PAL

We're going on Friday and planning on taking advantage of AP First Stab. Is it important to get in the line ASAP, or can we take our time? It's just a place to line up, right? I'm guessing no services, just hang out and wait. Thanks.

^I'm glad to hear it. I hope you're right. Again, the park was pleasant, and the refreshments to the kids' area and Route 76 were obvious. Hopefully a quality coaster is in your near future.

I visited the park yesterday on a coaster road trip. It was my first visit. While the recent infrastructure investments are obvious, so is this: the park desperately needs a quality modern steel full circuit coaster. There was nothing that would ever get me back. Nickelodeon Universe was the more appealing park. At least it has unique / hard to find flats. Valleyfair is generic.

How is that even possible? lol In my opinion it is haha. Just the length of airtime on Goliath was better than El Toro. I haven't been on Goliath and I still call shenanigans. El Toro has long, sustained airtime over all of its big hills, and an ejecting "pop" on the hill over Rolling Thunder('s area). I've been on both now. No way, no comparison. Goliath has one good ejector hill and the 1st drop. Anything going else is a pop. El Toro (Skyrush too) is an angry beasts that wants to throw you from the train. Goliath is the kinder, gentler RMC. There's no shame in that.

We managed one afternoon ride through the single rider line. We had to wait through the extended queue until we reached the Flashpass queue. It took 40 minutes rather than 90-120. Someone said Goliath has more air than El Toro. No, just no. Air isn't Goliath's best trait. Phoenix has more. It is spectacular however. Taste is personal; I'd rather ride Goliath than Voyage, Ravine Flier, or Boulder Dash.

Think "running of the bulls" when they drop the chain. It's fine to get there early so you can be at the chain when it drops but if you don't keep up with the stampede you'll be a long ways back in line in a hurry. Exactly what we experienced this morning. It's a free for all. It helped to be 1st at security. Great news for taller riders. The shin bars are much more accommodating.

We arrived around 5:45 pm for a 9:30 close and walked straight to Wildebeest, passing a crowd of people heading home. In an hour and a half we managed 7 rides between Wildebeest and Mammoth. Such great water attractions! Mammoth was more fun than we expected, and Wildebeest was as thrilling as we remembered. Our last ride of the night two of us had a raft to ourselves. The magnets threw us over every hill crest. Voyage in the dark - wow! The outbound section through the twists in the woods ran well. It wasn't until the return that the rattle picked up. Speaking of, The Legend was down when we arrived. It opened around 7:30 and gathered a crowd. We waited 20 minutes at 8:40. Ugh. It isn't running well. We ended with a couple pitch black laps on Raven. Great visit!

For those who have ridden Goliath and Outlaw Run, are the restraints the same? I'd heard the shin guard might be more comfortable on Goliath. I ask because my son is 6-6. He fit on OR but his legs were painfully pinned. Thanks.

This plan works IF early entry starts on time AND FT and X2 open with the park - no sure thing. Since FP is usually available day-of, you can defer the decision.

We're hoping to pop into the park around 5:30 on Saturday, sticking around until the park closes at 9:30. Any suggestions? We'll be happy if we can get a lap or two on the woodies. Bonus if we can manage the water coasters too. They are open until 7:30.

I don't see a maximum rider height listed on the KK page, but I am concerned. Outlaw Run was almost unbearable for my 6-5 son. He's all legs. The shin restraint was like a bear trap. The coaster is a masterpiece but he couldn't enjoy it. I realize that he's taller than 99 percent of the population, and no manufacturer can accommodate all body types. However, since then we are wary of lap bars with shin guards.

It is a good, intense ride (I liken it to the BTR of sit-down coasters in its intensity), but since I tend to be a bit more sensitive to head rattling that wouldn't bother other people, I'm usually a one-and-done on it. If my head weren't so close to the OTSR's where it bounced around between them through basically the whole ride, I think I'd enjoy it a good bit more. And yes, I know it's not like an Arrow where it feels like the OTSR's are trying to punch you in the head because the transitions are so poorly designed, but the rattling still bothers me (and gives me a headache), and at the end of the day I'd rather ride SheiKra or Cheetah Hunt or Montu because I don't have that same problem on those other coasters. ^This. Every time I've visited I've felt the B&M rot. Rattle, rattle.

