BlahBlahson

If you are going for two days, you will have no trouble doing everything in the park, even if it is likely busy due to Christmas week (which it will be reflected by the longer park hours and kids are out of school). The rain will let off those crowds a bit but basically every ride is outdoors. Thunder/lightning will close everything down, heavy rain may shut rides, light rain or drizzle will not. Indoor things: Most animal exhibits have sheltered spots, all shows other than Christmas from the Heart/Elmo (not sure on those) won't be affected by rain, All major restaurants have ample indoor or covered seating other than Bengal Bistro. Carousel and Bumper Cars are the only "indoor" rides but every coaster queue is covered.

^Scorpion just added a quick queue line/replaced half of it's wooden walkway to the station/repainted some things over it's refurb last month, and Schwarzkopf lift-hill loopers are basically 95 percent surviving globally, so signs point to no worries on the Scorpion front. Egypt and the old Critter Castaway site are more likely based on recent rumors and permits.

^Knoebel's and Holiday World with a steel multilooper in the same year...what a time to be alive.

^^This is probably one of the most thoughtful first posts ever. But it is hindsight indeed. It really is the ownership changes that have hurt them, it can disorganize the structure of the parks from top to bottom when that happens.

This ride will be fun...but offers no potential of being World Class and has a great risk of being totally average. I mean, what role does it fill in the park? Apollo's Chariot will remain a better coaster just steps away, Verbolten will remain a better coaster that has multiple launches and isn't intimidating from the outside. Plenty of loops in the park with Alpengeist, Loch Ness, and Griffon, and Loch Ness will remain in as the "first coaster" role... And in the dead horse category, we know from SFDK's experience that this ride offers a perfect mix of "That thing looks awesome!" and below average capacity. I'm with the crowd. If there were a boomerang called "Diavolo" that had been in this exact plot of land since it's opening in 1987, it would only be degrees less interesting than this brand new 2015 lineup addition. Will be a fun ride but just is an odd choice for "classy-class" BGW.

Mad-T Party is being taken over by a dance party called "Freeze the Night", in theme with the entire area becoming a frozen overlay.

^No. Not a lick of it. Mummy has a nice pop at the top of the launch and HRRR has some in the pop-up into the brake sections. I am assuming it will be quiet in mid january. is it reasonable to do both sides in one day? Our priority would be: potter/ coasters (hulk, duelling dragons, hippogryph, gringotts, potterTrain, ripRideRocket) $135x2 is a lot, but we aren't going to get to florida very often.... (and i did just make a trip to munich with the sole purpose of riding olympia looping) Sending the Kids to Seaworld is a solid idea, Universal has great playgrounds and enough to do for children but if they don't get Potter then that cuts out a big chunk of it. In mid-January you will have no issue whatsoever doing every major attraction you want to do. Unless you have Hotel early access or really want the Pteradon Flyers Credit, I recommend starting at Studios park opening with Despicable Me, Rip Ride-Rockit, Transformers, Mummy, then hopping over to Islands of Adventure via Hogwarts Express to do Forbidden Journey, Hippogryph/Shops, JP River Adventure (not terribly wet), Skip Toon Lagoon (very wet for January), Spiderman, Hulk, Cat in the Hat, then Ride Dueling Dragons and eat lunch in Lost Continent/Three Broomsticks/Leaky Cauldron. Hop back over on HExpress, check the time, and do the soon-departing Disaster Ride(a bit longer timewise though), Diagon Alley, Men in Black, Simpsons Ride, E.T Woody Woodpecker, and if you have time the Horror Make-Up Show or Terminator. And then in one day you've done all of universal, and at swift pace this itinerary is doable (I would expect every single line on this list to be 5-10 minutes in the order listed, except for Gringott's. It's not like Disney World at all.). And of course you can skip a lot that you're not interested in to spend more time exploring Diagon/theming anywhere or go in a different order. I just find this the most efficient way to do a ride-based itinerary, mostly because it gets three longer lines in Despicable/HRRR/Transformers out of the way immediately, you are near the better restaurants around midday, and you end up doing only one loop around each park.

