medford
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Posts posted by medford
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Thanks, that was my suspicion. I'd say using that building plus the woods behind it could lead to a pretty cool family multi launch coast. Que thru the existing area which remains awesome, embarque on the ride vehicle, launch from inside of the building out into the woods and around, back into the building with some twists and turns, back into the woods and one more time back into the building to get off the ride. The height of the building could be beneficial in that circumstance as it would give more room to operate up high in the building with some slight dives to add to that feature.
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I think most of the thought process behind removing timberwolf was that it was a big, largely unused plot of land. At least that was my thinking, until it was used this season. While I didn't attend any of the concerts there, if they could semi-regularly fill timberwolf with acts that people would want to come see, then I'm all for keeping it and upgrading it. Congo falls, I love and my kids love. I'd be sad to see it go, but realize it is much closer to the end of its service life than the start. While I don't love Invertigo, I'd imagine the same could be said for that coaster as well. I'm not sure what the level of ridership is for those things, Congo falls never seems to have lines. When people start speculating where the next major investments in the park can/will be, there are 2 very logical spots, the first is the old Vortex plot of land, the 2nd is/was the Timberwolf/Congo Falls/Invertigo plot of land.
And a park should never remove anything until it has a plan for its replacement. Unless the structure is a physical hazard to the safety of patrons and/or employees, you never know when all or parts of it can be reimagined to something new.
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How much physical space would this take up? Could something similar be done with the Big Brown building? If not in full, then in parts where the coaster zooms in/out of the building or added buildings around it? Seems like the existing building would be way to small, but have it zip in and out while using the surrounding trees in the back and you could have one heck of a solid family style ride and make use of the awesome que area.
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On 8/26/2022 at 11:35 AM, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:
Please no dive coaster. There are plenty of better coaster options than a dive coaster imo. If there were to be a dive coaster added, I hope it'd be a gerstlauer infinity and not a B&M.
Well then substitute Dive Coaster for whatever your preferred choice is. I tend to think KI will get a Dive Coaster either in Vortex's spot or where Invertigo stands today within the next 10 years. Whatever that spot ends up being, redoing the restaurant so you can have views of the new ride while eating on the back deck would be pretty cool.
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I've spoken about my desire to revamp Planet Snoopy several times, most recently here :
(I hope that link works right
)
perhaps a multi faceted revamp of that complete end of the park incorporating parts of PS, Rivertown and Coney.
First Planet Snoopy, Linus Launchers get relocated along with other changes in my plan above for PS. The log flume ride gets "moved" into rivertown and a boundry is set around the bathrooms outside of Diamondback that shows a clear distinction between PS and Rivertown.
In rivertown, the log flume ride gets a revamp, Diamondback stays, The Beast, WWC, Mystic Timbers, etc... that area remains basically the same. However the area where Vortex once stood gets a Dive coaster addition. However, rather than using the Que area where The Bat/Vortex once stood, the entry is located back along by The Beast entrance. Rework LaRossas and the Arcade to allow for "back patio" dining and a view of the new Dive Coaster while you enjoy your pizza. Meanwhile, add more theming to the train, even if its not live action theming like it once had, more mining town fake buildings to make you feel like you are strolling thru the old west. Then eventually the big Box in the middle gets incorporated into an indoor wild mouse type experience using the exisitng que. Or perhaps something else a little more temporary as there is a decent size plot of land b/w The Beast and Diamondback for a significant coaster.
With these changes intact, some of The Vortex land is now opened up to allow for multiple flats in the area. JukeBox diner is relocated to the "Scaremart" building to allow for more indoor sit down dining while the Juke Box diner space could be used for a better path connecting Stunt coaster with Coney and adding even more additional flats. Turn Coney into a "classic Flat section of the park, would fit into its current theming pretty well.
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The one nice thing about Planet Snoopy is that everything is located in 1 area, which means if you have small kids you can stay in the same area for most of the day and the kids will have something to do. The down side to that approach, is that once you get away from Planet Snoopy, the options for littler ones become harder to find. Sure there are a some of the classic flats spread thru Coney, but if you are in Action Zone, is there anything for your 42" and under kids to do while older brother/sister ride The Bat or Banshee?
