griffon

Day 3: Monday 4/23 - All the Disney you can handle On Monday, I was on a mission. Erin was in a vendor show all day, so I had time to myself to conquer as many Disney attractions as possible. I had been strategizing my plan of attack with a few friends before the trip, and the plan we came up with worked perfect. I left on the shuttle at 8:15am, went to all 4 parks, and didn't get back until after 11:00pm. I was exhausted, and my fairly new socks had holes worn in the heels by the end of the day, but I managed to hit every major attraction in all 4 parks. I would say the highlights were Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, and Expedition Everest. Space Mountain was much longer than I remember, and overall a great ride. Tower of Terror was such a cool ride, even before you get to the freefall part. I really didn't know what to expect, and it was great. Expedition Everest is actually in a class of it's own for me. I've never been much of a fan of themed rides. I've always said I wish parks would spend more money and build bigger, longer rides rather than spend the money on theming, but I really think they did Everest perfectly. Another thing that got me was that I was expecting it to be more of a tame ride than it was. There were some really good g-forces in the first backwards section, and again in the helix. Then shooting up by that Yeti at the end with his hair blowing in the wind reaching down at you was amazing. I had 4 consecutive rides on Everest at the end of the night as the crowds were leaving, and the line disappeared, and that really had me feeling that this is a great, solid ride. After Animal Kingdom, I hung out at Epcot for a while as the sun went down and pretty much just took pictures there. The only ride I wanted to get on, but didn't, was Soarin'. It came down to either food, or soarin' and anyone who has been with me to a theme park knows which one of those two would have priority. I ate a nice meal and then watched the fireworks. So long Disney Epcot from across the lake Awesome lighting At this point the sun was going down, which is the best time to get pictures And lastly, on to Epcot. I thought test track was really cool I took a ride on the safari tour, but was not very impressed with it Only one side of Primeval whirl was open, so unfortunately I missed out on a credit here Cresting the top of the mountain helix of awesomeness The runout before the 2nd lift I know I've seen this shot before Props in line Everest queue line theming was great. I love the way the mountain really blends in with the background close up coming out of the mountain There's really only one thing to take pictures of here. That's Everest. Definitely my favorite ride at all Disney parks After a long wait for the shuttle, it was off to Animal Kingdom Tower of Terror queue line theming Tower of Terror was awesome. This was my first time on the ride, and I wish I had more time to ride it again And I managed to sneak a shot in the exit area. The train isn't launching, I just used a slow shutter speed. I like the theming outside the entrance Rockin' Roller Coaster was great, and much smoother than I expected. Now it's on to MGM. Only a couple things here to ride, so I was only in the park for about an hour I think the lighting was really great on this shot Some castle and flower pictures for castle and flower lovers I was amazed at the 2 train operation on Barnstormer. Big Thunder train The theming is really great I rode Big Thunder Mtn as a kid, but riding it again this week really proved this is such a great coaster. I think I need some help with a caption for this one The overexposed Grand Floridian resort Cool shot of Space Mtn and one of the boats Starting off at Magic Kingdom, I was able to get there before the gates opened.

Universal Orlando Pics After we checked into the hotel, Erin and I both spent a few hours on Sunday at Universal Studios. I've never spent much time in this park, and haven't been to Florida since before Revenge of the Mummy was built. The crowds weren't too bad for a weekend afternoon, we waited about 20 minutes for Mummy, which I thought was a really great ride. There were a couple spots of really good airtime, and the launched lift was a surprise to me. I've also heard it was a short ride, but I didn't think the length was bad at all. We also got on E.T. and MIB for the first time, which were both decent. And the Nuthouse Coaster kids credit. So long, Universal I don't know exactly what that sign was for The MIB ride. I wasn't so impressed with this, actually. I expected it to be exciting, but it turned out to be more of a kids attraction (in my opinion) Back to the Future Theming. I wonder if this will stay in the park New credits are always a plus! Hey look, we're in... wait a minute I wasn't on a plane that long Until I snapped a quick photo of the trains. The only photo ever seen of Mummy Streets of Universal The streets at Universal are really cool to walk around. However, there just isn't much to "do" for someone like me who wants to keep moving to the next ride Twister was not so impressive

