Hilltopper39

Wow, so not only is it a family suspended coaster, but it will have onboard audio and "swing" like an old school suspended coaster? This is pretty exciting addition, cool to see B&M doing some new stuff. Also it seems like this is a bit longer and faster than the previous 2 B&M family coasters in China so I wonder if that means a custom layout? Every time I'm at BGT the longest lines are almost always for Cheetah Hunt and Cobras Curse, and even Scorpion and the wild mouse used to pull some pretty decent lines. A reliable B&M family coaster with a decent capacity should be a great addition for this park.

I know we've been expecting this but I still think this is a really cool concept. Should be interesting to see how they re-use the exiting building/themeing from the Antarctica ride, but no matter what they do a multi launched family coaster in that section of the park should do pretty well.

New trains is an interesting wrinkle to this story, I'm assuming it's for the conversion from the LIM launch to a chain drive and the existing trains can't be salvaged or converted but should be interesting see if these are just the same RMC trains or if there's something new in the works. Isn't SFFT getting new trains for Wonder Woman? I don't remember why, but with that and the new trains for their wild mouse model maybe there will be soem changes to the "new" standard trains from RMC.

I was looking at the Howl-O-Scream event page for this year and noticed this bag policy. I *think* this is a new policy but don't really remember the past couple years as I usually don't take a bag with me. I took a quick look at the HOS pages for Busch Gardens in Tampa and Williamsburg and it looks like the Williamsburg park has a similar policy but the page for Tampa doesn't seem to mention anything out of the ordinary. Anyways just a heads up for anyone attending the HOS events this year at SWO, BGT, or BGW, may want to check out the bag policy before you go. https://seaworld.com/orlando/events/howl-o-scream/faqs/

The Erik and Smisty reports are always the highlight of my day.

Ya know with as many classic attractions that have been removed or renovated over the past couple of years it's pretty cool to see a park just completely upgrade and re-build an older classic ride. As far as the ride itself it sound like it's..... just going to be a newer better version of the old ride? I know RMC is involved but it seems like it'll be a pretty similar experience to the original ride just with better/newer/upgraded/refreshed show scenes etc. etc. I think I saw a $30 million dollar investment listed somewhere which is a lot of money, but also considering it's an entirely new coaster and a new dark ride inside of a new building $30 million maybe isn't that much money? Should interesting to see the finished product with this one but pretty cool to see a park invest in keeping a classic historical attraction alive.

All of the letters I sent to B&M demanding that they bring back the tilted loop must have finally payed off. Tilted loops are so back baby.

Those look great, did you cook those on just an elevated rack with a pizza stone in a ceramic komodo style grill? I've had a Green Egg for like 15 years probably but haven't done pizza on it in forever, I think you pies have inspired me to give that another try sometime.

I didn't realize this was going to be a B&M, I just figured since BGW, SWT, and SWSD got Intamin motorbike coasters this would be some version of that. I was kind of looking forward to that model in Orlando but it's hard to complain about capacity and reliability with a B&M. Wonder what kind of trains this thing will have, if it's a "family" coaster I'd just assume it will be some kind of sitdown with the vest restraints but maybe they've something else new in the works similar to the new Standup with Pipeline. It's kind of interesting to think of how stagnant B&M had been for a few decades as far as innovation and now all they sudden they're doing launches, and custom standup trains, and family coasters. Now none of these things are really "new" for the industry but for a company as reputable and reliable as B&M to be doing something new to them is exciting.

Two cycles through the course is a cool little touch, I kind of forgot about this project but seems like a really fun little ride.

Yeah I'll say I didn't have an issue with it, nor have I on any of the other B&M vest restraint rides I've ridden, but my daughter did mentions being slightly uncomfortable mostly when sitting on the brake run. It seems like the vest thing is hit or miss for a lot of people depending on height/shape/etc. but yeah hopefully they can adjust the tension in the future if needed.

Great report, really enjoyed following these updates (and the whole trip recently). This has been one of the more intriguing new parks out there for me recently because it looks so good but it feels like there hasn't been that much coverage of it. How was the Batman ride? Seems like after it opened I looked for some on ride videos for a while then eventually found a POV several months later, but even from good footage like yours it's hard to get a feel for the thing. I know it uses the same Kuka arm as forbidden journey but was the overall ride experience good compared to forbidden journey? I can't imagine that ride system is cheap so hopefully the rest of the attraction stacks up.

