Hilltopper39

I'm fairly impartial towards to Potter theme park franchise, i like the movies but I'm not really a die hard fan or anything. With that being said I kind of think Potterland fits better at the Studios park than it did at Islands of Adventure, will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Did anyone on here actually ride Thunder Eagle when it was open? It was open for such a short period of time that I don't think I've ever read a review of it. I was in Pigeon Forge a couple of times while it was SBNO, but never actually had a chance to ride it.

That is great news!!!! Personally I thought the Cyclone was actually running pretty well at Deep South Bash, topper track should make it even better! It's going to be interesting to see if these topper track replacements are a success or not, if they are I don't know why every park in the world wouldn't want to eventually replace the existing wood with Topper Track. Great news SFOG, i hope you keep the forums updated over the winter with new pictures of the refurbishment!

^Yeah and the parking situation at that place on a crowded day can be a nightmare! I know the outlet mall is a little off topic here but when that place gets insanely crowded traffic can be a complete standstill all the way down I-Drive back to Kirkman, which could affect this Fun Spot development a little bit.

Those outlets are always completely packed, especially during the holidays. Uncomfortably crowded at times.

Thanks Larry, all of those restaurants looks great. And I never would have thought about the pickpocket thing, you might have saved me a huge headache and a lot of money!

I was going to look into making reservations today!

Thanks, that restaurant looks great. Eating somewhere with a Michelin Star has always been on my "to do" list but I never wanted to spend the kind of cash required to do so, but The Minetta Tavern looks pretty reasonable. Elissa, I don't remember you mentioning that hotel on here anywhere but it's ironic we ended up staying at the same place you recommend! Do you remember any good deli's or cafe's in that neighborhood close to the hotel?

^Thanks for all of the tips Elissa! Some of those were on our tentative list and others I had never thought about! We are staying at the Affinia Dumont on the corner of 34th and Lexington, we were told by some other friends that it is a decent property in a pretty good location. Any recommendation on what Scott's Pizza tour to do ? The website lists several different tours, and I'm not opposed to walking that sounds more fun anyways! Anymore restaurant recommendations are more than welcome, Bond 45 looks cool though. Thanks for everything again.

Wow, this is a great addition to the park, I wonder if the existing trailer mounted drop ride will remain or be sold (wouldn't make any sense to keep it). At 140 feet there should be some pretty decent views of the barren River Valley, might even be able to see Cherry Hall and Smith Stadium at good ole WKU! Beech bend is a great little park that holds a very special place in my heart, Dallas Jones and his family are great people who truly care about that park and the community. If anyone is ever in the area make sure you stop by and spend a few hours (and a little money) at Beech Bend, you wont regret it!

Okay, my wife and I are traveling to New York City the first week of January for 5 nights to celebrate our anniversary and we need some tips from people who really know their way around the city! Anything helps, restaurants for dinner, breakfast, lunch. Sights to see, not to see, things to do not to do. We have tickets to see Memphis, but does anyone have any good shows to recommend maybe off Broadway? Anything cool to not to miss during the winter months? The only thing we really have planned right now is seeing Memphis Saturday night, and hopefully doing Scott's Pizza tour sometime, so help my plan my trip!

Nothing new for me this year, but a couple of visits to some old favorites Busch Gardens (2 visits, once for Cheetah Hunt opening, once for Busch Gardens Bash) Six Flags over Georgia for Deep South Bash Dixieland Fun Park SeaWorld Orlando Universal Studios Florida (for HHN) Wow, I really need to get out more ....

^ I was thinking the same thing, and I'm sure that the park will at least have the slides painted to fit the color schemes of the park. As far as adding other themeing i guess we'll have to wait and see but I would think "Legoing" some of the supports and slide stations and stairs and stuff wouldn't be that difficult.

I'm way more optimistic about this then I was about the Orlando Thrill park. I liked the thrill park concept and thought it would be a nice change of pace for the Orlando market but I didn't think a stand alone park that large could survive in the area without being associated with one of the major resort destinations. I think that if done properly (and it looks like they have a great plan) this project will be a huge success. I think sometimes people forget just how many people vacation in Orlando every year. Magic Kingdom alone does somewhere around 17 million guests a year. Disney isn't building Avatar and expanding the Magic Kingdom because they are hurting for business. There are tens of millions of tourists that visit that city every year and even if a very very small percentage of those tourists go to FunSpot for half a day to check it out it will probably still be far and away one of the most attended FEC/water parks in the country. I'm not in the water park business or anything but from some numbers I have seen on various sources most water parks in America (NOT in Orlando) are lucky to have half a million guests a year, this place just based on location alone probably has the potential to do half a million in the Summer months alone. We'll see how it goes, but I like the concept and think it will work.

I don't agree. Locals won't bother with this place because Fun Spot is already infamous for being an overpriced "tourist trap." I'm a local, and if this project gets built I'll be sure to check it out.

An additional $12 for admission with a single day pass seems very reasonable. When I first saw pictures and read reviews of the Legoland waterpark in California I thought it looked nice but seemed like most of the slides were a little smaller and geared to children and families (it is Legoland). Since they are reusing the existing Cypress Gardens slides it looks like Legoland Florida's water park will have some larger slides that would make the water park appeal to a little different audience (like me). I'm really looking forward to getting down there sometime this summer.

The Gaylord is a beautiful Resort that I've always felt was a little underrated in the Orlando area. I've been to ICE in previous years but this years version with the Shrek Characters and the Kung Fu Panda playground look like a much better version of the event. Great report guys!

Those Super 8 videos are awesome! I've been going to Kings Island my whole life and am a huge fan of the Beast but I never realized that at one point that thing ran with 5 4-bench PTC trains, 40 passengers, WOW!

^^ Sorry bout that, i actually searched back through the thread to page 7, but those pictures were on page 6 .

This image was on Orlandoparknews.blogspot.com, don't think it's been posted here yet but with those slides this place looks great !

^Thursday night NFL game are a complete trap for the road team.

Yeah it really does, with the amazing themeing that everything else in the park has, the coaster only has a facade on a building, and there is that random pathway from the exit platform to the gift shop, it is all very odd. Even the start of the coaster is kinda strange, seems like a pointless little drop out of the station into the little turn around. Very weird, but at least the coaster looks cool!

Wow, with the success of your water park if your saying this one will be a success then I'll take your word for it! Can't wait to see what they have planned. Some of those slides from Splashtacular look awesome so if those are involved this place could be really cool!

^^ What he said.

If they build a bigger better version of Wet n Wild then sure it could compete. I know when I was living in Orlando and working in the parks there was always a rumor about Wet n Wild eventually closing and Universal moving all of the slides to a new location somewhere on or closer to their property. I don't know if those rumors are anywhere near true at all but if that ever did happen then Fun Spot would almost turn into Wet n Wild 2.0 by default. What I was trying to say was that I don't necessarily think that Fun Spot can compete as a stand alone water park with a standard pricing model (single day admission for $40 or $50 or whatever), but if they have a pay per hour like Cowabunga Bay, or a pay per ride style park with free parking etc then I think it might work. If they build more slides, that are bigger and better than Wet N Wild's and the park overall has better themeing and atmosphere then sure it could compete, but I doubt that is what the owners are going for.