Yoshi

Some the track is already in place. I took these pictures on Tuesday. It's tough to get close pictures with the buildings and fences blocking much of the view.

Sadly it seems like a new trend in the industry. SEAS has been adding a 5% surcharge to food and merchandise purchases since last year and raising prices in addition to the surcharge. I was looking a shot glass at Sea World last month and a few had $12.99 stickers on them when most had $14.99 stickers covering the $12.99 price.

It seems like on most Cedar Fair park discussion boards and Reddit, so many are focusing on the negatives from Six Flags but none of the positives that could possibly benefit Cedar Fair parks if implemented there. Longer operating seasons even without HITP in most cold weather regions, SFNE opens around a month earlier than Dorney. Most Six Flags parks allow re-rides when most Cedar Fair parks don't allow them. No separate ticketed Halloween events, I know the Fright Fest attractions cost extra at Six Flags parks but if someone is just there for the rides they can stay at night or visit on a day there is only the Halloween event offered (like a Friday night). I also think Flash Pass is a better system than Fast Lane especially for people not using it. Someone can continually loop a ride over and over again using Fast Lane and at times get instant access to a ride when the regular line could be an hour. I remember seeing one of the two loading stations at Top Thrill Dragster just for Fast Lane effectively cutting the capacity in half.

Not an addition and more of a subtraction but Carowinds and Kings Dominion gave up on year round operations and now are both opening in March. I guess the attendance didn't justify staying open. It reminds me of what Adventure Island did 2 years ago. They announced they would be open all year with the pools being heated and I don't think they stayed open the entire 2021 winter before going back to a schedule of March - late October/early November. https://www.kingsdominion.com/calendar-and-hours https://www.carowinds.com/calendar-and-hours

Yeah the Lightning Lane lines can get bad on some rides, especially ones with a pre-show and then a line afterwards with it being past the merge point. Runaway Railway is probably one of the worst with it taking a minimum of 20 minutes from the time you enter the Lightning Lane line and actually board the ride. I usually try to go to the more popular rides during the night time shows or fireworks. Last month at Hollywood Studios I was able to ride Tower of Terror and Rock N Rollercoaster twice in about 30 minutes while most of the crowds were at Fantasmic. I don't mind missing those shows but if someone is on vacation, I can see not wanting to do that. Both Fun Spot parks are usually empty during the day at least on weekdays. It's rare I have to wait for anything other than the go karts and there is hardly anyone walking around the park.

Last week I went to the Orlando area. Epcot was crowded as expected. Test Track's single rider line was about 15 minutes because they were only using 3 out of 4 loading areas. The standby and Lightning Lane lines looked bad with the Lightning Lane line outside of the building and a long line after the pre-show. I mainly stayed in Future World and besides multiple Test Track rides, rode Spaceship Earth, Living With the Land, Gran Fiesta Tour and The Seas With Nemo. I had not been to Fun Spot Kissimmee on a weekend before and while there were more people there compared to the weekdays when I usually visit the park, crowds were still very low. Mine Blower was a walk on or 1 train wait at the most. I rode 3 times which is the most I have ever ridden the coaster in 1 day before. The re-tracked sections really helps a lot. The only real lines in the park were the Go Karts. With not all karts being used, the yellow track was probably 45 minutes and the blue track around 30 minutes. I didn't feel like waiting compared to a visit a few weeks ago when only myself and one other person were driving on the blue track. I feel like many people don't know about the ride area at the end of Old Town and having the ticket booth closed doesn't help as people may not want to walk back to the main Fun Spot area to get a wristband or tickets. I rode Hurricane twice, both times getting solo rides and went to Paratrooper. I had always wanted to try the ride at Knoebels but never got around to it and never tried it at Dorney either. I was hesitant to try it here because the website stated it goes forwards and backwards but when I saw it cycle, it only ran forwards. It was fun but a little too long of a cycle for me. Fun Spot's flat rides all have very long ride cycles compared to the parks back home. I was going to ride Galaxy Spin as it had recently reopened and the flying scooters but had enough after that Paratrooper ride.

