anonymouscactus

Sounds about right....

Mmmm unlimited poolside shwarma AND a buffet of already cracked crab legs? Thank you for the updates, can't wait to read more. I've been on two (non Disney) cruises but we are thinking of another now thanks to this thread 8)

Last year I had trouble adding Funpix to a different park pass. I had a cedar point pass but tried to add on from Canada's Wonderland website and it said it was an invalid pass. Doing it from the cedar point site it worked. So I guess your milage may vary? I always buy everything, including the pass itself, in Canada due to the price difference except for the one year when I wanted the renewal bonus for free CP fast lane. I still had my Wonderland card even though I renewed as a Cedar Point pass and it was a CP pass in the system. The following year I changed it back to a Wonderland renewal with the same card. Anyways, enjoy your FunPix!

I go to the park frequently (and have on occasion sprung for FL+), and agree that if you aren't a local, and especially if it's your first ever trip, to get it for at LEAST one day. Yes there are ways to avoid lines but you have to have an active plan and go on rides in a certain order, and frankly if you are on vacation, you shouldn't be worrying about all that and FL+ allows you to wander around and ride and rest and eat as you please. I go all the time so I don't mind having a plan since I can't afford it every visit, but I can't stress enough you should budget fast lane for at least one day. All 3 if you can! I wouldn't recommend buying it ahead of time, as weather and other conditions can change crowds dramatically during certain parts of the year. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EARLY ENTRY! DO NOT SKIP THIS EVEN IF YOU ARE GETTING FL+.

^ vertical loop?

Doing a lot better than I thought I would be after a few weeks in! I'm about to hit the 1 month mark since starting tracking everything and I'm doing way better than I thought I would. This is without exercise, and I know with coaster season coming into full swing starting this weekend I know I'll get a lot of walking in to help, too. I was 258 in October so I'm about 15 lbs down from last coaster season. I did "cheat" yesterday, but I'm keeping that to once a week at most for now. I know that's not good, but it's better than 7 cheat days a week! lol. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement in this thread! And especially for recommending myfitnesspal. We all got this! Everyone keep it up and keep going!

Turkey for me Turkey for you Let's eat the turkey In my big brown shoe (just got done eating turkey)

Nope. NopeNopeNopeNopeNope.

I'd like to point out Tony didn't mention anything about s STEEL VENGEANCE video on Saturday... knowing how much he loves to troll us it's going to be him riding one of the kiddy rides... RIGHT, TONY!?

Vegas is weird to me. You would think that as a person who previously had a REALLY bad gambling problem (no, really) that I would love it, but now there are casinos everywhere you go. If you want to gamble, why spend money on a flight and all that jazz. That being said, there are other great things about Vegas, one of my favorite meals I've ever had was in Vegas, and the theming is interesting... well, maybe once or twice. I don't know, I guess I don't really get it anymore. Then again I've been "sober" for a few years now. (and can now go on coaster trips all the time!) The other fun memory Vegas, outside of earning free rooms and meals, was this awesome place: http://www.pinballmuseum.org Seriously, it's awesome. Anyway, great report as always! Glad Brit finally got to ride Shamu, lol. Not even the trainers can do that anymore;

It looks like the park isn't even open to the public on Sunday? We won't end up going if thunderstorms are still in the forecast for Saturday, but will make the call whether to drive or not on Friday morning. Not looking good though, but it's still a ways away.

If weather holds up I plan on making the long trek to KI on opening day. This year I got the Platinum dining for the first time. Just wondering what everyone's go-to is on the dining plan. I'm not all that familiar with the park. I've seen the pizza get thrown around a lot on this thread, but are there any other recommendations of things on the dining plan? I believe I read Panda and Chick-fil-A were on the plan so worst case I can eat something I "know". Anything really unique to this park that's worth getting? Anything REALLY good / must try? And don't say Skyline because I finally tried it outside the park last year for the first time and it just wasn't my thing... Thanks in advance

So I was reading some reviews from Texas De Brazil, a churrascaria restaurant that I LOVE, and these are all ACTUAL COMPLAINTS that led to 1 or 2 star reviews -- the acoustics are too loud / too noisy -- They give you too much meat. -- The sushi sucks. They only have one kind. -- They ran out of candles (for my free dessert). Who runs out of candles? -- They sat us next to the soup so there was a loud clanging noise whenever someone got soup. -- Meat so raw it was blue. -- We were all hungry an hour after we left. -- A glorified Old Country Buffet. -- Lighting is too dim. -- The Gauchos were coming to the table fast and furious. -- No fruit or smoothies available. -- For the amount we spent on one dinner we could have bought a week's worth of groceries. Seriously? Online reviewers are dumb. I will never open a business. PLEASE never go out to eat ever again.

"I'm about to show my @$$!"....for a funnel cake" --> I think this is my new favorite quote, lol Unfortunately a some of things you stated that would help may just piss people off more. -- Untrained people at the ticket booths needing help and delaying the lines whereas the trained people lines would move much faster (also: as Bill said, is the $5 online convenience fee worth your time and sanity?) -- Opening up preferred parking to everyone? Oh boy imagine if I paid $x.xx dollars for preferred parking and now everyone else gets to go there free? Should they do those things? I don't know. The pros may outweigh the cons, but I guess the point is people are going to complain no matter what they do as others have started. I'm not giving Dollywood a free pass, I'd be frustrated too, but again you were comparing holidays at other parks (where staffing and everything is running more like a well oiled machine) vs Dollywood in March. Hiccups will happen. You kept mentioning how even Six Flags does things better in certain regards, but opening weekend at Great Adventure wasn't a walk in the park for us. 2/3 of food locations were closed (leading to 1 hour waits for food at the places that were open), rides broke down frequently, etc. I knew going into it things were not going to be perfect and I had a great time. Yes there were frustrations, but if you want a "better" experience one would argue to go later in the season. SHOULD it be that way? No. But it's a seasonal park and unfortunately that's how things work. It may sound easy to fix the problems you mentioned but I'm sure there are plenty of logistics not taken into account. Sorry your day didn't go better.

The line that kills everyone getting in is security, not the lines to get through the turnstiles. There is no way to get by the security line fast / there is no dedicated line for memberships though security. At there wasn't on opening day.

Tickets are now on sale for Brew & BBQ... also menus and breweries are listed at the bottom of the FAQ. https://www.cedarpoint.com/play/events/brew-and-bbq

^^ I don't agree with how Disney inflates their wait times near the end of the night. It helps them control the crowds and close down the rides earlier, but I hate that they mislead everyone in the process by posting inaccurate times. As someone who knows they are inflated, it's great since crowds are thinning out, but kind of unfair to those not in the know. Maybe this belongs in the rant thread Great reports as always.

Had crazy winds today. Now this:

My stupid cedar point fork video has over 150 views in only four days (hey, that's a lot for me ). When I make a legitimate video that I put a lot of work into, they never get views that quickly, lol. The quality of my videos have a reverse curve with the numbers of views they get, it seems. Some of my least favorites have thousands of views. Also: when searching YouTube today i was just reminded of some a-hole "coastermanTB" on YouTube who stole a bunch of my videos and removed my copyright pages about 9 years ago, and in his descriptions and comments made it sound like he filmed them. One video alone got over 250,000 views. Wtf? When I tried to fight YouTube with a copyright claim at the time they said I didn't have sufficient proof it was actually my video. Still have several of my videos out there under his name. Ugh.

Just watched the video... this is some amazing work! So cool and unique!

#ThisForkIsForSV Warning: this video may make you dumber.

Went to Great Adventure today.... no walks of shame!!!! But unfortunately we are on "vacation", and holy shnikees... worst day so far since tracking my calories this past week... went 1,000+ calories over my allowance. I actually ate decent at the park (got a 250 calorie Caesar Salad and got apples with my burger instead of fries) but it was after the park that got me. It's a shame too, I was down to 246 lbs yesterday! (down from 258 in October) -- afraid to weigh myself when I get home tomorrow. We'll see! Should get back on track once I'm home again, then again, we did just buy a bunch of hard ciders we can't get back home and we have Frozen slushie mix.... as long as I stay within my goals, though, i can cheat, right?

^ thanks for the heads up! Now I get to replan my upcoming theme park trips next month so we switch hotels on the 2 night stays. And no way I'm redeeming last year's points now, just going to keep them racking up thanks to this promo lol

From their Facebook page:

With my limited knowledge of rental cars I've found prices fluctuate pretty crazily all the time. I *never* pay ahead and book with a refundable rate and re-book as needed. I've seen hundreds of dollars differences just by checking a few times leading up to a trip. I don't know the secret to getting the best deal other than using comparison sites (and some awesome entertainment book rate codes), but never ever take and prepay what you think is the best deal because the best deal a few days later could be vastly different. I think for my L.A. trip last year, over a 6 month span I rebooked about 6 times. Seems silly but I saved a crapload of money. My best deal initially was $247 after taxes and fees with shitty sixt for an economy car and ended up turning into $84 for a midsize SUV with Alamo after taxes and fees for 4 days with A ONE WAY rental (normally there can be significant fees on one way rentals) So keep running those comparisons, you never know when things are going to drop like crazy. I thought it was a price mistake at first. The screenshots below were for the exact same rental dates for the same amount of days for the same exact airports, both were the best price on the same comparison site but were booked at different time periods.