bert425

park opened for the season yesterday, and the new maps show location of the Kid Flash Coaster - confirming it is replacing Joker Larson Loop - which has already been removed.

the only thing memorable about the one at SFOG was the giant Joker face in the center was kind of cool. and that queue - out in the sun - with NO coverings. Oh, they had the poles there to put the canvas coverings up to cover the queue.. they just never did. so. damn. hot. in that queue.

Soooo. . .with "Kid Flash" confirmed being part of DCUniverse section (which currently ends at Superman. . and then turns into Thrillseeker Park / Spassburg area). and Skyscreamer sitting *between* Superman and the new Kid Flash coaster. does this mean a re-theme to Skyscreamer at SFFT? (I suggested either to Hawkman or maybe Shazam). . . the response by the Park President to me is making me think . . . yup, we're getting a retheme, tho nothing has been formally announced.

^ it's not just enthusiasts. SFStL's Mr. Freeze (and Screamin Eagle) make it a destination park for anyone outside the area. when we were in area? it was for Freeze and Superman (because it had been Dungeon Drop at Astroworld and I had ridden it when I lived really close to that park). But my Spouse? not an enthusiast at all. ..and yet, he was most excited to see Freeze. from the parking lot he was excited about it. (and he totally forgot we had the only other version of it ~5 hours away).

^^ your own newpaper link notes: "The Rookie Racer will be located near the entrance to the Boss, a wooden roller coaster" That's the old go-karts track.

well. . even tho that IS Wallace in the ride sign there. . the original Kid Flash was Wally West. and there's also Impulse as an option. . . so they could still end up naming the two tracks.

Six Flags updated their websites this morning across the board, and spoiled a bit early the announcement of the naming of the new coaster (as well as giving away the info for the new SFStL (not Skyline coaster) and SFOG info as well). but here it is:

not sure there's a way to discuss it without getting political. so my only two cents on it is: nothing is gonna change. (or, I'll be shocked if anything changes). to be REALLY simple about it: from what I understood is that to "buy out" the Disney Stewardship of that area the State would have to pay the Walt Disney Company a pretty large sum of $$. I dont' really see that happening, as how would it have the $$ without raising taxes across the State? so yea. . I'll surprised if anything really changes.

^ your outdated source is incorrect. Chick-Fil-A - thru it's owner, Dan Cathy, continues to donate millions to anti-LGBTQ groups. so yeah. . .screw their Jesus Chicken. and as Detox sings,

this calls for Willam, Detox and Vicky Vox to do their thing:

here are some of my pics from Fiesta Fest yesterday at SFFT. (many behind the scenes shots. . . and as always, gotta get pics with the #1 & #2 reasons to go to SFFT - Park President Jeffrey Siebert, and Sweet Sweet Connie in the Sangerfest Halle. Jeffrey: Sweet Connie: she even got some company in a new Mural painted on the back wall near the bathrooms! the shows were excellent as usual. . the Jamboree one is kinda adult, but really fun too: and the Saloon show is great too. and of course, some rides were done before the backstage tours. (I actually rode a LOT of stuff today, but only snapped a couple of ride pics): We got a tour of the new virtual Gaming center they are building in the old restaurant space in the central plaza: and then went upstairs for a tour of the new Diamond and Above VIP lounge they are building on the 2nd floor overlooking the main plaza (with some nice views from the balconies, including some great viewing space for the evening fireworks): and then a treat, we got to go back to the machine shop to see the pieces of the 3rd train for Iron Rattler: and the refurb currently going on for the Giant Cowboy Hat that dumps the water from the top of the Play Area in the waterpark: then across to the other building to see the 2nd train for Iron Rattler (back on the tracks by next weekend!) and the pesky little pneumatic safety locking mechanisms that were on back order and is why IR has been with one train ops for SOOOO Long: if you're wondering why Wonder Woman is only running 2 trains? here's the 3rd one. (yeah). luckily a new 3rd train will be coming when they work on the track later this year! we got to walk by the floats that most of us would be riding on later. . . .this is the newest float, the amazing Crocodile. not only is it awesome that they have this sign in the backstage area from an old bet with Kings Island. . . look. .it says "Bert" right there in it time to drink and ride some more things! until we got called back to get ready for the parade. first they dressed us up all pretty like: and then we got assigned floats. got lucky, and we got chosen to ride on the front section of the newest float! we threw so many beads, and the park was so crowded, that we were completely out before the end of the parade route! luckily there were many other floats behind us with lots of beads for everyone. a great event and a great time at SFFT.

^ my thought on it as well

direct from Park President's mouth yesterday (was there for Feliz Fiesta event): -- WW will be going down for track refurb later this summer. Two train ops as the 3rd train is currently in pieces (I have pics of it from "backstage" yesterday) , and they WILL have a brand new train coming to go along with the refurbed track. -- Iron Rattler is still one train ops, because the Pnematic safety lock parts they were waiting on from Gerstlaur (back ordered for almost a year at this point) actually arrived earlier this week. (have pics of those too). The 2nd train WILL be back on the ride by next weekend, bringing it back up to full ops for Spring Break. 3rd train also arrived (have pics of that too). . but that one is now waiting for the same safety lock parts before they can have that ready for use on the ride. -- Cliffhanger is running two trains as it was having TONS of issues yesterday due to an issue with a part at the 2nd brake - it was triggering estops with three trains running, so they took the 3rd train off (that's' why it was only running two trains today, with the 3rd on the transfer track). Jeffrey said they have the replacement part at the park to get it fixed but as that will take a few hours to fix, they are going to do it during the closed days this coming week, so this too will be back up to full 3 train ops by next weekend. -- Bugs has been undergoing refurb the past few weeks. They have put all the refurbed figures back onto the ride, but have not reopened it yet. That too should be open by Spring Break. meaning the only rides that will be down for a while still are: Gully Washer (they are still waiting for that replacement pump, but hopefully it will be back up by Summer), Miss Kitty (refurb almost done, but they are not quite ready to get the train back up and running yet) & Boomerang. . .going down for refurb very soon. (ie: by the end of March). Per Jeffrey, SFFT's Boomerang is the most ridden one in the Six Flags Chain. the Refurb will switch the ride to Magnetic Breaking System, and the park will be getting TWO new trains for it, featuring the Vekoma Chest Restraint system (comfort collars ?). They are getting two, so they can always have a train for the ride, when they need to refurb the other train (same reasoning for the 3rd Iron Rattler train) since SFFT is a year round park. oh, and the cameras are down/GONE on all rides, as they are in the process of switching to a new Photopass vendor. but again, supposed to be back and operating by Summer. hope that info helps

^ was there yesterday (might put some pics up eventually). . but grab that souvenir cup from Member Services. (it's that red "Member" tumbler you see many people carrying.). Gets you free drinks (Soda/Powerade/water) all season at any fountain service or self service place. I use mine mainly for water or Powerade.

just noting for those that didn't see it. . Today is the last day for this sale at SFFT. was at the park yesterday for an event and had a chance to ask upper mgmt about this sale, and why SFFT was the only park that offered it. response I got was that the other parks will be starting their Spring Break Sales "soon" . . . but that SFFT did their sale early, and "was the *only* park that would have the offer to buy Platinum and get upgrade to Diamond free". . . . that the other parks will only offer buy Gold and upgrade to Platinum free. the person I spoke to did not want to specify why SFFT was able to make this offer, or why other parks are not going to be offering it. but did state that once this sale is done? the deal is gone for good. just noting, for anyone thinking of getting a pass? today is the day, I'd buy it.

because not all press is "good" press. also the park hasn't issued an official statement on the incident, nor has any reputable news source picked it up. it's not that I don't believe it happened, but when the source is a viral tik-tok? I choose not to give it more air.

the pool was closed for Renovation during my visit. *but there was a LOT of stuff undergoing construction/updates/renovation, so didn't really impact us. we had a "parking lot view". . but the truth is we were barely in the room, so the view didn't matter all that much. but a lot of greenery, was kinda nice. lemme look and see if i have any pics from the window. . . here ya go. . I think these are from the hotel room window.

^ yeah . . I wasn't gonna give that any more press than it had gotten, so that's why didn't link to the Ticktoc or anything else. happy they are keeping the lap bar tho.

