805Andrew

^^ I think it's just through Fright Fest, but its enforced all day long and even on non Fright Fest days. Time to bust out the Lounge Fly backpacks if you have one of those, lol.

Great TR so far, I just want to note a few things you seemed to be wondering about. That European Union sign that you saw crossing the Rhine River that said Allemagne was "Germany" in French. I'm not sure why it was in French instead of "Deutschland" but my guess was it was put up by France on the French side of the border and it looked like it was double-sided with France on the other side. Europe has been in a drought this year (it only rained two nights on my 3 ½ week trip in (July/Aug) so the Rhine River is much lower than normal and Rhine River cruises even had to be cancelled. I think the more picturesque part of the Rhine is north as this is in southwestern Germany. I crossed by train from France to Germany and the Rhine looked similar to this. The giant shoes in the United Kingdom part of Europa Park are football (soccer) cleats and that building by it is a football (soccer) themed bumper cars where there is an inflatable ball in the middle and you try to bump it to one of the goals at each end to get points. I tried it on the 2017 Oktoberfest TPR and it was fun trying to figure it out. Definitely a unique twist on a bumper cars ride. The ride and building is also sponsored by Adidas (a German company) I believe. Mercedes Benz (another German company) is the sponsor of Silver Star and they have a Formula Racing exhibit by the queue so that's why you see their logo plastered there. That area of Europa Park used to be Monoco which is famous for its Grand Prix race, but they recently incorporated it into France so Europa no longer has a Monoco area (at least according to the park maps). Europa still has a tiny Luxembourg (which I stayed one night in right before arriving in Germany) area which houses the FoodLoop restaurant and a stop for the smaller inner monorail. The Whale Watching splash battle ride you skipped has an indoor dark ride section and interactive targets you can hit for cool effects so its not just a generic splash battle ride and you don't get too wet. All the water rides at Europa had long lines when I went in August except for this one so it was nice to cool off but not get soaked. I also did find that random Snorri dark ride promoting Rulantica nearby as I saw people standing in line for it and when I found out it was a ride with a 10-15 minute wait I decided to try. It reminded me of a cross between The Little Mermaid at DCA and Nemo and Friends at Epcot but definitely better than the latter. I really wanted to go to Rulantica but it was sold out when I went. Europa wasn't part of my original trip plan but it was near the travel loop I was doing (Paris -> Bruges/Brussels -> Luxembourg -> Zurich) so I decided to include one day. My original plan was to do Europa until 6PM closing and Rulantica from 7-10PM with their night ticket but it was sold out by the time I was going to pull the trigger. All the hotels were completely booked in Rust too so I had to stay in Freiburg which is a 30 min train ride away but it ended up being a bigger city with more than I expected. It worked out for me as Europa ended up extending its hours to 8PM on the day I went so I got to get on a few more rides on the busy day I went (14 rides total). I wouldn't recommend only one day at Europa Park for a first time visitor but one day is better than zero days for a return visit. I'll eventually have to return to Europa for a longer visit for the new Czech Republic area and coaster and Rulantica. This trip looked like a lot of fun and I recognize a lot of people from the NL/Poland/Sweden trip I was on in 2019. The timing just didn't work out for me as I had a wedding to attend in Brittany, France in late July so I had to plan my trip around that. Still I was able to hit up Disneyland Paris/WDS, Parc Asterix, Plopsaland De Panne, Walibi Belgium, and Europa Park on my own among other things.

I liked Tokyo's Tommorrowland and Space Mountain for what it was but it felt very retro and this looks like the refresh it needs. Funny thing in 2015 when I visited Japan with TPR Space Mountain was closed for refurbishment at the end of our trip when we'd be visiting but it was still open at the beginning of our trip, so because Tokyo Disneyland has a Starlight ticket option (evening/night admission) I visited after our day at Tobu Zoo and used the excuse of getting their Space Mountain credit to preview their park which still had Easter decorations which would be gone when the group visited at the end of our trip. I have no idea what the new Space Mountain is going to be, but it looks exciting and Tokyo Disneyland is going to be the Guinea pig for Space Mountain transformations and whether it eventually comes to other Disney castle parks.