I wonder if a Planet Snoopy makeover, could move some of the classic kid flat rides into an area in Action Zone to provide a small kids area that would entertain them while others ride the bigger rides there. At the same time, it would open up space in there to accommodate some of the things they would need if they really wanted to compete with Wildwood Grove at DW. Having been to both, there is no doubt that wildwood grove beats Planet Snoopy in quality. Planet Snoopy has more quantity, but moving a handful of older, smaller flats to another area could allow them to open things up and add the type of quality that makes Wildwood Grove stand out.
anyhoo, the coaster looks nice. Since they cleared out that land, I always thought it would be for a hyper some day, interesting that they choose a family ride for this area, put some great theming with it, and it only enhances this area that much more.
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A little late to this, but we enjoyed our visit. As mentioned above, we didn't do the water park, wanted to focus on the dry side for our first visit.
3.3 hours each way from my home, not an easy 1 day trip, but could be worse if anyone is thinking of making the journey for a day. It was hot, very hot, well not that hot (92ish) but very humid (112 heat index). I don't think I've sweated that much since HS football 2 a days.
Jumped to the back of the park like many have mentioned in the past to start and rode The Voyage first. Fun ride, very intense, but man parts of that ride are rough. The bottom of the first drop really gave me a jolt. From there we walked back to thunderbird If you think its a long walk back to The Bat, you haven't walked to Thunderbird yet. My daughter chickened out and ended up sitting in the exit area with our youngest son while the rest of us rode it. The launch is awesome adn a really fun ride. I think i would put it ahead of Wild Eagle and Gate keeper, primarily because of the launch. We rode on the left side of the ride, I planned to come back and try the right, but we never did make it that far back again.
we left Thunderbird and worked our way back towards The Voyage for some lunch. My kids decided they wanted to do Voyage again before lunch so I rode it with the 3 of them while my wife sat it out. Though every seat is a wheel seat, I moved seats hoping to find something a little less jarring (I was far back on my first ride, 3 from the back on my second). Ride seemed a little smoother overall this time, but still just as intense. I enjoyed how it acts like 2 separate coasters before/after the brake run.
The boys and I grabbed some turkey from the restaurant near Voyage. Oldest boy and I each got the giant turkey legs, while the youngest went with the kids shredded turkey plan. The leg was enjoyable, very solid. My youngest ended up eating his meal, then finished off my leg, then finished off his older brother's. Must be hitting a growth spurt, I never seen him devour so much food.
From there we walked to The Legend. I think I enjoyed this a little more than the Voyage, though there is a part with a continual series of left laterals that puts a lot of pressure on your hips. My wife was on the right side and the seat divider ended up bruising her left hip a bit. After that, my wife and daughter grabbed lunch while my son rode their version of The Scrambler. After my wife and daughter ate lunch, we all jumped on Raven to complete our coaster spread. I enjoyed Raven and it was probably the smoothest, just not as intense as the others. From there we came back and watched Dive, a diving show. Short show, but really enjoyable. Awesome to see that girl jump from 80 feet or whatever they said the highest platform was.
My 2 youngest wanted to do the log flume ride, both enjoyed it, then all 3 kids and I rode the Legend again. From there were worked our way to the 4th of july part of the park. Everyone loved Liberty Launch, and the wife and youngest son loved Revolution (Oldest son enjoyed as well but wanted to get his gluten free pizza and preztel form the near by stand so didn't go again while the wife and youngest got a 2nd ride on Revolution)
After that we went into the christmas dinner and got a family meal pizza and breadsticks. $38 for 10 slices and 8 bread sticks....way more food than we needed, especially with the oldest boy on a gluten free meal and already full.
Kids wanted to get one more ride on Raven, so I rode with the 2 youngest, then we hit up some ice cream and left for home. Huge scoops of ice cream.
there were a few other flats mixed in, did the indoor shooter which worked better than KI and was welcome relief from the heat. Great value on the food and being able to self load decent size cups of ice and water all day was a huge bonus. Kenzel cups would not have cut it in the heat that day. Operations definitely more slower than KI or any other CF park that I've been too. Dry side wasn't too crowded so not a huge issue, but those operations on a busy day would be a nightmare.
Not sure we ever make it back again, but for certain I'm glad we made it once. Been on my bucket list for awhile.
