Hilltopper39

I did a statistical modeling project for a grad school class a few years ago looking at attendance increases at a park in years when a new attraction was added vs years a new attraction wasn't added trying to determine if there was a correlation between attendance and new attraction, and surprisingly enough over time there was little to no correlation between attendance increase and opening a new attraction. Now this project was for a different park in a different market, and you can use data to prove anything you want if you choose the right set/variables/controls etc., but I think sometimes we just assume that opening something spectacular will equate to an immediate and significant increase in attendance when in reality there are so many factors in play that it's just not the case.

For me this is probably on the most anticipated attractions in a long time. Phantasialand always does everything to the max, but with Taron we at least knew what the ride system was and was capable of. With the (presumed to be) Vekoma flyer I don't know what to expect. There are trenches, and towers, I think I saw a curved launch track somewhere once, I know about the sideways to flying twist the trains do but still what this system is capable of is a bit of a mystery and I'm excited to find out more.

I mean let's be real, when are foam parties ever not weird? Honestly one at a theme park for teens and families almost makes more sense than one at a club for for grown ups.

Lamplight Lounge looks amazing, and honestly the Incredicoaster looks like a great re-furb of an existing attraction. I don't know, I've seen a lot of people on Twitter and other social media outlets bashing the whole Pixar Pier overlay but honestly I think it all looks pretty great.

Go to the desk in the morning (you can get back there as early as 8AM IIRC) and do your early check in. Basically what they do is give you a card for your early ride time that you can show the people at the barriers. The cards are good for 6 people each. They'll also send you a text message when your room is ready. Thanks! Still ironing out the details of our trip later this fall but we will definitely be staying on property and utilizing early entry for at least one day, maybe 2, depending on how accommodating to our schedule the ferries to Put-N-Bay are.

Does anyone know how Early Entry works if you are staying at a resort, but would like to utilize Early Entry at the park the day you are scheduled to check in to the resort? For example if you are staying at Breakers checking in on a Saturday, but want to use Early Entry Saturday morning before you check into the Hotel.

The swirling saucers ride looks pretty fun. It looks like a modern take on the classic whip ride but maybe not as much of the "whipping" action that you get on the whips? Has anyone been on a ride with this type of ride system that can comment on how similar the experience is to like a classic whip? Either way it still looks fun, and the themeing of it all is really impressive. Also just a comment, but as much as Disney has pushed the next gen interactive ques in recent years I'm kind of surprised that those concepts didn't make it into Toy Story land (unless I missed it in the preview videos). Seems like a buzzer system with an indoor playground similar to Dumbo would have been perfect for Swirling Saucers, especially considering that this thing will probably have a consistent 30-45 minute wait even after the "newnes" dies off.

It's pretty cool how they have the launch programmed (at least how it looks to me) to be fairly gentle initially then pick up speed at the end of the run. Really looks like a fun family coaster, I'm sure this thing will draw massive crowds like 7 Dwarves did and I'd love to see a similar type of ride experience eventually in Animal Kingdom and EPCOT, the Inside Out Emotion Coaster haha.

So that's been my problem all these years...... explains a lot .

Steel Vengeance is good for you. ...ish I'll have the Steel Vengeance, but hold the Melon Liqueur, Creme de Cassis, and Pineapple Juice, and would it be possible to substitute the Absolute for Makers Mark?

I rode Cannonball Run a few times on my only visit around 4 years ago in September on my way to a football game. I enjoyed the ride but it was in pretty rough shape if I remember correctly. Hope they replace it with something fun.

Calories listed next to alcoholic beverages just makes me sad, like I know this isn't good for me you don't have rub it in!

Haha I was thinking the same thing. I stay on that end of town fairly often and actually like that area but the traffic can be a pain. I would guess that when this resort opens From your room to the Magic Kingdom Parking Lot will be a solid 20-30 minutes if nto more depending on traffic.

The "just sit down and ride" trick seemed to work just fine to .

Haha, I rode Predator 3 days ago and thought it was perfectly fine, the front had some decent air and was actually a really fun ride. Took like 5 rides all over the train and totally enjoyed all of them. Maybe I caught it on a good day with an empty train or something, but point is that it seems like these days anything that isn't perfectly smooth and comfortable someone will have a problem with.

