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I am sure all those paying for flash pass would LOVE that....

Thankfully Eisner is gone and Disney isn't just trying to build their own version of what their competition is doing anymore.... Disney Springs, once it is finally completed, will not only have grown in size, but will perfectly serve its purpose: give people a place on property to have dinner or drinks or a break from a nonstop barrage of theme park activities while still staying on property. It doesn't need to have a larger version of the Orlando Eye (plus, there is already the balloon) or a Disney version of an arcade to be successful. I-drive is not competition.

Finally got to go tonight... The tasting card is a great value and will definitely fill you up, though I think the problem is that the boysenberry BBQ sauce is kind of repetitive. The other thing is that the boysenberry BBQ sauce is a good, sweet BBQ sauce, but I didn't really get much boysenberry taste. The end result for the meatballs, short rib, and wings were that the short rib and meatball just tasted like a good swedish meatball and good korean BBQ short rib with a little sweeter flavor and the wing was almost like a normal BBQ wing but sweeter. I skipped the alligator because the line was always long and we got to the park so late. But the best part of the tasting card by far is the two dessert items. The flauta is basically a rolled boysenberry crepe and super delicious. I am not sure if they ran out of the penna cotta or if we just got really lucky, but they gave us the boysenberry trifle instead...and the boysenberry ice cream was amazing. Also amazing? The boysenberry beer. Goes down very smooth. Must have been a hot seller, since the calico saloon was tapped out about 5 hours before the park closed according to the bartender.

Maybe they just wanted to fill the empty space left behind by the spinning mouse of death?

I'm sure rides are different, but I can give you the perspective of the rain policy when it comes to the Entertainment department. When I was working at the park (mind you this was 12 years ago, so things might have changed) the call to proceed with a show belonged to the Sound Mixer. I always tried to be as consistent as possible with making the call. Typically, if we had anybody (literally, one person) waiting to watch a show I would continue with the show on schedule. If there wasn't anybody in the theater I would delay the show by 5 minutes, if somebody showed up we would run it, if nobody did I would cancel it. The only time I actually ended up cancelling a show due to weather was during Fright Fest. We were up on Samurai Summit doing some haunted cooking show, and my gear was located behind the rock wall in the trees. There had been a lot of rain that day, but I had built a nice make shift shelter out of a tarp and managed to keep the equipment dry. When a lighting storm rolled in however I decided that my dedication to the next show was less then my desire not to be struck by lightning as I'm hanging out under numerous large trees. We ended up cancelling a single show and got going as soon as things improved. That's exactly why it doesn't make sense to have a specific published rain policy...there is no way to 100% predict what will happen. Tell a guest something operates in the rain and then it breaks because of the rain? Tell a guest a show runs rain or shine, then cancel it because of rain? You just made the problem worse.

My guess would be Samsung heavily subsidized the cost of the VR systems for the publicity. So Six Flags most likely took what Samsung was giving them. In defense of SFMM, having an official rain policy is nearly impossible...every ride will react slightly different in the rain, human judgment calls factor into it, weather patterns can change very quick, and so on. Lots of variables. Saying "minor technical difficulties" might actually be the truth, as rain can and does cause technical issues (such as drive tires getting wet, sensors being flagged, etc.) That is why their website states:

One of the many reasons Japan is awesome: not one person in that line would complain...unless they were a coaster enthusiast visiting from another country!

Kind of related: one of the best perks of working Haunt is free boysenberry punch!

That would make sense, since there is nowhere on the front for the QR code.

Hulk not sucking anymore from roughness would definitely be awesome. If it can go back to being an old school B&M but without the B&M rattle, that is definitely exciting.

They are good at doing what financial people do best: cutting costs wherever they can to improve the bottom line, which in turn enriches themselves. Here's the reality: as long as people put up with the crappy operations, the financial guys have no incentive to do anything else. They found a formula that works for them, which is give away the gate to get people in and keep costs low.

That's a pretty good guess. I can't think of anything prior to that. But I don't really care to research either...

^Right. The correct thing to do would be to clarify your statement and move on. No need to add a personal shot. Speaking of moving on...lets do exactly that....

Your statement that "With the work still needed to be done, and no sight of the new trains, I really wonder how long into the summer until the ride opens up again" most certainly implies that you are doubting it will open on time. There's no need to read any further into his response. If you wished to correct him and clarify your statement, that is all you needed to do. Leave the personal shots out of it.

Kind of funny that the menu boards are still hanging by zipties....

Six Flags has gone from bankrupt and its stock being worthless to its stock now being $53/share. The finance guys are doing something right. You'd have to sell an awful lot of soda to make up for the cost being saved by going extremely slow on maintenance or not buying an extra train. The issue is that their business model is still based on keeping costs down and giving away the gate. That is always going to produce crappy operations.

There's also the fact GhostRider's maintenance bay is out of sight anyways...so even if there were trains, you wouldn't be able to see them.

It is!

Yeah, they're called the casinos and the strippers themselves...

Nobody said it is easy being at the forefront of the industry. Ultimately RMC takes the fall, but I doubt Dollywood was telling them no when they said "hey, we're going to use this vendor and save some cash on our bid."

That is what nightmares are made of. Ouch.

^^I'm not really sure how that's karma...doing something dumb in Vegas (even if it is cheating on your fiance by having sex in public) doesn't mean you deserve to be shot and killed....

It is exactly that: a brilliant way to increase capacity and revenue. As I said, it's basically their version a front of the line pass. Don't want to wait in lines and aren't famous or don't have enough cash to pay for renting a guest relations tour guide all day? Just show up for this event instead!

I like this idea! It's basically a Front of Line pass (since crowds will be so slim) with ice cream and soda included!

^^well, Donald trump is well on his way to being the republican presidential nominee. So my faith in our ability to not kill a species is not that great. I hate the shows. I like the move to bigger tanks and presentations as opposed to the awful storylines they create for the shows. I do think the emotional connection means something (it certainly worked for me as a kid---see my story in a previous post) not just for the kids but also for the animal rights activists. It's their battle cry too. I'm sure they'll move on to the next species, but killer whales are the marquee animal for their cause too. Ultimately I think it's too soon to know if this is truly the best thing to do. I'm not an expert by any means, so I can only offer my thoughts. My gut feeling is no, but I get that they had to make a business decision after they failed to defend themselves against blackfish (and in retrospect, should have been more aggressive and proactive years before blackfish---the tank expansion was the right thing to do all along) and didn't invest enough in their parks to keep them competitive in markets that are only going to keep adding attractions. I think properly cared for animals in captivity, especially ones as majestic as orcas do have a place in our society as an important educational and research tool, but that's just my opinion.