bert425

spent yesterday at an event at SFFT, and got to meet Dr. Diabolical, got an up close tour of the arrived track (only ~33% of it is on site already- the rest is coming soon), the Demolition in process of the interior of the "lab" area that the queue will go thru (that used to be backstage of the Sundance Theater), AND got to try Dr. Diabolical's youth elixir lots more stuff told / shown to us in regards to train design/track design - including the tidbit as to why B&M designed the first of it's kind 7 across coaster trains for SFFT. oh. . and park President Jeffrey Siebert also shared with us how the coaster name was decided, and what the least favorite naming option was in the poll they sent out and why they didn't go with it. Yup. . if the poll results were different? this coaster really could have been named: "Hell Horse" really. might do more of a full report over on the "bert goes to Texas Theme Park" thread. . but still, wanted to share the upclose pics of the Construction from yesterday. Note: the supports that are gold color, will get an aged/rusting patina applied before the ride starts to go vertical.. . so the color will be slightly different on the supports. enjoy: hard to describe, but very sweet fruit based drink. . tasked kind of like Pineapple/Papaya to me:

^ think what you want, I really don't give a crap. enthusiasts. . . sheesh.

after leaving the Zoo ~3:15, I headed up I10 to SFFT (about a 15 minute drive). . and hit a TON of traffic at the Six Flags exit. I knew it would be crowded - the Holiday in the Park had just kicked off yesterday (tho the Holiday food festival didn't start for another week). . but I'd hoped that coming an hour + after opening, most of the gridlock would be done. Oh well, at least the Light at La Cantera/I10 was running the extended program, so only took three lights to get thru, and by 3:45 I was pulling into the SFFT parking lot. um. . yeah. . it's crowded: but what's this that I noticed as I was driving over to the parking side for "general parking"? why it's the staging area for the new 2022 coaster: Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger. with several pieces of track just hanging out. I walked over, and security came by in a little cart and I asked them if it was ok to take pictures thru/over the fence, and they gave me thumbs up and drove off. so here ya go! Looks like the 1st drop (and possibly the 2nd) as you can see where the "holding" brake is gonna stop the train over the drop prior to the dive. pretty cool, I thought. Pics of the new coaster track taken, I headed towards the front gates. . noticing this view of the park thru the Whitewater Bay section - a view I'd not really ever seen before. . so snapped a pic. and after going thru the front main gate/metal detectors. . noticed something else now missing. yup. the big row of ticket booths (that were still there during my visit on Halloween day)? now GONE I exchanged my printout for my new Platinum Season Pass at the gate (I was surprised, I thought I'd have to go to the Season Pass processing, but nope, they just handed me this at the gate): as expected, it's just the Platinum Membership card. . which will act as my 1-time pay Season Pass. I still had to go into the Season Pass building to activate my Dining Plan I had added. . but bypassed it for a moment to go into the main plaza and snap pics of some of the decorations (the line was non-existant anyways. . thank goodness I didn't have to go to the Membership line, as that was all the way around the outside of the building. . . at least they are keeping Season Pass Processing separated still - for the moment at least). plenty of roaming characters out and about (and yeah, I see the guy in the blue checking out the female elf's backside in this pic. . LOL). the male elf is adorable tho, innt he? several of the Looney Tunes were out in their holiday garb too. . but there was quite a line for them, so just settled for a pic from the side. the holiday shows were pretty active, although this show didn't start until 4:30, so they were just warming up when I snapped the picture. so I go into the Season Pass processing (no line at all), and the counter person tells me "oh, you don't need to do anything, you're activated" and I asked. . the dining is activated? that's stated on the print out that I need to go to Season Pass processing to activate - but he assures me it's on there, so I shrug (and keep the receipt just in case I need it for next time to prove) and ask. . . about how the "free sodas" I get with Platinum work? do I just show the card, and they give me the soda? and he says, "oh no, you have to go next door to membership, and get your refillable cup there" so yeah, I ended up having to stand ~35 minutes in a very slow moving line for the Membership help. . only to discover that once inside the building, they have a little kiosk where an employee is scanning cards, and handing out the cups (sigh). I wish they had advertised this SOMEPLACE. .as I was not the only person standing in that long line just to get a cup/replacement cup. but now I know for next time if I have to replace the cup / forget to bring it on a trip. and how nice, it declares I'm a Member (even tho I'm a Season Pass holder. . don't care tho, I'll take it!). it was pretty dang busy (expected), but the crowds seemed to be majority in the ride queues, and not really out in the walkways. so it gave an impression it wasn't too busy. it let me snap some nice pics of the Holiday in the Park decorations that had gone up tho. I decided I wanted to ride Daredevil Dive, since I don't often ride that, so headed over that way towards CrackAxle to get in the queue. passing by the old Sundance Theater: AKA the location of the new Coaster for 2022 to check out the progress. still mainly just dirt. . but looking good, and lots of space to put it now that they've demolished the theater (what you see in the background there is Lone Star Lil's - the big theater that backed up to Sundance) and I'm here. . and the line is long. but I wanted to ride (and didn't realize I get a 1 time skip the line pass with my Platinum Season Pass. . . I know now, so will use at some point) So I got in the line nice views of Iron Rattler from this queue..so the time goes pretty quickly. hmmm. . the ride doesn't appear to be raising any longer? (after I posted about this on FB, park President Jeffrey Siebert responded that they are awaiting a part from the manufacturer, and once they get that, the ride will once again