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saw the drone show last night, first time I've been there for the fireworks this year. Drone show is awesome, hardly even noticed that there were fireworks going off at the same time during parts of it. Really well done.
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The Bat was running last night, one train operation. The wait was the longest in the park that I observed last night
I didn't personally ride as I was running late and just met the wife and kids back there, they didn't complain of anything unusual with the ride itself.
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On 6/29/2022 at 8:34 PM, IndyGuy4KI said:
LL is an S&S and more forgiving than KET. Most definitely try it.
Thanks.
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There are middle rows on Banshee with longer belts (3 & 4 maybe). I'm not sure if Diamondback has anything similar. As MaestroJr said, make sure you empty out your pockets to give you the best chance.
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Going to Holiday World in mid-late July for the 1st time. Any advice to be given? We will skip the water park for now and just do the dry side (though the water park looks awesome, so we will come back some day and do both again, but just want to concentrate on the dry side for now).
Kids are 14 (will do most anything), 10 (will do all the woodies and hoping to get her on Thunderbird, I think she will) and 6, will do anything he can (about 50") but I assume Thunderbird will be 52" min and out for him.
How roomy is Liberty Launch? I'm definitely too big for the kite eating tree, so don't know if I'd fit or not. I did Drop Tower once like 20+ years ago, and never again (don't like heights thought coasters I'm ok with, just not Drop Towers). Doesn't appear to be too tall so I'd be willing to give it ago if I fit. Any other flats worth making sure we do? Any advice on discounts or food places to eat?
TIA
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I was at VF the year their Route 66 area opened up. I LOVE Renegade. The first drop was so much fun. It was my first GCI coaster, so I may have a different memory had I been on Mystic Timbers prior, but man was that fun.
After going to CP this past week, I have a better appreciation for Wild Thing now. It had been 15 years since i rode Magnum and that was an easy comparision with Magnum clearly better in my mind after my 1st ride on Wild Thing. After getting on Magnum again this past week, I would 100% flip that thought. Wild thing has a better 1st drop and better floater air on the 1st hill. Both suffer from boring mid sections (though Magnums is less boring for sure) while Wild Thing was less painful at the end with all of Magnums ejector hills slamming my legs.
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Figured there may be some useful information in here for silver2005s trip report where he was asking questions about Cedar Point
Wife plus 3 kids (14 today, 10 and 6) headed up to CP last week. When I booked this trip, I never thought about the Junetenth holiday and how that might affect things (it was Monday, so we were not there that day but was concerned larger crowds might slip into Tuesday with people off work that Monday)
anyhoo, drove up Tuesday morning early and got to the park around 11:30. Was hoping to get there around 10:30 but we were a little slow getting out. Tuesday was planned to be a water park day. Water park was fairly crowded. When we went last year they were still doing the "have to have a reservation thing" for the water park (or perhaps it ended after we had booked our reservation). Anyhoo, it was definitely more crowded at the WP (though also warmer so may have attracted more locals for the day. After 2 trips to their water park over the last year, I've decided I'm really not a huge fan. I'm not a huge water park guy to begin with, but I don't like the way CP's is laid out, the slide lines are long. My kids loved the non slide stuff last year, so it was worth trying again, but it seems an extra year of maturation has soured them on the non slide stuff a bit. We stuck around until 4 then left to check into our Cabins.
If you haven't stayed in their cabins, they are tiny, but give you everything you need. We had a deluxe cabin, that could easily sleep 6 or more. Not much head room in the upper loft, but works well for young kids (or adults willing to crawl around up there. A mini fridge and freezer allows you to store some items from home, the convenience store at the check in isn't too terribly over priced, so we brought some cereal and purchased some milk for breakfast.
