Looty

Ok so... Pepsi Orange Streak is running fine I guess. I wouldn't consider it a top thrill ride (I believe the top speed is only 35 mph). It does provide an excellent view of the overall park and has a rather close flyby with Avatar. Operations for the most part are pretty good. I wouldn't count on waiting in long lines (if any). I would suggest doing the Log Chute first. If it's going to be busy, LC will have the longest line. You don't get wet either if riding with less than 3 people in a boat. I'm not sure how sick you get on spinning rides, but I would say that both Avatar and FOC aren't too bad. If you want to spin a lot and you aren't by yourself, see if the ride ops at FOC will let just the two of you ride and sit on the same side (if there is a line then don't count on it as you will be paired with another party). I would say Splat O Sphere provides the best airtime so definitely try that. Spongebob provides some air too. This is the slow time of the year so I really wouldn't count on lines. I have walked around a few times on Saturday's recently and have seen no lines at all at major rides. It does tend to get busier around 1:00 versus the morning but again I wouldn't worry about crowds. I can easily see someone getting done here in a few hours on Saturday's. Get the unlimited wristband if you are going on more than 5-6 rides. I believe its around $30 now. When you are hungry or thirsty, I would suggest eating someplace out in the mall. Nick U's food court is operated by Levy foods and they are constantly changing their prices. If you are looking for sit down restaurants, I suggest Tucci Bennuci for italian or Corona Cantina for mexican. There are two food courts as well if you are in a hurry or on a budget. Have a good time!

^As much as I hated Favre as a Vikes fan, I would take him any day of the week over who we have!

^Ha!...I completely forgot about Flutie Flakes!

^There are some very strict rules that you have to follow to go swimming with Manatees. We were near a manatee "nursery" and it was absolutely forbidden to go into the nursery. You also couldn't pursue the manatees...they had to come to you. There were plenty of them that were laying on the bottom of the river and we were instructed not to bother them. There were a few enforcement officers on the river too that made sure everyone was following the rules. ^^As far as researching goes, we looked around online for everything. We booked our flight and hotel together online which saved us money and we purchased our Universal tickets at CostCo. We didn't seem to find very many deals that were worth purchasing when it came to Disney tickets. We rented our car from Enterprise which was the cheapest too.

Hi Everyone! Some friends and I decided to spend New Year's Eve and the following week down in Florida. When we left MSP, the temp was about 6 degrees. When we landed in ORL, the temp was 72 degrees...it was awesome! We went to Universal on New Years Eve and the following day. Some other highlights include Disney and a few days down in Miami. We also decided to do poor man's Discovery Cove by swimming with Manatees in Crystal River. Overall, we had an awesome time and I took lots of photos. Enjoy! I'll end with a photo of the castle. Thanks for reading. Hey it's retired NFL Quarterback Doug Flutie! Ok so this one takes a minute. We were waiting in line to get on the train by Splash Mountain when the train station employee walks over to this guy sitting on the fence and nicely asks him to get down. He does. When the employee walks away, the guy jumps right back up. I turned to my friend and said, "That A-hole over there who looks like Doug Flutie wont get off the fence...wait a second...that is Doug Flutie!" Big Thunder Mountain. Splash was down for rehab Space Mountain. Good...but not as good as Disneyland's IMO. Haunted Mansion is really cool. If I were Paul Ruben, I would give HM Two Bananas Up! The next (and last) day we spent at Magic Kingdom. Japan at Epcot. France at night. Epcot's firework show was cool. We went to eat at Ohana at the Polynesian Resort before coming back to Epcot. If you are down visiting Disney, you have to eat at Ohana! Sunset at Epcot. Nemo! I never thought I could hate a ride SO much! Mission Space featuring Gary Sinise! The next day was Epcot. This is for all of you fans of "The First 48." Downtown. Cruise ship anyone? Here is the MacArthur Causeway. For those of you who saw Bad Boys 2, this is where they filmed the highway chase scene where all the cars come flying off of the car carrier. Versace Mansion The architecture in Miami is gorgeous. Here's me doing my best CSI David Caruso impression: Scene: David Caruso and Frank standing over a murdered couple at a cheap motel. Caruso: "Who reported the murder Frank?" Frank: "That couple from Kansas over there." Caruso turns to frank, puts on his sunglasses and tilts his head at an awkward angle before exclaiming to Frank "Yes well...it looks like they're not in Kansas anymore!" -Q the Who music!!! South Beach was nice. Dolphins stadium. Dolphins ended up losing on this day to the Ravens in the first round of the playoffs (my vikings lost too) Ok here's Boomers. We had an interesting visit here. We actually stopped by the night before which ended up being a mistake. It was a Saturday night and we got there at 10 pm just to ride the Hurricane and leave. When we pulled into the parking lot, it was like driving into a bad neighborhood. There were a lot of teens hanging around in the parking lot and three police cars were parked at the front door. It looked like a scene out of Fast and Furious just before a race was about to start. A lot of threatening looks were being distributed and it felt as if a fight was about to break out. When we walked inside, it was pretty much the same. There were plenty of loud-mouthed teens huddling around each other being obnoxious. We quickly rode the Hurricane and got the hell out of there. I understand that it was late on a Saturday night so we were a little stupid, but I had no idea what Boomers had to offer and I definitely would not recommend going on Saturday nights. Hurricane was awesome and offered plenty of airtime and I'm happy to report that there wasn't a drive by on the coaster involving the gang sitting in front of us! We saw both Nemo and the Lion King show throughout the day which were both very good. After that, there wasn't much to do so we left and headed down to Miami. Primeval Whirl was rather uneventful. Expedition Everest was my 300th coaster. It was really cool too...although the Yeti was in "B mode." Giant Tree! It's Tough to be a Bug was entertaining. The next day we went to Animal Kingdom!...note the random girl. Hollywood Studios at night. Hollywood Studios has an impressive night show too (i forget the name). Rock n' Roller Coaster was pretty neat. The wait time said 150 minutes but we only waited about 30 minutes...Oops! Toy Story Mania was actually really cool. Definitely a must when you're at Hollywood Studios. Lots of lights! Tower of Terror is amazing...especially at night! After the Manatees, we went to Hollywood Studios. This was honestly one of the coolest things I have ever done. This might sound cheesy, but it was incredible for me to go into a wild animals habitat and interact with them the way I did. I just can't get over how affectionate they are to humans. They come to you and allow you to rub them and interact with them. They reminded me of giant water puppies. If you don't want to spend $300 on the dolphins at Discovery Cove. Do this! It only cost $40 dollars and it was worth every penny. Definitely a unique experience. Rachel looking ridiculous. They are extremely gentle and affectionate. Up close and personal. The next day Sam, Rachel, and I went swimming with Manatees aka Sea Cows! Hulk at night. Dragons doing its thing. Me and Hulk. Rachel and Cameron don't look too worried. Me about to get eaten ala that guy on the toilet in the first movie. Hulk doing its thing. Spiderman is one of the best rides out there anywhere! Crowds IOA is one of my favorite parks. It was a little crowded on this day though. Next day was IOA! Jaws is one of my favorites. I always love seeing people freak out when half of a great white shark slowly leaps out of the water. Simpson's was new for us. I guess it was ok, but it made me a little motion sick. MIB is one of the best shooter/dark ride's out there IMO. Ok last one. More Rockit Rockit construction update. First stop was the studios. We drove by Rockit track on our way to Universal. WORST WAL-MART EVER! I never shop at wal-mart and my experience at this one only reinforces my feelings about Wal-Mart. If you enjoy battling every shopping cart the store owns in the parking lot, fighting your way through the crazy Orlando tourists in the store, and then waiting 20-25 minutes in the checkout line while Mr. un-motivated Wal-Mart employee who hates his life takes his time...then this Wal-Mart is for you! Classy liquor store close to our hotel. There were a plethora of mirrors and random light switches everywhere. Our king bed was comfortable though. Not bad. We stayed at the Westgate Towers. I had heard things about this place trying to rape you with timeshares and other annoyances, but it was actually quite nice. The employees at the front desk were Mt. Olympus quality, but we didn't need anything from them while we stayed there so it was okay. Our fire alarm did go off one night and we were instructed to "take out the batteries"...that was probably the ultimate of the guest service we experienced there. Picking up our luxurious rental car. Getting on the plane.

^Have you not ridden Goliath at SFOG?!?...It's amazing and provides plenty of negative g's. I agree with you on the rest of the B&M hypers though...especially Apollo's Chariot which truly was as entertaining as listening to Rihanna sing! (that's a bad thing BTW)

^I'll also be at that game.

^Agreed!

^Yeah well...I'm sorry about what happened on MNF last night

This is my first attempt at a TR so here goes nothing: My friend and I decided to head down to Tampa a few weeks ago to escape the cold of Minnesota and to catch the Vikings game. While down there, we made sure to hit up Busch Gardens as well. I'll let the photos do the talking. Enjoy! I'll end with a photo of what we woke up to the next morning. Thanks for reading. It's huge! After the game, we decided to go check out the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Vikes ended up losing, but we had a great time! Adrian Peterson Baby! Pirate Ship Raymond James Stadium is probably the best NFL stadium I've been to (Pittsburgh is a close second). We had GREAT seats! The next day was the big game! A few of the buildings looked neat. Tampa seemed surprisingly bright and clean. We left in the late afternoon and decided to check out downtown. We decided to skip Gwazi. I almost lost a kidney last time I rode it and I value my kidneys. I did, however, have the uncontrollable urge to climb over that fence despite my better knowledge...good thing that Danger sign was there to stop me. FREE BEER! Holiday World take that! Sheikra didn't let me down. In fact, I think I like it a tad bit more than Griffon. Sheikra's layout just seemed better than Griffon's. Next up was Sheikra. I hadn't been on it floorless yet. Jack Hanna was there too! This photo has never been taken before. Kumba is in desperate need of a paint job! Another sweet coaster. This guy was planning his next escape. I think this tiger wanted to eat me. IMO...Montu is the best invert out there! It truly is awesome. "A Top 10 Coaster" Busch Gardens is also home to some amazing coasters. Apparently ACE was having some swimming event this day too! The life of a celebrity. Flamingos...meh. These guys were pretty cool too. The next day we headed for Busch Gardens. I've never seen a croc before so I thought this was pretty cool. I put on my best tappin' shoes and headed for one of the friendly Minneapolis airport bathrooms...unfortunately there were no political figures to be found. The airport was incredibly busy today!...yet our flight was delayed an hour.

^So it consumed a majority of your day then? I'm trying to decide if I should devote a whole day to it or pair it with something else.

Hi everyone, I'm going to Orlando in January and really want to try out Discovery Cove. I have always had an interest in Marine Biology and think it would be really cool to swim with dolphins ( i have swam with Manatees before and thought it was really cool). With that said, is it really worth the $260.00?!? Any input is helpful. How long did you stay? what all did you do? anything that they don't tell you on their website? Thanks again.

Nice photos. Glad you had a good time. Kennywood is truly a gem in the Amusement industry and deserves more attention.

SDC is awesome! Definitely one of the more underrated parks out there.

Whale portal huh?...ACErs beware!!!

So when can we expect an announcement?!? Don't they usually announcement expansions to the park around Labor Day?

Glad to hear you had a good time in my neck of the woods.... ....Although you found Renegade rough and Excalibur smooth!?!?! That's news to me.

^Zing!!! Very nice idea though with the whole easter egg/google scavenger hunt.

Robb, Where do babies come from?

Very Nice! I was a little surprised to see that they didn't build the platform under the cobra roll...Hopefully it wont ever valley!

As of around noon today, there were only three riders left. I guess they all dropped like flies. I'm actually at the mall tonight so I am keeping an eye on them...they still look like they are having a good time (oh and I am the one who gets to deliver the $1000 cash prize to the winner if there is one tonight...lucky me).

I ended up riding Steel Venom at Valleyfair 22 consecutive times in 1 HOUR for a press junction soon after it opened in 2003.

I'm not so sure about this either. I do believe that this will bring in a significant revenue for the park...but for how long? I guess we will see what happens.

I was just there on July 1st and had a good time. Yeah, their coasters aren't the greatest, but their other rides and even the overall scenery of the park was great. I can honestly say too that their staff was the friendliest Six Flags staff I've ever seen. I'm happy to hear that they are getting something...they do need it.

I can honestly say that out of the 250 coasters that I've been on, El Toro is the best. I really don't see how it isn't ranked number 1! It provides the best ride experience. I would think Six Flags would want to build more Intamin woodies.