go up to the top of the lift when operating). after about a 40 minute queueline wait, it was finally my turn to ride. . . we got in the assigned planes, the music swelled and the ride started to spin.. . and then there was a buzz, the music stopped, and the ride came to a stop and we were asked to de-plane and go back into the bull-pen. (as I teased on FB.. . "NOW it's a "six flags day"") apparently what caused the hard stop was that the ride attempted to go up, and they were not allowing it - since waiting for that part, I've since found out. . . so the operator had to hard stop. they started playing the announcement that the ride was down, and we were welcome to wait, but they didn't know how long it would be. I had waited in the line long enough, and didn't really have plans, so I stuck it out - chatting with the operators. . while we waited for Maintenance to come out and reset the ride. (aka: push the button). it took them about 25 minutes to show up (I'd guess they were either at lunch, or tied up elsewhere in the park).. so I killed the time in the "bullpen" taking pics of Iron Rattler. but eventually they reset, cycled the ride empty, and then we were allowed to board. i was in plane 6, which seems to be the one that does quite a few "whips" during the cycle. Love it, but was really glad I hadn't eaten lunch yet in the park.. .LOL. I was getting hungry tho. so decided to head over to Sangerfest Halle. . even tho I knew it was undergoing some refurb and the individual food lines were closed, they were offering some holiday options. the one that I was most interested in was the Tamales, tho once I got there. . this one is what caught my eye more: so I ended up with the Holiday meal. But didn't need no healthy Salad! so the kind ladies on the line told me I could get pie instead. . so I greedily got one of each offered. (to be honest, the Apple was much better). . but overall, this was a lot of food, and was very good. AND it was on the dining plan (which worked via my card, so I guess it really did get activated at the front gate when they scanned me in). some pics of the refurb going on in Sangerfest. . they are restoring it back to how it used to look for the park's 30th Anniversary in 2022 I believe. but thank goodness "Sweet Connie" is still here - for the moment at least. i love this hookah. I mean. . Sangerfest is right next to the Grand Carousel. . . like I'm NOT gonna ride it? Wonder Woman had just reopened after a brief refurb, so I headed that way to check it out. it was dark enough already from the overcast day that Poltergeist's lights were looking eerie. Having just eaten tho? I decided to bypass this today, even tho the line didn't look too bad - as opposed to everything else that had pretty decent lines. Nice decorations. .tho I think the park should have left up the graveyard here from Halloween. it would go well with Poltergeist's theming yeah. .when Batman has a line like this? it's a busy day. heading to Wonder Woman thru Rockville. . . the street ahead was already starting to get blocked off. . what was going on? oh. .it's the tree lighting that happens ~6:45, but before that is a show by the Sleigh Belles. I was early enough (about 30 minutes before the show) that I could end up right at the rope. . but it was already so busy I decided to just wait on Wondy, and stay for the show/lighting. tho had a great view of Supes (and Wondy) cycling while I was waiting. soon enough, the crowds really filled in, completely blocking the pathway (I was glad I was in the front, even if off to the side), so had a good view of the show. the idea behind it is that a Christmas show is broadcasting live from Fiesta, but all the "name" acts have cancelled during the show, and the Belles have to fill in and cover all the songs. (the lady with the mic is the "host" of the show being broadcast, so she's pretending to talk into a camera thruout. all the ladies have good to very good voices, so it's a lot of fun, and I expect I'll watch it again on Saturday when I'm back in the park again. Sleigh Belle butts and Wonder Woman on the drop (hands up!) they pushed the button, and nothing lit up. . . perhaps we don't have enough Christmas Spirit yet? let's bring out some folks who can help with getting us in the spirit! Looney Tunes, and stilt walkers (who handed out candy) and Santa (on the top of Rockville High) Here we go. . . we have enough Christmas cheer to light up the tree!!! beautiful. and lots of fireworks too! usually at this point in the show, the street is covered with "snow" that blows down from the tops of the buildings on the street. for some reason, we didn't get that tonight. . . either something was down and they couldn't do it? or maybe they don't do the "snow" on Sunday nights? regardless, it still looks great over here, even without tons of stuff falling on the crowds from the rooftops. the show ended, and I TOTALLY forgot about riding Wonder Woman. . after an exhausting two days in San Antonio, I was getting tired, and still had to drive home to Austin. so I headed towards the front gates. yes, grand total of ~4 hours in the park was two rides (DareDevil Dive & Carousel), a big meal, a good show/tree lighting, and getting my Platinum Pass activated. but I accomplished what I wanted to do at SFFT today, so I was ok to head home. dang. . Poltergeist's new sign looks AMAZING at night. and the park looks beautiful with all the lights up. the lights even make a crap-tastic Boomerang look beautiful! it was dark enough, the walk thru presents in the main plaza were looking fantastic: on my way out, I realized I never snapped a pic on the way in. oh well. . it looks prettier at night. Happy Holidays all! hope you enjoyed my TR from the visit the other week to San Antonio parks! I'm back at SFFT this Saturday for another event, "Feliz Fiesta". . with heavy emphasis on the Park's Christmas Show offerings. . I'll bet I'll take pics from those too.. . LOL.. so might be another update coming relatively soon. but for now? thanks for reading my Trip Report! bert

Dude - I've been going to this park for decades, and know what used to be there. It's sitting where the picnic tables & Shuttlebus dropoff (which they haven't used in YEARS) used to be. *outside the main gates* here's a map from 2007 the year before it came from SFNO - it replaced the tram turnaround, the front Picnic tables, and several rows of parking. . (note: the picnic grove behind it is still there behind it - used for special events) it's a parking lot coaster.

