ytterbiumanalyst

Because it deserves to be! This report captures the spirit of the two parks. A lot of reports I see are just "and now we see this coaster slightly to the left of the previous picture." I love that you've shown a lot of the scenery and theming, the restaurants, the other stuff that makes a park a theme park and not just coasters in a field.

Crow

And I am now listening to Chemical Brothers. I was listening to "Vanishing Point" by New Order.

Granted, but it's sold out for the next six months. I wish for the weekend to start!

Don't bother with Boomerang. Spinning Dragons' main audience is young children below 48", and they won't be out on Friday night. I'd start with Prowler, then go to Patriot (might do Spinning Dragons while you're over there), then move around to Timber Wolf and finish with Mamba. The focus will be on the haunts, though, so you may not need any real strategy on the coasters. Just ride them while you're in the area for a haunt. If you don't care about haunts, then you can do as you please.

Right. It doesn't make a lot of sense. In the US we have separate medical and dental insurance, and they're different policies and often different companies. I don't know the difference between dental surgery and oral surgery, and I doubt a lot of people do. When I had my wisdom teeth removed a few years ago (they grew in sideways, literally sideways), that was called oral surgery and billed to my medical insurance, not dental. So I get the frustration, even if you do have it so much better.

Daniel Radcliffe

Yes, a lot of my favourite bands are from the 80s: U2, Depeche Mode, R.E.M., Joy Division/New Order, the Cure. I could go on. Do you order everything with pumpkin spice this time of year?

I agree with the timer, but it seems to me that challenges more often result in calls upheld than overturned. I don't think it's so much a matter of being right as there being enough video evidence to overturn the ruling on the field. The challenge system basically is biased toward the umpires.

Craft breweries and theme parks are my two favourite places. Craft beer IN a theme park is awesomeness on a whole new scale. Yeah, if I lived anywhere on the East Coast that'd be an annual visit at least.

For Throwback Thursday, "Orange Crush" - R.E.M.

Make no mistake... they have a sh*t ton (and I mean a sh*t ton) of beer from all over the world. That was the only beer I had all day that I could actually pronounce the name of. Generally almost every food stand in the park has beer and wine, if they have a tap system they usually have a great selection but the smaller ones usually just have a few Budweiser products and one red and white wine bottle. That is very good news indeed.

Busch Gardens looks amazing. I've heard very good things from just about everyone. Interesting that they're still sticking with Budweiser only, even though it's no longer an AB property. If the atmosphere is similar to Grant's Farm in St. Louis (which is still owned by InBev), but with roller coasters, it will absolutely be worth a visit. Glad you all had a good time!

I think that's a consequence of each team only getting one challenge per game. You want to be sure you've got a good shot before you appeal. I think football has 3 per game? Something like that at least.

They built Lightning Run and Storm Chaser. I'm not really worried about height restrictions.

^ I'm totally on the bandwagon of having replays. I like the way MLB has taken it cautiously and introduced it in more situations year after year. They've started stating the results of the review clearly, and have generally had better transparency when the decisions are made (upholding a decision because they agree with the call made v. they just couldn't see well enough to clearly know whether the call was valid). It's a learning process. Baseball was very late in implementing replays, and I feel like they've really thought through how they're going to use it. I don't think I'd want it to be used on any ball/strike call, just because that would dramatically slow down the game and really interrupt someone's at bat, but if it's a matter of being called out or not, I could see it. Really, though, they just need to clarify the check swing rule. Officially, it's not a matter of whether the bat crosses the front of the plate; that's just a rule of thumb a lot of umpires use. Officially the measure used is "intent to swing," whatever the hell that means. I'd love if they'd just change the rule to officially be the bat crossing the front of the plate equals a swing. It'd make things a lot simpler for everyone.

Elections have consequences.

This. Very much this. I really don't have any serious complaints about any of the rest of their coasters.

I've noticed that too. The main bit of work I've see is where the old Top Eliminator Dragsters used to be. I can't wait to see what they add! My guess is that spot looks perfect for a Zamperla 'Disk’O Coaster'. About the right size and shape of land. They could count it as a coaster (ugh) which bumps their coaster count. Interesting thought. Those Disko coasters are fun. Kings Island has one, and Holiday World doesn't, which is honestly an advantage in KK's favour. They're never going to be as big as KI, so they're going to stay focused on HW, and gaining an edge on them in the thrill ride category can help keep some Louisvillians in town. I know I am going to get backlash for this but me and my wife much much prefer KK over HW. A disco would make there already better flat ride selection even better! How dare you have a different opinion? Preposterous! In all honesty, I like HW better, but I like both of them a lot. Last year I went to HW but not KK. This year I did the opposite, and next year I'm going to try to go them both. I think you can't go wrong, whichever one you choose. Never say never. SFSTL vs Holiday World. Rewind 15 years. Then, envision 15 years into the future. I'm not trying to start an argument. Just something to think about. That's a fair point. They are growing quite fast and acting like they absolutely want to compete with HW and KI. Lightning Run and Storm Chaser are absolutely players. Add to that a killer waterpark, a well themed rapids ride, and a bunch of good flats, and it's hard to argue against them.

I've noticed that too. The main bit of work I've see is where the old Top Eliminator Dragsters used to be. I can't wait to see what they add! My guess is that spot looks perfect for a Zamperla 'Disk’O Coaster'. About the right size and shape of land. They could count it as a coaster (ugh) which bumps their coaster count. Interesting thought. Those Disko coasters are fun. Kings Island has one, and Holiday World doesn't, which is honestly an advantage in KK's favour. They're never going to be as big as KI, so they're going to stay focused on HW, and gaining an edge on them in the thrill ride category can help keep some Louisvillians in town.

It's not just Cedar Fair either. You know what Silver Dollar City got for their 50th in 2010? Tom and Huck's River Blast--that was delayed from its intended opening date of 2009. Parks do not build things because it's an anniversary year. They build things because it's time to build things. Whether that happens to fall on an anniversary has no bearing on it.

Baseball purists are the ACErs of the sports world.

I'm okay with skipping it. Let's go with the Joker Inc.: