disneyfan1313

Great report! I have this somewhat irrational fear of backwards coasters but I think I would give it a try! Oh... for those of you who were as curious as me, I found a decent video of Vanilla Ice from the opening. He actually doesn't sound or look horrible for a faded 90s star!

^ But that does bring up a good point. Are they going to cannibalize each other or are they different markets? I feel like 90 minutes away makes them the same market..but I could be wrong. Hopefully a local will chime in!

Wow! That POV really looks awesome! Amazing photos as always Hanno!

^ Do you think flats are what is needed? I feel the investment should go infrastructure, water park, iconic ride, then flats. Flats won't draw people in the gate or convince them to give it another try - but highlighting improvements might.

Thanks for another interesting TR of something that I wished I could have made it to! I did a chocolate festival years ago in NYC and was shocked at how expensive most of the items were (even by NYC prices!). I saw things were listed in "coins", how did the prices translate?

I"ve never done an internship, but I have had quite a few work for me and with me in the past. Best general advice I can give... - Work your butt off. Often you will be in a position where you won't have a ton of supervision and the easy way out is to wait for the work to come to you. Find projects, make a name for yourself. You should be working 3-times as hard as everyone else because you are competing for a job. - Don't assume the networking will come to you. You need to take the initiative to network and get your name out there, your boss will probably be too busy to assist. - Be professional. Your not in college so read over emails 2 or 3 times before sending them to make sure they sound like something you would send to executives in your company. Good luck!

^ I don't think it will ever be a "must-see destination" but it might get back up to being a decent regional park. I think down the road that they need to focus on way finding and layout issues. It would require some pretty big changes but they need it to feel like a more modern park... not just by adding rides but the overall image and feel.

^^ What Elissa said, and also avoid sailing out of a "third tier" port like Galveston, New Orleans, Charleston, Jax, etc. These are generally lower income and slightly trashier cruises.

Thanks for putting these TRs together in a different way, looking more through the eyes of Klaire! And random fair and carny rides are also always fun to see.

I gotta say watching that testing video really has me intrigued! I hadn't been following it that closely and didn't know that they were putting a decent level of theming throughout. Love it!

^Agreed! It is all about fun! I'm lazy and also don't really care about my numbers that much so I just go by "whatever is in coaster-counter.com" as my general rule. I do generally feel that multi-tracks do count as two credits (hey! I like riding both sides of Primeval Whirl!) and I also will count rides like Journey to Atlantis that have a decent sized "coaster" segment.

So the first year investment is only 15.6 million? That is quite a bit lower than I expected... I'm guessing that figure is simply to get the park going again?

Looks like Sea World is getting rid of plastic shopping bags at all of its parks! While this is a good idea from an environmental perspective, I really don't think that paper bags are a viable alternative in Florida with our frequent summer rains and the amount of rides and attractions that include water. These bags will just fall apart!

Is it just me or do some of these slides at smaller parks and resorts seem to be just "built" and not engineered. I realize they *have* to be engineered on some level but they seem a bit more thrown together and scary!

I am cautiously optimistic! I have a feeling that the "bubble" was a bit of a wake up call to most of these developers and we will see a bit more of a conservative building strategy going forward. I can't wait to see what appears in this area in 5-10 years!

So one of the things that I love about RCCL is the large variety of random activities. I had never heard about this before - but it looks like there is a "Prohibition Party" that is featured on Allure to tie into Chicago. There are not many details about it online, but I found this blurb from a trip report - how cool does this sound!?!?! So what do you think? Is it something that you would try?

Thanks for the photos! There really is something eery about seeing an abandoned amusement park!

I would love to be positive about this, but you still hear a TON of stories out of Russia about deep corruption, money laundering, etc. I kinda have a bad feeling that this will be a Hard Rock Park type of situation.

I *hate* Jimmy Buffet - but this actually makes a ton of sense. It's such a popular "brand" and fits in perfectly with the Caribbean itineraries. Plus I know fanatical buffet people who would sail on this ship just to get a "credit".

Some *great* photos! It really brings back the memories with Knobels - that ERT was phenomenal! I still watch that video and am amazed that happened... that is truly what makes TPR trips awesome!

Is it just me or does it look like this park is missing some of the theming and "story" that Aquatica Orlando has? I guess it will be tough to tell until it opens and we get a full TR, but it just seems to be focusing on the bright colors more than the "tropical" atmosphere in the concept art.

^ It does seem like it has happened quite a bit recently, but perhaps it is just more media exposure than it has had in the past. It does seem like it must have been REALLY small if it didn't cause any timing issues with the cruise.

Thanks for the great photos! Even though I have seen a few TRs in the past about Port Aventura, I had no idea that sections of it looked so much like IOA! The entrance to the Sesame Street area looks suspiciously like Seuss Landing and the restaurant area with the boat ride looks somewhat like Jurassic Park. Does it look like IOA in person also?

Isn't the melting point of soft serve significantly faster than regular ice cream also? I feel like its always starting to melt down my hand instantly after ordering on a hot summer day.

So that comparison video really does show off the speed, but doesn't it look almost as rough as it was in most parts? I expect a classic woodie to be rough, but I don't want to feel that I could possibly be injured.... did this smooth it more than it seems in the video?