prospekt88

Think about it. If you were Disney, wouldn't you want the marquee attraction of what's going to be the most popular land in your park to be something more than "just" a 4D show? I don't necessarily think this is going to be the marquee attraction. I think it could be similar to Toy Story Land with Midway Mania where the marquee attraction was already in the land (Guardians of the Galaxy). Plus isn't there rumors that an Avengers attraction is coming at some point after Spiderman also? The concept art is a little strange to me. I see an Avengers logo and Stark on the side of the building. But this concept art for a ride that is specifically themed to Spiderman alone?

I don't know about you but when I go to a park I've been to multiple times, it's always fun going with people who have never been before. Maybe revisit some of the best parks you've been to and share them with someone who has never been to them. I never got to the point you got to, I mean I've never even been on an RMC so how could I, but I did lose interest along the way in counting coasters. I much rather turn parks into multi day vacations than checklist items. Some of the best park/accommodation combos for me are Hershey/Hershey Lodge, Cedar Point/Breakers, Knoebels/Campground. Finally I've never been on an international trip for coasters, but I feel like I'd approach it the way you mentioned. Parks would just be excursions along the way. The trip at the top of my list would be Copenhagen->Stockholm->Gothenburg. Visit three great cities, see beautiful rural countryside, and Tivoli/Kolmarden/Liseberg are definitely not "credit whore" stops.

I went to an Angels game at the end of this season after a day at Disneyland. I agree it's the worst of the 7 ballparks I've been too. It's really cheap, and it's easy to get in and out of, but that's all it had going for it. Food and atmosphere were both pretty bad. Ducks games at the Honda Center next door are actually a lot of fun though. Both venues have some great bars/breweries right across the street. It's actually a great break from the day at Disneyland. Cheap/quick uber over to the breweries for dinner and a game, then back to the park 'til closing for some night rides with a solid buzz.

Incredible how much is going on at Disney World. That Reflections hotel looks awesome, any idea where that is being built? Not too thrilled about Illuminations becoming what looks like World of Color East, but it was inevitable I guess. Disney Park's best work is when they get away from their IPs and make the attractions themselves into their own iconic brand. Those AT-ATs are very impressive. That gets me very excited for that attraction.

Great report! Sweden is at the top of my list for places to go in Europe for sure.

I completely agree with this. I spent a few hours at Universal Hollywood about a month back and by the end of it I was completely drained. Even the tram ride is littered with the 3D screens now. Plus their Jurassic Park is being redone so that's one less ride without screens to take a break.

Great report as always! I think Tron is exactly what the Magic Kingdom needs. I feel like it's been the same park for the past 20 years I've been going. I find that most of my visits in recent history have been like the one you just mentioned, maybe plus a firework show if I'm there at night. I haven't been on 7DMT yet, because it's tough to prioritize a fastpass on it when there's the other mountains, and as you mentioned the standby is usually insane. For my money EPCOT and Animal Kingdom have overtaken Magic Kingdom because of the great places eat, drink, relax, and mix in some world class attractions.

Cool to see this park pop up on the first page of the forum! That lady bug coaster has to be one of the first coasters I ever rode, along with their old Dragon Wagon and Hurricane. Interested to see what they put in it's place. It was definitely taking up some very valuable real estate considering the plot of land this park is working with.

Sad to hear about the state of the operations at this park. It really has the potential to be a gem of a park if they could pull it together.

That's a bummer that the hotel is getting axed. That end of Downtown Disney could really use something to add some life to it. Especially with Rainforest, ESPN Zone, and AMC sitting idle. I wonder if they would consider expanding Downtown Disney south through the old AMC theaters and connecting it to Paradise Pier Hotel. It would make the resort side of things a bit more cohesive.

Great report! Unreal photos. Can't wait to see more.

That is likely part of it. In terms of year round attractions...I guess it makes sense that their most recent coaster is indoors and their 2019 addition is improving their dark ride.

Yeah, it's also possible they are including the price of land they acquired from the golf course, and the rerouting of Park Boulevard. But even if they are including those in the total $150 million, which I doubt because those things were done years ago, it's still a huge sum of cash for an entrance plaza. I guess some of it may be to improve infrastructure required to operate a theme park in a flood zone. Overall though I think this transformation is on a much bigger scale than I had originally envisioned.

One thing I glanced over while reading the initial announcement was the budget...$150 million?! I mean even the most elaborate B&M Hyper coasters aren't costing $50 million. So they are putting well over $100 million into basically a new gift shop, restaurant, and entrance plaza buildings? I'm sure there's a lot of demolition and land leveling that must be done, but even Dollywood's new land is only costing them $37 mil, including all the rides. This is must be one impressive restaurant/gift shop haha. (Disclaimer: This is not me complaining that they are spending a lot of money, I am excited to see this kind of investment from Hershey)

This all looks great. I really liked the charm of the old entrance, but I've only visited on empty fall days in recent memory so I'm oblivious to the apparent mess it causes during peak season. That new fountain looks awesome and it should give great views over the expanded property. Love the look of the restaurant/bar, especially the elevated patio. A confectionery is a perfect fit as well. About the coaster...I'm also in the category of pussies that hate Skyrush. So the B&M hyper will be a welcome addition for me, and for those who like Skyrush you will have shorter lines. I love Nitro at night and I know this won't be quite on that level, but it definitely will have the best location of any of the coasters at Hershey when it comes to night rides. Huge fan of the MCBR at the end also. Looks like the layout has a great flow to it. Overall, very solid looking stuff.

I'm pretty interested in how successful this will be. From my experience getting from NYC to the Meadowlands is an absolute nightmare. The train from Penn Station is the worst 8 mile train commute imaginable. The Meadowlands in general is so close to the city yet so far. I can't fathom who will travel there to go shopping with all of the options already available in the city. And it's not like there's many residential areas right nearby. Hopefully this works out. But unless you are flying in and out of Newark I'm not sure how many people are gonna pencil this into their travel itineraries to NYC. And I don't think any locals east of the Hudson are going to view a trip to this mall as a "leisurely" day out.

Well then I guess it would have to be the world's tallest wooden roller coaster. Definitely not likely. But just from an aesthetics perspective that structure would be incredible at the front of the park. I'm just hoping this expansion doesn't destroy what little charm Hersheypark still has left.

Would a ~200 foot Gravity Group coaster ala Voyage fit in the shape of what is shown on the permit? I think that would be one way to make this type of coaster unmistakable from Skyrush.

I went to the park last week, a few days before the Halloween event started. It was a great time to go crowd wise. We got to the park at opening (10am) and were able to do everything including all three shows before 5:00. A few notes: -Mummy was great but not as good as the one in Florida. Still my favorite ride at this park for sure tho. -The screen overload is real here. I feel similarly about Florida, but it's even worse here. I mean going from Harry Potter, to the Kong/Fast and Furious on the tram, to Simpsons, to Transformers, to Minions, to Kung Fu Panda. I was completely sick of them by the end of the day and that hasn't happened to me at a park before. It doesn't help that one of their only physical set rides in Jurassic Park is closed. Hopefully the new one avoids the screen treatment but I doubt it will. -The shows were great. Glad I got see Water World before it inevitably goes away, it was a fun show. -15 bucks for a 16oz Duff Beer at Moe's Bar. I'm used to expensive beers at parks, sporting events, etc, but definitely was a little surprised when I got the receipt from the bartender. And all for a "microbrewed" version of Budweiser. It was still a great time overall. Walk ons all day and despite what I said about screens I still really like the Harry Potter and Transformers rides. But not gonna be hurrying back any time soon unless they get a little more creative with their additions.

Great report! I didn't know too much about Lake Winnie before this, but it looks like a gem. Wish there were more parks like it around the country.

Yeah I’ve only been on Sundays so that would make sense. It’s a great time to go to the park.

Yes they are, and from my experience there are usually very minimal lines for them.

I love i305 and every other intense Intamin I’ve been on but Skyrush is straight up painful. Say I’m just a bitch but there’s a reason they spent the time and money to make restraints release on the brake run. Because they didn’t do a good job designing to fit every body type. You have to blame Intamin a little bit when wishing there were more of their rides around also. They are a mechanical nightmare far more often than B&Ms. When a park is investing in a 20 million dollar ride sometimes you just have to go safe. If Intamin made a Skyrush with B&M clam shells that never had any operating issues at all, then yeah I’d be throwing my hands up whenever a park decided to go with B&M over Intamin also.

Based off the trends in the amusement industry it seems there's a couple of things that are inevitable for that back area of the park. 1) RMC of Wildcat and 2) Water park expansion into the Tidal Force plot. I'd be pretty surprised if in the next 4-6 years those two things haven't happened.

While it is seasonal I don't expect the offseason to be very long. I'd be shocked if the operating calendar isn't from late March / Early April through New Years. Agreed, there also doesn't seem to be all that much planned that couldn't operate in cold weather. But the article does state this; "Scheduled to hold its grand opening in spring 2020, the Park will be open seasonally from spring to fall." So I don't think it'll run through New Years right away. I'm sure it won't be long before there is a winter/holiday event thrown in though. That would also be a huge success if they do it well. Hopefully this opens the door for many more parks in the area.