AmyUD06

Sorry, I guess I misread your post. I figured with you mentioning the "primo land" cleared up by Grizzly Run and the other removals, the next logical step (for a Darien Lake fan) is to presume they're getting some new major ride. You have my apologies.

Are you actually suggesting that Darien Lake might be getting a new major ride?

I know you're excited, but you can edit posts, you know.

Your guess is as good as anyone's. Amusement Parks aren't in MA's Phase 4 step A part 1 subpart a that takes effect on 3/22, so whenever their Governor decides to take his head out of his ass, they'll open. On the plus side, they did hire a bunch of people back in late February, so I guess that's good news? BTW I found this information after 2 minutes of Googling.

It says right on the page, "Fall operating days will be announced later this year."

On the other hand, the only other major amusement park is a 6 hour drive away. They're fine.

To each their own man....but just by looking at Google satellite maps I have to call BS on your claim of their waterpark being better than Hurricane Harbor NJ. And "it's better than SFA" isn't exactly the biggest claim to fame....

They'd probably better off if they did abort it LOL.

It's California. I'm not holding my breath. Unless the Recall Newsom endeavor is about to reach their verified signature goal, in which case he'll throw everything out the window and pull a Texas,

Deleted. Edit: In retrospect, my comment was off topic and did not add anything to the discussion of SFoT.

Agreed. I mean, if you were passing by on the way to a better park (or anything else more enjoyable, like a root canal), sure stop in and get your ears flattened on Firebird and your spine tweaked on Roar, but otherwise totally not worth it. It's certainly not worth it for one of the weakest hyper-coasters in the world.

You're probably right. Plus the heat kinda put me in a little bit of a sour mood, so I probably didn't enjoy Cheetah Hunt as much as I could have (EDIT: or gotten multiple rides on it). Oh well, more to do next time, which will likely be around December but well before Christmas.

I had it on my last trips of the year, in October. It was awesome. Maybe 5 people in front of me at SV, maybe 10 at Maverick simply due to each train only loading 6 at the most.

Oh, I wasn't suggesting that they were worth any sort of trip...just if you happen to be in the area LOL.

