TBpony414

I'm really excited for TT as well. For me, the coaster doesn't have to be the biggest and baddest and fastest (although that's certainly nice) and twistiest to be awesome. Hopefully it has somewhat speedy dispatches because I'm anticipating it to be a massive hit with the general parkgoers. Not only does The Crypt have a lot of downtime but that whole area smells awful from the gas for the fire effect and it makes me (and others) kind of sick. People love watching it run though, when it's operating. I rode it once several years ago and came off not knowing what universe I was in for the next hour or so which is unfortunate because I enjoyed it. What sort of flats would you like to see put in? I'd absolutely love a massive S&S Screaming Swing like SkyHawk at CP. That's the only flat ride that gets me legitimately nervous because it goes so dang high and right over the walkways! In a dream world there would be some super spap-able flyers instead of those miserable ones by the antique cars with operations that rival the crew on Bizarro at SFGAdv. I'm also a huge fan of Condors but I know that'd never happen either

My fridge has so many magnets on it from places we've been and parks/coasters that you can't even tell what color it is haha. Don't expect finding much in the way of magnets at HP this year. I was unbelievably disappointed to not find anything when I went in August. There are the standard Hersheybar and Reeses Dude magnets but nothing even remotely interesting other than that and no coasters. If you do happen to find something cool please post it!

That's awesome about not having to deal with season pass processing! We had to go somewhere to get our meal passes put on our season passes but even that took no more than 5 minutes. Wait, WHAT?!! Those rumors better not be true. Waffle De Lys is so freaking good and I don't even like waffles!

Completely spot on in every way! Glad to hear you finally got some rides on LR. It is so very different from El Toro and both are world class coasters.

or extra Pepperoni!! Heck yeah!!! Ok I have to ask you - when I was in Philly earlier this year I waited 50 minutes for some donuts from Beiler's at the Reading Terminal Market. Our hotel was right there and we stumbled upon the RTM having never even heard of it. I will say that it was worth every minute standing in that absurd line that wrapped halfway around the building. Having been a lifelong Philly person, are you immune to their greatness? If not, how are you not 600 lbs? It was difficult to get them back to DC without eating the entire enormous box along the way. On topic: I'll be heading to SFGAdv with a cousin who is a newly christened coaster fan in two weeks. Usually I avoid the Halloween stuff like the plague but we need to get our passes processed so I'll pony up for the Gold Flash Pass. Do they have an upgrade from regular FP to FP Gold like Cedar Fair does? I doubt it... we are talking about Six Flags, after all. I have no idea what sort of extra (see what I did there?) perks are even offered these days.

Didn't see Bill's response until now but the photo order does help me a lot, and I also have started to keep a list on my phone as well. I've been trying to keep up with the actual number of times I ride each coaster and log those numbers into my spreadsheet. I know, I know. It's super nerdy and doesn't get me any real life cred except to satisfy my own curiosity. I've always kept a list on my phone of the rides/shows/etc. done at theme parks but I don't do anything exciting with it except share it with people like Bert to help with his TR, or read it out to my mother who when traveling to parks with me does a very detailed journal entry every evening of what we did that day. Usually I delete it but for some reason I kept the one from CP 2016 on my phone so it was fun to compare what and how many rides we did there in 2017 vs 2016. Rawkin, what do you do with the spreadsheet? (I'll admit I chuckled at that!) Do you tally it up at the end of the year or does it have several years worth of ride counts on a single sheet? Tell us more!

I’ve recently seen the word “extra” used online quite a bit but I’m not 100% sure on the meaning. The only way I’ve used that word it is “I’d like extra Oreos in my McFlurry” or “that chicken parm was extra delicious!” Googling says it means acting dramatic, is that correct or is there more to it?

We asked the handler what it was and she gave some answer that we had no clue what she said. We asked if it was related to a rabbit (because that was kinda what it looked like) and she responded with a simple "no." My wife and I felt extremely dumb at this point and asked what exactly it was and what it was related to. She again stated the animals name and said it was similar to a guinea pig (in a tone that implied that we just asked a stupid question.) After we saw the fully grown version of the animal we concluded (because clearly we are certified animal experts) that it was related to a rabbit. Haha!!!! The mystery animal is called a Cavy or Patagonian Mara. I got to pet one last year that they had out and about by the petting zoo there with a keeper. Sorry to disappoint/further confuse but it is indeed in the rodent family - which means not related to rabbits, who are classified as lagomorphs (for reasons I can go into but not sure would be exactly riveting reading material on a theme park website LOL.)