Day 2: Sunday 4/22- Flight to Orlando, and Resort photos Sunday morning our flight left Richmond at 8am. I've never flown to Florida before, and it was really nice to only be in the air for 1.5 hours, and then have the whole rest of the day to do whatever. We arrived, and checked into the Gaylord Palms resort (on her company's tab ). This place was really amazing. The resort was divided into 3 different "atriums" that represent different areas of Florida. The atriums were surrounded by guest rooms with balconies, and all of it was enclosed with a huge glass roof. The indoor areas were climate controlled to make you feel like you're outside in perfect weather. And, as you can see from the pictures, the whole place was massive. The pictures I got were just in the hotel side of the resort. There was a whole other convention side separated by 2 outdoor pools, a mini-golf course and volleyball courts. I could have spent a day or two just wandering around the place, but with a tight theme park schedule, I only managed to get a handfull of pictures while passing through. And, the highlight of our room... shower head passes the test! But this was the view from our window. Having the world's tallest skycoaster in the background ain't too bad Our room was in the Key West section, but we didn't have a view of the inside of the hotel A view of the main lobby and check-in area I don't remember who they were, but they sounded pretty good. On Sunday night they had a small concert in the main area. The second, "family" pool with a cool water slide. Unfortunately I didn't have time to go swimming One of 2 outdoor pools Overhead view of the Everglades area This was a restaurant in the Everglades atrium. Alligators chillin' in the sun And alligators! Although they didn't move around too much There were several waterfalls around the resort Balcony in St. Augustine area More sand sculptures Key West Atrium with sand sculptures St Augustine Atrium inside the hotel. You can see the guest rooms along the walls Our hotel for the week. This place was really amazing Hello MCO Getting into Florida After a mostly cloudy and cold month in Virginia, I can finally leave the clouds behind for a little while. Ready for vacation Now I remember why I don't like to fly. It's been about 10 years since I was on a plane

This past week my girlfriend, Erin, had to go on a business trip to Orlando, so I decided to take the week off to go down with her and make the most of it! The whole trip was absolutely amazing, with short lines at the parks, temperatures in the mid 80s and nothing but sun the entire time. Very low humidity too. Since our flight didn’t leave until Sunday morning, I actually drove down to Busch Gardens Europe for a few hours on Saturday and got some additional pictures of Griffon from the skyride. The next day we took off for Florida. It’s been about 13 years since I’ve been to any Disney park, so I made sure to get all the new credits that I’ve been missing out on. We also took a day and went down to Busch Gardens Tampa. Oh, and of course we made time for the Universal parks. I realize that as I get older I won’t have the ability to do things like visit all 4 Disney parks in one day. I’ve heard it was impossible to do, but I definitely accomplished it on Monday. Overall we ended up with 61 rides, 24 coasters, and 9 new credits for the list. I took about 1000 pictures, so I’m sure they can cover the rest. This was definitely a memorable vacation. Day 1: Saturday 4/21- Busch Gardens Europe Close up of the trains. Those end seats are really going to be great. Hopefully we'll know for sure soon. The train sat here at the bottom of the lift the whole time I was in the park. Apparently Griff started testing as soon as I left for the day. Go figure. New wood at Busch Gardens Europe! Actually, that wouldn't be such a good thing. I wish more parks had trains. They're a great attraction when parks get crowded Loch Ness again Loch Ness through the woods This duck was like.. why you puttin' that camera all up in my grilll??? A view of the station queue area. Hopefully this will be an airtime hill. I have a feeling we'll find out soon Final turnaround before the brakes Station area New Griffon splash pool. You can see the viewing area is almost complete. Should be close enough to get a good splash from the train too. Alpengeist flies by Hey look, it's Top Gun Man! I've found the secret to how Busch Gardens keeps "America's Most Beautiful Theme Park" clean. I've never seen one of these in a park before. Decided to start the trip with a beautiful morning at Busch Gardens Europe

