Mrlittle

BTTF is and will always be a beloved franchise. But everyone knew it would be closed eventually. I'm also glad you got to ride this and Backdraft before they went away. At least, the park will still have JAWS for nostalgic reasons. I will fight them if they ever decided to take JAWS out for Potter.

I would buy one. I can send a check immediately or send PayPal. This is a great idea.

I wasn't sure if this has been posted. RMC did not have to make a statement but its very nice that they did. RMC’S STATEMENT ON THE DELAYED OPENING OF LIGHTNING ROD ROLLER COASTER AT DOLLYWOOD THEME PARK HAYDEN, Idaho — Rocky Mountain Construction co-owner Fred Grubb has released the following statement on the recently announced delay to the opening of Lightning Rod at Dollywood Theme Park in Pigeon Forge, TN: “We take the highest level of pride in every attraction we create. RMC is equally disappointed that Lightning Rod will not be opening as originally planned. We have been working with the launch system subcontractor on-site to bring it up to speed and working as intended. As is often the case with prototype attractions and especially with launched coasters, delays are an ever-present possibility. During the course of testing, we determined that the third-party launch system would not be able to perform at the level required for proper operation. While we strive to meet all of our deadlines, we cannot and will not sacrifice safety or ride quality in the name of saving time. RMC never has nor ever will open any new attraction until it has passed our rigorous standards. At this time, we cannot speculate as to when the attraction will open to the general public. That date is ultimately decided upon by the customer, therefore all questions regarding an opening should be directed to Dollywood. On behalf of all the employees at Rocky Mountain Construction, I want to personally thank the management team at Dollywood, the fans of the park as well as our fans for their patience and understanding as we work to bring you Lightning Rod.”

Seeing the photos of FASCINATION and Phoenix makes me miss Knoebels so much. Great TR as always.

So I'm hearing the front entrance worked out well the first day with the metal detectors separate. That was always an issue for this park. I'm glad to hear they addressed it and it's working. Especially seeing how busy the park was.

I'm shocked they are not charging for the VR headset. I thought that would help with the line flow. Shockwave has a decent area on the exit side of the station to set up a return, cleaning area for the VR headsets but Superman at SFFT exit is cramped. I'm guessing they will grab it from you before you get off the ride? This is going to cause longer waits.

Great TR and Photos as always Andy. You took some shots I never seen of the coasters. HersheyPark is one of my favorite parks. I remember the Stormrunner ERT was amazing.

Seaworld San Antonio has always felt like the step child of the group. At least they announced a new coaster for next year. I agree about it being weird that this Seaworld does a Howl O Scream event. They do a decent job with the scares.

Not really since, most of Astroworld's rides were scrapped and I don't know about the status of the land that the park once stood on is? I think it's a parking lot for the football stadium. Never got developed. Houston Rodeo now owns half the land that was Astroworld. They use it for storage and parking during the rodeo season.

Someone posted a Texas Cyclone video on my Facebook today and then I see this report. Talk about a lot of great memories. Thanks for sharing the photos.

NERD I got 10/20.

I thought the show was already closed. Why wait, just tear it all down now. We want Toy Story land sooner.

This. www.scottspizzatours.com

That was a trip down memory lane. Also, I wish I was playing FASCINATION right now instead of working.

Oh man, that fog was so cool that morning. Especially since I had no idea of the layout for Jupiter. Great TR.

I know many of you are thinking about coming to Texas next year to ride Switchback. ZDT's has an awesome deal today for Black Friday. Buy one wristband , get a second for free. There good all year for 2016. www.zdtamusement.com/black-friday

The VR coaster technology was pretty cool and worked well. Great coverage as always of IAAPA for those of us stuck in meetings.

^ These videos have been great.

I really like the direction they are going with this park. I always felt it was the step child of the group but finally there adding new attractions. They have so much land to develop as well.

1. Do you have a 4K HDTV? No 6. If you don't have a 4K HDTV, how important is it to you to get one? Not until more content in 4K is available. I've heard the upconverting a 4K TV does now is not enough of a difference either to pay the huge difference in price. Of course, I haven't looked into 4K in a while so there probably is more content now. 7. If you were to buy a new HDTV, what feature would be more important to you? 3-D or 4K? Or both or neither? I probably splurge and get both features. Just because I own a few blu-rays now that came with the 3-D disc.

Sounds and looks good. Curious to see what they will do with the Simpsons. Seems like every month a new theme park is announced for Dubai. It's confusing which parks are actually being built and the ones that disappeared.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading along. I definitely enjoyed posting about our trip. I can't wait to go back to Japan. In case you missed anything, go here for links to my whole trip report. With that said, here's my last update from Portland and last update for this trip report. Took me long enough to finish it. I knew very little of Enchanted Forest. I had seen some photos and heard the Humpty Dumpty statue took a great fall. The park is bizarre and I loved it. I had no idea what the park would be like. Our adventure begins... I guess we are all dreaming of the land of enchantment? They put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Little Miss Muffet Witch hunters Scary Sing it together now. Alice Tea Party Jack n Jill We dig dig dig dig dig dig All of these statues were made at the park. I'm going to eat you Is the house or Laura crooked? Nothing to worry about Little Red Nothing at all Muahhahaha Yay a slide Random awesome cave Oh, a haunted house It was fun but nothing like the ones we had just experienced in Japan. Log flume with 3 seconds of coaster, Does it really count? Sploosh Ice Mountain is next Here's some trivia for ya. This bizarre coaster was Laura's first coaster. After all that great food in Japan, we still managed to fit in one car. Weird trains. Holy crap the ride was crazy. A fun and weirdly slow dark ride. Pinocchio from Japan. Just bringing this TR full circle. The birds began to sing. This coaster was a lot of fun. A cool idea. We actually stopped and eat just to watch the whole show. Bye Enchanted Forest, thanks for a fun day. Had to stop here while in Portland. I wanted to try them all. Mmm donuts This was gone in 2.3 seconds the famous Voodoo donuts Thanks again for reading our entire trip. Thanks to TPR. Thanks San Diego, Japan and Portland for giving us an awesome trip.

So when we came back from Japan, I stayed with Laura for a few days near Portland. We decided to skip our connection back to San Diego and took a bus from Seattle to Portland. That saved us 6 hours more of travel time. We of course visited both parks near Portland while I was there. First up was Oaks Park. A small and kind of shady park. I hear the park has a lot of history. Our visit was quick since we had a music festival to get to. Oaks Park was fun for a few hours. Now I know why Laura is happy to come here. Only loop in all of Oregon Not a bad kiddie coaster. Balloon ride for the win Crazy legs We of course had to ride the carousel. Its like our thing. I love when parks have old school pinball machines. They have room to build a woodie going along the water. Just sayin I spend to much money on these. Kind of has a small carnival feel. The employees were very nice and friendly. Nice view from the picnic area. So Laura told me she marathon this coaster once and the workers thought she was crazy. Let's call it rock 'n' roll (Laura I used a lyric from your fav band) Laura is in her happy place. Portland is full of bridges and staying weird. The Waterfront festival was great. 5 stages and lots of random bands. Best deal - Just $5 for an elephant ear the size of my stomach. Time to rest up.

This ride sounds like Soarin over NYC. Come on Universal Orlando, I had you so high on my pedestal. Enough of the 3D rides. I hope I'm wrong here and out of Kong, fast n furious or Jimmy we get one decent ride. I'm just not going to book a vacation to see more 3D screens. Besides, Universal had a great ride with Jimmy they advertised all last summer. Gyrosphere