Batman The Ride (S&S Freespin) at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in December before my Six Flags Pass expired.

Loved this skit!

Looks like Daddy's Pig Rollercoaster might win best new theme park attraction in the USA Today 10 Best Poll. I voted for Velocicoaster but it looks like the coaster community is trolling the poll hard by voting for Daddy's Pig and it's been leading in the poll with only a couple of voting days left. https://www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-new-theme-park-attraction-2022/

I wonder if this tower will ever run here again after this incident or if it will end up being dismantled and sent somewhere else, especially since it looks like manual adjustments were made to make it unsafe and it wasn't operator error nor a manufacturer defect.

If both Chapek gets replaced and DeSantis loses in November because of this then it will be considered a win-win for everyone.

The transformation is much needed. Disney Village was my least favorite of the Downtown Disneys I've visited. At last they have a legitimate French restaurant now. I thought it was strange they had all of these stereotypical American restaurants but no French restaurant when I visited.

There's no rate or cabins for solo travelers so you're still forced to pay over $4K if you go by yourself and even if you bring a friend to split the cost you either are going to have to decide who gets the nice bed or share the main bed. At least if I wanted stay at a WDW Deluxe hotel I could split the room with a friend and we could each get our own bed. I've stayed at both Grand Floridian and Yacht Club for under $600/night (total room cost w/ AP discount) and those feel way more luxurious then this looks. Honestly I'd rather stay at another WDW Deluxe resort than try this out at the moment.

It looks cool and thanks for sharing the video but I gotta be honest, for $4-5K I'd rather do an actual week long Caribbean cruise than a two day experience. Now if they ever brought the price down to $1-2K then I'd consider it.

I love Phantasialand! It was one of the parks in Europe that impressed me the most especially by all the immaculate theming of the rides and areas surrounding them. Seeing all these amazing pictures definitely makes me want to return for Rookburg and FLY.

Dang, I was going to finally switch from a pass to a membership this year. I was originally going start the membership later this year when I felt like visiting a SF park or when Wonder Woman opens at Magic Mountain so my "pass" didn't expire at the end of the year. With the new pass structure offered last fall it looked like Six Flags wanted to get everyone to switch to a membership that wanted to go beyond their home park and now they are getting rid of memberships? If the new passes worked for a year starting when I got it like an "annual pass" then I would be fine with that but I don't want to get a pass in say May and have it expire at the end of December for a year round park. If that's the case with the new Magic Mountain passes then I'll probably wait until September when they are offering the 2023 passes with the rest of 2022 included. One minute Six Flags is pushing more memberships and the next minute they're getting rid of them - its like they have no idea what they want to do. Find a pass/membership system and stick with it and have an annual 12 month from the start vs calendar year option for year round parks.

Conneaut Lake Park is dead without its marque rollercoaster. There is no other noteworthy attraction there (Devil's Den isn't that great) and the park is really run down. The lake itself is nice but I don't think its enough to sustain a modern day amusement park especially when there's far better parks nearby (Waldermeer to the north and Kennywood to the south). I'm not sure if the hotel will survive but probably not under its current state. It could be sold and remodeled and survive without an amusement park since there's the lake for recreation but Conneaut Lake is a highly seasonal and regional destination.

Just found out my Choice Rewards points expired. Apparently I had 9910 points but I hadn't stayed at a Choice Hotel since Dec 2019. None of my other hotel rewards points expired doing COVID and I'm a member of Wyndham, IHG, Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, and Best Western as well as Hotels.com. I also got Gold Elite status with IHG somehow last year and also have Gold status with Wyndham. I don't get why Choice Hotels expired rewards points during COVID and never warned me with an email or anything that my points were near expiration. They status matched my IHG status but didn't reinstate my rewards points. I probably won't be staying at a Choice Hotel again if my points don't get reinstated.