Great report on the Sunrise Thrills Tour! I did it when I was at CP in July 2016 and it was spectacular. One thing we didn't realize was that the tour goes for almost half the day LOL but it was amazing. I am a night owl and the thought of even functioning before double digits in the morning was awful, but it was totally worth it and I'd absolutely do the tour again. We had nicer weather although it was crazy hot. They let us each take as much food from the employee lounge as we wanted so I took several cold water bottles with me that I was thankful for! The ride op at Valravn you mentioned was most likely Josh aka JRice92 on the forums. He used to be an op at MF and he now kicks ass over at Valravn.

That pic of you double fisting beer on the plane is classic! I've never been to Chicago so it's great to get a glimpse of it. I love aquariums as well and those white sided MJ dolphins they had look super cool. We stopped at Adventure Aquarium in Camden, NJ on the way home from Philly earlier this year and it was surprisingly outstanding. Lots of cool demos, keepers roaming around with animals, great displays, interesting animals, extremely clean inside and a great food court with a real deal Icee machine. The only thing that was a letdown was their 3D theatre - skip that. Looking forward to CP!

Great pics, I especially enjoy that they aren't in a blue hue haha. Nice job getting the nephew on the mine train! Too bad he freaked out about Skull and TDK but with all the Halloween decorations as well that may have been too much for him. I bet next year he'll get on them!

Jynx242 - I can confirm that if you or anyone else runs into Bert, he's a genuinely nice guy who happens to be hilarious and is a blast to be around! Bert - this TR is a hit! Glad you were able to get down there for the Con, even if it was kinda last minute. Did everything end up going smoothly with your flight going down?

Michael that is seriously cool that you're going to the Netherlands for your honeymoon!! You have to do a TR for us! I've always wanted to go there and have a several dogsport friends who live there. It's supposed to be just beautiful and the people are all wonderfully nice. As far as my 2018 parks, we have SF and CF passes so go to a lot of places: Kings Dominion Cedar Point Carowinds SF Great Adventure SF America Dollywood Possibly: Knoebels Hersheypark SF Magic Mountain Knotts

It's usually held in the water park parking lot. Not a great location IMO. Skillet is supposed to be great - report back if you go! Regarding pricing: You are correct that it's an upcharge. Platinum pass holders, at least at KD, get a significantly discounted rate but I believe you have to call them to get it. They're easy to deal with. Otherwise the price of park admission is included in your regular non-passholder concert ticket. HTH!

Adorable duckies! I saw a gorgeous skunk walking around near Blazing Fury one evening when I was there. Also saw some hilarious turtle happenings one afternoon at the turtle pond.

I was hoping you'd do a D*C TR! I've never been to anything like that and some of those costumes are absolutely outstanding! There are several that really caught my eye but the Bumblebee transformer costume is hands down the best. Do people wear costumes the entire day or just change for a few hours? Some of those look like they'd be super hot or hard to walk around in for long periods of time. I can't believe how many people were there and how busy the hotel was in the middle of the night! It really shows how popular the event is.

