Midgetman82

Lack of ridership at the later hours? Last I was there, I had a (nearly) zen backrow ride on it within the last hour of park operations, and they were cycling three trains on it sending several empty trains.

I'm very happy about Celestial Park, primarily for the fact they're treating some very flagship anchor attractions with original theming rather than attaching an IP to them (which I don't view as a negative, it just feels rare to see otherwise nowadays). Starfall Racers looks incredible!

I'd normally keep stuff like this to myself, but maybe it's fine to let this off my chest. Last year was a whirlwind of things that felt like an unseen force wanted me out of the coaster community. Technical issues kept me unable to log back in to this account most of last year (since April). Twitter became even more unpleasant (than it already was) to the point of not wanting to use it anymore. All of my favorite local events now sell out in mere minutes after opening (or uncapped ones overselling). To top it and other small things off, more looming debt payments restarting and rising cost of living forcing me to cut back. Forced to travel less, unable to come back to my usual spaces, I ended up spending much of my 2023 elsewhere both online and in real life. Not all a bad thing though. I have other hobbies, and even picked up new ones to replace the void in that time. It's a nice refresher doing different things now and then. But much of the changes in last year still left me feeling very detached from the community. Despite now drastically pulling back from irl and online theme-park related things, I'm at least glad to have this account back. No Facebook group or Discord server could ever really replace a proper web-searchable online forum, imo.

I got to take a spin on this coaster last Summer. First time there, I stopped by for a couple quick hours, which I liked (compared to a full-day's commitment seemingly needed for SFOG). Particularly hot day, so I didn't do many laps, but wowee this thing was an absolute beast. Likely the most intense RMC I've ridden. 4 front laps and 1 in back, and basically walk-on waits, sending mostly empty trains. I must also add, the other major coaster in the park, Hurricane. That was... quite an experience itself. Really fun lil bunny hill hops on that, but oh my goodness those turns were so violent, lol. Made me giggle, but that was a one and done.

My heart goes out to the family affected by this, very sad indeed to hear of a fun day out turned so bad. Snow sports are still inherently risky even on a slope as tame as Big Snow (they have rails and jumps), but never good hearing of incidents like this on any slope. Let alone within American Dream with its current reputation already.

It'll be nice to see what they might have in store in the future. Judging off of the vibe Herschend has had for the park, I think if they do any major additions for the park, it'll be geared towards more family stuff. A side note, but between my last few visits and seeing it be closed during PaKK event, T3 has not been fairing all too well. It had been operating with just one train, and on my previous visit, it closed at some point in the day to have some issue fixed with the train. I don't really like to speculate too much on things, but something in my gut tells me we might not be seeing that coaster around for too much longer. (Again, 100% going off of gut feelings, not any rumors. They could very well spend the $$$ to get the trains fixed and it's good as new next season.)

Hope it's still cool to drop photo TR's in discussion threads... let me know if otherwise. Happy month of spooks! Yesterday I got to squeeze out some time to come check out the Pumpkins at Kentucky Kingdom event. Kentucky Kingdom's been doing a huge "family friendly" push this year, and this event certainly epitomizes it, imo. It's a night and day difference between 2019's HalloScream event with haunted houses, spooky sculptures, and even playing a shortened version of Friday the 13th movie in the 5D cinema. Now it's all about Pumpkins! Lots and lots of pumpkins! Frankly speaking, I think this event works really well for Kentucky Kingdom. It's a very local-focused event geared toward families having a place to bring their children without any worry of scares or safety issues (decent security and police presence throughout the park). There were multiple new shows in the park including a glow drumming show, a magician, and a country singer from Bardstown, KY named Will Wright. Thrill seekers can still get night rides on all of the park's major coasters (except T3, which is closed for the rest of the season). People of all ages were out in the park donning halloween costumes, and there were booths set up throughout the front circle of the park for kids to trick or treat at throughout the day. Here's something I don't think I've ever seen at Kentucky Kingdom before: a parade! The Glow Drummers as well as some familiar and new mascots marched the full front circle of the park twice a day starting and ending at the amphitheater. In front of Prof. John's Flying Machines, they cleared out some tables to put in a very small hay maze. The walls are just high enough that most kids can't see over. The two new shows playing in the amphitheater are Glow Drummers and local magician David Garrard (didn't catch his show unfortunately). They do two shows, a daytime show and a nighttime show. There's a second stage with two other acts, including Bardstown country singer Will Wright playing his songs between the carousel and Thunder Run. And last but not least... the pumpkins! And another friendly reminder, night rides are back as well! They're not quite the pitch-black rides you'd expect at other parks, but still nice getting to experience these rides during unusual hours of the day (and in the colder weather). I managed to be on the last train of the night on Storm Chaser which was also cool.

