Mike and I headed out on foot to check out the Cathedral (and the close to it Viking Museum, and Museum of Gender - if either were still open). to her credit, it WAS a lovely walk. . and past the university and entertainment area. . . so lots and lots of folks out and about (we even passed Doug & Hawk eating in a cafe and said hello as we walked by) so many interesting stores here! ' is it a clothing store? or a shoe store? or a nudist colony money laundering front? I'm confused! around the corner was the Cathedral. . . it really is beautiful. . especially in the late afternoon. didn't stick around to take too many pics of this statue, as behind it, there were probably 5 guys pissing on those trees. so . . yeah. . .kept to this side of the statue a look around the "square" where the Cathedral is in the center. . I thought this was the Viking Museum. . . sadly was closed (they closed at 6 I think).. but looking at the pics, perhaps it's a theater? they seem to be advertising some shows (King Lear) the Gender Studies museum was also closed. . but they had this interactive display out front encouraging you to see if you fit in the gender shape. for "Male". . check! for Female: Also "Check". . if I tuck shame they were closed, but we decided to wander up the side streets to the port area, and just enjoy the scenery. Charlie Brown in Lucy's dress. . . awesome! a big building by the port. . perhaps an amphitheater for music/shows? and I had seen this graffiti on flyers around town. . . so I think it might be a well known one (or artist). . but it was kinda neat, so snapped a pic of it. and at this point, my feet were hurting. . so I said to Big Mike, "I'm gonna flag down a cab, and cab it back to the hotel". . . so we did, and had a nice driver who told us all about the city while taking us back to the zleep in. . . where I crashed hard from a full day. but was excited, as tomorrow was Djurs Sommerland. . . a park I had very much been looking forwards to. I was worried I wouldn't be able to sleep due to the excitement, but I was out immediately (and probably kept AJ up with snoring, since I was so exhausted). hope you've enjoyed this update!

No surprise honestly, they were bound to do something to improve, great ride and love it, and I'm sure it will still be great.

Lightning Rod is closing on Oct 30th for a high speed chain lift to be installed. Top speed will remain the same. Also getting new trains. https://twitter.com/Dollywood

Bakken is the world's oldest amusement park. I guess. I mean, I'm not going to check. And I'm certainly not going to argue the point. Because, in the end, it doesn't really matter. Being old doesn't equate to being good. If it did, I would be awesome. 08: Braking off the Chain No entry fee for this park. You can be menaced by the clown for free. Is there a difference between this clown and the one at Tivoli Gardens? No. They literally have the same mascot, despite not being otherwise connected (as far as I know). Both park's also have a "Rutschebanen." Which isn't too surprising since it's literally just Dansk for "rollercoaster." There's one big difference, however. Whilst the one at Tivoli Gardens still operates with a brakeman, this one was converted a couple of years back to a more traditional coaster. And how exactly does one do such a thing without completely reprofiling the ride? Easy, you just add brakes everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I'm talking about an offensive amount of brakes. This ride should be called Brake Mountain. Like, leave some brakes for cars on the road. I'm not even sure this really counts as gravity-powered anymore. Of course, without all those brakes you would be dead. The same way this ride is dead. Except you probably wouldn't be converted to a zombie cyborg. Hopefully, Bakken would just let *you* die. Daniel and I both wore red, making it hard to tell us apart. Bakken is actually Dansk for, "We hope you like stairs." Actually, it's not that bad. It's mostly just the front part of the park that's hilly. It's just that once I start writing angry captions, it's hard to stop. Even if the park doesn't really deserve it. I'll try to calm down. THIS RIDE IS GARBAGE Literally the worst thing I did on the trip. To be fair, the park was trying to help us out by putting it in "Turbo Mode." And I'm sure some people enjoyed it. But I found it violently horrible. And it didn't even spin. At least not on my one and only ride that's ever going to be. This kid gets it. This is literally my new least-favorite roller coaster. It was quite warm this day, but luckily Bakken does have one (pretty-wet) water ride. Bumper cars. See, this is what happens when I stop being angry. It just becomes nothing. I am entirely rage-powered. What do you think is happening here? My theory: The regular-sized scientist has enlarged his girlfriend, and she's so excited about how far ahead she can now see that she doesn't notice things in the road right in front of her. The best coaster at Bakken is this surprising Intamin family coaster, Mine Train Ulven, which both doesn't beat the crap out of you and doesn't have brakes every five feet. It's not going to rearrange your top 10 list, but it's fast and smooth and fun and comes very close to quite a few trees. Hey, they have one of these things. And Smisty is on it. I didn't ride, mostly because I didn't want to sit in the sun for the loading and unloading process. And they have a fun, traditional dark ride. So things are starting to look up. Hells yeah, *I'm* an American! And I love dining! Huh. Yeah, I guess that's sort of American-ish. What if we put our double shot in a little pit? That would be cute, right? Yes. It's adorable. Well, what if we also put of wild mouse in a pit? Would you like that? Yes, yes I would! It's a Mack, and a fun one. Plus, you know, pit. I mostly took a photo of this place because of the horrific decoration of a demonic child going all Erik on a ice cream cone. But one nice thing that I'll say about Bakken is that there were lots of ice cream choices throughout. The best attraction at Bakken was this boat-themed fun house. 59 PXL_20230607_122500938.TS.mp4 I don't normally post videos, but it's hard to really convey the movement of this thing via photo. An obvious reference to, "You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish." Best new-to-me fun house of the trip. I don't normally think of theme park games as being particularly attractive to seniors, but damned if Bakken didn't figure it out! Outdoor tracked jungle-themed ride. It was so hot the sun singed off part of my hair! Indoor tracked jungle-themed ride. That probably would have flowed better without the weird hair joke photo in-between. We nearly passed this by because we didn't think it was a dark ride initially. Not sure why. It looks like a dark ride here. Another white clown, another swastika. Yeah, I don't have to go that bad. (That joke was overdone during the trip, but I don't have anything better so...there you go.) Done with Denmark forever, we head to Germany via ferry. And then a bus ride. And then a surprise late dinner by our very thoughtful host hotel for the evening. And then our unique room in the basement. And then, finally, sleep. Oh yeah, Bakken. Well, I think I liked it just a little bit better than BobBon-Land, so: 4

We have news out of Destination D23 for all sorts of new stuff coming to Magic Kingdom! https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2023/09/new-country-bear-disney-songs-pirates-lounge-hatbox-ghost-coming-to-magic-kingdom/ Country Bear Jamboree will be getting new songs and the bears will be performing a new act! Disney Imagineer Chris Beatty told the Destination D23 audience that when the show debuts, the bears will be reinterpreting favorite Disney songs in different genres of country music – like rockabilly, bluegrass, pop-country and other styles. Imagineers are envisioning the new take as a homage to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and they’re working with Nashville musicians to get the authentic country sound. The popular attraction will continue to have the fun and friendly tone and same characters. In late November, the legendary Hatbox Ghost will be materializing in the Haunted Mansion attraction in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. The iconic grim grinning ghost will appear in the Haunted Mansion attraction as you pass the Endless Hallway, welcoming himself inside from the swinging wake in the cemetery and grinning at passing Doom Buggies. Imagineer Daniel Joseph joined Josh on the Destination D23 stage over the weekend for the announcement and shared details about the arrival of Hatbox Ghost. Also, a new Pirates of the Caribbean-themed lounge is coming to Adventureland at Magic Kingdom Park in Florida. This first-of-its-kind experience will extend the story of Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Imagineers are currently in the design process and more details will be coming.

