Philrad71

We have stayed at the Express hotel and had no problems with it. I wasn't a huge fan of the decor (before and after the remodel), but that wouldn't stop me from staying there again. It was clean and decently priced and that's what matters the most. Plus as Andrew mentioned, you get the perks of early entry, parking, discount tix, etc just like you would if you stayed at the Breakers. That and there weren't drug deals going on in the parking lot. Think of it as if Best Western or Holiday Inn Express owned a Cedar Point property & wah-lah, you get CP Express (or whatever the hell they're calling it this year). ^^ I liked the idea of the camping cabins at CP (but didn't like them taking out the electric/water sites to do it), but unless you are rich or have a group of people that can pitch in, I found it terribly over-priced ($264 a night for the lower-end cottage?). Yeah, it's on park property and I get that, but the prices that I have seen just don't justify it. And yes, we have stayed at Breakers plenty of times too. But we didn't pay $264 per night for it (Edit - It looks like after the remodel, you will pay close to this - after taxes). I just went in and checked the prices for a Deluxe Cabin at the campground at Kings Dominion...same dates (a Thursday in June) and it was approximately $178. I know that CP isn't KD and I know that KD's is a KOA, but that is still an $86 difference per night - and the cabins looked a lot nicer than the lower-end cottages. Plus they have a free shuttle to the park. And if you want the lower-end cabin at CP on a weekend (Friday night)? The price goes up to $312 per night (almost $50). KD's KOA goes up to $205 ($27). Same date (Friday night in early June) for a Deluxe Cabin at CP? $409!!! I see that they're cabins are all booked for the entire month of July on weekends, so there are rich folk out there apparently. And obviously CP has done their homework enough to know that people will pay the price, obviously. They are pretty comparable in price to the cabins at Fort Wilderness at Disney, although I think that the ones at Disney look far superior in size and space. Sorry for the long post, but I just found the price comparisons interesting...

Just picked up the new Ty Segall last week (Freedom's Goblin) and man is it growing on me fast! Especially love his remake of the 70's disco song: 'Every 1's A Winner' by Hot Chocolate. One of the very few disco songs that I thought was really cool. I am posting both the original and trippy one that Ty just recently performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live - check 'em out...they're both awesome. Now I can't get this song out of my head...it's so damned catchy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTTc5AQzbKQ

I was really against charging people to store their items in lockers when SF first launched it at their parks. But in this day of idiocracy, it now makes perfect sense and I have no problem with it at all. We are now being forced upon rules that will try and protect us from our countries dumb-asses - sad, but true. I never try to bring anything into parks with me other than my wallet, keys and camera/case (which goes through my belt/belt loop). Car keys go into my golf shorts, which have a zippered pocket...love me some zippered pockets. With regards to Anaconda, Michael's granddaughter summed it up the best when I rode it with her a few years ago (she was 8 at the time)... "Owww...that ride hurt my head - that ride is stupid."

^ LOL!

Gonna sneak in another update here... Hmmm...what is that over to the right of Stratosphere? Loopy! We only rode Speed The Ride once, but we loved it! A shame that they never relocated it as it pretty much crapped all over the other coasters in Vegas. This may or may not be a shameless plug for where I work. lol This was in the NASCAR museum that you needed to walk through to get to the coaster.

Ewwww...that's worse than that black Halloween bun from BK!

That's one my favorites too...here is what I think is an underappreciated song of theirs that doesn't get nearly the play it deserves. Love the video, love the song!

^ Hehe...yeah, I figured that I would draw some laughs with the clock as well as some whiners that would "take offense" to it. Have you had any of the wines from the Western NY region? I am no wine aficionado by any means, but a lot of people seem to really like the wines around here as well as from the Finger Lakes region. If I do drink wine, I prefer a sweeter wine (I know, I know) and they do make a great one called Niagara around here that tastes just like you picked the grapes from the vine. I also like a semi-sweet Riesling but that is about as dry of a wine as I like to go. lol And yeah - I am a huge IPA fan too and I find myself not wanting to stray too far from that or a pilsener/lager. I can do a stout every now and again, but I just can't seem to get into the sours and wheat ales. I have given many a try at places like the beer fest at BGE and one of those pay by the ounce, pour your own places - but I just haven't yet found one of those types of beers that doesn't want to make me gag.

^ Thanks for that! I may also explore seeing if I can get tickets through work. Given that our headquarters are in Indiana, last year they were offering 2 day passes to KK for $18.99. Crazy! If they offer that price in 2018, we would definitely be stopping by for a couple of hours. We likely wouldn't do the water park anyway, so me breezing through the coasters wouldn't/shouldn't take too long.

Let's see...given that I would have to try the weird sh%t that I wouldn't be able to get anywhere around here, I would go with: * An Aussie meat pie * Meat and cheese rice ball * Anything from the Korean Fusion truck * The mac and cheese cone? * Anything with guac, although Avocado Ice Cream? That just sounds all sorts of wrong, but I would still try it! Can't wait to see the beer offerings!

^ Note to self - beer in Missouri is really good! Me? Staying local with Southern Tier - this is about the only beer that I drink anymore...but like it says on the bottle "Why the hell not?" Happy Friday everyone!! Soooo good!

