tndank

That hotel price is crazy. The Comfort Inn may be closer to the gates. If not, it's very close. Save yourself some money. You're going to be at the park all day. You just need a bed and bathroom for a few hours each day. Comfort Inn has some food and an waffle maker in the morning, too. The Comfort Inn is also closest and easiest to the interstate as well.

The Express hotel was one of the cheapest options when I went last year. You can walk to the Pony, McDs and the other fast food joint. It's at the entrance of the causeway to the park. Hotel was fine and had nice pictures of coasters on the wall. I was only in the room from 12:30am to 8:00am for sleep and a shower. But really, just book some refundable rooms and keep checking for better rates as the spring and summer go. Expedia and Travelocity and Orbitz often do mobile only 15% off bookings. I got Express through one of those last year. Comfort Suites or Comfort Inns are usually good budget hotels with a decent breakfast room. Those near KI are good. They typically do bonus points that can really add up during Spring and summer.

It's where you buy it from, not where you pick it up.

I will often take Bonine the night before at bed. Then I'll take one the next morning. I'm usually fine after that.

That is nuts. I thought they would be busy today, but that sounds crazy. So glad I decided to hit SFoG instead of Dollywood today. Had a great day down there today.

That is some work going on! Holy cow.

I haven't been able to figure out their changes on the LR line. It was fine earlier this season. Now some poor grouper is trying to assign seats on the 2nd floor. Then they have to constantly run upstairs because most don't go to their assigned rows. So much time and energy wasted and looks like a pain the ass for the grouper to keep going up and down. And it doesn't seem to really solve anything.

Lots of euro parks list the rides will be closed for winter but they don't hesitate to open them for nice weather and crowds. Seems strange they don't have more on standby. I've now been to SFoG three times since late Nov. I would have rather done Carowinds and/or Kings Island for one or two of those but I like coasters. All are 3-4 hours away. Going back to SFoG tomorrow for coasters and 60 degree weather. Then again, if it's busy then maybe don't need to open them. Folks are still there.

$35 (or season) fast pass sounds like a good deal on that type of night. Well played. Good write up. If all/most of the coasters were open I would have made the 7 hour drive to visit the park and friends in the area.

Looks like opening day will be April 11.

Never could have imagined this much noise. Never.

I was half serious, half joking. I wasn't suggesting they control the weather. That didn't cause staggered opening on rides all season and Friday closures during Halloween. Steel Vengeance was more joking, but also like Bill said. Saying they have a new way to better fix and maintain it would be a great announcement. Saying 'we think it'll be open earlier this year to provide more value to your early entry' would be nice. Might sell some passes, too. But really, I wasn't targeting SV. My original point was I had hoped for some ride / staffing updates. It's all good what they showed. Can't wait to visit again.

The announcements were cool and all. What's not to like? Looks good. But, I would have preferred something like "all rides will be open at all times this year" or "Steel Vengeance will actually be open for early entry this year" etc. Seems they just added a new ride and parade that will take a crew of people and placed it in a park that seems to have staffing issues all season. They did figure out a great way to have customers pay for the midway work. The bricks are a good idea. I want to get one with "Quit reading and go ride" on it or something similarly stupid.

Thunderhead has been running well the last few weeks in my opinion. I could ride it all day.

They were testing it a bunch today. One of the guys was riding it on occasion as well. Turntable was working. Looks cool.

We took our moms to HITP last night. Had a good time. They were running 2 trains on Superman when we rode about 530. No real lines so I can see removing one. Crystal Pistol show was good with usual cast. The moms enjoyed it. Bad Bob is always fun. We had a good day.

Is that pic allowed? Seems to be breaking park rules. That's a strange rule for sure. Good stuff.

There's another credit in Atlanta at Fun Spot. About 20-30 min from SFoG. There's a few random credits in Pigeon Forge, too (Island, Nascar). Even more if you count Alpine coasters.

I'm thankful Dollywood opens on Thanksgiving day. I'll be there.

That's great it's testing. Good stuff.

I don't know. And I might be crazy but I'm pretty sure it wasn't on the website list a couple weeks ago when they started putting HITP info up. (I know websites are 100%...) And some folks on FB had indicated it might be down. Pretty sure they started weekends on March 9th this year. They will def be open weekend March 20th and probably a couple weekends before that. (Band comps start the 20th)

Flash sale through Thursday: $75 right now for admission and FL+ Good through Sept 13 (excludes Saturdays)

Looks like Superman will be running for HiTP. I like that!

I went to SFoG yesterday. It was excellent. No lines anywhere. They never even opened the main parking lot. Other than Blue Hawk being down, everything was running. Walk ons all day. Most food places open with no lines. We had a blast. I can't imagine how dead it is today or next weekend.

Orion's lift was topped off this morning.