larrygator

This pleases me!

Eleven pops of air with a buzz bar! In some seats you will experience extreme airtime.

Chris - Very effective use of your downtime. I would have been stupid and driven to Sands and spent even more money.

Cedar Point - July 17th, 2017 My first week long trip of the summer started at Cedar Point. I have been visiting Cedar Point every 3-4 years since Magnum XL-200 was built. I think this was my 8th trip to Cedar Point and I was last there in 2015. I left my home at 3AM to get to CP at opening and upon arrival at the park I headed straight to Maverick for a few rides. I also started to take pictures of the Mean Streak/Steel Vengeance construction. Then I checked the internet and realized the hard hat was the next day, so I no longer needed my "exclusive" photos. Cedar Point has always been one on my favorite destinations. I always get excited planning my trips to Cedar Point and enjoy the variety of rides and coasters at Cedar Point. My only issues with Cedar Point in previous visits are with the food and if I plan poorly and end up visiting on a crowded day. However, Fast Lane solves one problem and in recent years franchised food vendors have helped solve the other. Even though I did not ride every coaster at CP this day, I don't have a problem riding any of them except Corkscrew. Maverick - a great intense ride, but sometimes my neck gets banged into the restraint, but I still keep coming back Millennium Force - I love the speed, even though I still don't get why some people think they feel air on this ride Magnum - It is getting tougher to ride each year, as it feels rougher each year that my body ages Valrvan - Really enjoyed it, nice fit in a tight area Gatekeeper - Beautiful fun coaster that I could run all day Wicked Twisted - sooner or later I'm going to need a step stool to safely get into the seat Raptor - still delivers a great ride with it's snappy transitions Iron Dragon - I saved Iron Dragon for a night ride with VR and got in line right before the park closed. This is the first coaster I have ridden with VR, I didn't get out of the park until 50 minutes after closing as the process is so slow. However, the ride is immensely better with the VR. I seriously would have ridden it again if I could. I usually ride a few flats at CP, but did not ride any on this day. Although I love Tiki Twirl, Witches Wheel, Skyhawk, MaxAir. It was pretty hot and I was tired from the drive, so I did head over to Hotel Breakers for a 45 minute rest on the couches in their air conditioned lobby. As far as food on this day, the major meals I had were at Panda Express and Chickie and Pete's. Chickie and Pete's is becoming my go to place at Cedar Fair parks, Good consistent chicken cheese steaks with reasonable markups. Having these options along with Pink's, Famous Dave's and a new place Melt (Grilled Cheese) gave me five solid food choices. I have arrived, good job keeping the gate This was an exclusive shot when I took it. Construction has progressed since this picture was taken. In the future, some people will take this picture and proclaim it the best 1-2 punch at any amusement park. I'll wait and ride before making that proclamation. Did anyone care about this? Who remembers when this was considered a steep lift hill? Still the greatest lift hill support structure, especially at night. Even though it is not a franchised vendor, it is tempting. But I will try these guys next time I'm at the park. Skyhawk! Skyrat! I miss you, but at least other good food vendors were brought in. Time for my afternoon nap Snoopy came by to personally wake me and send me back to the park. I used to love you, but now you give love a bad name. So much better than Kingda Ka, not just because of the lap bar only approach. The museum is always worth a stop. Crowds were moderate on this day. This tranquil area just looks so out of place The sky ride looks much more impressive than it really is from this angle Lots of people congregating and slowing me down The majestic facade of the arcade/ballroom Another good place to relax when you enjoy the park at a leisurely pace I thought it was odd that the park sells retro t-shirts for non-iconic removed rides Do people buy these? It think a retro t-shirt for a major existing coaster would be more enticing.

Robb posted this in all Six Flags park discussion threads, but as a reminder I'm putting it here also.

I have ridden every major ride at Great Adventure but these are the ones I haven't ridden in about 10 years Log Flume and Congo Rapids - I hate walking around in wet clothes Parachute Jump - just doesn't interest me Twister - poor cycle Fender Bender - not interested

I hit the submit button too early, and just added 10 more photos for Dollywood. So read again!

