TBpony414

Flatline made me laugh! Valravn has grown on me, especially since it's from folklore and isn't just a made up word via a cat walking over a keyboard. It's unique and I'll take something like that over another _____ Streak or ______ Height Number. It's like how 30% of the dogs I meet have either the name Shadow, Buddy, or Sadie. Major bonus points for creativity whether with coasters or pets. That being said, still looking forward to the official announcement!

Thanks for the reply about the VIP tour! The guy with the VIP receipt was in the regular TTD lane at opening, then he jumped from the standby line to the FP+ line in front of me right before the station. He voluntarily showed me his VIP receipt and it was indeed legit. He got on the ride in front of us after showing the station attendant the receipt. Several people asked him why he didn't have a wristband because it was confusing? He said in no uncertain words that unless we all worked for CP to pound sand. Nobody was even remotely rude to him so it was a bizarre response. His wife met him at the station platform for the ride. I saw them once later on in the day walking around but didn't note a staff member with them, however I wasn't really looking for one. What color were your wristbands? Very cool that you don't have to wait in any lines whatsoever! That's a huge bonus especially if you only have 1 day and rarely or never get to CP. We stayed for 2 days and got FP+ both times. Even with waiting in very short FP lines of max 15 mins, we took several leisurely breaks simply because we got tired LOL. Having free food is a big bonus too however we ate lunch at the marina Famous Dave's both days so I guess it wouldn't count for that. I had no idea there even was a VIP tour until the 2nd day with that guy - how did you find out about it? We want to go to Dollywood for the first time next year so I'll have to see if they have fast passes or VIP.

If KD put in a Skyhawk I'd be THRILLED! I absolutely loved Skyhawk at CP and was surprised how fun it was. Thanks for the pics showing what areas will probably be changing next season. Hopefully they'll announce sooner rather than later, especially with Cedar Point's announcement being delayed!

Cool TR!!! You sure got a lot done and 3 weeks is a very long vacation. Nice that not every day was spent rushing from place to place so you had time to relax too. Do you have plans to come back to the USA for another vacation in the future?

We went to CP last month and got FP+ both days getting on more rides than I could ever have thought! Lines were super long just like on your visit. I encountered one person with the VIP receipt who was less than friendly. I asked him why they didn't give out wristbands for VIP people as it was confusing to myself and others why he was standing in the FP line. Never got a real answer. Can you tell me in detail what the advantage of the VIP is over FP+? Skyhawk was my absolute surprise favorite flat and we too enjoyed Gatekeeper. Still, I would be more than happy to lap Maverick and MF allllllllllll day

^As Skinny Pete would say... CHURCH!

Broken record here - I'm impressed with how much detail is in USS! Doubt I'll ever get there so am thankful for your very thorough TR. Sesame Street's Spaghetti Space Chase looked interesting so I watched it on youtube and again, I'm impressed!

Dude, that parade looks fantastical!!! I'm going to watch the whole thing on Youtube tomorrow after seeing your pics. Looking forward to more soon...

Wowza, you captured some incredible photos!! This was me as I viewed your pics: hey this one's good... cool... oh I like that... Missing Maverick... good shot... WOW... beautiful!!... this one is the best, I'll have to comment on that... this one is good too... No, no, this is my fav!!!

I voted No to making a TPR subreddit. I used to browse Reddit but it got to be too cluttered and troll-crazy. Even the Breaking Bad subreddit would get out of hand. How can people get up in arms about Walter White?! No thanks. The TPR forums have so many nice people chiming and I look forward to the interesting and funny discussions on here. I also love that this site has a dark background so I can read for quite some time without any eye strain. Having a subreddit would possibly take time away from TPR and the various socials - put me in with the others stuck in the stone age because I don't follow those one bit. The good news is that you seem to have quite a large amount of dedicated forum lovers here!

TPR loves cruises too! Any of those trips for next year would be great. Seeing as I just went to Cedar Point for the first time in 15 years this month I'd say go for that, but there isn't much else to do in that area. Definitely take 2 full days to do the park and stay on-site FOR SURE. Lots of perks including big discounts for admission and early entry. Since all the hotels are on the island you don't have to take shuttles or drive anywhere. This was a big one for us as I get tired very easily so we were able to walk 5-10 mins back every afternoon for an hour or two to rest. Another member here stayed at Breakers and loved it. They were booked up so we stayed at Sandcastle Suites which was a bit dated but completely fine and we would stay there again. Recommend the Corkscrew Wing if you stay there... nice and quiet. I didn't see your Philly TR last year and just read through the entire thing! Storm Runner is one of my favorite rides anywhere.