^ you're too fast for me..I was updating commentary. . . LOL

More zoo.. . still in Africa section: the Elephants were all out, and were pretty active today too and just up the pathway? FEEEEEED MEEEEEEEEE the San Antonio Zoo has gotten in on the trend of places charging for every possible extra. . so yeah, you can feed the Elephants, or fish, or Birds, or Giraffes (if you pay extra) or walk with the flamingos, or kangaroos, or take behind the scenes tours. . if you pay. i TOTALLY get that they are raising additional cash this way, and good on them. but is sucks that things like the Giraffe Enclosure - that used to let you get up pretty close to that barrier, no longer lets you do that - unless you want to pay to feed them lettuce. oh well, still got some pretty good pictures. the Giraffe Enclosure also has Zebras and some Emus in it. . some of those guys just don't wanna deal with people, and preferred to hang out towards the back of the enclosure eating the provided food, instead of having to intermingle with HUMANS to get it: the Emu was hiding underneath the platform. .but can still see them from certain angles More of that really nice artwork that's around the San Antonio Zoo.. this one just outside the Rhino enclosure who were also all out and about. . .and eating. They must have just done a feeding after the zoo opened. these were put up for the Zoo Lights. . so temporary art. but love the signs warning the kids to keep off "Santa's Watching". . . . LOL and a Rhino that also lights up Warthogs recall I noted that one can really tell where the "old zoo" starts and the "new zoo" ends? yeah. . getting over into the older zoo section now with the old skool enclosures: for some reason, this display wasn't near the Giraffes. .but was in front of the Lion enclosure. I thought Lions didn't tend to go after Giraffes since they are so big? the Giant Anteater was actually out. think it's the first time I've ever seen him! I saw these suckers in Japan. .they are MEAN. and they look mean! just look at those claws. amusingly. . as so many of the animals that are never active were active today? the big cats - that usually are prowling - were sleeping, and kinda hidden, today. here's the Lions: and here's the Tiger - hanging out in the hammock even the Kangaroos were kinda lazy this afternoon. tho the Porcupines were quite active yeah. . older section of the zoos.. but at least this enclosure seems to be getting a bit of love. (some of them have sat empty for years, and one of them even just has a giant tree in it) how does *this* bear measure up? hahahaha. .that sad enclosure that I just mentioned that only has a tree in it? they "festive-ed" it up, by putting lights on it, and a snowman! HA! again, the enclosures in the "older" section of the zoo, can be a little bit depressing. but I guess Fish (and birds) that tend to be over in this section, don't really care. Mean. . . so mean. and just waiting for a small child to fall lin. another "repurposed" empty enclosure. HO HO HO way way back at the very end of a dead end. . is the Kangaroo encounter (no feeding tho). the zoo put this big Kanga at the end of the main path to at least draw people over, so they would see what's over there. it worked for me. . even if I didn't bother with the paid "Encounter" [Kennywood] Turrrrrrrr-tullllllllllle [/Kennywood] wow. . BOTH Eagles were out. one perched: and one on the ground eating what looked like a dead mouse: moving out of the older section back into the newer areas as I make my way around the zoo. . ther really are some lovely areas. think this is an older part still tho.. as it's not ADA compliant, and several sections of this path were closed-off and way overgrown. but you can get some nice pics from this "bridge" another one of those huge "I'm not scared of humans" Black Squirrels I'd held it off long enough.. time for a ride on the Zoo Carousel. Strangely, NOT called the "Conservation Carousel" here. I wonder if the National Zoo Association knows they broke precedent? at only $3 a ride, it's a fairly good deal. I had really wanted to ride the Eagle. . but once I got to it, I quickly realized that any adult is gonna have an issue. . as the way they did the wings? there's no place for one's legs to go! so I settled for the Tree Frog next to the Eagle. Whee! It really is quite lovely. . if not the greatest Carousel I've ever been on. Still. .it's a nice one. and a *really* nice job on the animals/reptiles on it. it was getting past 2pm by this point, and SFFT had opened at 2. . so I headed over to the last sections of the Zoo I'd not yet been to - mainly Amphibia, for the frogs/creatures. and they had this area all done up for the Zoo Lights with a few displays up. " so I stopped in front of a few of the decorated trees/backgrounds that I liked for some selfies. it was so quiet over here, I took my mask off for the pics. (this area is really sorta hidden off the main pathway around the zoo, since the Kiddie Amusement area cuts it off from the front gates of the zoo) as noted. .it's really sorta hidden back here. So imagine my surprise when I realized that over here is where they had put Santa and "Twinkle Penguin the Elf" for photos. Twinkle saw me taking pics and called/waved me over to them. She said "So what would you like for Christmas?" and I responded: "Well, I'm Jewish, and Chanukah starts soon. . so what I'd really like for Chanukah is a free photo with you and Santa on my phone, instead of paying for a picture" She and Santa both laughed. . and: Ta-Da! there was no one else around, so I hung out and talked to them for a few minutes - she liked my shirt, and my hair.. and we just BSed until some families showed up to purchase photos - at which point I took a quick pic of them, and went on into the Amphibia display. not sure what kind of sea-snakes these are. .but they freaked me out. NOPE Big, ol, fat, frog. there's a nice play area out back over here with some lovely mosaics too. Some small animal enclosures. .but I think they might rent this area out (including the lawn where the trees were) for events. and the upcharge Camel rides are back here too: [Kennywood] Turrrrrrrr-tullllllllllle [/Kennywood] although it's a GIANT TURRRRRRR-TULLLLLLLE lots of Turtles here. . . awww. . poor baby! but so cute. walking back around to the Jaguars before heading out, I wanted to see if they had come down from the Bridge. and at least one of them had, to ground level. . and was pacing: headed to the front gates to go over to Fiesta. . and what's this? a walk around Rhino? dressed as an Elf? hmmm. . should I get in line and wait for a picture? please - do you know me at ALL? of course I did! the Carousel in the kiddie park, as seen from the pathway to the front gates exit. it will shock you perhaps that I didn't bother with it. but I know that 1) it's a crappy carousel, very small and the animals aren't in great shape & 2) they have a weight limit for riders, and I am too heavy. remember, it's the kiddie park.. the rides really ARE kiddie rides. So I just took a picture as I walked by it. but right by the exit, they did have one of the most animated Dinos. . who roared, and gnashed his teeth. So took a pic with him (and you can see it was overcast enough that the lights actually had come on). worth a trip.. we did the Zoo lights a few years ago, and they were lovely. Rarrrrrrr! and with that, I headed out, and drove over to SFFT to pick up my brand new Platinum Season Pass and spend some time there before heading back home to Austin. SFFT coming up next. . with pics of the pieces of Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger.

