805Andrew

Thanks for posting all these awesome Kennywood pictures. I was lucky enough to be able to stop at Kennywood for a few hours last year on route from Cedar Point to Knoebels, and ride Racer, Jackrabbit, Thunderbolt, Phantom's Revenge, and Sky Rocket, and walk through Noah's Ark (which I actually liked) - but it left me wanting more. Eventually I want to get back to Kennywood and spend a full day there and also experience it at night. Oh, and #teamampm ...JK (we don't have either Sheetz nor WaWa on the West Coast but I remember WaWa being mentioned in a Bloodhound Gang song).

https://orlandoinformer.com/blog/volcano-bay-changes-menus/ That's a bummer to hear. I was actually looking forward to having a nice meal at Volcano Bay when I go there at the end of this month. It sounds like Donald Trump came in and personally changed the menu to his tastes.

Looks like an awesome trip so far. I really loved the Smoky Mountains and hope to get back there someday. Plus I can use Lightning Rod as an excuse for a return trip.

Good to know. I was planning doing Fun Spot and couldn't find an option for both parks and thought I was going to have to pick one. The I-drive looks better overall (and will be walking distance from my hotel) but the Kissimmee has Mineblower and the 300 ft. Skycoaster. If I can do both on one ticket I'm going for it.

I did it two years ago in June. It was under a 10 minute wait. The rapids were absolutely nuts and if your not wearing a rain poncho (I was) you get soaked. There's this one part of the rapids were you feel like your getting flushed down a toilet bowl.

I'm sure Universal will get some money from recycling that steel. On another note, I just booked my flights for a quick trip to Orlando Aug 27-30 (I couldn't pass up on a $215 RT flight) so I can finally ride this thing before it closes. Three days at Universal (I've never been) plus ⅔ a day exploring other Orlando attractions before catching my flight home and I'll save WDW and Busch Gardens/Sea World for my next Orlando trip.

I'm sad I never got I chance to ride Dueling Dragons or Dragon Challenge but I noticed midweek flights to Orlando from LAX on JetBlue are $200 round trip in late August so I may be able to squeeze in a 3 day trip. Universal this time and next time I go to Orlando (hopefully next year) I'll just focus on WDW and probably Busch Gardens/Sea World. I really wish Dragon Challenge could be sold and relocated to another park but I guess Universal doesn't see the value of putting it on the market and selling it over scraping it. At least if I'm able to go in late August and finally ride Dragon Challenge I'll feel a bit of redemption. On another note I actually do like the Harry Potter themed lands (at least the ones in Japan and Hollywood) and am looking forward to what E-ticket Harry Potter attraction comes next, especially since it will be coaster based. I just wish it didn't have to come at the expense of Dragon Challenge, but it is what it is.

Nice TR. Looks like SF Great America has a lot to do and not just coasters. I'll have to visit this park when I finally decide to visit Chicago. It looks like it is a full day park for a first time visitor. Looking forward to hearing about your experience at Mt. Olympus.

Yep, that was the one. It totally caught me by surprise. It was a nice place to have a beer and chill for awhile after a day of walking.

I spent a couple of nights in Philly a few years ago at the start of my PA/NJ/NYC coaster trip and randomly discovered a pop up park along the river as I was exploring the city. They had several hammocks under trees with changing colored lights in the evening, and it was nice to sit down and chill for a bit. Looking forward to seeing more of your trip.

Wow, this cruise looks great. I never thought about doing a river cruise, but I may have to now. Looks like there are plenty of things to see and do along the Danube River to peak my interest. Thanks for bringing us along virtually.

I had fun reading along your TR (which is like a story) and its not even over yet. You are seriously making me hungry for Famous Dave's now and the nearest one to me is almost 100 miles away.

