Swimace

I've ridden it several times now and love it. I think it is a HUGE improvement from what the ride was before. It definitely feels more like a "dark ride" and less like a giant warehouse. As for all the people who seem to not like the updated version... GREAT! Shorter line for me...

If my secret Santa sends me anything random, coaster related, or just plain screwed-up, I will be happy. However, if they lack creativity, I am always fine with University of Florida stuff as well. I wear a size large t-shirt too, in case they go that route.

I have to say that I was very underwhelmed with Phoenix at Knoebels. I really don't get how so many people go crazy over this ride. I just didn't find it exciting at all. However, I was blown away by Phantom's Revenge. I wasn't expecting to even like that ride, but it turned out to make my top 10. Also, I was pleasantly surprised by Steel Eel. It was definitely better than the Morgan Hypers found all over the Cedar Fair chain. Much more intense, great airtime, smooth, etc.

YES!! I am not the only one!! I seriously loved that ride.

Great thread, Chuck! Pleasant surprise: Space Mountain: Mission 2. I was expecting it to be brutal, but actually had a very enjoyable ride! I seriously rode it 7 or 8 times when I visited that park. Unpleasant surprise: Maverick I was expecting so much from this ride, but ended up just getting beat up too much for my tastes. I hate to be one of those people that fuss over restraints too much, but I honestly feel if CP invested in the soft "I305" style OTSR's the ride would improve drastically.

I am going to chime in and vote Intamin on this one, based mostly on the cross-ties. That seems like a single-spine version of I-305/SkyRush track to me. But who knows? I'm excited to see how this project develops.

IF ONLY FREESTYLE MUSIC PARK HAD KNOWN THIS!!! Yeah.... Building a hypercoaster in your park doesn't guarantee anything. I think the correlation that you are pointing out comes from the fact that only well-established parks have the resources to build rides that large.

This is ridiculous. Walt Disney never used Starbucks in Disneyland But on a more serious note, I'm happy to see these going into the parks. I went to the one at DCA and thought it worked really well for the park. I'm happy to see Florida moving forward with this.

^LOL, you think? Gotta love hipster bloggers... I really think whoever wrote that article is giving Disney Executives WAY too much credit in the evil censorship department. If anything, this is just a publicity stunt by the band.

Sounds awesome, count me in!

Right. As a local I agree 100%. However, not all WDW guests really plan out there vacations. A lot of people still just come to property and try to get "day-of" reservations. I'm just going to put it this way: you would probably have a lot more luck calling Blue Bayou and asking for a table at dinner tonight than you would calling Ohana. That bothers some people. (Note: I am not one of those people. Just playing devil's advocate to the TONS of clueless WDW visitors that don't plan anything in advance).

Overall I agree 100% that WDW's food offerings have only improved over the last decade. However, after reading his initial argument, I think that this poster is one of many visitors that feel sort of "pushed out" by the Disney Dining Plan. I am going to go out on a limb and say that this guy doesn't usually stay on property and get the packages. With that, many day guests and off-property guests do tend to feel like it's impossible to get reservations during busy times of the year. I think he is using that frustration to illogically say that WDW's food has declined, when he truly is more frustrated with having to compete with hoards of DDP guests during peak times. He would be correct in saying that DLR does not have this issue.

WHAT. Brown Derby, Momma Melrose's, Sci-Fi, and Prime Time? I guess Hollywood & Vine if you want to count a buffet? That's a better variety than Epcot? I agree that Disneyland's dining trumps Magic Kingdom's dining, but I would stop giving DLR the win after that. WDW as a whole has MUCH better dining than DLR, thanks to Epcot and the huge variety of unique resort dining options. I hardly think of Hollywood Studios as the dining theme park capital of North America. But I guess that's just me?

If you're looking for a scholarly source for something that specific, you're going to need to use a library's database. There are several peer reviewed hospitality-related journals and engineering, but again you're going to have to search through a lot of content to find specifically the kind of thing you're looking for. There is no peer reviewed journal that is entirely dedicated to roller coasters. My advice: go to a library.

Great trip report, I love Alton Towers! Terror of the Towers is the best Haunt I've ever done. Hopefully I will find myself back in the UK in October sometime again. I hate being employed, I don't get to jet around doing fun stuff like this anymore ...No love for Squirrel Nutty Nutty this year though? Shame!

So with all of the coaster construction going on right now, what is Alton doing with their Haunt event? Are they placing houses in other areas of the park to make up for the loss of the Black Hole building?

IMO, that was the best Bill and Ted show since 2008. By far. However, if I had to sum up the rest of the event in one word, it would be "adequate". Nothing special, but not terrible either. I did manage to get in all of the houses tonight. Funny though, the Alice Cooper maze was our least favorite house. It just seemed confusing and forced; I had no idea what was going on the whole time. I guess Adam and I just have different tastes.... (shocking.)

I think it's crazy the number of people that are canceling their reservations in order to "Honor Walt's Wishes." For every one person that is actually stupid enough to cancel their reservation, there are hundreds fighting to get one. I think Disney will survive. This is like all the Cedar Point ACEr fanboys that said they were going to boycott the park because of Fast Lane. I was at the park opening weekend, and I'll be the first to tell you that the fatty patch jacket population was still alive and well... standing the the stand-by line, of course.

Did Jake get in to your account again? Yes. I pitched in and designed this for you. Tell GCI to build it ASAP.

Ugh. Reading is hard. Pictures?

I am thrilled with this move. I don't plan on doing dinner service at Be Our Guest anytime soon, but it is always fun to see Disney fanboys get worked up over something.

^Same. When I first read this topic, the first things that came to mind were Monster/Orochi, Dominator (KD/GL), and Chang/Green Lantern. Not sure which one is technically the biggest, but IMO all three are worth mentioning

I rode Mean Streak on opening day this year, and it was actually running really great! Unfortunately, a "great" ride on Mean Streak only means that it didn't try to kill us. No amount of retracking or train work is going to make that ride exciting, unless they drastically change the layout.

I could never see a Toy Story Land in the US parks... or at least not the same version that have recently gone in overseas. What parks have Toy Story Land? Hong Kong and Disney Studios... the two smallest Disney parks out there. Toy Story Land is VERY low capacity, and I just don't think it would work considering the US park's attendance figures. Think about it... could you imagine the line for an Intamin Half Pipe in one of the Florida parks? It'd be terrible!!

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see something new come to the Studios too. I'm sure it will happen eventually, and I'll be happy when it does. I'm just always wary of the online Disney fanboys like Al Lutz, Jim Hill, etc. They sometimes forget that Disney is a business that places a high value on sustainable growth. They're not going to just throw tons of money around for no reason. The hardcore Disney people can just be very unrealistic.