prozach626

So are the Sea World parks really in a tailspin?

Yeah, that's pretty cool. Usually they seem to tuck all of that away.

So is it new, or old?

Is that going to make the park packed? That's my big 4-0 birthday and last night there.

Two days after I leave. Sweet.

It was large for a park like Holiday World.

You think it's possible to hit every coaster in a couple hours by myself with the express pass if I get there at park opening? I was thinking about briefly bailing on the family during a pool and rest day. I'm only interested in the roller coasters.

I'm not surprised. I always thought SFSTL would do a shitty job of keeping the effects working. I wasn't alone. People still love dark ride boat rides, like Monster Mansion. They're more and more unique. Refurbishing Scooby into something else could have possibly been less expensive and more reliable for the long haul. It wouldn't have to be a shooter and you can ditch the 42" height requirement for families. I preferred Castaway Kids much more. Keep it simple.

Same, except I told the bathroom attendant.

Trust the experts.

The 90's and 2000's were great for massive expansion of thrill rides and roller coasters, but there's a lot to appreciate from the modern day park experience. From my recollection, those were the days had more focus on quantity over quality. Parks seem to have an increased goal of immersion. There's less focus on jamming as many thrill rides into a park as possible, with more attention to placement and detail from an aesthetic standpoint. There are more junior rides that cater to families. Restaurants, bars, and even coffee shops have been added and vastly improved. I'm thankful that the industry has almost seemed to progress with my age and desires. Granted, my experience was limited. My home park was Six Flags Saint Louis, and I went to Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun once. We also had a trip to Disney. Splash Mountain (RIP from DEI death), Space Mountain, and Pirates of the Caribbean were pretty much all I can remember. I can't attest to quality parks such as Silver Dollar City, Hershey, and Cedar Point.

A lot of the areas look really charming. What a shame. Thanks for posting.

Don't fuck it up...

"Unwind" and "Soak up thrill" were used in the same sentence.

So, Cedar Point is getting a family boomerang next year?

I can tell from those track pieces that the coaster is forceless and shaky.

That trailer doesn't seem very intimidating for a large scale intense roller coaster.

Whatever we get, it will be named Joker.

That was for last Saturday. lol We ended up getting there at park opening. We processed out passes at the gate. The employee never said a word to us. Not one, despite taking our pictures and processing our passes while looking absolutely miserable. It was nuts. First impression of the year. We went straight to Rookie Racer to knock it out. When we were boarding, Eve didn't want to ride it. We skipped out. Nice. No dice for Cedar Point. I went to try Joker for the first time. The funhouse was closed off. Prior to entering the loading area, the ride op gave us brief instructions. His tone was that he hated his job and hated all of us. The loading cycle took somewhere between 5-10 minutes, with the restraints opening and closing several times. The ride itself was insane. The level of nervousness I experienced was on par with a sky screamer, wind seeker, and drop tower. Being on something with that much mass and power held on by a few bolts is unsettling. I could just picture being flung all the way into the parking lot to my doom. The cycle lasts forever. Joker is a top notch flat ride, but I can't say I enjoyed it. It's a thrill, for sure. We did Justice League. I can't remember if the main queue building had audio or not prior to this, but it did not this time. Cyborg was functioning and the area around him received spring cleaning. There are no more 3D glasses. The instructions still say to use them. All other effects were working well. I think this was the first time I actually saw Joker's gas cannon working properly. Eve enjoyed her first ride on it. I didn't ride Freeze, but I believe they were running one train and the middle car was closed off. It fooled me at first, since I thought the line was so low they were only sending partial trains. I was tempted to go get a quick ride, but after watching a few cycles I realized the car was closed off. Log flume was down. It was too cold to ride Thunder River. Shazam is something Eve will ride, so she and I hopped on that after a one cycle wait. We went to the kids area. She rode the airplane ride and her plane wouldn't elevate, just like a couple others. This is usually par for the course. Whoever designed the play structure and decided to put a solo bench there is sadistic. But, there were a lot of kids having fun. JB's maybe looked like it got a refresh. The front entrance and midway looked nice. There were flowers all around the fountain. There were a few characters out. We rode the Ferris Wheel, where we experienced the only nice employees in the few hours we were there. Crazy. Nothing else really stood out and everything looked fine. The parking lot was pretty full when we left, with people starting to park in the Hurricane Harbor parking lot. It was a fine day. We got Eve a silver pass, since it was the same price as a one day admission ticket, due to the Memorial Day Sale. Emily and I got our Gold season passes with the All Parks Add-On for the big 4-0 trip CP. The three of us are also tentatively planning on going to KI Tricks and Treats. We might go back to SFSTL later in the year if we have time, which is unlikely between our other trips planned and moving into a new house. Cheers.

^I may have dementia.....

Edit. Delete.

I hope they don't fix it, so I can read all of the comments of "We should be entitled to last rides!!"

Holy crap! Those attractions at the waterpark are massive! Concept art is getting really good.

Media day was yesterday. It's crazy sad how these things never get talked about it here, anymore. Ten years ago, there would have already been at least 10 nerds at media day posting hundreds of pictures and writing reviews. I miss them. There are a lot of youtubers out there with POV's. I'm sharing these clips, since they're from a news channel and not TPR competitors.

^Thanks for the input!