There's a little selfish part of me that is a little sad to see this tower go. Ended up as my favorite to ever experience. But this was definitely their best option all things considered. I also hope it finds a new home at least, and maybe goes the same route with adding those seatbelts for peace of mind like that similar tower in Germany. Also saw on Icon Park's website that the slingshot group is creating a scholarship in his name at Tyre's school, which is nice as well.

Was at the resort last week and got to experience Cosmic Rewind finally. There's a ton I could unpack about it, but overall yeah, I can see this being a lot of people's favorite roller coaster in all of Walt Disney World! Quite thrilling, and surprisingly longer than I expected! Loved it! Not my favorite overall attraction at Disney (RotR is still king), and personally not my #1 coaster at Disney (I'm a sucker for Everest), but dang is it a top contender! I rode it twice, first time with virtual queue, and also had a Lightning Lane callback to get back in line later in the evening, and boy am I glad I did. I could ride that almost all day! I can't wait until they drop Virtual Queue, because it's very, very efficient with capacity too. I'm gonna try to still not spoil anything for anyone who's avoiding those (you should probably stop reading now if you're that person), but... There's one one thing I think I could critique with it, and it's that the story pacing during the actual coaster section itself is so fast that you miss a ton of what's actually happening. Now, no one needs to know what's happening, it's still just suuuuper fun to sit back and enjoy the ride! But if you're trying to follow along the full story as well, you'll miss a LOT on that first ride-thru. With regards to spinning: My dad is NOT into spinning rides and was worried it would make him too sick for the rest of the day. He was assured by many others he might like it and to give it a try anyway. Him and I rode together for our first ride. He said he did enjoy it, but it was very borderline for his limits and still made him a lil disoriented for a good portion of the day after, but he felt fine by the evening. I rode alone on my second lap . (Maybe spoiler for ride layout ahead) The coaster doesn't free-spin like a wild mouse, but there's a ton of sudden fast helixes throughout the ride that might still throw off those with weaker stomachs.

Family and I have been considering for a while trying out Camp Cedar with an RV. We may end up doing it some time before the end of the year, most likely during Haunt, but Winterfest is also an option of course. Has anyone here ever stayed there? Any takeaways, likes/dislikes, or things we should consider before going?

Rocky Top Mountain Coaster in Pigeon Forge, TN over Labor Day weekend. New credit too, along with Goat Coaster before this!