Since this current Summer season was drawing to an end, I wanted to make one more trip down to Hershey Park. I decided to go on Wednesday, and the crowds were relatively quite slow. The other reason for this trip was to buy the Scrambler coaster-dynamix model as a gift for my friend/boss who owns Adventure Park USA, as we have a scrambler at our park, and his birthday is coming up. I went with a coworker who had gone with me at least 2 times over the year, which made the trip a lot more relaxed. We didn't feel the rush to get every credit, we could just do what we wanted to do. We did Fahrenheit first as it was a walk-on, and we rode the front seat. I've ridden the back seat of Fahrenheit before, and it was amazing. The front seat is less intense, but I did enjoy the hangtime on the inversions. That one airtime hill after the the double corkscrews/overbank was powerful, but I still prefer the backseat. Fresh from a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure where my friend and I had ridden El Toro for the first time, we went onto Wildcat's Revenge afterwards. We've ridden it before, but now we had something to compare it to. While front row on El Toro was great, I don't know if I prefer Wildcat's Revenge more. I think both have great finales, but Wildcat's Revenge is more enjoyable. The aggressiveness with the airtime is easier to take in when the track is butter smooth. El Toro wasn't rough by wooden coaster standards, but I'm also not sure how many times I could ride it. The finale where the airtime hill goes into a sharp turn is the part that I found a little bit uncomfortable. In contrast, Wildcat's Revenge rips you out of your seat, but there isn't any part that I find rough. I've only ridden Joker at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom out of the other hybrids, and I will say that I prefer this over that. We rode Lightning Racer next. We got the front row of Lightning Racer and while it was a little forceless - it was a lot smoother than any other seat. The coaster definitely banks on it's interactive elements, but I do wish that the little hills throughout the attractive gave some airtime. I don't really notice a huge difference between Lightning and Thunder other than Thunder feeling slightly rougher. In a couple of years', I do think a retracking might be in order. Not unbearable, but more noticeable than years' prior. Afterwards, we went over to ride the Hershey Drop Tower. It's not a bad drop tower, and gives you a full experience. I do think the launch feels weak, but I do like the view and length of the attraction. We then did Coal Cracker. We ended up doing this twice throughout the day. I'm a sucker for log flumes. Next to roller coasters, I'm a huge log flume enthusiast. Out of the log rides, it's not the most special, but it definitely is cool to interact with the other attractions as you float along. I also enjoy how throughout the ride, the little waves in the current can splash over your boat. It's not quite to the extent of a rapids ride, but it's more than you usually get on a log ride. The airtime hill at the end isn't bad either. Next was Great Bear. Last month, my friend and I had done Talon at Dorney Park. My friend hated Great Bear the last time he came, and he didn't have too much of a reason other than it feeling so/so. I didn't understand the criticism, but I sort of do now? I love Great Bear, but I do think it lacks a finale. Talon might be less intense, but it feels more full. I don't know if it's a fair criticism though since the space Hershey had to work with wasn't ideal. We got to ride the front seat, and I liked it a lot. I just wish there was more of a finale into the brake run. Our next rides were on Superdooperlooper, and Skyrush. These are the only two rides my friend hadn't ridden yet. The loop on Superdooperlooper is still very intense, and then the ride sort of just interacts with the park. It's fun in that way, but not much. I do wonder how the ride runs without the trim brake before the helix. Skyrush was a front-row ride, my first time in the front row, to-be-exact. It was great. I have a love/hate relationship with this ride. This time? I liked it. The airtime is great, it has one of the best first drops on a roller coaster, but I'm not the biggest fan of those trains. Part of me would probably prefer the ride with the same cars used on Superman:ROS. My friend didn't hate it, but didn't love it either. Comet was our next ride, and we got the back-seat. Words cannot describe how awesome the airtime on Comet can be. The back seat ensures that during that first half, you're going to not be in your seat. The second half does have some dull moments, but once you enter the two last humps before the brake run - it's back. Underrated wooden coaster. We decided to do the Scrambler because we wanted to compare it to the one at the park we work at. There's no comparison. The Scrambler at our park is naturally very tame. It takes about 4 minutes to get to its' full speed, and about one minute to stop. I love the thing, but it is what it is. The one at Hershey Park is a lot faster, and its' surreal to ride an attraction the way its' meant to be run. After that, we rode Candymonium. As far as B&W hypers go, Nitro/Mako are the ones that rein supreme in my heart. I haven't ridden too many B&W hypers, but Candymonium is probably better than Apollo's Chariot for me. The ride feels full, and the floater airtime is great. For Hershey, it's one of the standouts for me. I think the lack of intensity helps it out, and makes the attraction feel a lot more drawn out. While Hershey has a lot of great coasters, a lot of them are compact, speedy, and really snappy. This ride takes its' time. For me, Wildcat's Revenge and Candymonium are the best additions for Hershey. They feel like full rides. You have a great start, a great middle, a great finale. We went to get drinks at the The Chocolatier. We got the Chocolatier martini, the smores' martini, and another friend who joined got a martini combo. I liked the Smores' martini, and one of the chocolate martinis' in the martini combo. (i just forget the name of it). I don't think they were that strong, but I didn't want them to be either. I got Shrimp tacos to match it, and I think my friends' got burgers. The food was good, not great, but a needed break in the system. Still a little tipsy, we went back to Coal Cracker. It's peaceful, and not too intense. My third friend really wanted to do Tidal Force. We had ridden it before, he didn't. I know how soaked you get on that ride, but I'm also cognizant that you can dry if you only ride it once. You can also take your shirts/shoes off. I only really had to take my shirt off, and my shoes stayed dry. As far as chutes go, it's large, but the hill doesn't have the punch that other larger chutes have. I think Dorney's had a better drop, even it had trims on it. We went back on WIldcat's Revenge, which had just broken down, but by the time we got in line - it started working again. If you see a ride testing, a lot of the time, it's going to open back up. My advice for breakdowns is to put a ten-minute timer on your phone, if it bypasses 10 or 15 minutes, get out of line. It's saved time, and frustration. We finished the day on Stormrunner/JollyRancher. Stormrunner is my favorite accelerator from Intamin. I loved TTD, but it's a one-trick pony. Plus, the launches on both KingdaKa and TTD are drawn out. The punch on Stormrunner's launch is what keeps me going back. A fuller layout really benefits the attraction. I prefer Maverick, but I'm not sure what that's considered. That feels like a completely different attraction. For a Boomerang, I do think JollyRancher is one of the better ones. I rode in the backseat. The intensity of those models are a lot, and can be enjoyable. After that however, we were ready to end the day. In conclusion; It was a great day. Hershey Park has a great collection of rides, and the inclusion of longer attractions such as WR, and Candymonium; the park feels more full. That being said, I did notice a lack of great flat rides. Both Dorney Park and SFGA really showcased a better variety in that department. Here, you have some good ones, but a lot of areas where you're looking for things other than kiddie rides and roller coasters. I think the inclusion of so many kiddie attractions is a good thing, but also feel like there should be a balance of thrilling flat rides too. Dark rides is another area that could use improvement. The Reeses' shooting ride is a step there, so is Lafftrak, but there should be a little more to do other than that. If not a dark ride, a show other than the Sea Lion show. I know people probably want more roller coasters, I think we just need some different additions to really help out the park. I do not think the boardwalk needs anymore expansion. I'm not a fan of the Boardwalk, and I feel like it's disrupted the flow of the park. Now with the lazy river, some slides, and a waterplay area; i think it's big enough for a tiny park-in-a-park. That's my take.

In a world where parks are charging $40-$65 just for parking your car, around $20 for a meal shouldn't really be a shock. Welcome to the world.

It’s a theme park and you don’t have to eat there or be there period for that matter

I don't think those boats were meant for riders.

Part 12 Hey, It's a New Park for TPR: Furuvik Furuvik is another part of the Swedish theme-park empire that also encompasses Grona Lund, Kolmarden, and Skara Sommarland. Like Kolmarden, its much larger cousin, Furuvik is a zoo with a small collection of rides. Unlike Kolmarden, all the rides are gathered in one spot called the "Tivoli," so you don't have to hike to two or three miles to get to them. The main attractions in the Tivoli are two Vekoma family coasters: Lightning (a fun launched ride with cool-looking, kind of retro trains) and Fireball (one of those Family Boomerangs that have been sprouting like dandelions all over the place recently); there's a family "dragon" coaster, as well (it's a Zierer--just for a change of pace, I guess). They even have a Sally "Boo Blasters" type dark ride with a nicely themed queue to round out their collection of flats and carnival games. But the zoo is the main attraction here. Furuvik has an interesting mix of habitats, ranging from a Swedish farm to an island for primates to enclosures for camels and other hooved beasts. Even the zoo contains a few odd attractions. There's a somewhat creepy boat ride that winds through a mysterious cave and abandoned village (not sure if there were supposed to be live animals there). They also have a little obstacle course where people ride hobby horses. The zoo is working on rebuilding its image following an unfortunate incident involving some escaped chimps earlier this year (Google it if you're curious). But they still have a fair-sized collection of orangutans. You can even walk among some of the smaller primates in both indoor and outdoor habitats. The name "Furuvik" means "pine bay" in English, and it certainly lives up to it. The park sits in a forest by the sea, and there's a nice spot where you can hang out by the water. There's even a museum there devoted to coastal defenses. This makes sense, as Russia isn't too far--just on the other side of the bay. They have a cat as a mascot? I like this place already. All zoos should have a Tivoli. Behold the power of neon! Art Deco lives at Furuvik! Sarah looks rather blissful sitting on what looks like a dynamo from a 1930s "Flash Gordon" serial. Hear that dynamo hum! Seriously, it looks like Emperor Ming the Merciless mounted some sort of death ray on the front of this train. Lightning is a good ride--thrilling for kids and fun for adults. For families, yes, but we old farts like it, too. (Photo by either AJ or Andy, I think.) I saw neither fire nor balls on this ride. But Vekoma Family Boomerangs are becoming a "thing," it seems. At least it's not themed to a gravy boat. Well, if you were disappointed by the lack of fire or balls earlier, here are some furries on a dragon-themed coaster. Well, may as well get in line . . . OH MY GOD! We must escape the furries! (Photo by . . . Elissa or Jere, I think?) OK, ghosts. We're gonna get all "Scooby Doo" on your ass! OK, everybody got that? His instructions are in Swedish, but I think it boils down to this: Aim your gun . . . . . . and blast the hell outta them ghosts! (Not sure who took this photo.) OK, all you Mystery Science Theater fans--sing along: "It's Joey the Lemur! The friend to mankind!" "I don't know about you, but this yellow stuff is getting me really high!" "Yes, you can walk under me, but be advised that I eat a rather high-fiber diet. You have been warned!" "Look into my eyez-z-z-z-z . . . you are in my power . . . you will accept me as your sovereign leader . . . understand?" It was a bit of a walk to the creepy boat ride. SNAKE! MONKEY! OH MY GOD! This boat ride would make a pretty good haunt. It's already kind of spooky. And the unstable boats add an extra thrill. There's a walk-through habitat full of critters, such as this white-headed saki. ( That's this animal's name according to the park's website). Looks like it's feeding time. "How about feeding me, pal? Just stick you hand down here." "OK, where's that lady with the food?" "I'm out here. Please don't try to tear my arm off this time." I think one orangutan is about to mug another orangutan. Meanwhile, back at Lightning, this bird seems oblivious to the peril it's in. "OH CRAP!" You'll be happy to know that the bird escaped unharmed. "Oh boy! Sticks and leaves! We camels love sticks and leaves!" "Hey, big boy, once you go camel you don't ever want to go back. Get me?" As I said earlier, "Furuvik" means "pine bay." "Yeehaw! Yahoo! And other such cowboy nonsense!" Thanks for a fun day, Furuvik. We hit this somewhat frightening single-rail alpine coaster on the way back to Stockholm. (Photo by Elissa.)