got up early-ish, and tho check out at the hotel wasn't until Noon, I knew the zoo opened at Noon and wanted to get there early, so headed out from the hotel by 11:15, and was pulling into the newish (and free) zoo parking garage by 11:30. this garage is great! It's a little bit further than parking at the Train Depot (but that lot is crazy to get out of because it's close to the zoo entrance and the kiddie amusement rides) - but this is up the hill and it's easy / peasy to get back to I10 (where I'd need to go to get back to SFFT - about 20 minutes away - later) Nick could have never made it up the hill after going around the zoo . . heck, he couldn't have made it down the hill and I would have had to get into the traffic to drop him off. But since was solo, chose the garage. which as noted is free during zoo hours and weekends. walking to the zoo entrance from the garage, there are lots of service pipes - that the Zoo has "arted" up.. . most of them are snakes, but this Elephant was so well done I had to grab a pic: oh my. . it's a little crowded today. This is the line for members and those who had prebought tix (thanks Groupon! I got mine online the day before. Saved $4 and let me bypass the gigantic line outside the main ticket booths that stretched all the way down the street). but yeah.. crowded enough the mask went on almost right away, even tho I was outside. I think because it was such an overcast day, that brought out the crowds - because sure enough, all the animals that normally would be "hiding" from the Noon sun? almost all were out and about. LOL.. even tho the big draw is the "Zoo Lights" - presented by Whataburger!!! (which I didn't really get to see, because I headed to Fiesta by 3pm.. tho it was overcast enough lots were on anyways). . they still had the Dinosaur displays thruout the park. Some of the Dinosaurs are animatronic - with limited movement - although no one was staffing *any* of the photo opportunities with the Dinos (they were instead staffing the photo ops with Santa, snow globes, Christmasy stuff). Still. . it was amusing the Dino is still at the entrance sign and thruout the zoo. a bear with the Bears: which, as I noted. . were out, because it was so overcast. I can relate dude. . I was exhausted from yesterday too. big boy out laying under the heatlamps is it wrong that I really want to paint his toenails hot pink? all the outdoor animals are pretty active today, thanks to it being cooler than typical for Texas. ooooo. . I love these tacky-ass things! These machines are all over the park, usually tied to whatever animal exhibit they are close to. and at $3, not too bad (tho I remember when they were $1). these are just outside the Reptile House. . .but they've already been swapped out from the Snakes/Lizards (or what I suspect was Dinosaurs) to reflect the Holiday stuff most folks pouring into the Zoo bypass the Reptile House because it's right at the entrance/exit, and they figure they'll hit it from the exit side on their way out. I peeked in and saw it was completely empty, so went in right away - better to be in a small, really small, building without 100 other people with Covid floating around - yes, even tho I'm vaxxed/boosted AND wearing a mask. No reason to put myself in a situation like that. worked out in my favor anyways, as with the zoo just opened, and no little kids tapping on the glass? almost all the snakes and lizards were hanging out near the front of their exhibits. well. .the King Cobra was hiding. .but she most often seems to be. She's back there tho, sorta in the open: [Kennywood] TURRRRRRR-TLLLLLEEEEEEE [/Kennywood] this guy is only found in Japan. sigh. . I miss Japan.. can't wait to get to go back! so rare to see almost all of the snakes out in full view! I really lucked out in this visit. Little dude just hanging out at the front window Not sure what this was. . think it's a BobCat. .it was pacing like crazy, and was so pretty. took about a dozen pics to get a couple that weren't blurry. this guy too was pacing/prowling so the San Antonio Zoo has a sense of humor too. in the "Darkroom" exhibit - that has a display with HUNDREDS of bats (the window was misted up from the humidity, so didnt' take a pic), the only other exhibit in there is: a Chupacabra. no. . really : HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!! the San Antonio Zoo really is a beautiful Zoo. Tho you can totally tell the older, classic, zoo from the newer parts - this is one of the newer sections. Just lovely. (and yes, that's the zoo's carousel. . I'll get to that later after I loop all the way around) don't forget - sponsored by Whataburger! the newest thing they built is a Jaguar walk. .that goes over the walkway between the two halves of the Jaguar enclosure (on either side of the human pathway). They mostly seemed to be hanging out there sitting. . but they were a little more active when I came back by later. Still pretty neat to walk right under them. these HUGE squirrels have no fear. just rooting thru the flower beds, digging holes. dont' care about the hundreds of humans walking by. one of my favorite sections of the zoo: Africa Live. oh. and an inflatable Whataburger Bag says "Merry Christmas" while a lonely Dino hangs out in the background wondering "what about me? the kids don't wanna see me???" the San Antonio zoo has some great artwork/sculpture thruout as well. . . these metal Hippos are among my favorites. and I had to wait a good 10 minutes to get this picture (without unattended toddlers climbing all over them) of course the metal Hippos are just outside the Hippo Exhibit. yay! Hippos! (and yay! in a rarity at a zoo. . the hippos didn't poop while I was there looking at them. it's apparently my superpower, making hippos poop, since they seem to always do that in any zoo we go to, and then I have to wait for the water to clear up before I can take a picture). No poop today tho! the crock was just laying in the sunlamp enjoying an unattended Dino photo op? well. . the green screen does me no good. . but don't mind if I do! out of the "indoor" portion, and outside to the Africa pens . . . start to get into the bigger animals: well. .they can't *all* be Elephants out here to be continued. . .

