Hilltopper39

Glad to see they're spending some money on refreshing this attraction. This is one of the few attractions left out there that I still basically know nothing about. I know it's a flume ride that does stuff but that's about it. Kind of cool that there's still rides like that out there in the world with all of the information people have now.

The part of the TR that stood out the most to me was that parade. I'm not a huge parade guy but some of those floats and the franchises they used look really unique. Would love to see a version of that in Florida sometime.

I wasn't aware of that but if that's true it makes more sense now. I mean after I thought about it for a minute everything Imagineering touches turns to gold anyways, I'm convinced they could build a land themed just about anything and it would outstanding haha.

The Zootopia expansion is pretty interesting to me, I'm excited to see what it ends up being with the ride system and all but I'm also surprised they decided to move forward with that movie as the theme. I know the film was well received both commercially and critically but I don't really think of it as having a brand strong enough to anchor and entire theme park expansion. Maybe it's just me and my perception of the film but seems like there's just a lot of other more popular franchises they could have tapped into for the expansion, unless there's some kind of special connection to the film that the Chinese have I don't know about.

If you're not planning to stop at the Columbus Zoo on that leg of the trip, then the drive from Kings Island to Camden Park to Cedar Point is just about the same distance as it is from King Island to Indiana Beach to Cedar Point, so that might be an option to consider since you seemed interested in Indiana Beach earlier before taking it out when the trip got shortened. I'd much rather spend a half day at Indiana Beach than Camden Park.

My family always used to stay at a Drury when they came to visit me in college and I'd kind of forgotten about the brand til this. Always found it to be a pretty nice option, and the free drinks (including beer and wine if I remember correctly) and snacks every evening was always a nice little bonus to include. I'll absolutely consider staying here for a little weekend trip once it opens.

I love not knowing what's really coming next in the layout and that they never released a full POV. I don't really avoid "spoilers" for coasters but I'll probably have a chance to ride this not long after opening so I might try as hard as I canto not look at any mroe new pics of this thing. Absolutely can't wait to get back over to BGT this summer.

I've always found that caveat about the monorail/train to be pretty interesting. I totally understand the reasoning behind it but have also been curious if they ever tried to get some kind of exception granted or special consideration given to the train since it operates inside of a park and isn't really open to the public since you have to have a park ticket to go on it. Then again it's pretty cool that the train is a one way ride and a little bit unique from the other parks around the world. Great report, been fun to follow so far. Edit*, I never realized the train at TDL doesn't leave the Westernland/Adventure land so adding another stop doesn't make sense at all now, still curious if they considered it during development.

You mean like how the other horses rivaled Secretariat in the Belmont Stakes? Isn't Disney World like 40 square miles? ^Bonus points for a horse racing analogy haha. This is one of those projects I've heard about for so long that at this point I'm not got gonna believe anything until the place is actually open. Looks cool, but we'll see if it ever happens.

I did have some issues with the app my last visit, nothing major but I noticed there wasn't a back button on some of the pages so when I was looking at restaurant menus for example I couldn't go "back" to look at the next restaurant but instead had to go to the menu and start the navigation from the main page. It's a pretty easy park to navigate without the app so it's not a big deal, but a little annoying.

Yeah I've been telling myself for a while now "just wait another year for (insert attraction) to open" and now that Galaxy's edge is fully operational I might have to make a trip............sometime after March after when Micky and Minnies Runaway Railway opens haha. But seriously 2021 sounds like it's going to be a great year to get back to Disney for a long extended stay on property after Runaway Railway, Guardians, Ratatoille, and Tron are all open. Also great coverage of the new ride, Elissa that review was hilarious . That's pretty much me doing anything Harry Potter at Universal. Cool coaster drop, but now we're in a cave, with a dragon, and some giant tin solider guys that look nice but I guess are evil? Not sure what's going on here but the rocks are cool and it looks good, fun ride haha.

That's ridiculous, everyone know's you gotta call Claude to get anything done.....

Yeah Huntington, WV is kind of in the middle of nowhere so there's not really any way around adding some extra hours to the trip if you want to go to Camden Park. At least it gives you an excuse to go to Biscuit World!

Yeah I guess some of the ticket deal you have to make the first visit by Jan. 31 2020 but the fun cards are good for all of 2020. Busch Gardens Fun Cards are $75, add in the parking if you go twice it's pretty much a wash with a Bronze Pass but if you only plan on going 2 days and are traveling from out of town and uber or something it might be worth it. *Edit, just remembered you have to be a FL resident for the Bronze Pass, either way $75 for a Busch gardens fun card is a pretty solid deal.

