Invertalon

Happy Pizza Day!

18" NY Style pie we made for NYE.

I think I've been to BGT 4 times over the years since FF has been there and never once see the thing run, let alone be open. Quite crazy they never figured the thing out.

Haha, I'd probably ride it just for the experience. I'm not a credit whore by any means and often skip boomerangs/SLC's/wild mice and the like everywhere we go, among other rides (S&S freespins, looking at you!)... BUT... This one intrigues me simply because it's the first. So I may just have to suffer through it I have ridden T3 and while it was quite the experience, the newer trains on that one did help. I think I actually found the one at Canada's Wonderland worse, probably just due to restraints. On a side note, we did come up with a "Plan B" if Walibi Belgium is not open the day we need... Simply drive a few hours south and go to Parc Asterix instead (which now we will do anyway as they already have released their operating calendar for 2023 and will be open!). Ideally, we do both though if we can.

Same as any other day, likely. Honestly, there used to be slow periods and times to visit in the past, but not anymore. It's just either busy or very busy, in my experience.

Currently in process of planning a trip mid to late May to the Netherlands/Germany/Belgium. When do the Walibi parks (Holland/Belgium) post their operating calendars for the year typically? Efteling, Phantasialand and Plopsaland, which are the other parks being planned on this trip, all seem (historically) open every day of the week come May, so no issues there... But both Walibi parks tend to be limited to just Thur-Sun or Fri-Sun in May and into June. This makes planning a bit more difficult between these two. Unless they were more limited this year due to COVID and such and typically open all week in May? Side question; I assume there is a train you can take from AMS central station to Walibi Holland without much issue? (Google was having issues with any route but driving...). We will be getting a car, but not until we depart AMS after a few days, unless we need sooner. EDIT: Did email Walibi Holland and they had emailed back saying the calendar would be released in March... Which is way too late for planning purposes for us. So worst case we skip Walibi Belgium if not open during the week at the end of May.

Most recent visit was Feb of this year. My previous visit a couple years ago was much better. Not sure what was up, but it certainly felt nothing like a CF park in regards to staffing/operations. As far as SFMM, which we have been to three times now the past few years, overall the experiences have been really good. The park is always really clean, staff is friendly. The big issue is ride downtime/maintenance, more than anything. Things are just constantly going down, especially our last visit... Oh, and X2 being closed 2/3 of those visits all day. But we also go off-peak times, so I have not seen that park with a decent sized crowd, so I have only experienced SFMM when it's practically dead.

I don't know if Knott's is really much better. It may be the lesser of two evils, but honestly, our last visit to Knott's was worse than SFMM. The crews were far slower, horrid capacity on everything (mega-stacking on Silver Bullet, Ghostride is insanity with how poor the crews are, etc...). I mean, some of the worst Cedar Fair operations I have experienced at any of their parks both visits. Employee's also looked completely miserable, everywhere. Complete opposite of SFMM, believe it or not, who had energetic crews having fun. It was night and day difference. You would have thought it would be the opposite. I dunno, neither are great for different reasons. Disneyland obviously will be best operation wise, but uh, it's Disney. So...

Continuing the pizza tour, this time in LA. We had only two days, so we chose to get to Joe's (basically the same, but not, of the original in NYC... But some lawsuits and other fun behind it all...!) and Apollonia's which is a highly regarded place in the area. Joe's was really good, but I do give the edge to the NYC OG, and not just because of it's location or anything. It just wow'd me a touch more. But still a stunning pie. Half cheese, half with fresh basil. Yum. Apollonia's was the second stop, and wow, SO good. The sicillian slices were amazing. One was pepperoni, garlic and basil, while the other was topped with garlic, olive oil, ricotta, mozzarella, pecorino romano, oregano, grape tomatoes, arugula and truffle oil. As good as it sounds. We also got two original NYC style slices, one cheese and one pepperoni. We both preferred the Apollonia's slices over Joe's of LA. If you ever find yourself in the area, go here! (Cash only!).

Visited SFMM on the 28th and unfortunately, yet again, X2 remain closed all day. Boo. Same deal when we were there back in January, so it’s a bummer we are 1 for 3 for X2 being open when we have visited, haha. Park was dead though, so we did ride everything else with little to no wait at all… Wonder Woman was a bit disappointing, I think I prefer the smaller raptors overall but don’t particularly like the style all that much. It just does little to nothing for me and far prefer Twisted Colossus within the park. It just feels a bit ‘carny’ ride to me, or something along those lines. I prefer a bit of refinement to my rides, or something? But I know I am an outlier with that opinion.

