Zand

So this trip was all about Velocicoaster and Iron Gwazi. But going in, I knew Mine Blower was quite the polarizing coaster and that usually means I'll like it. Verdict: OMFG! Is it rough? Absolutely. Is it one of the best and most insane wooden coasters on Earth? Also absolutely! Don't ever leave without riding it in back. Also, the Hurricane coaster in the back of Old Town might be one of the more frightening coasters I've ridden. It's so janky and the cars feel like they might fly off on any of those tight mouse style turns. What a bizarre coaster, but fun nonetheless! I did stop at FSO earlier and White Lightning is good pure fun! Nothing mind blowing (or...mine blowing if I do say so myself) but worth stopping in.

Alright, Disney TR time from Friday 4/29. Just gonna put it in here as I spent the majority of my time at MK, but will include some notes on Epcot and AK as well. I bought Genie+ as it's a whopping $15 and it honestly made a big difference, especially in the afternoon when we got to MK. Started the day at Epcot with an already booked time at Test Track for 10:15. Upon arrival, I hit Mission Space (5 min wait) for the first time which was pretty fun. Then went over to Test Track for the first time since they "updated" it. It's definitely not as fun as it used to be, but at least the outdoor section is still good. We were able to make a pick at 10:30 and decided on Soarin as Frozen didn't have anything until 5:30 when we would already be at MK. Made a lap around the world checking out the flower festival topiaries and food/drinks selections. Love this section of Epcot and the festival only added to the fun. Rode the Mexico Boat Ride which was air conditioned and otherwise fun to sit for a few minutes. Once around the lake we hit Figment which was cute (wife wanted to ride it lol) then our time for Soarin came up and we rode that. Got an end seat unfortunately so got to look at a bunch of curvy landmarks such as the Bent Eiffel Tower and sideways Mt Everest. Made another selection at 12:30 and seeing as we had already completed Epcot and MK wasnt filling very fast, we took advantage of a 2:45 time for Expedition Everest and planned to pop into AK for a bit. On the way out we of course stopped at Spaceship Earth for a walk on. Always fun to hit that after the masses move on. With our Hopper going going live at 2, we drove over to AK for a quick ride on Everest. Not my greatest idea as it was a lot of walking across the lot and back plus to the back of the park just to ride one coaster, but Everest is worth it. A bit shorter than I remember but the backwards section is fun and the theming is tremendous. Hope to return here soon to check out Pandora! Took our time heading out from there and got to TTC right around 4:30 and after tramming and monorailing got into MK around 5. Our first Genie reservation wasn't until 6:30 at Splash Mountain and we had food pickup at Casey's at 5:40 so we shopped and the wife pin traded for a while. At 5:40 we headed to Casey's where we were directed into the longest line and it took at least 10 minutes to pick up the food. Kind of defeats the purpose of mobile ordering. Also not many tables left inside and what was open was not cleaned at all. Very unexpected to see this in a Disney park. On the way to Splash Mountain we waited 30 mins for Pirates which was fun as always, although I don't remember having like 12 boats stack up near the end like they were yesterday. Continued over to Splash Mountain which broke down 3 times while we were on it and ended up spending 34 minutes on the ride. It looked like a scene out of RCT with a bunch of logs stacked up inside and stuck on lifts at random points. This caused the water in the inside part to get really choppy and at one point a wave went over the "door" and totally soaked the lower half of our bodies. It was kind of entertaining at first but honestly once we were soaked it got pretty miserable. Managed to get a Thunder Mountain reservation aligned with the Splash Mountain one so we headed over there and thankfully got a normal ride in on it. Great theming and some good air pops as well. Started heading back across the park as we had Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain reservations, but as we got to Haunted Mansion the fireworks started and it was a walk on. Simply put, one of the best rides on Disney property and I always look forward to it when we go. Went over to Seven Dwarfs as I still have never ridden it and hoped the line died down during the fireworks but unfortunately still 1:05 posted so the wife did more pin trading while we waited for 9:30 to come for Space Mountain. I don't know how a coaster with a 28 MPH top speed can be so insane and have so much airtime, but god do I love this thing. Hit the always entertaining Peoplemover before heading out. Love how it goes into Space Mountain and also had some cool views of Tron's construction. Headed out around 10:45 and the monorail got stuck at Grand Floridian for nearly 25 minutes while they "removed a monorail train ahead out of service" (right at park closing?!?!?). We were tired from the long day and still had wet underwear from Splash Mountain's malfunctions, and getting stuck in a crammed monorail car hammered home the feeling that we had just visited a Six Flags park instead of the flagship Disney park. Looking forward to getting back to the resort soon to get to ride the Avatar stuff, Star Wars stuff, and Toy Story stuff for the first time. But yeah, MK was a disappointing night overall and if it weren't for Tron I wouldn't even go there next trip. Currently 18 hours away from riding a certain purple RMC, can't wait for tomorrow!