My apologies. The plan was to post my views on one park per day, but a side trip got in the way yesterday. Dollywood - I love Dollywood, but not everything about Dollywood. My first trip was the year Thunderhead was built but during Smoky Mountain Christmas. I've returned three or four different years before this year. I think the last trip was in 2012. I'll put my pictures (and thoughts) from April and June into one post. On both trips I stayed on the eastern side of Smoky Mountain National Park at Harrah's Cherokee Resort. The rooms are awesome and they were complimentary. Cherokee is about a one hour drive but the traffic is very light and you can easily stop at Waffle House in the AM. As usual I parked at Patriot Park and used the Trolley System for 50 cents. Fact: I have never parked in the Dollywood parking lots. In April, Lightning Rod was running on both days in June the Lightning Rod did not open. I think it is a wonderful coaster, but very hard to repeatedly ride because it is very aggressive (not painful). The coaster tries to violently eject you from the coaster on multiple occasions and I would have no fun trying to ride this coaster with my hands in the air as it tosses your upper body around. HINT: That means if you are riding with your hands up you are probably annoying the person next to you. I would have a lot of trouble riding this coaster if I wasn't properly hydrated. Thunderhead is running noticeable rougher than my last visit and I had no desire to ride it more than twice each day. Wild Eagle is really growing on me, I seem to enjoy it more every time. Not an intense ride, but fun. Tennessee Tornado is such an overlooked coaster. As many have mentioned, it is a shame to Arrow was finally getting it right when they stopped. I enjoyed Mystery Mine more than any of my previous visits. I guess I have wised up and now pay more attention to the quick directional changes than I had done in the past. Firechaser Express is such a fun and well done coaster, thoroughly enjoyed it for what it is. Blazing Fury - So great watching the faces of kids and remembering how much my niece enjoyed the ride as a child. Drop Line - needless to say, a huge improvement over the Topple Tower. I also caught a few shows/movies. Heartsong was a nice story and break from the heat, I stayed awake through most of it. In April, I watched a show in the Show Street Theater. I can't remember the name of the show (I think it was 4 letters and began with an E). I think someone said the performers were on America's Got Talent. I liked the first 2-3 minutes of the show and then became bored very quickly and fell asleep for the rest of the show. In June, the Show Street Theater had been changed to a bubble show, but I kept missing the show times. However, I do look forward to "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Twas the Night Before Christmas" when I return in December. I love the cinnamon bread, but to tell you the truth I didn't eat any meals in the park during my visits. Someone recently explained the lack of sweet tea situation to me, I think it needs to be sold everywhere not just at the sit-down restaurants. As far as why didn't eat in the park. I am not a fan of the skillets. I'm a very picky eater and their put too much on the sandwich that I don't eat and it makes it very difficult/messy to eat for a finger food. Also, I really like a few of the food places near the park such as Smoky's Cuban Cuisine, Bennett's BBQ and Corky's BBQ. Most of the best food at Dollywood is sit-down and I don't like waiting for a table (and wasting a table) eating my myself. One of the things I love doing a Dollywood is picking a prop (usually a farming tool) seen a queue and see how many times I can find a similar objects elsewhere in the park. Seriously, next time count how many places you see a two-man logging saw. Again, for spending parts of four days at the park I didn't take many pictures and the ones I took were not always typical. The ride didn't open with the park my first day in April, but riding out the wait allowed me to get 3 quick rides once it opened, 45 minutes into the day. Not ready for my arrival in April. Nor was Whistlepunk Chaser Unfortunately, I saw this sign in July. But I still thoroughly enjoyed the visit. It looks a lot better when finished When I took this picture with the water effect in front of Drop Line I had a witty caption. I no longer remember that caption. Anyone who has been to the park knows it is difficult to get pictures of Tennessee Tornado, so I really didn't even try too hard. I like the way Dollywood uses "authentic" names for their rides. Dollywood's next ride will be called Butt Cut. You heard it here first. There are also considering Nosebag for the next eatery. Speaking of eateries, Smoky's Cuban Cuisine actually makes me leave the park for lunch. The ham croquettas are insanely good. This was my lunch. Back at the park you have Wild Eagle, through the trees. I took this picture when I was walking around the park looking for plows. Read the paragraphs before the pictures if you have no idea what I mean. Lightning Rod is closed. The vulture out front should have told you. (It's called poetic license, don't question the captions.) I also spend some time noticing some of the finer themeing, like this cracked support. I don't know why I found this Barnstormer sign so funny. Lot's of kids were playing in this area in April, but it was closed in July. One of thousands of axes throughout the park. Did you know every Dollywood ride has an axe as a prop? The turtle is not themeing, it is nature. This was breaking news when I took this picture. I haven't seen any speculation on these survey markets. I did not know this. I hope this isn't the same pie made in 2010. During one morning while sitting at the Waffle House counter I figured out one of their corporate secrets. Did you ever notice the waitress reads the order but never gives the ticket to the cook? The cook just starts lining up plates. Well the placement of condiments and garnishes on the plate remind the cook of each order. Whether knowing this makes you smarter or dumber is up to you?

