Rai Fox

Not sure if I understood this entirely. Is this a race all over DHS that's likely to be impacted by a lot of construction? Or are you suggesting the actual Tower of Terror's days might be numbered as well? I just can't see that happening. It's one of the biggest draws, usually has a huge line, and one of the only high thrill attractions at the park. The only attraction there I can think of being less likely to close would be the newly upgraded Star Tours. I don't make the decisions for the park, of course. Just hard for me to imagine anything happening to Tower of Terror. Sorry for confusion, I'm talking about the race itself. It's centered around DHS, and all that it offers. There's also a after race party that goes on until about 3-4 AM. They might have to re-route other RunDisney Races that usually go through DHS for a little bit as well. Ah, okay! Sorry. I'm not that familiar with the races, wasn't sure how construction in a park or loss of one particular ride would affect them.

Yes PLEASE! I hope someone from Disney is reading this!

Not sure if I understood this entirely. Is this a race all over DHS that's likely to be impacted by a lot of construction? Or are you suggesting the actual Tower of Terror's days might be numbered as well? I just can't see that happening. It's one of the biggest draws, usually has a huge line, and one of the only high thrill attractions at the park. The only attraction there I can think of being less likely to close would be the newly upgraded Star Tours. I don't make the decisions for the park, of course. Just hard for me to imagine anything happening to Tower of Terror.

She might not be a young girl anymore, but she's definitely still got it.

The spiders aren't bad. It's not one of the more graphic scenes. It's basically just big, static props of spiders, and "web" strands that you have to push through, IIRC. There's nothing really "in your face" or realistic.

Great report so far, I'm looking forward to watching the videos when I get home! I can't get enough Disney stuff now, getting myself so excited for my own trip in a couple weeks!

I finally made it out to Rye Playland this summer, and, gotta say, for me those bumper cars just about match Knoebels'. They don't have the weight and don't hit quite so hard, but they're incredibly fast and agile; you can fling them all over the oversized floor, actually put them into all sorts of powerslides, spin people out of control, and just really go crazy with them. Fairly long ride cycle, too. I'd pretty much go back there just for the bumper cars and Derby Racer.

At LC, Boulder Dash's operator was apparently willing to start a war Sunday night. "Loose objects of any kind are not allowed on Boulder Dash! Hats, glasses, bags, and cell phones should go in the blue and green bins before the ride, unless it is an iPhone! If you have an iPhone, put it in the brown bin where it belongs!" The brown bin would be the trash barrel next to the other bins. *I own an android device and an ios device - I am in NO way taking sides in this one! It was still amusing listening to the cheers and jeers from both sides every time he made that announcement. The same night, one of the actors from the Haunted Graveyard came up the exit ramp and got onto the ride in his costume without the people in the row in front of him noticing. As he left the station, he was pointing to the clueless people in front of him and grinning towards the ride ops. I wish I could have seen video of that ride..

...really!? I'm going to have to put this to the test...

Just got my time off approved from work after months of worrying I'd have to cancel, so I'll be there myself, just in time to catch the last day of the food and wine festival! Only one day to try so much food though...going to be almost impossible to choose, so I'm taking notes from everyone else here! The Hawaiian pork slider does look good... ...and I'm glad I won't -completely- miss the Maelstrom. That looks like my kind of drink! Not going to be easy to get much work done for the next few weeks now, can't think about much but Disney!. It's not my first trip there, but it'll be the first time I'll be staying in the restort (Old Key West), or eating at the major restaurants there, first time getting to try out the Magic Band, etc...so, just a little bit excited!

When it comes to drop rides, all the technology, engineering, and sheer size in the world, still can't beat the old school. Demon Drop @ Dorney Park

Great report and pics! I'm always glad to see positive reports from Dorney; I've had a great time every time I've been there the last few years, it just seems like such an underrated park to me. Talon's an amazing coaster, they've gone some really good flats, one of my favorite, completely out of control raft rides, and their operations always seem really good for a chain park. Shame you missed Demon Drop though, it's a high point of the park.