I rarely eat in the parks now because of the prices. I usually stop at Wawa (just like I used to after Great Adventure before the dining pass) or somewhere else that is low priced on the way home. Spending $12 - $15 for just an entree at counter service adds up fast with frequent visits and I'd rather use that money towards a table service meal a few times a year instead. I know most people on vacation don't have that option or don't want to be bothered bringing food with them.

https://www.wdwmagic.com/other/ticket-annual-pass---disney-incredi-pass/news/11oct2023-disney-hikes-up-the-cost-of-walt-disney-world-annual-passes.htm There were some price increases. Parking at Disney World is now up from $25 a day to $30 a day. $30 is also what SeaWorld and Busch Gardens charge for standard parking. All 4 annual passes increased $30 - $50 after a similar increase last year on all but the Pixie Dust Pass (weekday only). I'm glad that I renewed a few weeks ago before the increase. Initially the Pirate Pass was $699, then I paid $595 with the renewal discount last year and with the past increase it was $638 last month. Now that pass would cost $679 with the discount, $799 without the renewal discount.

I'm thrilled with this addition and am happy that the rumored family boomerang did not happen. With Sand Serpent gone, a regular family coaster with no "gimmicks" like going backwards was really needed. So many coasters at BGT are forceful and intense. There is nothing like Skull Mountain, The Dark Knight or Runaway Mine Train when you want to ride something less intense without inversions other than Cobra's Curse but that has spinning and the backwards section.

I have been looking for pictures for years and haven’t been able to find anything besides the Diamond Jim’s Ferris Wheel. I was there multiple times and can list what the attractions were. Main Floor: Tivoli Plunge. It was the coaster with 2 cars with 4 riders each. The lift hill took you into a room with a disco ball and a skyline of Atlantic City. The drop followed a 180 degree turn and it looked like you dropped out of a building over water with water jets but you didn’t get wet. There was a banked 180 degree turn that went near the entrance. You got 2 laps. Motion simulator that was space themed Cavalcade of Stars. Animatronic show with animals resembling famous celebrities like Elton John and Rodney Dangerfield. Western Saloon with a small show. There was a spiral ramp to take you to the lower level. Lower level; Funhouse with some green screen scenes like a magic carpet you could sit on and a TV showed you flying around on it. There was a shadow strobe room and musical instrument pictures on the wall and when you pressed a button, the sound of the instrument played. bumper cars themed to old fashioned cars. Dark ride, each car was themed to a rolling chair and you went past scenes of Atlantic City with some projections of people in the scenes. The last room had firework projections all over. I still remember the tune of the song that played in the ride. Both floors had arcade games but most were on the main level including some carnival games where you could win prizes. Admission was originally a few dollars and then you paid per ride or bought a wristband. Later they made it free admission with pay per ride or wristbands. The last few years there was a gate price of around $10 for unlimited rides and attractions. If you had the casino players card (free but only for 21 and over), you got free admission and rides at the time.

I'm looking forward to the coaster opening. The concept art makes it look like the theming will be great. It should be a popular addition with the 42" height requirement.

I visited SeaWorld last week. I haven’t had too much luck this year on past visits to the park with bad weather closing all the rides (not the park’s fault I know) or large crowds with closed rides like in April, every coaster was closed at one point except Ice Breaker. Journey to Atlantis was first. Surprisingly they had someone assigning rows even with the ride being almost a walk on. This is my favorite water ride and I would really like to see at least some of broken effects working again. It’s always fun to be in the same boat and see others who think the drops are over after the main drop like the people in the front row who took their poncho hoods off not knowing the coaster drop was still about to happen. I rode 3 times got the back row each time to avoid getting soaked. Kraken is closed for annual maintenance. Mako is my favorite ride in the park and I still can’t decide if Mako or Iron Gwazi is my favorite coaster in Florida. 1 train was running but it was a 1-2 train wait all 3 times I rode the coaster. I went to the front row and then row 6 for the other 2 rides. I didn’t realize at the time the 3rd ride was my 50th Mako ride. I still have a long way to go to get to 594 rides like I have at Nitro. The layout is great with a lot of it over the water plus lots of floater airtime. Ice Breaker without the comfort collars is a big improvement. It's fun to get air time without slamming into the collars. It's a once a visit ride for me because I can't really ride coaster that go backwards too much anymore. Shark Encounter closed at around 4 because they were setting up for a season pass night with the animal exhibits open and there were going to be tables with discounted merchandise. I couldn't stay and have too much stuff as it is but I'm sure there were good deals considering past sales like how Busch Gardens is selling 2023 t-shirts for $8.99 that were $29.99 originally. On the way out we saw Orca Encounter, with the low crowds getting there 15 minutes before the show started was plenty of time with it not being full. That was a big difference from past visits like in 2004 during Christmas week where you had to get there an hour early to get a seat. With summer over and low crowds again, I really want to try to get to SeaWorld (and Aquatica) more often. Construction area for the new coaster SeaWorld and Busch Gardens recently went cashless like other park chains.

