larrygator

At SFA you get the worst employees in the chain. At SFNE you get the worst clientele in the chain Worst employees? Someone hasn't been in a while. It's been two years (if you consider that a long time). My opinion is based on 6 visits to SFA between 2005-2013. I encountered many more rude, uncaring and demeaning ride ops than I did happy and friendly ride ops on each trip of those 6 trips. I'm glad it has turned around.

Interestingly, the Six Flags Consumer Website mentions the Haiyan park when you click on the park location map

Keep in mind that many parks outside of California, Texas and Florida will not have weekday operating hours until the last week of May.

I don't remember a big different in the broads during my 3 visits to German parks, but I'm with you on the beer, schnitzel and coasters AND PRETZELS. I'd head a little further north (Sweden) for the women.

It is epically funny that someone would want to take a FIEND to an amusement park. At least this moderator thinks so? So funny that I'm going to double post.

Would you like some candy?

Iron Mike Sharpe used to run a wrestling school in New Jersey and my friends occasionally ended up at the same bar as him. They said he was the nicest guy.

At SFA you get the worst employees in the chain. At SFNE you get the worst clientele in the chain

Don't get me wrong, I liked your response in the end, just why did you have the first sentence in your answer? If you don't "get" these topics, don't write on them. If you don't "get" someone's criticism don't respond to it.

Interesting article. I completely forgot about the long gone Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village nor did I realize these were built on the same footprint.

A $50,000 slip and fall lawsuit in not news.

Please use the existing Thread. No, poll is not necessary.

Please use the search function before starting a new thread. As if we really need a thread to discuss. Use this thread Locked

The only parks I would even consider suggesting two days are Dollywood and Busch Gardens, but you can easily do everything you want even on a crowded day at all those parks by purchasing the Quick Queue, Flash Pass, Fast Lane options at each park. Dollywood and Busch Gardens both have many shows, but I'm not sure how interested you are in the entertainment aspect. The first weeks of the season are ideal times to visit parks in the US due to mild weather and light crowds. Although parks can be more crowded Memorial Day weekend (May 28th and 29th, 2016). On Memorial Day itself (Monday, May 30th) parks are generally not as crowded as the weekend. The car rental return charge for a different drop-off point can not be mitigated based on your situation.

Busch Gardens (which one I'm not sure of yet) but I have a promotional ticket that expires on April 1st.

