netdvn

Can't comment about the RCCL/Universal package, but I do have to ask what RCCL cruises and time frame you are looking at? When I have compared the two the price difference is usually 30-50$pp on a 3-4 day cruise and $100pp on a 7 day cruise. Is it a peak time that you are looking at? My mom decided to snap and do a Carny Cruise (Freedom), but it can't hurt to plan ahead for next year. I was looking into a few 7 day cruises since the 3-4 day cruises are headed to ports I've already done aboard Carnival. The Half Moon Cay/Coco Key cruises looked interesting, but one island wouldn''t be a deal breaker when it comes to cruises (especially the ones that sail out to other islands in the Caribbean). I was considering doing a December cruise (Mom doesn't seem to understand that the tropics are gonna be warm though). That way work at BGW doesn't get in the way, school's already over for everyone, and the cruise happens a few weeks before the Christmas rush so the prices are still pretty low (on par with the May cruises), plus I can spend a few extra days in Orlando to do parks before the Christmas rush.

It looks like my chances of attending ECB at BGW are increased. Gonna try to get KD too, but that's less likely to happen.

My family's been looking into a cruise this year but so far money's been pretty tight. They're considering a Carnival cruise at the moment (although I'd rather try another company having sailed with Carnival twice before already). Doing research, Carnival seems like the best option price-wise, but I remember reading about some Universal/RCCL packages where you can cruise with RCCL and then spend a few days at Universal. Anyone have any experience with those packages? How do they compare to non-theme park packages price-wise? The website doesn't list the prices for any of the itineraries.

200 park brochures/maps (trying to get tons more - anyone wanna trade ) 1998 CW Top Gun postcard 1998 CW Wonder Mountain postcard 1998 Toronto Centre Island postcard 199? Universal Orlando postcard (from the year Twister opened) 1995 SWSD postcard A few Disney Parks DVDs A few BGW employee newsletters (including one from the week Mach Tower opened) A piece of Mach Tower queue tape A bunch of employee t-shirts from BGW (gotten through various events)

Travel Channel was apparently holding a shoot at the park all weekend. There was a sign for it outside the employee/preferred parking entrance. From various sources (BGWFans/friends/coworkers), the shaking/music are being worked on at the moment. The ride had a huge breakdown last week and the music/shaking might've been temporarily sacrificed as a result.

I scored a few Passmember Preview day maps at BGW that I'm willing to give away. Just drop me a PM.

Got back from the park today... A few things. - V-bolt theming is underway. Little details are being placed throughout the ride. Floating tunnel (into the building) is still there though. I really hope the park fixes that, although gut feeling tells me the building won't be painted and the floating tunnel will remain a floating tunnel. - Park is pretty busy today. I expect tomorrow to be slammed with vacationers and season passholders since it's supposed to be warm. - I applied for V-bolt opening crew. Wish me luck. Quick edit: I sat in the test seat. It was more comfy than Mach, but not as comfy as the B&M's. The middle "bump" that juts out goes halfway down the seat is pointed, making it feel a bit odd. I probably wouldn't recommend slamming your butt into the seat.

^ If I pay extra for a service, I should be entitled to get better service out of it whether it's legit line cutting or getting better seats on a plane, good seats at a concert venue/sporting event, etc. This whole class warfare thing is kinda pointless. Don't have the money to pay? Plan your day better. I plan on doing a trip to KI later this season (if things work out), but I don't plan on using FP (don't have the money), so I have to plan ahead to figure out what rides to hit and which ones to skip. Clearly the experience you had at SFA years ago was a sign that the park/employees didn't do their job managing the FP line, and that does happen at times. The industry is still doing fine with FP's in place.

^ Are line cutting measures really supposed to increase capacity? I remember Disney did it to cut down on people waiting in lines for rides and spend more time in lines for merchandise/food. Most other parks seem to be doing this for extra revenue than anything else, which is why they're usually pretty expensive.

Has any park even done this in last few years??? I remember this practice at SFOG when they first started Flash Pass and yes I hated having to wait one or two more train cycles so they could ride. But the majority, if not all parks learned how crappy this practice was and have improved upon it. Some people just have their minds made up that they hate something and refuse to listen otherwise. Unfortunately, this is what a ride op suggested to me at Carowinds today at Vortex, that as long as there are Fastlane guests waiting they will board first, regardless of anyone waiting in line. For us, that meant we were "next" 3 times before actually getting to ride. At other rides later in the day they were at least running it 1 Fastlane train, 1 normal train. Still, it's not equal. Fastlane get their pick of seats on Intimidator and Carolina Cobra as they are let in first. Everyone else is assigned what's left in the middle. Lines ARE longer since by the time FL guests board a train from the entrance in the front of the station the second train has already stacked. Then we get the air gates opening for the 1 remaining row to be filled. Beyond that, they are not spread out throughout the ride- they have choice of seats- in other words, the line you see for the front is half of what you'll wait. I don't mind these systems when there is control, but what I saw today was sorely lacking. It is the utmost stupidity to build staircases to load platforms and then hold up boarding anyway. There is no limit on riding, and users can get on every other train. After seeing the majority of rows fill with FL regularly, it's hard to believe there's a limit on the number sold. I hope that Cedar Point does a better job of implementing it, cause what I saw today was horrible for operations... Can everyone blustering their caption obvious business sense and otherwise misguided logic please read this? I went to Carowinds as well yesterday and I could not have come away more disappointed with the FL system.If you look at the first picture on this page you will see the columns in front of Boo Blasters where I spent the last 30 minutes of my 1.5 hour wait for the ride. Once inside I saw the 15 person FL wait that had somewhere between 85-100% priority to board the ride at any given time, which made the normal line hilariously long. On Intimidator I watched the same group of 12 kids pass the regular line 6 times while we were in line for the one ride we could get. When we passed under the brake run and I could look at the operations, it was clear that anyone waiting at FL got 100% priority into the station, with the general outcome being .75 Fastlane users, 1.25 Regular line for any two trains. I don't know what time length a full regular queue for Intimidator usually amounts to, but I'm pretty sure a near doubling of the line doesn't help matters. Also watched the Front Row of Afterburn get taken 4 times consecutively by Fastlane (who have choice of any seat). I'm sure the tier 1 customers were happy about that and want to come spend their money at Carowinds again. Adding to that point, I heard complaints from other non-FL guests a few times directed towards employees. Obviously Carowinds is still new to this policy though, which is probably why they had this issue. I'm pretty sure they'll make modifications later on to perfect the system. Kinda weird how other parks that have implemented FP in recent years haven't had this big of an issue though.

