KBrylczyk

The fact that people would read that and still consider Lance to be a reliable source makes me laugh.

Kanonen will put this park on the map for many enthusiasts, no doubt about that. The SLC rumors, though, I can't find confirmed anywhere. The owners in an article I read (from May 2020) refused to comment on it. I hope the deal fell through and they were forced to call anyone else. I'd take some hillbilly's backyard death machine before the SLC from Ratanga Junction.

Let me help - Literally every single other GCI ever made except... Wildcat Troy Thunderhead Ghostrider

Yeah, it's a clone of Medusa (Bizarro, sorry). Having a clone 8 hours away would be like having three Batman clones within four hours of each other. They'd never do something that dumb, right? Especially not in the Dallas / San Antonio market. I kid, I kid. I highly doubt Scream is going anywhere. Magic Mountain loves their parking lot coasters too much.

That'd be a wonderful service if the mall had any other tenants. Looking at the dining options available it looks to be mostly variations on sugar.

Manhattan to Ocean City, MD isn't exactly around the corner. It's do-able but I would highly recommend an overnight.

It was at one of the entrances to the Adventuredome. The ferris wheel can be seen right behind the kerfuffle. Pretty pathetic people discharging a firearm so close to children having fun.

^ I don't see any track removed, only the yellow tarp over the launch motors. It looks like a trick of the light as the left track is in shadow while the right track is being hit dead-on by the sunlight. Anyways, their 2021 teaser was Lighting Strikes Twice. I'm guessing there will be a small launch at the base of the lift followed by a second gut-puncher halfway up the hill, hence the tarps over the motors there.

^ You're being overly critical of a ride that hasn't even had a human on it yet. Reserve your judgement until you ride the darn thing.

The quick clip they showed a while ago of the vehicle testing at high speed was nuckin futs. You're right, this is going to be completely new and awesome. Those trains look to be extra wide. Am I going crazy? Nice and roomy!

Found the ACEr.

Europa is one of the best resorts in the world, right behind Tokyo Disney IMO, but it isn't the best for coasters. The lineup is solid but not outstanding. Plus they have Silverstar which, well, I'd rather not get into. Literally. I don't bother to ride it because it sucks.

Radiator Springs Racers. Hear me out. Normally it's a perfectly fine ride with randos because it starts immediately (no lift hill) and holds everyone's attention the entire time. That being said, the 3-and-3 seating can lead to an odd man out situation for groups, usually the fourth sitting in the back with a group of two or two singles. My wife and I were assigned a car just like this many times, but there was one time, hoo boy, where I got the honor of sitting next to a very disgruntled father who had his wife and children in the front. Apparently this guy figured the second row was enough distance that he could trash talk his family and whine about how awful and expensive Disney is for the entire ride. I guess being another 30-something guy made him think I was a shoulder to cry (read - bitch) on. The entire ride I was doing the awkward dead-eyed smile while he droned on and on, his wife looking back constantly to give him death stares, his kids having the time of their lives, and him just equating his current predicament to being an inmate on Riker's. Other than that I love the ride!

I always thought SFMM's marketing strategy was "we're cheap."

I just wish there were something more than food and retail. If there were shows or some other form of entertainment I might be enticed to make a trip from Vegas but as it stands that's not worth the 4-hour drive.