Keeping with the 90's vibe... I actually sang this for my family doing karaoke one time and they LOVED it! My Dad and his wife had never heard it before, but they were begging me to go out some night so I could sing it at a bar. My sister & Michael said that I sounded just like Michael Stipe. Yeah...right. LOL

I literally have no words in response to the Go Fund Me page.

Yeah - I agree that the burger looks great and the fries look like total sh%t. I'm with you on the fresh cut fries or nothing at all. My faves are the Belgian where you take them out of the fryer for two minutes after cooking and then fry them for two more minutes after that. A third fry would really get them crisp, I'll bet.

Thanks for sharing! I am contemplating over trying to see if we can shoehorn this park in when we do Branson in May, although I am not sure if we'll have time or not.

Maybe it's time to start a petition. Think bigger, Zach. Start a GoFundMe so you can get free money and have zero responsibility to actually do anything. Hey, if someone can start one for bringing back Geauga Lake, why not start one to petition SDC and Dollywood to sell beer? Edit: I just booked our tickets and wow...I can't believe how reasonably priced they were! A 3 night stay at the Welk resort, 2-2 day admission tickets to SDC and 2 tickets to Titanic for under $500? What a great deal!!!

^ YES! It was like some kind of social hang-out or something. I also remember the hot water was intermittent and there were tiny fire ants crawling on the window sills, stains all over the floor. The entire room looked like something from a 1960's motor court.

^ Not to mention the blatant drug deals going on in the parking lot in broad daylight!

I can vouch that the Rodeway Inn on Cleveland Rd is a complete sh%thole...and that was about ten years ago.

^^^ I'm more of a 'Check Your Head" kinda guy myself.

There's a lot of cool stuff around here these days. The Branson Ferris Wheel (former Navy Pier Ferris Wheel) gives great views of the mountains, and there's a ton of cool mini golf places along 76. Ripleys Believe It or Not and Titanic are worthwhile museums, and downtown Branson has the Landing outdoor mall with good chain restaurants like Laredo and an excursion train that goes into Arkansas and give views only accessible by rail. Wilson's Creek National Battlefield is one of the few Civil War battlefields west of the Mississippi, and is historically significant as the site of Gen. Nathaniel Lyon's death. Downtown Springfield is about the only nightlife area in the Ozarks. I love Harbell's on Park Central West for wings and Civil Kitchen on Park Central East for chicken and waffles. Both great beer selections. Speaking of which, we have 3 breweries in Springfield, Springfield Brewing Co. at Market & McDaniel is the oldest. Try the Greene Ghost (with an e for Greene County). Mother's at Grant & Walnut is great, with a variety of beers and a big lot called the Backyard that's open on Saturdays when the weather is good. Hanging out and chatting with new friends, horseshoes, sometimes live music. It's probably the most fun of the three. Try the Loopty Loop there--yep, a roller coaster themed beer! The newest one is White River on Commercial Street, or "C-Street" as we call it here. It's a second downtown north of the actual downtown. It used to be a town called North Springfield that was incorporated decades ago. Cool vibe on that street. White River does not serve beer, but you can find it at many of C-Street's restaurants. I love Cusco, a Peruvian restaurant at Commercial & Robberson. Their specialty is rabbit in peanut sauce. As for White River, try the Table Rock Red. Thanks for the information, Andrew...very helpful! I am sure that we would be checking out the battlefield as Michael and I both enjoy Civil War history. My co-worker went to the Titanic in Pigeon Forge and him and his wife both enjoyed it, so that is on the list. Maybe those, along with SDC and the paddlewheel boat excursion would be just enough for us...although I'd be all in on the breweries and great sounding food places too! And it looks like we would be there for the Bluegrass and BBQ event - yay! Although I would it rather be beer, grass and BBQ, but I'll take what I can get. Also, thanks for posting the video, Robb...this just makes me more excited to go! It looks like we might be heading down the week of May 7th. Our plan would be to hit SDC mid-week in hopes that crowds won't be too bad.

I would love to see CP take out Snake River Falls, and use the land behind it, if needed, to install a really extensive log flume-type ride like Chiapa's (Phantasialand). Of course, moderately themed...after all this CF Yep, I would be cool with that too...just as long as they don't mess with Skyhawk! They could rip out the Mine Ride, SRF, the old Skyride building, move the Skycoaster elsewhere and have tons of land in that area to use for one or more large attractions.

Looking forward to hearing how Time Traveler is once it opens. We are now seriously thinking about planning a trip to Branson in the mid to late April time-frame, so sure hope that it might be open by then. I'll be looking to Andrew and some of the other locals to tell us the must do's in the surrounding area. We are also going to Lincoln's tomb in Springfield, Ill and cutting down into MO. Doubt we would do SFGaM, but I have thought about a potential stop at SFSL as we have never been. It really depends on how Michael is feeling whether we entertain hitting up more parks other than SDC, which is a must.

I have a pinched nerve in my neck that has caused pain, tingling and numbness in my hands, arms, neck back and chest for months now - it suuuuckkks! Been to a chiropractor three times, and while it helps for a little while, it just keeps coming back. I think it's from sitting in front of a computer all day at work and being on the phone constantly. Even with bluetooth, it just ain't fun anymore. Damn it, I need some f&cking coaster therapy.

^ Damn...that looks like a skinny dive coaster track!