RailRider

Booked out FastPass+ reservations early this morning and it went very smooth. Here is what I was able to book. Anna & Elsa - even during slow times it still has a 2 hour line 2 FP+s for Seven Dwarfs Rapunzel & Cinderella Enchanted Tales with Belle Splash Mountain Toy Story Midway Mania Frozen Sing Along Star Tours Test Track Spaceship Earth Killamanjaro Safari Expedition Everest Dinosaur This is pretty awesome when you think about it. 60 days away from arrival and I know we will experience these attractions while waiting in a 10 minute line or less. The time and stress this will save me and my family in the park is pretty awesome. Honestly Rope Drop is no longer a must, no sprinting to Toy Story Midway Mania or Anna & Elsa. No longer being a Fastpass Runner and leaving my family to journey throughout the park collecting paper tickets. Im done! That is the most amazing part and now I just show up and go. Say what you will but this system is going to allow me to spend more time with my family in the park and enjoy a much more leisurely pace at Disney. Anyone that has ever been a FP Runner knows what I mean.

Agreed, If you use it and don't like it. Say so. Which is why the Soarin Test was cut short.

I still like the idea of booking a few main attractions before I ever show up to the park and then once in the park I can experience that attraction in 10-15 minutes compared to 2-3 hours. Then I can take those remaining hours, experience different attractions, shops or characters. Once again as a parent of a young girl who loves meeting the princesses being able to schedule Anna & Elsa prior to arrival instead of making a mad dash at rope drop to either get in an hour long stand by line or a 30 minute fast pass distribution line for a return time. I will take the first option and rather than that morning madness I can go ride other attractions and show up to Anna & Elsa later in the day. California and Florida are very different animals and comparing the 2 resorts is not quite fair. Seeing as how California gets more locals compared to Florida and the non stop tourists, plus quite a few more visitors overall. Remember this is just a test, don't get all worked up till its official.

Count this as one happy former FastPass runner. I book our FastPass + next Monday... Consider me very excited.

This is only a test, repeat this is only a test.

Cheap to open and operate compared to other coasters. Honestly if you look at the opening of T2 it is nothing more than getting a 3rd coaster up an running for the sake of having a 3rd coaster. Nothing more, nothing less. I do not know of anyone clamoring for this ride to reopen or still upset from when it shut down. The ride experience on T2 is worse than most SLC's and that is saying something, I don't think new trains will improve it much and given KK's attendance they only need 1 new train and will more than likely only staff a bare minimum ride crew to support the running of 1 train.

Remember they want us to pay no attention to what they do, but only to what they say. Lastly this business is not the Field of Dreams. Just because you build it does not mean they will come.

Was at Haunt on Friday. This is one of my favorite times of the year at the park. The rides and atmosphere were great, the Haunts we experienced could be great, but the actors have zero energy. That being said many of the actors I watched either in scare zones or in the haunts were not trying. Just standing there or even worse in multiple scare zones it was actor social hour. I don't think the actors are being paid to socialize with one another and area managers need to be aware of this issue. Also I noticed many of the roamers breaking character multiple times to give directions, say hello, or hold conversation with park guests. The quality of acting is down greatly this year. Will be attending later in October and hope to see some dramatic improvement.

Lights, Motor, Action Stunt Show eliminated a large portion of the Backlot Tour. I hear that the stunt show will give way to the new Star Wars area. Only time will tell.

600,000 park visitors was not enough to keep Six invested in Kentucky Kingdom. What does the Fairgrounds and Kentucky Kingdom share in common? Location. Just because you build it does not mean they will come. As we learned from Hard Rock Park, Location will dictate a parks success more than rides, shows, and attractions.

^ Just playing off that idea, could you imagine Radiator Springs Racers stopping for a pit stop in the canyon when all heck breaks loose. WDW is expanding in all parks currently, which is what enthusiasts have been clamoring for, yet they are now complaining of construction wall everywhere. Go figure.

I would caution using Undercover Tourist, I have seen multiple times their recommended days be horrific in the parks. easywdw.com has some of the best advise, crowd calendars, plus daily touring plans all for free. I attached the crowd calendar for your quick review, but follow the link to the full month and day by day breakdowns. http://www.easywdw.com/calendar/october-2014-walt-disney-world-crowd-calendar/#more-13188