After checking in, changing and relaxing for a min, we headed over to the dry park for dinner and a few rides. To be honest, I was expecting the park to be slammed (or at least at levels similar to last year when we went mid week around the same time frame) however it appeared to be fairly dead. After a quick spin on Gemini; Steel Vengance was a 20 min wait, so my wife and oldest hopped on that while i took the other 2 on the mine ride. My 6 year old must be a coaster snob now that he's reached 48"+, cause as soon as we got to the top of the hill, he proclaimed "boring". I can't argue with that, and my recollection of the ride is similar to last year, AE is so much better with more comfortable trains. Now that the youngest is big enough to ride it on his own, I'll probably never step foot on it again. From there, we ate at the new dining place. Everything was delicious, I had the chicken legs with fries, tried some of the corn things which was unique and delicious. My oldest son's steak seemed a little skimpy on the serving size, but he gets the extra fries that I didn't eat so he had plenty. Other 2 kids had chicken tenders, didn't try them but seemed like your average tender. From there Maverick had just opened back up, so my wife who didn't get to ride it last year headed there with my oldest son while i took the 2 youngest around the park. the 6 year old wasn't 48" last year, so he had a lot of new things opened up to him. We eventually worked our way over to Iron Dragon, which both of the 2 youngest loved (first time for both, my daughter is a little bit of a coaster chicken, but just starting to expand things a bit). Add in a few flats and my wife and oldest were done with Maverick and meet us over by Millie. My wife had ridden it years and years ago, but none of the rest of us got to ride it last year. With the 6 year old tall enough now, we jumped on. My daughter chickened out and waited in the exit once we got to the station (5-10 min wait at most). It was fun watching my youngest's reaction to the ride. As we got to the top and started going down he had a "holy bleep" look on his face as he raced down the hill. By about half way thru the ride he was all smiles and loving every second of Millie. As a first timer myself, this easily shoots up near the top of my favorite rides. Steel Vengeance is still the best ride in the park, but Millie is easily the 2nd best (never been on TTD FWIW). After Millie, my daughter and youngest wanted to do Blue Streak, while my oldest wanted to do Valraven. My wife and son did Valraven last year, but this was my first experience (plus first dive coaster). I get why dive coasters are GP favs. It was butter smooth and a lot of fun. Add in the station wait and what is not to enjoy. No, its not the most forecful coaster, but its a fun experience for sure. I've never been really good at riding multiple coaster in a row w/o getting motion sickness, plus it was late so I sat our blue streak as my kids and wife rode it twice in a row to close out the evening.
Wednesday had been planned as our "get fast passes and spend the day at the park day" but with the short wait times the day before, I was kind of hopeful that fast passes were not going to be needed. SV and Maverick had 45 min waits around 10:30, but that was as long as any line would get with SV shortening up to a 20 min at times during the day. Last year I waited 2 hours for Steel Vengance, and was prepared to drop $600 on fast passes; my wallet thanks me that I didn't have to. I tried to get my daughter on Maverick, but after waiting 45 min in line, she chickened out, and I rode by myself while she waited. As always, a really fun ride. My wife and the boys went on Steel Hawk. All 3 agreed it scared the crap out of them and "never again".
I think they did the mine ride as well as some flats in the area while I was on Maverick. From there we grabbed some pizza for lunch (nothing special) and plotted out what was next. Kids and wife rode their version of Surf Dog and some other flats along the way to Snake River Expedition. The wait was longer than advertised (15 min) as I think there was some sort of snafu waiting for our boat. A fun story and a decent escape from the typical park rides. I wouldn't wait an hour for it, but I'd gladly wait 15-30 min next time I'm up there. My youngest had never been upside down before and he had been begging to go on cork screw the prior day. We worked our way over there and my Wife and 2 boys rode that. My daughter wasn't feeling her best and decided to sit it out until later so i skipped as well. Arrow loopers have a tendancy to kick my butt. I loved Vortex, but it was an end of the day, once a year ride for me cause I'd be left feeling sick. From there the 2 boys rode Magnum and we headed back to the cabin for a few hours of rest. Came back to the park around 6:00 and now my daughter rested up was ready for ready to jump on corkscrew. I had promised that I would ride it once for either of the kids 1st ever ride on cork screw and that was the only reason I would ride it. My daughter said she hated the way it banged her head and I told her I fully understood. From there we walked over to Johnny Rockets, had about a 15 min wait to get a table, so my oldest son and I jumped on Gate Keeper (no wait). GK was down when we were in the park last year, so this was my first ride. I had been on Wild Eagle at Dollywood a few years ago with my oldest son as well, we both enjoyed it. Sat on the left (lake) side and really enjoyed the flip over the top to start the ride. Smooth as expected, no strong forces, but lots of fun. I get why coaster geeks call it gate sleeper and while the GP enjoys it. Ate dinner then my 2 youngest wanted to do the dodgems, troika and tiki twirl while my wife and oldest wanted to get on Gate Keeper. Did I mention how Arrow loopers kick my butt? I was starting to feel the affects and while sitting on a bench while my youngest did the flats, I thought for sure I was going to explode. Even walked over to a mulched area so I wouldn't happen in a place where many walked around, but eventually fought it off. It was around 9:00 at this point, and despite feeling a little "better" I was "done" and walked back to the cabin early. My wife and other kids stuck around and did a few flats, maybe Iron Dragon and a night ride on Millie.