Yeah, same here. I think the texture of the pizza is better for it as there is less moisture directly on the dough... So you get better crisp and the sauce tends to be brighter and more 'punchy'. Love it! Now my latest... Two pies from this past weekend, both NY style, a plain cheese and a supreme (with sauce dolloped on top!).

Day 7, June 9th part 1: Tivoli Friheden. getting up early, I took advantage of the nearby Starbucks machine in the gas station and walked over to get coffee, snapping a pic of the front of our hotel. (it looks like an office building outside too. . . . I liked it, very no frills, but comfortable) ok.. NOW I'm ready for the day. I was psyching myself up. why? you'll see. very quiet in the morning in Arhus . . with a lovely church closeby - tho the one time I tried to go take some pics of it, as Big Mike and I got closer to it, we discovered that there was a Casket being unloaded and seemed tacky to take pics during a funeral. (I think I might have some closer shots of it on another day tho). walking back to the Hotel, to get ready for the bus this morning. . we were headed to a smaller park today, Tivoli Friheden, in Arhus Denmark. the "big" reason we were coming here? that tower in the background of the prior pic, and this one below. the last operating SCAD tower in the world. SCAD = Suspended Catch Air Device Tower. and I'm terrified of Heights. yeah. hence the need for coffee this morning. for a smaller park, they do have a lot of rides, tho other than the SCAD tower, nothing really "extreme". . more family thrill stuff. very cute logo tho. Us, along with some school kids (I think?) got entry early and we headed directly for the tower. passing a very nice two tier carousel and a decent ferris wheel. for some reason the Pizza place (called PIT.sa - yeah. .I dunno, but it works, LOL) had Carousel Horses on it's sign. Wasn't super crowded when we went there to eat lunch later. A surprise, as the park was full of school kids. but it made for a nice quiet meal later. Standing at the base of the tower, I started to have some doubts. not everyone was going to ride it.. so there was no shame in backing out. But I had PROMISED myself that I was going to do things I'd be scared to do. My spouse dying suddenly showed me life is short, and there are no guarantees. . so I was determined to ride it - if I could. you see, they have a weight limit - minimum AND a maximum. and they put you on a scale to make sure you fall in that range. I had an out if I was too heavy. . but I actually was a good amount below the top weight. . so I was gonna force myself. tho probably shouldn't have watched the first couple of folks go. . . . when it was my turn, we got suited up - complete with a hard "shell" attached to our backs. here's Steve and I. . . yeah. . look how "confident" I am. (think these pics are courtesy of AJ ?) then they put you into a tiny elevator, and bring you all the way up to the top. here's Jon watching us up there.. he stayed on the ground. smart man. thanks to Elissa (this video) and Robb (the next video). . . my turn is documented from the bottom of the tower, and the top. yes. . I'm quiet. I honestly, was too terrified to scream. I think some folks lost money, if they bet I was gonna be loud. VNSD3606.MOV GEGI8065.MOV but I did it.. my legs were shaky, but I managed to "gracefully" get out of the net at the bottom. and was shocked that I did it. and then immediately broke down crying the moment I had all the gear off. . . . yeah. but I DID it! once i got myself all composed again? I rewarded myself with Ice Cream while watching everyone else who wanted to go, take a turn (the elevator only carries 5-6 people at a time, so it was small groups). and then we were given lunch vouchers, and let loose to do what we wished in the park. as not a huge park, with no really extreme coasters, it was an excellent opportunity to spend just half a day here, and then take in some local sights/museums. . as there are lovely canals and architecture here in the city. this is one of the 3 coasters in the park: Tyfonen - a spinning wild mouse. (or is it called Spiseriet ? I didn't see the Tyfonen naming on the outside of this ride) (the park used to have a Suspended looping coaster - extreme - but after some injuries / deaths, the park removed it last year. . tho the ride pad is still there, now with some "jumping" playground stuff there. and they did just announce a decent sized new coaster will be coming in 2024. . I'd assume in that spot) Here's Jonathan, myself and Ian after we finished spinning. . pic, I think, courtesy of Jon? you are EVIL. . I did you once. . never again. . . . well. . not in the same way, I guess. . . Somehow I didn't get a pic of the outside of this ride, but it just cracked me up. at one point it clearly was a haunted house ride thru. then they apparently decided to make it like Resident Evil with Zombies among the haunted house. . oh, and make it a shooting ride. in 3D - which didn't work that well (think un-maintained Six Flags Level). I mean, if you're going to SHOOT, might as well be fully immersive and make the riders cops. well. . we can slap "Police" on the side of the ride vehicle.. that makes it fully immersive, right? it was so hysterically awful. . with the vast majority of the 4 3D screens being blurry messes, even with the glasses on - that made everything else so dark, so the remaining practical effects that were NOT part of the shooting became really hard to see. and for some reason the "scorboard" at the load station, not at the exit. very pointless. . but funny to ride (once) for the "what the F did I just ride?" quality. I mean. . look at the front of that vehicle. It's a POLICE CAR, I tell ya!!! this is another of the rides I forced myself to get on. . I was terrified of it, and this is really the only other "thrill ride" in the park. heck..it's in the park logo, showing it going almost upside-down with free spinning seats. But I took a deep breath and got on it. and it ran a SUPER gentle program. these pics are really as high as it went, and the seats did not free spin (I asked the op about it when he was uncuffing us, and he said the seats hadn't flipped in a while, they stopped doing that). I have to wonder if it ran a more gentle program because of all the kids here today for the school event? so I rode it, but then was a little embarrassed I had been afraid of it. they also have a smallish drop tower next door. . but I skipped that, having had enough "freefall" today. a low to the ground air-race (not Zamperla tho). . got some of the TPR folks excited. . and David (and Jonathan) had the kids in awe by how much flipping they got during their cycle. . . tho if I recall, the operator cut the cycle a little short to protect the record that someone had on the flips for the year. and yes... with only 3 coasters, I rode all 3. here's Dragen - the park's wacky worm. . that went around, I think, five times? All I recall is the transitions weren't super smooth and I was ready for it to stop, and we kept going!! something that got repeated on the park's 3rd coaster: Bisværmen (Bee Swarm) - a spinning coaster. look at me. .all smiles. Happy we're riding a spinning coaster BEFORE we eat lunch. not super intense..but it spun, a LOT. and we were unbalanced, because of the two kids on the back of our car. who BEGGED the operator to send us thru on another cycle (after it had gone around 4 times in the 1st cycle). . so she did. yeah. .8 laps was a lot of spinning. but was fun, I'll admit. even tho we knew we were having Pizza Buffets at the next two parks.. . the Pizza place really did look to be the best choice - it was quiet, and the food looked decent. so here was lunch: complete with yet another of the same scary clown. I guess he must be a famous "clown type" in Denmark. at least he was in Black and White and not with a blood red mouth this time! right next to the Pizza place was the Ferris Wheel. . so that seemed to be a good place to go next - a calm ride. with an animatronic George Ferris in the queue. do I know why? no, I don't. Was George Ferris Danish? Myself, Hawk, Doug, and Big Mike riding the wheel wait wait wait.. .what is that coming off the tower?? is that a zip line??? Oh, HELL no. but it doesn't LOOK like a zip-line. . it looks like they are riding a bike? and it spins as it goes up? hmmmmmmmm and oh. . look how close we are to the Carousel! I know what I'm doing next overlooking more of the park. . there's a whole other section (more park, with only some smaller rides) on the left - that my pic of came out blurry) I was proud of myself for waiting, but now it was time for carousel. and as I got closer to it, I saw it really was an older carousel that was very well maintained, rather than a newer version with plastic figures. there were no other takers - you can see the operator just hanging out on the horse. he was amused the grown men wanted to ride. of course, we headed upstairs to the upper deck where Hawk and Doug rode in a suspended "balloon" over the lower deck and myself and Big Mike rode in Separate "tubs" some really nice design work up here. . even if the color palate was a bit ugly (too much repainting, I think) but as usual. . in my happy place. and I got to be a 4 year old, giggling at how the flower above me looks kinda like a butt-hole. tee-hee I have ZERO memory of this. . but apparently Tivoli Friheden has a shooting "theater" type attraction and Big Mike won, and was "Legendary!" from our die on "Neon Ninja" I was only "Awesome!" this I DO recall.. it was an "Illusions" house, that also was a fun house. not as good as the ship themed one at Bakken (or the one that tried to kill me later at Grona Lund). . but I liked it. remember that "Zip Line" thing that was attached to the SCAD Tower? well, it turned out it was an upcharge (something insane like only $3.50 per ticket) to ride this spinning "bike" thing up to the top of the tower. you had to have two people to ride, so Hawk volunteered to go with me, and I again - fear of heights and all - headed back up to the top of the tower. here we are looking all Motorcycle-y badass as we're about to launch into space and by "launch". . I mean, slowly get pulleyed up to the top of the tower. they dont' wanna take ANY chances on things (or you) falling off the "bike". . so well secured with belts and chains (oh Daddy!) and NO loose articles allowed. I'm King of the World, Hawk!!!! whee.. . ' tho fear of heights, I really wasn't scared here, because we were so well secured in. in this pic you get a good view of the tiny elevator they bring you to the top of the SCAD tower in. and then I discovered we could spin via the "steering wheel" yeah, we still look like we're sitting on a flying toilet, but at least it made it a bit more fun. whee! after the fun, a few folks wanted to ride the swings, and Big Mike wanted to do bumper cars. I just wanted to sit.. so plopped down for a cycle on "Bench: the Ride" and took some pics of them enjoying. love the look this woman shoots Big Mike when she realizes she's got an American driver right behind her. . .LOL and he's pretty aggressive in the bumper cars.. . going after folks to ram them! oh. .I have to *thank* Big Mike for these pics of me from the Funhouse. whee. . . .? (THIS one is a posed pic. . I wasn't about to go down this damn slide after falling in the barrel) enough rides we decided to head over to the "garden" side of the park. there are a lot of "questionable" art installations over here, and the park was really starting to get crowded as it got into the afternoon. (turns out there's a weekly concert at the park, and they have been getting really big crowds for each concert). I asked who was playing, and was told just someone local, but everyone comes out to enjoy the music and fill the park. one of those art installations: some of the stages set up for the concert (and a playground in the back) a kiddie bumper cars is over here as is a kiddie plane ride. and further back is a lake with swan boats. and oh. . and obstacle course - which didn't open until the afternoon, so I think most of the TPR folks who love this kind of thing, missed it, as it was closed earlier. it's a pretty long course too. . as you can see here, it goes over the lake on rope bridges. it was open. . there's a kid on the platform up top (just behind the grey support on the left) and here's one of the bands that was playing. .they sounded pretty good from what we heard. really loved these deco light fixtures. . after checking the times of the Museum in downtown - and really was excited and wanted to go by the museum tonight - I believe we headed out from Tivoli Friheden around 3:30 pm. . as more and more people poured into the park. a look at the bike parking, as we went around the corner to the Taxi/Lyft/Uber stand.. yah. .was getting busy. and with that, we grabbed an Uber, and headed to the Arhus Museum to check it out, as they were open for a few hours still. to be continued. . .

