RAWKIN_coaster38

To make it worse, there's an earthquake while the ride is valleyed, and you have to listen to parents screaming and threatening to sue Disney for it. Then, when it's time to get everyone off the ride, the only volunteers to help are these people as long as you agree to wear a PETA sticker the rest of the day. It's also 109* and you are far too sober for this Tomorrow, all the internet in the world goes down and won't come back up for at least 24 hours.

This. Twisted Colossus is fantastic when it duels, but it's still a great ride when it doesn't. As long as SFMM continues to run 3 trains, I'm happy. The ride is a disaster with only 2 trains. Yes, dueling is a big part of the ride's design, but as long as 3 trains are on the track, I'm satisfied. Has it ever run only two trains? I thought I read that they always have three running and the fourth in the maintenance shop. Is that not true? I can't remember exactly when (maybe November or December), but there was a very short period of time where it ran two. It was inconsistent and maybe only for a few days, but I remember reading about it on Instagram. Ouch. Glad that didn't last very long. Three already seems to me to be bare minimum given what the ride does. Yeah we were there when they were only running two trains. It was last Fall some time on a Saturday, I think in October. The coaster had gone down for a bit (we wondered if they were removing the 3rd train). Not only was it only running two trains, the ops were being horribly slow in dispatching, and they were actually stacking the trains. That was the last time I got to ride that ride too

SFDK is one of those parks that can look insanely busy when you arrive with the parking lot completely full, yet have 30 min or shorter lines for all the coasters. Perks of being a family park and having other attractions to draw crowds away from the lines. Medusa and Kong were both running one train when we were there on Sunday so that could affect things. Still wouldn't get a flash pass if I were you since the lines clear up a lot after the sun goes down. You should have no problem. Also, White Water Safari was not closed on Sunday. All three water rides were running despite the frigid weather. Tazmanian was down when I passed it (with a sign saying the attraction was temporarily closed) but I saw employees over there so I'm not sure if it was closed because of the weather or a maintenance issue or if it is closed all week.

I think one major thing to account for is the weather. In July, it rained and thundered pretty much every day in the afternoon and everything would close. When it does rain for a while, the park CLEARS out. If you're able to wait it out (and it's far enough before closing to reasonably assume the rides might reopen) then you should have hardly any lines at all when the weather clears in the evening. During bad weather, I suggest finding an area to bunker down (don't try to walk around the park if there's lightning in the area) and seeing the shows like Iceploration and Opening Night Critters as well as some of the covered animal exhibits (like Curiosity Caverns and Jambo Junction) and probably getting a late lunch or early dinner. Also, Kumba and Montu (and often Sheikra too) are walk-ons in the evening, so more incentive to stick around if you can.

Exactly. It's sad, but I can see a world in the future where many species only survive in zoos. To name a few: tigers, gorillas, orangs, elephants, rhinos etc. I know about a bit about the plight of these animals from my summer at Busch Gardens. I believe BG is doing everything they can to educate the public and save these species, but until we stop consuming palm-oil (many of your snack foods contain it), cell phone batteries, paper products, etc. and we convince other peoples to change their cultural practices that have them using rhino horns to "cure" diseases and poaching animals for sport or just because they want money and don't care, then these animals will continue to be killed until they no longer exist. There are something like only 500 of each tiger species left, and many previous species of tigers have already gone extinct. Busch Gardens might not be able to single-handedly save the tigers in other countries that might be resistant to change, but BGT at least has a healthy population of tigers and good relationships with other zoos such that I believe we could see tigers at Busch Gardens for years to come...regardless of what is happening to wild populations. Orcas are a very resilient species so I don't think they will die out as quickly as other species would, if they die out at all. However, as other people have mentioned, orcas are kind of the cornerstone for Seaworld as a whole and something that makes Seaworld unique to a lot of other parks (animal and theme parks included). I just don't see how letting the orca era end is going to help the company as a whole. And if the company tanks because people no longer care about Seaworld without orcas, then what is going to happen to the other parks, like Busch Gardens? And from there, how about all the other zoos? I just see it as all interconnected and discouraging. I hope the coming years prove me wrong. Emotional connections, truthfully, are worth just about nothing. For all the grandstanding about what these places mean, I've never met anyone who actually considered changing their diets or consumption habits after visiting a zoo or aquarium for any serious length of time. We can't buy our way out of these problems and save these animals. If the scenario is that killer whales are so endangered that SeaWorld becomes their last hope for species survival, then we have far greater issues in our world than whether or not Shamu Rocks! will be happening 4 times a day. Actually, quite a few of our Busch Gardens campers took a lot away from the time they spent with us. If even one thing clicked after they left (like recycling or avoiding products with palm oil) and they pass that on to their friends, who knows the effect it can have. It's certainly much better than ignoring the problems and assuming they'll go away.