And finally, Part 3 - Friday, February 19th, 2021 - SeaWorld Orlando I started this morning a bit later, seeing how BGT operated on a delayed opening schedule and actually being able to see the opening schedule on SeaWorld's website, there was no need to beat down the doors. As it turns out, I arrived before gate opening anyway. Here, I was fighting the weather forecast of severe thunderstorms scheduled to arrive around 2:00, so I made sure to not mess around. I don't know where all those people from the entrance went, because it felt like I had free run of the park, and banged out the three major coasters in short order, even stopping to take some animal pictures along the way. As with my BGT report, first I'll delve into the ride reviews and then overload you with photos. Manta: This pleasantly surprised me. I've been on one other B&M flyer (Superman at SFGAdv) and most of the Vekoma's in the US, and this blows them all away. The layout is better, the scenery is top-notch (plenty of foot-choppers), and of course it has the signature grey-out-inducing pretzel loop, it even has little cutouts in the station floor for your feet when the cars swing up! My new favorite flying coaster. 10/10. Kraken Unleashed: Well, back on its leash I guess without the VR that I would have opted out of anyway. Solid floorless, hearkening back to the olden days of B&M snappiness, again making great use of the terrain and scenery. I rank it below Dominator and Medusa/Bizzaro, but not by much. 8/10. Mako: Great hyper. Good bits of floater air over the hills, and some nice twisty sections reminiscent of Candymonium. In my video clip to myself with notes I took after the ride, I thought this ride predated Candymonium by a decade due to the snappiness of the transitions, but nope...2016. Possibly my new favorite B&M Hyper. Also refreshing to ride a coaster with these restraints without a seat belt. 9/10. Super Grover's Box Car Derby: I normally pass on what I percieve to be "kiddie" coasters, but the long train gave me thoughts that I might be surprisingly forceful like Harley Quinn at SFGAdv. Not so much, but still a good solid ride even though it was a little embarrassing being a single 38 year old male-presenting individual in the Sesame Street section. That was it for rides here, unfortunately. Even though I had brought my 2-dollar Shop Rite special poncho with me for Infinity Falls and Journey to Atlantis, the former was closed for annual maintenance and the latter...not sure what it was but I just didn't feel like getting wet. Advice from @SharkTumsand @coasterbill steered me towards sitting in the back to avoid a bath, but watching the ride cycle, all of the groups of one or two I saw on it were sitting in the front, making me think the ops weren't entertaining requests. So, I decided to take in the Orca Encounter show, which was honestly pretty cool. I wasn't expecting much (I'm not a huge animal exhibit kind of person), but was blown away by some of the tricks. Not to mention, the show wasn't anywhere near as preachy about "humans are their biggest enemy" as I was expecting. I don't know if the actual Shamu ever performed in this stadium, but it seems a little small for that. 9/10. At this point, the skies had greyed and the storm was coming...scattered drops of rain had begun to fall. So, I donned my el-cheapo poncho and tried to make my way to my car to sit out the storm and maybe go off-property to grab a bite to eat. I intended to come back and check out some of the other animal shows, but as I was walking out of the main gate, the skies opened up. My cheap poncho did virtually nothing. By the time I found the car, I was soaked from head to toe. So much for not wanting to get wet LOL. After the drenching, I was just in a bad mood and decided to go back to my hotel to get changed into drier clothes, and once there I just kind passed out for a couple of hours. I deeply regret not getting on the water rides, getting a couple of more laps on Manta and Mako, and missing out on the other animal shows (I have a feeling I would have enjoyed them after the orca show), but oh well...that'll wait for the next trip. Final Thoughts: All in all, it was a great trip...it was good to escape the cold and inhospitable-due-to-COVID nature of the northeast, I got to ride some truly great coasters in Kumba, Mako, and Manta, an insane drop tower in Falcon's Fury, and check out another city's LGBTQ+ scene. I had Quick Queue at both parks since it was so cheap but didn't really need it anywhere; the biggest place it helped was getting me into the dry-zone reserved seating at the orca show. I will be back, not only for Iron Gwazi and Ice Breaker, but also to check out all I missed at SWO and also spend more time "in da clubs." So long, Florida! And I didn't forget, here are all of the SWO pictures. Warning: There are a LOT from the Orca Encounter. I don't know why but I found these cutouts so cool. Nice trim pieces on the side of Mako's trains. Do any other B&M Hypers have these? Yep, definitely closed for maintenance. Not testing yet... Such a wasted opportunity for a bar actually made of ice. Still not yet.... There we go! Testing! The skies looking all foreboding... More Ice Breaker testing and clouds incoming. I will say this, these Florida parks sure are pretty. As it ends, I thank everyone who provided advice on the trip....now for another little mini coaster drought until SFGAdv opens up in a month. I hope you enjoyed my report! Thanks for reading.

