ytterbiumanalyst

Perfect, thank you!

So glad you got to go on the cave tour! I've pretty much made it my mission on this forum to encourage everyone who's coming this way to take the cave tour. One train ops are pretty standard this time of year, except on Saturdays. Our schools start early in this area (my kids started August 11th this year). They really pull back at that time and are more willing to accept short waits of about 15 minutes with one train ops. It's different from the peak summer season, where capacity is maximized. Even with only one train, though, it's an all-out hustle to dispatch that train as fast as possible. Cedar Point's the only other park I've been to with ride dispatches as good as SDC's.

I've been doing a lot of research in preparation for my post-WCB day at Disneyland, but I haven't found the answer to this question so far. If I take the monorail out to the marketplace for lunch, then take the monorail back in, how does that work for re-entry? Do I get a handstamp when getting on the monorail? When getting off? Do I show my ticket to get back in? Thanks.

I think it means it's getting a Guardians of the Galaxy re-theme.

A Disko is a great addition. It's not enough to get me back to St. Louis, since we have a Disko at Silver Dollar City, but for y'all in St. Louis, that thing's a ton of fun. This is yet another solid addition; it's not a coaster, but I've been impressed at the quality rides they'e been adding over the last several years. You'll enjoy this for sure.

I don't know about you, but I want that kid to know what that button does before they press it.

^ Yes, the woman running Outlaw was great! Probably the same one too. Como Park Zoo was great; the polar bear exhibit was the highlight for us. This wasn't a "credit run"--I don't really get into those. If I go someplace, I want to enjoy it. We spent most of the day at the zoo and had a good time. Maybe if I had an impulse coaster nearer to me, I wouldn't think as highly of them, but the closest ones are at Valleyfair!, Six Flags Great America, and Cedar Point, so they're still pretty special. I agree with you that Michigan's Adventure isn't really worth going back to as it is. I loved Shivering Timbers, and Grand Rapids and Wolverine Wildcat were pretty good too. The log flume was a highlight. Other than that, there wasn't much that stood out. But Valleyfair! is different. I'd go back there right now. Seriously, it's that much fun.

Most people do consider Riddlers to be the best of the stand up coasters, so it's a good first one. They're dropping like flies around the world though, so get one while you can. I think MM's will probably be around longer than most since people seem to have a higher opinion of it and MM presumably has no interest in another floorless coaster. Well, that's good news then. I am kind of seeing it as a "do it while you still can" thing. In the last decade, Chang, Iron Wolf, and Mantis have left. Those are the only ones that ever were within a reasonable distance of me, and I never got to ride any of them.

Fixed. And true, too! Agreed. I'm not taking a week off work and flying halfway across the country to complain. This will be my first TPR event that involves coaster riding (the only other event I've done so far has been a Goliath construction walkback in January 2014, which was awesome in itself). The Alveys don't half-ass things. WCB is going to be great. If you don't have a great time, that's on you. Laissez les bons manèges rouler!

Pink's is amazing. And I don't usually say that about a hot dog place that has ketchup anywhere in the building.

This is a pretty awesome trip! I've thought about doing a trip like this, with Vegas as a base, but going to all the national parks around that area. I don't have any interest in gambling. I went to a casino once in Kansas City, and the gambling part wasn't all that great to me. I spent most of the evening at their comedy club. I have a lot of interest in national parks, and this trip report is definitely fueling that. I'm glad you had a good time!

Fair enough! Yeah, that's kind of how I'm looking at it too. There are certainly rides I'm looking forward to riding, but if they're closed, so be it. That's happened to me enough it's not a huge deal.

Sorry, poor wording on my part. Any future issues notwithstanding, Green Lantern will be running for the event if you want to ride it. Me, I'll pass. I do want to try Riddler's Revenge, only because I've never been on a stand up coaster and I'd like to try one. I have heard they're not very good rides, but for me, an experience I haven't had is worth doing.