Was at BGT on Tuesday and thankfully was able to get on Iron Gwazi... It was up and running 2 trains just fine up until about 2 or so, when it went down. Eventually we went over and asked if it would reopen and was told it would not for the rest of the day. Bummer, as we wanted a few rides before heading out, but at least we got on in the morning a few times. IG by the way is easily my favorite RMC. Completely kills Vengeance in my mind, no question (I really, really hate the ending of Vengeance...). It was a stunning ride and took my #1 spot for RMC, at least. It was good redemption after riding Wonder Woman at SFMM days prior and how terrible that thing was... But yeah, even the trains were better than usual. RMC must have made some tweaks from many of their other rides so the shin bar isn't actually pressing against my shin, leaving a bit of room, so it doesn't feel like it will snap my leg in two during airtime moments like so many of their other rides. HUGE improvement there.

This one looks far better than a lot of the other smaller RMCs. Less of the abrupt jerky airtime and more fluid elements. I dig it.

Wrapped up night 1 of HHN last night. Really good time overall, was able to get through every house (and two we did twice) without express. Crowds were quite manageable for a HHN, surprisingly enough. The main houses peaked at 120-130 minute, but died down late and most others stuck between 30-45 most of the time between surges. As usual, wait times are typically inflated and end up 10-15 shorter than posted. Our max wait was Halloween at the very end of the night at 40 minutes (85 posted), but otherwise longest was 30-35 prior to that. Of course, Stay and Scream allowed us to get half the houses done in the first hour and a half, so that is always a must. Overall, my biggest complaint is having to hear the Weekend non-stop everywhere. Like seriously, it's horrible. The house is also OK at very best (same with Hollywood), but to play his music everywhere in the park is maximum level annoyance. Keep it in the specific house queue, sheesh. I must have heard Save Your Tears a solid dozen times or more. Anywayyyyyy. My three top houses were Descendants, Pier and Chupacabras. Bottom was Halloween and (first half) of Blumhouse. Rehashing of Halloween over and over does nothing for me and the house itself was very meh. The Black Phone portion of Blumhouse was really good, though. Should have been it's own full house. Zones are weak again this year. Not really much to say there. Love the food options, spent some time trying a few items and they were all quite good. Planning on more stuff tonight we didn't get to try yet. Back tonight for the final night and hoping crowds are like last night, or better!

Last night's NY Style Pizzas... Full 18" pies! Since trying them out proper in NYC, I began working on my NY style pies a bit more to mimic the appropriate textures/flavors. I ordered in the flour known to be mostly used (Trumps B&B flour), and I found an online company selling 50 lb bags at a fair price. It is a really great flour to work with! One was just three cheese (provolone, mozz and asiago) and the other banana pepper, olive and fresh fennel sausage. I was not originally planning on 18" (made the dough to make 2x 16"), but my new pizza screens arrived in and wanted to try them out. The dough worked out nicely into the full size needed, just on the thinner side, and I launched the screened pies directly onto the pizza steel in my oven at 550F (steel was reading 640F via IR thermometer). After a few minutes, removed the pizza from the screen and placed directly onto the steel to finish another few minutes. The texture was incredible. Super great crunch on the complete underside of the pie. A touch thin, as expected, but otherwise it was near perfect otherwise. The sauce was just crushed San Marzanos, sugar, oregano and a touch of garlic. Simple and delicious. We also did this one on Saturday... A proper Sicilian. Of course, had to buy a new pan for it (14x14" Lloyd) and did a 3-day sourdough fermented dough. Layers of provolone right on top of the dough, followed by a heavy dose of sauce (a bit too much, but we were in a saucy mood that day... haha) and of course the toppings. Next time I plan to get the good pepperoni and hand-cut them to make wonderful little thick pepperoni cups. But the bagged variants had to do this day! The crust was just phenomenal... Airy with a beautiful crunch on the bottom. It was next level!

Does Hollywood not sell express passes only on the website like Orlando? Am I missing something? It all looks like combo tickets only, with no option to just buy express for whatever night. We already have our tickets, so just wanted to look into what the express options were. We may look into that after 11pm express if we need it. Not sure it's worth (from what it appears) is $200+ for normal express passes per person... If we miss a house or two, so be it. But for the 11pm express option, can you buy those earlier in the night or do they go on sale at 11pm in the park?