First time in Florida? Lol...this is the average forecast for like 300 days out of the year. And definitely not rain all weekend. I'll be there tomorrow too...first time! Got QQ with 1 Gwazi ride included lined up, but will go there first to make sure I get at least 2 rides on it. So pumped to finally get to this place.

Haha...I couldn't help but think they were doing a damn good job making it exactly like it would be in the show lol.

Final day at Universal, pretty much just hit the favorites. Kinda slept late and ended up heading into IOA around 12:30, at which we immediately boarded the Hogwarts Express to check out the return trip that we got denied on Monday. It was a big mistake. Not because the train was a problem, but because leaving IOA was the wrong decision. Started off with a couple favorites, the Simpsons and ET with short waits. That was followed up with quite frankly the worst dining experience I've ever had at a Theme Park (and this is coming from someone who's had a Six Flags as a home park for 22 years). I rather enjoy the Simpsons and I made it a point to eat at Krusty Burger on this trip. We arrived to a line out the "side door" which we waited in for 5 minutes before being directed to a maze (which was out of view when you walked in) where we spent 45 minutes before finally getting to the front of that line and being directed to the burger line, which took another 10 minutes because they were literally filling ONE ORDER AT A TIME and taking about 2 minutes each to do so. And then you get directed to another line to get drinks. Finally after cashing out, we sat in the sh*thole dining room full of dirty tables and a screaming child next to us. The burger frankly sucked. Six Flags could never possibly suck this bad and I can't believe this could happen at Universal. Don't ever waste your time with this place, no matter how big of a Simpsons fan you might be. After wasting an hour and 30 minutes on that debacle, we finally got the hell out of Springfield and headed up to Diagon Alley as I wanted to reride Gringotts and hopefully come away with a better opinion than the first time. The wait was only 25 minutes in the singles line. After boarding one of the most uncomfortable trains ever built (imagine an RMC or Premier seat but your feet are forced even further underneath you) we were off and...I still don't get the hype. This isn't even the best dark ride/coaster combo in this park (which is unfortunately down for rehab). It's fun, don't get me wrong, and they did a great job with the theming and all. Just very underwhelming after reading the reviews on it. By then it was pushing 4:30 and I was wasting time that could be spend racing dinosaurs. I made another time wasting mistake on the way through City Walk by grabbing a hurricane at Fat Tuesdays. I figured since I bought it on property I would be able to bring it in (since you can bring anything else in including outside food) but they told me to finish it before going in. Once in IOA (just walking into this place feels so much better than Studios, that entry has a magical feeling to it) I managed to hit Hulk twice, Spiderman, Cat in the Hat, the good Potter ride, and Velocicoaster twice including a coveted night time backseat ride to finish off the night. Same stuff I covered yesterday so no reason to elaborate again other than it was quite a bit busier than yesterday. But there are some great crews in this park and they keep the lines moving always. That's all for Universal but this trip is only half done!

