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^ I used Google first, thanks. Giving blood at Red Cross supposedly gives free tickets. But, I live in South Florida and my friend in Ohio can't give blood because she's training for a marathon. The 3-day advance tickets from CP (adding in the convenience fee) come to $47.50 each, so that's the cheapest I've come up with so far.

I searched through this thread back to 2013 to see if there were any discount tickets available anywhere and didn't see anything that applied. Anyone know where the best place to get tickets is? I was all excited about the Christmas in July sale, but the validity date ended the day before we're going to the park so I couldn't get them. The cheapest I've found is the 3-day advance purchase on CP's website. Any others? Thanks in advance!

^ On the internet, sure. I know people use "footer" all the time, but it's not right. Construction is construction; it doesn't matter if it's for a deck at your house or a roller coaster. It's still a footing. I know people will continue to call it "footer" until the end of time, but just thought I'd let everyone know the proper term is footing. Check any construction book or even Wikipedia. FOOTING

Definitely Diamondback. I was so psyched about ridding this and then I practically fell asleep because it was so boring.

Except they're actually called footings and not footers.

Corkscrew at Cedar Point was my first "big" coaster. Kinda funny that I don't ride it anymore since it's such an unpleasant ride. LOL!

My understanding of the situation is that having two separate gates (Geauga Lake AND Sea World) was what kept both parks going. People would come to the area to go to TWO parks, but just one park didn't seem worth it to people. So, attendance spiraled downward. Of course this is just what I remember. I'm sure there were other contributing factors as well, but this seems to be the overall issue. Once Sea World left, the writing was on the wall.

Sunday, June 1.

The only one I can think of is Led Zeppelin - The Ride/Time Machine since it's SBNO. Any update on Falcon's Fury?

A friend and I were visiting Tokyo last week and stopped by La Qua to check out Thunder Dolphin since we'd never been before. There were a bunch of guys working on installing what looks to be structural supports for some type of protection screen. So, it's obviously still closed. Here are some pics.

I wonder why Space Spiral had to be removed for this? Doesn't look like it was in the way. I hope there's a big midway improvement over by the station (and I hope the station isn't on the maXair midway axis - so the lake is visible).

Well that's unfortunate. I drive past the coaster on 95 all the time and enjoy seeing it since we have to drive to Orlando to ride any coasters. Thankfully I've ridden the DBH many times. But, I'll still miss it.

Great planning to get so much done at Disney in one day. I'm quite impressed. I also agree with most of your tips. However, I feel it's normally best to get a FastPass for Rock N Roller Coaster because the line is horrifically slow. It can't eat the people like Tower of Terror can. So, you're usually better off waiting in the standby queue for ToT on any given day. Otherwise, great trip report. I can't wait to get back there in a couple weeks with my family. I'll try my best to block the Bay Lake Tower from my sight though - even though it will be next to impossible since it's such a huge eye sore.

Like someone else said, the tickets for the Hurricane are priced that way because they can be given to other people and/or used over time. The unlimited option is only valid for one person on one day. So, if you're doing ERT, the unlimited is the way to go. If you live in the area (like me), you'd buy multiple tickets and use them over time. Did you buy unlimited? If so, that's why you got a bracelet. If you bought individual tickets, I have no idea why they gave you a bracelet. LOL! The Hurricane is a great little gem for those of us that live in South Florida and need a coaster fix. Orlando and Tampa are a good three hours from me, so driving 30 minutes South to Ft Lauderdale is easy enough to get a good ride in every now and then.

I can't speak for Universal, but I can for Disney. You've chosen to visit the parks during THE absolute busiest week during any calendar year. If it's your first time going, it will be a mad house. But, Disney does a great job controlling the crowds. Just don't let the over crowding be your only impression of the parks. You can still have a great time as this is when my family and I usually go. (I happen to go all the time since I live pretty close!) Epcot is usually your best bet for NYE because of the park's shear size. The walkways are wide, and the park can just eat people. So, if you want to be in a park on NYE, Epcot would probably be your best bet. We did the Magic Kingdom for NYE this past year and while it was fun, I probably won't do it again. From 10:00pm until 1:00am or so, the park is like a sardine can. You literally can barely move around the park at all. I've read numerous reports from Epcot that says it's busy, but not a sardine can. Plus, Epcot has some amazing fireworks at midnight. Do lots of planning, make ALL of your dining reservations as soon as possible, and just expect mobs of people. If you're not freaked out by crowds or lines, you'll be fine. The atmosphere is very electric and festive, so you should have a great time! EDIT: Oh yeah. I forgot to mention this and it's important. Since you are staying off property and not at a Disney resort, you can be denied access to any of the Disney parks if they reach capacity. So, the single best piece of advice I can give you is to pick a park for NYE, go there first thing in the morning and don't leave (or park hop). Disney resort guests and passholders get priority for admission when the park closes for capacity reasons. So, if the park is full and you try to enter the park (or park hop to another one), you will be turned away in favor of a Disney resort guest of passholder. So, in order to prevent this, get to your park of choice early in the day and just stay there until after midnight. This only happens if the park reaches capacity. Obviously Magic Kingdom reaches capacity far sooner than monster parks like Epcot. Just something to keep in mind.

I'm sure the area will see a HUGE re-write of the building codes much like South Florida saw after Andrew. Like was just said, most of the buildings in Andrew's path were leveled even though they were built to the current hurricane codes. The fact was the codes weren't strong enough. They've since been changed. I'm sure the same thing will happen to the area around Kemah and Galveston. It looks like most of the houses were wood framed and built on stilts. That's great for rising water, but not high velocity winds.

