Chiselphane

Thoughts on post-Christmas yet pre-New Year's (or even a few days past New Year's) crowd levels? I may be visiting parents in Tampa after Christmas and am looking at options; I know its a super busy time of year for FL parks in general but looking into non Disney/Universal for maybe something less mobbed.

Just keep in mind that Indian Point Road doesn't have sidewalks and its a fairly narrow road. Not high traffic once you get past the park though, just be aware, particularly if you're heading back later and it's getting dark. Plus you're going to be walking all day in a hilly park as it is; the walk from that hotel to the gate is a pretty good distance, but you could just walk to the main parking lot tram pickup which might help you out a bit.

I would think the capacity would be higher than Wildebeest. Shorter length and basically two slides instead of one. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk The rafts seat one less person than Wildebeest, however it gonna be loaded six at a time as there appears to be no separate lines for both sides. With that said, it could be more similar to Mammoth's capacity depending on how many rafts they're able to run at once. Getting on this thing next year is going to be horrible as Mammoth and Wildebeest both pulled at least 1 hour and 45 min waits during their opening seasons at the peak. The good news is that once the newness wears off, the lines for each water coaster should balance out quite nicely in a couple of years unless attendance skyrockets. Yeah thats to be expected. I hope with that kind of wait the queue is more shaded than it appears to be in the preview!

Is Fantastic Beasts really that popular? I feel like most people I know who are Potter fans are quite “meh” on those films. I don’t see that franchise being “theme park land worthy” in any way. I am a pretty big fan of the IP and the first film was OK at best, and I didn't even bother with the 2nd. Meh is the perfect word for it. But they're pulling in a lot of money so somebody's watching them, the 2nd film came in 400 million over budget. I totally agree that there isn't land worthiness to them, there's nothing iconic at all to reference. The concept art looks like old time New York for the outdoor areas, which I guess has some potential but it's not all that original, right? Like Diagon Alley - instant recognition and they translated it pretty much perfectly. Nothing in FB has that punch.

This is what I find the most interesting idea. With the massive hub concept, each section has it's own land with own admission gate. It opens up the possibility to a tiered ticketing system. For example, the odds of me wanting to visit a traditional kids section like a Sesame Street / Super Silly Fun land are zero. So my ticket/pass would cover basic admission, plus access to Monsters, Beasts and Nintendo. Or for example, a guest shows up and the one ride in a land is say broken or in refurbishment - why pay to access a land with nothing worthwhile in it? Gives the guests flexibility in price of a theme park trip. It would be kind of like a variation on the A - E-ticket system of past days, but instead of per ride, it is per land. God no please don't even say that out loud in case the devil is listening and makes it happen

I never even considered they'd run that show at night! Another thing to go on the to-do list. Those mine pictures are incredible, excellent work.

How can you argue that SF isn't doing enough to attract more people, then complain about more people being in the park? The food here is terrible! And such small portions!

The 10 story has had a monitor since at least late 2017

Rustic charm. With extra rust.

Re Hagrid's: I'm morbidly curious, the preview material suggested that one of the indoor scenes was going to smell pretty bad because of the beast (blast-ended skrewt) in there, was that noticeable at all? Given that you're being rushed through pretty quickly I'm assuming no

I agree with mikey above and going with that, Mammoth would be the better starter to test the waters, as it were. A plus to Mammoth is the seating arrangement seems like it would be more reassuring to a younger child.

I'm at work so I can't watch the ride video with sound so please forgive me if this is obvious/already answered: How functional are those cockpit controls? I gather that the ones outlined in green are the ones that 'do something'.

