bgtlover

^The EDIT button is your friend in cases like this.

I buy one whenever I visit a new park, or hadn't been to in a long time. However, I loathe to carry around so I usually wait until I'm ready to leave to buy one. I used to carry mine around BGT or SWO, but I hate carrying stuff so I don't bother anymore.

For Youtube videos: Use if the URL is youtube.com Use [youtu_be][/youtu_be] if the URL has youtu.be Paste the URL between, For example: [youtu_be]https://youtu.be/[/youtu_be] So for the video you posted: [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

Try being gay and being raised in an overly religious family. Story of my life...lol Fortunately they've come around for the most part.

^As far as using a debit card, you can punch in your PIN I believe so that may be why ID isn't needed with it in person. It does state on their website that you have to show ID at the park when purchasing passes online with a credit or debit card (I just recently did so). Of course that does no good for people who just walk up and didn't know, which I'm sure is the majority. A lot of places are starting to require showing ID with credit cards. I say that's a good thing especially at tourist attractions.

why For perceived safety by non-enthusiasts/GP who don't know or understand that these rides are perfectly safe without them. Oh and I'm sure there is a nice discount on the insurance too.

From RMC on Facebook

The lines supposedly got much longer throughout the day. Several people on their Facebook page are complaining about having only one train operation and having to wait a long time to ride. I'm sure the park has a good reason for doing so. Oh and a 190 minute wait is much better than the 405 minute wait I saw on Monday for Kraken Unleashed...lol

It's just funny how the park and local news stations are saying it has 2 inversions ("goes upside down twice" in their words). I understand trying to sell it to the public, but a 115 degree over banked turn is not an inversion. They've aired a segment about it multiple times today on FOX 35 News and I shake my head each time...lol

^Seems to be working fine for me.

^I slipped up and neglected to put steel before longest.

Supposed permits were filed to fully enclose SandSerpent for 2018.....yeah... (can't seem to find them, but may have been deleted so take with a grain of salt) touringcentralflorida.com/2017/06/23/sandserpent-busch-gardens-tampa-enclosed/

Well RMC is having an apparel liquidation which they posted on their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1360413290662454&id=154373424599786&substory_index=0

Happy Birthday Xcelerator!

Mako I'll be updating this soon when I get back to Fun Spot Kissimmee to get those credits later this summer.

The only thing similar is they swing back and forth. They are completely different experiences and any park that has/will get both is VERY fortunate.

^Whatever do you mean? Looks like they are doing something with those lights on. (They've also been doing some work during the day here and there at times)

Quick Photo Trip Report: My partner and I arrived in Orlando a bit earlier than planned for SeaWorld so we had time to make a quick stop at Fun Spot in Kissimmee. Neither one of us had been there before and didn't plan to ride anything (this time). I wanted to see Mine Blower and perhaps maybe see it make some test runs since it made it's first the night before. Unfortunately when we arrived about 10am they were doing some work on the track and structure so for the hour we were there looking around we didn't get to see it test. Bummer...but it looks amazing! We will be back later in the summer to spend a few hours there and already bought all day passes for $19 to use when they had their sale online a couple weeks ago. I did have a Fun e Card with some funds on it from a visit at the Orlando park so we used it to play some arcade games before leaving to have lunch. For now here are some pics of the park: I love Frisbee rides and I can't wait to try this one (Head Rush). It will be my first inverting one. Rockstar Coaster. A spinning wild mouse. It will be another first (one that spins that is). A Bull ride? Sure, I may try this too. Another possible first. I love Screaming Swings. It was still under maintenance so it should be open by the time I get back. I've been on the one at the Orlando park (same model) many times. Kiddie Coaster. Most generic name of a potential credit I'll get when I come back. #noshame Now on the the reason we came by : Mine Blower I can't wait to get back to the park to ride this. It may be a short ride, but it definitely will pack a punch, and the barrel roll alone is with the trip if you're nearby. This will be my first inverting woodie when I ride it. It's crazy this ride will be open Friday. As mentioned before we didn't see any testing due to some tweaking to the track. We also couldn't get a good view of the trains since they were both on the track and somewhat hidden from where I could get pics. I know the weather deteriorated within a couple hours of us leaving so testing occurred later on that evening.

