Philrad71

^ Isn't that crazy? Although that 18 years in terms of Buffalo sports certainly didn't seem like it. Four Super Bowl's lost, No Goal (Sabres in Stanley Cup), Music City Miracle and a shit-ton of other games where you thought that they were going to win, yet seemed to figure out a way to lose in amazingly depressing and maddening fashion. Yeah, if we still had Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods at receiver, I would have more faith in Buffalo going at least a couple of games deep into the playoffs. With no real threat at receiver, defenses just stack the box and try to stop McCoy (not even sure he will play). I am thinking that this could get ugly fast with Jacksonville's defense and possibly no McCoy, but I am just so thrilled that they are back in the playoffs that I don't even really care if they get stomped. lol Just about everyone around here actually feels the same way - all they care about is that the drought is finally over!!

Thanks Boldikus - I figured that I needed to start pitching in with the theme park and booze reports so you, Bill & Zach don't have to post them all! Ahhhh...you get that too, eh Bert? We get that a lot - it's expected, but we understand. My team at work all know Michael and were texting me me just about every day while he was in the hospital asking how he was doing. Never mind how I was doing! And best of all, both of our families are super accepting and they all love us and we love them. And even my ultra conservative Christian relatives have all came to accept us and love us for who we are. We couldn't be more blessed, really! To be honest here, I don't know if Michael (or I) would have been able to pull through what we went through if it wasn't for the love & support that we received from all of our families and friends. Thanks Michael! I'm not sure if it was in the same lot as preferred or not. I don't think so because it was after you go under the road/bridge with the tram. I didn't see a tram stop anywhere near where we parked in handicapped, but perhaps I may have overlooked it. Sure seems like they should have another one there, but it wasn't the end of the world. Just took a little long to get to the gate (frequent rest stops). That is quite alright and thank you for the nice comments! As mentioned people make that assumption all the time - it's all good. And let's get to business with a few more park pics...I will try to get the entire report done by the time the Bills game kicks off in Jax on Sunday! Now...where were we? Ahhh yes...here is a shout out to a certain someone on here. I would put a winkie in here, but for some reason my semi-colon doesn't work now. WTF. lol God, I freaking love Cheetah Hunt. Seriously one of the most overall fun rides that I have ever ridden. The lines weren't bad at the park at all, but this and Cobra's Curse were boasting close to hour long waits (normal), so I bought the QQ for one skip the line pass and used it on just those two rides. It was entirely worth it though. I didn't want Michael waiting for me for that long and I HAD to ride both of these coasters! Cobra's Curse was also "weeee fuuuunnnn!!" like Cheetah Hunt. But no where near as exciting or long. I was hoping that the cars would have spun like a Tilt-A-Whirl more, but I still very much liked the ride. A very unique coaster with really awesome theming. I got to ride in the front with a coaster enthusiast from Wales - she was very cool. If you are on TPR, Hiii Welsh lady!!!!!! Florida parks have all the cool topiary. I prefer topiary kissing swans to real ones - those demonic b%tches are mean as sh%t! I swear that swans and geese hate human's guts so bad that they would rather just peck our eyes out and then proceed to feast on our flesh than to look at us. lol The elephants were about the only animals out that day. The others said "Eff that noise, we're staying inside where it's warm!" I noticed a similar reaction at DAK when we went in '07 when it felt like we were in Alaska instead of Florida. I think that we saw a hippo and a giraffe on the entire safari expedition. lol The other animals we saw was a gator getting ready to go all "Om nom nom" on a turtle (at least from our angle). And I will end this latest installment with an "Absolutely no caption needed" photo. Thanks as always for reading - more soon!

^ Michael is not my father - he is my domestic partner of 14 years. Yes, there is a big age gap and most folks might appear to be surprised or even freaked out by that at first. Once they get to know us though, they "get it" because we are like two peas in a pod and we're just two fun, love-able guys! Thanks for the nice comment on the report - and that is awesome about your grandfather introducing you to coasters! Hope to have another set posted tomorrow!