Fun Spots, Kissimmee and Orlando, and some nightlife. To continue the report, on my way back to my Orlando hotel from BGT I stopped at both Fun Spots, Kissimmee and Orlando. Man, was it hot. Too hot to put the top down even. Coming from a week of 20 degree temps to 91 was just too much of a shock to my system. Thankfully, the car's AC worked great. Anyway, after a short drive, I had arrived! So, I had purchased my Fun Spot tickets through TicketsatWork.com thanks to the recommendation of @tndank...and amusing enough the package with the SkyCoaster was actually like a dollar cheaper than the wristband alone, so I went for that. I've never been on a SkyCoaster, and figured what a way to pop my cherry than with the "world's tallest"? Well, I took one look, and was "nope." The park sure was pretty though. And the "Old Town" area right next door was kinda cool, and reminded me of the boardwalks back home in Jersey. Something you'll only find in Florida...an execution simulator: Anyway, I decided to try out the famous go-karts first. I love me some good go-karts. Sadly, these were not quite that. The track layouts were pure awesome, but the standard-fare karts used just weren't up to the task of climbing those hills. And where have I seen these logos before? With all of the rides in the back of the Old Town section closed (missing my chance for a credit on the clone of the Star Jet, the Seaside Heights coaster that famously took a dip in the ocean after Hurricane Sandy), ...My main reason for my visit here was... Mine Blower: Ow. Ow ow ow ow ow. What sort of soul-less monster designed this thing? To its credit, the barrel roll was cool....but everything after that was just horrible. Rough transitions, too-tight for a wooden coaster turns, all around a rough ride. Maybe with some heavily padded Millennium Flyers this wouldn't be so bad...but as it stands, 1/10, and it only gets the 1 for the barrel roll. This honestly reminded me of a coaster I designed in NL way back in the day. Here's the file if anyone wants to amuse themselves.Blue Lazer (Wooden Twister).nltrack That is one steep drop, too. Oh, and if COVID worries you, you will not like Fun Spot Kissimmee. I didn't see one non-employee wearing a mask, and the employees were generally not wearing them properly. After another brief drive, I was at Fun Spot Orlando...or "Fun Spot Action Park" as I guess it's technically called. Here the go-karts suffered the same issue as their brethren down I-4: truly awesome tracks saddled with inadequate karts to drive on them. At least here, they had a truly awesome "woodie" to make up for Mine Blower's spinal rearrangement: White Lightning: Truly awesome. High speed, great laterals, airtime...you name it, this coaster packs it all into its compact frame. If it was a "true woodie," it would rank just behind Phoenix, but as I count it as a Hybrid, it's number 3 (behind Steel Vengeance and Twisted Timbers but ahead of Goliath and Wicked Cyclone). Great ride in the front or the back, as to be expected from GCI. 10/10. I also decided to try out their Vekoma Family Invert, Freedom Flyer: A pleasant surprise...a lot more forceful than the others of this model that I've ridden, and the fact that the cars have noticeable swing to them meant you get well over 45 degrees from the ground on some of the turns. 8/10. I checked out their SkyCoaster (billed as the "world's largest'), but that was still a solid nope from me. After this, I headed back to my hotel, showered, and relaxed for a while, then ventured out to check out Orlando's night life, visiting Savoy, the Crow, Bullit Bar, Latitudes, Aero, 64 North, and back to Savoy again. I'll not say too much, but it was refreshing to be in a city with a vibrant nightlife in the middle of COVID. Decent drink prices, and no cover charges anywhere (though it was a Thursday). The Crow had a sign against underage drinking which read "This is where babies are made, not served"... LOL. And I found an actual poppers vending machine in one of the bars, which blew my mind. And the trash can specific for pizza boxes...WTF? Up next: Sea World Orlando!

