bigboy

Our long national nightmare is finally over.

If you think that someone might be cheating on a game where the only rule is to have fun, you clearly suck at life.

Yes, tons of updates, but everyone is holding them back until you get a handle on your tourettes.

Given that no park in the entire chain has installed anything from B&M, Premier, or Intamin in nearly 4 years, I'm not sure why anyone would think that it's inevitable that we see something major next year at SFOT.

I'm not sure if they still have a worker up there on a regular basis, but back when I worked there, the main reason to have someone there was the distance from the station and how long it took to get someone out there if there was an issue. Getting out there involved walking down the service road that goes around the lift and through the center of the ride, climbing up one 15 foot ladder to cross the bridge over the creek and then down another, and then walking up the several flights of stairs up to the brake run. It took me a good 10 minutes to get there 23 years ago when I was in pretty decent shape. That's a long time to have a stranded train full of nervous riders sitting unattended. I'm sure now days they rely on security cameras and a p.a. system to keep the peace until someone can get there and that's probably sufficient. I'm not sure how the control system functions now, but you also had to have someone there to possibly turn a key switch or press an acknowledge button to restart the train unless it automatically stopped there because of a back up in the brake shed (very rare since there was room for 1 train in the station and 2 in the brake shed).

That area has long been rumored as the location of a new pavilion area for catered events.

A video on the park's Facebook page about an hour ago showed the final track piece going up.

While I doubt they wait until Memorial Day to open it, I would be equally surprised if they opened it before the end of Spring Break. The park will already be busy that week. Hold off a few weeks and give the Spring Break crowd a reason to come back later in the season.

It takes a special brand of unbalanced to think you have a right to free speech on a privately owned message board or social media. The other thing that shows up in this thread is the idea that existing communities should adjust to fit personal needs. Communities develop their own culture and personality over time. Whatever happened to new people surveying the lay of the land and going elsewhere if they don't like it? You can have a pretty healthy understanding of how things work here after about an hour of reading. I'll never understand the new member that shows up to an existing community and declares that people that have been around for years are "meanie butts" and should immediately change to fit the expectations of the new member.

I'm assuming it will let you book the 3 at a time like FP+ in Florida, which, by the way, doesn't let you book at more than one park per day.

Perfect! Thanks! I'll be there on the 24th so chances are I'll miss out, but I'll keep trying to get in touch with the park to double check. Just noticed today that they posted their calendar. Opening day is Saturday, February 25th. I saw that! Thanks for remembering! I've already booked a flight out of DFW on Friday 24th and it doesn't seem worthwhile to delay my trip by a day just to revisit the park. I had a great time there last year, though. I wouldn't delay to try to visit at that time of year. The weather is too much of a crap shoot. Yes, it could be 75 degrees and sunny, but there could also be snow on the ground.

Perfect! Thanks! I'll be there on the 24th so chances are I'll miss out, but I'll keep trying to get in touch with the park to double check. Just noticed today that they posted their calendar. Opening day is Saturday, February 25th.

It was dark when we drove in, but Joker didn't look any different than it did in the pic posted on the 21st. We arrived around 6:30 and stayed until 9:00. You could tell the park had been busy, but it was the lightest Holiday in the Park crowd I've experienced in the last few years. We only hit up 6 rides that my 6 year old was interested in and the only ones that were more than a one cycle wait were the antique cars (20 minutes) and Gold River (10 minutes). I'm always amazed at the progressively deteriorating condition of Gold River and I can't see why they would go much longer without a major rehab. I would guess that at least a third of the animations either don't work or don't work as originally designed.

They typically only open for the last weekend in February if the 27th or 28th falls on that weekend. Most of the area doesn't start spring break until March 11, so I would say it's a safe assumption that their first day of operation is March 4.

Yeah, "opening act" isn't what I thought it was. I like the impact of walking down Main Street that first time as much as anyone. So if I want to do that, I won't use the express bus through the back area. A lot of other people will do the same thing. Because....it's optional. Amirite?

Unless I'm completely misunderstanding it, the express shuttle is strictly park-to-park. You're still going to have to use a regular bus from the hotels and go through security and the front gate at some point. Unless you're going from say Epcot to MK prior to MK's opening, there's still a good chance you go through the main gate and see the opening act. And the best way to get Disney to pay $15/hour? Stop taking jobs and working for less. As long as they have a steady stream of people waiting to snort pixie dust, they have no reason to raise pay rates above market.

Disney "fans" think that anything that looks remotely like it would make money is Bob Iger personally taking a piss on Walt's grave. I've never been much for hopping from park-to-park on any given day of a trip to WDW, but this would make it way more convenient by taking away the security check waits and the long walk to the bus loading area.

It's been 19 years since I left SFOT, but I had a few that I really liked: Fireman/Engineer on the train - It was the one ride that was pretty exclusive as far as who had the opportunity to work there, but it was a blast learning a true skill and getting to operate equipment that was pushing 100 years old at the time. Texas Chute Out stand up baskets - The stand up baskets went away in lieu of all chairs after my first couple of years at the park. The ride had a horrible reputation for being hot and for the constant activity, but I loved it. I was able to talk to guest the entire time and you didn't have to fiddle with the seatbelts that made the chairs such a pain. Runaway Mine Train operating with 4 trains - The ride is only run with 3 trains max these days and, back then, we only ran 4 trains on the busiest Saturdays. I loved it because you had to load and dispatch quickly to keep the trains from backing up to the lifts and the day would fly by. My least favorites: any ride in Looney Toons Land.

I have no evidence to back this up, but I feel pretty safe going out on a limb and saying that the amount of money spent on updating Hall of Presidents every 4 years is a drop in the bucket compared to the money spent on rehabbing other attractions that require it more frequently or on new attractions. I'm assuming it's seen as a small price to pay for updating a heritage attraction with mostly nostalgic appeal.

Most schools are getting out that Friday, but a handful are going for a few days into the next week (I think Dallas is one of them). The weekend and week leading up to Christmas have been pretty busy in recent years. I wouldn't worry about needing a Flash Pass on Saturday. Ten hours is a pretty long day and I would be surprised if you couldn't get on all of the coasters. Five hours on Friday might be a challenge, especially if the weather is nice.

Not only did they know he was spending money with Cedar Fair, they didn't care. But they called anyway.

Don't make any solid plans until the operating schedule comes out. They ran that second week of spring break last year because a handful of local school districts and schools in Oklahoma had a different break than most of the local districts. I don't believe that is the case in 2017 or at least not to the same degree as this year, so there's a good chance the park may only run one week. If they run 2 weeks, aim for the one that's opposite of when Arlington, Fort Worth, and Dallas are on break. I haven't been on Judge this year, but it got some attention last off season and I remember hearing that it was riding much better.

I wouldn't be so sure that this is for a new bumper cars ride for a few reasons: the permit was applied for in December 2015, issued in January of this year, and expires in December of this year. That doesn't sound like something new for next year. The old bumper cars building had been used for a haunted house and was demolished because the city would no longer permit for such use. I think it's more likely that this permit is for a new, semi-permanent building for a haunted house on the old bumper cars site and the label "Bumper Cars" is being applied purely for geography reasons. Finally, the park is listed as the general contractor. It's highly unlikely that the park would build a new ride or the structure for a new ride in-house, but they typically do the haunted house construction in-house. That's my two cents.

There's a benefit to not having a human inside of a hot costume that requires frequent breaks. That likely requires a doubling and tripling up of staff that would no longer be necessary.