Online, and no. I know you already visited, but I answered in case someone else wanted to know. The park also does not allow entry within the last operating hour in the day, since some rides close early depending on how full its line is. And if you were talking about the 13th, then yeah, it was indeed slammed that day. Apparently both UPS and Amazon workers were having a gathering that day. Unrelated, earlier this summer, WDRB dropped this article about the Kentucky Fair Board proposing a massive revitalization of their property, but the article leaves out how it would directly affect parking, roads, and Kentucky Kingdom's front entrance too: https://www.wdrb.com/news/business/millions-from-state-could-revamp-kentucky-expo-center-with-sports-complex-hotels/article_d682bd54-dc60-11ec-b60e-633df27ae2b8.html And yes, they misspelled "Kingdom." Twice. In the proposal, the big changes adjacent to the park is that fancy "VIP Parking" area, which isn't a thing currently. Also, the new 6 lane road running along the left side of the park would be new too. It would join with the redirected road that circles the whole fairgrounds, and would make it easier to drive thru Gate 2 (bottom center of first image) and go straight to the expo center or KK's front gate without being forced to drive under the park's pedestrian bridge. Maybe several years down the line, if this turns out a success, they'll raze that road entirely and join the two halves of the park? One can dream. EDIT: I totally glossed over the bottom right of the first image! (That's THREE "Kingdom" misspellings too!) Maybe this would mean the Fair Board is finally giving Kentucky Kingdom their own parking, free from the expo center, and that road between the park really is going to be totally discontinued! Bright side, visitors might not have to pay fairgrounds prices to park. Down side, it is a significantly further walk to get to the front entrance...

It certainly is. Iron Gwazi really is freaking phenomenal! My jaw was dropped after each of my 4 laps on it, easily one of the best coasters ever built, period! But I might be weird for having VelociCoaster ranked right above IG. I enjoyed riding and re-riding VC a lil more than IG for other overall factors. I don't think anyone's wrong for thinking any of those coasters (including Vengeance) are better than the other. They're all superb for various reasons! It can admittedly be a small downer when someone like me, visiting once every few years, see's either of those two rides or other favorites on the sign of closed rides at the park's entrance. But also, I also feel like the overall experience of BGT makes up for rides like those two being down because there's so many other things to do there even for one full day. If someone visits only for the thrill rides, you might be closing yourself off to just how great of an overall theme park and zoo BGT is. Granted on my recent visit in May, both rides were listed as closed, yet I was lucky to catch CC operating in the afternoon and hopped on when I passed by it going to Montu. I suppose it just has its bad days now and then? Wholly agreed. In May I did a little bit of Universal, the coasters at Fun Spot Orlando, all of BGT and all of SWO in my 2.5 days in town, and felt like I could jump on everything I wanted without much planning once in the parks. Compared to having to do significant planning before and during a visit to Disney.

I've noticed the same, and admittedly is a little unnerving at times too. Those style lap bars almost never usually have any upward give once they're down, but there's maybe an inch of it with Storm Chaser. I often give another tighter push down after the train's dispatched because (unlike some crazies in this community) I actually like to feel secure when the ride is attempting to toss me into the next county over.

I've been interested in coming to this mall for a while... but seemingly for the wrong reasons? I'm much more interested in the indoor ski hill, as the U.S. is sorely lacking anything else like it. I guess the point system makes it easier to consider dropping by as well on a brief day visit, but sure is a shame there's so many sudden ride closures. I will say, I didn't expect Blasting Bronco to not be listed on the closed rides list when I glanced just now. That's one I'm especially interested in trying.