Verboten>Chunt Alpengeist=Montu Griffon=Sheikra Apollo>Kumba (probably a minority opinion) Anything>Gwazi Darkastle>nothing LNM>Sandstorm er Scorpion I prefer BGW, but the animal attractions are far superior at BGW - it is the strength of the park. Rides are similar enough to be a wash. And I truly believe the highly themed Verbolten is more fun than Cheetah Hunt. There's something about how that ride is operated that detracts - for me. BGW as a whole is more intensively themed.

The lack of a drop floor in the station makes me nervous my son will be too tall to ride. Is there a maximum rider height? He's 6-6 (78 inches), and already prevented from riding most or all Intamin inverts as well as their hypers. Two years ago he barely made it onto Skyrush.

I'm not complaining. I just renewed a UO AP today, no blackout dates, for $160. Interesting that it wasn't more. I'll pass through Orlando 2-3 times over the next year. I'll easily get my money's worth.

WDW 1-day hopper: $142.71 ($8.71 of that is tax) / UO 1-day park hopper $136. Looks functionally the same to me. Both are a punishingly expensive for a visitor who has limited time. The parks will get their minimum per capita tariff. I have a feeling UO will run closer to capacity once Potter II opens. Disney did them a favor by going first. A big price increase was inevitable.

^Thank-you. Outlaw Run here we come. It will be our first visit to SDC.

My family sampled the drinks two weeks apart. Energon has a creamy orange flavor, quite delicious. The Flaming Moe we tried lacked the vanilla, tasting instead like the artificial orange of Sunny D. We much prefer Energon. It is strange that Universal Hollywood doesn't market the drink better. The stand is hard to see from the midway, as it directly faces the Transformers ride entrance. However it tastes, I suspect Uni Orlando Moe sales will far outpace its west coast sister park's Energon offering.

^That's next to none. We'll be there Thurs after 3 and all day Friday. Should I "unlimited up" now or wait until we see the lines?

Not much escapes the eye of the Internet Wayback Machine, a seriously cool archive. Here's the pertinent page of Yee's diatribe. I'm mobile at the moment, so I beg your forgiveness if it posts incorrectly. It's worth bringing up. I agree with Gregg, it is craven to pull controversial material. I've been there too. Stand behind your writing and take your lumps, or concede the mistake. web.archive.org/web/20061017071254/http://www.miceage.com/kevinyee/ky071306c.htm

And the Kevin Yees of the world rejoice. Speaking of, I can't find his old 2007ish rant about the 'overly formal' DCL dining dress code. His ignorance was entertaining. As I recall, he claimed he didn't read his cruise documents, and only packed t-shirts. How hard can it be to pack a few dress shirts and a pair of slacks? Klassless.

SFDK locals, I'll be visiting the park sometime in August. I'm having a hard time finding any passholder event info. Magic Mt offers passholder exclusive ride time about once a month. Is SFDK doing anything like that? I might change my trip to take advantage. Last year, my group stumbled upon a Superman passholder ERT. The same day the park opened Medusa a half hour early to celebrate World Ice Cream Day or something. Anyone could get a wristband if they knew to ask for one at a table in the entry plaza.

Throughput. Capacity. Redundant seat belts reduce them.

Does Yolo have a maximum rider height limit? We found out about GL's the hard way. Hoping not - Discovery Kingdom's new Premeir is tall friendly.

I dont' see the value any more in Disney's parks, but that's okay. The price is an offer of services. I'll pass for now, unless my personal value proposition changes. Which it most likely will when I have grandkids some day. But for now, I'll let my family's APs lapse and skip WDW entirely the next time I'm in Orlando. It's too much money for the four attractions we enjoy or to access drinking around the world. Disney's product no longer has value to me, but the wider market obviously sees things differently. The Disneyland Resort seems busier than ever. The prices should be raised to maximize revenues and cause some would-be customers to balk, because we're getting close to this: Disneyland: Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded.