Hilltopper39

I've been to LaRonde once for a day when I was in town for a work conference and honestly I had a really nice day. It's not the greatest park ever or anything but wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Doing anything to Le Monster would be a nice addition, RMC, I box re-track, whatever. I remember that ride not necessarily being "rough" to the point that it was intolerable, but it was just kind of boring. Hopefully they do something with it eventually. Montreal is a fun town for a little weekend, so a reason to go back would be great.

Ya know I've never been on a flying theatre attraction that I just absolutely loved, but I've never been on one that I hated either. I have no idea what this ride system looks like or how good or bad the video and overall experience is, but it's already a 6.5/10 which is absolutely perfect.

I think the industry is trending more towards "what the f*** is going to happen in the next 6 to 18 months? We better stop spending money now and do everything we can to cut costs just incase because it aint looking good", and sprucing up a previously existing family area is just a convenient low cost maintenance project that they can market as a new addition. Also I loved Jungala so any signs of life back in that area of the park are welcome.

Good to here from you on here again. I'm hoping to get down there for a night this year sometime and am looking forward to it for sure, the event is always a lot of fun and I have a great time but this year like I said the excitement maybe just doesn't seem the same. You could be right about the IP houses being a bit less exciting this year but I feel like it's maybe more so that the event has just been gong on for so long, and has become kind of predictable in that you know what to expect. I mean the houses are always fantastic looking and fun, but they're pretty similar every year. It's not a bad thing, just that 30+ years later maybe it's a little harder to really get excited for the average fan. I appreciate the reviews, I always enjoy the original houses more than the IP based ones so sounds like a good year for that. I have heard that crowds seems to be a bit down this year. Personally I've been with Express Pass in the past couple of years when it was still so crowded that we were waiting 20-30 minutes with the express pass and I think that kind of turned me off to the event a little bit. It is like $100+ for a ticket on most weekends, a ticket and express is close to $400 for some Saturday's, so now maybe it finally has gotten to a price point where the crowds have stabilized a bit and it's a better overall experience.

Has anyone been to Horror Nights this year yet? I don't know why but it just feels like there is zero buzz or excitement about the event this year. Outside of like the first night I don't think I've seen anyone talking about it.

Nice update, I always have a good time at their Spooktacular festival with my kids when they were younger and overall it still looks like a pretty solid way to spend a day.

So in the renderings in the video of that article the "7 acre swimming lake" looks an awful lot like these new man made fresh water lagoons that are starting to pop up in developments all over the place. Similar to the one at the new Evermore resort in Orlando. I believe there is one in Tampa and I know there is one here in Jacksonville in a development called Beachwalk (that one is always funny to me because they built a fake beach like 4 miles away from the real beach but hey whatever sells overpriced houses). I haven't been to the one here but know some people that say it's pretty cool. Not 100% sure if this is what they're planning for part of that SFNO site but if it is I'm just saying it's nothing new and there are some established business models out there for similar concepts. https://www.crystal-lagoons.com/ Here is the website of who makes these things, there are a TON of them around the world. This is the Beachwalk neighborhood here in south Jacksonville/St. Johns county. They sell "memberships" for non-residents to use the amenities. I've never been but have some friends who have hung out there and say it's pretty cool. Below is the Evermore resort in Orlando (formerly some of the land for Hyatt Grand Cypress I believe?). This is a really high end resort/residences type resort but anyways a couple of different types of installations for these things.

I feel like the last couple of visits to BGT Scorpion always had a decent little que but that might have been just because of it's height requirement. Now with Phoenix Rising open right next door I gues movingon makes sense. I do hope Scorpion get a chance to be rebuilt somewhere else, surely someone would like a chance to operate it, I would love to see that ride at Knoebels. The one thing I'm kind of excited for with this is to see what they do with that little plot of land. If there were a pathway from that corner of Pantopia over the train tracks into Stanleyville area next to Sheikra that would be a huge improvement for walking that park. It's a pretty big loop and a cut through right there would be really nice.

I'm a little torn on this expansion, on one hand I don't mind them removing Tom Sawyer Island and Rivers of America but I don't love the Cars property, especially in Frontierland? Thematically I don't really know how it's going to fit, but also I don't know if anyone even cares about that kind of stuff anymore. I will miss the ambiance of the river and that area in general, but if this turns into a lushly forested Grizzly Peak/Wilderness Lodge type area with a killer attraction then I don't think anyone will really miss it. Also after years of them teasing "what's beyond thunder mountain?" it seems kind of obvious now that that to even get to the land plots beyond you have to go straight through Rivers of America and Tom Sawyer's Island so I guess this shouldn't be that surprising.

I mean this is pretty sick, and unexpected? I love that there's no swing launch, just a booster then a main launch. Premier trains suck to get into, but once in I've always though their rides are pretty smooth and fun. Ice Breaker is way punchier than it looks with great pops and laterals, if this is a bigger/faster/longer version of icebreaker with 9 inversions it might be a real surprise hit kind of coaster.

When the new Potterland was jsut rumored I was pretty skeptical about anything related to Fantastic Beasts just because of how poorly received those films seem to be, but this announcement video has me a little bit more optomistic about the land. I'm not a Potter fan at all, I've seen the original movies, never seen Fantastic Beasts, never read the books, not really a fan of the franchise but enjoy the theme park lands. The land looks nice, as long as the ride is good and the show is fun then it should be mostly fine? I guess my one criticism is maybe that the two existing Potter lands are a little bit more "iconic" and recognizable from the films? Even if you never seen the movies Diagon Alley is a pretty funky space visually, and Hogsmeads is kind of the same thing with the towering gables and twisted chimneys. The new Paris section in Epic looks nice but also just kind of looks like some normal ass city streets, not as much fun and whimsy to it I suppose, but that's a pretty minimum criticism. One thing I do find to be interesting with Epic is the shows they're offering. The Potter show, the How to Train Your Dragon show, the roaming live entertainment in Monsters land that ha been advertised, whatever they do with the night time entertainment and the fountain show. I've heard great things about the new Bourne stunt show, but before that I feel like live entertainment maybe has never been Universal's strength? I mean there is an empty theatre in each park as we speak. I guess the new nighttime show at Studios is getting pretty good reviews but that's also after several versions in the past that were not great. So it's interesting that live entertainment seems like it's going to be a fairly significant aspect of the opening day offerings when again their past in that area has maybe not been the best (and when other parks around the world are cutting those offerings like crazy).

Okay I got a few rides on Penguin Trek yesterday and in regards to the "rattle" I didn't feel anything that was even the slightest bit uncomfortable, it's barely even noticeable. It's a family coaster with a 42 inch height restriction that goes like 40 mph and felt absolutely fine to me. Other than that, it's a pretty great attraction but just kind of an okay ride? Nothing wrong with it at all, the ride itself is just kind of forceless but again for a 42 inch kiddie coaster that's fine. The indoor que and dark ride sections did look fantastic so kudos to SW for doing that. For a non-existent as the themeing is on Ice Breaker and Pipeline (which I think is fine honestly) Penguin Trek really is the perfect little mix of just enough to make it feel like a real attraction. So all around pretty solid addition IMO. A far as the exit procedures, both rides we were routed through the exhibit and had a small wait but it really wasn't that big of a deal?

Damn, analysis of a 23 year old deep cut off of A Perfect Circle record, impressive. Anyways the new Johnny Blue Skies/ Sturgill Simpson record rules, I think I listened to it about 20 times over the weekend. A little bit of a departure from his previous styles, but then again he never makes the same kind of album twice anyways. There's some pretty heavy stuff in this album if you dig into it lyrically, like all of his work, but there's also some really great "porch drinking" kinda of songs. Now those porch drinking songs are still pretty heavy and thought provoking, but they're more fun than the ones straight up about love and loss. It's a great album, probably not my favorite Sturgill album but he never misses.

I've seen some discussion about this recently and I swear I've ridden Pipeline 30 times and never once did I think it was the slightest bit uncomfortable. Is there a little bit of a rattle? Kind of, I mean you can sort of feel vibrating a little bit also I think that the only reason I even noticed it was because in my head I thinking to look for it. I'm gonna try to ride Penguin Trek in a few weeks so I'm interested to see what that one feels like but I feel like this whole discussion about the rattle is WAY overblown. Maybe it's just my tolerance for roughness on coasters and all of the Arrow looping coasters I've ridden as a younger man in this hobby lol, but I have still yet to ride a B&M that I thought was even remotely uncomfortable.

Everything I've seen so far on Penguin Trek has been pretty impressive, looks like a really solid edition. I'm not gonna have a chance to make it down for the previews but have a day trip planned in a few weeks with some friends and their kid who is over 42 In but still under 48, so this will be his first "bigger" coaster, so looking forward to that.