Seriously, If you are going to create, include every RMC. You also need to include best two classic woodies Phoenix and Coaster at Playland.

^My tastes have not changed over the years and my body can still handle aggressive coasters, but I'll certainly be differentiating between what I consider rough and aggressive.

I've been debating whether or not to do a PTR this year. I'm glad to see so many others writing them but that also made me feel it was not as vital for me to write one. I went on four small trips with few new parks, to re-evaluate a lot of coasters that I have not ridden in a few years, get closer to my goal of riding all the wooden coasters in North America and also hit up some of the major installations from the past few years. The four trips were as follows: April: Kings Dominion, Carowinds and Dollywood July 17-22: Cedar Point, Kings Island, Holiday World, Kentucky Kingdom, Beech Bend, Dollywood, Camden Park July 24-30: Bay Beach, Mt. Olympus, Six Flags Great America, Adventureland, Indiana Beach, Donley's Wild West Town, AZoosment Park at Santa's Village August 16-18: Knoebels, Kennywood, Hersheypark This trip report will be light on photos and heavier on commentary, since so many people have posted photos from these parks of late. Actually on the first trip I didn't even take any photos at Kings Dominion. It has been one of my favorite coaster parks since I305 and will only be better in 2018 the new RMC. Intimidator 305, Volcano and Dominator were all running great. Boo Blasters seemed spruced up with everything working. I had not been to KD since 2015 and was still satisfied with the park. Next up was Carowinds. I arrived at opening and headed to Fury 325 immediately. I had not been to Carowinds in 5 years so these were my first rides on Fury 325. I rode about 6 times with minimal waits before exploring the rest of the park. I really liked the ride and it is probably my favorite B&M non-looper but it just didn't match the major Intamin coasters if you favorite the ejector air. With that said I could certainly ride Fury 325 all day without stressing out my body. Afterburn still kicks major butt and everyone that knows me knows I love Woodstock Gliders. I'm glad it is moving next year, because I always felt it was out of place in the kiddie area, especially when major snapping occurs and parents get concerned. The restraints on Flying Cobras make a difference. I didn't even try to ride Intimidator as the line was always longer than Fury 325 or Afterburn. I loved Plants vs Zombies, because I realized which gun was mine by looking at the number of my chair before sitting down (many people didn't do this and had no clue if they were hitting targets or not. The ride did not open until late afternoon and I re-rode a few times in a row and there were quite a few kids doing the same thing so I wasn't the only one who liked it. The big improvements to the park were in the County Fair area which looked great and has wonderful flat rides. The Cedar Fair pickers did a great good. Rock n Roller run a good program and music that tied together County Fair theme I had no complaints about their Troika I had not ridden one of these in a few years, but Electro Spin also gets a thumbs up. and who doesn't love a Wave Swinger like Zephyr They had little touches like this to add to the atmosphere The area could have used a lot more shade, but isn't that true of any County Fair Also, the park stepped up its game in the food area. Chickie and Pete's is a worthy replacement for Chick-Fil-A and Harmony Hall Marketplace offers a lot of variety. Here's the Harmony Hall menu board Now for the ride that I was most enamored with. Was it great, no? However, I love interactive attractions and with so many people competing you have to think a little and be adaptive to do well. Rides like this just bring wake-up my Type A personality. Last time I was in this building it was Days of Thunder But not anymore Look for your player number before you sit down! The green side had an advantage, as 3 purple seats were always empty. Purple lost 4 times in a row even though we had some very high individual scores. However, in the end, this is my favorite ride in the park. Hopefully, moving it out of the kiddie area makes the line shorter on my future visits

Coasters that have no right to be on a list of the 100 Best Roller Coasters Viper (SFMM) Leap the Dips Whizzer Mean Streak White Cyclone Hades Boss Big One The Utlimate

Of course they could have, if they wanted to. Why do you continue to ask really DUMB questions?

