megametal

And I simply prefer the spot I spoke about. Why is that a problem? Why does my opinion concern you so much? It's not like the park is going to abandon what they've started and move it to my preferred spot. I prefer the spot I spoke of because there are less rides there and the area feels dead right now. I know the Vortex entrance isn't where the ride is going. (Although that maze of an area where the Vortex entrance is is what I was speaking of when I spoke of being shoulder-to-shoulder crowded on weekends. By this I mean the path from the ivy tunnel past Kaleidoscope past the Carowinds Theater. As it makes you go around that side of the shaded area because of the length of the Vortex queue entrance.) Anyway, I was stating my personal opinion as to why it should not go there. No need to take it personally. I suppose in one way it's better as it won't be to the side of the park, but towards the middle. And I guess I shouldn't be startled by a cluttered look. The park stopped being pretty by the late 1990s when most of the trees had been removed.

Um, no. There are restrooms over there. By across, I mean literally across. Where the old arcade was, not beside Across the midway from the entrance of the ride. And yes, that area is cluttered. There's Vortex, Kaleidescope, and those tree islands that they are removing. That area is already hell to get through on crowded days so it'll probably be worse now.

As if that area didn't look cluttered enough before... Should have put it like across from Carolina Cobra instead.

Why did they not go big with a centerpiece for MGM Studios? I mean, I know that the animation department wasn't doing that well when planning for the park was going on, but I thought the Disney company itself was doing fine, so I doubt it was money concerns... That park has not aged well, and I'm glad Disney has noticed that. If they had done Tower of Terror when the park opened (I know the tech probably wasn't around yet), they could have switched it's spot and the Great Movie Ride's spot, and that would have been much better. The Hollywood Hotel would have made a great centerpiece. I'm also surprised that the Honey I Shrunk The Kids play area is still themed to that. I would have thought it'd have either been gotten rid of or rethemed to A Bug's Life by now. I mean, Honey I Shrunk The Kids isn't even popular enough for Disney to have released on blu-ray yet!

I just consider the Hollywood Tower Hotel as the park's icon. It's not the centerpiece, no. But you can see it from most of the WDW property and it makes more sense than the Earful Tower ever did.

Nit-picky point: Disney's Fast Pass is not "free." It's part of your admission. It was free for me! I was 16 and my parents paid for my ticket.

I've only used them three times. Back in 2001 at the Disney World parks (which were of course free), and at Six Flags Great Adventure (good thing too, as we just got finished riding the coasters when the downpour came around 6 PM) and Cedar Point. I've never been angered at people using them except at Six Flags Great America where they would wait for more fast passers to come through at some of the rides, even if the stations were next to empty... they'd just cut the main line off.

^ Just find America's Greatest Rollercoaster Thrills: the Next Generation and watch it. Much less painful apparently. And it was filmed when it was new.

I like them when I use them, hate them when I'm can't afford them or am in a cheapskate mood. But then again, I'm a hypocrit, so.....

I seem to remember most people thinking it was tacky or ugly when it first went up. My, how opinions seem to change over time.

White Lightnin' Schwarzkopf shuttle loop in exchange for literally one waterslide and a clutterfree entrance to a waterpark consisting of two waterslides, a kids area, and a wave pool at Carowinds back in 1989.

It didn't start until about 5 years ago, but now swinging ships do it to me. But it's not until they've reached their biggest pendulum swings and the drive wheels stop. That free swinging and the slow down. Makes me so queasy it takes an hour for me to get back to normal. The only other ride that makes me somewhat queasy is the Roll-O-Plane at Knoebels. I can handle Enterprises, rotors, round ups, tilt-a-whirls, zippers and frisbees with no problem... But swinging ships and roll-o-planes for some reason...

I wonder how people would feel if they replaced Gwazi with the coaster BGW is getting (that's not been announced) this year. I mean, it would still be the only coaster of its type for over 800 miles. Also, I have a question. I plan to go to BGT this summer. I have to go either on Friday, June 19 or Sunday, June 21. Which would most likely be more crowded? I'm worried about getting to do everything because the park closes at 7 PM those days, surprisingly.