^^ So I hear. As I understand it, Apocalypse isn't a big loss, and I really dislike flipping rides, so I probably wouldn't have ridden X2 and Green Lantern anyway. I'm excited for Tatsu, Revolution, Superman, and Twisted Colossus the most.

I haven't ever been to Magic Mountain. Counting down the days. 12 more now!

You are correct. No double rides, but you can reserve as many times as you'd like. SFGAm has occasionally limited the number of rides Flash Pass holders can have in a day, but currently they do not. Enjoy!

That is cool, and not too surprising. From Great America's Sky Trek tower, you can see downtown Chicago over 40 miles away.

Four minutes. Admit it, you're Beetlejuice!

So happy for you! Cedar point is such an amazing place, the sort of place you never want to leave. Have a great time!

Though I don't know for sure, I would think that it would fall under Paula's job description to be in charge of the announcement, and since she's in charge of the podcast, too, I would think it likely we would hear on the podcast. But since Paula lurks on these forums, we might let her say for sure. Paula, do you have anything you're able to say at the moment?

Our plan of attack was Monster first, then waterpark, then whatever we felt like. Really, all the rides, including Monster, are low capacity, but attendance isn't super high, so you won't wait too long for anything. Only Monster and the rapids ride had any appreciable wait at all, and you pretty much expect that. We chose the waterpark early because I heard it hits capacity sometimes, but that was a month ago, and demand for it is surely different now than it was then. As far as food goes, the food court near the rapids ride is the best place. They've got just about every style there, and it's all pretty good. I didn't think Dragon was that bad, really. We just picked the row with the shortest line--I don't even remember which one it was, but it was somewhere in the middle--and I didn't experience any pain to speak of. A bit of roughness, but not actually painful. Since you're from Minnesota, I'd say it's comparable to Valleyfair's Corkscrew in roughness, if that helps you decide.

Nice trip report so far! Seems really fast paced, but that's a great collection of parks. Looking foward to seeing your take on the Missouri parks.

Thanks, Bill! I always enjoy reading the PNE fair coverage. We don't have a great local fair where I live. I totally approve of deep fried coffee.

You mean, "The awesome tunnel of vinyl siding!" The very same. It was the vinyliest! I don't think the negativity is directed at VF, it is more directed at CF and their smaller park investment since the Paramount takeover. Yeah, that sounds like splitting hairs. The point is that if you read this forum, you'd think Valleyfair! is a hellhole, and it's not. It's a really fun place. After having visited, I say that's a fantastic idea. It's a long way from front to back, and having a second gate on the west end would be very nice. Except that you haven't been waiting that long. You have a modern steel looping coaster in SpongeBob. I've been reading the Valleyfair! thread a lot the last few months, and it's a lot of complaining and choosing things to ignore in order to prove a point about how you're so neglected, whatever that means. And before you say "You don't know our pain!"--I've got Worlds of Fun close to me, which is in pretty much the same position. I see them improving things year over year, and I'm really not itching for a new coaster. If they get one, it'd be awesome. But they don't have to; the park keeps getting better with the little stuff. Valleyfair's coasters are not its problem; they're great. When I left, I did not think at all, "You know what my day lacked? More roller coasters." What I thought was "That was really fun! Too bad there wasn't very much for the kids to do in the waterpark." I'm not one to completely fawn over any place, nor do I completely bash it. There are places that seem to me to be more bad than good--Mount Olympus notably--and so I just don't go to them. This is now the second time in three years I've been near it, and could have gone, but I didn't, because I didn't think it would be fun. Valleyfair! isn't like that. It's fun. Sure, it could be more fun, and that would be awesome, but overall it's really good, and definitely worth the nearly $200 it took to go, once you add up all the meals and fluffy bunny rentals and everything. We got our money's worth in entertainment and got to spend time as a family, and that's the important thing. You're welcome! I had a good time!

There are no seatbelts on the new carousel at Worlds of Fun.