Yeah, that's kind of been my thought on that topic for a few years now. I rode the Boomerang at Darien Lake this past weekend and thought it was perfectly fine, a little bumby in a few transitions but otherwise smooth enough to totally enjoy it yet I'm sure most these days would deem it almost un-rideable. I honestly can't remember the last coaster I rode that I considered to be so "rough" that I wouldn't ride it again, maybe Gwazi right before they closed it down? Maybe Cannonball Run in Gulf Shores, that was pretty brutal but understandable for a seasonal wooden coaster at a waterpark near the beach (I still rode it 3 or 4 times haha). Heck, people were complaining about Mine Blower like a week after it opened when that ride was totally fine.

Maybe it's just me but it seems like every other Legoland park in the world looks better than Legoland Florida.

I love Dinosaur, my only complaint is I wish the lights in the show building were like 15% brighter because I feel like there's so much detail you miss just because it's so darn dark in most of it. Other than that it's a great ride, and the line is usually pretty reasonable with or without a fastpass so that's always nice. Animal Kingdom really is great, I don't really know where I rank it among the Disney Parks, or where it will rank for people after all of these new attractions open but it's so unique and just totally relaxing place to spend a few hours, a full day, whatever it may be. Love the place.

It will be interesting to see how the water park does. I think it has an opportunity to 'fill' the lose of Wet n Wild if they price it right. Yeah, then again I doubt that a higher end "luxury" resort would give people access to their amenities at a "budget" price point.

^Yeah, and I'm guessing it will probably be on the higher end of things pricing wise, but it will be interesting to see how the water park is priced for non-resort guests. I'm guessing not as expensive as the major water parks in Orlando, but probably as close to it as they can get away with.

Mind Eraser at Darien Lake, I wasn't gonna ride it but the place was dead and I'd already been on everything else multiple times. Honestly not terrible as far as SLC's go, still an SLC but it was enjoyable.

There seem to have been a trend in recent years where the major resorts are investing more and more in "water park" style attractions for their resort pool. The Gaylord Palms has a legit water park with another addition to recently announced, the Omni built a new Wave Pool, there's a vacation home resort south of Orlando with a stand alone water park, and probably a dozen other examples in the Orlando Area. I would think it's more of an incentive to stay at/buy into the resort then to function as a stand alone water park, although I'm sure the additional revenue from day guests doesn't hurt. Being close to Orlando we go down all the time and just do long weekends at resorts so a full water park on site that's included in the stay is right up our alley. I've never checked but I'm not sure if the Gaylord or Omni or other major resorts offer a "day pass" for non-resort guests to use the facilities. I think the water park hotel off of I4 does but I've never checked the others, so pretty cool Margatiaville will offer that.

That and with Disney (and Universal to some extent) you really get more bang for your buck the longer you stay. The difference between a 4 day park hopper and a 7 day park hopper is like $45 or something, so $45 for 3 more days. My family and I never take full week long vacations, and for Disney park we're close enough that we just do a day here and there, but as they continue to grow and get more expensive we may just have to hold off and do a full 5-6 days on property eventually. Also to the comments about 1 day not being enough, I'm not entirely sure that's true yet for anywhere except Magic Kingdom. A few weeks ago I went to Epcot on a a busy summer Saturday with my 5 y/o, and in like 4.5 hours we did Frozen, met Ana & Elsa, Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Soarin, Nemo, took a lap around the Showcase, watched the Circle vision movie in China and had lunch in Morocco. She backed out of Mission Space at the pre-show or else we would have gotten on that, and we had a fastpass for a 2nd lap on Test Track but it went down for weather so we left around 1. I mean if we had stayed for 8 more hours we til close we could have easily done all of the rides and and probably most of the shows. Yeah you might not be able to see every single show/exhibit/character but at Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Studios a full 10+ hours day (to me) is enough time to do just about everything.

I guess per the TPR Coaster poll the second best 2 coaster combo behind Cedar Point is Lisberg with Helix at 12 and Balder at 15.

Hope they get ROS open before the season ends? The season just started, im sure itll be fine. As far as the complaints on here about landscaping and maintenance... take them with a giant grain of salt. Yeah, hope it opens "as soon as possible" is what I mean but it seems like in there past there have been Intamin rides (maybe even this particular one) that have experienced several weeks/months of downtime during an operating season so I hope that't not the case.