This is so very true. While I had no intention of even riding Kraken, I checked to see when I could get on it for s&$%s & giggles (knowing it would be outrageous). As I showed earlier, the first available was about 6.5 hours later and 20 minutes before the only night time Shamu show. Even if I had wanted to ride it I would have had to pass that one and try again a little later to reserve. The show was among the priority to do list for this visit since I may not be back until September either. Trip Report: We arrived about 12:15 and was in the park by 12:30. We ate lunch before since we were staying until close. Rain was definitely in the forecast and it came through not long after arrival. Even with the rain that was on and off between 1 & 6pm, I was able to accomplish most of what I wanted to do yesterday. Because of the coming rain, we decided to go extra bare minimum and only carry a bottled water into the park (outside of keys, wallets & phones). So no camera (until later when I did get it). I first headed to Manta to ride since I had skipped it the last couple times I've been. To my surprise, it was a walk-on. I only had to wait for the 2 trains in the station to do (they were running both sides). I was even able to re-ride. I rode 2nd row the first ride and last row for the 2nd where no one was waiting. I think that was the first time I've ridden the back and was by far much more intense in the pretzel loop than I have ever experienced. It may be the most intense moment I've ever had on a B&M coaster. I was close to graying out. Crazy since I've been on it many times since it opened. I think I went to the front more since it's one where it makes a difference visually at least. Next we went to the 1:30 showing of Dolphin Days. We got in there right at 1 when they opened it up to get a great seat since it was our first time seeing it. The last time we came to the park they cancelled the first showing at 10 and we were leaving by lunch for other engagements outside the park. Storms started coming through shortly after and they kept delaying. At 2pm they finally cancelled so people could go on with their day and invited us all to try again for the 3pm showing. Had it not been raining we would have moved on well before the cancellation. We left our umbrellas in the car since we didn't feel like carrying anything extra. Once the rain let up we walked over to see what kind of line Empire Of The Penguin had since it was still lightly raining and to kill time. The sign said a 5 minute wait. Looking at said line, it had not updated and was more like 45. I figured it would be like that since it's an indoor attraction. Not a loss anyway since we didn't plan originally to ride it. Then we walked back to see what they have done to Kraken. It wasn't running at the moment because of the weather. Posted wait time? 405 minutes....with a virtual queue...laughable...lol I honestly really don't care for the new look overall. I do like the tentacles, but that's about it. I know many thought the old head was cheesy, but it completed the entrance plaza to me. I wish they would have made a new head to go with the tentacles. They also had the area closed off where the eggs used to be and where you could view the corkscrew at the ride exit. Hopefully they will open it back up a little more once things get smooth with all this. We then walked over to the JTA aquarium before going back to see the 3pm Dolphin Days. Dolphin Days...what can I say? I liked the show and there was definitely more interaction with the dolphins. However because Blue Horizons was the first show I ever saw at SeaWorld, it will always be tops for me. I first saw it the first year it was performed so it was great in the earlier years. I have the DVD and my own recordings so it will live on for me. Because of the rain and 90 minute delay to watch it, we ended up not viewing the manatees, dolphins (in DC), Stingrays or Manta Aquarium like normal and decided to make our way to the skytower, which surprisingly ran all day until the park closed. That's almost unheard of for when we visit...lol The windows had too much condensation to even bother getting any pics. Oh well. After Skytower, we headed over so I could ride Mako. In that short of time the rain started coming down again. While I'm sure some people like riding 73mph on a coaster in the stinging rain; I'm not one of them and went through the Shark Encounter. As the rain got lighter made it over to Wild Arctic to do that and see the Beluga, Walrus & Seals. In the gift shop on the way out I found a nice plate and matching spoon rest that were on clearance. I was surprised they were on clearance and was happy I waited since I was last there in April and wanted them. Since we had made purchases we decided to take it out to the car and get our umbrellas. Of course, once we got back in the park we never opened them again...go figure. I did decide to grab my camera to get some pics and video of the nighttime shows. It was just before 6pm when we got back in the park and were planning to see Sea Lions tonight which started at 6:30. Since Mako was so close and the rain stopped, I went and rode Mako while my partner got a seat at the show. I had a free quick queue as a June pass member perk and used it, even though there was a 2 train wait. Well I took the time to reserve, print and redeem so why not? Plus I had no way of knowing how long the line actually was, even with the 5 minute posted wait. It was a great ride as always. I only had time for the one ride for now and headed over to see the show. I always enjoy the Clyde and Seamore shows, and the latest version of Sea Lions Tonight does not disappoint. It's definitely the best show in the park currently; even better than their daytime show. They do a great job at keeping the script revised with the attractions they parody in the park. The segments parodying Dolphins Days & Kraken Unleashed had me in tears....cause they were so true...lol After the show I took another quick spin on Mako before heading over to Mango Joe's for dinner. Then we caught some of the Club Sea Glow dance party at Bayside Stadium before heading back to Shamu Stadium to see Shamu's Celebration: Light Up The Night. I've always enjoyed the night time Shamu shows over One Ocean. However, while this one was ok, it just doesn't have the same effect on me as Shamu Rocks did. Part of it may have been the orcas weren't all performing on queue at times. It was still better than One Ocean to me, which has just honestly been boring to me since it was introduced and why we normally skip it. The next (and last time) we'll see it (One Ocean) will be September when my sister brings my nephew down for his 10th birthday. I guess like the dolphin shows, it's just a change I'll have to either learn to like...or skip altogether when I visit. Fortunately I have the Believe DVD and my own video of it for memories as well. After the show I went and got my first night ride on Mako. I must say it's even better in the dark! One guy on my row was not feeling the nighttime rush. He was ready to go...lol I wanted to ride again and went to an empty row (half the rows were empty) and was asked to go back through the line. I didn't argue and just didn't ride again. They let me on Manta earlier in the day, but hey...whatever. Different ops, different ride...just got lucky before. That's too long to walk around for me when you've been there most of the day on 2 hours of sleep. To end the night we went through some shops on our way over towards Bayside Stadium to watch Ignite. We chose to sit by the water next to the vendor spots used during the events instead of from the stadium. Plus it was a shorter walk to the exit. I also was able to record without an obstructed view. Well...besides this guy who insisted on walking in front of us to go stand in the grass for 2 minutes and then back to where he was. I must say I was very impressed with Ignite and feel it one of the better night time closing shows I've seen. I did video of it, so no pics. I will say the heat coming from the fire blasting pyrotechnics was crazy. I think they should try and incorporate some of that into the New Years Eve celebration. I'm glad we ended up staying because after Shamu I was pretty much ready to go. It was worth seeing it live, especially since I may not be back before it ends. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

