BlahBlahson

My Favorites in Orlando, Ranked! Just off of the list: Hallowishes at Magic Kingdom: The best fireworks show at MK and with the Parade, the best reasons to keep returning to Not So Scary 5. Frozen Sing-a Long at DHS- MUCH more than just a rehash of Frozen, lots of pop culture references. Like Bill and Ted if it was actually well-written 4. Horror Make-Up Show at Universal: The only show at Universal worth seeing, Actors are always really into it 3. Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios: Second fiddle to DL's but it is so over the top Disney and this to me is what Disney Magic is really about. 2. Finding Nemo Animal Kingdom-Pretty much Broadway at Disney. Always great actors and singing, puppetry and fun. 1. O Wondrous Night at Seaworld Christmas: It is the cheesiest show possible, in the best possible way! I have never had a bad time with this one. Honorable Mention: Blue Horizons@Seaworld, which was my favorite show in Orlando. RIP. Last places: Illuminations Reflections of extremely boring globe moving at .5 MPH and One Ocean no plot, "Bored Trainer Handclap Dancing" and laaaame music.

Hey! I just did the same as you, travelled solo to Alton Towers. You basically have two options: Get to Stoke on Trent or Uttoxeter the night before(nearest Rail Stations and book a nearby hotel, THEN take a Taxi to the park and set up a time for one to bring you back from the main entrance after close (35/40 pounds round trip from those stations, not including the Rail , or bus fare via National Express coaches or hotel). Or you can just drive which is highly recommended. The park is just not convenient at all to get to by public Transport. Some tips as well for your visit: 1. Nemesis is completely barren for early entry, I got 6 rides in the first 30-40 minutes, however... 2. It's also really dead throughout the day. The queue does not hit more than 10-15 minutes at most. It's also way way in the back left of the park. You will not need a fast track for it. 3. When I was there by FAR the longest queue in the park was for the Octonauts coaster at 75 minutes in Cbeebies land. This is open for early entry and if you are one of the first people in the park and a credit-hoe like me, I would HIGHLY recommend this as your first stop as soon as the gates open, before walking to Oblivion or Nemesis and before the kids find it lol. 4. Several rides do not open until 10:30AM including Thirteen and Rita. Thirteen has single rider (short), as does Oblivion (no waiting at all) and Smiler (single rider about 1/3 to 1/2 regular queue). Spinball Whizzer Regular was posted at 40 minutes, I waited about 25 in single rider for my lone ride. 5. Runaway Mine Train, and Galactica would all therefore be the most likely fast tracks. Their queues are long and slow. 6. The gardens are down in a valley and a very large area. The Skyride is faster than walking even with the queues because of the distance and up/down elevation. I trekked from Nemesis to Thirteen after Early Entry and it was taxing. Then finding out those rides don't even open until 1030. 7. The Burger Kitchen near Cloud Cuckoo land was heaven sent for me after all the walking. The menu is standard fast food but the queue was short and the meal deals are reasonable at about 8 pounds with drink. The other food in the park was not that impressive anyway, unless you go for the Rollercoaster Restaurant sit down experience near Galactica/Nemesis. Have fun and good luck!

There is not one negative post about Steel Vengeance since the announcement post. And there's no need to. Holy Shit balls tits this park just crushed everyone. Steel Vengeance, Maverick, Millenium, TTD, Raptor, Magnum, Wicked Twister, Gatekeeper, Valravn, Rougarou, etc. No one else is even close anymore.

My Positive is that I have no need whatsoever for a Frequent Fear 2018 forward and can save that money for other Haunts. It's one of the only things at HHN that is memorable from year to year and fun to do with different friends, as the house layouts and style are so similar. I'll just go once next year on a slower night. Go ahead Universal, Close Spiderman next or something.

I'll state it just as last time, there is NOTHING they can build related to Harry Potter featuring screens that I would rather have more than Dragon Challenge, or better yet a properly functioning Dueling Dragons. Horrible, Awful, Terrible and worst ever all come to mind. Can the third (4th?) Universal Park just be dedicated to retired attractions? Jaws Back to the Future The good Version of Kong Twister Earthquake Dueling Dragons All of Nick Studios Beetlejuice/Ghostbuster Shows/Dynamite Stunt Show Spectacular An actually competent included-Waterpark with fantastic slides like Brain Wash/Disco H20, the Storm, and their Kraken Racer Hell, add in Horizons, Great Movie Ride and the Original Journey into Imagination and we'll have a Nostalgia Park that would kick all kinds of ass.