^^ Hey now...what is this "even if we are playing Buffalo" crap? I seem to recall (was it only last year?) that Jax was wrapping thousands of seats because they had no loyal fan base? Something that I have never seen happen in Buffalo before. My, my how times have changed! 18 years out of the playoffs and ALL of Western NY is going absolutely nuts. I actually wept tears of joy on Sunday because I have lived through all of the heartache that this team has produced since my childhood. But the 17 year drought was probably one of the worst that I have ever endured as a sports fan - way, way worse than watching them lose four SB's in a row. Hundreds of people showed up at the airport on New Years at 1 AM in single digit temps to welcome their team home Sunday night. Players (like Kyle Williams) and fans alike getting the best Christmas present ever - despite the fact that we know that they likely aren't talented enough to get past Round One or Two. Ya never know though...that's why they play the game, right? Jax could pull the ultimate stunner as well! And of course, lets not forget that Bills fans have donated over $170,000 to Andy Dalton's charity after that 4th and 12 TD pass! Let's go Buffalo!!!!!! Bills die-hard fans

^^^ & ^^^^ Awwww...thank you both for the nice comments, Alice and Larry! It certainly was awesome just to be out, despite how chilly it was. After sitting in a hospital room every day for six months straight, it could have been sleeting for the entire week in Florida and it still would have been wonderful! ^^ And that is why I mentioned the below...because I knew someone would probably try to call me out on it. Believe me, I see more abuse of this than you can imagine. People jumping out of their cars in a handicap spot to run into the market, while others are forced to unfold and push a wheelchair through slush/snow for 100 yards. It's this simple - if you can easily walk without assistance, you shouldn't be parking in those spots. Leave them for those that can't walk or can't do so without assistance.

Wow - not good, but glad that no one was injured!

Woah...made the front page, so now the pressure to update this report is on...thanks guys! So after our stop in Atlanta, we forged on until we got to Lake City, FL where we spent the night. Some people might think that as soon as you hit the Florida state line that the temps are going to skyrocket & everything will be all sunny and warm, but while that might be true at times, other times not so much. When we did a family Disney trip back in '07, we had the same issue with record low temps. While it kinda sucked for it to be almost as cold as home, it did keep the large crowds out of Disney. Would the same hold true for BGT the following day? Let's find out! Okay - first things first. I have yet to post food pics, so that needs to change right this instant. I have never eaten at (or even heard of) Gator's Dockside before, but for being a Buffalo wing snob, I admit that they actually had really good wings! And the waitress was kind enough to let me choose two sauces so I could make my own concoction of Yucatan and Mango Habanero (two of their hottest flavors). And BOGO beers for Happy Hour? Hell yeah! This is exactly why I want to move to Florida!!! Yay...we finally made it! I will say that one thing BGT could use is a smaller tram for the handicap parking. It felt like we had to walk a half mile to the entrance and I thought that we may have very well been better off parking in the normal lot and taking the tram to the front gate instead. I did admit to feeling a bit upset when we saw a younger couple as well as a family of four all jump out of their vehicles and not one of them looked to have any type of handicap at all. Then we have Michael where it's still a struggle for him to walk and we have to park a 1/2 mile away. I guess it's becoming a real issue where people will borrow their sick relatives handicap placard and use it for their own personal use. I know that there probably are people that have them that may not have significant illness, age or walking issues, but people that intentionally abuse it when there are people that really need those spots just makes me want to throw up. I don't know how many times that I have witnessed this at super markets, malls, restaurants, etc. Ugggh - I hate people. This hotness is new since our last visit. Yay for Christmas in Florida - even if it really isn't Christmas yet and it's 48 f%cking degrees outside! 48 degrees or not, I am liking the lack of crowds! So after we got Michael his rental scooter, where would we go first? Cheetah Hunt? Falcon's Fury? Cobra's Curse? Montu? Of course not...you silly gooses. Of course this is the first place we hit. Don't you all know me by now? LOL! More BGT coming soon - thanks for reading!

^ Thanks Bill...Happy New Year! Hope to get BGT up this week, but work will likely dictate that!

^^ You too, Zach! I would imagine that working New Years Eve as a PO can be both interesting, and potentially more dangerous with more idiots drinking and driving than usual. We never go out on NYE although our furnace just stopped running this morning as the temp is 5 degrees outside. So off to Home Depot I go to buy another space heater to hopefully get us by until Tuesday.

^ I think I recall seeing at least three whale sharks and two Beluga whales, maybe?

^ Thanks a lot! Yes, we would highly encourage a visit - it's not cheap as far as aquariums go, but if you can pre-buy from their website or Tickets At Work (Club TPR), you can get some decent deals. The tank with the whale shark is a walk-through, or they have a moving platform that you can walk on. I believe that they mentioned it being the largest salt water tank in the US (if not the world). They also talked about how they specifically feed the fish differently and at different times so none of them will eat each other! Whale sharks typically eat plankton and small stuff, but I wanted to think that they had a couple of other shark species in there with the whale sharks, rays and other fish.

Thanks Bert - and you're right...my age shouldn't be an excuse to be lazy with my trip reports! We actually didn't eat or do any of the add-on exhibits. The lady at the AT& T Dolphin Coast (are dolphins now part of the 4G network? ) was ushering us in and told us that the show started in 5 minutes and when we got to the entrance, they said that we were too late. No biggie though as we were getting pressed for time and needed to hit the road anyway. We did catch the sea lion show, which was very good. I was equally impressed with the robot security guards that they had wandering around in their parking lot as I was with the aquarium! lol We did buy the photo package, but I will have to get those all scanned and uploaded...thanks for the reminder as I forgot that we had bought those!

Hey everyone! It's been a long time since I have done a trip report for TPR. Largely because I am getting older and lazier, but work has been very busy and times have been crazy for the past year and a half. As some of you might know, my partner Michael was diagnosed with bile duct cancer last summer and spent a horrific six months in various hospitals recovering from the Whipple procedure that they performed in Buffalo to try and remove it. He almost bled out three times before the surgeons were able to bring him back. It's events like this that can really throw a hefty dose of reality in your face. It really does make you appreciate everything that you have and everything that you can do during a time like that. Not sure what I would have done without family and friends during that mind-altering six months of pure hell. Long story short, he survived and after an extensive amount of rehab, we were finally able to take our first journey to Florida for a well-deserved vacation! I thought that I would share our journey with my fine friends at TPR...so let's get right to it! So here we are leaving NY and all the snow. Kidding, kidding...this is actually about 20 miles north of....f%cking Atlanta? Can you believe this...it snowed almost all the way to Florida - I kid you not. We had our "up north" gear on all the way to Fort Myers Beach! Yep - snow in Atlanta, Georgia. We were thinking of going to Dollywood or SFOG, but wayyyyyy too cold for that. We settled on the (much warmer) Georgia Aquarium instead. When you enter, there are themed sections that branch off in all directions. They have Beluga whales in one... Penguins in another... This one kept going after Michael's shoe...it was hilarious watching it. He wasn't kicking the glass or anything...that penguin just wanted to eat that shoe! Everyone was cracking up watching this little guy try to take one of Michael's toes! lol Mmmmm...grape-flavored starfish. They had tiny sea horses... To big-ass groupers. I'll be seeing (eating) you later, my pretty...om nom nom. I guess that I never realized that manta rays were this effing big - holy cow! But the real star of the show is the world's largest fish - the gargantuan sized whale shark. We were really impressed with this aquarium. The exhibits were educational, large and just beautiful! This thing looks like it just crawled out of someone's belly in a Ridley Scott movie. So beautiful, but I wouldn't want to step on this guy. Michael got to pet a starfish and some other aquatic-like things. Medusozoa is a much cooler name for jellyfish. It was difficult getting a good pic of the pirahna because all they want to do is swim around fast looking for people, animals and other fish to chomp down to the bone. It's not Manta the roller coaster, but it's still pretty awesome. Part 2 at BGT coming soon...thanks for reading!