When I was there in July they were giving this same loose article spiel every single train and the attendants would take everything from you to place in a bin. They have lockers out front but they aren't free so not many people use them. However, tons of people don't want to be without their phone for the 60 seconds you'll be on the ride and just put it in their pockets or sit on it. There are also items that fly out accidentally - such as my SO's wallet, which was in a very tightly buttoned back pocket and somehow flew out during the ride. Thankfully it didn't hit anybody and unbelievably the folks at DW found it in the woods 4 days later and mailed it back home for us at no cost. We still don't know how exactly the wallet flew out of the pocket because the space is too small for it to fit thru. The pocket was still buttoned when he got off the ride, and when we sat down to do restraints I specifically asked him if his pocket was secured and he checked it. The forces on Lightning Rod ARE NO FREAKING JOKE and literally launched his wallet right out. Usually he wears zipper pants but they were dirty from the park the day before. On the train before our lost-wallet ride someone lost their cell phone and not even an hour later someone else got hit in the face with a cell phone. At that point the LR ops were literally making people turn their pockets inside out before allowing them to be assigned rows. Then once on the train they had two different ops go up and down each side of the train stopping at every. single. seat. and asking each individual rider if they had ANYTHING at all on them. People would then pull out all kinds of things from their pockets to hand to the ops. It was intense but absolutely necessary, I think even more so than on El Toro (where I've gotten hit with phones, weaves, hats, and hair clips). Instead of a full wallet, SO now only takes in his ID and one credit card - which I then keep in my small fanny pack because his track record for losing things at various amusement parks and on ski slopes is impressive.

^Wow that Bblz cup is seriously tiny!! Now that I know what it is, it's definitely not something that's up my alley but it seemed quite popular when I was there the other day. Sadly I didn't see any Storm Runner shirts, or SR anything, at any of the shops including the big one up front. One of these years I'll get some SR merch!

I'm supposed to go to BGW tomorrow for a work function. We originally were going to KD but it turns out KD is closed?? so we moved things to BGW. I haven't been there in 4 years. Unfortunately, I may have to blow it off because last night my dog started having a hind leg issue and I'm not sure I want to leave him for the day in case something happens like he falls over and can't get up. He's a very active working dog so it's hard to keep him quiet. Yes I have a vet appt scheduled to get him checked out. Anyway, assuming he's feeling better I'll be going to the park tomorrow. Have any of you seen the evening show All For One? If so, is it any good? It appears Celtic Fyre isn't playing anymore which is a bummer. I always watch the animal shows. Are the effects on DarKastle working better these days?

Small TR from my trip to HP on Monday. I went for a few hours before the Matchbox 20 concert and had a fantastic time! Arrived at noon and left at 7:45pm to go to the concert. The park was relatively empty and operations were hit or miss. Skyrush's operations were absolutely abysmal even though there were at least 6 attendants there. I really wish the worker at the entrance to the queue would request that heavier folks try out the test seat before getting in line. On every single train they would have at least one if not two ops at the same time literally jump up and down on the bar trying to get the restraint to give the green light. The line crawled and guests started getting agitated. It would take minimally 3 minutes of struggling and in every case the people had to eventually take the walk of shame. It seems to me that it's more embarrassing to hold up an entire station full of grumbling folks and have to take the WOS, than try to test seat outside and realize it ain't happening. Several of these folks were absolutely enormous and there was just no way they would ever fit. If you're on the bigger side - absolutely try. But severely obese people who need an extra 8 inches of seatbelt before it can click together holding up the trains for 3-5 minutes every dispatch (I timed them) is outrageous. Can't get situated in 60 seconds? You're out. The ride ops were extremely frustrated with this as well. We didn't encounter problems this badly on any other ride. In order: -Skyrush -Comet - saw a mother screaming at the top of her lungs in a horrible manner at her young son in the queue the whole time who was absolutely terrified and hysterical about riding. He was going to be on the next train behind us but ended up not riding and I saw him sobbing and curled in a ball behind the exit gate. Poor kid. That's no way for a parent to get him used to coasters... or behave, especially in public. -Skyrush -SDL -Great Bear 2x - extremely fast operations -Triple Tower - Reeses and Hershey. I was surprised how fun these were! I still wish Flying Falcon were there as that was my favorite flat in the park and one of my favorite flats ever (up there with the flyers at Carowinds and Skyhawk at CP) but the towers were a lot of fun and very popular. There was quite a bit of line jumping going on and the ops and queue attendants just watched it and shrugged. Really frustrating. -Coal Cracker - I got absolutely soaked and mom got barely a spritz. I'm fanatical about dry feet and somehow, even after ducking down low with my feet off the bottom and shoved way under the nose of the boat, my sneakers were saturated and squishing for the next solid hour. -Storm Runner -Seal and sea lion show - which was a blast! Geneva the sea lion did a fantastic job and Mango the harbor seal has greatly improved on her skills since last year. Since I'm very into clicker training with my dog, horse, and rabbit (yes that's correct) I spent a while speaking with the lead trainer after the show. She was wonderful as always and it was nice to get some ideas and have a clearer understanding of why they do certain behaviors a different way that I would. Some of those ideas I will implement into my training and other things they do I do not think is beneficial to the learning process so will not apply them. -Trailblazer -Storm Runner 4x - in line we ran into Dean Z. who is a maintenance man for SR for 10 years now. He was unbelievably friendly and gushed about the ride and how much he loves working on it. Storm Runner is my favorite ride in the park and one of my most favorite rides anywhere so it was cool chatting with him. He was actually working the line separation position near the bottom of the station steps and he was frustrated that 1. they were only running one train due to staffing issues, and 2. that there isn't enough room on the platform to have the attendant stand there to keep the station from getting chaotic as that causes a lot of issues. He saw us later on in the day and waved enthusiastically - super nice guy and it made our day extra special! -Lightning Racer, lightning side I didn't take many pictures myself but my mom who went with me took a lot. Unfortunately they're all still on her phone so you'll have to survive on this one picture of Storm Runner. The day started off with absolutely beautiful weather, blue skies and a few clouds, and ended up quite grey. The rain held off thankfully but it poured the entire day yesterday on our drive home. Can someone tell me what is inside the futuristic building by Triple Tower that says "Bblz" on it? We didn't have time to go inside and check it out. I asked a few ride employees and they all said they had no idea. Hmm, ok then! I was really disappointed that I still couldn't find a shirt I liked or a magnet. I would love a shirt for Storm Runner or Great Bear and a magnet of anything but a peanut butter cup or chocolate bar but there wasn't anything whatsoever in any of the shops I went in. This has been true for the past several visits as well. Is there a secret souvenir location that I don't know about?

