Nozzy

TPR was invited to a preview of Doctor Strange tonight, which Tomtom and I happily attended. Big thanks to Robb for the opportunity! I had no idea who Doctor Strange was going into the movie, and I kinda liked it that way. If you really want a synopsis though: Doctor Stephen Strange is a awesome-but-jerky neurosurgeon who loses the use of his hands in a car accident. When medicine can't help him out, he starts looking for some mystical healers. After finding them, they turn out to be more into being magical warriors than just people seeking enlightenment. He joins them, but will he fight alongside them, or just get his hands fixed and leave? As usual for a Marvel film there was lots of fun snarky dialogue and a good story- however, what really blew me away was the visuals. The world becomes a twisting mess of shapes during the best fight sequences, and there's an awesome WTF sequence of abstract scenes as part of the introduction to the multiple universes that may also give me some nightmares tonight. The most important things I can stress from this preview are: A) You should see this on a big screen. B) You should see this in 3-D. This is coming from someone who doesn't like watching movies in 3-D (the last time I saw one was probably Toy Story 3), but with the movie's best scenes having lots of interesting Escher-like environments where depth perception really matters, this is the time to don the glasses and enjoy the visual playground. We did not see it in IMAX, but I imagine it would be amazing. Overall, I'd place it high on the list of Marvel films- it had a nice pace, interesting story, and as mentioned amazing visuals. Benedict Cumberbatch made a great hero as well- certainly distinct from Sherlock, though with a lot of the snark that fans love. No knowledge of anything else in the Marvelverse needed for this film either! One other thing to mention, before the film we were told about Marvel Studios Hero Acts,the Studios new charity. To help kick it off, if you visit www.marvelstudiosheroacts.com/#/ and post a picture of you in your favorite superhero pose, they will donate $5 to Save the Children, a group that help supply educational materials to kids in the US and around the world. So, go see Doctor Strange starting this Friday IN 3-D and get pictures to help save those children!

Six Flags Mexico works differently- you basically get a receipt with 3 or 10 boxes, and each ride they punch out a box until you finish. No reserving or need to pick rides- you could buy it and use it for 10 rides on Medusa (or try everything). I believe you need a receipt for each person, but I'm not certain (and if there are people who don't use theirs up you can definitely hand them off at the end). You can get multiple one per days, and I believe they're sold at the gift shop near Superman, and probably other gift shops as well.

You're the first person I've seen report that and in every picture and video I've seen of the ride the boats were all full. So I think your situation may not be the norm. I have sat four to a row all the time on Maelstrom so I can't imagine that wouldn't be the same for Frozen. My ride its first week was similar to John's- they gave me an entire row to myself! Howeve this morning my sister says they are grouping like crazy- her standby wait at 11 AM was just 20 minutes (posted 60)! Maybe they had to get the employees back up to speed . Regardless, sounds like it's all good now!

I visited by myself back in 2006 and I can't disagree more- I had an amazing time! There was so much to explore and discover- I didn't even get to all the areas of the park until my second day. Buying a ticket at the gate was no issue whatsoever, and I never at any point felt unwelcome. Sure, everything wasn't in English, but I'll always remember trying to go to the buffet for a last night dinner, but it was rented out for a private party. I had to ask for an English menu, but it was available, and as a college student on a budget in the Hotel Colosseo there really wasn't anything more welcoming the hostess could do than excitedly point out the more affordable menu items in the fancy restaurant to encourage me to dine there (ended up splurging on rabbit instead- so so worth it). I can't wait to get the chance to go back and stay at one of their hotels. Operations wise I remember never waiting more than maybe 45 minutes for maybe 2-3 rides, but most were less. I was also amazed that on the second day the park was MUCH more crowded, but thanks to the operations and running more trains the line wait times were practically identical. I loved Phantasialand as well, but I felt like there were many more multilingual staff at Europa. I hope you'd give them another visit and reconsider. Looking forward to seeing all the photos, and hope all the first timers are loving it!

My skydiving instructor and I are cracking up over this. Do you have a strap that you can cinch tight? I can see why just a strap is insufficient, but with the strap tight around your head...really??? Yes, it's a strap that tightens around my head. I've been on over 1,500 roller coasters in the world and I've encountered *MAYBE* 50 rides that they wouldn't allow glasses on, even with a strap. In fact, you can wear glasses with a strap on the other two B&Ms at SeaWorld so why not this one? Like I said, I hope that rule changes because it seems sort of silly. Heck, they've never even stopped me from riding Manta without a glasses strap. I really hope Seaworld doesn't go crazy over one pair of lost glasses- it happens, even on Wild Mice. Id like to see how high up I am and how fast I'm going!

Disney Parks Blog announcement said it will open at 9 with Future World. Seeing that they have the princess breakfast in Norway it makes sense. https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2016/05/frozen-ever-after-attraction-royal-sommerhus-set-to-open-at-epcot-june-21/

Ah the fun world of glasses on rides. Just to chime in, I always use straps like Robb showed- there are a few parks that sell them with branding as a nice souvenir, I know I've stocked up at Carowinds and Cedar Point in the past. Note that some straps (ones that are all fabric) will get ruined if they get too wet, so it can help to take them off on water rides. I also try to get glasses I know will stay on well- better for the strap to be back up than the only thing keeping them on, and note it is possible to get glasses whose arms are too thin for straps to be effective. Usually there's no issue at all with glasses at Six Flags parks, though Kingda Ka and probably X2 require straps. Cedar Fair tends to be more uptight, though only on certain rides (Maverick, Dragster) and it can always vary (I was fine last year at Knott's with strap, sometimes it's required for I305 but other times I rode without (not recommended!)). Down here at Busch Gardens it's a requirement for Falcon's Fury and I believe Cheetah Hunt, and it's a requirement on Tempesto up in Williamsburg. Overseas it can vary as well- quite a few tall rides in Japan didn't allow glasses, even with a strap- Blue Fall (and a smaller Intamin drop tower now that I think of it), the Togo Coaster at Sea Paradise, Vanish Point, White Cyclone, and Steel Dragon come to mind, and of course nearly everything at Fuji-Q.

News that very conveniently just happened to leak out at around the time of the final vote last night. Almost like somebody didn't want Skyplex to have all the news headlines to themselves. If so it seems to have worked overall- while local news this morning was talking about Skyplex, I noticed my iphone's theme park news had a headline about a possible new Universal park but nothing on Skyplex... No matter though, any redevelopment on I-Drive sounds good to me! Very excited that this passed, and with such force as well! Very excited to see when things start moving on it.

I'm not sure which is more useless- the app or the rather limited in-park wi-fi. Hope that answers your question! Make sure to get a pretzel!

Had the pleasure today of riding Twisted Colossus, which was the last I needed to ride (though I can't wait to have more to get again. Ever since I saw the pictures of New Texas Goant I've been drawn to them for their crazy elements and interesting construction. As Robb said, any of them are better than the vast majority of coasters out there- I don't keep rankings too much but more have a list of "favorite rides" and almost all the RMCs are on it. For ranking them, I personally like: 1. Medusa 1. Wicked Cyclone 2. Twisted Colossus 3. Iron Rattler 4. Outlaw Run 5. New Texas Giant 6. Goliath I like Medusa's and Cyclone's absolutely crazy air mixed with inversions. Both exceeded my expectations, especially Medusa which I rode first and didn't "look" to me to be as good as it was before riding it. I also have a soft spot for coasters I think of as "less intense just fun" (I love Dorney's Talon for example) which Twisted Colossus and Iron Rattler fall in to. I love Rattlers setting , first drop and inversion, but Colossus's airtime makes me like it a bit more. Outlaw Run is fantastic, the overbank and wave turn are great fun as is the path through the forest. Giant is fun but I love RMC's crazy inversions (and I'm biased against SFOT for lackluster days there/hard to get rides on Giant). Goliath was fun and very pretty but felt a bit short, and was even more of a hassle to get rides on than Giant. Ultimately, I love that all of them are very unique rides and each has something different to offer or that it does better than the others. You really can't go wrong riding any of them, and can't wait to see what new craziness comes next year!

^^ I think they might as I saw it once before, during Christmastown. Cars were backed up all the way down the ramp for 64 westbound around opening time and just as I got up to the parking booths they started to just wave cars through without paying.

See the Pet Show! I suggest doing the park in a clockwise fashion. That pet show was one of the biggest wastes of time I've ever sat through. Chuck warned my friend and I to stay away, but alas we were tired and foolish...

I was astounded when I first saw the pictures of the log flume boat ride on Facebook, and it's no less amusing now. So bizarre... Always fun to read your reports and see these parks!

I rode it today. It's probably my favorite flat in the park, other than Drop Tower. It's always a crapshoot with whether friends will ride it or if they're too frightened, which I think highly contributes to its usual short lines. I don't think there's any ride at KD that gathers a bigger crowd to watch. I wish more parks had this model instead of the normal Topspins!

Sounds like a great plan to me. It really is a nice park to just walk around and relax.

It's really not too hard to ride everything, especially if you're there in the morning. Usually the longest lines are Verbolten, Griffon, and now Tempesto. In my experience, Verbolten and Griffon can get up to an hourish on a normal summer Saturday. Alpengeist is usually 45 minutes and Apollo 30ish? I like to think all the coasters are worth riding, but the B&M's and Verbolten are the stars in my opinion. The park opens in waves so you can hit multiple rides as they open, and this past week EVERYONE went to Tempesto, Griffon was walk-on until noon. Don't know how much Memorial Day changes things. Make sure to do Pompeii, and Darkastle is kinda interesting. Eat good food! (festival and Pretzel shop in Germany) Have fun!

I really enjoyed our day at Hansa Park on the last Scandi trip. I hadn't known anything about it beforehand, but was quite impressed by the extensive theming of rides and charm of the park. Fluch von Novgorod is my favorite Eurofighter, in large part due to it's crazy amount of theming. The ride portion isn't that long but I like it better when Eurofighters have excessive amounts of theming. The "children-in-boxes" family coaster was similarly charming due to it's bizarreness in theme. Nessie was a nice Schwarzkopf. Other than coasters, my favorite thing was probably the ropes course, similar to Adventure Mountain at Dollywood but quite a bit more intense elements. I know it had mixed reactions, but I also loved the "Giant Bell" Frisbee type ride, which has horrendous capacity to have excessive amounts of theming. There are two flumes, one traditional (not incredibly memorable) and one more splash-boatish (memorable because I'd never seen one quite like it). Didn't get to ride the Skyscreamer, but it should be quite pretty, the observation tower was nice. Ah, and the double Bayern Curve was quite unique, but honestly was not a great ride. Awesome "queue area" though... So, overall I'd say that if you really like good theming and nice parks (which sounds like you are), it could be worth it. If you're looking for awesome rides with speed/forces/etc., you might want that extra day in Hamburg.

They may post them online once it starts, I'm not quite certain. i believe last year food ranged from $4-$7. Most desserts are on the low end, while the more protein based entrees (cured salmon, bacon wrapped scallop with rice) would be $7. I forgot to mention, all the booths are up and the new ones look pretty cool. Made me wish I could start digging in to some of them though, can't wait for the return of shrimp fritters!

Some of the stuff that I have- I used to get stuffed animals, but then they started taking up way too much space. Now I just get random stuff, though I've focused on glasses lately as they are useful as well as collectible. Since I live in a single room apartment most of my stuff is in drawers, and I don't get much cause there just isn't any space. I have quite a few t-shirts too, though I realized I was getting too many of them as well. For a bunch of older ones that I particularly liked but were worn out, and those I would never actually wear as they were too dorky, my sister made them into a quilt for me, which is what I arranged everything on. It's a bit too big to fit into a picture on it's own. Stuffed animals! El Toro, Sheriff from Monster Mansion, Mystery Mine (with light-up red eyes!), Manta, Barnstormer, Possessed, Steel Force, Hydra, Oblivion, and a Sun-baby from Space Fantasy Random Stuff, including 24 Hour Disney Side ears, Medusa Snow Globe, Disney Vehicle Models, Texas Giant Bolt, and SFOT Parachute Piece Other randomness: Japanese Hand Towels, Playing Cards, Sheriff's Badge and Pins And glassware! Some of which actually gets used, which is nice. Whenever I become a real person perhaps I can use all of it and get more. The leather coaster is a Dollywood souvenir, with the logo imprinted from their leather craftsman shop. And Disney glasses. The smaller two are from Japan, Mickey has the castle and Minnie has Mt. Prometheus.

