PeoplemoverMatt

Water rides are by far the most expensive for the park to run and are not ridden by many people during the winter months. The Sky Tower's staffing needs are also a cost the park chooses not to incur during the slower periods of the year.

Can't wait to ride this next summer!

The animals are trained through forming relationships with human trainers and their positive reinforcement. Are you similarly troubled by people who high five their dog, then give the dog a treat? It's the same idea. Okay, so the act of doing a flip then getting a fish isn't a part of an orca's life were it out in the wild, granted. But were it not for those kind of shows that are no harmful to the animal than the aforementioned high fiving your dog, there would be a massive loss in public awareness and concern for those same orcas in the wild. "Save the whales" would have a much, much harder road if nobody ever made close contact with those whales and the other animals at places like SeaWorld, Disney's Animal Kingdom, and zoos around the world. You think natural habitat is eroding today? Just imagine how bad it would be if those places never existed. It's hard to care about animals' natural environment when those environments are far off places you've never seen, while the benefits of its destruction are part of your daily life. We can't understand what we can't learn about, and we would not value what we can't understand. We can't learn without study. Whatever we study we also change slightly. Personally, I don't mind that the orcas lives are slightly altered from what they'd be in the wild given the extreme lengths SeaWorld takes to care for them, in return for the massive amounts of additional awareness generated by their parks and their shows. When you see that look on the orca's face when they ask for a fish, keep that in mind. Also keep in mind that the whale can't just be thrown back into the wild once they rely on having food provided to them. Bingo. That's the dirty little secret those animal right activists never seem to be too concerned about. They don't realize that SeaWorld isn't their true enemy. But they can profit and gain notoriety for themselves by attacking SeaWorld anyway because people are largely ignorant, and other corporations can gain monetarily by supporting the attacks.

Good luck with that! I think this is quite illustrative of the problems that come up when at least part of the news media takes one side of an issue, in this case CNN is obviously on the side of Blackfish, and so puts all this support behind things like kids being on their side and advocating boycotts of Sea World. Why do those viewpoints suddenly have more weight than entire schools having annual field trips to Sea World for educational purposes? They shouldn't, but because CNN decided to take a side, now they will. Ignorant people will believe the spin, and the misinformation provided to defend that spin, and become even more ignorant than they were before. Going back to the kid saying school shouldn't go to Sea World for a moment, I have to wonder...did no human ever have the capacity to think how those whales got into that tank, or realize that the whales were in a tank, before "Blackfish" was aired? I don't get it. "Blackfish" only really stated the obvious with a HUGE negative spin on everything, along with citing some misinformation. The faculty, at least, at that school had to have seen those whales were in captivity during those trips to Sea World, and still went every year anyway. But now that "Blackfish" aired and the kid says school shouldn't go, suddenly the kid is propped up as some crusader in the fight for animal rights? Isn't that indirectly claiming EVERYONE associated with that school is incredibly dumb for not realizing those whales were in captivity? Then, why does one kid's voice against going to Sea World matter more than the voices of millions of kids who demand their parents/schools take them to Sea World every year? It's amazing how willing some people are to go along with whatever they're told to think, even if it directly flies in the face of their own personal experiences, to say nothing of logic and reason itself...

We got a Wii U for the kids when it was released last year, but I'm finding myself playing it more than they are. So far my favorite games for Wii U are Super Mario 3D World, the wonderfully bizarre Rayman Legends, and the kids really enjoy Nintendo Land's Metroid Blaster and Mario Chase mini games. They are huge fans of the asymmetrical gameplay with one person doing one thing on the Gamepad while the others are doing another with Wii remotes. For example, in Mario Chase, Gamepad player is Mario trying to run away from the other players who are chasing him. Since Wii U can also play Wii games, and we never had an original Wii, we are also enjoying Epic Mickey, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, and Wii Sports Resort. We are VERY excited about the new Smash Bros and Mario Kart 8 that are coming soon.

None that we have witnessed. Most of the guests aren't really aware of what FP+ even is. At least until today at DAK! Yeah, that's not too surprising considering how long it took most guests to figure out what legacy FP is/was. Hopefully it won't take a decade for misconceptions over FP+ to mostly work themselves out like it did legacy FP! No, many Disney rides had parallel queues to increase how many people could be in a queue at any one time. When FastPass came around, many of these parallel queues became Stand-By/FastPass with relative ease. But, instead of having both sides similarly full, it became one side stuffed with people all watching FP holders gleefully stroll by. For example, Disneyland's Pirates had parallel queues until FP came. Then it went one side Stand-by, one side FP. After Pirates' FP machines were removed, parallel queues returned and are in use today.

Well with all the leftovers you'll have from going to all those restaurants, having a UPS Store nearby makes it easy to ship them home quick.

Blackfish is propaganda. Let's be honest, that's what it is.

It's not something that comes across to me as any sort of potential problem. USO has been pushing park-to-park access for many years now. I see Universal pointing out that Hogwarts Express is only available with park-to-park access as no more a problem than, say, pointing out that tickets to IoA are needed to see Harry Potter when Hogsmeade Potter first opened. The public wants all the Potter they can get. All Universal need do is put out the information so people don't buy the wrong ticket. For those who didn't quite get it at the admission booths, I'm sure there'll be opportunities right outside the doors of both King's Cross and Hogsmeade stations to juice up tickets with park-to-park access so they can ride the Hogwarts Express.