So I'm going to Disney World for 5 days on the week of 22-26th of June. It'll be my first time there since 2001. (It'll be my third altogether, as I went in 1995 for 4 days when I was 10 as well. That trip was much better than the 3 day 2001 trip.) I will be staying off-site yet again. I was originally planning to stay on-site just for the magic hours, but 70% of the stuff I see says that it makes the parks really crowded for the regular hours and not to do it unless you plan to park hop right after morning magic hours or just like 2 hours before evening magic hours. They especially say Hollywood Studios is the worst with crowds for that. Anyway, Toy Story Midway Mania was not there when I went last time. I've heard horror stories about the wait for the attraction and was wondering if it was really worth more than say a 45 minute wait. I mean, i do plan to ride it. I will probably Fastpass+ it early in my 30 day window if possible. However, I was wondering what the real draw to the ride is... I mean, it's basically just sort of Mario Party on the move with Toy Story characters and 3D, right? Is it really all that? Just not seeing why it's so popular.

I think that's right. As much as I disliked Entwined, the new version of This is Oktoberfest seemed to be... forced? It was way stripped down and they did, what, 3 songs? Chicken Dance, Roll Out The Barrel, and probably one other. If it's replaced by something better than Entwined, I'm fine with it being done away with. But if it's on par with London Rocks or Entwined... Might be better to just do away with live entertainment there period.

So I know Screamscape news is to be taken with a grain of salt, but I see that they've said the Oktoberfest show will not be around in 2015. Jeez. That's been around since that section opened. What's next? (I'm going to guess the closure of the skyride and them cutting back on the landscaping budget.)

I think you have the only available footage of the Mt. Kilimanjaro ride in action! Very nice.

I think it's purely budgetary. They're closing Gwazi and BGW is apparently going to send some of it's animals elsewhere. Man, that INBEV deal really did harm to these parks. (Actually, it was them going public a few years after that.) I'm sort of hoping that the parks can find some way to become privately operated again.

So, it sounds like updates to the ride will be done in the winter and at least for 2015 will be open the whole summer season? Sounds like it'll be upgraded piece by piece for the next few years and this year coming up is basically changing the video at the end and making a pre-show holding area?

I would love an Incredibles ride. Would be perfect with the sequel coming out in a few years! I already kind of assume that we'll get some sort of iteration of the Monsters Inc dark-ride. I would personally love a Tron attraction, but seeing as the sequel hasn't been greenlit and nothing has been said in a while, I doubt that's gonna happen. Maybe an upgraded version of the Indy ride at Disneyland could find it's way to Florida too. Also, agree on the 5th gate.

Oh, I'm actually pretty sure it will. Most thought they were done adding parks with DIsney/MGM, but then about ten years later we got Animal Kingdom. I think a new park could come, just not any time soon. Of course, I do think they should fix up the parks they have first. Magic Kingdom is almost perfect, but Epcot needs more stuff in World Showcase for families to do together (unless they want to watch dad get more and more drunk as he drinks around the world). They are fixing this with the Frozen redo, but they need more. Hollywood Studios looks like it's becoming a mini-California Adventure for the east coast, which is alright, I guess. And Animal Kingdom should be much better after Avatar area opens in a few years. By the way, which park gets the least attendance there? I'm sure it's either Animal Kingdom or DHS, but just was curious.

I do hope they don't just bulldoze the back of the park all at once like some suggested. I'm going next June, first time in 14 years, and I'd like to experience Muppetvision 3D one more time. The rest of the back of the park I don't care about. There's not much to do back there as it is. I can't believe they still have the Honey I Shrunk The Kids play area. I mean, the movie hasn't even been released to blu-ray yet, so Disney obviously thinks it doesn't have much value. If anything retheme it to A Bug's Life. I kind of wish they'd make the whole back area a Pixar area and if they want more Star Wars, make a whole new park for it. Disney definitely has the room for it.

Hey, this means my sister won't be able to drag me on this next year! Leaving me more time to soak in some good Disney attractions. And maybe this means we finally get the Monsters Inc dark ride? Since it's nearest to the Pixar stuff, I figure that's what it'll end up being mostly. Which is fine with me, but I'd prefer some more Star Wars attractions!

Oh okay. It was just the way that the tram person announced it then. The way he said it was that they were open through Labor Day, but would reopen for Howl-O-Scream. He should have said daily operations. I thought that was a bit weird and should have looked it up on their site, but the Busch Gardens site doesn't work well on my phone. On another topic, I wonder how long until the park loses the Most Beautiful Park award for the first time.

I was at the park yesterday, (first time I've had to park in the overflow lot in years, as I rarely go on Saturdays), and noticed that they close September 1 until Howl-O-Scream. That struck me as odd. Have they always done this? I noticed Water Country closes on Labor Day too, and I figured they'd keep that open on weekends through September as well, as it averages above 80 around here until then. Is it done to save on costs since they went public?