I don't think it's too intense but one thing is the water splashing in your face while you ride, particularly on Wildebeest, can make it feel like a bigger deal than it is. It's a bit hard to capture in words, one of those 'you'll know what I mean once you do it' kind of things. But if he's ok with those Disney rides then he'll be fine here

-Sullivan's Mill for the cinnamon bread, but if you have room don't neglect the pastries at Eva & Delilah's, they're excellent as well. I dont recall pricing, sorry. -YMMV but in my personal experience they have been more likely to stop tours ahead of time if there's a good chance of inclement weather. They are pretty upfront about if they have to cancel a tour midway through, you walk back the way you came. I've never had to do it and goodness I would never want to. -It'll be plenty dark past 8:30 or so, so you're in for a treat. Wildfire is great at night too since it's on a hillside. Great views of the countryside with houselights dotted here and there, and it's facing away from the strip so it's not an overwhelming smear of light, it's really nice and the slower lift hill compared to Outlaw (and Powder Keg which also overlooks that hillside) gives you time to take it in.

Valerie Raven

The case of Buzzy's disappearance has been solved. Short version is: employee theft. https://miami.cbslocal.com/2019/05/20/former-disney-employee-accused-of-stealing-magic-kingdom-epcot-costumes/

There's a Caterpillar with working cover at Canobie Lake Park and yeah it is just so much fun. It really is fast and there's just something almost magical about the cover coming over, it's such a simple trick but so effective.

I would say the week before would be the safer bet* overall, but if you're planning on 2 days instead of 1 then you'd still easily do everything more than once, as long as you're not going on Memorial Day itself. Lot of schools here in SE MO are getting out end of 3rd week but I don't personally feel that has a big impact on HW attendance; I cant speak much for IL but the towns I know of close by are getting out mid to end of last week so Tues-Wed might still be ok even with that. *Should have checked the calendar first. They are open the week before but with lesser hours and that week is designated as a school week, IE field trips and such.

I've stayed here before and used the shuttle but one thing you need to do is make very sure of the schedule ahead of time. When we stayed there, it was mid June and the shuttle service stopped well ahead of park closing time.

Its interesting as an over-analyzing fan because of the 4 creatures here that have been in the films, 3 of them have been shown only in indoor environments but all of those are outside here. And 2 of those 3 were shot in dark/low light conditions. Centaurs were only ones outside in the films, and their scenes were in the dark or at least dusk as well. So being generous, maybe they're trying to keep marketing to match how some would already be picturing them. I had to laugh because the one creature they show indoors is the least suited for it. Sure, let's put a bug that farts fire in the same room as a bunch of wooden farm equipment, what could possibly go wrong. And not content with spraying water, they're going to spray rotten fish stink on the ride? SIGN ME UP

Got a genuine LOL from the Salt Life comment. Sometimes it feels like half of SE Missouri is "I went to the beach 5 years ago"

The Cyclone at Six Flags New England (back when it was Riverside,anyways) had these. They were, to understate it to a vast extent, unpleasant; to the point that they were so foul that most people just either waited or left the line, and they were eventually removed. Now granted a Disney level of service means an in-queue bathroom wouldn't be neglected to that degree but I can't imagine the effort it would take to implement; think of how much restructuring not just the queue would need but you'd have to worry about pipes, cast member access, all that. Big agree with Steve, I'm glad they're at least trying something. Sometimes you just have to have a go (oh no, a pun) at an idea to see if it'll work.

I'm also morbidly curious how they're getting that 2,117 number. Of course it's not rides, but even if they're counting stuff like arcade games and such that's still ridiculous. I suppose the simplest answer is "it's a lie" but it's such a specific number lol

My money is on the strollers being the bigger headache for the staff, particularly at the entry gates. You know there will still be parents trying to bring in their Winnebago-sized strollers and have a laundry list of why their kid NEEDS it and the entire trip will be RUINED without it. The ice change is a little strange to me, particularly since I don't see a stated justification for it. I'd assume it's because people dump out the water once it's melted, or even the ice itself, because.... people.

Man, what is it with Universal and spraying things at guests https://www.insideuniversal.net/2019/03/universal-orlando-to-introduce-themed-smells-in-islands-of-adventures-restrooms/