Just thinking about something like this happening is unheard of. It’s pretty clear that this individual had some issues beyond just being an outcast in society. To premeditate something of this nature requires an incredible amount of emotional instability which has to be caused by a huge number of factors. I’m sure there will be more revealed about this person in the coming days, but seriously, all the news coverage now just makes it worse. The only thing anybody has left to focus on is where to point fingers and that’s not fair at all. I personally don’t think the school did anything wrong by allowing classes to continue. Think about it. The first shooting occurred in a dorm. If classes were cancelled, it would essentially leave the entire population of students in the dorms. If the campus had been put on lockdown, and more shootings occurred in another dorm room or building, then the school would be blamed for not releasing the students and essentially isolating the population in what was (at the time) considered the highest risk area. The fact is that this was a planned event, carried out by an unstable individual and the only way it would not have happened is if this person was removed from society to begin with – which there may or may not have been reason to do in the past. Now, it seems like everyone is looking for resolution. I don’t want to sound insensitive about it, and it sounds bad for me to say this, but I feel like the only real resolution that anyone is going to get is the fact that the person responsible is no longer around to carry out another event of this nature. That’s it. Everything else is just speculation, and there’s no reason to point fingers. It’s proof that there is an inherent risk in being alive, and, in a way it makes life more valuable. Because you never know... I do agree that things can be learned from this, and improvements can be made for the future, and I’m supportive of that. I just don’t think it’s right for society to place blame on each other, when really we should all be in this together and look to move forward. I feel lucky in a way to not have known anyone affected by this, because so many in this area are affected in many ways. I have family and friends who went to school at Va. Tech, but I know very few people there now. Regardless, I just wanted to take the opportunity to say that my sympathies go out to all those affected, and hope that this doesn't initiate a common trend in America

I have to say that picture of Tennessee Tornado is really awesome! It's always better to be in a park with light crowds, but when I find myself in that situation now I just end up taking more pictures rather than waiting in lines. Sometimes it compensates, but usually not. Regardless, thanks for sharing the pics, they were nice.

^^I'm glad someone got a picture of that signage for the record I went to the park to get my pass processed this morning, and jumped on a couple rides before heading out. Coasters in 40 degree weather are not too amusing, but... I did find some amusement in the gift shops today. Apparently this merchandise has been around for a while, but I never noticed them before and found it all rather strange being in a Cedar Fair park now. Take that photo boy... your image number is 5780. Please remember to view your photo on the internet after you get off work Back of the Media Day T-Shirt. They must have dug up some old boxes and just threw whatever was left out in the gift shops. And now... the diamond in the rough... A 1998 Volcano Media Day T-Shirt for $4.76 - Score! For that price, I was enough of a nerd to buy one. Can't afford to loose out on profits from the huge Soap Opera enthusiast market I swear I've seen something very similar to this before. *scratches head* Can't think of where it might have been... Can anyone give me one good reason why someone would buy one of these? Just one... I've seen these shirts in Trip Reports from Carowinds, but I was shocked to see them at KD too!

Wow, I'm shocked you braved the weather today to get out to the park! I was there last night and it was cold, but still packed with people for the most part. I contemplated going today, but decided against it; I heard they opened at noon, and I figured that Alpie and Apollo wouldn't be running (under 40 degrees), so I stayed home. I love that picture of Le Scoot! Bet you can't find many of those out there.

I got off work early on Friday, and couldn't think of a better use of time than to go down to Busch Gardens for the evening and take some pictures. I didn't think it would be necessary to post a separate TR, so I'll add the Griffon update on here. They were doing lots of work in the area and didn't start testing the ride until around 7:30 right as it was getting dark, so I don't have any good pictures of the trains. I was playing around with the shutter speed at first trying to get a good shot of the water splash, but most of them are not very impressive. I also got a sneak look into the entrance area while the construction crew was leaving. A couple of the guys saw I was taking pictures and offered to let me into the gate for a minute to get some shots, so I got a short preview of the bridge progress and it looks like it's coming along well. Couple other things I caught were the mesh nets being put up around the final turnaround (boooo ). Also they were testing the evacuation car on the lift all afternoon just moving it up and down. So basically things are getting ready. And I got some pretty sweet distant shots at night from one of the bridges (can't remember the name off hand) near BBW. Loch Ness and Griffon from across the park. Had to use a little photoshop to get some color in this shot Water splash. Unfortunately it was a lot darker than it looks in the picture and that's about the only shot I could get Landscaping by the first drop These guys are my new friends Thankfully I was able to zoom in and see what he was up to... hey, that's not right Evacuation car on the lift. What's that guy doing up there anyway? If you are looking for someone to blame for the article nets, send complaints to this guy. Loose article nets being installed. Bad for photographers, but good for people eating right next to the track

^ yea I go by the one in Williamsburg all the time, it looks really cool too. I didn't realize they were different sizes, the only other one I have seen is in Sandusky, and it looks about the same as Williamsburg's although I've never paid that much attention. I enjoyed your photos though.

It's the "sinkers and floaters" event from MXC! That's awesome, except it shouldn't have the rope bars above the pool. I've never been to one of these places, but it looks like a lot of fun. sweetness

I just uploaded a video on the videographer forum of the footage I got today of Griffon testing... for those of you who might be interested. Of course the cloudiness that lingers around me was also present, and it makes the video a little less dramatic than it should be. However, I didn't take the footage with my cell phone, and I did not include any music so you can hear all the wonderfully muffled sounds that Griffon makes throughout the course of the ride. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=358697#358697

So, is it safe to say you have paid your final respects to Hypersonic Ride of Pain like I did last year? Also, that last picture of Volcano's line is both scary and exciting at the same time. I think I'm a little disappointed now there weren't more changes. I'm glad you got some good pictures despite the clouds though, thanks for the update!

Cool trip report, Chuck, and nice pictures as usual. I think the light crowds will come in handy this year given the park really doesn't have any true people movers. I'm also looking forward to getting back onto FOF this year... it's been a while. Thanks again for the update

I got a great deal on a laptop recently that has Vista, and I was a little worried at first because several things had to be upgraded in order to make it work. The biggest thing was the router, since my old router apparently had gone out of production (It's only a year old), and they didn't have updated drivers for it. I had to buy a whole new one in order for it to work with Vista. Some other software had to be updated or replaced, but now it's running very smooth I'm starting to like it more. One thing I really like is the video capture tool that comes with Vista Media edition. It's captures DV tapes (and I'm sure other sources) with excellent quality, I can't wait to start making some videos this year.

^^no need to go that far . I seriously don't think the park sat around this winter and said "lets annoy as many people as we can this year!" I see where they're just trying to make things efficient. Most people carry around all kinds of crap they don't need and take 20 minutes littering their articles all over the exit side of the station before getting on the train...and they are the ones who will get the most irate about it. On a side note, I really feel bad for the operators this year who will have to be at the entrance(s) to the rides.

^ yea Apollo was the first ride they actually wouldn't let me through with my bag, so I kinda just wanted to see what they would say to me. For what it's worth, here's my input on the new bag policy: First, I've always had a great deal of respect for the park, and that won't change just because of one new rule. Their reasoning behind it is to keep lines moving faster, and keep associates more focused on their jobs rather than having to deal with everyone else's belongings. In theory it should speed things up, which would be a great benefit to all of us. The main issue I think is that this is a regional park. I would expect a policy like this in places like Universal and Disney where most guests will only visit once a year, and the lines are always long so it really does help everything move faster. But at BGW you can tell that a large percentage of their business is based on the local population. There are nerds like me who will visit the park 15-20 times a year, and even show up when it's snowing! Although I'm not a professional by any stretch of the imagination, the pictures I take still promote publicity and advertise the park, which in my opinion they should be thanking me for, rather than inconveniencing me for trying. But, I'm just one person and I realize I don't represent the millions of people who visit the park each year. All that said, I will find a way around it. I mentioned to my buddies in the park that if I have to dig a secret hole in the ground behind a bush at the entrance of each ride, I will do that and hide my bag there each time . Actually I probably won't go that far. But it does prove that there are other options to consider.

I think I'm going to spend the entire summer on the sky ride from New France to Germany and hope that it stalls in the Griffon ride area. Clearly there will be some amazing photo opportunities from there.

... glad you guys like the pictures. I wish I could have gotten a better variety of some of the other rides, but I will when the weather is nicer. As far as the ACE- informal meet up. I have no idea, but I'm sure somebody does.

Finally... the day I've been waiting for all winter Starting off from home it was about 35 degrees when my girlfriend and I left and headed down to Busch Gardens to get there at open. Skies were blue as we pulled into the park, and it really felt at first like it was going to warm up as the day went on. We met up with Jeff [pkdcoaster] and later Chuck [cfc] in the park, and headed first to the Griffon construction area to check on the progress. The ride itself looks really amazing, and the central location makes it very visible from almost anywhere in the park. We got a few pictures, and then tried to head over to Alpengeist which had not started testing yet. Bummer. Ok... so on to the first ride of the season, DarKastle. The walk-on line made it worth the wait this time. No changes to report here. Next we rode the Wolf which Jeff points out was running noticeably smoother than in previous experiences. I'm sure he can elaborate if needed. After the Wolf we headed to Apollo. The crowds were really starting to pour in at this point, and the wait was already up to about 25 minutes. By the time we got on the back row it had become very cloudy, and we noticed some snow flurries while going up the lift. In celebration of his first coaster ride in the snow, Jeff entertained the train by singing his classic rendition of "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas" throughout the ride. From there the weather just seemed to get colder and darker, and there were snow flurries off and on throughout the rest of the afternoon. I tried to get some food in the Festhaus later on, but discovered that about half of the population of guests had taken shelter there, and there was not a seat in the house. We eventually got a ride on Alpengeist and Nessie in the afternoon, but the combination of weather and crowds cut our day short, so we ended up leaving around 3. As far as changes to the park: The new touch and go entry system was a breeze for me, although I noticed some people had more difficulty than others getting their fingers to scan. From the short period of time I was there, everything seemed to be very smooth, so hopefully this will make wait times shorter getting into the park. The big new policy this year is that Busch is no longer allowing any type of bags in to the queue lines of most attractions. This causes some major problems for me since I enjoy taking pictures at the park, and my camera equipment has to be carried in a bag. Basically, with the new policy I have to pay a dollar to put my bag in a locker for every ride I get on. I don’t know how other people feel about this, but I imagine during the summer it will cause some issues. I know some other parks do this at certain rides, and I do understand the reasoning behind it, but now being put in this position at my home park feels like a real inconvenience, and I hope it will be reconsidered down the road, but we’ll see. I’ll have to find a way to deal with it for now, but I’m not real excited about it. So I only got a few pictures today. Not a great variety as the weather turned pretty crappy, it wasn’t worth trying to get all the quality shots, but here are some photos from the day and some captions. Hope you enjoy! I'll be back! until next time... Griffon 2nd drop I spent some time trying to line this shot up, and it came out overexposed and interesting at the same time. Lots of people were in the Griffon ride area getting ready for testing Jeff: "I'm having a good time!" Chuck: "I'm having a good time????" Girl in middle: "I'll kill you all" Nessie snaking through the woods New Skyline Here's where the ride really looks massive! Notice the supports have to extend into the side of the slope Can't wait to be up there An overall view of the drop and 1st Immelman Griffon towers over everything in the park and can be seen from so many places. Can't wait for trains to be flying through this area El Griffon looks sweet! Sunny Ireland Welcome to Ireland on St Patrick's Day. Unfortunately, not the best day for kilts. Only a couple more weeks left to get this shot Park entrance in the morning It sure looks like it's about 90 degrees from this picture

^ I have to agree with you on that about the Flash Pass/ QBot slowing everything down. These types of VIP tours won't have much of an impact on lines though, so I don't see why most people would care. It seems like they're putting some emphasis on training these VIP tour guides... I would be more impressed if they put that effort into, I dunno, ride operators dispatching trains faster, or maintenance crews getting more than one train operational on the coasters.

so how long did it take to "register" with the new system, and did they let you chose which finger to give them??? Thanks for the update Chuck, I'll be there next week to fight the mobs.

Griffon will be using magnetic breaks. Yea, but those haven't even been used yet. I wonder how they can file a lawsuit for something a park plans to do, and hasn't actually done. I guess anything is possible these days, but it sounds to me like this should really be handled by the manufacturers of the rides, which is probably where the parks will end up pushing responsibility if that's what it comes to.

What ride at Busch Gardens Williamsburg uses magnetic brakes? Maybe I'm missing something (it's been a long offseason) but everything I remember riding has friction brakes.

Those pictures are really great! Thanks BG Escape for posting those... now I'm beginning to think late spring will be sooner than we think (at least I hope so).