TBpony414

Thuggery and intimidation is less a problem than it used to be, although occasionally I really get a dose of it. One of my visits the end of last year we were in line for Superman and there were a bunch of kids causing problems and line jumping. I don't allow anybody to push past me and this was no exception. Clearly this thug and his gang of cousins/friends hadn't had anyone pipe up until I politely but sternly said they couldn't just cruise past me. We were almost at the steps and the attendant at the Qbot entrance had unfortunately disappeared for a few minutes. It was a group of 8 guys who were skipping the 40 minute line to catch up with their quite younger brother, who happened to be just in front of me and was evidently saving a space for the entire group. The tallest guy fit his stereotype and absolutely flew. off. the. handle. and his friends were literally yanking on him and jumping on him to keep him from physically assaulting me. It went on for several minutes and I kept my cool stating "No, you may not cut in front of me but your brother can move back." In the end, the little brother got behind me to join the thugs. Somebody's got to put their foot down with these types of hoodlums and I felt reasonably safe that he had either left his gun and knife in the parking lot or gotten them confiscated at the metal detectors. It saddened me that they cut hundreds of people including other adults and people much bigger than I am, yet I'm the only one who actually said anything. When we got to the station one of the other guys actually came over to me and apologized for his friend's behavior LOL. Thanks...

I can't believe how cool Toverland is! Definitely have to get over there some day and check it out. I love ropes courses and jungle gym stuff, anything that would never be allowed in the US, Bobkarts and a backwards log flume is the cherry on top. Having a good group of people always makes things more fun too. Thanks for posting!

Thanks for the coverage of opening day! Looking forward to hearing about day 2

That last one of Maverick over the lake! Love!!

Correct. There are no Q-Bots. You show your wristband and they put you in the FL+ line which usually merges either at the station or just before it. When Maverick is running we ride it then go right back around to the FL+ entrance to ride it again. And again. And again... ^MTP you had a super successful day!

Hersheypark never gets old! They have a fantastic, well-rounded collection of rides for the entire family. They also have my favorite food options and it's a beautiful park with tons of flowers and nicely flowing paths. Glad you had a super time! If you haven't been to HP... GO NOW!

I'm still baffled by the front to back mandatory assigned seating on the rides but it's great to hear that you had an awesome time despite that! I'm no old maid by any stretch of the imagination but agree that making sure you are well rested, hydrated, medicated (dramamine, allegra, etc.), and the ability to relax are keys to a great day at any park.

^^ Pretty night pic of Rebel Yell you got there! They used to race it all the time, in fact growing up it raced one track forwards and one track backwards which made it even more exciting. I don't recall it racing last year on any of my visits but when it does the ride is really a blast! I've found that the left side is smoother as well but for some reason we always forget that end up on the right side track. Either way it's fun.

Hope they get that animatronic gator on the rapids ride working by tomorrow then, ha! (Too soon?) The rest of the ride collection looks great to me from the videos posted here so I bet the public will love it!

Perfect explanation and references, tyvm!

Holy crap Coasterbill!!

Jake - I haven't yet been on an RMC coaster. Not comparing elements but in terms of ride feel, is it similar to El Toro? I find that to be extremely smooth. Just curious, thx!

Interesting, thanks for the info!

The pic of the 3 girls in front of Le Louvre is one to frame, as is the selfie of the 4 of you with La Tour Eiffel in the background. Big smiles all around! I wrote down the name of the pizza place you went to as it looks amazing. Do you happen to know what arrondissement it was in? Thanks for confirming, Larry!

Video quality excellent on my end, seamless 1080 on a 15" macbook pro. Love, love, love the little touches to the video like the music and Wildfire buzz saw at the end of the video. Oh and OMFG that looks insane!!! The track goes on and on and on, I seriously had my jaw on the ground after watching it. Congratulations Kolmarden for building a ride that will knock it out of the park. The beauty of the layout compliments the ground/cliffs it was built on perfectly. Some day I hope to travel to Sweden to see your animals and ride Wildfire!

I've never been to Holiday World and enjoyed reading your report. Wing riders are a lot of fun and one with a launch is right up my alley! Honestly don't like water parks that much... but after hearing from you and others that they have such a good water park with outstanding rides like Mammoth and Wildebeest, I think I would love it! Kings Dominion and KI could take a few notes from HW in that department, for sure.

Nice TR so far! You sure went back and forth a lot between the parks. Why did you like Illuminations at Epcot so much? Every time I've seen it I feel like it's just meh, ok. It's like that show The Big Bang Theory in that I want to like it because everyone else loves it, but I just don't haha. Convince me!