I feel like I haven't written up one of these in forever, but I'll give it another shot... Visited Kentucky Kingdom again this past Saturday. It was my second visit this year since May 1st (missed out on visiting other weekends due to many other travels and other personal life hurdles). I knew it was going to be 100f/37c with over 50% humidity, so I had full intentions of spending the majority of the day within the water park. I basically wore my swim clothes throughout the day including a rash guard shirt. I arrived minutes after the gates had opened 10am, with the immediate morning crowd having already dispersed into the park, and went straight for the water park. I had totally forgotten the park was doing a Gold Pass early entry for the water park and would open to everybody else at 11am. It took some other hopeful swim guests by surprise too. I flashed my pass and went to rent a $15 small locker to stuff my things in. I was hoping I could get my day's workout over with by summiting the Deep Water Dive stairs immediately, but learned the entire water park is roped off except for the wave pool for gold passers. I'm personally not a big fan of wave pools (love lazy rivers tho), but considering it was empty enough to my liking and it was already getting pretty hot, I went ahead and took a very relaxing swim in it for several minutes. The hour passes, and I join a line to get into the newer half of the water park. Once everyone was let in, I was first to go up the Wikiwiki Wai slide complex and did all three inner tube slides back to back with the same tube with virtually no wait each time, and then left and went straight for a very peaceful swim in the adventure river. The crowd level in the water park at this point was very tame, with plenty of tubes and swim noodles to use for cooling off. Getting to the water park right away in the morning seems very ideal for anyone looking to take big advantage of the water park. This changed drastically in the afternoon, but we'll get there soon. The only thing I would probably do different would be getting on a couple dry rides for the first hour the park is open before going to the water park when it opens at 11am. Walked by Deep Water Dive and Wave Runner, water was flowing but no lifeguards manning them. I asked a passing supervisor if they planned to open it, and they said yes, so I ventured off to the older section of the water park to do an inner tube slide in Mt. Slide Hai and the other lazy river while I waited. It was unfortunate seeing not only Deluge retired, but so was Voodoo Express body slide. Deluge's spot certainly opens up a lot of future possibilities at least. My hope (if they're listening) is bringing in a mat racer to round out the park's collection. At this point, the ground was getting very hot and DWD was still closed, so I did a few more laps in a more crowded Adventure River again before drying off for lunch. I skipped doing the long line at the water park food stands and went to the front of the park for the hot chicken sandwich stand next to Scream Extreme instead, then returned to the backside of the park afterwards. Started off easy with a nice breezy star flyer ride on SkyCatcher, then hopped next door for a lap on Kentucky Flyer. T3 still only has the one orange train. The line was full inside the station, so I got in line for a moment before it went down for some minor maintenance issue. With the station already packed and incredibly hot, I chose to leave instead. With the crazy hot weather, I considered doing Mile High Falls, but it seemed everyone else had the same idea. Full queue. Unfortunately it was only running one boat, so I stood on the bridge instead for a quick cooling-off splash before going back by Storm Chaser. Really, really looking forward to this event! Pretty theming AND night rides until 10pm return? Yes please!! HallowScream was quite a fun even to shake things up at the park, so I'm happy a night event is at least returning to the park in some capacity, with a family-friendly edge this time. Still absolutely bonkers of a roller coaster! And what they say is absolutely true, this thing SOARS when it's hotter out. Those final bunny hills are murderous, lol. Me in the front going "holy crap!" from the sucker-punch of intense ejector. Despite being a Saturday and the crowds picking up in the park by this point, Storm Chaser was still a walk-on with one train ops. It felt great getting four back-to-back laps, but certainly hope Herschend does something to entice more people back to this area of the park and on this coaster. The ride photo booth was selling snacks and drinks along with photos, and there was this tornado simulator for $5. Honestly felt pretty nice. More effective at drying than those haystack dryers I'd see at other parks. There was another located in the water park, but I think they also need one at Mile High Falls. From here, I wandered back past T3 to see Deep Water Dive still closed. it was past 3pm and I wasn't planning to stay the whole day anyways. I cut my losses on the water park entirely at this point because the majority of guests in the park were in the water park by this point. I hopped on the 5D cinema for some quick air conditioning with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs ride film, got a quick one-cycle wait for Cyclos, walk-on for Bluebeard's Bounty and Fearfall, then refilled my Gold Pass cup before heading out of the park. I don't normally visit parks on a Saturday, but it was nice to at least see how very manageable the water park is first thing in the morning, a very good time to take advantage of getting laps on slides before the crowds get a bit too much. All in all, a good visit! I need to do more mornings solely focused on hitting up the water park again.

^I thought I was going crazy seeing that too! https://www.facebook.com/AlabamaAdventure/videos/403188838454731/ I guess I checked their Facebook page just in time. Looks like the new wild mouse coaster is live and well. I love seeing that this park is still getting some additions this year and into next year. I'd love to make it out to there again to give the water park another go, and finally get my Rampage credit.

