cookiex

The alligator is a lot smaller than the concept art suggested it would be, but then again concept art rarely reflects reality. Weird that they're choosing to open the ride with such an obviously unfinished animatronic though.

New luxury hotel announced, construction to begin in 2018. http://www.ocregister.com/articles/hotel-718500-disneyland-city.html

I was drafting plans for going up there maybe the week after opening (along with Gröna Lund) but hearing this I should probably hold off until it's made certain that Wildfire will open on time.

Hasn't gone vertical yet unfortunately. The park seems to have had its hands full with Hanse-Flieger and Kärnan.

Hanse-Flieger is nearing completion

I did notice last weekend that they used a lot of chlorine in their waters, so much so that every lake in the park smelled more like a backyard swimming pool.

Silver Star at Europa Park

Silver Star at Europa Park

Apparently the head of the Wanda group thinks Shanghai Disney is destined for failure calling it a "lone tiger" that's no match for "a pack of wolves" (referring to their own parks), which is like saying Six Flags/Cedar Fair would be a problem for the U.S Disney parks. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-perplexed-by-wanda-chairmans-898330

Progress on Ireland Looks like it'll be open by July if all goes well.

I see. Most of the items on the menu were more expensive than some of the other options in the park. Disappointing to hear the food quality doesn't justify the price.

Will be interesting to see how Shanghai affects Disney's overall attendance numbers. Probably won't cross 150 million this year though.

Is the looping restaurant worth checking out? Thinking of having my first day lunch there since it's right in the middle point between Blue Fire and Silver Star (my first and last coasters in the pecking order).

Hanse-Flieger is finally going vertical. The Wildwasserfahrt ride is getting a new name ("The Water Wolf of Lake Ilmen") and background music to thematically fit with Fluch Von Novgorod. The main signage hasn't been altered to reflect this change yet. Kärnan's upper wall section is now complete. More bricks on site assumed to be for the indoor queue section that is still closed off (the current queue is routed through the single rider entrance). Source

If they've learned from their mistakes with Everest then they wouldn't need to tear out the entire structure just to fix it.

A bit strange to include vests when your lapbars already resemble those on Mack and recent Intamin coasters, which don't need vests.

They have that advantage partly because they're placed in or near the center of their respective cities (same with Liseberg) which make them instantly accessible. Very few parks in the US or even the rest of the world have that distinction.

You know, it's funny, but the best crepes I've ever had have been in Germany and not in France. Wouldn't be surprised if crepes are actually a bigger thing in Germany than in France. They're almost as common an item as bratwursts.

I only visited Heide-Park for the first time last month so...

One cool bit I found was that if you go on one of the big coasters 15 minutes or so before closing and you're lucky enough that there's only a handful of other people doing the same thing (enough to fill two trains at most) then they'll let you stay in your seat for a few more rides, or let you play musical chairs with the other rows. That's how I got eight rides on Colossos.

First question I should ask is when do you expect to arrive at the park? Be aware that if you arrive when the park opens at 9 A.M most of the rides in the back (including Kärnan and Fluch) are not open until 10. AFAIK out of all the coasters only Nessie and Rasender Roland open with the park since they're up front near the entrance, so do those first and then get in the line outside Kärnan's entrance before it opens. The rest of the day you can do almost any order you like, but note that the crowds reach their peak around 1 P.M and do not let up until around 5 (an hour before closing). Then you can get in line for a popular ride like Kärnan or Fluch a few minutes before the park closes (preferably five-to-ten minutes to give you some margin) since the lines stay open as long as the park does. If you get out in time (preferably before 6.30) you can sneak one extra ride on Nessie since they keep it running as long as there are people in line. And I agree with Elissa that the crepe stand is fantastic and always a must whenever you visit.

Has Everest even had any significant downtime since it opened? I've never seen it on any rehab schedule.

Had my first ride on Colossos when it started pouring. Combined with the hard-hitting rain and the jerkiness of the ride itself it wasn't all that fun. Then I had to fiddle around outside the entrance to Desert Race and wait for the rain to dissipate so they could run it again (it was probably the only coaster Heide-Park would stop when it rains).

Iron Man Experience is now in testing phase. https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2016/05/ride-tests-begin-for-iron-man-experience-at-hong-kong-disneyland/

They can build a second gate in the space they're not using there. I'm guessing they're holding all that space in case they need even more hotels.