Hilltopper39

Everest is pretty cool at night, the visuals on the lift hill over the park are really eerie, and all of the in lighting in the tunnels and first reverse section look really cool in the dark. Also, when it's dark out it feels like you eyes are adjusted a bit better so you can see the Yeti a bit better in the finale. There may not be a whole lot of people who have ridden Everest in the dark but once the hours at AK are extended this fall I got a feeling that thing will be really popular at night. Also, the Tree of Life lit up at night should look really amazing from the lift.

I've been to EPCOT on NYE before and it's honestly not that bad just because that park is massive. You might not be able to get a prime viewing spot for Illuminations but you can grab a drink and hang out anywhere around the World Showcase or even in Future World and still have a pretty good view of the NYE fireworks. And all of the extra DJ booths and stuff they have set around the park really seem to spread the crowds out a bit. I wouldn't consider going anywhere near Magic Kingdom that day but I'd go back to Epcot again.

I was there this past Saturday and the new metal detectors were out front but were not being used. Not sure if they were in use when you went on NYE but I'm wondering if they will only use them selectively on crowded days or during peak park entry hours. We got to the park around like 11ish so maybe they were used in the morning that day not sure.

Yeah, I get parking fees at places with limited space in big cities n such and for valet, but the Palms has a huge lot out in the middle of nowhere that always seems to be empty. I've always wanted to stay there for a weekend since it's a beautiful property in a great location but every time I find a good room rate I remember it's gonna cost an extra $60 to park for the weekend so I just move on elsewhere. I don't know if that makes me a cheapskate for dismissing the place over a $20 parking fee but when most every other major resort in town doesn't charge to park it kind of seems unnecessary.

I did the ICE exhibit at the Gaylord Palms a few years back and had a good time but haven't really felt the need to experience it again. If I remember correctly the tubing used to be inside the exhibit and was included when I went, kind of sucks that it's a separate ticket now. Maybe I will check this out again sometime in the future with the kids when they're a bit older, they'd probably appreciate it so it might be fun with them. I will say the Gaylord Palms is a really cool property, ICE is probably worth it just to go take a stroll through that hotel and grab lunch. Although I do remember being slightly annoyed that they charged like $20 to park at the hotel, do they still do that? Huge gigantic empty lot and they want $20 for me to come in and grab lunch, lame.

^Yeah, I'm with you there, it's fine but nothing special IMO. Although I have always wanted to take the boat tour around and through the lakes and canals in that area. I've always heard that it is kind of a cool off the beaten path kind of attraction but have never gotten around to it.

^Yeah, probably not a great idea in America. I am curious though about Mango's Orlando's hours and age requirements, like are there more "family friendly" shows earlier in the evening before the 8pm or something? Not that it will affect their business any but Orlando is still a pretty family friendly town so I'm curious if they considered that aspect for this location. I'm probably not the right person to answer that question since I'm not really a local anymore but honestly I don't really remember there being anything remotely close to a mom and pop cafe or a famous locals only kind of spot anywhere on i-Drive (again, not a local anymore so there might be but I don't know about it). I think there is still an Ale House down there which is kind of a local Florida sports bar brand but it's huge and all of those in the state kind of have a touristy feel to them (not that it's a bad thing, I love the Ale House). I was kind of referring to the traditional Touristy Gift Shops and All you Can Eat Lobster Feast places and rundown mini golf courses that used to be on every corner on i-drive. Again some of that is still there but it seems like whenever something closes these days it's replaced with much better than was there before. I-Drive has always been the more budget friendly area of town to stay compared to the on-site hotels at Disney/Universal or the larger premier properties from the major hotel chains, and that's probably not going to change but the addition of higher end properties certainly seems to be helping that area redefine it's image a bit. There's still 3 Golden Corrals and 4 IHOPS on I-Drive, but now there's also a Capital Grille, Sugar Factory, and places like Mango's and King's Orlando, so the mix is certainly changing. Also, I found an article from Orlando Weekly that answered my question about the buildings previous tenant, apparently it used to be a TGI Friday's Front Row that had like celebrity hand prints in the concrete in front of the restaurant or something? Yeah, I had no clue that was ever there originally. 5-things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-mangos-orlando

It is pretty amazing how much that area has changed in a fairly short amount of time. I don't know exactly when Pointe Orlando opened but between that, I-Drive 360, Mango's, and Fun Spot, that area has certainly changed it's personality quite a bit recently. Even a lot of the older "cheap" hotels and touristy souvenir shops and buffets have closed and been replaced by name brand properties and more unique restaurants. Now don't get me wrong some of that still exists in that are but the newer nicer stuff seems to taking over.