I wondered if anyone would take some snow pics at Waldameer - thanks for posting! Glad to hear that the city is back up and running again. We may have to take a trip out there this weekend to check things out...and of course, stop for lunch at U Pick Six!

Wow - that event looks great, Bill! And yes, I will take a hot buttered rum as well.

Some great photos, Marcus - thanks for sharing! We drove by the park on our way back from Florida last week, but unfortunately it wasn't on a day that they were open.

^ The website claims that they serve a 120 oz beer, but I think that it might be in one of those tubular tap-style deals where you can share (but only if you want). Yes, serving breaded wings around these parts would probably trigger torches and pitchforks! But I don't mind experimenting with different styles and flavors as long as they are properly cooked - I think that I would really like the style of BBQ wings that you described! There used to be a place in Buffalo (Lafayette Tap Room) that deep-fried the wings, shook them in smoky BBQ sauce and then charred them on the grill. They must have also marinated them in something before cooking because it was interesting that they were crispy, but would also fall off the bone! They were some of the best that I have ever had, despite them not being the traditional kind that most Buffalonian's are used to. It's a shame that when they completely restored the Lafayette Hotel (which looks amazing BTW), that they didn't at least bring back those wings - they were to die for! Edit - I just noticed the attached on the park's website. Is this something new? For around $150, I think that's a pretty sweet deal!

^^ That's awesome to know - thank you for sharing!

^^ I never said anything about ignoring the bad stuff because I don't like it. I was merely stating that it would be nice if the media focused more on the positive things going on in the world more than the constant negatives.

LOL - it IS a drink holder, Bill! We do have a half of a bottle of champagne in the fridge, so I may have to go take another photo. I was going to go out and make some more sculptures yesterday out of the giant mounds of snow, but it is so cold outside (single digit cold) that I couldn't bring myself to do it. I need to get to the store today and I am already dreading that. In terms of Florida, we got the brunt of that cooler weather when we were down there last week unfortunately. Maybe I will just stay indoors and do a TPR trip report today instead? We'll see...lol.

Nice report, Bert! WW looks really crazy...like a big twisted piece of pasta (fettucine, perhaps?).

^ It is very convenient and (obviously) better than most of the park food. Like Zach, I think that we splurged on some type of fried appetizer platter when we visited several years ago and it was good for what it was (pub food). And it seemed like they had a pretty extensive beer list, which is always a plus. Although it seemed like I recall getting wings there a long time ago and they (gasp) battered them before frying. Not that I don't mind deep fried chicken, but deep frying and then applying Buffalo wing sauce to chicken wings just felt all sorts of wrong. They may have very well changed to traditional wings since that time as that was actually before Buffalo wings were even popular outside of Buffalo, so I gave them credit for trying to do something different. But those were seriously not very good.

I really do enjoy seeing stuff like this on the news and only wish that they would show more. The national media seems so intent on focusing more on the bad than the good anymore. I think that it should really be the opposite so that everyone knows that there really are more good people in this world than bad!

So I made this yesterday... Sneaux Throne!!!

I would LOVE to visit this park someday - it really looks like it has a great line-up of coasters and flats. And Utah in it's own right is one of the most beautiful states in the nation. People mention that Lagoon is underrated, but I would say that the entire state of Utah (in general) is underrated. I assume that it's because you have California, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Portland, Seattle, etc so close that a lot of people simply forget about Utah. We were hoping to make a trip to Utah in the motor home this year, but health problems wiped out that chance. Hoping that we get to take this trip in 2018!