I wonder if they'll claim the world's fastest chain lift. That would be some great marketing.

I agree that Rutschebanen is way over-braked. The old version with the brake men was much better. I still get a kick out of Tornado, as insane as it is. But, yep, the fun house and the haunted-house ride are the two best attractions there.

We have news out of Destination D23 for all sorts of new stuff coming to EPCOT! https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2023/09/opening-dates-revealed-for-new-epcot-fireworks-show-figment-moana-and-more/ A new nighttime spectacular called “Luminous The Symphony of Us” will debut at EPCOT on Dec. 5, 2023! “Luminous The Symphony of Us” will feature fireworks, fountains, lasers, lighting effects and music and continue Disney’s long tradition of amazing nighttime entertainment at the park. Fan-favorite Figment will begin greeting guests at EPCOT on Sept. 10! Beginning tomorrow, the iconic purple dragon will be at the Imagination Pavilion at EPCOT sparking your creativity and helping your imagination soar. Check out our new five fun Figment facts story featuring some new must-have fashion items. The World Celebration neighborhood at EPCOT will begin welcoming guests this December! World Celebration will unite the front of the park, tying together the other two new EPCOT neighborhoods, World Discovery and World Nature. The completion of the last of the park’s three neighborhoods is the latest major milestone in EPCOT’s multi-year transformation. Also, the popular Test Track attraction at EPCOT is being reimagined! Imagineers along with teams from corporate alliance partner Chevrolet are reaching back into history for inspiration – from the original World of Motion – and bringing that spirit of optimism to the next iteration of Test Track! More to come in the future. And Journey of Water, Inspired by Moana will open on Oct. 16, 2023! Journey of Water is a new walk-through experience located within World Nature – the EPCOT neighborhood dedicated to understanding and preserving the beauty and balance of the natural world. Also on Oct. 16 – Moana will arrive in World Nature and make her first appearance in her own dedicated space near Journey of Water.

- The turnstiles open at 8:30 along with the square area of the park. As mentioned above, there is a breakfast buffet in Molly's Mill Restaurant right off the square that also opens at 8:30. There are other shops open then too. No rides are accessible until rope drop at 9:30. People do tend to get there early, but not it's not usually a huge crowd at opening. - No, you do not get wet on flooded mine. - If you have time, just take a walk around the park and through the MidTown area just looking at stuff. If you see a hole and it says not to look, you should for sure look in it. There are so many little things around the City that can easily be missed when rushing from one ride to another.

Disney has announced that Disneyland will be giving The Haunted Mansion an outdoor plaza expansion and new retail location! https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2023/08/new-haunted-mansion-grounds-expansion-retail-shop-coming-to-disneyland-resort-in-2024/ The stately grounds of the Haunted Mansion will expand with a spirited metamorphosis at Disneyland Resort next year. In 2024, the additions will build on the story and lore of the Haunted Mansion and include an expanded outdoor queue to immerse guests in enhanced theming, as well as a new retail shop adjacent to the attraction’s exit. Local legend suggests the manor known today as the Haunted Mansion was first built by a prosperous sea captain. To this day, the mansion’s staff faithfully maintains the happy haunting grounds. The expanded queue will tie into these stories and more, including new gardens inspired by Master Gracey, Madame Leota and the one-eyed cat. Each of the gardens will feature unique elements ranging from a water fountain and gazebo to themed statuary and landscaping. In fact, guests will be able to see a new greenhouse where the groundskeepers for the Haunted Mansion grow their plants. The pet cemetery and horse-drawn funeral hearse will continue to reside on the attraction’s grounds. And speaking of Madame Leota, we felt it was time to continue her presence beyond the walls of the Haunted Mansion with an all-new retail shop. This carriage house of the mansion, belonging to Leota, will be a standalone shop that we are just “dying” to tell you more about in the future. We also will make enhancements to the plaza adjacent to Tiana’s Palace. This area is one that holds a lot of memories and history, and a new, elegant park-like setting will be a place to relax and enjoy the ambiance and live entertainment under the shade of new and historic trees. Construction on these additions will begin in January 2024. We will take the opportunity to help improve the accessibility of these areas which includes a new elevator exit from the Haunted Mansion for guests with disabilities.

you are very welcome. . . I love this park, and always happy to share. and as for those online (and yes, there ARE several) who are loudly and vocally complaining it was a lot of hype for 3 "kiddie" rides? I say to them: 1- they aren't "kiddie" rides. . most of the rides in thrillseeker park were for older kids - they removed one of the two truly kiddie rides (Bucking Broncos) over to Iron Rattler. Leaving only one true kiddie ride (the speedway electric cars) over there. The rest of the rides? Adults and older teens always ride anyways and were welcome to. Kid Flash, and the 3 new rides, are FAMILY rides, not kiddie rides. 2 - if expecting a new coaster announcement? that's on them - the park got a giant Dive Coaster in 2022, and in 2023 is getting the family Kid Flash. 2025 is the 30th anniversary of the Boardwalk.. . . so at NEXT YEAR's FT92, I expect an announcement of a new coaster - by the boardwalk area. & 3 -

I'm sad to see everyone hating on Hurricane at FSA. I was laughing my ass off by the end because of how janky is was. The last two airtime hills have more severe ejector than anything in AF1 and then that sudden 90 degree angle turn before the brakes was so bad that it was good. I understand that kind of jankiness isn't everyone's cup of tea but I loved the damn thing haha.