Is it just the angle of the photos or is Bill (and possibly Boldikus) a giant? I have obviously never met either of them and am second guessing even staying friends with Bill on FB because I don't want to chance ending up with a burlap sack over my head and shoved in a shipping container somewhere. Ka row 9 and all that. Can you explain how the parent swap worked for the acid trip boat ride? Did you have to go get a piece of paper somewhere to show the attendant or they just trusted that you had kids, not realizing that Bill was actually the (man)child? You know, for, uh, research purposes. I could have done without 3 days of the ride attendants at Dollywood on Wild Eagle absolutely screaming at people for jumping under the small child swap chain half way through the exit queue when there was ZERO line instead of walking alllllllll the way around the ride to reride. How about they put in a gate there instead of a pathetic European-like suggestion to "please stay out" that few Americans understand or obey? Mind boggling on both ends of the spectrum. This is why we can't have nice things.

^^ Would love to see a full TR of your day! ETA that we love animals and the more pics/details the better

Those restraints are horrific. One and done a few years ago for me which is unfortunate because it was actually a decent little ride.

Hey Jcoaster, what a great TR! I was just in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg the first week of August for the first time. We did 3 days at Dollywood and a day at the Ripley's aquarium/walking the shops of Gatlinburg as well. Did you see that massive octopus? It was unbelievably active when we were there, I've never seen one SO BIG and it was swimming (sucking?) its way all over the tank. I got some cool video clips of it. Usually at aquariums the octopus is in a little corner but this was amazing. I also loved this massive Japanese craps that looked like they could kill me with looks alone haha. We also hit up Hillbilly Golf (HIGHLY recommend) and Professor Hacker's golf (crappiest course ever and not in a good way) plus ate at Mellow Mushroom pizza right next to where you got the moonshine. That rocking chair area at Mushroom/Moonshine was packed with folks listening to some folk band playing on the little stage, it was nice to see. What we were so surprised about is just how much there is to do in the area! I want to do some research on ziplines for one of our next trips down there - which we are already planning! We didn't go up any of the chairlifts or hiking trails this time since it was a mostly DW centered trip, but do want to visit Clingman's Dome on our next trip. It was great to read your TR with all your wonderful pictures so I have an idea of what to expect. What a neat place.

Do any of these images look like your surroundings? It'd be much too obvious for those Jokers to stash you in Skull Mountain so I think you're just across the way.