It's a weird thing to break down because Disney is so wildly inconsistent with their theme park show quality. Some are incredible, some are good, and some downright suck, and what's funnier is that budget doesn't seem to come into effect for any of it. I honestly think they just throw everything at a wall and rather than seeing what sticks they just blindly grab at whatever is leftover and implement that. Now, I worked as Production Manager and Tech Director for a 500-seat professional theatre outside Philly a few years ago and we operated on very tight budgets as we were non-profit. We still put on Beauty & The Beast, Newsies, and other large-scale shows to rave reviews. Most of the time my set budget was $5K, sometimes it was only $2K, but I never had more than $5,500 to play with for the set. Costumes, lighting, and audio all had less budgeted per show, so you can imagine the kind of money we were working with. I designed a three-story set for Newsies, a 40-foot by 20-foot rolling house (with a second floor!) for A Christmas Story, a multi-level MC Escher-inspired set for Next To Normal, etc, all on less than $5,000. The $5,500 came when we said screw it and rented the castle set for Beauty & The Beast, haha. My point is people can make excellent, fun, compelling entertainment for very little money. Disney, on the other hand, has money to burn and they still manage to be all over the place in terms of quality. The Lion King show at Animal Kingdom was fun because it was trying to be fun. The Little Mermaid I can't give an honest take on because I've not seen it since I was maybe 12 years old back in the mid-90s. Beauty & The Beast's show next to Tower of Terror was middle of the road but still definitely on par for a theme park revue. Frozen failed, IMO, because it tried to tell the exact story from the movie in 2/3's of the time (60 vs 90 minutes) rather than truncate it to a manageable narrative. Aladdin did it wonderfully. They still had all of the hits, all of the humor, but it was 45 minutes and the audience was satisfied. Frozen is 60 minutes long and sucks because it's too confused for its own good.

^ Ever since visiting Rainbow Magicland in Italy I've wondered why more places aren't investing in huge solar panel farms for their parking lots, ESPECIALLY here in Vegas. We have so many uncovered lots that result in your car baking at 150 degrees. Throw up some coverage, stick some panels on there, rake in the free electricity and happy customers.

Hotel Matamba is the African-themed hotel and Nrthwnd is right, it's a lobby bar with a patio available. It's nice and the drinks are delicious but it's nothing compared to Dragon Bar. Really, is there ever a choice between "ground floor lobby bar" or "indoor/outdoor rooftop bar overlooking the park"?

As a theatre industry professional (backstage, design, management), I'm gonna have to disagree with you there. Here's an non-exhaustive list of reasons why - Let's get this out of the way right out in front. Too many goddamn video/projection-based effects. This is a stage show, so use some stagecraft. The constant projections instead of the multitude of better, prettier illusions that could be used are a slap in the face to any stage tech worth their salt. Speaking of video and projection reliance, most of the "sets" are not sets at all, just a video with a large open stage. This is a story set in castles (stone and ice), forests, etc, yet they refused to populate the stage with anything but open space. Those three stupid doors are the entire set for the kingdom of Arendelle. You kidding me? Holy hell the choreography. Someone was called up from Carnival Cruise Lines for that crap. The Let It Go dress transformation. My god. I've seen more convincing quick changes in elementary school productions. How does the Broadway version of this gag kick all kinds of ass, yet the park version equates to literally turning the lights off for a second while Elsa pulls a zipper? Awful. The wolf chase sequence would have been incredible if they spent more than five minutes rehearsing it. The lighting is on point and the sled is very well made with the motion base, but the cast is far too slow and not nearly as urgent as one would think while being chased by wolves. Also, the final "Jump, Sven!" and all three characters flying into the air? Again, it would be fantastic if they choreographed it to happen faster than a snail taking a sunday stroll. The trolls are...not good. The costumes are a train wreck themselves, but you'd think a theme park show would skip over the bad songs and stick to what people enjoy, right? Not here! You're gonna hear Fixer Upper from front to back and you're gonna damn well like it! The finale. And here's a list of good things - Elsa's staircase. That thing is a wonder to behold as a tech. A full-size, cantilevered staircase that rotates over the audience with only one point of contact? Holy crap! Damn shame that's the only part of Elsa's castle that actually exists outside of the screens. The idea and half of the execution of the wolf chase sequence. See notes above. Sven's puppet was much better than the Broadway nightmare-fuel version. It's an amateur, half-baked, rush job that had no reason to be as bad as it was. Frozen on stage had the potential to break new ground and really go hog wild with illusions and set design. Instead we got what we got.

Holy crap, you just brought back 20-year-old memories! Back in 2000 my dad and I were in line and asked the guy assigning rows for the front row. He warned us about the bugs without even thinking about it, so we decided to sit in the back, haha.

I really like the idea. With low-light recording becoming easier thanks to cell phones this is something that you haven't seen much, if at all. I'd certainly enjoy more!