My only suggestion would be to hit King Island on the way to Cedar Point since you can pretty much drive right past it and it's only an hour from Louisville/Kentucky Kingdom. That might mess up your plans for Indiana Beach/Camden Park but if it were me I'd go Holiday World->Kentucky Kingdom->Kings Island-> Cedar Point and maybe throw in Indian Beach between KI and CP and forget Camden all together. It's your trip so do whatever you want but back tracking from Cedar Point to Kings Island to hit Camden Park on the way to Kennywood when Kennywod is only 3 hours from Cedar Point seems like a lot of extra time spent just to get to Camden Park. Heck if you really wanted to hit Camden you could almost do it during the initial drive from Newark, DE to Pigeon Forge and it's about the same distance out of the way as it would be from Kings Island to Kennywood. Sounds like a fun trip though, enjoy what ever route you decide on.

SeaWorld and Busch Gardens both have some pretty good deals going on if you know you're going to be making a trip to either or both of those parks in 2020. 2 park ticket for $72, fun cards for both locations discounted 20%-40%, all season quick que for Sea World for $100. I went ahead and jumped on the fun cards and passes for the family so we'll be making quite a few trips to SeaWorld/Aquatica/Bucsch Gardens in 2020.

^I've never seen a listing of top grossing restaurants before but that's pretty interesting. Now I'm curious and kind of wonder where some non-independent restaurants would fall on this list. Like is there a random Longhorn Steakhouse out there in America doing like $25 million a year? Or where would something like a Capitol Grille in Chicago or DC rank on this list? No idea but thanks for sharing.

The Axis coaster from S&S is by far the most intriguing new concept of the year for me, can't wait to see one of these things built somewhere. Also it might be just me but seems like this year has been a little lite on major new announcements. Maybe it's been this way for a few years and I just haven't noticed, and I know most parks do their major announcements before the show during their seasons, but seems like there was always a few semi major announcements on the first day. Maybe more is coming but either way the coverage is always fun to follow.

These kind of food halls are popping up all over the place and I've always found them to be a pretty solid concept. The tables in the room look a little cheap but I'm sure with time they'll transform the space into something a little more visually appealing. I've always really enjoyed that entire complex but every time I stop by it just feels so empty, regardless I'm rooting for whatever goes in there to do well so the place continues to grow.

Thanks for the tips! Some of the alcohol tasting on the ship filled up immediately when the booking window opened but I don't think I've ever seen anyone review them before which was why I was curious. Might try to get into one if there are any still available on board but not gonna sweat it if we don't. It's a short cruise but we're hoping to do as much as we can. Per Twitter looks like you all are on one next week as well, so have fun and thanks again!

So our first Disney Cruise is this Friday, just a 3 day Very Merrytime Bahamian Christmas Cruise on the Disney Dream with my two girls (ages 7 and 4). We've pre-booked both the Princess Gathering and the Frozen Gathering, as well as the Bippity Boppity Boutique before the pirate night. We'd like to do Palo for brunch but still playing that by ear with schedules and everything. Besides that, just wondering if anyone has any last minute tips for a first time Disney Cruise? Anything fun to bring with us on board for the trip for the stateroom/themed nights/etc? Are the "tastings" (wine, whiskey, martinis etc.) events on the ship worth doing? Any events on the daily schedule that are can't miss or really fun for kids (or adults) ? For Castaway Cay and Nassau we probably won't even get off the boat in Nassau unless it's just to walk around and grab a few (slightly cheaper) drinks, and currently just planning to play around and explore Castaway Cay without booking any true activities unless there's something really fun and unique to look out for there. So if anyone has some last minute tips or suggestions I'd greatly appreciate it, thanks!

The Kalahari's and Great Wold Lodge's maybe aren't an entirely fair comparison the Nick Universe because yes the day passes can be $100+ but those resorts also offer hotel rooms where the water park is included. I haven't been to one personally but we've looked several times at going to a Great Wolf Lodge and they have room offerings in the $200-$300 range which would include 4-5 water park passes, so it's a little different than what's available at Nick Universe. Personally the price for this seems maybe a little high but not that much different than some other similar parks in other markets. It's still too early to really evaluate it until the whole place is fully operational, water park, mall, and everything.

Went and saw Post Malone a few weeks ago. Really fun show honestly, and he sounded great live which was a little surprising.

This park has always fascinated me, I'd love to get my kids up there sometime while they're still fairly young. If anyone watched Succession on HBO this is were they filmed some scenes from this most recent season. The family in the show owns some theme parks (among other things) and take a visit. The park looked great on camera.

Haha well yeah, that's a given. In fact the reason I was curious was in case I wanted to let someone else in my group use my express pass for rides I don't care about while I have use my ID elsewhere for ........ those reasons.