Mako in the dark last night about 9:20. First time riding it at night....and it's even better!

Hopefully by then they will have it operationally better. You can see my post up there with a 6.5 hour virtual wait time. I didn't bother especially since that was right before Shamu Celebration show. I walked by Kraken once around 2:30 and it had a 400 minute wait listed. I'm sure it was more than that considering everything shut down for about an hour prior to that due to lightning. I would just recommend getting to the park before opening and head straight there. At least with spot saver, you have to be in the park to reserve from your phone. In other news, I walked onto Manta when I got to the park at 12:30 and rode twice without getting off. I also rode Mako 3 times with a 1 train wait. I didn't even need my free one time wuick queue. I used it anyway since I went through the trouble of reserving. I would have ridden more but with all the on and off rain and catching shows that's all I got coaster wise. Surprisingly the Skytower was open all day and got a ride on it with one cycke wait. Even Wild Arctic was a walk on.

I was there earlier and they were doing some work to the track and structure. I was hoping to see some testing. Oh well. It looks great. This park really needed a signature coaster.

I guess I will see for myself later today. I won't be wearing the VR however if I ride at all. Even with the Spot Saver I don't think it's worth waiting for, at least until they get things more together. I've seen others post elsewhere having to wait an hour or more after their scheduled return time. I'll just get some rides on Manta & Mako and catch the night time shows most likely. UPDATE: Um..yeah...not happening today as expected...lol Mind you everything outdoors has been shut down at least the last 30 minutes with storms in the area.

They are using it for parts. Wdym by parts? They will use parts of Knott's Riptide when parts on the one already at Valleyfair wear out and need replacing. This is quite common in the amusement park industry when a park closes a ride and no longer needs it.

I would say in this area: