toughmudder

Official news from Lagoon confirming Primordial as the name of the new coaster... but no footage. Still, after many years of construction, it's nice to know it's opening in 2023!

If there’s 15-20 mph winds at the park are there any rides that shut down?

So right now a week out it’s showing 40% chance of thunderstorms the day we are supposed to go. Do all rides shut down during either thunderstorms or the threat of thunderstorms? I want to get FL+ but have held off. I guess there’s no refund if I buy it in advance and there’s bad weather correct...?

Thanks for all the advice everybody. One other quick question. If I'm buying FL+ online in advance, and staying at the Express Hotel, can we get our wristbands there? (at the hotel?) or do we still need to get them inside the park?

We are headed there in a little over 2 weeks on Thursday, June 16th. We are a family of 6 and this is sort of a once in a lifetime trip. We live out West, so we rarely head out this direction on vacation. We are only there one day, so we will likely purchase FL+ if the weather looks ok. I want to get in as many rides as we can while we're there, and while I can roll the dice hoping for a "lighter" crowd day, this will hopefully help us get multiple rides on SV, MF and Maverick. It also closes at 8pm, so with the shorter operating hours, I feel that FL+ could be more of a necessity. We are staying at Breakers Express, so we will also get Early Entry. Given the current list of Early Entry rides, we will likely head straight to MF, and stay in the back of the park and hit Magnum before getting in line for either SV or Maverick (which are both not on Early Entry list) for park opening (10am). Anyone been there recently to see if this is a decent strategy? I know that many with Early Entry may focus on the front of the park (Valravn and Gatekeeper), so my hope is that we can do those later in the day when the initial rush of front-of-the-park action dies down.

Thanks... not encouraging, but I appreciate the insight.

Thanks for the advice everybody! I'm sure I'll inquire more as we get closer to June. One more question - I know some parks/chains have different rules when it comes to this... but for CP can you get in line just prior to posted closing and remain in line to ride post-closing? (as long as they haven't shut the line down?) For example - posted closing is 8pm, as long as SV is running, we could get in line at 7:55pm, and if it's posted as an hour wait and it doesn't break down we should be able to ride?

Hey all, I live out West and it looks like we will be able to swing a Cedar Point visit in mid-June. I haven't been there since 2001, so things have obviously changed significantly. I am seeking out just a few recommendations for our visit as I would potentially like to book a package at Hotel Breakers. Here are the specifics: we may only be there one day (Thursday, June 16th), but there is an outside chance it could be 2 days given the fact that we are only there one day, and it is open from 10am - 8pm (Thurs), do you recommend one of the Fast Lane options? If the answer above is "yes", could we pull off regular Fast Lane and stand in longer standby lines for the Big 5 (or however many are in FL+) or are standby lines outrageously long for them (no matter the day/month, etc) If we stay at Hotel Breakers and get "early entry" privileges, what rides does that entail, and is it worth it, esp. if we are only there one day? Thanks in advance. I know the pricing for FL hasn't solidified, but I may try and get a rez at the Hotel soon. I'm assuming I could add that in later if necessary.

Hey everybody - my spouse and daughter are headed to KBF this weekend (Saturday to be exact). They are down there for a soccer tournament and they have an off-day, so the team is headed there. I've been watching the queue times and they seem pretty crazy. Any tips I can give them? I'm going to suggest they get there at park opening. Are most coasters running then? (8am)? There are too many on the team going to add in the expense of Fast Lane, so we're looking at all our options to maximize their time. TIA!

Wow... the castle looks stunning. I think it looks even better than the concept art.

You can take the Free Farmington Trolly from the UTA Frontrunner Farmington Station Park and Ride Lot. Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk Thank you!

Quick question for the Lagoon experts out there... We are headed there today, but I am arriving later than my family. My wife will use our season parking pass. Is there a good place I could park my car for free and walk into the park? I don't mind walking a bit, as my wife could drive me to my car at the end of the day. I thought of the Lagoon Trailhead and also Station Park. Any other ideas...?