Day 11: Evening. . . after a quick stop at the Airport to drop off those leaving (I think it was only a couple of folks). . we continued on the bus to Disney. and before we knew it, we were being dropped off in front of Sequoia Lodge (the DLP version of Wilderness Lodge, from what I gather). not everyone was staying at this hotel. . some were at Hotel New York (newly remodeled with a Marvel Superheroes overlay) and other hotels nearby. checking in was surprisingly easy, and as we were there just after 8pm, and the park was open until after 11? we asked if tonight counted as admission for our multiple day tickets. Upon being told "yes". . we went to the room, dropped off our stuff, and immediately headed out to the park. but first some pics of the room - among the largest of the rooms we had on this trip - only slightly bigger than that room at Europa Parc that started off the trip. very "earthy" / "Widerness" / "Sequoia Trees" colors but the room DID have a slight "Bambi" theme thruout: look how beautiful it is. . and after 8pm too. here's the backside of Sequoia Lodge, as we exited towards the parks.(tho only Disneyland was still open, the other park closed I think at 7) the view to the left - another of the Disney Resort Hotels (tho can't recall the name. . "Harbor Bay" maybe?) and looking straight across the Lagoon, the Disney Village (with Balloon ride) and behind them the parks. no way to cut across the lagoon tho. . had to walk around, either left, or to the right. . . so we headed right, to pass in front of Hotel New York - as that seemed to be the main entrance to the Disney Village area. I'm here! (yes, I'm a Disney nerd) Hotel New York really leaned into the Marvel Superheroes theme (Avengers Campus was opening soon - we missed it by a couple of weeks, but hey, reason to go back!). out front of the hotel were these life-size statues that were quite cool: the hotel itself: coming fully around the lagoon and ready to enter into Disney Village. that's our hotel in the back across the water. . I was a little confused by the theming over here. . it doesn't seem to be related to any Disney IP (at least not one I could think of). . but it certainly was "whimsical" Overview map of Disney Village ah. THERE'S some Disney branding! I don't recall if I ever went into this store. . .perhaps a quick stop on the way out on the final night? (there was so much merchandise inside the parks, that I didn't feel a real need to go in here and purchase anything more) several "street" entertainers were out performing. these folks were really good, but only stopped for a moment to watch. based on his nametag? I think this was a Disney Studios employee (probably the guy who mans the "Face painting" booths). Makes sense, as that park was closed already . . . but I liked his Captain America face paint, so snapped a pic as we passed him. and the heavens opened up. . and we were faced with massive construction walls (that I mostly managed to frame outside of picture) and we were facing the Disneyland Hotel. which is the entrance to Disneyland Paris. the hotel was in the middle of a years long rennovation, so was not open to the public (boo. . would have loved to peek inside), but still pretty neat that you walk under the hotel to enter the park. we made it! It had been a long day. . but Disney perked me up. James too, I think. (that look is "Ecstatic" for a Brit ) thru the entry gates, and under the "train station". . . all decked out for the 30th anniversary celebration. Can't really recall, but I think those "flags" spun around the circular pictures? Main Street USA. . not very busy as we were coming in towards the end of the day. first view of the castle. ooooo. . so pretty. surrounding the Castle Courtyard, on the Main Street USA side, are all these really amazing Metal Kinetic Sculptures. I *loved* these, and asked if the park sold miniature models of them only to be told, sadly, no. I'd absolutely buy a few of these. . they were so cool. Dumbo & Tigger Baymax! Ariel & Moana Tinkerbell Timon & Pumbaa snake from Jungle Book. . blanking on his name. . people were lined up for a parade, I believe. (dont' think this was for the fireworks, as it was still a couple of hours away, but COULD have been for that). James and I detoured around the crowd - we were here for 3 more days, so was more focused on getting on a few classic Disney attractions: The Paris Version of Haunted Mansion (called Phantom Manor here), Big Thunder Mountain (super unique here at DLP and my favorite version of the ride now), and Pirates of the Caribbean. going around the crowd gave some awesome opportunities for pics of the castle tho. Some of my favorites from the Disney parks visit. guess what we're headed for 1st. . . ooooo. . but nope. very pretty tho. here's where we were headed: Phantom Manor. Molly Brown was already "parked" for the night. . . so we'd ride that later in the visit. this late in the day on a Friday? really almost a walk on. Less than 10 minute wait. view towards Big Thunder Mountain from the front doors of Phantom Manor no real pics from inside on this 1st night, as was really enjoying the experience. And knew I'd ride it multiple times during the visit (so the sub par blurry ones I did have, not sharing now). I THINK we might have ridden it twice, since it was a walk on? this pic is from the ride exit path. I mean I HAD to take a pic of a Mickey balloon. . . before we headed around the corner for BTM: 20 minute standby line. . . hmmmm. . . didn't look TOO crowded, and the line did appear to be moving quickly. and 20 minutes isn't too bad. so we hopped in line. well, hello! yeah. .my Selfie camera decides to brighten things up. but me, Phantom Manor, and Big Thunder Mountain at DLP. . I adore this picture. no Jungle Cruise Ride here at DLP. . so the best you're gonna get is: "the Back Side of the Castle" Just gorgeous as the sun starts to set. Chicken exit. . but we were so close to load station, no way were we gonna use it Lucky row 13 tho 20 minutes isn't bad at all. . . the wait was long enough that we just rode once tonight (knowing we'd be able to purchase ride bypass tickets on other days). . and headed over towards Pirates of the Caribbean at least we THOUGHT we were headed there. . .we didn't look at any park maps, and just headed where we thought we should go by following the signs in the park. and ended up in a "dead end" area, close to Pirates, but not actually there. Instead, we found ourselves in front of THIS. yeah. . Was *not* looking forwards to this. I not only knew it's reputation, but had ridden in in TDL, so I knew it was a rough mess. BUT. . we were right there in front of it, and it was Walk On. Like 0 minutes wait. So we sucked it up, and got in line. it wasn't AWFUL. . but I really do think that's only because we had ridden Goudruix a few hours earlier. . so the memory of that pain remained. LOL. . so there's your trick for riding Indiana Jones at DLP. I think I asked a cast member where Pirates was, and she gave us the correct turn and we headed that direction. Very cool. .walkthru not open still due to Covid restrictions (or staffing). . but still some great theming over here. (and the cave system WAS back open) Yay! it was getting fairly close to 10:20 at this point, so the back part of the Park had started to get deserted. So Pirates was a walk on as well (tho the queue is quite lengthy) restaurant in this version too. . . we'd eat here as a guest of John & Chris the next day. . really well done. and as you can see. . we pretty much were the only ones riding at this point. . . so when the cast members at the exit asked us if we wanted to stay on the boat and ride thru again (apparently something fairly rare?). . we said "heck yes!" so got to ride it back to back. We figured we'd catch the Fireworks, since were here. . but parts of the park pathways had been closed off at this point for safety, so we had to take a really long path back towards the front of the park. Didn't stop me from snapping pics as we walked tho. . we eventually came back to the front of the castle shortly before the show started. ended up way on the left, so this first night didn't get a GREAT view (we could barely see the drones). . but some pics came out nice enough that I wanted to share. Disneyland Paris Fireworks - THRU THE TREES !!!!! when the show ends, there's a stampede to the exits. Rather than get caught in that, we hovered around, and can get some nice pics of the castle lit up at night. . as the crowd started to thin, the cast members start closing the stores one section at a time, moving the crowd towards the front exits. I had been asked by a friend to please try to get her a DLP 30th anniversary Backpack (at the time, very hard to find) and had been told this store carried them. of course, Cruella. .. they were JUST about to close off this section. . when I spotted over her rope she was pulling across. . one of the backpacks. they had just restocked them for the morning. I asked her could I please just go in and grab a backpack? and she said "absolutely. . but I'd have to pay for it at one of the other registers, as she wanted to close off this area" I thanked her profusely, and noted that I hadn't seen these at all since we'd been in the park, and she told me they sell out immediately with people buying multiples, but since my timing was good, I caught it just as they had put them out for the display. them? yup. .they had both versions: I messaged Amy, to ask if she wanted both (but didn't get a response right away). . and I said, I guess i can come back in the morning once I know which she wanted. And the Castmember shook her head no, and said, "oh, they'll be gone 5 minutes after we open"! So I gritted my teeth and just bought the one I thought she'd want (didn't want to buy both as these suckers are expensive!!). Lucked out, in that the one I bought was the one she was missing, and already had the other one. I thanked the cast member profusely, and we headed out. it had been a very long day, but I was so satisfied and happy, and Nick had messaged me saying he was doing well and we'd talk in the morning. So we slowly made our way back to the hotel and crashed hard. Tomorrow was gonna be a big day as well.. . not only Saturday, so the parks would be crowded, but I had made arrangements to go with Robb, Elissa, Kristen, and a few others to the Eiffel Tower! So plan was to be in Studios, head out to Paris, then back and meet up with James in DLP that evening. was gonna be another exhausting day, but well worth it.

