Jew

The LA county order only applies at 10k and above.

You’re not paying for the rides at haunt. You are paying for…Haunt where the rides also happen to be open. the Joliet example you give makes sense because the product people paid for had NO value.

It’s exactly as you’d expect. Will take a decade to fully recover, just as it did after 2008 recession. Would not expect to see major spending from parks for the next 5 years or so until profitability has at least stabilized.

Avoid it. LOL.

Avatar at mall of America. Missed it due to time on our first visit (Where in the world did we go) when we stopped in on a layover, finally had a chance to go back to get the credit. Intamin halfpipes are stupid fun too.

Sort of related, but their creative director is yet another cool example of how a “summer job” can so easily turn into a career in this industry. He started his SFMM career as a ride op 20 years ago when I worked there.

Employee preview was tonight, so you can probably find some spoilers online if you want to. I was invited as a guest, but didn’t take any photos. quick summary: -fire back on the main entrance. No Gogo dancers up front. Main Street falls flat as a scare zone with nothing but music and gobo lights. -terror tram is exactly how you remember it minus the now demolished who ville and the mini maze next to war of worlds. The path is paved now! Very underwhelming, wish they would have kept the mazes in tram garage instead. -presumably because of planning for covid distancing, all the “recycled” IP mazes I think were improvements on their originals. Larger rooms and what felt like less scenes instead of “pack as much in with black walls between to make it fit” -Pandora’s box felt the same as 2019, which isn’t a bad thing! -aside from the low budget facade, haunting of hill house is beautiful. Again you can tell it was designed with covid in mind, which I think makes each scare pop more. -bride of Frankenstein, also felt shorter, but also great visuals. Exits into an outdoor scarezone on French street that I guess you could call an extension of the maze. Overall, Despite the recycled mazes, I think this actually turned out to be one of the better years quality wise.

next up on the “check out baseball during the pandemic tour” was T-mobile park. Dodgers were in town for a day game and I work graveyard, so timing worked out perfect to hop on a flight and make it back on time. Like so many other stadiums, you can get from airport to stadium with ease on public transportation (looking at you Dodgers and Angels…) it’s conveniently located right next to the football stadium as well. T-mobile has the traditional faux modern brick rotunda entrance from the street and a giant retractable roof that is built over train tracks on the backside. obligatory overview. Great view from the top with the football stadium and downtown skyline so much of the stadium was closed (I went in April), I didn’t get to really explore like I normally would…but I found good beer and ding tai fung, so all is still well! just in case you wondered how they enforced social distancing ticket pods when that was a thing

I actually believe this and changing all the passes to reservations will create much needed balance in the parks. Not all will purchase lightning lane and AP’s can’t flood the parks (since Disney can cut off reservations at any time), so the ratio of fastpass to standby line should be much better for both.

One night with fright lane will be fine if you get there at opening for haunt. Get there late and you will get the mazes done and not much else. Visit the park in the daytime and lines will be non existent.

I would assume not using indoor queues is to avoid the mask rule as much as possible. Actually smart on magic mountain part.

I will in a heartbeat if it’s necessary to do what I want to do.

I’m not going back for Halfpipe. I rode Sidewinder, the dark ride, and Twister II and got the hell out. No need to ever go back, since I really don’t care enough about counting credits anymore to bother with an SLC , Boomerang, and Roller Skater (were open, I just don’t care).

Park probably has the best location of any in the country (actually in downtown right off a metro station) and is just left to rot. I went mainly because it was convenient to do before catching dodgers at rockies and I had never been. Will never go back, but your TR sums up the place perfectly. I’m also not expecting a replacement whenever it closes. Stan kroenke just spent a metric ton of money on sofi stadium, so he’ll probably sell off the rides…

The Knotts hotel overhaul was long overdue. Happy to see that! I’m sure the parks will be doing individual announcements for rides later this year as well.

Carnevil doesn’t really lend itself to being a scarezone either, so why not try something new? I dig this a lot more, hope it expands to take over the whole boardwalk

We’ve reached peak enthusiast when there’s a page of discussion on arguing semantics about revolutions loop. In other news: track is here for “insert super hero name here” coaster

I vote for many more aquatrax so Elissa can continue getting soaked by kids who reach their arm out to create a wake

Construction is visible for the two mazes behind the parking garage, mummy, waterworld, and Parisian courtyard. Make of that what you will. I highly doubt two mazes are inside stage 29. The lower lot could barely handle the queue for just stranger things, and that was before Nintendo construction was so far along.

They use the touch less security scanners now. Metal detectors have been off since the park was able to reopen.

I would actually be super disappointed if knotts got a boring B&M as the ride they possibly snake around the park. Give me a Mack or Intamin instead!

did a quick half lap of the park to see the progress on the upcoming project… for those wondering, this is the extent of the 50th anniversary decorations. Big miss IMO to not reopen sky tower and the museum they used to have up there as part of this. the new mask policy. They are not checking vaccine status, so it’s on an honor system. I saw maybe 10 people wearing masks (the employees still are), so if you’re still worried about COVID even after you’ve been vaccinated, theme parks are most certainly not somewhere you will want to visit. For those who aren’t worried, come on back and enjoy the parks back to full operation! food service still appears to be a struggle. I overheard chatter from an employee talking to another employee that the mobile app ordering may have crashed. Tidal Wave is gone and the construction fences have engulfed the entire area that used to be tidal wave, the plaza in front of RRv, and green lantern. There’s no good spots for aerial photos (follow the rules, no loose articles on rides!), so iPhone camera lens strategically placed up against the fence is the view we get. Looks like still very much in demolition mode and not construction for new ride yet.

To be fair, it is magic mountain. Expensive part replacement they are putting off from an unexpected downtime is just as likely.

This is an uncomfortable amount of kiddie coaster discussion.

$20 is the highest starting wage in the industry, so I’m sure they’ll find the people they need at the expense of other businesses in Sandusky.