Thursday was checkout day and a planned half day at the park before driving home. Got packed up and to the park around 11:20ish. Lines were definitely longer, not as bad as last year, but more crowded than the day prior. Maverick was listed at 60 min, SV at 80, Valraven at 45 and Millie around 20-30 min. We rode Gemini and pipe scream to start, then worked our way over to Chickie & Pete's for lunch. My 3 kids all hopped on Corkscrew along the way. After lunch my wife and oldest got on Raptor (45 min wait) while I took the 2 youngest on Cedar Downs (always fun) and the caddilac cars. The kids wanted to do Blue Streak again, so we all rode it once, then the kids rode again. From there, we had promised our youngest a Millie t-shirt once he rode it. So we worked our way back there to get the t-shirt plus one last ride on Millie. This time, my youngest son on his 3rd Millie voyage was hands up the entire way. he still claims cork screw as his favorite for now, but Millie was a close 2nd. We found him a shirt and got some pictures of him near the entry sign. Then began to work our way back to the exit. the 2 youngest wanted to do the ferris wheel, so my wife and oldest got on gate keeper again, then the kids all did cork screw one last time then since we were at Magnum, I hoped on with my 2 boys. They had both ridden it several times this trip, but I hadn't been on Magnum in 15 years. It wasn't as fun as I remembered. The drop isn't as fun, the 2nd hill doesn't give you as much floater as I remember and the ejector air at the end was painful. I'd reride it again next year, but I'm not in a rush.
All in all, a fun trip. Every coaster except the floorless was ridden by someone. I missed out on SV this year. Should have taken advantage of the short wait, but its location in the far back of the park wasn't always convenient. Still my favorite and glad my wife and oldest got a ride in. Next year I'll get my daughter on Maverick (I know she will love it once she rides) and maybe my 6 year old will reach 52" and expand open a few more rides for him as well. I know he'd love GK and I think Valraven might be 52" as well.
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I'll second what NegativeGs said. We went after church; I was expecting the worst but figured since we were going after Church we would be there a little before it was super crowded. Had an unexpected delay, so ended up at the partk around 11:15ish, about an hour later than original planned, but still was able to get a pretty good parking spot. Racer was a short line for our first ride as a family, then we grabbed lunch. Took my oldest on Orion which was a station wait while my wife and 2 younger kids did FAAC. We met them over there after Orion and the line looked fairly short compared to what I would have expected. My wife and older son went over to Orion to ride that while I took the younger 2 on the Log Flume. The line was back to the bridge just under the final drop, so not too bad. Next we all went on Mystic Timbers, had maybe a 15 min wait. Then we split up again while my daughter and I took her first ever inversion on Flight of Fear, wait was maybe 20 min, no ques in side were open, then she hopped on Zypher and SR&R. While the 2 oldest and I were doing that, my wife and youngest got in The Beast and Stunt Coaster. finally, we all met up again, before splitting up for the final rides. My youngest has been wanting to do Drop Tower and now that he's tall enough (and it was operational) my wife took him and my oldest on that, while my daughter and I rode Adventure Express (10 min) and Viking Fury (station wait). By this point it was around 4:15, grabbed my daughter some cotton candy to celebrate her first inversion then we headed over to the in laws for dinner and desert. Doesn't seem like the park ever got crowded.
On a side note, why are the parking lots devoid of the signs that show you the row number that you parked in? It was like that on my first visit and I just assumed it was an early season thing that hadn't been finished yet, but they still are not up yet.