it's been a crazy busy several days. . sorry. quick update on the Hotel stay overnight on Sat. Made it from SeaWorld to the hotel in less than 20 minutes, and what a difference a Marriott Towneplace Suites is from that shitshow a few weeks ago at Hilton Garden Inn. at the Marriott, my room was ready at check in. .they handed me keys the moment I walked in (~ 11pm), and the room was not only clean and comfortable? but it was HUGE (with a full size fridge, a working kitchen (including dishwasher, stovetop, and microwave, plates/glasses/utensils. . even a cutting board). I realize it's because this was a little closer to Medical Center than it was to Fiesta Texas (which was still only ~8 minutes away). . but this place was amazing - and the room was less than $100 for the night. the only downside was that I was only staying one night, as the grounds were lovely with a nice pool on site too. . . oh - AND a large, and varied *free* breakfast included in the lobby. this is absolutely my go to hotel for overnights in S.A. for SW or SFFT now. pics of the hotel now, but hopefully tomorrow will have TONS of pics from the zoo. hope you like seeing animals/reptiles

hopefully he's vaxxed and it will be a mild case. sucks y'all had to cancel

^ 1000% worth the visit to Vegas just to experience (in the order of show greatness: "O", "Love", "Mystere", "Ka" . . . then any of the other options, (I'm just not a Michael Jackson big fan, but I've heard "One" is fun). "Zumanity" seriously under impressed me, but I think maybe that shut down?

Alegria, Love, & O are my top 3 Circue soundtracks

^ supposedly added 4 new acts to it. . . so not exactly the same show

^ my favorite Cirque show. It just was playing in Houston - we passed the tents two weeks ago when in Houston visiting my Dad. enjoy. I've seen it 4 times.

if you follow Heightened Imagery on Facebook (he does drone photographs from Kings Island mainly, and it's a really cool page). he posted this yesterday: do they typically take the coaster down to the footers for routine maintenance? this looks to me like some replacement/retrack work is happening here, no?

^^ they refurbed the trains . .not just new wraps, but also new seats (so much cushion again!), and I do believe new wheels too. I commented in my trip report from Halloween how smoothly it was running - the best it has in years. (that picture is one of those "changing" portraits, that moves as you move. Did it not "work" for you? (it looks like it's mid-transformation in your pic). as to Wonder Woman - LOL. . .I actually forgot to ride it when I was there last weekend (got distracted by the tree-lighting/Jingle Belles show, and just never continued on to it. . .whoops!!!). I'll have that portion of my TR (in my "bert visits Texas Theme Parks" thread in the next few days - currently, it's only got the SeaWorld day up). So I can't compare how it's running, tho it had developed quite the rattle towards the back of the train. . . so I think they were trying to smooth portions of track out to address that. Still a clunk by the camera? hmmm. . you probably are right that it's hitting something. Glad you caught it on a quiet day tho!