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/tourism/sd-fi-legoland-submarine-20170823-story.html Legoland announces submarine 'deep sea' ride for 2018 Lori Weisberg - San Diego Times Union Embarking on its most costly attraction yet, Legoland announced Thursday that it will introduce a submarine ride next year that will traverse a “deep-sea” habitat populated with tropical fish, stingrays and exotic sharks. Lego City Deep Sea Adventure, as it is being called, will feature eight 12-seat submarines, completely enclosed and outfitted with large portholes for viewing more than 2,000 sea creatures, as well as octopi and scuba divers fashioned from Lego bricks. The new attraction, expected to debut next summer, will occupy what is referred to as the Castle Hill area in the back part of the park where its miniature golf had previously been located. Also opening next year, in the spring, is Legoland’s second 250-room resort hotel, which will be designed to resemble a castle, complete with knight-, princess- and wizard-themed rooms. Sure, he's pretty much the cutest thing ever. But did you hear about the time he flooded the house? See More The premise of the submarine ride, which was inspired by Lego’s Deep Sea Adventure line of toys, is built around a voyage where the passengers are searching for lost treasure on a sunken Lego shipwreck. As they pass through what will effectively be a 300,000-gallon underground aquarium, they will use their touchscreens to help the dive team of Lego mini figures identify gems, pearls, and gold coins. A similar, although not identical, ride is already at Legoland parks in the United Kingdom, Dubai and Japan. “We do have some experience from our other parks, which is very positive, but when planning ahead, we put concepts out to research, and the research on this came out very strong, especially with an environment where the fish literally swim up to you and stare at you,” said Legoland California General Manager Peter Ronchetti. “One of our guiding principles is we want to be ‘my first experience’ for a child: my first car where I steer it, my first coaster, and although there is some visual trickery, you absolutely feel like you’re in a submarine looking at real fish and the sensation is very exhilarating, which is very different from walking through an aquarium.” While Legoland will not reveal the cost of the new attraction, Ronchetti said that it represents the single largest investment made in any Legoland theme park by parent company Merlin Entertainment. Within the entire Legoland California resort, only the hotels and the Sea Life Aquarium were more costly. Ronchetti characterized the creation of the underground aquarium, which will be housed inside a themed building, an ambitious feat of engineering. “Most attractions occur on the ground, so here we have to dig down which is a new angle for us,” he said. Although the planned Legoland subs won’t actually submerge — they will already be under water — passengers will feel as though they are, and a cascade of bubbles will enhance the effect. Riders will step down into the under-water vehicles that will hang from a rack, and they will sit on a long bench inside, facing the portals that are below the water line. The ride is yet another attraction that Legoland hopes will keep visitors at the park longer than a day and entice them to stay overnight at its new hotel. The park announced that it will be looking to hire 200 new employees to staff the hotel. Most immediately, it wants to fill 30 leadership roles, including head chef, front office manager and food and beverage manager. Other jobs that will need to be filled include cooks, valet, housekeepers and entertainers.

Erik - I completely missed this as it was posted when I was traveling. Thanks for showing us this park.

You got lucky with the Flyers (or I was unlucky). That ride operator in your picture slowed the ride down three times in a row on my rides when he deemed my snapping too intense.

Thanks for all the recent submissions in this thread and through the Park Index submission tool.

...and in the ghetto! Weaka$$ ghetto! There aren't even any buildings in that side of Busch Blvd between the park and Mel's. Worst part was I did the walk in 95 degree weather, but I wouldn't make the walk at night. Technically it's only about 1,000 feet from the edge of BGT parking. I made the mistake of staying at a cheap name hotel on Busch Blvd 10-15 years ago, never again.

Just 2,000 feet from the front gate. https://www.melshotdogs.com/ Mel's Hot Dogs

I think I would draw the line at this ride.

Big Dipper is slow and boring. Didn't feel much air at all, I don't know where the pop of air supposedly occurs.

I also stopped by the park this year, first time in about 10 years. You probably won't believe this but the park looks so much better than my previous trip. The Haunted House (which it not a coaster, I don't car what RCDB says) was completely repainted and had stunts fixed by Chuck Burnham (The Dark Ride Artist) after 7 years ago and stills looks so much better than the decrepit state it had been in. Maybe I just know what to be looking for during the ride. The ride vehicles are traditional for that Bill Tracy ride. The park has made recent additions in the Rattler and Flying Scooters. I think the mini golf course was also a huge recent upgrade. The sky ride was in pieces years ago without even having the cable attached a few years ago. However, by skipping The Whip you missed their best ride, and one of the only two whips in the US run properly. Also the paratrooper still runs really well. I sat in the same seat with you on Big Dipper, after not being able to sit in the last row. I also didn't eat in the park but that West Virginia Grille looked much better than any offering from my last visit. Overall the park is far from aesthetically pleasing, but it has improved in recent years. The back row on Big Dipper Haunted House

It's almost like Cedar Fair got the benefit of letting the designers get several years of experience converting rides vs being the company that took a leap of faith on an unproven company back in 2009. Why are you using the word almost?

Keep your day job.

That would be awesome. Im curious what they would theme a ride like that Spain too. Tarragona, Human Tower Building