I had a chance to get 4 rides on Pipeline this weekend with my oldest during the passholder preview and we had a really fun time. I gotta say, my expectations weren't high for this ride, or low really, but it's pretty fun. The trains bounce way more than I thought they would and it produces some really unique sensations. I thought that the layout after the inversion would be really dull but there were several unexpected pops of air time that the seats created that otherwise probably wouldn't exist. For a "gimmick" coaster it's a pretty fun little gimmick. I have no idea where this thing ranks but it's a heck of a lot of fun. Mako is still my favorite coaster at SeaWorld, but this is a really nice addition. The whole area around the ride looks great, it's very minimal on the themeing but the sand and the palm trees along the waters edge really looks great and has a nice beachy vibe to it. I did notice there was an awful lot of space on some pathways around the ride which makes me think there's some potential to really bring this area into use during the various festivals throughout the year. Lots of nice places for some food stands, and the whole plaza is goin to be a great viewing spot for the fireworks in the summer time. As far as the loading procedures I really didn't notice any issues. Granted it was a passholder preview so crowds were limited, but we had a few rides where the line filled almost all of the main switchbacks below the stairs down the launch track and it took 10 maybe 15 minutes? They did have to re-check a few restraints each train but it really didn't feel slow or anything. Also I think I saw one person get turned away for the restraints but also noticed several larger people ride with no issues. Feels like there was a lot of discussion about the restraints being restrictive for larger people early on when the ride first opened, but I think that's just a thing that people (bloggers) bring up now to have something to talk about when it's really not that big of an issue. Overall it feels like a really solid addition for the park, probably not gonna be anyone's favorite coaster ever but it's a really fun ride.

I completely forgot this project was happening but it looks really good! Can't wait to see the line for the log flume be 4x as long as the line for the coaster.

I'm going with a 500 Ft spike just so they can say they have a 500 Ft tall coaster even though with the swing launch the train will never go over the 350 Ft mark. A record is a record.

Looking forward to head down this weekend for passholder preview, but one question for anyone that's been, are there any special requirements for the preview? Do you have to get a wrist band some or a special ticket or just show your pass at the entrance like in years past?

Yeah I like the idea of an expansion team more than moving the Rays. On one hand you would probably keep some of the Rays fan base, but the move would probably piss off another large chunk so who knows how much of a net positive that is. Part of the issue in Tampa to me is that the stadium is in the middle of nowhere, probably over an hour just from various parts of Tampa. The Orlando stadium would be right in the middle of everything. Some of the articles mentioned the new SunRail line that's going to be running from the airport to the convention center, I'm sure a stop would be included for the new stadium if this becomes a reality. Again I'm not a big baseball fan but I enjoy a day at the ballpark enough that I'd do a couple games a year. And with this being so close to SeaWorld/Aquatica and Universal there are some great opportunities for some fun weekends. Hit Seaworld in the morning, check into a hotel close by late afternoon then walk over to the stadium district around 5 for dinner and drinks before a 7pm first pitch. Horror Nights on a Saturday in September then a 1m game on Sunday. Lots of potential.

I'm gonna throw this in the "Random" thread since it's not really related to a specific theme park or the theme park industry, but a new MLB Stadium/franchise in being considered for Orlando just right outside of SeaWorld/Aquatica. I'm not a huge baseball fan but we were just in Atlanta over the weekend at the new(er) Braves stadium and that entire complex the area surrounding that venue is spectacular. If this is anything like that it'll could potentially have a huge impact and be a massive draw for a city that already has so much tourism. Just curious if anyone has any thoughts on this proposed project, good or bad. I don't live in Orlando in but I'd imagine locals may have mixed feelings on this as far as traffic and funding etc. etc., but a nice new complex right in the heart of the attractions area could be pretty exciting. https://www.si.com/mlb/2023/05/10/orlando-dreamers-group-proposes-stadium-lure-mlb-franchise

I've seen a lot of people trashing the look of these on various social media channels in comparison to the existing cabins that are a bit more "rustic" and actually look like cabins but I don't know, I kind of like these. I'm sure the footprint of these won't be that much different than the existing units but I like the more fresh and modern look, even if it does kind of resemble a shipping container.

Yeah when we were there a few years ago that made absolutely no sense to me, just move up one flight of stairs to the top floor and group from there, where you can actually see the station and the train. Several time train went out with empty seats because the grouper 1 floor down had no idea they hadn't sent enough people up to fill a train, it made no sense at all.

Yeah I could care less, but I do think it's kind of cool when they build slightly different versions of the same attraction. Like Tower of Terror what are there like 4 different versions using that same ride system across the planet? Space Mountains are all slightly different, there are more examples I can't think of but I always did appreciate those little changes.

Could always go over the Iron Dragon track instead of under it. I feel like I've seen some fan speculation videos/renderings out there somewhere that showed some possibilities for that.

The turntable is kind of an odd choice in the middle of the ride like that but I think I remember something about maybe the maintenance bays are on the end of the layout? If so that's a really creative way of saving space. Layout looks funky as hell, and the upward launch into the top hat thingy at the beginning is really cool.

Even on a crowded day Infinity Falls might be the only thing with any kind of a significant wait time. They usually don't open that ride with the park, if I recall they open that area of the park about an hour later so if your riding Mako around 9:45 or so you can get over to Infinity Falls when it opens shortly after 10. If you're at the park when they open at 9 am it's pretty easy to grab a few rides on Manta, Kraken, and Mako within the first hour.

Does anyone know when QuickQue's go on sale for the summer? Or does anyone remember roughly what QuickQue's cost last year for let's say a Thursday/Friday/Saturday in early June? Trying to plan a trip with the kid up for a KD/BGW weekend and don't see the QQ's available for sale yet.