SWSA day concluded: so walking back from the car, was able to get a picture of the big "tree" that SWSA has at the entrance to the parking lot. Unfortunately, the Parking lot lights caused my iPhone 11 to pick up a lot of extra, and kinda put it into "night mode" and washed them out a little. same issue with this one.. tho as I got away from the parking lot lights, the night shots got better. they're not kidding around when they say it's the largest amount of lights in Texas. I mean, this is still OUTSIDE the main gates. . so many lights, all along the outer fence of the park. and the "welcome gates" are impressive as hell at night: once you actually get into the park, it's even more impressive in places. this whole area was hosted by Coca-Cola, and had the Red/White colors and the Polar Bear inflatables (drinking cokes of course). . . and a pop up bar that was offering all kinds of Coke drinks with and without alcohol. since we had just finished eating, I didn't try anything else, sadly, but I expect will be back at some point in Dec, (since have a pass now) and will try some of them out then. walking towards the lagoon (we were headed for a night ride on Texas Stingray since we didnt' have any evening ERT on it, so were just gonna stand in line) is so dang impressive. there were multiple stages set up along the pathways, and all of the performers were excellent. I called these guys the "nudies". . since - tho it's clear in the pics they are wearing pink pants? . . . in person, they were more "flesh" colored. .and as we came upon them, I really did a double take, as they looked like they were naked from the waist down! (LOL). the "brass" Christmas Carols were lovely tho, and drew a pretty good crowd in the walkway. they didn't have the lights ON Journey to Atlantis itself (but the event had just opened, so maybe still to come?), but the entire fence around it (and trees within it) were wrapped and looked stunning: I was shocked that although the park had gotten really crowded (I think I heard someone at ERT saying over 20,000 came in after 5:30 when it got dark), the line for Texas Stingray was still only ~15 minutes - even with only 1 train. here's what the majority of the queue looked like: after our ride, Oren, Sean, Paige and myself continued around the Lagoon, to take in the lights, and enjoy the scenery: lovely angle. . my jowls really stand out but I loved how Oren tucked his long beard into his vest for our ride on Stingray.. and in this pic he hadn't' untucked it yet. . LOL another performer over by Rio Loco entrance - who was really quite good. . she sounded a lot like Jewel. we stood and listened to her for a little bit. and then noticed Santa was meeting/greeting just behind us. Didn't get in line for him, but once we noticed he was wearing Red Leather Chaps? (we decided they are assless chaps, to counteract the Texas heat).. well. . just HAD to get a picture ! We headed over to the penguins - which was open, tho the Puffin portion was dark .. past their bedtime, I guess) and the whole building is just DRIPPING with lights. It really looked amazing. . and all around the front of the exhibit there were a whole bunch of "themed" Snowmen - including these "Blues Brothers" and this darkly humorous "San Antonio Spurs" Snowman who tossed his head, and kept the ball. dark! over by Steel Eel, the area seemed to be themed to CandyLand..with a multicolored light up path, giant gumdrops. . and was very purple. looking at the show schedule, it looked like there was an Orca show at 8:30. . which was perfect, since park closed at 9, and ERT started then. so we cut thru Sesame Street Bay of Play to head to Orca stadium. cool. . the "trash trees" even have lights on them. . and appropriately, the lights on one of em don't work. at the Orca show, Paige was VERY concerned we were gonna get wet - as basically 2/3rds of the stadium is tagged as "Splash Zone". But I went by how wet the floor was, and simply kept moving until we got to a section where the floor was mostly dry, and we sat pretty far up. So tho she stressed about it, we didnt' get wet - tho a lot of folks did, as this show had the BIG Orcas out, and they certainly made quite the splash during the show. of the 3 "animal" shows we saw today, this one was the least adapted to the Holiday Lights spirit. . . . really, all they did was put Snowflake cutouts along the tank, and called it a day, and just did the standard show (as far as I could tell). which is fine, as the show is quite enjoyable - and educational. It's just not very Christmasy. here's pics from it - as noted. . the big un Orcas were out performing today: Feeeeeed meeeeeeee ! the show over, most everyone headed to the left towards the front gates. .but we (with our neon pink wristbands indicating part of the ACE event) headed right, and went to Wave Breaker to meet up, and start the hour ERT on WaveBreaker, Great White, and Steel Eel. this time when passing this hysterical tackiness tho, I stopped and took a pic. This is close to where Santa is. . and yes. . it's a "Boot Tree" HAHAHAHAHAHA Hi Santa! we went to get in line for WaveBreaker 1st, even tho I don't think it's a super exciting coaster. But since we were there for ERT, we were able to go wherever we wanted, and decided to head to the back row. ok. . the back absolutely makes a difference (as I suspect riding at night did). . but this felt WAY faster in the back. Heck, I lost my necklace on it.. just blew right off me! so I'll say, night ride in the very back? elevates this coaster to at least a 7. Oh, it's still a family coaster, but daytime in the front is a 4-5. . I found it much more fun at night in the back. (in this pic too, you can see the penguin house with all the "dripping" blue lights. . .so lovely) and a full moon too? ooooo. . we were told riding Steel Eel (or as I call it: "ow, my balls!") during a full moon will bring good luck. So we decided we'd head over there after this ride and we'd all ride it - as long as we rode in the front car. here comes the prior riders. . zoom zoom with 1 train ops, hard to stand by to wait for a pic with the train in it.. but here's Steel Eel cresting it's 2nd hill (I think) it turned out to be much more enjoyable towards the front - still plenty of floater air, but only ~1" off the seat (as opposed to towards the back where the floater air seems to be between 2-3"). . so the "coming down" didn't hurt near as much and was actually quite fun. it was getting close to 9:40, so we headed over to Great White, and grabbed an excellent front row ride. I think maybe because it had gotten a little chilly, maybe it was running whippier than usual? It certainly felt way more intense than my prior ride on it (during Halloween) had felt. Really running well. we were literally the only folks on the ride, so they let us stay, and Oren, Paige, and Sean headed to the back row for another ride. I used the excuse of "I'm old" and I was exhausted from the long day and all the walking, to sit that last ride out. But took a pic of it: and with that, our day at SeaWorld San Antonio was done. we thanks the SeaWorld staff on hand profusely (for sticking around for us to ride, and for hosting us all day), and we were directed the long way around the lagoon to head to the front gates. the benefit of staying an hour + after closing, was that unlike earlier? it was VERY easy to find our cars. (there were maybe 11 cars total in the lot.. LOL). and with that, I said my goodnights to my new friends, wished those driving home a safe journey, and I headed to 1604/I10 to find my hotel for the evening. crossing my fingers that I wouldn't have anything like the experience I had had at Hilton Garden Inn.. as this time I was staying at a Marriott Towne Suites near Medical Center. tho I had a bit of worry, as I'd never gotten my digital key from the app. Fingers crossed, I headed off into the Night towards my hotel for hopefully a good night's sleep, and then to the San Antonio Zoo in the morning, followed by Six Flags Fiesta Texas! to be continued. . . .

come to Atlanta for SFOG, and the *amazing* Atlanta Aquarium. . . plus several very good museums. but side trip to ride the new coaster for a couple of hours is probably worth it while there

I've started my Holiday Lights weekend in San Antonio trip report over in my "bert goes to Texas theme parks" thread. starting off with the ACE event at SeaWorld. I did all the rides, a couple of backstage tours of coasters, most of the shows, and had a great time. https://themeparkreview.com/forum/topic/45697-bert-goes-to-texas-theme-parks-mega-thread/page/8/#comment-1907121

SWSA continued: after dropping off Sean at the hardhat tour, we continued on to the Beluga Show - only to discover we had missed that too during our delay on Wave Breaker but, we saw "Clyde & Seamore's Countdown to Christmas" was showing in about 30 minutes, so headed over that way to Sea Lion stadium. along the way tho, we passed Bumble who was out doing meet and greet . and of COURSE I'm a photo-op whore, so we hopped in line (gently dragging Oren & Paige with me, but they didn't protest too much): and an Elf out on the pathway being super cheerful also got stopped for a photo on the way to the stadium. the live entertainment thruout the park was quite good, with an excellent level of talent, and man these ladies had great voices too. Mariachi Christmas Carols for the win! I had missed the SeaLion show on my prior visit to SeaWorld SA, so had no idea what to expect. I mean, I knew it would be cheesy as all hell (which it was - even including a mime!!!), but I wasn't expecting the humor to skew a little "dark" - TWO jokes about death (including a melted Frosty being dumped back into the main tank) and vomit joke about getting car-sick rushing to the mall. Lots of slapstick with the mime and a female elf. the show is about Clyde and SeaMore getting SWSA ready for Santa to visit, and checking things off their list they need to do in order to get Santa to come visit. but it was cute, and a nice use of ~25 minutes. the otter is ADORBS! (even if he seemed to have no idea what was going on, and just did it for the treat) it was quite a full crowd, but once the show was over, pretty much everyone went next door to the habitat to look at the Sea Lions sunning on the rocks (something Paige and I had peeked at on Halloween, but the area was closed and we were shooed away (politely) at that time). lots of folks buying the cups of food to feed them tho. . . we were close to the front gates, so I split off to go to guest services to upgrade my day ticket to a season pass. it was very easy to do, tho "odd" in that "the machine is still broken" so my 1 year pass - good for 1 year from the date I purchased, since SWSA is a year round park - is a little piece of paper that I hope I don't tear or rip in the next 12 months. (Maybe I should go get it laminated?) then I headed back to go meet up with Paige/Oren over by the meet & greet (since Paige is friends with someone in the costumes and was gonna visit) . More stilts! yay!!! bet this is gonna look great once it gets dark! another look at the imposing Tidal Surge. This ride is gonna be great! found Paige, but before we left, I had to get in line for another pic, since Rudolf (red nose included), and Clarice were out! and just before we headed out to grab a ride on the Carousel (we had time before the 2nd attempt at the Beluga show), Bumble came back out. .so I took the opportunity for a solo pic - LURVE him: be-still my heart! going into Sesame Street "Bay of Play" we passsed these that caught my eye. are these. . .. . Christmas trees made out of trash? YES.. what an awesome touch, that if you weren't paying attention to, could easily walk past without noticing. . LOL Hi Oscar! tho I love me a photo op? the line for this group was way too long than I was willing to wait in (especially since it was almost all parent with tiny kids. . I mean, it's Sesame Street, I get it. .the right audience was in line for pics). So I just settled for a walk by picture. then onto the Carousel - which despite the crowd levels in the Sesame Street area, was only a 1 cycle wait. Carousel credit received, we headed over to Beluga Stadium to meet up with Oren for the show: "A Beluga Christmas" this one was a reach, because there really wasn't anything Christmasy about it, other than the tree banners on the backdrop, and it looked like someone when to Home Depot and bought some colored trees to put on either side of the stage. the music was sorta/kinda holiday themed, if you strained to hear it in there. . but really it was pretty much the standard show, I would say, with Belugas and Dolphins. which isn't a bad thing, I really enjoyed it. these Pacific White Sided Dolphins really get some height, and speed. Belugas! awwww. . a Momma and her calf. adorable LOL. . looks like it's jumping the logo from this angle by the time the show ended, it was just ~ an hour until dinner. Dinner was over in Discovery Point - which is outside the main gates of SeaWorld across the entrance plaza. But they have Bottle Nose Dolphin exhibit and a shark reef over there, so we decided to head that way a little early to check those out. there was an animal interaction tour going on, and they were feeding the bottlenose dolphins, as well as learning some of the training. and luckily we just happened to be in the perfect spot for when the trainer motioned them to jump: unfortunately the Shark Reef is closed at the moment as they are re-doing the floors in there, so we spent some time visiting with other ACE and TSU attendees, before heading into the underwater portion of the Dolphin exhibit. and then it was time for dinner: this time several different Pasta options/sauces, and a wonderful cinnamon/apple cobbler for desert. just the meals were well worth the cost of the event - not to mention that I was able to upgrade my admission into a Season Pass. I did NOT leave hungry I also won a gift bag at dinner with a small stuffed Shamu, a Coca-Cola Scarf, and an ornament. and found this (one of only 3 - of which I bought 2 of them) leftover from June "Pride" pins it's a Mega-Gay shark (if the rainbow teeth and glitter maw didn't give it away, they also put it on a rainbow backing to sell. . .LOL). too cute to pass up, so bought one for me, and one to have for a friend. then made the quick trip to the car to drop off the stuff and my hat/sunglasses, before heading back into the park proper to enjoy the lights, Orca show, & evening ERT. SWSA day to be concluded. . .

so the Ace event was all day at SeaWorld. . starting off with an early morning ERT on Texas Stingray and the two flats over there (a mini-Troika, and a mini pendulum). But check in was by 10:30am (park opening was 1pm). funny. . ~6 weeks ago, I hadn't been to this park in well over 25 years. This is now my 3rd time passing this sign since that time. 1st time I'm in "general parking". . .I parked by Sydney - who reminded me of Jabberjaw (and glad I paid attention. . finding my car after dinner to drop off the gift bag I had won in raffle (stuffed Shamu Toy, Coca-Cola scarf, and ornament) was a real . . . . adventure. but luckily I had the pic of Sydney to remind me where I parked! overcast, but not dark enough to trigger the lights - tho they would go on well before dark, as it stayed pretty overcast all day. ooo. . pretty. Aquatica towers over the main entrance area. when I upgraded my pass, they asked if I wanted "multi-park" so I could go in the summer. . but I'm just not a waterpark person. Still, it's impressive from the front gates area. oh, they have this big sign at the actual SW gate too. Hadn't noticed it on my prior visits, but since we were there so early, was easy to get a pic without so many in front of it. upon entering the park on our way back to Texas Stingray area for morning ERT, we passed all these cut out decorations by the lagoon. I knew they had Rudolf as a guest (and a priced character meal one could do with him), but I totally forgot that the island of Misfit Toys would be there too, if Rudolf was! Eeek!!!! so they've topped off Tidal Surge since my visit ~3 weeks ago. Wow.. the thing is really impressive in person now. it TOWERS over that part of the park. Only ~100 of us here for the event, so even with 1 train ops, still got multiple rides on Stingray during the morning ERT. (It's fun everywhere, but man, in the back seat this is an amazingly fun coaster) and I got to try out the test seat. Whee! our hour of ERT up, we headed back to the picnic area for Lunch - Hamburgers/hot dogs/chips, macaroni salad, & cookies. not sure how SW prepares their burger patties that makes them so good, but once again, this was an excellent burger patty! this is Paige, whom I ended up hanging around with most of the day at the event (and the mohawk just above me is Oren (and off to the left out of frame is Sean) whom we started talking to during lunch, and we also ended up hanging out with most of the day. at lunch we were able to sign up for "behind the scenes" tours if we wanted to.. so the four of us signed up for "Texas Stingray" & "Wave Breaker" - while Sean signed up for Tidal Surge Hardhat tour, and Batman (i mean Great White). "Behind the scenes" tour really meant we got to go to a restricted area and talk to the maintenance guys in the shed, and as them questions about the rides/trains. it was pretty cool, and we were able to get some "non-regular" pictures. and an answer as to why the coasters were 1 train ops - here's the other train for Texas Stingray, doing it's annual refurb. Not a whole lot of "extra" pieces available, but this was really the 1st time they'd taken a train apart since the ride is so new (per the Maintenance guy giving us the tour) but they do have an extra chain lift motor standing by just in case! some rally nice angles for pics from the behind the scenes: hidden behind the "secure" area. . and luckily not needed today! then we headed up the way to Wave Breaker, and into the Maintenance shed where we got an up close look at the Maintenance track for this launched coaster. Wave Breaker actually has 3 trains. but is running 1 train ops now: 1 train is in scheduled refurb maintenance, and 1 is being broken down to send to a sister SW park, as they're about to get a similar coaster (per the gentleman giving us the tour). these are the ones shipping off to another park. With a great view of the track & Steel Eel. Great White across the way - from the restricted area our tour guide offered (if we wanted) to go into the launch building - so of course we said yes: I chatted with this operator for a bit, and he was a great guy. I didn't realize they have cameras on every row during the pre-launch, and they look at every rider to make sure no cameras are coming out (he demonstrated how he can pick up the mic and shout out at certain riders to put away their phones). I didn't even notice anyone in the launch building on my prior rides! he's pretty well hidden. . LOL we also got to go outside along the 2nd launch and get some pretty cool pics from an angle most don't get to see: while waiting for Steel Eel's one train to come up the hill for a pic, I snapped a pic of Tidal Surge across the lagoon. here's Steel Eel! Sean had signed up for the Tidal Surge hard hat tour, but since we were at Wave Breaker, and the line was really short still, as the park had still opened, we convinced him to get in line with us to ride (which of course meant there was an issue, and we had to wait 20 minutes or so for it to cycle a few times before we got on it. we ended up getting a front row ride tho, so that was worth the wait: and then we rushed Sean over to the meet up point for the Tour (about 10 minutes late), while Oren, Paige, and myself headed to our first show of the day. to be continued with way more pics. . . .but here are two that Sean told me I could share from his Hard Hat tour, including a really interesting one of the compressors inside one of the "legs" to be continued. . .

^ that's a good deal tho. . and gives you access to all parks, and includes parking.

if you haven't yet seen this *amazing* ad by Norwegian Postal Service? sharing here. so well done, and beautiful

although I was just in San Antonio for Halloween at a Thrill Seekers United Event, I went back to San Antonio this past weekend for an ACE event at SeaWorld (the deal was just too good to pass up, since I'm an ACE member (joined for a year to ensure no issue at Coasterstock at Kings Island in July): Two meals, ERT on Stingray & two flats for hour before park opens, ERT on Steel Eel, Wave Breaker, Great White for an hour after park closes, and behind the scenes tours of the rides if so choose. plus get to see the opening weekend of the lights - with SWSA having the most lights up in Texas? so I went, and figured since staying the whole day, and I needed to activate my new Six Flags Fiesta Texas Platinum Season Pass, I'd stay over again (at a GREAT hotel this time with breakfast and checkout at noon). only problem was that SFFT didn't open until 2pm on Sunday - but they had also started their Holiday in the Park activities. . . .no issue tho? Groupon to the rescue (and a Noon opening) and I decided to go to the San Antonio Zoo for a few hours. so.. . trip report coming soon here, with TONS of pictures from SeaWorld San Antonio, San Antonio Zoo, and Six Flags Fiesta Texas. spoiler: I ended up upgrading my ticket to the SW event to a 2022 Season Pass (including parking!), and since I got the SFFT Platinum Pass now too? I suspect I'll be going to San Antonio a bit more often (as well as to other Six Flags parks since my Pass gets me into all of them - with the Dining Pass transferring with me to those other parks too). spoiler 2: of course, I rode the Carousels at all 3 places TR starting soonish here, hope y'all enjoy. SWSA: SA Zoo: SFFT:

Spent the weekend in San Antonio at SW, SFFT, and the zoo, and I'll be getting a trip report up in the next few days. but. . . a number of the track pieces for Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger have arrived at SFFT and are in the staging area in the parking lot - including what looks like the 1st and 2nd drop pieces (where the Dive Coaster holds before releasing). . so wanted to go ahead and share. as well as some "fresh" pics of the space where the coaster is going. enjoy!