I always enjoy seeing and reading your non-coaster TRs as well. Not every trip has to be about rollercoasters and theme parks. Six musicals (especially seeing one twice on the same visit) would be too much for me as I'm not really a musical person, but I really did enjoy seeing Book of Mormon last year and wouldn't mind seeing a musical per visit to NYC. The Avenue Q one would probably interest me as I'm into South Park style of humor. I'm not a fan of puppets or Muppets in general, but I really got a kick out of Team America World Police and occasionally watched Crank Yankers when it was on Comedy Central. I'd also see Hamilton if tickets ever became approachable and affordable (I paid under $80 for Mormon last year which used to be over $200 even for the cheap seats, so it's possible). I think part of the reason that Hamilton continues to be insanely popular is because of what the cast said to Mike Pence as he was leaving the show he attended and that this pissed off Trump and he called on the cast to apologize - which just brought more attention to the musical and made more people want to see it. Instead of selling out for a few years, Hamilton will probably sell out for a decade plus now. I also love all the different food options available in NYC. You could just do a food centric trip there and have a great time trying many different types of food or even just trying many different variations of a single type of food. I've been to New York twice now and both trips were within the last three years, and I look forward to going more often now that one of my sisters is moving there to go to grad school at Columbia and I'll have another excuse to go there.

And now it's The New Pornographers "High Ticket Attractions" [youtu_be] [/youtu_be] I'll be riding some High Ticket Attractions during the day, a.k.a. coasters!

The Dandy Warhols "Bohemian Like You" [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

On Day 7 I would hit up Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels since you're basically going to be driving by it, unless you guys all hate water parks.

^ Cool review. I look forward to eventually trying out the new Guardians ride (whenever the next time I'm at DCA may be). I just saw the new Guardians movie and it was pretty entertaining and really funny in parts (although it was a bit long).

Volcano Bay looks like an amazing water park, but seriously, what were they smoking when they decided to open a brand new water park on Memorial Day weekend with a brand new and untested virtual queue system? They should have at least planned to have the park open in March so they could have worked out the kinks of Tapu Tapu by now.

Nashville has many different breweries to try. I tried Jackalope Brewing Company and Yazoo, both which are walking distance to each other and Peg Leg Porker is by these breweries if you want some great BBQ. Hattie B's Hot Chicken (cluckin' good chicken), Biscuit Love (awesome for breakfast/brunch), and Martin's BBQ Joint (cool BBQ place) are all great restaurants to try while in Nashville and have great local beers on tap as well.

Yeah, the tower actually looks a lot better than the renderings made it out to be. I like how it changes to different colors at night. It doesn't fit the Hollywoodland theme at all though.

It was only a few minutes when I went there in 2015. They were churning out Dodonpa trains every couple of minutes when I was there, same for Takabisha. Can't say the same for Fujiyama nor Eejanaika though. Maybe I was lucky, but almost every park in Japan not named Disney or Universal has slow loading procedures from my observations. Thunder Dolphin at Tokyo Dome City was the worst as they had about 15 minute dispatches, although it wasn't crowded at all there.

Nice report! Looks like it was a great event and it's good to have another CA exclusive Disney ride.

I can't wait to go to Hansa Park and ride Karnan in October! Karnan's drop out of that tower into those inversions looks insane!

I haven't been to Silver Dollar City (I hope to someday) but I'm guessing the day that Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom parks start serving alcohol parkwide is the day that SDC (and its sister park Dollywood) consider selling alcohol during special events - meaning that Disneyland and Magic Kingdom will probably start serving alcohol first. You would think the steep beer price would deter people from getting crazy drunk but it doesn't. Whether its a $12 Bud Light at a stadium, or a $10 Coors Light at a concert, or an $8 Firestone Walker 805 at my local county fair, I noticed price doesn't stop people from spending and drinking one after another. The theme park vibe is a bit different then a concert or sporting event vibe, so I don't see people going crazy on $11 tall cans of Modelo at USH, but they are buying them. And a redneck alcoholic is going get alcohol anyway he can, whether its an 18 pack of beer for $9.99 at the grocery store or a tall plastic cup of beer for $12 at a theme park/stadium/venue because that's what's available for him.

I love a good water park, and Wild Wadi looks like one of the best in the world. Between Wild Wadi, Atlantis, Yas Waterworld, and Ski Dubai looks like there are plenty of fun ways to beat the heat in the UAE.