Hilltopper39

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.

I mean isn't this pretty much the case with everything these days? Entertainment, dining, grocery shopping, movies, ugh buying cars, houses, everything is pay more for less. I'm not saying it's good or bad or right or wrong, I'm just saying it's up the individual consumer to decide what the experience/service/product is worth to them. I'm going to slightly disagree with you on this one because I feel like most of these parks are still very regional in nature so their competition is more with other entertainment options in the immediate area and less with the another park 3 hours away. Sure there are a few markets where there is small bit of overlap, like Dorney and Great Adventure and Magic Mountain and Knotts, but for the most part I feel like these parks operate regionally and that's not changing. Like Carowinds and Six Flags over Georgia, sure they're 4 hours apart and maybe some people in the Greenville area have to potentially make a decision between the two, but I'd bet that a large percentage of the attendance of both parks is from the Charlotte/ Atlanta metro areas and a very small percentage even knows about the other park or would consider visiting the other on a regular basis. You're from Missouri, how many people in St Louis do you know that are regularly making that trip over to KC for a day at Worlds of fun? So that's a couple of long winded answers but all things considered I don't really have any idea how this merger is gong to play out. My best guess is that the existing parks aren't going to look or feel that much different than they do already.

This is the most exciting theme park project for me in a long time, I love the idea of everything about this but also have sooooo many questions. I mean they're already billing the Frankenstein ride as the "scariest" ride ever, but then the land also has a a kids monster makeover boutique and a 40 inch 36 MPH family friendly spinning coaster that is also maybe still kind of a scary Wolfman ride? It's going to be very interesting to see how they manage the tone of everything toeing the line between PG and PG-13, when the real core audience for this probably wants it to be more R rated all day long.

I'm a big fan of a good hedge maze. Some people like a corn maze, and while the corn maze might be easier to grow and typically much larger it is usually just a seasonal attraction, where as a hedge maze takes a true artisan to craft and maintain. When it comes right down to it in the debate between a hedge maze and a corn maze I'm going with the hedge maze 99% of the time. I'll save that 1% chance just incase there something really cool going on out there in the world of corn mazes that I'm not aware of, but otherwise my allegiance lies with the hedge maze.

We used to stop at that bridge/park all the time back driving back and forth from West Virginia to go skiing, long before it was turned into a national park. It really is a pretty incredible thing to see in person, just absolutely massive, when you drive over it you don't realize how high up it is. Nice report!

Well that's perfect, I can watch the whole first movie now! In all seriousness I like Wicked a lot but I never loved it, mostly because Defying Gravity is so good that the whole second act just felt like it never even came close to reaching the same heights. We recently had a chance to see the Frozen Broadway musical and it had a similar feel, first act was great, Let it Go was phenomenal then... the rest of the show was kind of underwhelming. I will end up taking my kids to see Wicked so maybe the movie will revitalize my interest in it a little bit. I'll give it a fair chance atleast.

I can't wait to leave after Defying Gravity in the movie theatre just like in the regular theatre. Just kidding, mostly kidding (the second act is boring).

Great report, this looks like my kind of trip to Vegas. I'm pretty excited for the Meowolf installation in Orlando if it ever actually gets built, and also interested to see how it does. I feel like Orlando can be a bit weird at times for attractions like that so I could see it being really successful or struggling a bit after the initial "newness" wears off.

Well now that TT2 with the LSM swing launch is open and has had actual human riders I guess we can officially say that those f*ckin' crackhead enthusiasts were right for once.

Don't you mean..... Faire enough?

Yeah or ya know.... maybe have a couple of actual rides so that people who aren't into the role play stuff have something to do.

I still think there is a future for these interactive/immersive themed entertainment concepts sometime/somewhere in the future but first Star Cruiser closing and not this it doesn't really look good. Star Cruiser had the obvious issues with cost, this maybe some issues with location/concept, and both of them the timing of Covid I'm sure didn't help. Hopefully there's a future for the site as something as it did look like a pretty cool place.