Fun night with @PKI Jizzman getting night rides on this beast! Look how short the line was! Went into IOA around 3 and was once again treated to walk ons and short lines everywhere. In the first hour I was able to ride Hulk twice, Dr Doom, and Spiderman twice. Forgot how fantastic Spiderman is, definitely one of my favorites from either park. Made my way around for a few first-to-me rides, starting with a quick 5 minute wait for Kong. This was terrific and IMO much better than F&F. River Adventure was next, also a first for me on an IOA classic. Kind of cheesy, but really fun and naturally we absolutely drowned after watching people come off bone dry. Always seems to work out that way for me! Went over to Poseidon, also for the first time. While it is a bit time consuming, it's a fantastic attraction with tons of cool effects. Didnt know what to expect going into it, but it really delivered with the wow factor a few times! Hit Velocicoaster next and went to row 2 to get the front experience without actually being in front. The first half of the ride really stands out up here. Seems like a lot more great ejector moments and that dive loop is mental up there. Met up with @PKI Jizzman at the Hogs Head for a beer and we made our way into the line for Forbidden Journey. Well, joke was on us. The ride was a total walk on and we had to stand aside for a few minutes to finish our beers! Anyway, this is by far the best dark ride I've ever ridden and I can never get enough. It pulls off the flying effect perfectly and there are so many great sets. Such a home run. Finished up the night with a couple mental night rides in the back on Velocicoaster. You can't see in the first half and some of those turns are surprisingly forceful when you can't see them coming. The air over the top hat is second to none in the back and then the barrel roll blows my mind. Every. Damn. Time. So sad I have to leave this thing behind after tomorrow. Great to meet a new TPR member, thanks for hanging out Zach! Down to one more Universal day, then it's off to the Mouse.

IOA has been pretty steady crowd wise, but I couldn't believe how easy and quickly we got through Studios yesterday. Got there around 11:30 and it was like 12:45 when we got out of Bourne. Hit Fallon with no line, then saw the Blues Brothers show (which was pretty awesome TBH). Made our way to Springfield, hit the Duff Brewery, then brought beers into the Simpson's line (which was listed at 25 minutes, but had to chug when it ended up being 5 minutes lol). Then ET had no line before the preshow. Hit Rockit (with no wait) on the way out to lunch at 3:30 at Toothsomes Chocolate Factory (which was really great) then we went back in to a 10 minute Minions wait and then walk ons for Transformers, F&F, and MIB. Didn't do Gringotts since we did it Sunday, so by 6 we were done with the whole place and hopped on the train which was maybe a 10 minute line. Who needs express passes?!? This morning/early afternoon was a "Pina Coladas by the pool" morning but heading up in a little while to hit stuff like Spiderman, Kong, River Adventure, and Poseidon for the first time.