Zierer has never done this type of ride before, making it a "world first" unless Legoland Germany's Polar Coaster opens up first. Mach was soft opened last year, but then again that ride experienced a pretty long delay beforehand. The park may follow up with V-bolt, but we should just wait and see.

Actually I do... It's mainly because the haters have only had bad experiences with FP-type systems. If you read their comments, you'll read how some parks used to reserve trains for FP-users to ride and leave the regular line to get longer and longer. Clearly those parks aren't doing something right because most experiences I've had with FP-style systems were positive.

There's something wrong with me. I stretched a shoulder muscle a few weeks ago and it left me with an annoying pain. That stopped after a week or two and then I got hit with terrible allergies, which led me to lose my voice at work. Then I get hit with my usual coughing fit (happens about twice a year). After that, apparently my coughing is causing my sinuses to act up. My face starts hurting with a dull pain every time I cough. I hope this only lasts a couple days.

How the hell is a B&M invert gonna decrease lines for Volcano, especially if the capacity for that thing is already pretty bad to begin with? Unless Volcano is ripped out for a B&M invert, I don't see how getting another one is gonna make much of a difference.

From what I was told, it is a real car that was caught in an accident and BGW purchased it.

Most parks do that. I'm pretty sure SF is the only one that doesn't place limits on how many can be sold, but it was stated earlier in the thread that their FP prices are pretty steep to begin with anyway.

I've had that happen before on many non Fastpass rides. It's magnified on busy days. I'm pretty sure it's worse on major rides. Those outrageous waits will be there, passes or no passes. It's up to the park and the employees to handle how many guests come through the FP lines and how many times. Carowinds doesn't seem to be doing things right like other parks are. BGW reserves a specific row for fastpass guests to ride and the lines don't change. Merge points are another great idea.

I saw those new t-shirts yesterday in the Alpengeist gift shop. I kinda thought they'd bring back "Defy the 5". I do love those designs though. The QR one looks interesting. I also caught a glimpse of Entwined. It was a nice show, although I wish it was a bit darker. Feels like a replacement for "Castle O Sullivan" instead of "This is Oktoberfest"

I've never noticed rides with fastpass lines have this problem before. If anything it makes the line slightly longer, but it doesn't affet much other than thaat. You will still have to wait an hour for a popular ride on a busy day regardless of fastpasses.

Something about a Wing Coaster doesn't scream Busch Gardens to me. I'd much rather see something else coming in (maybe one of those cool Premier launchers or something). A wing coaster would fit better at KD IMO (flying over Lake Charles and Hurricane Reef - that would look pretty sweet). Oh and the exclusive contract thing still doesn't make too much sense to me, especially if it's a contract for a few years. A flyer would be a bit nicer, but Griffon's area seemed to be the best spot to fit one. If CP really wants it, they'll make room for it. No park is ever completely full. They managed to shoehorn Maverick, Shoot the Rapids, Dinosaurs, and Windseeker into the park. I'm pretty sure there's plenty more places to fit any potential new coaster.

^ Any contract that was made between both companies would've expired already.

CP has plenty of space. If they need space, they'll just make some. That goes for any park. Oh and for the record, I don't think a wing coaster would be a good fit for BGW. Something about it tells me there are better rides to add. Same goes for SFOG.

Going to a theme park that never makes a new ride ever again. What's worse than getting mauled by a robotic bear?

SFOT and SFOG just got major new additions. Until the expanded DC area for SFOT is confirmed, I don't think this is going there. That leaves SFStL, which could use a new major steel coaster, SFNE also could use a nice large-scale steel coaster, and SFA which could use a nice compliment to Apocalypse. As for CF, CP seems to be the most likely option with some of the former Paramount parks following suit. It would be nice to see the other CF parks getting this. WOF and Valleyfair could use a nice new steel coaster. Knotts has been rumored to be getting a big coaster next year as well. An Asian park is also likely to pick this up in the coming years. OCT is building a new park and there are potentially a few other parks springing up around there in the coming years.

Just throwing something out there, but Potter's been around since the 90s, which is a pretty long time for a series of books/movies to keep their popularity. If Potter didn't have staying power, it wouldn't be as popular as it is now.