Yeah I do want to check out Sealife one of these days so I may give the Eye another try at some point. One other small complaint I had was that even though there were only about 15 people in the pre-show with us it still took about half an hour to get on the thing after the show ended. We just walked up and bought tickets so maybe you can buy a specific reserved time or something but on a crowded day the line for that thing has to be miserable.

Yeah I'm really looking forward to this attraction, also the views from the train should be great. I've always loved the train ride at BGT so this just makes it that much better.

I'm somewhat familiar with the Orlando location but does anyone know off the top of their head know if this building was a new construction from the ground up or did they renovate an existing structure?

These Polercoasters all looks awesome but I still won't believe it until the day they are open. I'm optimistic about the project in Orlando but there's still a lot of time between now and opening day (whenever that may be).

I finally got around to checking out the Orlando Eye and the whole I-drive 360 complex last week. The complex itself was really fun (Shake Shack is awesome, glad to have one in Orlando), but I was pretty unimpressed with the Eye. I'm glad I did it once to say I did it but don't really see myself making a trip to ride it again anytime soon. It certainly looks cool from the plaza but there really isn't much to see during the ride itself other than the roof tops of some hotels. Disney is so far off in the distance that you can barley make out any of those structures and Universal is kind of the same way. I will say the ticket option for the Eye, Tussauds, SeaLife, and Legoland at $100 is a pretty decent option, but I probably won't be paying $20 for the Eye alone again anytime soon.

I went to Mango's in Miami last week and my first thought was this place is going to kill it in Orlando. Even though it was super slow on South Beach since it was Monday night we thought we'd stop in Mango's and grab a drink just to check the place out then move on but ended up staying for a a few hours. Im not really a "club" person but this place was a blast so I'm sure the one in Orlando will be as well.

I hope it is, my past couple of trips even on really crowded days both Manta and Kraken never had a wait longer than 10 or 20 minutes. I hope Mako is a hit but something like Cobra's Curse or Fire Chaser Express would be really nice for SeaWorld. Maybe that's next after Cobra's Curse is a huge hit for Busch Gardens.

^Well, don't have to worry about that now!

It's still trash though. Anyone who thinks this makes them "safer" is probably so stupid, they need to actively think about breathing to keep doing it. I mean come one, metal detectors compared to no metal detectors has to be a little bit "safer"...... Might not prevent a pre-meditated attack but it might prevent some knucklehead who forgot to leave his concealed weapon in the car.

There was a story last week about police arresting a man who attempted to bring a gun into the parks, I kind of figured it was only a matter of time before additional security measures popped up given the current state of the world.

Happened to me once, at the Woodford County fair when I was about 12 I think. Took 3 or 4 rides on the zipper without getting off then went for one ride on the pirate ship and lost it. Never has happened to me since but if I did 4 cycles on a zipper tomorrow it probably would. Also, when I used to work on some flat rides like a Zameprla Power Surge and scrambler and tea cups and things, in 3 years of working rides think I only saw someone actually throw up once.

^You know its funny, I have several friends down here in Florida with younger kids who recently visited Universal for the first time after making several trips to Disney in previous years and more of them than I was expecting raved about Universal and how it was so much better than Disney to them. I love both properties for different reasons since they really are "different" but it's easy to forget that there are a lot of people out there that aren't fans of the Disney parks and prefer Universal so that's not surprising.

Yeah, I would think they would take over Sinbad and the Lost Continent before they remove Dragon Challenge. Then again no one really knows how bad this whole track replacement issue is with their B&M's, the price tag for Hulk would essentially be doubled for Dragon's so maybe at that point it's not worth it to rebuild the attraction.

Yeah, I've heard a similar rumor over the years but I don't think a dueling invert from B&M was ever in the works for a Disney park. It was always my understanding that the "dragon coaster" for Animal Kingdom would be some kind of suspended coaster, not a dueling invert. I've also heard discussions/rumors that B&M won't work with Disney because they won't allow one of their rides to operate with a third party control system. Don't know if there is any truth in that but Disney does typically install their own ride control systems so I could see how a manufacturer would have a problem with that.

Looks like it will be a great compliment to me. Yeah I agree, that section of the park looks amazing but it's rarely crowded, seems like I remember Montu having station waits with the plaza completely empty my last couple of visits. I hoping this ride breathes some life back into that corner of the park because it really is one of the better sections in BGT.

I'm glad this project was approved to move forward and I'm very excited about it, but I still won't believe it until the day it opens. This seems like a massive undertaking and there's a lot of time left between now and whenever it's supposed to open for things to go wrong. I'm still optimistic and wish them the best of luck with the project, just hope everything else goes smoothly.

Yeah DAK at night is awesome, that's one of the reasons I'm excited about Pandora and the Rivers of Light parade show thing, now the park will hopefully be open past 6 oclock!