A.J.

I think that they're Intamin, they look just like the ones on El Toro and T Express.

I'll be heading to Legoland next weekend! Here's mine! http://support.gktw.org/site/TR/CoastingForKids/General?px=1405148&pg=personal&fr_id=1882

Oh dear. Untamed and Goliath are what I'm most looking forward to when I go there in mid-summer, but it would be a shame to miss Lost Gravity!

Check out this video ad for Colossos. It would appear that they've given it a new set of trains!

I've been reading some reports that Lost Gravity is down waiting for some new parts. Has anyone else heard about this?

I'm picking a new lens out - specifically for theme park stuff, any photography people have preference between a XX-200 vs XX-300 zoom lens? I want to think that having that extra reach is important with the 300mm zoom when snapping stuff like far away moving roller coasters, but I'm fearful of camera shake and loss of image quality above 200mm.

I like it too, I could just never really figure out what was going on and what it was supposed to mean!

I hereby hijack this thread in the name of Knoebels. Bill, will you second that?

Oh how I wish I had the extra vacation days to take off, because I would totally take you up on that if I did.

Episode 4: "I Hashtag Took On Tigris" or "This Was a Bad Idea, But I'm An Annual Passholder, So Who Cares?" Yesterday, with my Walt Disney World annual pass on its last block-out weekend until the late-season, I got in my car and drove down to Busch Gardens Tampa again, my third time so far. The new hotness, Tigris, had grand opened the day before. Tigris would be my first brand-new coaster since I went to Hersheypark over Memorial Day weekend to ride the original incarnation of Skyrush! Obviously, being Easter weekend, the park was absolutely packed. When I left at 5 PM, the main parking lot had been closed and people were being routed to the Adventure Island lot which also looked nearly full. Had I not been visiting on my annual pass I would have definitely invested in Quick Queue. Also, yesterday was very windy - the Skyride did not open at all, and Falcon's Fury did not open until the middle of the afternoon. I was at the ticketing areas at around forty minutes before opening, and by the time they opened the security checkpoint, the lines were already way far behind. I joined the gaggle in CASUALLY WALKING to Tigris (I was pleasantly surprised that the vast majority of people did not run). Tigris! It's a brand-new coaster! Tigris is pretty good! It rides decently well, the hangtime is really fun, and the colors look great. But everyone's probably asking, what about the comfort collars? Disclaimer, I'm a very small guy. While I could see them in my field of vision, I did not feel them on my body at all. They're basically two floppy rubber straps joined together that hook with a carabiner-like connection on the lap restraint itself. They kind of are just... there. However, the real problem with them and the trains themselves is that you basically have to be a contortionist to get in and out. Ingress and egress are ridiculously tight - the slightly heavier-set woman that rode next to me had some problems. The lap restraints are very large and their "open" position is not far forward at all, plus you have to lift up the comfort collar as you are about to seat yourself. Once you get seated it's a comfortable enough experience but getting there is a challenge. There's a post on the roller coasters subreddit showing that one of the headrests is now bent already because someone held onto it for leverage as they boarded, I rode too far back from the front row to notice. Anyway, here are photos from the rest of the day! I waited 25 minutes or so, but by the time I got off the wait had swelled to two hours. Later in the day it was fluctuating between 45 and 60 minutes. Tigris, THROUGH THE TREES! Except this time it's actually built all the way! Kumba (Happy 26th birthday!) recently received a fresh coat of paint and it looks absolutely gorgeous. My first ride in the mid-morning was almost a walk-on, but when I rode later in the afternoon I probably waited over a half hour! I've never seen it with that kind of queue! Kumba is still absolutely insane and it still remains my favorite coaster in the park. I'm gradually making my way to the back row, Bill, I got to row 5 yesterday! That roll is unreal in any seat. Montu is still excellent but, yet again, the harness wouldn't go down enough on my shrimpy body. Falling into the harness is not fun. I visited two or three months ago on a whim and SheiKra had been down for scheduled maintenance. I waited the longest for it today and it didn't disappoint. Don't look down! Another thing with SheiKra is that whomever designed it didn't seem to take into consideration that, in the mid-afternoon, when you go up the lift hill, you're basically staring directly into the sun! I had to hold my hand in front of my face! Over to Cheetah Hunt now, which I didn't get to ride because the wait was bonkers for the entire day. Does anyone know about this? It's a support that goes nowhere! Nowhere near as immersive as Kilimanjaro Safaris, but hey, I'll take it! One more good one of Cheetah Hunt to round it out.

The park is crowded today, and some of the coasters are being temperamental, but Tigris is pretty good!

Ooof. That one hurt.

You act as if the majority of Busch Gardens Tampa's guests know what a Tempesto even is.

The airtime is still awesome, the roll is still fun, and the general whip of the ride is great. But those valleys are really rough, my body was getting jerked around. Still a good ride overall but I wouldn't re-ride it like I would White Lightning.

Mine Blower yesterday. Goodness, that thing needs some work.

I updated the announcement post with Farup's official on-ride NoLimits video of Saven. Here it is!

Hey everyone, Farup Sommerland has announced a new coaster for the 2020 season - Saven, a custom Vekoma family boomerang! Translated, as the info is so far only available in Danish: The park has also done a complete overhaul to their website. Check it out! https://www.faarupsommerland.dk/da/oplev/saven/ Sheesh, if Djurs and / or Tivoli Gardens get new stuff for 2020 as well I might make another trip to Europe next year!

That's a fair assumption. I recall that when Gerstlauer did the refurbishment on Sooperdooperlooper at Hersheypark (which also included new trains), they added a string of magnetic brakes at the end.

It's a pretty decent ride! Kind of like the "SLC" of regular sit-down coasters. It makes me wonder why it was never cloned like the SLCs were.

Never, ever let one person's opinion dictate how you feel about a park, ride, or experience before you get to go there yourself. For all you know your favorite coaster could end up being Puff The Little Fire Dragon.

You forgot to add #4 - just don't ride it and your body will thank you later.

Still well within the threshold of what I'll pay to play at Knoebels any day. It certainly won't stop me from spending my Memorial Day weekend there this year!

Energylandia has released a new drone footage video showing just how packed the park is now:

From what I understand, this IS a new policy. They're currently offering it on Avatar Flight of Passage. A guest can ask the cast member at the "pulse" point in the caves area for the pass (which is a lanyard with a plastic card), then the guest goes out to use the restroom and waits at the merge point for their party (EDIT: after re-entering through the FastPass Plus entrance). If you've ridden Avatar Flight of Passage lately you'll notice a gaggle of people that hang out near the exit doors before the link chambers. I'm pretty sure those are people who have returned with their passes. Time will tell if people start taking advantage of it (in a bad way), but someone will probably figure it out sooner or later.

Robb already posted a front-seat on-ride video, but how about one from the back car? A Japanese YouTube user posted this video a few days ago.