Since I'm briefly seen in the pre-show in the last room, yes! In the last room there's a firefight scene. I'm one of the "scavengers" in the fog kneeling against a wood support shooting a gun towards the good guys. Then, when the girl yells "Oh no, GRENADE!" I'm the dark blob heaving it in your direction. Say what you want about the pre-show, at least we had fun filming it.

Aside from the obvious... Phone Camera Bottle of Powerade Zero if the park allows outside food/drink. If I find a restaurant in the park with a self-serve fountain machine, I'll refill the bottle with water periodically through the day to keep hydrated. Bag of candy in case of blood/sugar crash since I have abnormal eating patterns

Disneyland's Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy...about 2 months ago!

More than that, a very small minority of WDW guests even know a mine train ride is being built before they showed up and found it there. By then, everything's purchased and there's no turning back. I don't recall ever seeing the Snow White coaster in any New Fantasyland publication or advertisement. But, once they get there and see the ride under construction with a 2014 opening posted, that will entice a return visit to see it once it's open. Those who'd base an entire WDW trip around riding that thing would do their research to figure out exactly when it will most likely be open, and then schedule their trip well beyond that just to be safe. At least, I certainly hope they would. Otherwise they'd be rather irresponsible with their travel budget.

Was anyone going to Sea World Orlando to see these bands, and now will change their plans because those bands won't be there? I highly doubt it.

Have there been mad rushes to the FP kiosks shortly after opening by non-Resort guests who currently do not have access to advanced FP+ reservations?

Early May used to be a favorite time of year for openings Wouldn't surprise me if they aimed for that timeline again. Hoping for April soft openings!

SFMM in the snow for sure. That was an amazing morning/early afternoon. Very likely a once in a lifetime chance to see that park in the snow.

The City of Santa Clarita was bound & determined to keep SFMM open running. All sorts of tax breaks and deals were offered if the park agreed to be annexed into the city, rather than just outside the city limits as it was then and still is now.

Having spent years walking through parks during the early morning darkness hours before dawn and before the public gets there, that "creepy" feel is very familiar. It's a creepy feel that never goes away. As if time has somehow stopped because those surroundings that are usually full of life and energy are completely dormant. They silently loom over anyone who walks by like sentinels ever watchful until the dawn breaks and the gates re-open.

It makes me wonder exactly what about Blackfish made these bands have an epiphany which lead them to dropping out. Did the bands realize that Sea World breeds orca whales in captivity, keeps orca whales in captivity, trains them to perform while in captivity, and being in captivity means the whales indeed are not free to roam the oceans as wild animals only AFTER they watched Blackfish?? They were either incredibly ignorant about the park they licensed their music to use, or they're just dropping Sea World so they are mentioned by the news as bands that have dropped Sea World post-Blackfish. Really, it's all about publicity either way for the bands. They licensed their music to Sea World for the publicity and exposure to Sea World's millions of guests each year, and then revoked the license for the publicity and exposure to millions of readers/watchers of the news for dropping Sea World. Sea World and Blackfish could have been all about dancing pancakes under oppression from corrupt maple syrup-covered bionic mushroom overlords from the galaxy "Ushmorihunorigru" instead of orca whales and it would have made no difference at all.

If you don't get TTD or Kingda Ka, Superman: Escape from Krypton must be genuinely baffling. Here's the point to all of them: High acceleration. High velocity. High altitude. They are the double espresso of coasters. Sure there are larger, more elaborate, more layered kinds of coasters, but these are not that. They are simple and effective. They're not for everyone, as many people prefer a more elaborate coffee compared with the double espresso, but both have their own merits. I don't think all coasters have to be the big, elaborate style just to be worthy of existence. There's something to be said for the simple, quick, effective version. For example, with Xcelerator, the launch & top hat are really the thrill with the curvy bits being some extra fun. I'd still ride it just as much if the same launch and same top hat ended with in the brake run and no curves. The curvy bits are fun, but it'd still be a really fun ride without them.

If it's done well, people will enjoy it. That concept art looks amazing. Aladdin will be hard to let go of, sure, but as long as a great show replaces a great show, it'll be fine.

It's cheaper and easier to simply add trims to lessen the damage the ride does to itself.

It's amazing how people react to one accident in a theme park while fatal accidents occur on roads and freeways every single day. If people are too scared to visit SFOT, they should be so mortified by the sight of a car or a road that they can't ever look out a window. But I think seat belt have more to do with Six Flags being able to afford insurance after the accident. Adding seat belts to rides could bring those premiums down way more than what it cost to install them. Somehow I doubt there's a huge word of mouth effort to get out how the rides are now perfectly safe because they have seat belts. People will always be paranoid and ignorant about coasters, but insurance companies take the addition of seat belts pretty seriously.

Having been to Walt's Barn in Griffith Park and come away with far more of an amazing experience than I expected to have had, I really wish this project is fulfilled. The story of Walt's life is an inspiration for anyone who comes in contact with it. It's fantastic that there are people out there who want to preserve where it first began. Wishing you guys all the best! If I ever make it out to Chicago someday, I'd absolutely check this place out!