805Andrew

I loved that place when I went to Japan in 2015. I only got to spend a few hours there but I could've spent more time there since there's so many different simulators and games to try. The games in the men's room were hilarious.

Yngve, it was great meeting up with you at Disneyland Paris and enjoying the park with another first time visitor and meeting up at Walt Disney Studios Paris the next day and laughing at the park's flaws together. Although Disneyland Paris has less attractions then Disney's US and Japanese castle park counterparts, they seemed to have the better versions of most of the rides they had, especially Hyperspace Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Hyperspace Mountain blew me away with how good it was and the Star Wars Hyperspace overlay really worked well here and felt permanent (which it may be). I really enjoyed my first visit to the Disney Paris resort overall and it was a great start to my Oktoberfest Euro Trip.

That's probably why I loved Storm Runner so much and it was my favorite at Hersheypark. The best elements of both Maverick and Xcelerator combined into one coaster. Nice TR through PA. Back in 2014, on my drive from Philly to Harrisburg I also stopped at Valley Forge and really liked the place, being both scenic and historic. Hershey and Knoebels are my favorite parks that I've been to in the NE and along with Kennywood makes a really nice trio of parks in PA (although Kennywood is far away from the others). When I went to Knoebels and saw a glimpse of the campground I said to myself if I lived within an 8 hours driving distance of here I'd camp here. We have a lot of great campgrounds in the West but nothing like this with a homegrown amusement park attached to it. I also had a problem with the Cesari's Pizza in 2016 (not 2014 though) as one of my slices (I had two different types) was cold in the center and they had to put it back in the oven twice before it was good. With so many food choices in Knoebels, I would probably pick something different on my next visit there.

I've only heard of Stricker's Grove because of TPR, but I'm kind of intrigued by it mainly because it's only open to the public a few days a year. Looks like you had fun in the corn fields. Nice TR on this little visited place.

76 people voted for Steel Forceless as their favorite steel coaster while Storm Runner at Hersheypark didn't even make the list?? What a joke. Also no Tatsu or Hulk or Dragon Challenge on this list and I could think of five steel coasters from Japan that could be on this list and not a single one made it on it.

I haven't really planned out 2018 yet but I will definitely do something. Definitely: Knott's Berry Farm California's Great America Girloy Gardens (with the Cedar Fair Platinum Pass I'll be getting since I've never been here before) Six Flags Magic Mountain (if there is a West Coast Bash) Probably: Walt Disney World (planning to do another trip to Orlando some time next year, this time for Disney) Busch Gardens Tampa (I will try to tag a day here when I go to Orlando) Cedar Point (possibly for CoasterMania) Possibly: Sea World Orlando (if I could squeeze this until my Orlando trip) Waldameer (if I could tag this on to my Cedar Point trip) Kennywood (if I could tag this on to my Cedar Point trip) Disneyland/DCA (who knows what could bring me here for a day or two) Universal Studios Hollywood (if I do their Halloween Horror Nights) Universal Studios Florida (if I visit Orlando during October) Sea World Sea Diego (if I make a trip down to San Diego) Who knows what else I decide to do? I like to keep my options open.

I voted for Facebook and Snapchat, although Snapchat and Instagram are pretty tied for second place for me. I like posting pictures on Instagram, but for stories I prefer Snapchat over Instagram's inferior knockoff version. I occasionally go on Twitter but not very often and I rarely post. I think I'm more into seeing pictures than people's random thoughts and musings.

10 days for me! Same park for me in 9 days!

Great idea!

It looks like your more likely to get stuck on the curves then fly off.

Tickets at Work has a pretty good deal on combined Sea World/Busch Gardens tickets. I'll be staying in Orlando for three nights next week, so I can report on Fun Spot or any other I-Drive attractions that I go to when I come back but not Sea World or Busch Gardens since I'll be going to Universal. I'll be staying at the Four Points by Sheraton which I got for $70/night on north I-Drive near Fun Spot and Universal, so I'll let you know how it is when I get back. I'll also let know about any restaurants I try if they are noteworthy.

It would probably be borderline for me trying it. If I were near it I'd probably try it once but I would be a bit nervous. The scenery is beautiful, but the turns aren't banked, the wall is super low, and I would have to hope that the glass is resistant from cracking in the long run. I would love to see if a reputable company like ProSlide built their own version of something like this.

This is an entertaining read so far. I can't wait to read more.

Lots of awesome announcements on National Rollercoaster Day, but this is the most surprising one. It's a big move for Oaks and will put Oregon on the rollercoaster map. Next time I visit Portland I'll definitely swing by Oaks if its open.

This looks awesome! At first when I read Dive Machine, I thought B&M but when I saw it was a Gerstlauer Infinity I was more excited as this will be a lot more interesting. What a great replacement for Boomerang! The color scheme and design looks great and I love that it will have a lighting package that can change colors for special events like Scary Farm. Between this and Railblazer at CGA, and making a trip to Cedar Point for Steel Vengeance, I will be trading in my Six Flags Gold Pass for a Cedar Fair Platinum Pass for 2018.

