prozach626

I thought the concern with cell phones was people losing them while trying to film some shitty social media video and not so much being loose articles falling out of pockets.

You forgot to mention riots. I'd say the only real draws for travelers out of what you mentioned would be Cardinals Baseball and The St. Louis Arch. No one from outside of the region comes to St. Louis as strictly a tourist. Six Flags St. Louis building a hyper coaster or B&M looper sure isn't going to bring anyone else in. Bottom line after all of the conversation: We're not getting sh*t but small additions. Learn to appreciate them.

I've come to believe it's more complex than that. Will they come in numbers enough to justify the expense of a massive ride over time? Will spending that kind of money at SFSTL get the same return as it will if that money is spent instead at Great America, Magic Mountain, or Great Adventure? Will SFSTL lose any money by staying on the same track it's on now? My guess is no to the first question and yes to the second. If you look at the chain as a whole the money seems like it's spent better elsewhere than SFSTL. Go with what is working. Go with what is safe. It's smart business.

What I meant is that a raptor clone is basically our best chance at anything significant. But, that chance is so small there's no reason to get our hopes up. Anything larger than a Wonder Woman just doesn't even seem like a possibility at this point. I'd never thought of it that way. I would imagine there will be special offers and possibly a few events for the anniversary.

Maybe it might have something to do with it being less overshadowed at a park like CW, vs CP.

Those are the exact reasons why I actually like The Boss, now. It's actually fun, because it's tolerable. No, dude. It's been said and proven so many times that parks don't budget around anniversary dates. If something big is announced, it will be purely coincidental. Either way, we won't get something large scale, because I really don't think it will matter in the long run, if we do. The best bone we could possibly be thrown is a Wonder Woman clone. Don't hold your breath.

Friday night for sure. There's so much to do at this park that even with FL+ you're going to be pushing it to get everything in.

Nice pictures at SFoG.

With near certainty, we will. We're just going to have to push it back.

Nice TR. I'm addicted to FL+ at KI. You get so much out of it. I'm glad you had a great visit. Unfortunately, it looks like Emily and I will be delayed for another week or so. We were supposed to go this Saturday, but she's been having sporadic back pain that keeps coming and going. It's a bummer.

^Nice! With the Fast Lane Plus and Fright Lane combo you're going to be able to ride everything you want as many times as you want. Is this your first trip to Carowinds?

Glad you had a good time. Nice picture.

That lift hill looks incredibly steep from that angle. Is it the same degree incline as the other dive machines that anyone has heard?

Two years ago the entrance was grid locked with cars trying to get into the park at about 1030pm... No joke. Everything is packed, but we still managed to do a couple haunted houses. We waited maybe 30 minutes. You just have to be selective and wait until after Scarowinds has been open for a couple hours before waiting for a Haunt. Like every haunt, people go rushing to every haunted house as soon as Scarowinds starts. We left for dinner and got to the park right when Scarowinds opened. We had to wait about 20 minutes to get through the parking entrance. We had to wait another ten minutes to park. We saw someone get contacted by security for slamming beers in their car prior to entering.............. It also took about 20 minutes to get through the entrance. There were several times where we waited 20 minutes to get a beer. The crowds actually made it pretty fun, though. Since the layout is so small there aren't many gaps between the roaming scare actors, scare zones, and haunts. It's not everyday you go to this park. Fast Lane Plus. We were on every ride within a few minutes. It allowed us to take our time and be selective about which haunted houses to hit. If you don't want to go that route, make sure to visit the park during the day. I think crowds were mostly light.

Let us know how your trip goes. Have a good time.

Kings Island, Carowinds, and Kings Dominion offer the best skip the line offerings I've ever experienced. You'll get your money's worth. Buy it immediately when you get into the park. It may not pull its weight as much during the first couple hours, but by the end of the night you'll know that you made a fantastic decision. We buy it on every visit.

Gotcha. I figured it was along those lines. Just something to consider in the future in case your plans get worse. I guess without little ones slowing us down things happen a lot quicker and are more convenient.

Thrill... I say this with absolutely zero hostility, but I seem to read consistent complaints about food operations from you. Why in the world don't you try alternatives to eating shitty park food and waiting all day for food? I'm telling you, Emily and I have nailed our formula of packing a cooler lunch and leaving for dinner. I know people say that taking a cooler on road trips over several days is a pain, but it's not. We bought about one bag of ice per day and drained the cooler once per day. That's also taking into account that we pack our cooler really healthy, so almost all of our food needs to be cooled.. Also, it seems to take way less time, or about the same, to leave for dinner. It might be cheaper as well if you get fast food, which is comparable to park food, if not better. Nice TR. I agree with you in that I enjoy Kings Island in the summer way more than CP.

Oh wow. We're already playing the name game... ffck my life

Back to King's Island for their Haunt.

AKA: <-- This guy. Nice report.

I highly doubt they would do that. Agreed, Bobby. This felt largely like a way to counter the fact that the Chocolate World experience is outside of the park. It always felt like a huge loss on the concession-side for the park the the most immersive part of the Hershey chocolate experience was outside of the park AND there was nothing really inside the park that was as comparable. I don't understand. People keep saying things like this as though there never was a restaurant, snack locations, or a shop outside the park, but hasn't there ALWAYS been a restaurant, snack locations, and a shop in that front area entrance that you have to pass by on the way to Chocolate World? It's not as though this new front entrance area is going to introduce things like a restaurant, shops and snack locations that are a new concept for Hersheypark, these things have ALWAYS been there, right? I look at it this way: it didn't matter if there were shops at the current entrance. Most people -- park attendees and people passing through the town, get their souvenirs at Hershey's Chocolate World. It is a destination anchor attraction unto itself. The gift shops within the park are not. You're right: the additions themselves are not remarkably different concepts. The point though is that this is re-branding and the PR will definitely make it seem as such (as you have already witnessed in the reaction). Why? Another way to think of it is that we all know many, even thrill seekers, would choose one (Chocolate World) over the other (Hershey Park) for the mere fact that I visit Hershey, PA for the chocolate experience. It was really a blunder that the brand (chocolate) became more identified with the attraction across the lot from the park rather than the park itself. It would be as if Legoland would build the largest LEGO Emporium in the country across the street from LEGOLAND Park (as you really would want Lego lovers to go to the park). If Coca-Cola had a park, I would expect the World of Coca-Cola to be within the all-day park experience not a separate attraction (even if I loves coasters, I would drive to experience coke. Hershey really is no exception). Destination tourist will pay for either, but stand to spend more money at the park rather than a mere store. I see this really as a re-branding (if I love chocolate, I should want to go the Hershey Park). Especially with locating the larger scale chocolatier confecture experience and the largest Hershey chocolate merchandising venue now within the park gates, as Chocolate World was previously host to both claims to fame in the country). This is a win-win all around for the Hershey Company. God damn... You love parenthesis.

I remember seeing the restaurant and it looked pretty drab in person. With the other great offerings at Hershey Lodge, we didn't even consider eating there. Hopefully this refresh will make any restaurants or shops look more appealing. I'm sure it will, as intended. Although the whole area looked 'quant' and 'nice,' it was easy to walk by all of the shops without even paying attention to them. They didn't do anything to draw us in. Aside from when we had to go to Dunken Donuts for hangover sandwiches and strong coffee... Although some people will be upset about the loss of the nostalgia, this seems to be a much needed refresh. For those who want nostalgia, Knoebels has it by the shit load and is not too far away. Hershey Park has different intentions of making money while pleasing guests. They do it well.