Okay, time to wrap this up! Before I get to the park, I need to talk about the DreamMore Resort at Dollywood. Now, this is my first time ever staying at an on-property park hotel (the shitty Super8/Travelodge/etc in the parking lot at Kings Dominion does not count), and WOW! This place blew me away. Valet parking, bellpeople for your bags, a great assortment of food options, the spectacular buffet, the incredible pool...everything about this place was stellar. Easily the best hotel I've ever stayed in outside of Las Vegas or Atlantic City. If anyone is questioning it, it is totally worth the money. Here are some pictures of my room: And the view from my room: And the awesome pool, after a biological incident caused them to have to clear it which entertainingly made all of the parents bring their screaming brats back to the room, enabling the pool to be relaxing: Alright, now that that is out of the way.... Dollywood Day 1 - Friday, June 2nd So I hopped on the awesome shuttle service from the hotel to the park, and arrived shortly after opening, and my first stop was the hotel guest Timesaver redemption booth. Did I not mention that by staying at the hotel, you get free Timesaver skip-the-line passes? Yeah, yet another bonus. As this was a new park to me, I took a ton of pictures of everything, so you get to enjoy them too! The entry/ticketing area: This park really is beautiful (this will be a recurring theme). My first stop was the problematic monster known as Lighting Rod: Nope, not waiting in that for it to maybe not open soon. So I continued my way up towards Blazing Fury, taking in the sights. Yes, I am absolutely aware of starting Pride Month in Tennessee, but it was still not a bad time. Jumping out of sequence here, but I had to represent. First ride of the day: Blazing Fury! I loved these screens they had up at the entrance to every major ride showing the wait times as well as those for other rides. Very nice touch! So what did I think of this classic? I wasn't quite sure if it was a coaster or dark ride, but RCDB counts it, so I guess I will too. Cool little ride with a few drops. Half-train wait for the back row, 7/10. Onwards towards Tennessee Tornado! From my notes video: "This is an Arrow? If only they had not gone bankrupt from building X, this would've been an incredible future." The ride was a little on the short side, but was insanely smooth, everything was properly banked/heartlined, no headbanging. This was absolutely incredible, and the fact that it's an Arrow just gets it more points. Three-train-wait for the front row. 9/10. Firechaser Express was not yet open... ...so my next ride would be.... ...yup, Wild Eagle! Admittedly, not very easy to photograph from the pathways, but this was a lot of fun. Not bad ride, through the middle portion I almost thought it would be my favorite B&M Wing, but Thunderbird at Holiday World still holds that title. I noted that this ride was very short, too, just like Tenn. Tornado, but that's not a theme that held on. Five-minute-wait for back row, right outer seat. 6/10, mostly for the length. I liked this little kiddie splash area (at least that's what I think it was) they had set up: I continued onward on the path, admiring the scenery... ...to my next destination, Mystery Mine. While I was thoroughly impressed with the theming and many of the effects in the dark-ride-parts. The ride itself was a little rough, but it's a Gerstlauer, what are you gonna do? Definitely a unique layout which was quite fun. 10-minute-wait (with Timesaver) for the back row, far left. 6/10. I did not ride their drop tower either that I was there, but it did look quite nice...rare to see one of these painted a color other than white LOL. My next ride was Dollywood's kiddie coaster, Whistlepunk Chaser. Learning is fun! Seriously, I had no idea that this was even a thing. It's a kiddie coaster, not much more to say. Got 3 laps, 8-minute-wait for the back row. Next up was.... Thunderhead, which I didn't take any other pictures of during my initial stop here. This. Was. INCREDIBLE. Easily the best coaster of this trip so far, let alone Dollywood. Super-smooth, twisty, airtime, you name it, this coaster has it. 11/10, and found itself a home as my new #2 woodie (ahead of Mystic Timbers and behind The Beast) and #5 overall. There are not enough words to describe how incredible this ride is. After that, I grabbed a personal pizza from the Lumberjack pizza place near Dropline. Sauce wasn't too tangy. $10 for an 8" round pizza (a much better value than CF or SF pizzas), not bad. I then made my way into Wildwood Grove, and took in the sights. I love it when parks have these bounce-around areas for kids...something I wish CF and SF would take the liability risk and put in. Anyway, my next ride was Dragonflier! I really wish that ever park that has one of these Vekoma family coasters would install these mildly-swinging-suspended trains, they absorb so much of the nonsense that you get on the earlier models like Flying Ace at Kings Island. Overall a fun family ride, nice and smooth. 10-minute-wait (with Timesaver) for row 8. 6/10. Big Bear Mountain would not be in the stars for me right now....yep, 90 minute wait at around 1:00 on a Friday, and not on Timesaver at this point. Grabbed another shot of the insane Thunderhead... ...and some more of the awesome scenery and theming at this park... Did I accidentally step in to 2023 Florida or Arkansas somehow? ...and made my way to Daredevil Falls, their log flume. This was a great log ride with some dark-ride-esque scenes, and didn't get too wet at all despite the substantial drop. 8/10. Not now Cinnamon Bread; I'll be back for you later. At this point in the trip, I made a note that the "Best way to describe the vibe of this park is Cedar Point's Frontier Trail, but it's the entire park" and I think that holds up. I admittedly only took in one show (the bird show, which I'll talk about later in this report) after realizing that all of them were country and/or Jesus music, but I will say that the venues were nice. Next up was a ride on the train, the Dollywood Express, the oldest ride at the park, opening in 1961. I was a sucker for steam trains when I was a kid, and still am. That said, the train ride wasn't as entertaining as some others that I've been on. 20 minutes for the ride and 30 minutes for the setup for the ride once we boarded. They literally took half an hour, explaining numerous times that "this is a real coal-fired steam train and you might get embers on you and that's okay, don't panic"...like, seriously? For a lot of the trip, it's just woods, it's just woods, and I know I'm in the south, but the spiel-er was absolutely unfunny despite his best attempts and no one laughed. Like not even a courtesy chuckle. 4/10 just because it's a real steam engine. That said, here are some pictures of the most interesting parts of the train ride. After the train ride, which drops you off where it picked you up, I took some pictures of this section of the park, aptly titled Country Fair, containing some typical carnival-style rides. And fish, And fountains. While riding the train, I saw that Lightning Rod was running, and once I got off I checked the app which confirmed it, so I made my way over, snapping plenty of pictures of the well-themed queue. Which I had plenty of time to do, during my 54-minute wait to not reach the front of the line at the level below the station...when, what do you know, there was a rollback, which for some ridiculous reason requires the train to be evacuated before they can try to launch it again. So they clear the train, wheel it back in to the station, send a few test cycles...and the very next train with people, and it rolls back again. "We're sorry, but Lighting Rod is experiencing extended downtime...." Ugh. So, it was back around to Thunderhead for another ride, but not before snapping this picture of cool old-timey stuff: This time I had a half-train wait for the back row. As expected, it did not disappoint. As I said in my notes "It's Mystic Timbers but longer!" Tons of air, speed, twisties, and laterals...it is awesome in every single way. I then made my way back into the (unfortunately unshaded) Wildwood Grove for Big Bear Mountain, whose wait had substantially decreased. As is typical for this park, awesome theming in the queue. But did I say Big Bear Mountain earlier? Perhaps I should've said Big Bear Desert or Big Bear Deforestation, because this is what you see 90% of the time that you're on the ride: Like seriously, if they built such complex rides in the 1960s to today with the construction technology of the time, they did not need to remove this many trees to build this ride. But how did it ride? Pretty good, a great family coaster! The on-board audio is a little corny, which I guess is to be expected, but the barren wasteland that is the terrain around everything but the station is very out of place for this park, and this ride. 34 minute wait for row 9. 7/10. From my notes: "The Wildwood grove section is as long as the entire rest of the park is, but only has one way in and out. Why did they not do something to make it an additional loop so you don't have to backtrack through the completely unshaded area?" OMG is this day one trip report not over yet? Nope! Onward to another coaster that I had skipped earlier in the day, Firechaser Express! Another incredibly well themed queue and station, including ride-specific uniforms for most of the ride operators. I don't know if it was an intentional design choice, but I loved how the train backs into the station the same way an actual fire engine would. As for the ride itself, it was quite fun, but I was not a huge fan of the backwards-running part. The ride operators also actually helped load bags into the cubbies, which was awesome and something that I haven't seen since my trip to Holiday World last year. Three-train wait for back row. 7/10. I saw that LR was operating again, so I made my way back over to try my luck once again. After 20 minutes of wait (with Timesaver), I was literally standing in the station, at the gate, ready to board the next train on the front row. I hear the entire crowd in the station groan, and see them turn around. I do the same, and see, once again, the train rolling back down the lift hill. After another 15 minutes, there came the announcement: "Extended Downtime." *sigh* So, they were handing out some one-time Timesaver passes, so I grabbed one, confirmed it would be valid the next day, and went back to my favorite ride at the park.... Thunderhead! Which was of course awesome. Three-train-wait for back row. After that, it was around 6:30 and super-hot, so I decided to just hop the shuttle back to the hotel, changed into swimwear, and relaxed down by the pool for a while before hitting the hay. And that, finally, wraps up my Day One report from Dollywood.Stay tuned for the epic conclusion!