TR from the past 3 days at Universal! Flew down with lovely Frontier on Sunday which wasnt too bad, but upon arrival it took an hour and 5 minutes to get luggage at the carousel (no joke) and then after shuttling to Aventura and checking in, it was already pushing 6:00. My wife wanted to go to the Mardi Gras parade at 7:30 so we unfortunately had to miss Velocicoaster the first day and headed to Studios. Parade was good. It was a parade. Once that ended around 8:00 we headed to Diagon Alley for the first time and wow. It's absolutely amazing how well of a job they did with it. The attention to detail is incredible. They didn't miss on anything. We took advantage of a 30 minute line for Gringotts and hit that real quick. After gawking at the amazing job they did with the interior of the bank, we made our way into the mindf*ck elevator and then wobbily made our way to the station. As for the ride, I'm going to get a lot of shit probably, but I was let down quite a bit. IMO it's very short, not any more impressive than anything else at Universal, and Forbidden Journey blows it away. I know I'm in a very small minority by being underwhelmed, but at least skipping the 2+ hour lines for it will be easy for me lol. It was pushing the 9:00 closing after that, so we set off for City Walk to find food which turned out to be an impossible task. It was mobbed, the sit down places were full for the night, and the fast food places had mile long lines. Eventually admitted defeat and headed back to the hotel and ordered a pizza. Awoke Monday morning and there was only one place I was heading. Velocicoaster had a 50 minute line posted which wasnt bad at all for a coaster of its newness and magnitude. Not to mention that line never stops moving. They do a great job with ~55 second dispatches and the great theming makes the line go even quicker. I've intentionally avoided any discussion or videos on this thing since it opened as I wanted to be surprised by it. I didn't know about the barrel roll or the stall until I saw them while walking up. So the first half of the ride was a real blind experience as you can't see it from the line. It kind of meanders a bit, but a few small pops of good air and a fun inversion. But then, from the second launch out it just turns into one of the greatest coasters on earth. The air on the top hat is phenomenal as well as in a few other places in the 2nd half. The stall is great. But then, that barrel roll. You get launched directly at the water and I screamed "HOLY SH*T!" so loud when it happened. My first experience with the Rolling Thunder hill on El Toro and my first ride on Skyrush were the only other two times I can think of that blew me away like that. But those are just great ejector air moments. This is upside down ejector air mere feet above the water, hanging from a lapbar. RMC has done great things the past 10 years, but no one builds masterpieces like Intamin (when they're not broken down lol). Anyway, after that ride we looked for lunch but Jurassic Park (and Hogsmeade) were Kings Island Haunt on Columbus Day weekend busy. Finally got all the way to Comic Strip Cafe to find a line less than 10 minutes. Food there was fine. Made my way to Hulk and got on quick from the singles line. Always a fun, intense ride on one of the most iconic coasters in the world. Speaking of fun, intense rides, I kind of just made my way back to Velocicoaster because I just had to get another ride. Headed for Hogwarts next (grabbing a butterbeer on the way) and grabbed a ride on the best Potter themed ride between the two parks, Forbidden Journey. Great theming in line and the ride is phenomenal. This was the only thing they had built last time I was there and I loved it then and it's still just as good as I remembered it. After grabbing a beer at the Hogs Head we hopped in line for Hagrids. Posted at 50 minutes, we were excited when we got to the preshow within 10 minutes. But WTF, why is the preshow followed by another 30 solid minutes of lines? Anyway, the coaster is a ton of fun and a home run as a family ride. I forgot it has a backwards section and it even got a little intense at some points. But a lot of fun. After hitting the restroom with sounds of Moaning Myrtle piped in (which makes sense from the movies but still f*cking weird) we had a bizarre incident at the train. We got in line and after 5 minutes, suddenly the hosts were like "EVERYONE NEEDS TO EXIT THE LINE NOW!" and some of them were literally running trying to get everyone out. The hosts at the front of the line just said it was down temporarily but there's no way they would act like that over a mechanical issue. I later read (on Twitter, take it with a grain of salt) that they totally blocked off the Diagon Alley end and that there might have been a bomb threat. Not sure how true that is, but based on how urgently they cleared the line I can kind of believe it. Good news is I used that time to get one more Velocicoaster ride before heading to NBC Sports to watch the end of the Celtics sweep over Brooklyn with some great food and beer. Then checked out the rooftop bar at my hotel which is an awesome spot. Tuesday we decided to make it a dedicated Studios day. We really planned it well and between 2 and 6 we basically had free reign with lots of walk ons ans rode everything in the park. Honestly, I'm not sure anything really stands out here with Mummy closed. ET is a nostalgic favorite, and I like the Simpsons, but everything else just blends in to me and started to feel repetitive. Rockit has potential with a lot of intensity and some ejector air, but god do those trains suck. Saw Bourne Stuntacular which was pretty awesome. Visited Diagon (and Knockturn) Alley for a bit before finally successfully getting on the train. They absolutely nailed this area too. So well done with all the detail. Plan was to close the night with Velocicoaster but it was throwing an Intamin maintenance fit and Poseidon was also down, so hit some Seuss stuff to end the day. Wife loves One Fish Two Fish (and I got soaked because the song lies) and then I have a soft spot for Cat in the Hat so fun enough way to end the day even if it wasnt mind blowing upside down ejector air. Two more days left at Universal, tomorrow will be for hitting some of the lesser ridden stuff at IOA and then Thursday will be spent mostly at the paddock most likely. Then we ARE going to Disney after all, just one day on Friday. Starting at Epcot and ending at Magic Kingdom. May slip into one of the others if Queue Times suggests its worth it. Saturday is a rest day (AKA Fun Spot Day) followed by my first ever day at BGT Sunday and first trip in 10 years to Seaworld Monday.

Will be writing up a full report sometime, but let me just say that this is by far my favorite coaster element ever. What a masterpiece. Intamin did it again.

I haven't been to the park yet this year but I was just dicking around on Queue Times and I saw "Nightwing" listed as closed. Did I miss some news about a new ride (or new name for an existing ride) or is the website just having flashbacks to... like... 2003 and the Foreman Grill era?

The pretzel place at BGW by Verbolten and the Drop Tower is one of my favorite food places anywhere, so if it's anything like that then I very much look forward to it!

