A.J.

Ugh, they're still doing this after all this time? I thought they'd be better by now.

Yep, I read that too. Truly a Bizarro world we're living in right now.

The ride was reportedly down for the entire day yesterday.

Good, you're going on a weekday. That should help you somewhat. You'll want to attempt to get a boarding group at the 10 AM opening. If the ride goes down in the morning / early afternoon, they will continue to backlog boarding groups that have not gone yet, so getting a group for the 2 PM distribution might mean you're still waiting a while. Ask the folks at your hotel when the shuttles depart for Hollywood Studios and plan accordingly. But after you get there and snag your boarding group, you needn't feel any pressure to "get everything done"... You can relax and rove around at your own pace. Even on weekends, the queues are never unreasonable.

They likely closed it partially due to its reliance on live performances to actually make sense. With the Hollywood version, they can tack it onto the end of the Studio Tour, whatever. But to make that "whatever" work as a standalone experience, they have to either A) create an extended ride film or B) have a great big old exposition dump before you board. They took option B and designed the ride's pre-show experience based on a gaggle of people surrounding a live performance actor. The pre-show is LONG and necessary to "get" the ride, so it probably isn't the safest place for people to be right now, even with COVID safety procedures. The Orlando parks in general have been cutting live performances / shows all over the place. At least with the Hollywood version, the tour driver can be at least somewhat isolated from other guests, but here, they can't be unless they decide to put the pre-show actor in a snow globe. There are people I know who are insanely proud of the work they did on that ride, on both coasts.

^ Two free slices of Cesari's pizza with the Phunfest Combo. Worth it.

When are you going, and are you staying onsite? I'm 1 for 1 based on my last weekend trip, though due to extended downtime in the morning, I wasn't able to return until late afternoon / early evening.

Yeah... I would be legitimately surprised if the in-person IAAPA Expo even happened this year. Asia recently went digital and it was apparently more successful than anticipated. Just because the expo might not happen in person doesn't mean that negotiations and deals still aren't happening. I wouldn't get discouraged... yet.

If I'm not mistaken, both Zamperla and SBF include automatic ride programs that don't go upside down. Saves power, I'm assuming.

I think the double spine makes it look more intimidating... and kind of wonky. It's Intamin though, it'll be really good. I really like the forest green track color.

Six Flags has announced their results for the second quarter of 2020. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200729005096/en/Flags-Announces-Quarter-Earnings

Based on posted images from a local ACE member, the trough will no longer travel upward through that last curve to the first brake run, instead, it will remain at level and move into a lift. If they're doing this it means that the last switchback section may have been a potential point of valleying... This will help with that and give them a higher range of speed with which they can operate it. They've always said that the coaster can't run with guests unless it consistently passes a number of speed checks throughout the circuit.

Hey everyone - I'm sure you may have seen these making the rounds earlier today... Intamin has presented four new roller coaster concepts. First we have a new single-rail, inline-seating racing coaster concept called the Hot Racer. Second, a super-compact multi-launch LSM coaster. And third and fourth, two single-rail water coasters - one a full circuit and one a shuttle like the Mack Power Splash. Annndddd. ready, go! Discuss!

That ridge that the Scenic Skyway goes up is really steep... It would be cool but I don't think it would be suitable for a mountain coaster or alpine slide. Now, Knoebels with a Bobkart? Whoo boy.

As soon as they told us to put the goody bags that they had just given us ten minutes before into the paid lockers at Hyperion, I knew how the day was going to go.

It's not perfect, and not every park officially reports their numbers, but the report is sound enough that it's used as a resource by many in decision-making processes. It's been going for a long while now. This reporting is put together by AECOM, a multi-national firm with deep ties to the technical side of the business, and the Themed Entertainment Association, one of the most prominent professional associations in the business (the first being the IAAPA), and the most prominent for creatives. They address concerns each year near the end of the report. Some highlights: Full disclosure. I'm not affiliated with AECOM. I am with the TEA but I do not speak as a representative for them. I did not participate in any of the research nor was I part of the team that put the report together or did QA / QC / GP on it. While I can't promise that the reporting is always completely accurate, I do not believe that their intention is to mislead anyone. I can't speak to any allegations that they mess with numbers they've received from official sources. All I care about is that, despite the competition, it is important for everyone in the theme park world to understand what's working, and what isn't working, to continue to grow.

Galaxy's Edge was there for seven months, but Rise of the Resistance was not. That had to have contributed somewhat. I can see people putting off trips for that reason. Personally I'd compare the Universal Orlando parks to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios before I'd compare them to Magic Kingdom. Both sets of parks are two big theme parks, within spitting distance of each other, with straightforward access to their companion resort hotels. You can get to either Disney park easily from Boardwalk and Yacht / Beach Club, and you can get to either Universal park easily from Hard Rock and Royal Pacific.

The Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) and AECOM have released the 2019 annual attendance report and Theme Index! Click HERE to check it out, as well as former years! Top 25 Amusement & Theme Parks Worldwide 1. Magic Kingdom (Walt Disney World) - 20.963 million (+0.5%) 2. Disneyland Park (Disneyland) - 18.666 million (stable) 3. Tokyo Disneyland (Tokyo Disney Resort) - 17.910 million (stable) 4. Tokyo DisneySea (Tokyo Disney Resort) - 14.650 million (stable) 5. Universal Studios Japan - 14.500 million (stable) 6. Disney's Animal Kingdom (Walt Disney World) - 13.888 million (+1%) 7. EPCOT (Walt Disney World) - 12.444 million (stable) 8. Chimelong Ocean Kingdom - 11.736 million (+8.4%) 9. Disney's Hollywood Studios (Walt Disney World) - 11.483 million (+2%) 10. Shanghai Disneyland - 11.210 million (-5%) 11. Universal Studios Florida (Universal Orlando) - 10.922 million (+2%) 12. Islands of Adventure (Universal Orlando) - 10.375 million (+6%) 13. Disney California Adventure (Disneyland) - 9.861 million (stable) 14. Disneyland Park (Disneyland Paris) - 9.745 million (-1%) 15. Universal Studios Hollywood - 9.147 million (stable) 16. Everland - 6.606 million (+12.9%) 17. Lotte World - 5.953 million (-0.1%) 18. Nagashima Spa Land - 5.950 million (+0.5%) 19. Europa Park - 5.750 million (+0.5%) 20. Ocean Park - 5.700 million (-1.7%) 21. Hong Kong Disneyland - 5.695 million (-15%) 22. Efteling - 5.400 million (stable) 23. Walt Disney Studios Park (Disneyland Paris) - 5.245 million (-1%) 24. Happy Valley Beijing - 5.160 million (+29.6%, new to global top 25) 25. Chimelong Paradise - 4.905 million (+4.8%) Now, discuss! More images and info from the release will be coming later.

Based on our government's recent track record, I think they will.

There's also the possibility that whatever B&M ended up designing / manufacturing for SeaWorld Orlando could end up somewhere else.

No it shouldn't have. Roller coasters aren't the answer to every theme park's problems.

Completely makes sense, thanks for chiming in.

So, how many overrides would an operator have to make to get the coaster to dispatch in that situation? And how many giant flashing "harness open" warnings was the operator ignoring to do so? I have trouble believing this. EDIT: Whoa whoa, he wants to sue Intamin too?!?

Bad news unfortunately, they're pushing any and all game elements to the Play Disney Parks app, including the Space Mountain games. The queue is just ambient screens now.

At this point they should just re-do Wildcat so that people would stop asking them to re-do Wildcat.