With 50 years of frights to be celebrated, let's raise a bottle of the Devil's Elixir to Knott's Scary Farm! To every Scare Actor who has inhabited a house or roamed the streets, to all the Technicians, to all the designers, and to everyone who has helped bring Halloween Haunt alive over the past 50 years, congratulations and thank you! Theme Park Review attended opening night of Halloween Haunt, and it was quite honestly one of the most enjoyable opening nights for the event in recent memory. A reminder that if your priority is to go through all 10 mazes, the Fright Lane (Front of the Line pass for mazes) is the only way you will be able to accomplish this. There are a few ticket package options that include Fright Lane, so find the one one that works best for the date of your visit and your interests. Read the comments sprinkled throughout the pictures below for more tips and tricks! This year, we will post our thoughts on each of the 10 mazes, ranked in order from "you can skip it" to "you can't miss it"! Welcome back into the fog, for the 50th time! Room 13 expands on the story from the Gore-ing '20s Scare Zone that has been popular over the past few years. The maze itself had a great Art Deco scenic look. What fell flat for us was the perception that almost all the scare actors were wearing the same latex creature mask throughout the maze. It was hard for the scare actors to help "tell the story". Dark Entities continues to lack "heart". In a maze that is full of animatronics, it feels like you don't see a scare actor until you are 1/4 of the way through the maze. With the maze feeling like it has the fewest number of scare actors at the event, it isn't much more than a walk-through. Although, this nurse was one of our favorite characters of the event! She went crazy over trying to find bandages, and it was hysterical! Wax Works is back. It continues to be a "fine" maze for us. The Grimoire is also "fine". We appreciate a gag of seemingly returning to the same "scene" within the maze, which is inventive and playful! Bloodline 1842 is one of those mazes that makes sense and you would say is perfectly executed...if you had read the creative treatment before going into the maze. Although it is hard for the average person to understand the whole plot, the Scare Actors encourage you along your way through the town during a battle between Vampires and other creatures. Origins The Curse of Calico returns for another year and is a nice staple for the event, focusing on the backstory of the Green Witch. It is a classic maze, and is simply "enjoyable". This is the final year for The Depths. It had a great run over the years. We remember the first time we saw this laser field technique with fog in a maze, and had our minds blown. This of course is now a standard haunt effect throughout the world. Oh there you are Mr. Creature! Mesmer Sideshow of the Mind was fun for us! As theme park/carnival/side show people, it is a fun and nuanced theme that allows for a good amount of variety in the storyline. Okay. So, let's talk about Cinema Slasher. This is one of the new mazes this year, and it was a blast! This maze celebrates the slasher movies from the 80s and perfectly captures the horror and the sometimes campy/over-the-top nature of those films. You will see references to many familiar movies and classic horror film tropes, and we were all for it! Best scenic effect for the event this year (as seen in 3 pictures below): 1. A totally normal lobby snack shop. 2. A somewhat irregular looking lobby snack shop.... 3. A totally demented lobby snack shop! Fun reference to a past maze: Let's go into the film, and see what happens! ...not what we had in mind, but what do you expect from a slasher film?! And for our favorite maze at this year's event, The Chilling Chambers. Although we aren't normally fans of mash-ups mazes, or relying on the nostalgia factor, this maze was a fantastic maze mash-up and we totally fell for the nostalgia factor when walking through some of the most iconic maze scenes from the past. The creative team conceived the perfect way to find a cohesive backstory in how the mazes have been preserved over time, where they went for their eternal slumber, and why we get to see these scenes again. Oh hey Joey! This one's for you. Scenes like this throughout, representing mazes from the past. It's The Amazing Thingy! Yes...nostalgia clearly works. Finally, a quick mention of the shows. First is Dr. Cleaver Returns. From past videos, it looks like it used to be an irreverent comedy show. This version of the show seems to rely on what the Birdcage Theater is know for, Melodrama. This just didn't work for what we expect for a Haunt event, so if you need to skip something, we recommend this. Second is The Hanging: Uncancelled. After a few year hiatus, the park is giving it another try, and is smartly having it in a completely enclosed venue where guests with a low tolerance for...anything... can't just "hear it as they walk by". The show has steered away from as much political satire as possible, and focuses on self-deprecating humor, pop culture references, and theme park woes. Navigational note: There is a bonus for getting to now sit down for this show, since it is being presented at the Wagon Camp Theater! The downside is that there is only a fraction of the viewing area that was previously available at the Calico Stage. Priority entrance to this show goes to patrons with Fright Lane. It was suggested that we line up 45-minutes before the show. At 20 minutes to the show start, the audience was full with what appeared to be entirely folks with Fright Lane. If this show is a priority for you, you may not get into the theater if you don't have Fright Lane. ...hey Jeff Tucker, we love you! And finally, in the Walter Knott Theater is a dance revue and comedy show called Music, Monsters, and Mayhem. It is a high-energy show with good production value. This show is not for the average Halloween Haunt guest. In general if you are a "theater person", you will find something within the show to enjoy! Be sure to plan your visit to this historic year of Knott's Scary Farm! https://www.knotts.com/events/scary-farm/tickets Thank you to the Knott's PR team for once again inviting Theme Park Review to the opening night; here is to a great haunt season!

What's the name of this thread? Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland? Anyway, here we are in Germany for Hansa Park. 09: Frog Frog Frog Inside the park looking back towards the entrance. It's quite nice, but unshaded compared to the rest of the park in a way that makes me feel like the whole area is new. While the park's two Marquee coasters are both Gerstlauers, the one I was most excited about was this Schwarzkopf, "Nessie." Which was fine, but not amazing. Maybe the most interesting thing about it was the finale, which was a drop into the (tunneled) brake run. Pretty great logo, though. Crazy Mine is a fun Maurer wild mouse with an attached observation tower you can climb to take photos. Fun story about how I'm stupid: As someone who doesn't speak German but pretty quickly picks up "entrance" and "exit" whilst visiting Northern European theme parks, I spent a long time looking for the entrance to said tower, but only kept finding the exit. Turns out there's only one way up and down, and "Aufgang" doesn't actually mean "exit," but rather "rising." Oops. Schwur des Kärnan (or "Kärnan's Oath") is pretty clearly the star of the park. Smisty's review: "You spend a lot of time on your back." I didn't ride it. Was on the fence, but leaning towards giving it shot. Then we got to a preshow in which I had to be separated from my glasses (strap or no) for who knows how long, and the ride ops were giving off a really weird energy. So yes, I went all the way to Hansa Park in Germany and then chose not to ride Kärnan. Hey, I don't tell you how to vacation! I liked the wild mouse, though. Animatronic butt. Not pictured: keyboard that made the frogs sing. And by "sing," I mean "say the word frog." Obstacle course and bouncy bridge! Smisty asked me to take a photo of her on the horse. And for not extra charge, I sexy-ied it up a little. Old West Christmas Store I was pretty excited about Hansa Park's proper powered observation tower, but it was down all day for queue painting...? Lame. I really did want to ride this, as Hansa Park is very near the Baltic Sea, but doesn't do much to really show off its location. Lunch at Restaurant Weltumsegler at the front of the park. Pretty good, and super-friendly staff. Also, I was able to keep my glasses on. This park is not ugly. Hansa doesn't have a proper dark ride, but it does have this boat ride with flowers and water features and fairies (or something). Sure, you can see every inch of it from the pathways that surround it, but I still like that it exists. Log flume #1 of 3! Pull yourself across the lake, but don't try to touch the Schlong of Midgard! I don't normally ride kiddie coasters, but this one seemed interesting and it was. There's an indoor section with an animatronic, and since the ride has two laps, he talks to the train twice--the first time is tell you to go kill the snake or whatever, and the second time is to complain about how much you failed the first time. (Or at least that's how I interpreted it.) These last four photos are all from a pretty nice kid's area. I probably should've led with that. Pirate-themed "doesn't get you wet" raft ride, with a cool station. *Ahem* ... With a cool station. These stupid rides are everywhere now. But very few are as nicely themed and plussed-up as this. Arigato. There's a little bridge that takes you over a road to this resort area. See? Sea. Misty didn't come see this. So now we're even, credit-wise. Flucht von Novgorod is the park's other Gerstlauer. It features a dark ride section and some other fun accompaniments to try to obscure the fact that it's a Eurofighter. Can you wear your glasses on this one? No idea. Didn't try. A warning about the over-the-head restraints? Look at this. In America, people would be straight up climbing onto the track and dying. God, we're stupid. On the other hand, we did invent country bears. So, you know, it all evens out. Log flume #2. This one features animatronic rats that scurry out towards the logs as you leave the station! (Well, "animatronic" might be an overstatement. Still awesome, though.) It also takes advantage of the terrain in order to feature something I'd never experienced but always wanted to: a single lift hill with drops both before and after it. Does anyone find that cool besides me? Probably not. But it's how I generally tried to build log flumes in RCT2, so I think it's neat. Log flume #3. Well, a super flume with a very simple layout, but still. Late in the day, someone posted photos of a outdoor tracked jungle adventure jeep ride which we had not seen, which led us to this whole area of the park we had somehow missed. Misty finally gets her photo on a horse without me screwing it up. The little jeep ride has "cameras," attached via cord, that you can pick up and point at things. They do absolutely nothing, but they exist. Woo! Two updates in a row that basically end with a jungle adventure jeep ride! The bridge across the road to the parking lot and our bus. A quick stop off for dinner at an intersection with a couple of different fast food choices. We went for something local, "Sunset Boulevard," where I got this pretty decent burger and a blizzard/concrete ice cream thing with popcorn in it. Back in Denmark (specifically Aarhus) and in our room by sunset. Okay, so, on a scale of 0 to 10 (where a 0 means I have no desire to ever return and a 10 means it's literally a top 10 park--a system that currently works just about perfectly since I've been to around 100 parks) I give Hansa Park a 6. Not sure why I'm giving them a numerical value. I've never done that before. Anyway, still more fun than sitting on my couch writing a trip report!