I hope they add some special touches to the Orlando version of Ratatouille. Pooh is 17 years old now, they should be able to build something on par with it at this point. But who really cares with Tron, Guardians, Battle Escape, Mickey Railway, Millennium Falcon, New Broadway style MK show, Gondolas all on the way. This announcement was BONKERS. And Nintendo Land will be opening at the same time, and hopefully Skyplex. And Great Wolf Lodge. And probably 3 other things. Orlando is on fire.

So Disney is packing 20 years of neglected development into 5 years, and treating their resort as if they have 6 different top ten most attended parks in the entire world on the same property, finally giving each park an appropriate number of new rides? Fine by me! This is the basic equivalent of a fifth gate. I'm amazed they will actually be able to build all of this, and honestly this beats Nintendo land handily. I literally do not care what the price is of an annual pass in 2021, every single attraction and addition sounds like something I would want to ride.

Hello all! Bumping this Topic as I'm planning a visit to the UK in a few weeks and it's the only England trip planning post I see. Trip has come on kind of quickly as I bought my flights last month. Flying back to US from Paris (was about 300 cheaper). Never been there either. I will be visiting and doing some things with Family, however all theme parks will be completely Solo. Planning on getting an 8 day Britrail pass, Oyster Card and buying any additional tickets. Bringing only a School Backpack with 5-7 days of clothing. My trip would be a mix of Theme Parks and Historical things. When I vacation, I tend to try and get as much done as humanly possible, walking 3-5 miles in one shot is no issue, could do 20ish miles in a day on foot. Crazy train connections are no issue as long as they can be completed. Accomodations/Rest as cheap as possible with Internet, breakfast is a bonus. Would definitely want to be at each park at opening or early ride time. Not planning on renting a car. Here is my rough itinerary, Apologies for the Formatting Mon 31st July: Overnight Flight, Arrival at 11AM Gatwick, walking around Central London (London Bridge area), Evensong at St Pauls Cathedral 5PM, Dinner with Family Tue 1st Aug: Thorpe Park ( Thinking FullThrottle Fast Pass) Evening Performance in West End. Wed 2nd Aug: Borough Market for Breakfast, Globe Theater Performance of Much ado about Nothing at 1PM, Buckingham Palace after performance/St James Park, Harrod's then Picadilly Circus Thu 3rd Aug: Tower of London (morning) with family then Westminster Abbey (afternoon), Hyde Park late afternoon/Sunset Fri 4th Aug: Chessington World of Adventures until about 4PM (assuming no queue system upgrade), then Hampton Court Palace. Sat 5th Aug: British Museum, other Free Museums, then around 7PM taking Trains to Blackpool Pleasure Beach Sun: 6th Aug: Blackpool Pleasure Beach, getting Speedy Pass, Sleeping in Blackpool Mon 7th Aug: Very early morning train to Alton Towers (what Fasttrack level is needed, Silver, Gold or Platinum?) , Travel to Monmouth, Wales after Park Close Tue 8th Aug: Through Thur 10th Aug: 3 days on the Offa's Dyke Trail with Family from Monmouth to Hay-on Wye Fri 11th Aug: No Plans (thinking day trip to Bath, England) Sat 12th Aug: No plans, could see part of England or go to Paris early and see Museums/city that day Sun 13th Aug: Disneyland Paris Parkhopper? Mon 14th Aug: Half day in Paris, Rodin Museum, Eiffel Tower (flight at 5PM from CDG) Whew! So a few questions: 1. Is Utoxetter, and then a Taxi to Alton Towers be my best bet for getting to the park by 845 in the morning? The busses from Stoke-on-Trent and Derby are horrid, not even arriving until 11AM and then leaving well before the park closes. How does one go about getting a taxi? Anyone going to the park that day? 2. I'm assuming the Busiest attractions would be (and hit these early): Thorpe: Darren Brown's Ghost Train/Colossus/Saw Blackpool: No worries, Speedy Pass is very cheap Alton: Thirteen, Smiler, Spinball Whizzer, Galactica Chessington's: Gruffalo, ??? DLP Full plan (if I go): Rope Drop Fastpass Tower, then immediately Single Rider Crush/Ratatouille/ RC Racer, Then Tower/Rockin/Mickey Magician/Cinemagique, then Transfer Parks and Fastpass Indiana Jones, (later) Fastpass Big Thunder, Afternoon Walkthroughs/Pirates, ride Space/Casey Jr. Phantom later in the day. Skip Star Tours, Peter Pan, and possibly Small World. 3. Internet: I have an ATT Samsung Galaxy S5 that is probably region-locked (I don't really know). What are my options for Sim Card? Is there enough free Wifi in England to manage along with a Hostel Stay? Do any of the four parks feature Wifi? 4. What to do after Hike, I have 3.5 days before my flight leaves from Paris, Could do more London, could go to Paris, could go to Oakwood for Megafobia, Disneyland Paris, It's really open. If my other Itinerary is bad, I could do Blackpool/Alton after the Hike. I like Roman stuff, Natural Stuff, and Scenic Areas typically more than Art/History/literature. 5. Fly, or Eurostar from London to Paris? 6. This is generally the busy season for England and London I gather. Same as I would never go to Magic Kingdom on a Saturday in July, is there anything that will be just terrible with crowds? I gather that the Cotswalds/Bath will have a lot of visitors at this time. 7. Do I need a full-fledged rain jacket, or will a Poncho be okay for most of this? 8. Food Suggestions? Any and all. In park/In London/Paris. Cheap and Delicious is great, Unique Restaurants great, unmissable local delicacies great. Thanks to all! I know it sounds like a lot but I'm not entirely planning on returning to England soon (sad to miss Icon at BPB though) so I want to see and do as much of the essentials as possible.

I have Two Questions about the Upcoming Tron Announcement: 1. What are they going to do to thematically distinguish this from Test Track? (which has several graphics that are similar to the indoor Shanghai version, and overall styling) 2. Wasn't GOTG supposed to be a big indoor/outdoor rollercoaster? Meaning Disney is putting in Three family/thrill launching coasters at the same time? That would certainly be a new direction.

I'd rather have dragons than ANYTHING with screens.

A virtual Queue System and VR is difficult to get onto and has terrible capacity and wait times?

How in the hell is a waterside line, virtual or not, 5 hours long. I can , sadly, understand the water coaster as its a seperate reservation, but how do the other slides even get that long??? Like, is that the longest line for a regular tube slide in the history of theme parks? Tapu Tapu is so far the worst possible scenario. Can you imagine going to any water park in the world where you are told you can't ride any slide in the whole park for at least two hours? That's not even a thing and somehow they've created this problem.

Universal really needs to can it with the fully screened attractions. People are growing tired of them. Kong got bad guest reviews, Fallon will too, and Fast and Furious probably will as well. I can ride Hulk and Doom all day but these are really a once-ever experience. What's bizzare is that the best ones are way older and the further they stray from real effects the worse they get. Spiderman is great because of the whole package of the set interaction with it. Forbidden Journey is mind-blowing with the transitions and extra Theming (it's a shame the storyline is very quick and hard to follow). T2 is decent because of the real acting and effects, the movie part is fairly boring. Transformers uses more screens and less Theming, and doesn't really match Spiderman. Gringott's uses more screen time, and doesn't really match FJ. Kong is basically disaster, but with completely CGI effects instead of crazy flooding and fire. Fallon is just Europe in the air, a worse Soarin' with no replay value. Hopefully they will make some Hybrid rides with Nintendo Land, even though the IP totally does lend itself to screens.

Seaworld can be so so frustrating. This show was their most well-reviewed in park surveys and well-loved by many. I will never forget the finale where the female lead soars around the stage after riding on the dolphin's back. Pure magic, and it has been my favorite single thing at their park for a while. I'm really missing Believe, Allure and now Blue Horizons.

Not to be straight up rude...but it's a RollerSkater with a good but short Dark Ride Section. Legoland did it first and I can think of at least 20 more interesting Disney attractions. Great addition but "Best Attraction Ever" is a mega-stretch.

Not gonna lie, I was pretty meh about going to Very Merry Christmas Party this year, and we ended up going to see that show at midnight over doing 7 Dwarves Mine Train which I haven't ridden in 2 years now. BUT THAT SHOW WAS AWESOME. And the texting segment was hilarious and I've never heard that song before. Huge Cast, talented. They all had real cell phones. And yes, they used the music from my second favorite movie all-time which is Muppet Christmas Carol. It was the best single entertainment of the night. And Very Merry was surprisingly improved from the other time I've been, with more lights, MANY kinds of cookies, more interesting characters out, Jingle Cruise and typical short lines, and a longer parade. Very Merry pulled even or higher with SeaWorld this year for me for Christmas, since Polar Express is gone.

^This, closing Dragons at the end of peak summer 2017 then announce and construct a major Jurassic Park/Jurassic World coaster for 2019. For 2020 open a Potter hotel (and maybe a small potter attraction in any leftover space), then start working on transforming Marvel Island or Comic Land. At UOF there's Fallon Opening in 2017 and Furious opening early 2018. Nintendo could go there for 2020-era or at any new park in 2020. The Dragons are sad. They don't even feel fully themed and Universal has essentially ruined them for a variety of reasons so just end it. Sending them anywhere else to operate together would be a blessing.

-Rockit will have single rider but it will be packed as is the ride. Rockit is always a madhouse after 30 minutes have passed into HHN. Mummy/Gringotts should have one that is not very long and MIB/Transformers don't get busy but they might have one. Simpsons doesn't, it will be busier in the middle of the night. -Everything has to come out for Rockit and go in a locker. Other rides you should just be able to hide it in cargo pockets. -Butterbeer ice cream is the best. There are three locations that sell the regular/hot/frozen versions about 5 dollars. -The Blinky cup is like 4-6 dollars extra I think. The combined version of the drink is pretty good. -AHS is the busiest house and TWD is probably second. Go early, get to the front of the gate before open, then go right at the start of the event, go directly to Krampus, then Halloween, then Tomb of the Ancients then Chainsaw Massacre, then Chance (minimal stopping) and you will be right next to MIB/BIll and Ted/Harry potter at the point where it starts getting busy. Or do Rockit very first thing if you want to skip any of those houses. Should be able to hit them all in 1.5 hours. Do Walking dead and Ghost town around the last hour of the event and get in line for AHS right before the park closes and DON'T worry about how long it claims the line is (should be under 35 minutes real time after park close). The only house you would miss would be exorcist if you did that plan, with about 4 hours in the middle to see shows and ride things. My top 3 houses this year would be Horror Story, Tomb of Ancients and Ghost Town, then Halloween and TWD tied. -Chance does meet guests in her scarezone, don't know about Autographs. B&T sometimes do at audience right just after the show.

^I know, when I hear that I just sigh. Pretty sure Mako would be a top 20 ride for me if they just got rid of the brakes. There are 4 nerfed hills due to that brake that just don't deliver nearly as much compared to the ride's 3rd hill before the hammerhead.

^^I got to take the same survey for HHN and you know it's gotten bad when the they literally ask if you would like the event BETTER if TWD was not a part of it at all. My problem is not just that the Walking Dead is rehashed, but that it's been the worst house at the event 3 of the 5 years, and this year (while not at the bottom) it's just a greatest hits collection of previous TWD houses. It's never been the best thing at the event or something that really makes the event better. Oh an Bill and Ted really needs to tighten up script-wise. It's very fun and the costumes are great, but it's two years in a row that the script has LONG sections where none of the jokes work show after show. I wish that they could modify it after the first few showings to see what works and what doesn't. Otherwise the AHS house is just beautiful and almost all of the other houses this year are really top-notch. The Dance show is really good too.

^Lol No. Any attendance increase at Seaworld will be related to Universal adding a new ride and a new waterpark, or Animal Kingdom getting Avatar World. I'm down for VR on Kraken since I've been on it a lot and the gimmick could be fun once or twice, but it's not a big addition.

I went that second night. The rain was lame but thankfully when it picked up in earnest we were stuck in Tomorrowland so we got a few rides on Space Mt, Peoplemover, and Buzz. The lightning delays started around 930pm and delayed Celebrate the magic(and everything outdoors) until 11:20, after the storm had stopped pouring. They ran the fireworks at 11:30ish and did a shortened hocus pocus at midnight, and started the second parade by Splash mountain at Midnight as well. And as we were exiting from the parade at 12:20-12:25 or so from lib-square Jack and Sally were finishing their meet and greets. All in all was pretty impressed that Disney continued to run the entertainment. Some of the trick or treating did have loooong waits (10 minutes+), which was surprising, and no multi-trail behind tomorrow-land speedway. Loved the new "Halloween Party entrance". Wished there hadn't been rain so we could have gotten line for Seven Dwarves before midnight but was very happy the second parade did go off.

I'm actually elated to see stitch on life support. It's the worst attraction I have ever been on at any theme park anywhere. At least it's the only one I've been on that seems designed to be annoying, physically unpleasant, and at times painful. I have only done it once ever and haven't even been curious to try it again. I can't believe it exists in a park as nice as Magic Kingdom.

^ -October 21st and a Friday, maybe the busiest night to go out of any. Rip Ride Rockit will hit nearly 2 hours, every other attraction 30-45 at peak -Diagon Alley is 100 percent open. -30 minutes before is fine. 15 and you should get in to the first or last show. I've seen them taking pictures afterwards at random. -Scare zone characters will be very willing to pose for pictures, but won't smile and will give a response in character/not speaking. -Crowds not a problem in scare zones, except in Central Park area sometimes. -Food ain't cheap. Simpsons and Leaky Cauldron for best value. Booze definitely not cheap. Beers come in big cans though. -IOA is pretty dead during September, October and November. Some wait times will hit over an hour but the water rides will be very short and single rider for all the longer waits anyway. -Get there early, Stay late, and the middle hours are busiest. Diagon is good to hit around 9-10 because every house will have an hour+ wait at that time.

It pains me to see that this thread keeps floating to the top of the message board the last few days. Seriously folks, just ignore them. They were dumb and biased in 1998 and they have never changed. Stop reading them.