^ as they state, those are going in at several parks. at SFFT, they are putting into the central plaza area - inside a seldom used restaurant space (that restaurant closed over a decade ago, used to be the Mexican buffet) and they now only use it on rare occasion when the weather doesn't cooperate, and they need an indoor dining location for an event. Rarely. So I have zero issue with the plans. . as long as they are not taking anything away to actually implement them. Which is the case at SFFT, and hopefully same at SFStL

yeah. . MUCH better to raise the height restriction than to take away the lap-bars and replace with over the shoulder. I mean, it sucks for shorter folks (and kids), but I guess this is the best way they could resolve and quickly reopen the ride.

BGT has increased height restriction on Scorpion to 48" . . with a caveat. Guests between 48” and 54” must be accompanied by a supervising companion 14 years of age or older who is at least 54” tall. https://buschgardens.com/tampa/roller-coasters/scorpion/ still not back open yet, but hopefully soon.

^ yeah. . I missed it completely. darn. . . ok, another excuse to go back! (tho I think maybe Japan again, or England 1st)

really lucky no one was seriously injured. . . I didn't realize that had been over the kiddie pools!

y'all. . dunno if this applies to other SF parks or not (didn't check). . but SFFT just went live today online with a HUGE Spring Break sale: buy a Platinum Pass, on sale for $89, and get a free upgrade to Diamond (that's the all parks with parking included pass). kinda sucks that I just paid almost that much to upgrade to Diamond a couple of weeks ago ($60). . but a GREAT deal if you don't have a season pass yet.