Gonna sound like some PR rep saying this, but I genuinely think that All Inclusive package is a really good move from KI for folks wanting to get the most out of one day at the park. Guaranteeing a worry-free visit to a park in just one purchase is always a good move in my book. Glad to hear it worked out so well for your group! If you can budget it in, I'd recommend it too.

Banshee back on the 12th. Still quite an intense invert with a lot of steady heavy g's.

Poor thing. It was having some issues that had it closed for a decent chunk of time when I was there on the 12th. Also, briefly gonna mention, the new Phantom Theater Encore show is a pretty good treat! Was actually my first show to see in that theater and didn't disappoint! Worth a watch if you're at the park! Edit: Also adding, The Beast back row on the first drop is actually pretty fun now! The work done on the huge turnaround is fantastic as well!

No love for KY Flyer, I see how it is... Kidding aside, new folks tend to favor Lightning Run because of its uniqueness. As a local, I'd tell you Storm Chaser, but even I'll admit those bunny hills at the end got pretty wacky intense over the years, lol. Thunder Run in any row closest to the front is usually a guaranteed good time if that's how you swing.

I've only experienced Steel Vengeance when they had the pouches under the seats to zip your stuff in. If I'm understanding it correctly, they set the metal detectors right before the stairs leading up to the station, and right after the long straight bit of the standard queue? I'm curious why they don't do like VelociCoaster, and have the metal detectors immediately after stowing your stuff in lockers before continuing the rest of the queue. Does the FastLane line affect this?

I had to cut out day-two of the event due to waking up with a headache. Guess I wasn't ready for all those laps I got the previous night, lol. 5 on Raven, 5 on Legend, 1 on Voyage (unfortunate, but okay with me), and... wait for it... 10 on Thunderbird! Why? Because I love that coaster to the moon and back, and missed out on riding it at all last year (it was down during HWN '21). Plus, ridiculously easy re-rides! Got multiple rows of re-rides without needing to get out of my seat, including closing out my last 4 laps going front-row right side without getting off! Such a fun glossy smooth coaster with a good kick on that launch! I think Legend is running at its best! Relatively smooth in comparison to the other two coasters, which surprised me! Though I only got 1 trimless ride on Voyage, it still did not disappoint! Such a relentless roller coaster day or night! Raven was fun too, but I feel like it's beginning to get some jackhammering on the bottom of one of the last turnarounds. The park choosing to limit attendance felt so much like the event did in some of the earlier years I've attended the event. Getting walk-on or in-station waits for most of the event up until everyone packs the queue for Voyage near the end of ERT! In comparison to the previous couple of years where attendance jumped, and the basement queue had to be used for Voyage. I'm sure this year was certainly a breath of fresh air for management and selected attendees. I guess we'll see how next year is handles, but I do hope more folks who couldn't go this year get the opportunity to next time!

I second this. T3 at single-train ops is unfortunately decently slow as well, so I'd recommend looping to KY Flyer then that soon after as well. Got to do Voyage this past weekend (HWN). The odd-numbered rows (1, 3, 5, etc.) that sit in the front row of each car are more comfortable. Voyage will likely need some re-tracking over the off season again, as will Raven, but it's certainly not running at its worst. It'll be up to tolerances. I found it still very incredible, and is for sure a must-do!

Got to ride this on New Year's Eve, and had high regards for the unnerving experience of the ride. Felt shook to my core hearing about the news of Tyre. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family and the onlookers of this horrible tragedy. It feels wrong to try to come to any conclusions on what happened, so I won't armchair-engineer anything of this. What I'm most afraid of is how Florida is notorious for not releasing reports from smaller ride incidents, and vital parts of information regarding the investigation being withheld to both/either the public or the family. Was any information released regarding the snapped cables last year on their SlingShot in Kissimmee? Have reports been released in the past when a rider death is involved? This incident was a big discussion in my circles of non coaster-geeks, with many vowing to never get on a drop tower. I'm more trusting of them, but I feel the public deserves to know whether they can be safe on rides like these in the future too. I hope something comes to light, rather than the ride suddenly reopening like nothing happened...