Four awesome announcements so far.

This looks awesome! A RMC Raptor single-rail coaster in CA only three hours away from me! This is just what CGA needed and it will look great with the rock theming. I take it that this is going in the old Invertigo spot? Now all that needs to be done is tearing out Grizzly for another kick ass ride and the transformation of CGA is mostly complete. Looks like I will most likely be switching out my Six Flags season pass for a Cedar Fair Platinum one in 2018 unless the Six Flags announcements blow me away. I can't wait for the Knott's announcement tonight.

Wow, a 90º drop and three inversions on a spinner??! With the drop right out of station??! This looks crazy! I normally don't get excited about spinners, but this one looks awesome! I already had enough reasons to want to visit Silver Doller City, but this just adds another big reason to want to go.

Yay! Another RMC. Looks awesome!

Steel Vengeance looks like an amazing ride. I knew it would be awesome, but it even beat my expectations. A 2018 trip to Cedar Point is in my future.

Lots of good tips on here. I always use the Gas Buddy app when travelling by car. Sometimes there's a 50 cent per gallon difference in the same town. In one of the towns near me for example, there's a Chevron that's $3.55/gallon and directly across the street there's an ARCO that's $2.99/gallon. Even if you like to stay loyal to Chevron, using the app you'll find another Chevron across town that's $3.09/gallon. Shell just started a version of Fuel Rewards recently where you just register your phone number and email and don't have to link it to a credit card and just enter your phone number before pumping you'll automatically get 5 cents off a gallon and 10 cents off a gallon the first time you use it. If Shell is within 5 cents/gallon of competing nearby stations and I need to fill up I'll always go there. Also look into getting a card that gets you a percentage back on gas if you drive a lot. I use a Costco Anywhere Visa as my main credit card which gives 4% back on gas (plus 3% on restaurants and travel, 2% at Costco non-gas, and 1% everywhere else). The only annual fee you pay is being a Costco member (which is $60 and well worth it), but I ride on my dad's membership being the second member on his so I don't pay this anyway. If gas is at least $2.50/gallon (and it almost always is here in CA) than I'm getting 10 cents back a gallon eventually in the form of a yearly rebate check. So when I'm looking for gas, I'm always looking for the cheapest credit price. If the credit price is within 10 cents a gallon of the cash price I'm paying with the card. Also being a Costco member gets me access to their gas stations which can be up to 30 cents a gallon cheaper then nearby stations, which I take advantage of if they're open when I'm near one and have enough time to wait in line. For hotels my go to is hotels.com, although I cross search other sites. I don't really like to stay loyal to one specific brand and I pick hotels based on a mix of price, location, amenities, and average review rating. I really like hotels.com's rewards program where for every ten nights you stay they average the cost of those ten nights and you get that off your next night. I've used hotels.com many times and have yet to have a problem with them. I occasionally use Priceline if I can get a name my own price deal, but that hasn't worked for me much in recent years. I've also used Hotwire for deals where I know the area, star level, and user rating but I don't know the specific hotel until I've booked and I've gotten some really nice 4 star hotels for under $100 a night. For Vegas hotels, I search these sites but book directly with them since they seem to always match or beat the third-party site rates and have rewards of their own (most are owned by Caesars or MGM). For flying, I have miles/points with many airlines including AA, United, Southwest, JetBlue, and Alaska/Virgin America. I use Google Flight Matrix and Kayak searches for flights but always book with the airline directly. While I feel comfortable booking third-party websites for hotels since they won't move locations or change times or have weather delays, flights are a lot more unpredictable and I like to be able to keep a close eye on them. It's a lot more of a nightmare to have your flight reservation screwed up and have to scramble for another flight or time that could impact days on your vacation than to have to find another nearby hotel with a vacancy. For international flights (especially to Asia and Europe) I try to have the long haul flight be on a foreign airline that will be vastly superior to the US counterpart if the price and flight schedule allows for it. I use both the One World Alliance (through AA) and Star Alliance (through United) and will try to pick flights operated by one of these partner airlines when booking through AA and United and get my miles to one of these airlines. When I flew to Japan I booked through United but the long trans-Pacific flight was on ANA, and when I'm flying to Europe this fall, my trans-Atlantic flight both ways will be on BA although I booked through AA. For domestic flights I try to book through JetBlue and Virgin America whenever possible since they offer a better overall flying experience and have nicer planes and amenities than the other domestic airlines. I got a $99 flight from LAX to Orlando on JetBlue and a $115 return flight on Virgin America at the end this month so I'm happy about that. If I'm carrying a lot of baggage (no pun intended) or oddly shaped baggage like a case of skis and a snowboard I like Southwest since two bags fly free per passenger and that even includes the oddly shaped baggage. When my sister and I did a snow trip to Utah this came in handy as we saved a lot of money on rentals by bringing our own skis and snowboard, and I will try to fly with Southwest next time I do a snow trip out of state. For airline credit cards I am willing to have one at a time. In the past I had a United Chase one to get $100 off my flights to Japan and 30,000 bonus miles if I spent a certain amount, two United Club passes, no foreign transaction fees and no annual fee for the first year and I cancelled it before my year was up so I wouldn't have to pay an annual fee. Now I have an AA Citi one since I got $100 off my flights to Europe and 30,000 bonus miles and also no foreign transaction fees (so I will use this card primarily in Europe) and no annual fee for the first year. Before the 12 months is over I will cancel this card because I'm not paying for an annual fee. For theme parks if your visiting more than one Six Flags or Cedar Fair park in a year then its pretty self explanatory to get their season passes and get the ones that include the parking. For other theme parks, especially Orlando ones, look into Tickets At Work or Undercover Tourist as they are authorized Disney and Universal ticket sellers and will give you a little bit of a discount over Disney's and Universal's online prices. Check both because sometimes one is cheaper than the other depending on what type of ticket your buying. I went with Undercover Tourist because they were cheaper for a 3-day 3 park to park Universal ORLANDO ticket, but had I wanted a 4 day 3 park to park ticket Tickets At Work would have been cheaper.