Great story about your accident, Robb! Broken ankles are no joke, did you injure any ligaments/tendons too? Expect it to take twice as long to heal as you think it should take because of easing back into it. Being a weight bearing area, if things don't heal right it can cause you discomfort for years to come. It's a bummer for sure. Thankfully it didn't happen until after you were done walking all over Japan for 3 weeks! I don't even think that I've heard of Lagoon before so reading the TR was surprising. They sure have a nice ride line-up and thanks to Elissa and KidTums for the excellent videos and pics! ^ OMG. That sounds AWESOME!!!!

Looks like you had a really fun trip! The FDR and WWII memorials are so pretty with all their fountains. I can totally imagine that weirdo on the Monuments By Moonlight tour swapping bus seats and causing chaos... Hard to imagine how people like that exist and yet somehow function normally in the world! I've enjoyed reading your TR and am sad to see it end. Looking forward to your next TR... whenever and wherever that is

$150-350 for the entry level Flash Pass? No way. Give me options for Gold or Platinum and now we're talking.

You got a heck of a lot accomplished in a few short days! DC has endless museums and exhibits coming through all the time. The photo of my dog and I at CW is in a box somewhere with other printed pictures and now I am determined to locate it. You are awesome for taking such dedicated medical care of Roxxi! I LOVE the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum so I can't wait to see all your pics and what you thought of it. I live 15 minutes from there and pass it almost every day. The addition of the space shuttle and the way they created that new wing so you can walk right up to it is amazing. Previously it stood straight up at the end of that wing and you could only see it from way far away from the main part of the building. Besides the SR-71 Blackbird, the space shuttle is my favorite thing to see. The only other museum I actually enjoy is The Spy Museum in DC so you may want to check it out next time you're in town.

Yup! I helped more than a dozen people last week who asked me "Which one is Row-ga-row?" and seemed very confused when I pointed to it. "I thought that was Mantis?" a few replied and then I'd explain they changed the trains so it's now a sit down and was much better. One person kept pointing to the map cover even after that saying they put in a new coaster so seriously tell them - which one was it? LOL.

Sayonara, Shockwave! The only thing I can say is the new paint job made it look nice. That plot of land is very tiny and I can't imagine they'd fit anything in there but a few more flats. They might as well rename Candy Apple Grove "Flatville" which is not a complaint, merely stating facts. I'd absolutely love to see an S&S screaming swing (Skyhawk) put in and a giant frisbee would be fun. If they scrapped Anaconda, which I don't foresee happening anytime soon, and put in a wing rider on the water there they'd have a long-term winner on their hands. With several parks within a couple hours of the DC area the GP has a ton of parks/rides to choose from. For them it's not always about being the biggest, baddest, and craziest with tons of inversions which is pretty evident when you look at the lines of various rides at parks. Volcano always has a long line. Apollo's Chariot always has a long line. I-305? 10 mins. Alpengeist? 10 mins. I'd be happy to see a Gatekeeper installed at KD. Or an El Toro. Or a Maverick. Please, Cedar Fair!!! Hear our cries!

The only thing that could have made your trip better would have been a stop at Cedar Point! Great pics, especially the sunset one at SFMM. I'm surprised the lines weren't longer considering the dates you visited but being a single rider helps a lot and going in the evening is smart too. Thanks for posting about your fun trip to the USA!

I will be your voice of reason! Here is the truth from a local. SFA has been improving over the last few years. It is now a safe place to visit and they are doing a good job keeping the place looking nice. Unfortunately their line-up of rides is lacking. They have a decent water park, Wild One, and Superman. I also like Joker's Jinx. Everything else is awful. Batwing needs to go the way of Son of Beast as it truly is that rattling, jerky, and clunky. The last 2 times I've been Superman hasn't been running. It's quite a small park and I'd rather spend several hours driving to NJ than try to find something to do at SFA for the day. SFGAdv has El Toro, Zumanjaro, El Toro, Nitro, a kick-ass safari and El Toro. Even if you have been on El Toro 1,000 times RIDE IT AGAIN over going to SFA. At best, SFA is a half day park. That's if all the rides are working and they are running more than 1 train. I live 30 minutes from SFA and the only reason I go there is to get my pass processed. Otherwise we drive the 3.5 hours to SFGAdv. But seriously, Zumanjaro is awesome. PS: El Toro.