This article from October gives a little more context. It appears that the parking lot of the minor league baseball team was built on parkland and needs de-mapped (rezoned). In order to de-map the parking lot the city needs to replenish parkland in the area by rezoning an equal amount of acres. http://amusingthezillion.com/2015/10/20/goodbye-ghost-hole-mcu-parking-lot-citys-coney-land-grab-not-just-vacant-land/ At Monday’s public hearing on the City’s controversial plan to use eminent domain to acquire six privately owned lots for “the revitalization of Coney Island,” drawings show 12th Street Amusements’ Ghost Hole ride on “Block 8696, parts of lot 140” destined for condemnation. The land to the right of the ride, where a longtime Mom and Pop sublease property to operate a High Striker, is also on the part of the lot to be seized by the City. “There are no proposed alternative locations,” the public notice for the hearing published in the NY Post sternly warns. The reason for the acquisitions was revealed: “Certain replacement parkland” is needed because of “the de-mapping of existing parkland,” stated the Parks Department attorney who ran the hearing. He did not explicitly say which parkland would be demapped, and since “this is not a question and answer forum” (he said twice), no questions were answered. However, it is published information and old news dating back to the Coney Island Rezoning of 2009, except that most people either forgot or never knew that the MCU parking lot, which is parkland owned by the City, is to be de-mapped and sold to a developer. What for? The construction of residential towers with height limits in the range of the Parachute Jump. Among those who spoke out against it at those long ago rezoning hearings was preservationist Christabel Gough of the Society for the Architecture of the City, who said “In Paris, the Eiffel Tower is framed by parkland. Why is that impossible here?” Refresh your memory by looking at the City’s renderings from 2007. In order to de-map parkland, the State requires that it be replaced with parkland of equal acreage and the City must apply to the State for alienation legislation. However, with the Bloomberg administration’s zoning nearly 6 years ago and a new Mayor who ran as the anti-Bloomberg in place who knew the plan was still a go? As we wrote in “Steeplechase Pool, Zip Coaster Sites to Be De-Mapped for Housing” (January 11, 2010) It’s a shame that part of the City’s Steeplechase property is set to become a residential enclave with million dollar views instead of additional acreage for Coney Island’s new amusement park.The fact that the Giuliani administration paved over Paradise–part of the Steeplechase Park site–to allow parkland to be turned into the Keyspan parking lot is bad enough (nod to Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”). Now the Bloomberg administration is asking the state legislature to “alienate” and de-map the parkland/parking lot so it can be sold to a private developer to build 1,900 units of housing. The Brooklyn Cyclones ballpark was built on the site of Steeplechase’s Pavilion of Fun, but the ballpark is a recreational use and helped revitalize Coney Island when it opened in 2001. A mass of apartment towers on the edge of a dwarfed amusement area is another story, though the City insists 5,000 units of housing is a necessary component of their plan to revitalize Coney Island. News reports prior to Monday’s hearing focused on the acquisition of long vacant land such as the former Thunderbolt lot, but the land grab is not about punishing property owners for keeping their holdings vacant. If it were, Thor Equities’ blighted lot on Surf Avenue and West 12th Street, among others, and Bullard’s Shore Theater, vacant for 40 years, would also be on the list of properties to be taken by condemnation. As we already noted, the proposed acquisition includes property currently and historically used for amusement attractions. “Block 8696, parts of lot 140” is owned by the Murray family and has been used for amusement rides for over 100 years, Carol Murray said in her comments at the hearing. The taking of the land constituted “abuse,” she added. In negotiations with the City’s Economic Development Corporation, she said she is being asked to sell the property to the City, which will then lease a portion of it back to her to operate the amusements that already exist on the spot. “It fails to meet the standards of eminent domain,” she said. eminent domain hearing Carol Murray, whose family owns a lot leased to 12th St Amusements that is set to be taken by eminent domain by the City, calls the procedure “abuse” at public hearing. October 19, 2015. Photo © Tricia Vita While many of our Coney friends have said they’re in the dark about what the City is up to, eminent domain in Coney Island is nothing new. Remember Robert Moses? (ICYMI Read Chapter 5 of Charles Denson’s Coney Island: Lost and Found). Remember the behind the scenes bargaining leading up to the Coney Island Rezoning of 2009? (ICYMI See Amy Nicholson’s film Zipper: Coney Island’s Last Wild Ride). In fact, why write new text when we can recycle old ATZ blog posts that are pertinent once again. As we wrote in “Eminent Domain in Coney Island? Fuhgeddaboutit!” (July 31, 2012): The Bloomberg administration was right to back off from the idea of taking land by condemnation from Thor Equities and other Coney Island property owners during the rezoning hearings in 2009. Under sharp questioning by City Council land use committee members, the EDC’s Seth Pinsky was forced to admit, “I’m not saying we will use eminent domain, but in fairness to your question, I’m not saying we won’t.” In order to get Council members to agree to vote for the zoning, the EDC instead had to negotiate an agreement to buy property from Thor Equities. At the same time, other property owners were no longer threatened by E.D. We attended that land use committee hearing too, and left with the impression ED was off the table. But that was the Bloomberg administration. A new administration doesn’t have to follow the playbook of the previous one. Back in the ’60s Fred Trump destroyed Steeplechase Park, one of Coney Island’s most famous amusement parks, confident that he would get to develop the “south side” of Surf. That effort failed. The City rejected Trump’s proposed zoning change to develop Miami-style apartments on the beachfront where they approved them in the rezoning of 2009. Fred’s son Donald Trump has been in the news recently for saying “eminent domain is wonderful.” No one suggested anything like that at Monday’s hearing. The support was tepid with the exception of Dick Zigun, Coney Island’s self-proclaimed Mayor, who jumped on the ED bandwagon by saying “Finish the job.” Pamela Pettyjohn of the Coney Island Beautification Project said, “Once you open the door for eminent domain, you can’t close it back. It can be abused. Everyone can be in jeopardy.” Ironically the Supreme Court case of Kelo v the City of New London that makes it possible for the City to condemn privately owned property so that it could be used as part of a “comprehensive redevelopment plan” did not turn out to be for the public good in New London. The seized property is a vacant lot ten years after the court’s decision.

Just to be clear here the city is looking to take over a couple of "empty" lots and also a parcel of land where independent rides (The Ghost Hole, Saturn 6 and Polar Express) currently operate.

I entered my names.

Screamscape reports it will be trackless also. Awesome.

Or at least in the mini safari walk through where Scarlet and Spot were very popular a few years ago

EDIT: Yes, he has the Fighting Cat stunt!

I was never a fan of Bowie and am surprised so many of my friends in the non-TPR world were fans of Bowie. He's one artist I never recall any of my friends talking about. When you hang out with people for decades you think you know their musical tastes but apparently there were many closet Bowie fans in my circle.

El Toro Nitro Batman: The Ride Zumanjaro Sky Screamer Houdini Safari Off Road Adventure Bizarro Jolly Roger HiTP Waffle Cart I know that Total Mayhem will jump into my number 2 or 3 spot next year. And then the next year I hope to add Justice League to my Top 5

I find it refreshing that not every park's fans obsess about their park in the off-season. It's much better to have a well rounded life than focus on the minutiae of one topic.

Not from me in the foreseeable future.