Nice Busch Gardens photos. That Sky Ride looks awesome! I'll have to save Busch Gardens for a future FL trip, but it's near the top of my bucket list. Thanks for the tips btw - I ended up booking a rental car for Orlando since it was $70 o.t.d. for four days and my hotel has free parking and a free shuttle to Universal, and an Uber/Lyft to and from the airport would have been about $25 each way, so this made more sense. I saw your Gator Golf TR and that gets a hard pass from me, but I might be willing to try the other one. This will be a Universal/Fun Spot/North I-drive focused trip for me, but I'll be back for WDW and Busch Gardens/SeaWorld on future FL trips. On Allegiant Airlines, I'd be willing to try them for short flights since they fly to Vegas from an airport 45 minutes away from me, but definitely not them (or Spirit) for a 5 hour flight. I was so happy when JetBlue and Virgin America were the cheapest options for me flying to MCO and back (and nonstop) even though I have to drive 3-4 hours to LAX to board a plane. I'm looking forward to my visit to Orlando at the end of the month.

It's always fun (and informative) to read your TRs. Your recent Universal Orlando one has got me excited for my trip at the end of the month. I always hear mixed reviews about UO, but since I enjoy Universal Studios Hollywood (and had an annual pass from April 2016-April 2017) I should enjoy the Orlando resort which has way more than Hollywood. As you probably may know, the announcement of the closure of Dragon Challenge and me never being on it (or to Orlando before) was the reason for planning my trip so soon along with a $99 red eye flight from LAX to MCO on JetBlue and a $115 evening return flight to LAX on Virgin America a few days later. I'm a casual Harry Potter fan - I've seen all the movies once (a couple of them twice) and read the first book - but I'm not as big a fan as many others or even the rest of my family whose read all the books. I really like what USH did with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, from the Forbidden Journey (which never seems to have a line longer than 15 min when I ride it at USH), to all the detailed theming (that's on par with Tokyo Disney theming), to the dining at Three Broomsticks (with special Harry Potter beers on tap). I also really like Frozen Butterbeer on a hot day. I know that the Islands of Adventure Wizarding World will be very similar to the USH one based off of it (with the exception of the soon to close Dragon Challenge), so I am looking forward to seeing Diagon Alley at Universal Studios Florida the most (along with finally riding Dragon Challenge). I'm sad to see Dragon Challenge go and wish they would have relocated it or built around it, but at least I'll be able to try it out before it goes away. If the future Harry Potter attraction is on a similar level to Forbidden Journey or Gringotts as opposed to Flight of the Hippograff then I know it will be great. I'm doing a 3-day 3-park to park ticket which I got for $303 on Undercover Tourist, so I'll be doing Universal Aug 27-29 (and hopfully avoiding the Labor Day crowds). I'll be trying out Volcano Bay on Mon Aug 28, so wish me luck - I'm both excited and nervous about trying out this park which looks awesome but has had horrific wait times with its virtual queue so far. I'll be trying out both Fun Spots on Aug 30 before my 7PM flight home, with that tip you gave me on the Universal Orlando forum. Any other tourist trap attractions along I-Drive you recommend trying that's open past 9PM or that I could squeeze into my final day? I'm looking at trying out the better tourist trap attractions, not the horribly run down ones unless its awesomely bad. I wouldn't mind trying out the best mini golf course in Orlando if its open past 10PM. I'll be staying on north I-Drive next to Fun Spot Orlando and near the Universal Orlando resort. I plan to take a Lyft, Uber, or shuttle/bus everywhere that is not walking distance from where I'm staying since I won't be having a rental car.

Looks awesome! Glenwood Caverns is on my radar.

Great almost live TR Andy! I'll have to stay tuned to what's coming next.