I guess Universal gave up battling the "Fantastic Worlds" rumored theme park name with Warner Bros. after the latest Fantastic Beasts movie didn't do as well as they expected. I couldn't tell from the concept art if there was a Potter-themed land or not, but one of the images seemed to indicate a potential Potter-esque street leading to a Ministry of Magic building...? Overall thoughts? On the plus side, any new well-developed and thought-out theme park is a win in my book. And this looks and feels like Universal is going all-out on a big sized themed experience as opposed to shoe-horning it into a small space near the other parks... but the distance from the rest of the resort just feels off. I know that some of the Disney parks/resorts are over 3 miles away from each other, but you are on Disney property - so it truly feels like you're already in a different environment from day-to-day life despite the distance (as has already been mentioned). Here you are going to be passing shopping centers, fast food outlets, local businesses, busy city streets... it just won't be the same. I'm sure they'll have some type of transport... but unless they put screens on the windows and try and pull off a Hogwart's Express type of experience, the attempt to create a cohesive "resort" may not work very well. In addition, if this is Universal's attempt to try and steal any Disney thunder over SW:GE, it feels like they whiffed it big time. It feels rushed, incomplete... and a bit desperate.

SFMM does sell refill bottles that give you free refills for the rest of the day or free refills for the rest of the season. If you are going to be there for more than 1 day, definitely get the bottle that gives you free refills the rest of the season. (I believe they are the gold bottles this year.) I'm not sure about the cost, but i think the daily refill bottles are like $15-16 and the season refill bottles are like $20-21. There are a few places around the park that have the freestyle coke machines and I would highly recommend filling up when you see them. I know for sure the candy shop across from Fu11 Throttle has freestyle machines as does the gift shop right by Gold Rusher. This is great! Thanks!

One other quick question - do they have soda mugs or with refill options for just the day of? (ie not a season passholder option) If so, what is the cost and is there a time limit between refills?

Everything is basically the same as it was a few years ago. All rides have bins/shelves off to the side for your backpacks/drinks, except for X2. If you show up there with any loose items, they will make you buy a $1 fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo. No outside food or drinks are allowed. You can bring water bottles, but they’re like the TSA; they will make you empty them out before entering the park. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Thanks! This was exactly the info I needed.

Hey everybody- we are headed to SFMM for the first time in a few years this Tuesday. Has anything changed as far as policies with backpacks, etc? Can people bring water bottles and/or hydroflasks into the park? I remember being able to take a backpack and putting them on shelves when I rode the coasters. Wanted to make sure that is still the case. No outside food or snacks correct? Thanks in advance!

To each his/her own... but I've tried several times to ride Forbidden Journey w/out getting sick... and I get motion sick nearly every time. And I'm fine on other rides with motion and screen-based effects (Spiderman, Gringotts, Flight of Passage, Star Tours) I have yet to ride a B&M invert that has made me sick... including Dragons (R.I.P)

Was there a reason why they didn't soft open this to try and work some of the operational kinks out? I know some of it might be secrecy, and trying not to spoil some of the unique elements of the ride... but they gave us some press releases with information regarding the creatures, etc. so it wasn't like they were trying to hide the entirety of the ride. I know it often gets recognized at how quickly Universal builds and opens attractions compared to Disney... but at what cost? We all saw the debacle of Volcano Bay when it opened and they hadn't entirely worked out all the issues with the virtual queue system. If you went onto TripAdvisor and read reviews of Volcano Bay those first few months, it wasn't pretty. Yet it almost felt like Universal set an opening date to try and counter-attack Pandora, and come hell or high water that date was not going to change. It almost feels the same here - "let's date this shortly after SW:GE opens at DL, but weeks before it opens in DHS" to try and take as much heat away from SW:GE as possible. I know Disney has operational issues opening some of their attractions... but I think they demand such a high level of performance before they open it, they would rather set the opening date later to a realistic timeframe, or they delay it if necessary (which is what I've heard about Rise of the Resistance). I don't recall there being many major issues with Flight of Passage upon opening, outside of normal hiccups from daily operations that occur with any attraction... and that was an extremely technical ride using newer ride systems and processes. I'm sure they tested the hell out of it before they opened it. Hagrid's looks great, and I'm sure it will be a huge hit for years... it's just interesting to see the circumstances around it's opening and how Universal has chosen to handle it.

Howdy all - I am headed to SoCal during the first week of July with my family. We are hoping to hit SFMM while we are there. We know it will be a busy week, but it's the only time we're able to go. We don't have season passes, and don't live near enough a Six Flags park to get one (for the time being), so this will be a one and done for all of us. Currently I think the best deal is to get our tickets online at least one full day prior to our visit, or bring a Coke can to get $20 off the ticket booth price. Are any of you aware of any other local deals (supermarkets, convenience stores, Costco, etc.) that might have a good price for a one-day park admission? Thanks in advance!

Thanks for sharing - your description of the speed and unrelenting pace of the coaster is dead-on. It truly seems to pick up momentum as the ride unfolds - maybe that's what was so surprising to me. I was also impressed with the insanely deceptive length of the ride despite the somewhat small footprint. Truly an inspired design. That would be great if they could add another wooden coaster and try and build a replica of some of the older coasters!

It was a great day all around. I also rode the Thunderbolt and enjoyed the ride as well. I was impressed with Luna Park overall and just loved the ambience of the entire boardwalk area. I wish we didn't have to rush back to the city (we had play tickets that night) because I would have loved to have watched the sun go down as I hit more rides, and strolled the beach a bit. I really wanted to get something at Nathan's - but the line was insanely long... it looked terrific though!

Just returned from a weekend trip to NYC with my wife. The main purpose of the trip was a combined Christmas/birthday present to my wife (tickets to Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen and Waitress - all great!) To return the favor, she insisted we take the train down to Coney Island so I could ride the Cyclone. I have always wanted to ride it, but in our previous trips to NYC we have never made it down there. We had done everything we wanted to do in the city, so we headed down there Sunday afternoon. The weather was perfect and Luna Park was quite full - in fact, the boardwalk and beach were packed. It was fun to finally see this part of the area that I had always envisioned but never visited. Despite the crowds, the Cyclone was never more than a 1-2 train wait, so I got multiple rides on it. To say that it exceeded my expectations is an understatement. The thing delivered in spades. I had multiple rides in various locations (front, middle and back) but my two trips in the back row were unprecedented. My wife sat those ones out, so I was the lone wolf riding back there, and I was thrown around like a rag doll by some of the most insane laterals I've experienced on a wood coaster. I also didn't expect it to have as much airtime as it did - but I had huge pops of air several times in the back row, and some in the other seats as well. The fact that this is almost 100 years old and still runs this well is quite an achievement. I know there were many parks that tried to duplicate the layout with mixed success... but this thing is running quite well. I thought it would be rough, and expected some jack-hammer-y moments, but there really weren't that many. It is rough because of the layout more than anything, but it has been maintained exceptionally well. The operations for the most part were pretty good. I was very happy with my rides on the Cyclone - not only for being able to check it off my bucket list, but for the incredible experience I had on a world-class coaster that I would love to visit again someday. Interested to hear your thoughts on this classic...

True, but if a Disney park had only been officially open for a "week-or-so" and had operations as described above, it would be eviscerated by the press and GP. The truth is, this would never happen in a Disney park. Universal? Perhaps... (see Volcano Bay...)

I would usually say to watch out for 4th of July crowds, but since that's on a Wednesday this year I really have no idea what crowds will be like the Monday and Tuesday before since "4th of July Weekend" is ambiguous this year. GhostRider, HangTime, and Xcelerator will have the longest lines, and GhostRider's will probably move the slowest. As long as Silver Bullet is running two trains (which I think is a very safe assumption this time of year), even a long-ish line will move pretty quickly. This is definitely not true with Xcel and GR. I can't really speak for HangTime since I haven't been since it opened. My best advice, and I think most people would agree, would be to get there before opening and go straight to GhostRider and hit it super early before the line fills up, but since you will be arriving in the afternoon, you may just need to brave the lines unfortunately. Knott's gets crazy busy around this time, holiday or not. For food, aside from the BBQ (which is my personal favorite at the park, even above the chicken dinner restaurant), there is some decent Mexican food options in Fiesta Village as well as a Ghost Town Grill in, well, Ghost Town. And of course there is Coasters Diner if you're into basic theme parks stuff like burgers or chicken tenders. The new BBQ restaurant is the only food in the park that really stands out to me as "above average." EDIT: Oh, and for Boysenberry, they offer the punch year-round and you can purchase BBQ, butter, etc. in the shops, but I *think* the only thing they offer at food service places is the punch and maybe a flavored ICEE as well. Someone else will have to fact check me on that. ^ great advice - thank you!