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Just looked at some Glenwood Canyon info again, perhaps that case was even more similar to the Orlando incident than i recall and involved severe operator incompetence.
In either case, I agree with BrownTgrr, standard procedures need to be re-examined and re-inforced.
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I know you weren't talking to me, but The Beast won't be reopened until mid to late May IIRC. Still finishing up work on it. Orion is fun, great first drop (I know Furty is taller but I can't recall if the drop itself is longer than Fury or not. I imagine the experience is pretty similar) I've only been on it once so don't have much to add other than the drop seemed like forever.
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Seems to me that the Glenwood Caverns incident was more inline with this incident that the TTD incident at Cedar Point. Was the incident on TTD an issue that maintenance would be expected to catch? No matter if it was or wasn't, seems to me the key takeaway from that incident moving forward is that there really should never been people allowed in the areas where rides can quickly accelerate and likely more importantly quickly brake. Seems to me that the design of the ride line was an example of an incident just waiting to happen with the sudden braking of the ride mechanism leading to the potential that some part or debris could be sent flying at an accelerated level of speed where people are calmly waiting in the designated Que area. Perhaps better maintenance could have/should have caught this incident before it happened, but I think a likely outcome is that noone will be allowed in the vicinity where a ride suddenly brakes or accelerates. In hindsight that just kind of seems like common sense.
Both the Glenwood Cavern and the Orlando issues appear to be with workers either not caring or not recognizing the importance of their job. The Glenwood incident, IIRC could be chalked up to negligence, however the Orlando issue appears to be a ride operator willingly participating in altering the ride safety system. Further more, that article makes it sound like they also willingly altered the backup safety mechanism that would have ensured altering the harness restraint would not have allowed the machine to operate. I'll assume it was done with the intention of allowing this young man to experience the ride and little thought was given to the downside, however it should server as an example in all training routines what can happen when the safety system is willingly altered to allow a guest access on something they would otherwise not be able to safely enjoy.
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That sounds unlikely. I'm not going to say impossible, but very unlikely. If it truly needed rewelding every day that would a) cost a fortune and b) it would be better served by shutting it down for several weeks to fix what was causing the issues. I've been told by structural engineers that the weld is stronger than the steel itself, so it reasons that if something was being re-welded every day, it would be breaking a lot and in my opinion making the ride unsafe. I know you said take it with many grains of salt, but I'm going to need a Morton's factory before I start believing that one (though if true, I'd love to hear the reasoning/science behind it)
Bending is better than breaking, as mentioned above, if it don't bend, its going to break.
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Isn't The Beast shut down until like mid to late may for the retrack work they are doing? Might want to avoid going straight back to The Beast if you are heading to the park on opening day.
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Racer and Carousel look beautiful.
Did they repaint the whirly birds? I assume so, and even though my kids have outgrown them and were never all that into them, I've always hoped those would disappear for the many parents forced to endure that contraption on a hot summer day
My 2nd least favorite attraction in the entire park, right after Sally's Sea Plane.
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@standbyme I would very much look forward to that, but I totally get how life gets in the way of such matters. Seems like everyone I know is stretched in 50 different directions the last 3 years. Times are indeed interesting.
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If there is to be a new coaster installed (I doubt it) in 2023 I imagine we will see signs right away. Maybe since The Vortex plot has been mostly cleared they could hold off on a coaster in that spot for a bit longer, not sure what is the latest they could possibly start something in that area.
Anyhoo, I went to go look at the webcams (not that I expected to see anything) and saw that they are off line. Its been a long while since I've bothered to look at them so perhaps they have been offline for a year + or its just an off season thing or whatever... just something that made me go "hmmmmm....."
At any rate, I kind of expect any 2023 improvements to be either in Planet Snoopy or in the water park. Wouldn't mind a new coaster obviously, just not counting on it.
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annual bump for my favorite thread on this site. For anyone new around here, well worth exploring.
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DarKoaster coming to Busch Gardens Williamsburg
in Other Amusement Parks & Industry News
Posted
solid reasoning. At any rate, I suspect were are many years away from that building being torn down for a large coaster. I think it will either sit idle for awhile, or they will find a way to repurpose some sort of flat. Honestly, the que itself is reason enough to keep that portion of the building intact