Hilltopper39

I wonder if they are going to be adding themeing to that coaster, the Master Thai coaster at Mirabilandia is allready built but doesn't look anything like that model does, not nearly as cool. It almost looks like a portable model.

Depending on size dimensions and height requirements etc. I could see the GCI Big Fun model working really well at a major park as a smaller family coaster. A place like Cedar Point, or Busch Gardens Williamsburg, or Alton Towers that have a great collection of steel coasters, but a poor selection of Wooden coasters a Big Fun might be a great addition to their lineup.

That's not too bad, the mountain coaster at Mystic Mountain in Jamaica was fun but I felt that it was WAY over priced since it could really only be bought with a package. $15 seems reasonable.

This is probably a stupid question but was the mountain coaster an upcharge? (everything cool on a cruise is usually an upcharge). I agree, the world needs more mountain coasters, those things are awesome! Labadee looks really nice, my favorite part of my RCCL cruise was the day at Coco Cay but Labadee looks much nicer AND has a coaster, double win!

I've always wondered why one of the major water parks in Orlando didn't just install a regular amusement park style water ride (log flume, river rapids, supersplash, water coaster, etc). It's a water ride with a HUGE capacity, much larger than any water slide could almost ever come close to, and I would rather ride an awesome rapids ride in my bathing suit than in my park clothes anyways! getting soaked at Animal Kingdom sucks, but Kali Rapids at typhoon Lagoon would be amazing.

Was the model of the new GCI for Europa a working model or just a model model? Regardless it was amazing, incredible detail! I love IAAPA coverage from TPR every year, really makes me miss the amusement industry.

The Mack trains for Manta West look amazing, does anyone know if they that hear rate monitor like Blue Fire at Europa does?

Great coverage again Robb, I can't decide if that Fishpipe looks really fun or just really weird, but I would definitely like to try the thing out. Seems like it would be a great addition to a water park as kind of a non-slide wet ride alternative of some sorts.

The Big Fun coaster looks great! I could see that fitting in perfectly at a ton of parks, almost like GCI's version of the wooden warrior junior coaster. Can't wait to see where one of those gets built. I wonder if that is a standard model that GCI is going to clone at multiple locations or if they have other designs for custom compact junior coasters. Great coverage of the show so far. Just curious, what restaurant did the Imagineers and Vekoma dine at last night?

^Hopefully penguins with rockets strapped to their backs !!

^Ah, you're right, but most thrilling family ride in Orlando probably is up there with most thrilling family ride in the world. I consider all of the Disney coasters (except RnR) to be "family rides" so to be more thrilling than Everest and Space Mountain it will have to be a pretty decent coaster. I still think this will be some type of interactive dark ride.

That does look like a great family coaster but I will be slightly disappointed if they bill this thing as "The most exciting Family Attraction in the World" and it turns out to be exactly like another family coaster somewhere else in the world.

Let me put myself in the "anyone" category. The SeaWorld parks haven't received too many carbon copy attractions in its past (save for Great White), so I can't imagine they'd start now. Between Cheetah Hunt, Manta and Verbolten, the company is investing in three new coasters with unique layouts and features of their own. Why would they bother with all of the hype of one of the largest expansions in their history by building a clone of an attraction already announced for Legoland? That makes no sense. Trying to be real here, but I think you need to give Brian Morrow and his team more credit. I can't imagine them hyping this is as much as they are just to make a clone. I would halfway argue that manta was somewhat of a clone. The overall attraction with the aquariums and themeing and fantastic setting are all far from ordinary, very original, and Seaworld definitely did a great job with the attraction but the ride experience itself to me is no different than any other B&M flyer. Lift, swooping drop, pretezel loop, turn, flip, turn, flip, turn (on manta insert brake small drop, turn flip) then brakes. It's not exactly a clone, but it's pretty close.

Wait a second, I thought X-Flight was being installed on the other side of the park where Iron Wolf was not near Demon? Is that site just going to be used for something in the future?