Made it over to the park yesterday to get on Tempesto for the first time, as well as enjoy the other rides in a more comfortable temperature. I arrived around opening and got my first ride without waiting too long. I really liked the way the launches build up anticipation, and that final one does give you a nice little pop at the top. The roll is alright, and then I had no idea what went all with all the twisting in the loop, guess I was expecting it to invert or something. Overall, what stuck with me was "cool launch, no idea what came after". I liked this, as it was something different. I had two rides later in the day, both quite fun but those dang shin restraints where a bit rough on my legs. I'm around 6'-1" or 6'-2" which I believe is where you are supposed to start having trouble with the Premier trains, but this felt worse than SkyRocket or YOLOcoaster- I don't know if it's actually different or just me, tired legs, etc. I did highly enjoy watching Tempesto- it's just such bright colors, the riders all love it, and it's such an interesting layout to watch the trains go through. Operations are fantastic, as Chuck mentioned- there's never a long wait to see a train go through, and while I didn't time it I did notice that generally a train would launch while I went up Apollo's lift and a second train would be launching as we hit the brakes- seems pretty quick to me! Festa was more crowded than I've ever seen it (excepting Christmastown), and the line held at 45 minutes- 1 hour all day (out to the ride sign). Other random musings: -Apollo's crew was amazing, rolling trains pretty consistently and keeping their line super short despite all the increased foot traffic in the area. Just as Tempesto was consistently on the course, it was rare to see Apollo's lift without a train. -New ice cream is great! Strawberry Shortcake with cheeseake bites is strange but tasty. -Smacked a tree pretty bad on Alpengeist. Someday I'll learn to keep my arms inside the train. -London Rocks has changed. Story is easier to follow, show overall is much less trippy. Funny how that worked... A few pictures: Saw some stuff falling out of the train during the roll- use those free fanny packs! It's what a real daredevil would do! Still my favorite coaster in the park ^_^ Lunch! Side-Tempesto

Carowinds? But I gave you some money, anyway. Thanks Chuck! I'll miss coasting with you- I've also thrown money some your way as well, so no need have Angus warm up any fully armed and operational battle stations ^_^

Awesome, thank you kindly and right back at you!

Well I'm a bit late to the signing up party , but I've finally registered for my third year. I've decided to stray away from Kings Dominion and try out Carowinds! My page is here: support.gktw.org/site/TR/CoastingForKids/General?px=1020285&pg=personal&fr_id=1370 I'll go ahead and match the first $25 to my page to try to get started...

Last year they had the Spring Bloom Festival, but it was very easy to not realize anything special was going on- it was limited to just the butterfly statues, Butterfly Fairy Princess, craft for kids, and some not-very-special food. The International Food booths are new this year. Just to offer my thoughts on it all as well: -As a rule I never buy food at King's Dominion because of how expensive it is coupled with how bad it tastes. I was impressed enough with these offerings that were I to return I'd buy some again, and am now willing to give the park's normal food another shot this summer. -As seen the booths are simplistic, but they get the job done, once everyone's figured out how selling food works anyway ^_^ -I think my favorite entree was the Mac and Cheese, though it's not very exotic. The Tuna was a very close runner up, and if they'd just toast the bruschetta that might jump ahead. -Coconut Custard was great! Very interesting flavor, definitely my favorite dessert, though all were good except... -As Chuck mentioned, the "fondue" at the Swiss booth is cringeworthy if you're trying to dip the tiny bit of fruit they give you. It was amazing as chocolate milk. -Note that the "ginger beer" at Jamaica/Hawaii is more like carbonated pineapple juice. It makes me like it better, though someone expecting ginger beer is likely to be disappointed. Overall it was a great day for food and rides, and I hope they do build on the festival in the future. I'm curious to see what the Carolina food festival down at Carowinds will be like as well. Awesome pictures! Glad I could hang out with you for the day.

Theming looks pretty nice to me- I love the nod to Verbolten. I wonder if Tempesto will make an appearance at media day, as Gerta and Gunther did for Verbolten. Perhaps he could do a motorcycle jump through the loop!