It's nice to see pictures of DLP as I haven't seen much of anything from the park before. However, it's sad to hear your review of it and how visitors disregard rules, cut lines, etc. That kind of thing and stupid a$$hole tourists on tours makes me absolutely crazy. KT looks great in her glasses! Is the 4th person with you another friend or family member? I must have missed her name somewhere but she looks familiar. Her hair color screams "summer's here so let's have some fun!" A friend of mine just dyed her hair a similar color and it looks great also! Often my parents and I will travel with my aunt, who I am very close with, and from my perspective it's more enjoyable to have an even number of people to do things with. Looking forward to seeing more of your adventures in Europe

I've never heard of a flying theater. Are they like Soarin' but play full movies? Or similar in length and also flying above neat touristy locations?

Good one, Bill!

Volcano is "just ok" ?? Disagree, Volcano is AWESOME! It's actually my favorite ride in the park because launches are the best, it's very smooth and super rerideable. I-305 is absolutely like MF and Maverick had a baby on steroids and for that alone it blows your mind... but after a few rides your head falls off, rolls down the exit ramp and suddenly you're done for the day. At least for my group, anyway. We hit it up 1-2x each visit and then go ride other stuff like Rebel Yell, Woodstock Express and the somewhat hard to find Boo Blasters. Boldikus make sure you get on Drop Zone as it's an excellent drop tower and gives Zumanjaro a run for its money! Going up the Eiffel Tower to watch all the rides cycle from up high is also fun and the park is quite beautiful, especially compared to SFGAdv. They have absolutely an delicious frozen lemonade slurpee-type thing at a cart which I highly recommend. I'll be there in 2 weeks and again in August - hit me up and if we're there at the same time we can get in a few laps.

Phantom's Revenge is epic in the front row. I rode it in the rain which was absolutely out. of. this. world!!! I've never in my life experienced a ride as wild as it was that day! It's tall enough to be imposing when you walk up to it and it has tremendous speed and really flies around the track. The restraints give you ample room to be flipped around like a freaking rag doll on steroids going over the bunny hops. But not in such a painful and violent way that you feel you may die and don't want to re-ride, a la Skyrush (IMO). Boldikis - just reread your TR and am getting really pumped for my trip to CP in 2.5 weeks! Do you have any plans to get to KD or BGW this year?

Snapfordakids - You had a great day at the park and got on a ton of rides! I agree 100% with almost every comment. Storm Runner's launch, especially in the front row, is unbeatable and its flying snake dive is da bomb. Great Bear's pre-drop helix is fantastical and Skyrush will try to kill you in a not-so rerideable way. My favorite flat at HP is Flying Falcon and I wish more parks had condors because they're fun, look great, and who doesn't like a scrambler in the air? Great pics. Those little Nikon cameras do a great job.

^ Whenever I'm at parks with GP friends they all go crazy over Windseekers or Starflyers. Evidently they think it'd be far scarier than any of the coasters which is kinda funny. Getting stuck on one for 2 hours would suck, though. Somehow I missed that they're (still) assigning seats on Fury. Forgive me for not searching back more than 2 pages to check, but do they allow you to politely ask to wait in order to be seated in a certain row like on Skyrush? Or is there no discussion and you're assigned a random row and that's that? Glad to hear Fridays are pretty empty as we'll be hitting Carowinds up for the first time Friday 7/29.

If your daughter freaked out over Animal Kingdom's safari then you absolutely MUST do Safari Off-Road Adventure! I rode Kilimanjaro Safari at AK probably 10 times in 2 days when I was at Disney last, and I agree with others that SORA at Six Flags is even better. It's longer, the animals cross right in front of the truck or to the side of it, some animals get right in the way and won't move so you have to off-road it (seriously), it's really cool. I like to ride it around 3PM because it's getting to be feeding time so they're all moving around waiting to go into their night areas. Last time I stopped and fed the giraffes and it was absolutely worth the $5. This is coming from an animal nut and I've been around large animals my entire life. I have a horse and am currently training a gigantic draft horse whose head is as big, if not bigger, than Conan their large male giraffe. Still, feeding him was a huge thrill! They are so gentle. Last safari I saw bear cubs playing, kangaroos hopping all over, baby animals nursing not 3 feet from me on the side of the truck. I like sitting on the left side better than the right but it really depends on where the animals are. It's a time suck for sure but 100% worth it, even my brother who isn't an animal person whatsoever says it was out of this world. TL;DR: Safari is a must do for anybody but especially for people who love animals!