I’m not that much of a fan of Fun Spot but that’s the only way I can ride wooden coasters anymore (plus flats like scrambler and flying scooters) so I am kind of stuck with visiting. Operations usually aren’t great. Freedom Flyer has been closed for at least 3 months and for a while Kissimmee’s only coaster running was Hurricane.

I like seeing all those Phillies helmets on the shelf. I remember sand art being really popular in the 90's. It seems like it was all over at places like school fairs besides at parks.

I rode Mine Blower tonight and the new sections are a big improvement. You can really tell which sections are the new steel track as it is very smooth. There are still some rough spots in other sections but it’s re-rideable now. Hurricane was rougher than I remember.

I wasn't expecting to see Six Flags work with Vekoma again but hearing how great the new generation Vekoma coasters are in Europe and Asia, it's good to see that Great Adventure is the first park in the US to get one. The Super Boomerang looks like it is a lot more fun than the original Boomerang model.

I agree about it being painful. One time I took off my glove to buckle the belt on Green Lantern and just touching the cold metal for a few seconds was awful. I still still can tolerate the cold for now I guess. The few days this year it was in the low 50s out, I was walking around with shorts and a t-shirt like normal. Although to be fair, even back in PA I would wear shorts even if it was barely above freezing and I wasn't going to be outside for more than 30 seconds like walking from a building to the car.

I'm starting to reconsider preferring summer to winter. I rarely minded walking around Great Adventure or Hersheypark even when the temperature was barely above freezing and in some cases below freezing. I know it's been hot everywhere but I never expected to see around 2 months of the heat index being over 100 degrees and in some cases being 115 or more. In July I only went to Magic Kingdom for a few hours and less than an hour at Busch Gardens, just riding Iron Gwazi and redeeming my free items. I went to Busch Gardens last night for my first park trip this month and for less than an hour only because it had stormed and the temperature was finally lower. Thanks to low crowds I still was able to ride Iron Gwazi, Sheikra 3 times and the log flume twice.

I really like how they are trying to expand the water park season. I never liked how water parks in the Northeast only seemed to be open from Memorial Day to Labor Day when there are usually many days warm enough in September to go to a water park.

I drove past Great Escape in 2006 on a trip to Montreal. I didn't want to stop since I didn't have a Six Flags season pass at the time and with it being a summer weekend, I thought it would take too much time for a credit run. I kind of regret not going even if it wasn't guaranteed Alpine Bobsled would be open, I would have liked to have had the chance to try a ride that used to be at Great Adventure.

I forgot about this and the black light mini golf but the spotlight brought back the memory of it. I don't recall every trying it at $5 or $10 a play with the game being very difficult, it wasn't worth it to me. The $1 for 2 tries was a really good deal.

Maybe the insurance companies require it? I have heard others say in Europe, rapids rides don’t have seatbelts because it’s expected that people will remain seated. I haven’t ridden Congo Rapids in at least 7 years but thought they used Velcro seatbelts that were easy to undo. Other parks that use traditional belts with a buckle seem more dangerous. I don’t know if it would be possible for Congo Rapids or not but around 2017 or 2018 at Thunder Canyon at Dorney, the lifeguard chairs were removed every so many feet and replaced with cameras. Now a ride operator sits in a room near the top of the conveyor belt at the beginning of the ride with a lot of monitors watching everything. That probably saves the park from using 3 or 4 less ride operators.

I think if any were to be removed, it would be Twister. I think it’s the last or one of last top spins left in the US. I am glad to see the Saw Mill Log Flume is being refurbished. I don’t like the recent trend of parks removing water rides to the point that parks like Carowinds don’t have a single water ride on the amusement side of the park.

It looks like it recently opened https://islandwaterparkac.com/ I'm kind of surprised at the admission cost of $89 for the day or $69 after 4 pm. I know it's a tourist area but that still seems kind of expensive. I never went to Kalahari in the Poconos for the same reason, it's difficult to justify paying close to $100 for a day when a Dorney or Great Adventure season pass with water park access costs less than that.

It's not official but there are rumors Timberline Twister at Knott's is being removed: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cuk1av2P-E3/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