So, basically May 30th was a complete travel day...boy is that drive to Atlanta, even starting in Williamsburg instead of Delaware, brutal. The next day, I headed out for my first trip to.... Fun Spot America Atlanta - Wednesday, May 30th Now, I've been to the two Fun Spots in Florida, so I kinda knew what to expect...but I did not expect this. Wow...yeah. Anyway, my first ride here was Hurricane, their Miler. Its a coaster, and that's all that can really be said about it. This was about the closest I've come to feeling like I was going to die on a ride in a long time, and not in a good way. 1/10. Here are some more pictures of the grounds.... Three things a normal person never expects to see on the same sign... Their "arcade" was something else. First, a long open area with a few ticket-producing games. Which opens into a bigger area with some more ticket-producing games... Complimented by some 1990s-era true video games. Including Sega's F355 Challenge Deluxe (one of the few arcade games to actually provide a clutch pedal and full 6-speed H-pattern shifter) and the always awesome Super GT. Of course, I had to drop a few bucks here. The arcade also featured this.... So you know how in a walk-through fun house attraction, there's usually a stationary platform where you walk down a rotating cylinder around you, intending to provide a physical prop gag to affect your balance? That was literally all this was - just the tunnel. For 50 cents. I never LOL'd so hard. Was this part of a larger fun house at some point? Seriously...like I cannot believe that this was an attraction at a permanently standing amusement park. Pure hilairty. Some more of the park's "ambiance:" Anyone know what used to be under here? Guessing just picnic tables. No, that very unsafe looking Skycoaster was not operational and did not appear to have been for quite some time. Seriously, what did this artificial rock formation use to be? But now, onto the reason that anyone would ever travel to this park from a distance: Aire Force One! Okay, stupidity of the name aside, I actually think the queue and ride itself were quite well themed. How did it ride? ABSOLUTELY BONKERS! I rode in both the back and front row (both walks ons), and then went around for a few more laps of each, but holy shit is this ride absolutely insane, and has ZERO business being in a park this shitty. I do have to agree with what everyone else has said about the slam into the final brakes and the final bunny hops, but still a great ride and not too rough on your thighs to be non-re-rideable. 9/10. Oh, and I also rode their kiddie coaster too. I also took a lap on the Samson go-kart track here, which had an awesome layout and underpowered cars (much like their Florida counterparts). When I say I did "a lap," I mean literally that - there was no one else on it, and go-karts are weird by yourself. But yeah, AFO is absolutely nuts. Is it worth a trip to this park if you're not going to be in the area anyway? Not really...but ride it while you can since I have no idea how this park survives. Anyway, after the park, I swung by Vortex Midtown Atlanta, and the ambiance was awesome as always, but the food was kinda meh. I was also super disappointed that they got rid of the other signature-glass cocktail in addition to the Skull Crusher; I was planning on trying one. After that, I met up with my good friend Jessica who I've known for over 20 years (and wow does it hurt being able to say that), and we went out and hit the town in Athens. I don't remember the names of the bars we went to, but it was an awesome little town, totally accepting, and even had rainbow-painted crosswalks walks (not expecting to see that in Georgia). I think next time I'm down in the area this is where I'm going to try to get a hotel. I leave this part of the TR off with a photo of me and Jess (me on the left), taken from some rooftop bar: Next up: Lake Winnepesaukah!

Busch Gardens Williamsburg - Day 2, Monday May 29th. Would this park be packed on Memorial Day Monday with stellar weather? Nope! Reasonable waits for everything (at least as long as I was there!) I arrived at the park shortly after opening, and headed first for Apollo's Chariot, where I met a 12-minute wait for front row. This was really a one-train wait though, since most of it was waiting for the crew to finish up their morning checks. Solid ride, a great mid-tier B&M hyper. 7/10. Next up was another lap on Pantheon, this time in the front row! Three-and-a-half train wait. This is definitely a front row ride...wow this ride is pretty good! It squeezed into my Top 10 Steel at #6, between Millennium Force and Banshee. I'm still not a huge fan of the backwards launch sequence, but holy shit is the airtime coming over the tophat after the final forwards launch is nuts. 11/10. Now it was back to Verbolten - 9 minutes locker to locker for back row; amusingly they forced me to put my bag into a locker this time, when they didn't on the previous day (it was the same exact bag). Yeah, still not as good as Big Bad Wolf. And what a waste of a first-generation 911! Next up was Alpengeist, which is always a spectacular ride (22 minutes locker-to-locker for back row, right edge). With the removal of BBW, this is easily the second best ride at the park. 10/10. I then gave InvadR another shot, this time in the front row (forgot to note the wait time). Up there, it's a much better ride...still a weaker GCI, but a lot better than my experience the previous day. 7/10. Thought about giving the Le Scoot log flume a go, but for some reason didn't. I always remember from my childood the actual sawblade right before the final drop (I think), which freaked me out as a kid. Now it was time for one my favorite features of this park: The numerous transport rides! This time it was the Skyride (Germany to England, 2-car-wait), on my way to my next destination. Any guesses what it was? That's right, it's Loch Ness Monster! How does this classic Arrow hold up after all these years? Unfortunately not all that well (walk-on front row), as it gave me quite the headache. Super excited for the renovations that are happening for next year. I then took a ride on the train to attempt to relax and soothe the headache, snapping a bunch of pictures of things that I saw. RIP Drachen Fire....you were taken before your time. What is this building back in the old Drachen Fire area? Next up was a ride on the Skyrdie England to France (17 minute wait), and of course more pictures! That brought me to around 2:00, and unfortunately my Loch Ness Monster induced headache hadn't really gone away, and knowing I had a long drive ahead of me the next day, I headed out. Oh, and at some point I rode Grover's Alpine Express just for the credit, but I guess it was so forgettable that I didn't even make a notes video or take a picture. This park really is beautiful, and offers plenty of shade in most areas, and I will be back in a few weeks to experience their Halloween event for the first time (along with processing my pass for next year - my first time having a BGW pass!). Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for some adventures in the Atlanta area up next!

Day 7, June 9th part 2 (of 3): afternoon/evening: How about some Culture? the group I had ended up closing out Tivoli Friedhen with wasn't he only group that also wanted to check out some of the stuff in Aarhus - in particular the ARoS Aarhus Art Museum (which was open until 9pm). but i think we might be the only group that looked at a map, said "nope, that's too far to walk" and Uber-ed it not exactly sure what this building was across the street from the museum, but I thought the architecture was interesting, and so snapped a couple of pics. here is the main entrance to ARoS. . . with a glimpse of the permanent installation on the roof, that made this a "must stop" when I was in town: "Your Rainbow Panorama" by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. once up the long steps into the main entrance to the museum, one is greeted by this stunning circular staircase - very reminiscent of the Guggenheim in Manhattan. I didn't check, but would venture a guess that this museum is by the same designer. In addition to the "rainbow bridge" installation, what sold the museum for me, was this special exhibit that took the entire 5th floor. basically Propaganda Images as seen thru the lens of Pop Art. as a huge fan of Pop Art, I was very excited for this (and as a comics fan, seeing characters I know in the art is a huge burst of excitement). but first we were headed to the roof (at the recommendation of the security guard by the elevator, who VERY RIGHTLY pointed out that the "Your Rainbow Panorama" gets very humid as it absorbs the sun, so do that one first and then enjoy the rest of the cooler museum. up on the top floor, this installation is very, very cool. it's a 150 metre long circular walkway that gives fantastic views of the city, thru panels that are shaded in the colors of the rainbow. looking out thru the one clear panel, at the walkway around the roof. this is construction for a new wing of the museum. . I believe they said it's going to be a planetarium. this pic is courtesy of Andy - who had walked to the museum with his group and was out on the roof itself taking pictures of the city and the port. He saw me in the exhibit and waved and took a pic it really was rather hot in the artwork, so I stepped down to the roof, proper, to get some pics of the city. and some birds, just hanging out. it really is a lovely city. . with lots and lots of really neat architecture. I really love how with the correct angle of the sun, the rainbow from the installation shows up on the surrounding buildings. floor 10 done, we went to Floor 8, for the "Human Nature" works from the museum collection: very very interesting. . a tree made from leaves pressed between panes of glass then hung as a mobile. that this neon is in a museum made me giggle. . .I think most everyone snapped a pic of this. we then headed down to floor 6, titled "Far From Home II" more works from the museum collection - including the piece that the museum is most well known for: Boy - by Australian artist Ron Mueck this is a huge, and VERY realistic sculpture, and has an entire space (mirrored) in the gallery to itself. down on this floor was more my type of "pop art" stuff, and I started taking more pictures - tho not as many as I'd take of the actual Propoganda as Pop Art on level 5 regardless, I didn't understand this one at all. . but I found it beautiful and disturbing at the same time. and I just adored this 5 pic sculpture progression of "Melt" they even had one piece of Proper "Pop Art" on display up here, using Jack Kirby Panels from Captain America. not quite as successful as what Lichetenstein was doing with the comic panels. . but I do like it. . . then going down to the main Exhibit I was interested in, the very first thing greeted by is a huge canvas titled "Fucky-Strike Bureau of propoganda". .and I already knew I was gonna love this exhibit, and spend more time here than Doug, Hawk, or Big Mike cared to (I was correct. . eventually Doug and Hawk split off to get food and Big Mike hung in there with me to finish the museum and do a few other things). this multimedia piece against stark walls, in a dead end - was very much like watching a classic Nine Inch Nails video. fantastic. . as a temporary exhibition they didn't really have any magnets avail with these (only some prints). lucky me, as I saved a ton of $$. (no wall space for prints unless I simply MUST have them. . and was able to pass on these, as much a I loved some of them) hey. . I recognize that Chipmunk with Santa! seriously. . all of these are just amazing. (and full of easter eggs for a comic book/ comic strip nerd like myself) this was one of my favorite pieces, mixing war with the Kama Sutra. . . I have the original pic, but for sharing here, I've edited. HUGE multi panel mural. . featuring many comic book character likenesses blended in I'll say again. . luckily I dont' have much wall space (and wasn't gonna spend a bunch of $$ on prints to schlep around for the rest of the trip). . so I just enjoyed here and took lots of pics heavy R. Crumb influence/borrowing in these. . . even the Powerpuff Girls showed up! to be concluded. . .