Yesyesyesyesyesyes DHS full revival.

Rip Ride Rockit is no longer a bumpy coaster, unless you get assigned the back row in certain vehicles...which is to be avoided. So a disallowed website had possibly the best news that many could have hoped for today...SHARKNADO: THE MUSICAL is appearing in guest surveys as a potential new show. Can't link to it though.

Can we do a Kickstarter? I'll throw in 200 dollars for a lifetime ride pass!

Strike U Up-Easy enough to understand, hit the machine in time with the flashing arrows. It works because the people in the chair are rooting on the people playing the game which leads to an easy/competitive memory. Spin U Win was obviously disorientating. It was set to 8 spins for victory, programmable up to 15 they said. The one thing was that each side spun in an opposite direction so you had to pull with different arms. One of them felt notably less-greased. I would say both of them work as midway games and definitely makes the crowd laugh, nothing too crazy but I hope they sell a lot and we can see some major flatrides from Skyline...

A few of the coolest things that I didn't see in TPR's coverage today...I'm sure more coverage to follow: 1. Whitewater Attractions has this ridiculous model of a zipline coaster/ropes course/mega play structure all in one crazy thing. 2. Some (Indian?) Company had a few waterslide display models that were like SFGADv's big snake slide, except even more just like giant art pieces that happened to be waterslides. Like, a giant Conch shell, a snake slide, they looked really cool. 3. The Moser mini-top spin was insane. A 2 person control-your-own ride demon of a ride. 4. Darth Vader and a Stormtrooper playing Pac-Man Smash next to the booth where the new star wars battlepod arcade game was being displayed. 5. Some companies had photo-stations with exotic birds taking pictures with people. Way cool.

Big big 2017 plans at Universal, This coaster on I-Drive in 2017, Avatar opening in spring 2017...Holy SHEETS what a banner year ahead!

^It's more of a family-boardwalk type of amusement park (a super nice one), so though it's not imbed in concrete the ride is a long term addition.

I'm shocked that no one mentioned the biggest mistake of all mistakes: Hard Rock Park. The entire thing. No one went there from day 1, which they could have figured out in marketing surveys prior to the green light. In addition, the Premier Ferris wheel coaster was dull and a maintenance dud. Freestyle Music Park was an even bigger mistake as an attraction. Edit: As I live and post. In the same vein, park acquisition plus three major coasters at Six Flags Worlds of Adventure obviously didn't work out financially. Has to be listed as a mistake. I would say almost every attraction built at Fuji-Q, other than Eejanika and Fujiyama, are probably mistakes. They are all extremely low capacity rides in addition to the headscratching policies. At Disney Orlando, Alien Encounter was built in the wrong park, where it was so out of place for families it had to be removed. Its replacement is also one of the lowest ridership rides at the park, probably due to being claustrophobic, painful, boring, and annoying. At Universal, the theme of Dudley-Do-Right was probably a mistake, as no one understands it or knows the characters. It's actually pretty great for a log flume, but no doubt they would have been better off with Yogi Bear, Flintstones, maybe Calvin and Hobbes or even if the original Simpsons talks had been fruitful. Additionally, if Uni could see the future, I'm sure they would be much happier today with a popular Jurassic Park jeep ride rather than the money spent on the failed Triceratops encounter (tears) and the Pteradon Flyers (which would be better with 4 seater setpoint trains...). The final choices for Rip Ride Rockit would probably receive more scrutiny as well, though overall it is well-loved by guests.

The Reddit AMA is live and Evan is answering questions.

I'm sure NO ONE wants IPs when the longest lines at HHN24 Orlando were consistently 1. Walking Dead 2. Halloween 3. AVP. And the shortest were: 1. Roanoke 2. Dusk til Dawn 3. Dollhouse. HHN could certainly be better, everything always can. But it's still the only event in the world that provides brand new stuff each year on such a massive scale. I'd rather see a half and half split between IP houses and new stuff, but having those big properties keep the event very popular and add a movie-sheen that other events don't have. If they do Walking Dead again I think it would be exactly the same as Disney's treatment of the Frozen franchise, a way for these places to bring in massive crowds. I would understand it completely. Not that I want to see another (mostly boring) TWD house. Bring on Jack and all of his friends for #25. And if I could complain about anything, every year I've gone the scarezones do nothing for me when compared to the houses. Singapore's look amazing, they should do that!

1. At that time of year crowds will be utterly nonexistent. I would expect nothing with longer than a 20 minute wait. Seriously. 2. Gwazi is running fairly well, no worse than any of the woodies you listed. Really not that rough this past month. 3. Skyride, Carousel and Train around the savannah are musts for your mother. Iceploration is the big show (unless they've moved on to Christmas when they'll be doing an ice-skating holiday show in that theater), as well as a musical revue in the Pantopia Grill, Opening night critters is nearby in Pantopia. There are some animal veterinary behind the scenes things that always happen over in Kenya at the Animal Care center, which vary by day. Painted Camel Bazaar and Xcursions are both shops with interesting things in them. Maybe the Jungle Flyers would be the next least rough thing (probably too daring), an easy zipline. But there are no dark rides at Busch Gardens so the main thing will be visiting animals. The tiger exhibit is the best, many up close opportunities. Scorpion will be down for maintenance during your visit, also there is a Run for Wildlife 5K on Saturday the 22nd of November which includes park admission for 30 dollars a person.

Please no more character meet and greets!

It's a little strange to see the suits removing the supposed icon of the park, but I say push forward! I don't like how slow ride investment has been at WDW's support parks and I am especially on board with Star Wars/Any Pixar/Main entrance overhaul/New shows at DHS both because I enjoy all of those IPs and because DHS needs new stuff badly. Get those cranes moving! For everyone who's been complaining, DAK additions and DHS overhaul are going to be really great presents to open. Hopefully all done before the decade.

Just went to Howl O Scream for the first time last night...what an event! I can easily see how this would be more fun for the first time guest than HHN. There are shorter lines, better coasters, better food options, more scares, and did I say SHORTER LINES. We did the Fright Feast and it was such a surefire winner that I probably would never consider going to Howl-O-Scream again without it. The buffet was just ok and the Fiends show (which happens while you are finishing your food and nothing is open yet, so nothing to lose) was about a 13% on the tomato-meter but the biggest benefit was 1.5 hours of immediate house access (no waiting whatsoever). We did one clockwise lap around the park during that time and did all 7 houses, including the Zombie-Shooting house twice. For 26 bucks to be stuffed with food, see a show, and every house with no line (and then have 4.5 hours of park-time left)? That's a theme park bargain. My favorite house was either Zombie Mortuary or Deathwater Bayou, either of these would fit right into the TOP tier of an HHN lineup. Blood Asylum and The Basement were super-gory and just ok. The Zombie shooting house was very unique and fun, light on theming but you ARE shooting zombies the whole time. Circus of Superstition was bizzare, like a Dr. Suess walkthrough with Clowns, 3D, and a creep factor. DeadFall looked promising but fell a bit short on the overall package. The houses were certainly more inventive with the scares and this event has a lot more permanent animatronics which is really cool, but HHN would be my favorite for changing it up every single year and having more movie-quality sheen. The outside streets and roaming areas at HOS were much different, there were some roaming hoards and some spottiness as far as being staffed out there at times, but the INVENTIVENESS is much much much much higher at HOS. Lots of people hiding unexpectedly. HHN is the Best Picture contender, Mickey's Not-So-Scary is the Pixar film, and HOS is the campy cult-classic.

Every park needs a dark ride. It is a boost to theming, atmosphere, family-friendliness, rain plan, variety of attractions, and overall FUN. Not having a dark ride is IMO Cedar Point's #1 flaw.

Plz proslide rockit technology in Florida please.

If you can allow it, two. The park has about 25 rides that are worth doing, so accomplishing those alone is a fully packed day. Re-rides, atmosphere, shows, food all could add up to two full days.

^I want 10 houses for the 25th anniversary so freaking bad. That would make for an absolutely incredible year.