Did anyone notice in the videos that the "lift tables" tend to tilt side to side as they go up the tower? Do you think this was just a rendering "issue", or do you think because of the bend in the towers, the boats will actually tip from side to side a bit (off of horizon level)? I'm thinking they will stay level, but seeing the videos like that is throwing off my brain. If they tip sideways, there's no way I'm getting on it. ha ha ha!!

The technical drawing of the boats make them look to be Maverick-esque type of restraints (or Kingda Ka, Stormrunner, etc...) The HoliWatch investment is $1 million according to the newsletter they emailed today. I also think the lift is a single-looped chain (or cable) that just reverses direction on each cycle. That's probably how the boats miss each other and how evacs work too. Sure, it could still break, but it looks pretty simple. The animation makes it look like a chain, so I'm going with that. I'm excited to see where the tunnel, water cannons and guest splash area are going to be.

I posted right before the other thread got closed, so I'll copy my comments here too: I'm a little disappointed in the overall placement of the ride. Flume rides like this are great opportunities for midway interaction and it looks like they completely missed the boat (pun intended) on placement. Let's face it, this thing is a monster ride. There will be a fair share of people not riding either because it's too tall or too wet. So, why not allow the onlookers a prime view of the splash zone? Maybe even a little area parallel with the splash zone that gets the midway a little wet? From the looks of the renderings, the midway is separated from the splash zone by the station, some grass (possibly trees) and the return ride trough. Personally, I would have mirrored the ride so the station and return ride trough were on the opposite side so the midway could have approached right next to the splash zone. This would have allowed great views of the splash down and an opportunity to get a "little" wet if you wanted to by standing as close or as far from the splash as you wanted. Don't get me wrong, I think the ride itself looks awesome. But, I think a little more thought into the actual placement of the ride and the interaction of the non-riding guests with the ride could have gone a long way to making the ride even better. That's what I love so much about Top Thrill Dragster. I think what CP did with the placement of the ride and viewing areas makes a ride fun for even people that will never ride it. As far as the evac goes, it's probably just a simple engineering trick. Since the boat going up weighs more than the empty sled going down, I'm sure they can reverse the lift and just let it coast to the ground on its own. That is, if the sleds are on a cable loop or something like that. So, basically, the heavy sled/boat with people coasts to the ground while the empty sled rises up because of the weight of the other side. Basically a natural counter-weight. Isn't this sorta how the S&S towers work if they need to be evacuated? They can just let them coast to the ground?

I'm a little disappointed in the overall placement of the ride. Flume rides like this are great opportunities for midway interaction and it looks like they completely missed the boat (pun intended) on placement. Let's face it, this thing is a monster ride. There will be a fair share of people not riding either because it's too tall or too wet. So, why not allow the onlookers a prime view of the splash zone? Maybe even a little area parallel with the splash zone that gets the midway a little wet? From the looks of the renderings, the midway is separated from the splash zone by the station, some grass (possibly trees) and the return ride trough. Personally, I would have mirrored the ride so the station and return ride trough were on the opposite side so the midway could have approached right next to the splash zone. This would have allowed great views of the splash down and an opportunity to get a "little" wet if you wanted to by standing as close or as far from the splash as you wanted. Don't get me wrong, I think the ride itself looks awesome. But, I think a little more thought into the actual placement of the ride and the interaction of the non-riding guests with the ride could have gone a long way to making the ride even better. That's what I love so much about Top Thrill Dragster. I think what CP did with the placement of the ride and viewing areas makes a ride fun for even people that will never ride it. As far as the evac goes, it's probably just a simple engineering trick. Since the boat going up weighs more than the empty sled going down, I'm sure they can reverse the lift and just let it coast to the ground on its own. That is, if the sleds are on a cable loop or something like that. So, basically, the heavy sled/boat with people coasts to the ground while the empty sled rises up because of the weight of the other side. Basically a natural counter-weight. Isn't this sorta how the S&S towers work if they need to be evacuated? They can just let them coast to the ground?

This looks like an AWESOME ride. I don't know how family friendly this is though. It would even terrify me - and I love tall roller coasters. Leave it to Intamin to innovate the water ride. The HoliWatch thing looks pretty cool too. I can't wait to see how it works with message and park information, etc...

I really don't think Mantis is boring. It has some pretty good elements to it. Granted, it was better before the trim on the drop, but whatever. I agree with a lot of the other people saying the headbanging is worse than anything you'll get on your boys. I've never had issue with the "seat", but the OTSRs are another matter. If you listen to the ride ops, they will tell you the best riding positing in my mind - or just read the signs. The other tip is to ride it early because the line gets stupid long later in the day and moves slower than a snail. While it's not the worst coaster in the park, it's also not worth an hour wait in my mind.

Corkscrew at Cedar Point. I have no idea when this was, but I definitely remember standing on the midway, looking at the HUGE first drop and crying my eyes out. But, I loved it when it was done. Too bad I refuse to ride it anymore because it's so rough. ha ha!!

One of my friends is going on a trip to the following cities and was asking about coasters in the area that he might want to hit up. (He's one of my friends that takes coaster trips with me.) However, I'm not familiar at ALL with these states and the search function on rcdb.com is only sorta helping me. I thought I saw a google map somewhere that had all the parks in rcdb.com as pushpins. Am I dreaming or does something like this really exist? Here are the cities they're going to: Albuquerque, NM Sante Fe, NM Flagstaff, AZ Phoenix, AZ Tucson, AZ El Paso, TX The only thing I've found that's even close to looking like fun is Cliff's with the New Mexico Rattler. What do you guys think? Am I missing something, or is Cliff's it? Also, would Cliff's be worth a half day or at least a visit? Thanks a lot!

My friends and I have ridden it about six times each season since it opened (always in the last or second to last car), and there's nothing rough about El Toro at all. You might consider the turns a little violent, but they're not rough. That thing is still one of the smoothest coasters I've ever been on - wood or steel. It's even better at night!!