The Master

But the temps are going to fall through the day as a cold front pushes through. At about dinner time there will be a flash freeze.

Until COVID 19 is resolved, an onsite hotel is not practical with restricted capacity.

Wasn't this the old Quonset hut that was the gift shop for Winter Lights?

Wow, 18 years ago already.

A lot of money too in order to get that amount of color matching bricks.

That seems to be a common problem with GADV, they always let effects breakdown and never maintain them. Hate to think what JL will be like in a couple of years.

Glad I did it the other week before this early snowfall. Guess 2020 is not done being weird yet.

I agree about that. The asphalt at Hersheypark is brutal in the Summer. Lots of factors effect concrete walkway life, traffic, weight, the ground under it, freeze / thaw cycles, snow removal and deicer use, etc. That is besides the quality of the concrete mixture itself as well as how well it was laid down and cured. I suspect most of the ground around GADV is pretty soft which promotes cracking.

I think there is more then enough DC theming in the park. Besides repairing the water features, the landscaping for Congo Rivers could stand some updating. For example there are several cold hardy sub tropical plants that could be planted around the ride to improve its theme such as Musa Basjoo Bananas. They are cheap, tough, and easy to grow even up here. Also the GADV needs to do a better job controlling Poison Ivy around Congo Rapids and other areas of the park.

It will make a bad situation worse pretty fast. I have not seen it so much at theme parks yet (because winter time operations are still very new), but at other places such as shopping centers you can see where snow removal has accelerated the wear and salt has sped up the deterioration of pavement and other infrastructure. A couple of years ago in Philly, they found a major concrete support column for a highway had split into two because road salt had sept into it and rusted out the rebar which caused them to expand and crack the concrete. Freeze / thaw cycles and acid rain are hard enough on outdoor infrastructure but amplify that with plowing and deicer spraying and you have a perfect recipe for rapid deterioration. Clearly GADV's pavement does not need additional help in that regard as it is rotting pretty fast on its own. https://eastcoatpavement.com/rock-salt-deicer-affect-asphalt/

Not to mention that snow removal really hasten pavement deterioration.

This early snowfall may put a damper on the drive through. Even the plowed roads are slick with slush.

Storybook Land was just featured on The Great Christmas Light Fight tonight.

That does look nice. That big rooftop Santa sign is similar to a miniature led Santa sign I have for my Christmas village.

Those synthetic shingles look pretty good. In our region wooden roofs degrade pretty fast which is why I suggest the Disney park route and fake it with stronger materials. In WDW, a surprising number of "wood" beams have welds.,

I rather not have year round firepits as they burn pretty stinky firewood in them.

I do not think it is possible to keep the safari open in the winter. The roadcwould have to be plowed which can be dangerious to animals plus the danger of the animals ingesting road salt. Not to mention many animals would have to gominside thrir barns for long periods of time.

I think they do make metal roofing panels that are stamped to look like wooden roof shingles. Wood roofs don't hold up well in our damp climate.

But with a foot of early snow on the ground, temps dropping below normal into the low 30s for the high and teens for the low, hardly any heated indoor activities available to warmup for a spell, and general COVID fears could limit the crowds.

I did the drive through last week and it is nice. Only bad part was the line at the parking lot gate was very slow moving, after that the traffic was ok.

Wolf has increased COVID restrictions again. No indoor gatherings of over 10 people or indoor dining in PA. Just in time for a bad cold snap and noreaster this week.

Yeager surely did have the right stuff.

That would make the most sense as well as a wise hedge against any possible early park closure.

I would not delay going to HITP this year. With the increasing spikes in COVID cases and resulting increases in restrictions, I will be surprised if HITP makes it to New Year's. Philly has rebanned indoor dining and closed down museums, its just not looking good.