Yoshi

Probably 45 minutes or more for the more popular slides like Summit Plummet and Downhill Double Dipper. The chairlift probably was just as bad. So many slides there have 100+ steps to the top where taking the chairlift helps when going on 10 or more slides a day. My favorite slides in the back of the park, Runoff Rapids are around 125 steps to the top.

Blizzard Beach's lot was full today. I turned right around and went to Epcot instead. Even parking at Coronado Springs, I can't imagine what the lines must have been like. With the cooler temperatures this winter, I guess everyone was waiting for a warm day to visit.

I also would like to see Blizzard Beach open more of the year, the past 2 years it has opened in November and then closed again in March. I only managed to get there once so far since it re-opened.

First I thought it was $1,199.99 for 2 nights and thought that sounded expensive. Then I saw that was the rate per night. I wonder if it's going to be one of those type of offers where they will discount it to make it look like it is a deal based on full price or they really expect people are going to be willing to pay those prices.

With how long it was closed, even though they kept saying it was going to reopen, I wasn’t expecting it. 
 

Besides the views of the animals, I also liked how much time it saved me. Normally I spend so much time walking from ride to ride but with it open, I was able to ride Sheikra 3 times, Iron Gwazi, Montu and Kumba once each plus the Skyride twice in just over 90 minutes. 

It was strange to ride the Sky Ride at Busch Gardens Tampa today. I haven't ridden a regular sky ride with the same type of cabins at Great Adventure's Skyway anywhere else since a trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg around 20 years ago.

I kept thinking when the car is going to go past the Dream Street Fountain or the Boardwalk area even though I of course knew I wasn't there.

From the way they were talking, it didn't sound like they were being sarcastic.

When riding Pirates of the Caribbean on Saturday, there was an obnoxious group riding in the same boat as me. Besides talking the entire ride and yelling, when the boat passed the main part of the ride area with all the animatronics, one of them questioned how those "robots" can run all day on batteries and how often does someone have to enter the ride area to change the batteries. 

I agree I’d rather have it open with the upcharge than closed. I’ll be interested to see how the lines are for it as I plan to ride the Skyride often to save time on the usual 1 1/2 - 2 hour visits I usually spend at the park.

Yeah they require the credit card and ID. I am curious what happens if in between the time someone buys the pass and goes to activate it, they lose the credit card or the number gets stolen somewhere and they get a new credit card with a different number.

____

Busch Gardens Tampa finally opening up the Skyride after it being closed for almost 4 years and making it an upcharge for non pass holders. $5 each way so $10 for a round trip.

https://buschgardens.com/tampa/rides/skyride/

It's a shame Herschend seems to treat the smaller parks like Kentucky Kingdom and Wild Adventures a lot worse than the larger parks. I know they aren't going to get major new rides every as often as Dollywood and SDC but once in a while they could use something better. I am just over 3 hours from Wild Adventures and don't feel like it's worth the effort to go just to ride a bunch of clones I have ridden elsewhere.

On 5/16/2011 at 6:18 PM, Yoshi said:

King's Dominion. I had a great trip in 1989 before Paramount ran the park but went back in 1996 and had a horrible time. My last trip was in 2003 and it was just as bad. Horrible operations, 1 train on many coasters with long waits, the park was dirty and the employees were rude (not all of them but more than expected). I will probably give the park another chance since I haven't been back since CF took over since I still need almost all the credits there (I only have Rebel Yell Blue and Scooby Ghoster Coaster)

I am quoting myself from almost 13 years ago. I did return to Kings Dominion in 2019 and had a much better visit. I waited 5 - 10 minutes for everything except 20 minutes for Twisted Timbers and really liked most of their coaster lineup. Most coasters were running multiple trains even with the short lines. I also liked that Dominator opened early so I could go to another ride at official park opening.

Being a Schwarzkopf fan, that's one coaster I hope to eventually ride one day.

Update since my last post, In 2022 I added Ice Breaker, Iron Gwazi, Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind and Hurricane (Fun Spot Kissimmee). In 2023 I added Tron and Pipeline so I am now up to 185 coasters ridden.

For 2024 I'm only expecting to add Phoenix Rising and Penguin Trek.

I'll admit the addition of Nintendo IP's to their parks has increased my interest in visiting. I have been in Florida for just over 2 1/2 years and still haven't made it to Universal since 2011 even though I really want to try Velocicoaster, Hagrid's and the other coasters that have been added since my last visit. Epic Universe is probably what is going to convince me to visit mostly for the Nintendo area and maybe even get an annual pass and dropping to a lower tier Disney pass.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they want to reduce the animatronics. On the current rides that have them, it seems like there has been a decline in upkeep with some missing from rides for months at a time and others not having any motion repeatedly.

It also seems like there are a lot more breakdowns than I remember in past years. Almost every visit to a park, a ride I want to go to or am in line for breaks down. On Thursday night, it was Spaceship Earth closing at 8 pm and never re-opening. At Hollywood Studios 2 weeks ago, it was Runaway Railway breaking down when I was in the pre-show room.

I also am going to miss the forum and will also say goodbye to anyone not on other coaster forums if a new forum on Discord or somewhere else isn't made as was being discussed in the other thread. It was a great place to discuss Great Adventure and amusement parks and roller coasters in general. The spotlights were always enjoyable to read as well.

I still post occasionally on ThemeParkReview and CoasterBuzz with the username YoshiFan but lurk more than post on those sites.

I'm also not a fan of Facebook but will use it if that is how the community will live on after the forums close. I sometimes lurk on the Connoisseurs page and find that people get attacked for just having a difference of opinion or asking an honest question. This forum is much better and not like that.

Another free option would be to create a group on Reddit but there you can run into some of the problems that Facebook has. The downvote button is supposed to be for a post not adding to the conversation but it's turned into a disagree button and I have seen people get into similar arguments like on the Facebook page. Although if it's mostly people from these forums posting, I don't think it would be as much as an issue compared to something like the general Rollercoaster page on Reddit.

Sorry for your loss. Both of you made this website one of my favorite websites/forums to visit and he will be missed.

Taken Thursday from the ramp into the theater next to the ride. Not much has been done but hopefully once the track starts getting installed, it will be built quickly.

It will be a new 2 across train from B&M but regular seats.

Here is another update from Thursday:

Signs have been added all over advertising the new coaster. There is also a billboard on I-4 East.

I went to Magic Kingdom for my first park visit of the year. Crowds were moderate with it being marathon weekend. The original plan was to get into the park by 1:00 for the Tron boarding groups but I saw roads would be closed until 12:30 because of the marathon and we left at around 11:30 and walking into the park just after 2:00. There were still boarding groups available but I knew it would be a while before the number got called.

We mostly stuck to the lower wait rides until later in the day and went to the more popular rides before and right after fireworks and the last few hours the park was open.

My first coaster ride of 2024 was Space Mountain. This is my favorite ride at the Magic Kingdom. It feels so much faster than 27 mph and like the theming.

At the beginning of Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin the ride stopped. The lights turned on and those fences were raised. The ride was reset as the scores disappeared on the vehicles and were back to 0.

I always wanted to ride Astro Orbiter during the fireworks. You get a different view from the waiting area at the top. It's a lot of fun to be on the ride while the fireworks are going off.

It looks great at night. I can't imagine waiting for this ride with much of a line. Even with only a 4 cycle wait (including waiting at ground level and at the top of the boarding area), it was around 15 minutes for a ride that was less than 90 seconds.

The decorations were will up and the lights looked great.

The Tron boarding group was called just before 10:00. They were not using the pre-show and there was basically no line. It took just over 10 minutes from entering the line until I was back outside. When there is such a short wait, I'd like to see them offer the ride as standby especially late in the day when so few people are there so there would be a chance to get more than 1 ride a day in.

Riding Tron as night is cool with the blue lights on the bikes and on the dome. It really adds to the experience.

It was a very basic one. It was either this version or very similar:

https://www.arcade-game-sales.com/arcade-machines/ticket-redemption-machines/sideshow/11172-4.html
 

I think it was removed years ago.

Looking at the pictures of the Western Shoot Out and the one at Magic Kingdom I see some similarities.  I usually stop for a few minutes to try the shooting gallery most visits with it being on free play now.

It would be good to see Great Adventure get a new one even if it was smaller that dispenses tickets for redemption in the arcade like some of the modern ones. I know the Studio 28 arcade had a small version with the targets behind plastic of plexiglass for a few years but I think it was removed.

I guess Disney parks are some of the last parks to still give maps for now but I wouldn't be surprised to see Disney eventually get rid of them too with the app required for so much during your day anyway.

I like to collect the maps and go through them from time and time to remind me of past park visits but otherwise don't really rely on them too much. The last new park I went to was SFOG in 2021 and I almost went in a circle (with a few areas like where Batman The Ride is off to the side) finding everything I wanted to. I realize not all parks are easy to navigate though. I can't imagine someone not familiar with a park like Busch Gardens Tampa trying to get from a ride like Cheetah Hunt or Montu back to Kumba without difficulty.

Getting a paper cup is a lot easier to deal with. Even when the dining pass at Great Adventure came with the souvenir bottle, I only used it the day I got it. It didn't want to pay to leave it in a locker and didn't like leaving it either in the station or at the ride entrance like at The Dark Knight. There were too many stories of people having it stolen and I don't trust others not to tamper with it.

I had the all season locker plan at Dorney and it was great. Considering a locker for the day was $20 - $25 for the day, it paid for itself after a few visits (it was around $100) and I could get a locker and only use it for a few hours and not have to think I was wasting money. At a water park you are almost forced to use a locker and it can add up fast if you visit a lot.

On 12/7/2023 at 4:59 PM, GAcoaster said:

Much of the theming for Golden Kingdom was done by the same designers that did a lot of work for Islands of Adventure and the Busch/SeaWorld parks in their prime. It really showed... 

 

I know several people who were Great Adventure regulars who visited Busch Gardens Tampa and their reaction was "This is exactly what Great Adventure should be with the animals and rides all together". 

After reading that, I can definitely see the similarities. A section like Egypt at BGT does feel like it has the same level of theming as Golden Kingdom. I like how BGT has animals all over and walking from ride to ride I can stop and see the animals for a few minutes just like when I used to walk from Golden Kingdom to Plaza Del Carnaval.