This seems like a great idea and the whole RFID technology in general certainly has lots of possibility. I've always found Disney Parks to be overall absolutely the most efficient in the industry when it comes to front entrance gate operations (even without the RFID), but other parks in Orlando tend to struggle in that area compared to Disney. SeaWorld and Busch Gardens specifically always seem to have a very slow entrance process even with a small crowd, wit ha large crowd I've waited up to half an hour to get through the gate before. It will be interesting to see if this technology take off across the industry (after Disney has mastered it of course).

Go CATS !!!! but otherwise again I agree, very nice trip report but Aquatica isn't anything special some very nice theming and some very ordinary slides. I still think Wet N Wild is the best water park in Orlando.

Is that some kind of drop tower rising out of the castle in the first concept art picture? It kind of looks like one of those human powered towers like at Dollywood and some other places. This looks great, another amazingly awesome themed attraction in Europe, I know it's all about $$$ but why can't american parks figure it out?

Toverland looks great, and with this addition the parks is slowly creeping up my European Park "Bucket List", still way behind Europa though.

This sounds like a future episode of "I Didn't know I was pregnant" on TLC. Maybe it will air during their Spring Break Week after "Kate Plus 8 go to Disney World" and "Extreme Couponing: Kissimmee".

Thanks!, and that does sound great, I must have skimmed the press release to get to the Penguining World of Harry Penguin. It'll be interesting to see how they use parts of (if any) of the old saltwater reef with the new Freshwater Oasis. I really want to make a return trip to Discovery Cove after reading a couple of people's reports of the new reef, it looks like it's worth checking out.

Seems like I remember there being a different bar at Discover Cove that had margaritas and Pina Coladas and some other beer options (I think I remember Amber Bock). Bad free beer is better than no free beer.If it's free you can't complain about the type or the temperature. Scott, did you happen to notice what was going on with or take any pictures of the old Reef? I always wondered what they did with that after the new reef opened this past spring. I know there were some issues with leaking ground water in the old reef and that was part of the reason for opening the new reef but I never did see if they planned to re-open the old reef as a freshwater exhibit, or repair the leaks and open as a salt water reef or what.

I completely endorse everything you have said about Discovery Cove, the food, the fun, the price, everything about the park is fantastic experience. When I went to DC a few years ago I think that for an extra $50 you can visit all of the Central Florida Busch Parks (Aquatica, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens, Adventure Island) as many times as you want for 2 weeks. $250 for a 2 weeks pass to SeaWorld, Discovery Cove, Aquatica AND a day at Discovery Cove is an unbelievably good deal. I enjoyed the Dolphin swim and interaction, but I would probably not pay for it a second time. To me it was one of those things that is fun to do once but I don't feel the need to do it again (kinda like getting an SLC credit).

Was there any mention of what they are going to do with the penguins during the construction? Any plans to set up a temporary exhibit somewhere in the park? It'l be interesting to see how much of the existing Penguin Plaza section will be reused in the new Antarctica section, the one concept art picture hat shows a shop and what looks like a restaurant looks very similar to the existing arrangement in Penguin Plaza. I also am curious if they are going to completely level the existing penguin habitat or attempt to reuse some of the building. There should be plenty of opportunities to view the construction from Kraken's lift hill and probably will be able to get some decent views from the top of Dolphin Stadium.

Yeah, I was always amazed that the movie happy Feet never found it's way into a theme park setting somewhere in the world. It almost seemed like a perfect movie to turn into an attraction, family friendly, fun story, decent action, decent score, musics, unique environments that would be fairly easy to recreate in a ride setting. Maybe this attraction will be like Happy Feet the ride without Nicole Kidman singing a Prince song.

I doubt the park will announce any additional information about the ride today but I'm interested to hear some more details. I'm assuming they are completly gutting the Penguin Plaza section (finally) and replacing it with the ride but I'm curious is they will more the penguin habitat to a different location or incorporate a new penguin habitat into the new attraction. Penguin Plaza has needed a rehab for a long time in my opinion, hopefully this addition get that section of the up to date with the rest of the park.