Seeking advice! Doing a no-Disney Florida trip 4/24-5/2. Will be at Universal Sunday thru Thursday. Rented a car Friday through Monday when we leave at 2:30. I bought a 2 day 2 park ticket to use at Seaworld and BGT. My current plan is to go to Seaworld on Friday and Busch on Sunday and avoid Saturday. I've been to Seaworld once (on a weekday in January like 10 years ago, it was deserted) and dont plan on getting QQ, as there's plenty of time in one day to hit everything they have to offer. I've never been to BGT so I have,no idea what to expect for crowds on a Sunday mid spring now that spring break is over but summer vacations aren't starting yet. QQ unlimited is $100 and then $130 to include 1 ride on Iron Gwazi. Obviously I want a ride or two on that, but otherwise I'll be happy to spend most of the day on the B&Ms. Should I plan on buying QQ (and can I buy it in the park if necessary or does it sell out?) or are Sundays in early May not too bad? Also, if anyone has any strategy advice on what to hit early/late to avoid crowds as well as best food at each park, any help is great! Really looking forward to especially BGT but there's so much new to me stuff at all the parks so the whole week will be a blast.

https://www.wwlp.com/news/local-news/six-flags-new-england-opening-with-new-experiences/ I guess when you remove 2 rides, adding 2 new bars is a good consolation prize.

At least they can turn the lines for the closed rides into fist bumping stations.

They need to move those dumpsters behind the ride area. The smell literally seeped into the restraints for Twister and they always smelled like vomit. Never rode Fireball but I'm sure it eventually got to be the same way. Having dumpsters ~20 feet from a ride is such a Six Flags move.

All those big pine trees behind it got blown onto it during a storm last summer and bent the hell out of it.

You have a much better chance if you take the brief flight/ride to the backwoods of Idaho.

Track still looks less f*cked up than Manhattan Express...salvageable for sure.

I experienced the best and worst of Cedar Point's inconsistent policy in the same night last Memorial Day. I rode Steel Vengeance and it had NO line (well... except for in the clusterf*ck tunnels after the lockers but we won't mention that) but they closed off the line at 7:25 with an 8pm close. I got off at 7:45, had time to get on the train, ride through Boneville, get off and walk over to the still open Millennium Force line at 7:57. It was a walk on, and as we came around the last overbank I saw people STILL getting into the line at 8:05. Back in the station they had popped open the magic gate and I got two more rides on it. The night before, as far as I could tell, they closed every line in the park by 7:50. It's a total crapshoot. Hopefully someday when staffing gets better (hahahahaha), Cedar Point will go back to their old policy of keeping almost every major ride's line open 5-10 minutes past park close. If the park is mobbed and you don't mind being there till 1am, you can get in line for something with a 3 hour line right at closing and no matter how long the line is, they'll get you on. I remember going to the park the year TTD opened and they were still running it at 4am one night. I'm sure we'll never see days like that again and it's understandable, but hopefully they'll at least get past the inconsistency of closing some lines 30+ minutes early while keeping other lines open 10+ minutes after closing and you pretty much have to cross your fingers that you're finishing your night at the correct ride.

You just made me realize...Goliath is being relocated to Darien Lake right next to their Boomerang and Ride of Steel is being relocated to SFNE so they can have two Intamin hypers. It all makes sense!

I can't imagine leaving Busch Gardens Williamsburg and thinking "I don't want their food, employees, or operating procedures at Kings Dominion." I'd love to hear an elaboration on this because I'm genuinely curious.

After they turn this down, I guess next up will be a $2.8 billion offer from Parques Reunidos in 3 years...

It's a start. But the Dale Earnhardt coaster and the alien coaster don't make sense in the jungle either lol.

I was too lazy to actually go to the page and read it before I posted...my bad. Glad existing memberships are staying intact for now. I just wouldn't be surprised to see pass prices go up closer to CF prices. And, like you said for memberships, they might raise those prices to a point where people say screw it and move on to regular passes.

I feel like with the (at one time anyway) change regarding season passes only being good at the home park, they might be going with the Cedar Fair method of cheapish passes for a pass for your home park and a more expensive pass to get to the whole chain. I feel like they lose tons of money on memberships (even my diamond membership with a dining pass membership is only $17 a month) and the new ownership is going to start tightening those strings. I feel like the price points will still be slightly below Cedar Fair's, but say goodbye to the insane deals you get now... Hopefully they let people already on memberships keep them, but not holding my breath.