1. Visit Centralia 2. Look at Cornfields 3. Hang out at Sheetz 4. Yuengling brewery is somewhat close As said above, the park is in the middle of nowhere with nothing really of interest in the area (other than hiking...plenty of that) but it is definitely worth visiting the middle of nowhere in this case.

"without water" means they will use water for a few weeks then not at all after that.

About dang time. I'm surprised it's taken this long to swap to a chain or cable lift. They knew from the first signs of trouble that the launch motors kept shifting with the structure but they insisted on keeping it for some reason. All that to say, I got to ride this bad boy in it's second year and it was wacky, especially the night rides. There's nothing but inky blackness on the far side of the hill.

I still don't now which one is you and which is Daniel in that one pic, twinning!

I thought this was the Worlds of Fun thread for a minute.

There's still plenty of time for it to go to SFoG.

I made my first trip to Kings Dominion last Friday (Labor Day weekend). I knew what rides I was looking forward to riding, but little about the park other than that. I had been to Kings Island, so I knew there would be similarities between the two. I'm also used to going to Cedar Point, so all of these played into my impression of the park. One theme I noticed that plays into the whole day, KD expects their guests to be smart. At CP there are people everywhere reminding and telling guests what they can and cannot do. Partly it's crowd control, partly just dumb guests being dumb. I'll explain more later... Starters: I arrived in the parking lot around 10:30am (Park opened at 11). The parking lot expects you to understand how to park your car. Meaning, there were no attendants in vests and whistles telling me where to go. This was surprise #1 of the day. I got a close parking spot and walked toward the entrance. There were no signs, and because of all the TREES I could not see the entrance. "Where could it be? Oh, maybe toward the giant Eiffel Tower?!" Again, expecting their guests to be smart. I got in line for the park to open. They have really nice TVs with info on them above each line. I thought these were a nice way to communicate to the guests. Once inside the beautiful park entrance with the fountains, music and TREES, I walked over to Dominator. It surprised me that no one (maybe a few I didn't see) ran. Surprise #2 My biggest surprise and at times irritation was the lack of staff running the rides. They may have had 2 checking restraints and on some only 1 staffer was checking restraints. It was not uncommon for a one train to cycle and be waiting before #2 would dispatch. One dispatch took 4 minutes as the guy on the platform leisurely checked restraints, gates and slowly walked to give the thumbs up. I only ever saw 3 rides Twisted Timbers, Flight of Fear and Intimidator with staff at the front of the queue. Mostly making sure no loose articles went through. But on multiple occasions I saw kids sit in the coaster, and then asked to stand up and get measured to make sure they were tall enough. Yes, this slowed things down, but they usually gave the child a wristband for their height preventing this from happening again. Also, no station sorters. Once you got to the station it was crowd in as much as you want, and lots of open seats. I saw one TT train go with 6 empty single rider seats. THIS, This paragraph is my only complaints about the park. (Again, guests need to be smart and know how tall they need to be, what they can/cannot bring, and what seats to use. There was also almost never a "schpiel" about 'welcome oncoming riders...") Even though it was a holiday weekend, the park never seemed busy. Most roller coasters I was able to enter the station before I had to wait (Racer, Dominator and Flight of Fear are the only exceptions). The longest wait of the day was for the log ride, about 20 minutes. I love how easy the park is to get around, and that rides are clustered together. You can enter and exit 2-4 rides all within a close distance. I was talking to one couple and they asked me about Cedar Point, I told them great rides, but you have to walk a lot. Grizzly was so fun! I sat in the back and you float the whole way down the first drop! It's smooth where it needs to be and bumpy fun in places. Such a fun woodie. (I also found it funny that the exit line is a longer walk than the entrance. Anyone know of other rides where this is the case). White Water Canyon is probably the best river raft ride I've been on (Granted, I've only ridden like 6). It was fast, long, and the smaller 6-person raft allows for more rocking and swaying. It also surprised me they dispatched 3 rafts at one! If you've not ridden it, DO! There are no waterfalls to soak you, just good splashes from the rapids. TT was excellent! I love the 3 airtime hills and the final roll. Intimidator was POWERFUL. That first turn, I know the stories and the redesign of it. I grayed out, and my last time riding it (#5) I blacked out and came back coming down the second hill. I knew that was enough for one day Dominator rocks. I rode it years ago when it was at Six Flags Ohio/Geauga Lake. Still runs great. Great layout and pretty smooth (just a little rattle here and there). My last surprise... NO DOWNTIME! Not once throughout the entire day did I experience down time on any ride. Every ride I went to or rode was open and running. Not a single breakdown. Going to Cedar Point, that's just part of the experience "Do we wait it out or leave." Great job maintenance crews! I loved going to KD and cannot wait to come back for Haunts or Christmas events later this year. It's a beautiful park, lots of trees and character throughout. I guess, Virginia is for lovers and those who can appreciate a park at a more leisurely pace.

Power Surge is gone, apparently, and the Rock-O-Plane is going in. Power Surge was one of my favorite flats, and it's not one I've seen many other places, but even after all the money and time the park's spent trying to get it working properly, it seems like it's down more than it's up, so this isn't really much of a surprise. Kinda thought the Bayern Kurve would be in before the Rock-O-Plane, but cool to see either way! Power Surge apparently is sitting in the parking lot no, so no official word on its final fate yet, but I don't expect much but the scrapheap with how rarely it's run lately...

I don't understand how Mexican food is so difficult for the Europeans to understand? But it does lead to some very amusing attempts!

With all the backlash the new management gets, I will agree that I enjoy attentiveness to things other than roller coasters. Out of all the additions going to other parks, this is the one I'm most excited for. I love arrow log-flumes, and honestly I wish this had been done to log jammer back at Magic Mountain. With so many log flumes getting taken away, it's awesome to see that this one is here to stay.

There'd be a lot of room to play with orientation within that plot of land but the general placement that I chose there makes for an impressive sight walking the midway from Pandemonium to the games, while swinging towards the lagoon. You'd be able to see it right in front of you swinging above the 'arcade' building. It could be pushed a good 25ft closer to the railroad track without changing this framing I just did a quick and dirty fit check. The angle would look about like this walking this direction.

I have to admit, the thought of it swinging over the lagoon is absolutely thrilling to me. It would be a lovely view.

Told by higher up at the park that it is slated to go in Dragon's Wing's old spot. Don't think it would fit in Xcalibur's old footprint, and it will probably help the GP to differentiate between the two. I don't think the park plans to remove the current Joker, so I guess we'll have Joker, Inc. and Joker: Carnival of Chaos, unless they spend the money to retheme the swinging ship.

Another Sicilian/Detroit hybrid from last night... However, after another trip to NYC recently for 'research', one of the prevalent flavors in more of my favorite slices (Joe's, for example) is a buttery character from the cheese used. I've been through a handful of different types of mozz cheese (block v. per-shred, various blends, different brands, etc...) but unable to find that cheese that gives that signature flavor I've been after. Found a new whole milk, low moisture mozz to try this weekend, and I think I found my new go-to cheese! That signature buttery aroma and rich flavor was there and it was SO delicious. The melt of this cheese as well, is just stunning. Really looking forward to making a NY style cheese this coming weekend with it. This particular pie was 1/3 extra cheese (for science!) and 2/3 a mix of Sausage/Pepper/Onion. I call it a "Detroit Hybrid" only because I also got a bunch of Wisconsin Brick cheese which is the go-to cheese on Detroit style pizzas for that delicious crust. First time I had seen it locally, so picked up a chonk of it. It's only used on the very edge of the pizza for a cheesy-crispy crust.

for those of you who haven't heard the news yet today out of SFFT (from the FT92 fan event). . . here are the highlights from the "ride" announcements. . tho they also announced the festivals (the International food festival last month - that was SO good, is coming back, and several new shows announced as well). - Kid Flash will be opening in October. Yes, the two tracks will have different names, but they haven't yet decided on them (my question to Jeffrey after event ended) - Wonder Woman phase 1 refurb is almost done, and will be reopening shortly, but with same trains (refurb work has been done on them). Phase 2 will take place in 2024, and will replace all 3 trains with the newer train design -better comfort collar and no seatbelt. -- the new slides in the waterpark, are behind schedule, tho parts are on site, and the opening has officially moved to 2024 -- Skyscreamer is getting a retheme - to Supergirl. - Thrill Seeker Park is no more! Besides the confirmed removal of the Pirate Playscape, and the Looney Tunes Theater (and the moving of Bucking Broncos over to by Iron Rattler). . the whole area will now be part of the DCUniverse! all rides getting rethemed: Rambling Road - will become Penguin themed Sky Searchers - will become Poison Ivy themed Streamliner Coaster - will become Batgirl themed Stunt Pilots - will become Green Lantern Themed PLUS there will be 3 new rides added: a Zamperla Nebulaz - Cyborg themed a 70foot "bounce" tower, with rotating seats - Shazam themed & a Monorail!!! Themed to Superman/Metropolis, that will start in the corner back where the theater was, and will travel overhead out to Batman, and then back around the DCU area. 4 car trains, with 4 passengers per car. . an almost 5 minute ride. I was there here are some pics! it's not quite September yet. . but some of the Fright Fest decorations are already out! let's take a peek at Kid Flash! Track complete, all LED lights affixed, and they are working on the station. As noted above, Jeffrey announced it's openi