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- Birthday May 7
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Holiday World (HW) Discussion Thread
Brad replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
In all honesty - I thought there would be a 50-50 face covering crowd (similar to a grocery store that doesn't require them). I understand the risk involved - just wanted to share what I experienced in case others are on the fence - or had experienced other parks that do require them and thought it may not be as bad. -
Holiday World (HW) Discussion Thread
Brad replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I mentioned this in the Kentucky Kingdom thread, but I can't say that I'd recommend a visit to Holiday World this season. With the face masks / coverings being "recommended", I'd say we maybe saw 4-5 groups actually wearing a mask while we were there (on July 4 no less). If it weren't for most crowds being in the water park, we would have left immediately. We were able to get the four coasters done within a couple of hours, but the lack of distancing on top of no one wearing masks was all-around awful. The only silver-lining was that the virtual queuing worked really well - and we were able to "wait" for most of the rides while we were waiting to board after we were scanned in at the beginning of the queues. Just seems like a waste without a mandatary face covering policy. -
Kentucky Kingdom (SFKK, KK) Discussion Thread
Brad replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
We visited KK this past Saturday (evening) and Sunday (morning). After visiting a couple of Cedar Fair and SF parks after their reopening, I have to say that between KK and Holiday World, we were very uncomfortable with the 99% of guests not wearing masks. It's a bit easier to get over a couple of groups crowding you in a queue, but add this on top of them not wearing masks, and it makes for a rather unpleasant experience. I feel especially bad for the ride ops - having to lean over and check restraints right in the faces of guests not wearing masks. Sunday AM was much better in terms of crowds, and there are social distance markers throughout the park with plenty of hand sanitizer - but they completely miss the mark by not requiring masks (and it's obvious that "recommending" masks does nothing). From an operational standpoint, we only hit the "dry" rides - every coaster was running well - Storm Chaser and Lightning Run both at two-train ops. T3 seemed to take the longest (running one-train). -
Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread
Brad replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I would think that is a relatively slow/moderate summer weekday crowd. Capacity is probably somewhere between 30-35k, so that would be 30%? (Just guessing based on other parks capacity numbers). And that wouldn't be the number of people in the park at any one time - so the number in would be less at any given time. -
Kings Island (KI) Discussion Thread
Brad replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Reservations are now available - looks like they have six slots (10:30, 11, 11:30, 12, 12:30) with 1,750 per slot. With that in mind, capacity would be capped at 10,500 per day. -
Worlds of Fun (WOF) Discussion Thread
Brad replied to OzCatter's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Just made a reservation for July 1 at WOF (using a platinum pass). We've had a "midwest" tour scheduled for a while. Can't believe it's actually happening / feasible, but we're going to give it a shot. I had not seen a prior announcement about reservations being available, so figured I would give the heads up to anyone that was trying to get one. -
Dollywood Discussion Thread
Brad replied to crispy's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
I haven't been to DW since LR first opened and it had a terrible "pothole" at the bottom of the first drop. Going back this weekend - was that resolved / fixed during one of the off seasons? I remember it popping me really hard in the back that distracted me for the rest of the ride. -
Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread
Brad replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
We purchased the FL+ bundle with our hotel package and it was a bit confusing - but this is how it works. When you check-in, they will give you two receipts for each person / package purchased. The first receipt will be your admission ticket (we had 3-day tickets - so there were three admissions on the same receipt). Be sure to get your hand stamped when you leave the park each day as that is your re-entry method once it's been scanned in the morning. Your second receipt will be for the all-inclusive bundle. This is a bit of a pain, as you have to get your FL+ at any of the locations in the park that sell this (there is one right inside the Magnum gate). To get your dining wristband, you have to scan the same receipt at the first dining location you use it at to get another wristband. To get your all-day drinks, you have to scan the receipt again to get your drink wristband (up to three wristbands now). For the FunPix card - after your first ride, they'll scan the same receipt and give you a lanyard with a FunPix card on it. You'll need to give them an email address so you can view them online. You have to do this each day you have the bundle. It's kind of comical how inefficient this is. But, you have FL+, dining and drinks all day, so it's hard to complain too much. -
Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread
Brad replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Quick question - for Steel Vengeance, do ride ops assign seats at the station? We have FL+, so I'm curious if the merge point being at the station causes a mess or if they do assignments (which is also a bummer if we're trying to ride in the back). -
Cedar Point (CP) Discussion Thread
Brad replied to robbalvey's topic in Theme Parks, Roller Coasters, & Donkeys!
Has a list been posted that explains where the merge points are for Fast Lane at CP? I know that MF merges at the last queue leg (and you have to wait up the ramp) and Steel Vengeance merges at the station entrance. Can someone share with the others merge (major rides)? Definitely will be buying a FL+ when we visit in June - but want to make sure I have realistic expectations. -
There are two options for the Coaster tour - Participant ($75) that includes the ride up the lift in Griffon's side car) and Observer (everything but the Griffon ride up). We had to do the Observer version since Griffon's side car was not working that day. We booked about 3 weeks out - and there were 8 people on the tour (plus the two guides). They only offer the tour on certain days as well.
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Had a great visit to BGW on Saturday. We did the Coaster Insiders Tour - and I was a bit bummed when I got a phone call last week that Griffon's side car would not be in operation for the tour - but we still proceeded to keep our reservation as an "observer" (and got a $25 refund per person) - I'm so glad we did. We arrived around 8:15 to the Toll Plaza - and were not quite sure where to go as they said that is where we would meet to check-in. The confusion may have been caused by the number of cars that were already at the Toll Plaza (which meant it would be a busy day)! Once we finally got through, we headed over to the England parking lot (which was great to get the "preferred" upgrade) and checked in with the group. The tour has two guides - one that is mainly in charge of taking photos of the group, but both were knowledgable about the park and provided insight throughout the tour. We started with going to the maintenance bay of Lochness - which was cool to see the "underground" transfer area where they work on the trains. They have a leftover train from Python at BGT that they use for spare parts. After that, we walked down the gravel path to Griffon and to the maintenance bay here as well. Seeing the underside of a train was really cool - they are absolutely massive. We learned about the anti-rollbacks and more about polyurethane than was necessary, but interesting none-the-less. After we exited the maintenance bay, it was time to ride Griffon. We were put on row 1 for our ride - and just as we were starting up the lift hill, we slowed and then stopped - with a loud clank as the anti-rollback hit. Having just learned about the entire process, it was rather comical when one of the tour guides yelled out "That was the anti-rollback!" from the dock. We were back up and running in about 5 minutes. They let us on for a second ride after they cycled a few trains. After Griffon, we headed over to Alpengeist, which was down unfortunately, but still got to tour the maintenance bay and see a "demo" of the locking mechanism for the restrains and how magnets slow the train down (it was cool to try and push a brake fin through the magnet). Since we couldn't ride, we then headed over to Verbolten. We started out this time riding twice (they didn't want to ruin the "surprise" for those that had not been on the ride). After we rode, they took us up to the operators booth above the station. It was cool to see the cameras in the show house - as they are infrared since it is so dark in the building (the people looked like cartoons on the train). They then took us over to what was IMO the best part of the tour - going in the show house while the ride was operating. We got to see the four different versions of the show and see trains screaming past us (or trying to see at least). We then got to walk up to the second launch area where the train goes up to the "bridge" before the final drop by the river. After this, they took us over to Apollo's Chariot for two rides, then back over to Lochness for our two final rides on the tour. After the tour was over, they gave us a Quick-Queue for Tempesto and a pass to go on Alpengeist later since it was down. They will be sending a CD of the photos they took on the tour as well - which should be interesting. If you're any sort of enthusiast, I HIGHLY recommend this tour. The "observer" price is only $50 - and you essentially are guaranteed at least two rides on most of the coasters and some really neat views of the park that most guests do not get to see. The tour lasted about 4 hours total (they stopped for snack breaks too). InvadR was not a part of the tour (yet) - but we did luck out by hitting the line right after some downtime and got on within 25 minutes. The coaster is a really fun GCI - not the greatest, but really enjoyable. I still don't understand why BGW would put in a low-capacity ride like this with such short trains. But then again, they also put in Tempesto.