LED's a great, as everyone's said, but I do agree about the "look" of a lot of the rides using them now. The ultra-bright lights look great on some rides; perfect fit for wild high-intensity flat rides. Like you said, though, it just doesn't work for classic rides; it doesn't have the same feel at all. LED's can mimick that look convincingly though; they just aren't being used that way. So, LED's aren't going away, and there's no reason they should...but I'd love to see parks but them to better use, and keep the classic look, not just "how bright can we get?"

Actually, I might have to amend my last one. Kumba...or Boulder Dash, at night. Even better in the rain. That puts me back at that "which do I like better, wood or steel" roadblock, though...

Kumba. Definitely Kumba.

Yeah, I definitely understand their reasoning. I'm not 100% happy about it, but I'll just wait and see what happens with the new ride.

True, that just seems like it's at least centered around the country itself a little bit more. Personally, I'll miss the Maelstrom; I seem to be one of the rare few that actually liked it; but I did like Frozen, too, so I'll stay optimistic. I just want to see Disney decide what they're doing with the World Showcase in general, that's all.

You know, as much as I'm not a fan of the Frozen thing, it sounds better like that, with all of those rides, or something similar. I think it's just because, to me, the Frozen thing stands out, feels out of place, when it's the only "country" with a movie tie-in attraction. If they all had something like that...well, I'd still rather have seen the original idea for the world showcase work out...but it would certainly be better than doing nothing at all with it. A really crazy Alice in Wonderland ride like that would be pretty amazing, too.

Enterprise G2! Maybe give the Fly Away another chance, too?

If you're looking for night rides specifically, it's worth noting that the park is usually open later on Saturdays than Sundays. You'll get more after dark time then. Going during the haunted graveyard season is a great way to get night rides too, but not really to maximize your time in the park in general.

Simply because of the crowds in the waterpark. It's the only real waterpark in the area so it draws much bigger crowds than it can handle, and lines are painfully long if the weather's good. I have never been in SFNE's water park but would that not count as a real water park? Also wouldn't a new headliner coaster divert some crowds away from the water park for the time being? I just feel like they are leaving the amusement park side slighted. Correct me if i'm wrong. SFNE's water park is pretty good, but LC's management doesn't seem to feel that the two really compete for crowds. They're not that far apart, but LC's draws a lot of locals that won't go "all the way" to SFNE. (This is southern new england - an hour drive is a weekend trip!) That does seem odd to me, but I'm just repeating what I've been told by LC's GM and rides manager, and given how packed LC's water park gets, they seem to be right. Same goes for getting a new major ride on the "dry" side. I'd love to see it myself, but I don't get a vote on that, and the park really wants to expand the water park and make that a big draw. There will be a new coaster coming in soon, though, almost certainly. Whether it will be a headliner or not, I don't know; I'm not sure any standard spinning coaster, etc, is going to look particularly special next to Boulder Dash.

Simply because of the crowds in the waterpark. It's the only real waterpark in the area so it draws much bigger crowds than it can handle, and lines are painfully long if the weather's good.

2015 is more than likely going to continue the waterpark expansions, possibly the return of the Lake Plunge slides in their new location. The park knows the wet side is still too small for the crowds it brings in. The new coaster is coming, but I'm not expecting to see it next year; they've made it clear that the waterpark is their priority for now. On that note, when it does come may or may not be a spinner; while that was the plan for years, the park's GM said they had been discussing a few other possibilities as well, but wouldn't go into details - IIRC someone did ask about an El Loco and got a "can not confirm nor deny" sort of response, though that seems a bit of an unlikely fit for LC to me. 2nd tower on downtime isn't likely at all, it's not the kind of park that needs a multi-tower drop ride. Downtime is a decent tower but rarely draws huge lines as is.

No Knoebels, no Busch Gardens? Those are pretty big holes when it comes to an East Coast trip! Knoebels is skippable if you only want parks with lots of coasters (though missing Phoenix is nearly unforgivable), but Busch Gardens has some of the best coasters on the coast.

This looks amazing. I've spent the last couple months thinking I was going to miss this, only to re-check the dates recently and find out that I'll be there just in time for the last day of it. So excited now! And hungry...