Zand

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.

Has anyone stayed at Aventura or Cabana Bay that could recommend either one (or not recommend)? Planning a late April trip. Never intended on staying on site, but they have a pretty good deal for 5 days of park to park tickets and 5 nights at either hotel above for $1290 for 2 people. My original plan was to spend 3 days, and a 3 day park to park ticket costs $700 for 2 people. Then an off site room would still cost $100 a night plus daily transportation, so the way I see it its worth ~100 more to spend a couple more days and be able to go at a more leisurely pace. Last time I was at Universal was 2012, Dragons were still there and Forbidden Journey was the only Harry Potter attraction open. So between the new Harry Potter stuff and Velocicoaster I have a lot to look forward to! Plus I plan on hitting Seaworld and BGT at the end of the trip as well as the Fun spots. Disney will have to be its own trip some other year. I was leaning toward Aventura as they have the rooftop bar, but if anyone could let me know what they think it would be appreciated!

You guys are killing me with all the Velocicoaster rankings. I've finally started planning on an April Orlando trip. I've purposely avoided Velocicoaster POVs and reviews because I want to ride something new where I don't know what to expect, which hasn't happened since I rode Skyrush for the first time (I kind of fell out of coaster enthusiasm in college, but we stopped at Hershey while traveling through PA because I at least knew they had two new Intamins, but I hadn't read any reviews and had no idea how f*cking insane Skyrush was going to be). I watched the Steel Vengeance POV a hundred times before I finally rode it, and despite some of the elements inside the structure still taking me by surprise, I knew what was coming for the most part. I don't want to ruin Velocicoaster for myself, but I'm still going to really expect insane things with all the #1 rankings I'm seeing. Also will be riding new to me stuff like Hagrids, Mako, IceBreaker (obviously), Kumba, Montu, Iron Gwazi (which is the reason I waited till 2022 to go to Florida, this will be my first time at BGT), and maybe even the FunSpot woodies so really expecting some changes to my list within a few months. Also still possible I end up at SFMM or Knott's next week, so maybe something from one of those will pop in.

Maybe it's just temporarily not working? It seemed like there were quite a few effects not working now that I think about it. Guess I'll have to go to Knoebels and ride the Haunted Mansion to get my horn fix (or park next to Superman again...you can probably hear that damn horn from Philly). Forgot to mention, I am unreasonably proud of Great Adventure's guests for managing to let the Pine Barrens sign, which is a mere foot from a busy walkway, live through an entire season without vandalizing it. Well done, my extremely low expectations have been exceeded.

Damn I wish I didn't have to leave early last night. Love plopping down on Nitro at like 8:00 and not getting up for an hour. Did that on NYE 2 years ago and was treated to firework shows in almost every direction. Not sure I would've stayed late if I had the choice though - I got soaked by the sudden downpour on Skyscreamer and was dressed for the upper 50s, so riding coasters with a light but soaked sweatshirt and temps in the 30s wouldn't have been much fun. Early shift is worth it too though. Maybe 300 people there at opening, and 290 of them went towards Nitro/JDC so the Boardwalk was like a personal playground for an hour or so.

Cliff notes: "Knott's doesn't have a Skyride." I guess I'll wait and see what is open and closed the week leading up to my trip. Probably will decide on SFMM, but if Ghost rider isn't closed and lots of stuff at SFMM is then that might make my mind up for me.