I'm enjoying your writing style, pics and comments! I dislike Colonial Williamsburg as well although so many people seem to enjoy it. Not my cup of tea either, I guess. Something not many people know about is they do, or did, allow extraordinarily well-behaved dogs to walk around on the property with you. Leashed, of course, something far too many people disobey in general and drives me crazy. My favorite visit there was a decade ago when my family met some friends there for the day, last-minute. I was expected to attend and brought my dog, a beautiful female German shepherd who heartbreakingly passed away last year at age 11.5. I was satisfied with sitting around in the parking lot with her all day until they were done touring. Imagine my surprise when a kind worker mentioned that I could absolutely bring her inside with us to walk around but not in any of the buildings. For me it was such a neat experience and somewhere we have a picture of me and her sitting on a big log together. The only reason I am mentioning this is because I can tell you are an animal lover too based on your panicked moments regarding Roxxi. I have a family of pets and have been in situations like that before too. BGW is a beautiful park and I am going to lose all credibility now since I have never seen Celtic Fire! Apollo's Chariot is my favorite ride there. If you're ever back in the area towards the end of the year, BGW's Christmas Town is a sight to behold. It's spectacular! Kings Dominion coaster comments: Even on opening day I-305 had no more than a 15 minute wait. I rode it 14 times that day but that was before they re-profiled the first turn which IMO made it worse. They get those trains filled and out quite fast but I think the height plus high speed combined with grey-outs scares off a lot of people. I can only ride it 2-3x a visit now because it takes a lot out of me. The coaster is awesome but not super re-rideable for many people. Compare that to Millennium Force which I just rode 4 days ago and 15 years later it is still kicking ass and taking names! I rode it multiple times each day and didn't feel worn out like I do after riding I-305. The former Scooby Doo coaster, now Woodstock Express, is one of our favs and I'm glad you got on it and loved it too!! The on-ride pic is great. There are plenty of adults (such as ourselves) that ride it and you don't need to borrow a kid to do so, ha! Dominator is awful and if you're at all sensitive to head banging or motion sickness then steer wayyy clear of it. Volcano is the best coaster in the park IMO and yes, Rebel Yell is the smoothest wood coaster there which is really saying something. Berserker is great and Boo Blasters is an interesting laser shooting ride that's hidden behind Woodstock Express. It's great to have another Avalanche bobsled fan around here. Drop Tower is awesome and besides Zumanjaro it's the best one I've been on. Stunt Coaster's effects worked when it opened and sadly they haven't kept it up at all. Still, I enjoy riding it when at KD. More importantly, I had no idea you could buy just the main item of chicken fingers without fries!!! Looking forward to your next installment.

Didn't know CP relocated Ninja from SFMM. Awesome! LMAO oops, name mix up! Thanks for pointing out the error. Too much coaster fun + too little sleep = "What's that coaster called again?" And of course, it is back open now that I am back home. Ah well, I'll look forward to trying it out next year.

Glad to see them monitoring what's being brought into the park from the front entrance. I've been staying on-site for 2 days and am shocked that there is no bag inspection whatsoever at the Beach gate, Marina gate, or Resort gate. It's actually really nice to not be checked and inspected like a criminal but feels strange since even Kennywood has you take half your outfit off before entering. Also surprising (in a good way mostly) is that there are no restrictions at the petting zoo either and nobody even monitoring the big pen where the goats are wandering around and you can pet the cavies, tortoises, and pigs. Two days in a row I walked a loose goat back over to the pen as it nonchalantly made its way down the path towards Millennium Force! Everyone has been unbelievably nice, helpful, and friendly. Ride operations have been spectacular with all the ops hustling yet still smiling. Earlier today I was moving my fanny pack around to the back when I loaded into the seat on Rougarou (I hated Mantis with a passion but Rougarou is great) and didn't have my harness down when the guy came to check it. I'm always ready to ride and hate when people aren't prepared but this time I was that person about 5 seconds behind. "Oh, sorry!" I stopped and quickly yanked the harness down, fumbling with the buckle. "That's ok, are you comfortable now for me to lock the restraint or do you need to adjust more?" The guy said without missing a beat or holding up the train. I've never heard an op talk like that to a patron and it was so nice. His name tag read Ski so big thumbs up and thank you! l've been on every ride in the park except Mean Streak, Corkscrew and Ninja and haven't spotted one employee jerking around. Three trains on MF, 6 trains on Maverick and launching TTD up and over like a well oiled machine. And sorry guys but compared to Kings Dominion, CP has some great theming!

Liking this TR! I haven't been to either of these parks and they both look like a lot of fun. Your pictures and captions are fun to view.

I'm shocked how big the most recent park is! They have a ton of cool rides and fun activities to do and the random chairlift reminds me of one they have on the island of Capri to get to the top. Definitely going to look up the skin coaster hospital incident from the last trip!! Not sure what year it was but there are search engines on this site for a reason

Awesome TR, I was laughing through a lot of it so I can only imagine how fun it was for you to experience it! 2016 will be here before you know it