I was so beside myself dizzy with excitement that when I stepped onto that stage, I actually thought I might fall into the water. And it's weird that they somehow got the keys before park closing (I guess they went in there for someone else's keys and found mine when they were there). I was on the other side of the park for a while but it never seemed to be raining hard enough after that first stint and after those poor people got stuck on the brake run of Medusa to warrant the ride closing. Not sure if there was a "delay in operations" or if they just went in there anyway? Still seems like an overall win to me after reading your telling of it. Lol. I once was the dumb enthusiast on Superman as well and left my phone in my back pocket. I felt it slide out mid-ride and was hating life the rest of the ride...however SOMEHOW when we got back to the station, I saw it sitting in my lap. Bummer your phone didn't get so lucky. I once lost my driver's license, friend's [expired] license, season pass, and debit card on Superman when I forgot to button my pocket. I saw them all fluttering away during the barrel roll. Since then, I can't go through that barrel roll without hanging on because I still feel like something of mine is going to fly off. This time, I believe it was the first airtime moment that did it and thankfully I didn't realize until later so the rest of the ride wasn't ruined. I've NEVER lost anything on any other coaster. At least my phone wasn't a very expensive phone and I was due for a replacement anyway. It survived falling in the toilet at Busch Gardens but it hasn't been quite the same ever since. I guess I can say it was worth it to A. ALWAYS make sure my pockets are zipped and buttoned on that ride and B. have an excuse to get a phone upgrade.

i should have taken pics of the rest. they are cool. How many of them are there? I could really blow a paycheck on those...

Interesting take on this decision from the Orlando Sentinel

I was the stupidest coaster enthusiast EVER today, but it worked out in my favor. First ride on Superman of the day I forgot to zip my pocket and realized my phone was gone as I exited the ride. Now this phone is not a smart phone and has been through a LOT but when it falls even 2 feet it splatters into 3 pieces: phone, battery, and back. No way SFDK employees were gonna be able to find all 3 parts, right? Well apparently the employee saw it fall into the flash pass line and retrieved all 3 parts. In addition, this guy remembered meeting me at opening day of Superman!! He comes to us after I get the phone back and says, "So you know we have a height restriction of 150 feet because the airspace above the park is military airspace? Well when you lost your phone, I saw it fly up. Your phone went into military airspace before crashing down into the flash pass line at 60mph." Surprisingly, the thing is still in one piece, but won't turn on. Later, it started raining, so we went back to the car to get jackets and I realized, strike #2, I also lost my car keys. Now I'm stuck at SFDK on a cold, rainy day with a cough and cold, no medicine or cough drops, no jacket or working phone. Thankfully, my friend let me borrow his phone to call for reinforcements, but they would not be able to arrive until after 6, which is when we THOUGHT the park closed and I would get my keys anyway, until we realized the park closed at 8 today. FML. My good friend is great but could not stay until 8, so around 4 I was sore and still had a lot of time to kill. After spending about 45 minutes in the butterfly exhibit getting warm and learning about the butterflies, I made my way over to Drench! I sat in my usual spot: splash zone toward the back, and about 10 minutes before the show (with it starting to rain), I was the only one daring enough to sit that close. Long story short, I got asked to volunteer for the show (YESS!! This is like my dream!!) as well as get to sit in the VIP seat (also my dream!) before going onstage and being the proud and soaked guest to participate in the show. After the show, I went down and spent time with the dolphins at the viewing glass, taking selfies with them, and then getting soaked by them again before it was time for my reinforcements to arrive. As I was leaving, I learned that my keys had been found, so I retrieved them, met my reinforcements for the second pair of keys, and then finally drove home very wet and tired (but satisfied) after 7:30. Also, shout out to the enthusiast we met today who is now a bonafide registered TPR member! Beautiful blue butterfly Best seat of the house! Moreso on a sunny day... ALWAYS wanted to do this! About to get soaked SOAKED Dolphin selfie! Video of the dolphins enjoying an umbrella [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

Challenge accepted Thanks for the TR, yet again! Food looks great, esp the desserts! One of these years I'll have to go to this but don't think this year will be the year. Did they make anything special and vegan for you two again?