All right, TR time. Let's start it off on the morning of 2/17. Where? Atlantic City, NJ. Why? To watch the implosion of the Trump Plaza's main hotel tower. There hasn't been an implosion like this in AC since the Sands was blown up in 2009, and I missed that one, plus I worked at the Plaza way back in 2002-2003, so it was quite sentimental. I had a great vantage point from the garage at Caesar's, which is honestly as close as the authorities were letting anyone get. Surrounding me was every walk of life...seniors who had worked there for over 30 years, people who had business dealings with Trump during its construction, an older guy who seemed like he dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars on the tables there in its day, and young people who just wanted see an implosion. Of course, there is video (warning: foul language): MOV_0230.mp4 Amazingly, there were no delays, and shortly after 9 AM, it was all gone... Several hours later, I arrived at PHL for my flight to Orlando. Not exactly scenic, but whatever (from the parking garage). Note that it was just before 3PM, and the outside temperature was barely over 30 degrees. As my flight time got closer (scheduled 5:20 departure), my chariot arrived.... ...and we boarded. And proceeded to sit on the tarmac for an hour while the crew cleaned out the cargo hold from a previous passengers "leaky fish they had put in their checked bag." Touching down in Florida after 9PM to low 70s, I quickly shed my hoodie and jumped in my rental car... ...and was off to my hotel to get ready for the next day at Busch Gardens Tampa. Thursday, February 18th, 2021 Ah, my first sight of a roller coaster in two months! Park opening was 10:00, and I arrived about 10 minutes before the parking gates opened. I think this was the first park I've ever been to that walking from the general parking lot to the gate was not an option. Anyway, I hopped on the tram to the main gate, made my way through temperature screening and the metal detectors, and was inside the park. No hardcopy park maps, unfortunately, since their app is lackluster to say the least and the layout was rather confusing despite just being basically one big loop. Anyway, on with the rides. (I'm going to change gears here a little bit and focus on the rides and park experience then will load up with the rest of the photos). Cheetah Hunt: For some reason I had the impression that this was Florida's version of Maverick, with crazy balls-to-the-wall intensity. That it was not. Good airtime after the launch hills (sitting in the front), and the tree-thing right after the first launch was kinda cool, but overall I found it kinda lackluster. It also still has the hard shoulder straps, which are never a good time. 7/10 *A note here: As mentioned, the park opening was listed as 10:00...however it appeared that Cheetah Hunt was the only major coaster that opened with the park (Montu, while I saw it testing, never opened to riders while I was there). I did a complete lap of the park and found every other coaster or major ride with a sign that indicated 10:30 or 11:00 opening, so the park loses some points for that. I understand not opening a few rides with park opening, but for the bulk of your rides to not seems kinda misleading. Just open the park an hour later if you need the prep time. Anyway, rant mode off.... Falcons Fury: WOW. Just...WOW. Incredible. Facing down instead of out on a drop tower just completely changes the experience. As soon as the chairs turned, I got a massive knot in my stomach and I couldn't even keep my eyes open on the way down. By far the "scariest" ride I've ever been on, and I've done the 855-foot-drop vertical zipline at the Stratosphere in Vegas. 11/10. Sand Serpent: It's a wild mouse. 5/10. Kumba: Ah, my main reason for making this trip. Pure awesome, lives up to the hype. Very minimal rattle in either the back right or front left. Solid forces, classic B&M. A new top-10 steel coaster for me. 10/10. Amusingly, I think this is the first B&M I've ridden where the station wasn't 3 stories off the ground. Stanley Falls Log Flume: Despite my request, I was seated in the front part of the log by myself. Still didn't get too wet. It's a log flume...nothing particularly noteworthy or detracting. 6/10. SheiKra: Having been on Griffon and Valravn prior, I knew this was the first of its kind in the US, and that the layout was kinda lacking compared to the later versions. I got a middle seat (first time in a middle-seat on a dive coaster) in the front row. The dual loading station was cool, but they weren't using it, and I don't recall seeing the folding-style gates in front of the train before, which was kinda cool. 7/10. Scorpion: Got the front row. Classic Schwarzkopf greatness...a shame that more of these aren't left in the US. 9/10. Overall impressions: I spent around 3 hours in the park (the 90 degree heat was killing me). I skipped out on Tigris (not really a fan of these) and Cobra's Curse (definitely not a fan of spinning coasters), and as I mentioned Montu didn't open by the time I left due to mechanical issues. Aside from Kumba, Scorpion, and Falcon's Fury, I don't really feel this park was worth it for the rides alone. The animal stuff was plentiful and awesome from what I saw, and the scenery was on point, but I dunno...it's a good park, don't get me wrong, just not for me I guess. I kinda feel the same way about the Williamsburg park compared with Kings Dominion, so no surprise really. Anyway, on with the photos! That is a lot of fish! I don't know how these guys cope with the Florida heat. There is a gorilla in this photo, which you could see if my phone's light sensor did its job. There is a Tiger in this photo, if you can find it. This pretzel was absolutely bangin'! Seems ready to go to me. Up next: The two Florida Fun Spots!

If it makes you feel better, the same model still operates at Keansburg Amusement Park in NJ, Jolly Roger at the Pier in Ocean City MD, and CJ Barrymore's Family Entertainment Center in Clinton, Michigan.

I guess this should go here too: https://www.nj.com/monmouth/2021/02/most-six-flags-employees-will-make-15-an-hour-this-summer.html

Even with today's announcement that most SFGAdv employees will be making $15 an hour, a bus and Uber every workday will add up (unless you're a non-tipping heathen) and severely cut into your earnings.

If the park wasn't profitable, or their current model of "upkeep what we have rather than trash and replace" wasn't working for them fiscally, they wouldn't be doing it. Six Flags is a business, first and foremost. Anyway, it must be a geographic thing. I grew up going to SFGAdv, and worked there for six years in my youth, and despite all of their "big, eye-popping attractions" I think the park is rather "meh." Yes, they get new "big and bads" rather frequently, but they don't maintain them. Kingda Ka is virtually un-rideable outside of the front row, and El Toro has gotten substantially rougher over the years. Houdini, one of their best rides, rarely operates, and they replaced the projector screen that fits into the theme with a freakin' LCD monitor. I go to Kings Dominion and even Dorney far more frequently despite SFGAdv being a shorter drive than either.

You completely missed his point, which was that the charm of this park lies in what it has and maintains well, not their "eye popping" attractions.

Am I missing something here? I thought Dollywood and SDC were widely regarded as being great parks around these parts? Why all the doom and gloom? No joking, I've never been to any Herschend Parks nor Kentucky Kingdom in any iteration, so I really don't know.

"But everything in SoCal is expensive..." This was the rationale used to explain the ridiculous HitP drive-through price, so I guess it applies here too?

To each their own I guess.