Hilltopper39

Could always go over the Iron Dragon track instead of under it. I feel like I've seen some fan speculation videos/renderings out there somewhere that showed some possibilities for that.

The turntable is kind of an odd choice in the middle of the ride like that but I think I remember something about maybe the maintenance bays are on the end of the layout? If so that's a really creative way of saving space. Layout looks funky as hell, and the upward launch into the top hat thingy at the beginning is really cool.

Even on a crowded day Infinity Falls might be the only thing with any kind of a significant wait time. They usually don't open that ride with the park, if I recall they open that area of the park about an hour later so if your riding Mako around 9:45 or so you can get over to Infinity Falls when it opens shortly after 10. If you're at the park when they open at 9 am it's pretty easy to grab a few rides on Manta, Kraken, and Mako within the first hour.

Does anyone know when QuickQue's go on sale for the summer? Or does anyone remember roughly what QuickQue's cost last year for let's say a Thursday/Friday/Saturday in early June? Trying to plan a trip with the kid up for a KD/BGW weekend and don't see the QQ's available for sale yet.

No I completely agree with most of that, the newer stuff is by and large "better" but it is considerably less "interesting". RMC's are all great but they're all kind of the same. It's not a bad thing by any means, it's great to have a smooth, intense, dynamic, (mostly) reliable coaster at every park in America, but when everyone has one none of them feel like a as much of a unique destination I guess. I will say there is still some newer "weird" out there and I always appreciate that. Cannibal at Lagoon, the wooden shuttle coaster in Texas, the new Tilt coaster coming to Austin although there may be a dozen of those across the globe 10 years from now. Guardians at Epcot is pretty unique but certainly on a different scale, but something like the new Uncharted ride in Spain or even the Darkastle conversion at BGW are pretty interesting projects. As far as Mindbender, I never got to ride it but it was definitely a "bucketlist" type coaster for me. I will say I never really understood the appeal of Schwarzkopf's, been on several, they're all fine and good but nothing that was ever close to a Top 10 or 20 ride for me. It is sad to them permanently removed, but if Indiana Beach successfully reopens Quimera then hey that'll be some old school new weirdness in the coaster world.

Death, taxes, and Sean Paul playing a concert at Universal during Mardi Gras.

Be interesting to see what they do with the space where Phoenix goes, seems like the Screamin Swing ride would have been a perfect fit right there but instead that's going in over across the way. I'm also interested to see what kind of lines Serengeti Flyer gets after it's been open for a little while, it's kind of in the middle of nowhere in the park and I can just see it being a walk on almost all the time.

Great report as always Bert, I never realized Plopsaland was so extensive with all of the themeing and dark rides and stuff, looks like a really great park. Ride to Happiness looks amazing, I know Time Traveler at SDC is similar but it feels like I hardly ever hear about that coaster compared to Ride To Happiness which everyone seems to rave about.

It's funny how kids change you experience and perspective. We're still go go go and get as much done as you can, but if there's a long line for something the kids want to do that I would normally skip on my own, we do it lol. An hour for the log flume vs 10 minutes for a great coaster? Guess we're waiting for this log ride now lol. But yeah it is nice to have what I would normally consider an average day at a park day turn into a really good day just because I know the kids had a great time and didn't notice or care about little operational annoyances like I do. We also just sit down and chill a lot more with kids than I ever did before, and that's nice, but also maybe I'm just getting old.

Yeah it's been closed pretty consistently regularly, but when it was open and operating for a few trips I made back in 2021 I guess it was, there was never anyone in line for it. The half a dozen rides I've had on it even on days when the park was crowded it was never more than a 10 minute wait maybe. Just something to keep mind. Sand Serpent and Scorpion can have a full que and Falcon's Fury would still be a walk on.

Great report as always Bert looks like it was a good trip. We took our kids there for Christmas last year and just had the best time, we're already planning on another Christmas trip for next year. It's a great park and at Christmas time it does just feel a little extra special.

I feel like this coaster quietly might be really good. I mean I don't think anyone was really looking forward to another mid sized B&M in the same park with 3 other B&M's but the layout looks great and the unique trains with a launch, this one might be a lot of fun. And most of the time coasters at SeaWorld have pretty short lines so add in another high capacity ride and everything there might be a walk on 80% of the year lol.

This is kind of a cool project, should be interesting to follow considering that rumored Fast n Furious coaster coming to Universal Hollywood is also probably from Intamin. Might see some similar technology used, or it could be completely different and unrelated but more coaster dark rides is never a bad thing.

Great report man. We made a trip to Dollywood for Christmas last year and were just talking recently about how much fun it was and how badly we want to go back. It really is a special place and even more so around the Holidays. I've always wanted to check out the water park up there but if given the choice between visiting in the summer or over the Holidays it's hard to not pick the holidays.

Yeah, it was just a joke, that thing was a hunk of junk lol.