I'd love to job shadow the PR employees at SeaWorld, my goodness, their jobs are tougher than a two-dollar steak. Evolving cultural expectations have turned up the pressure, and I think SeaWorld tried to hold its position as long as it could. Meanwhile, there will continue to be voices out there citing betrayal on the premise that what SeaWorld is doing isn't enough. If you have a good time at the parks, I hope you don't turn your back on them to spite the difficult position in which they unwittingly found themselves. I worked for a Seaworld park last year and we were taught what to say if people said things that questioned captivity. Just seems like this move is going against all those reasons. One of the reasons, as we've said, is that it's a proven fact people care more about something if they've seen it in flesh and blood than if they just see it in a video. If all the orcas die out then a lot of people may never get to see them. Yes, it is true that there are only 3 Seaworld parks with orcas vs many places that there are orcas in the wild. However, if my own life is any indication of the general public, I've seen orcas at Seaworld many times and never a wild orca . I, too, wondered if they might use the facilities in the future for rescue whales. They took in a rescue baby gray whale in the past rehabilitated her until she was ready to be released. However, I haven't heard of any situations where an orca was rescued and deemed "non-releasable." Maybe it'll happen and Seaworld will continue having orcas that way. If not, then I feel bad for whichever orca ends up being the last orca at Seaworld

I am heartbroken by this news I love killer whales and I never would have had the appreciation I do if it weren't for seeing them at Marine World as a kid. Someday my children's children may never know what a real orca looks like. And why care about something you've never seen? Plus, our oceans are seriously in danger and lots of wild marine mammals (including orcas) have been starving, beaching, and dying. Someday we may live in a world where whales no longer exist or are so rare that no one ever sees them. I know that's a pretty fire and brimstone thing to say, but sometimes I think a lot of animals we see in zoos may no longer be alive in the wild, and the only hope for survival of the species is in zoos (I feel like there have actually been a few cases of this already?) Orcas are not an endangered species by any stretch but I feel like this could be the step to more and more animals being targeted and zoos slowly falling apart (except possibly local rescue species, like the turtles or manatees). I also feel betrayed that they seemingly caved in too easily. I have no idea why they would do this after they said they were going to fight, and they taught us all the things to reply to people saying we should cease orca captivity. The only thing I could think of is that with Tilikum's impending death and no further capturing of whales, the gene pool might be getting a little too small for further breeding programs. I know when we asked them they said they share orca sperm with other facilities around the world to ensure no in-breeding. But it seems that can only go for so long. Maybe it was a combination of that and general giving into the pressure?

This park just looks amazing and fun! I'm really looking forward to going here opening weekend this year! Thank you for all of the pictures and report, it's really gotten me more excited for my trip. Hope I have enough time to try everything! We might even camp out at the campsite there, have any of you done that before?

Your moon! What's worse than Donald Trump getting elected president?

Looks amazing. Can you see it from the freeway?

This is heartbreaking. Tilli is a breautiful animal and well-loved by everyone at Seaworld. It's a shame that once again the activists are using something heartbreaking at Seaworld to further their agenda.

Yeah there are other areas where they could put a dark ride, but the Gwazi spot is prime for a really big coaster. Or even an indoor coaster? Now that would be interesting!

Watch. Six Flags will have a good plan for this that we all don't know about yet and operations will be fine, headsets will be clean and secure, and then I'll be like "Lawl it worked out after all" Gotta throw that out there at least. #hope

^^It's over in the building that used to be a Famiglia's pizza. Which didn't make sense because they already had a Famiglia's pizza counter to the right of the Panda Express. There also used to be a ColdStone on the side of that building and wayyyyy back in the day a Subway. ^NEW SANDWICH SHOP?!?!? "Dear Six Flags gods, please give us a vegetarian sandwich option!!"

You might be a coaster nerd if your GP friends send you those "Like if you would ride this" posts on Facebook and you know exactly what ride it is, where it's at, and you've already been on it or have plans to go on it.

It is really interesting that they're rolling this out at so many parks. Although the general enthusiast consensus is "meh" I predict the GP will eat this up. I give it a week (or maybe a few) before all my friends on Facebook start sending me stuff like, "Did you hear about the Virtual Reality roller coasters?!?!? " I'm also really curious about how they're going to do this to keep it quick and efficient. I'm sure they have it planned out somehow but it seems like it would be difficult helping everyone put them on and get to their seats and put drink cups down and all that jazz. I'm not really familiar with these headsets so pardon my ignorance, but can you see out of them when they're not turned on? Is it like looking at everything though a Facetime until the VR kicks in?

From the Newsletter today: SFDK subtly recognizing that Kong might beat the crap out of you, especially in latter rows?

Even with it being a busy day for SFDK, it still wasn't too bad. We rode Superman once, about a 30 or 40 minute wait I believe, Kong was only about 10 minutes and Medusa toward the end of the day probably about 10 minutes. This is with Roar and V2 closed (as well as a few flats) mind you, so less rides to disperse the crowds. The food lines definitely looked the worst because those move so slow. Compare that with what Magic Mountain had on the same day. SFMM might have better coasters but I'd rather wait 10 minutes for Medusa than 3 hours for X2 on a day when I just wanted to chill out with my bring-a-friend.

That looks amazing! I can't wait to [hopefully] ride it this year! Seeing that just made me really excited at the possibility of going to Florida for the summer!

It's not even worth going on a day like that. Just bring your friend another time and pay for him/her. Or better yet, get a season pass.