Some things never cease to amaze me. For the last few years the inter-webs have been abuzz with how Disney is so slow to role a new attraction out and to capitalize on what could be a lucrative addition to the parks. The comparison is always made between Universal and Harry Potter. Yet Disney is always lambasted for being slow to react and implement new things in the parks. Now comes Frozen and Disney is moving much quicker, yet the inter-webs are upset over Maelstrom? Maelstrom? Really, Maelstrom? A sub par ride, with horrible capacity and no real story. Be honest has anyone ever visited Epcot to solely ride Maelstrom? I think not. Those of you that are so upset of the removal of Maelstrom, have you ever ridden Maelstrom? Sorry it does not stack up to other Disney rides, Trolls, Oil Rigs and Polar Bears Oh My... My head hurts. They aren't removing Its a Small World or Splash Mountain for a new Frozen attraction, its Maelstrom. Did I mention its Maelstrom, a disjointed story of Norwegian Propaganda. The original version was to solely be based around trolls, not Oil Rigs and Polar Bears Lets talk about Frozen. Frozen is the most successful animated film of all time. Of All Time, just in case you missed it the first time. Almost $1.3 Billion worldwide, if that isn't an instant classic I am not sure what is. For those that like rankings and lists of such it is currently the 5th highest grossing movie of all time and won a few Academy Awards, a Golden Globe and a few others, but who cares what the industry and critics think. I can tell you what my daughter and her friends think. Frozen has become ingrained in their minds and their social interactions. Be it singing Let it Go, pretending to be Queen Elsa (Much more popular than Anna) or just discussing how cute it would be to have a pet reindeer. Frozen is still on the tips of their tongues and the front of their minds a year after watching the movie in the theaters. I have never seen anything like it and when discussing going to Disney and the possibility of meeting Anna and Elsa, well the screams are so high pitched only dogs could hear it. In the end Disney has set the bar so incredibly high that fanboys are always abuzz over displeasure in Disney's inability to bring new attractions to market quickly, the removal of older less popular attractions for new experiences, and how dare a crane show up during my Disney vacation. Follow some of the Disney News Sites out there and watch how they make a big deal over cranes and construction walls, yet make the same big deal that Disney never installs new attractions around current popular characters in a timely manner. Basically when you are as big and successful as Disney and do so many things right you cannot please everyone. Yet Joe Park Guest and his family will love the new Frozen attraction, will not realize it replaced a lackluster Norwegian boat ride, and Epcot will be a must visit park now. Let it Go...

^ Only with Fair Board approval...

I think that about sums it up.

I loved Geuaga Lake and even enjoyed it under the initial SFWoA treatment, but there is one key takeaway as to why Geuaga and Sea World were doomed for failure. They never had the local infrastructure to support their operations. Aurora did not have the hotel rooms or road network to handle the influx of guests as GL grew in popularity. During peak season it was very common to wait in traffic for hours just to get in to the parking lot. The park would have been much better suited staying as it was prior to the SFWoA treatment, something along the lines of Michigan's Adventure, but that was the genius of Six at work. The Dipper while a great ride has been SBNO for too long without any maintenance. I would imagine the ride is beyond repair or fairly close at this point and the nickels don't add up

The test year? Does that mean if they fail the test they wont be back for years 2, 3, or 4? Unless Hart & Co. find a buyer who wants to operate a small park, in a bad location, with a history of failure, and a not so friendly land lord, I am afraid year 2 if it exists will have many of the same issues as year 1.

The park is in a no win situation with this story. Just because you think you are capable of doing a certain activity does not give you the right. Using this logic what about pregnant women? That is considered a disability by many companies, although short term. Does that mean they are being discriminated against not being allowed to ride because of their disability? Although experiencing such ride may cause adverse harm to rider, baby, and potentially other park guests. If the pregnant woman thinks she can ride safely than she should be allowed? There is a precedent for this kind of rule and if you don't have a rule like this and it happens then lawyers can ask why was there no rule to prevent this.. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2012832/Darien-Lake-Iraq-war-veteran-James-Hackemer-dies-roller-coaster-fall.html

Midget Wrestling insured by SafeAuto? Too soon?

How is the decision to remove Mantis in any way bad news for Kentucky Kingdom? I don't think anyone on here can say exactly how the Kingdom is doing financially, especially considering your statements are based off of a few** PR mistakes/ perceptions. I think you all will be mighty surprised when next year rolls around. I'll leave it at that. Sarcasm is like a fine wine, many enjoy it while others can't figure it out. Most times my tongue is firmly planted in my cheek, especially as Cedar Point removes Banshee err Mantis to make room for Lightning Run and Kentucky Kingdom installs Chang2 next year. Secondly I think many will not be surprised when next year rolls around and the New Kentucky Kingdom doesn't live up to promises, Especially when there is no buyer for the property because of the less than ideal land lord and the park will be a major political pawn next year. I am not a fan of Koolaid and will hold off consuming any.

^ Glad to see Sam returning again

Very happy to see Board to Death, Cavern of Terror, and Backwoods Bayou returning. Curious to see if Slaughterhouse Reloaded is nothing more than Relocated. KillMart, this could be interesting or very generic. Skeleton Key plus Fright Lane looks to be priced at $40 to $50 a night from what I am seeing. I imagine the Skeleton Key feature is very underwhelming for the price you pay.

I wonder if Cedar Point is removing Mantis in hopes of purchasing Lightning Run? Seriously though this is not good news in any way for Kentucky Kingdom. Been a rough end of the season. PR admission baffoonery (Thanks for that one Terpy), Thunderbird craps all over next seasons possible improvements, horrible fair attendance, and the Kingdom finds itself soon to be at the center of a charged political environment. Compare Hard Rock Park and Kentucky Kingdom respectively after their first season. HRP was better positioned to succeed at this point then Kentucky Kingdom is.

Mantis might be getting the reverse RMC treatment. Remove the steel track and install wooden track... Im sure this will show up on Screamscape shortly. I wonder if we will see these potential new trains and concept art at IAAPA in November? I also wonder if there will be some reprofiling done? I wonder if something like the Demonic Knot that showed up on Flug der Damonen this year could show up. Seeing as this element is formed with an Inclined Dive Loop going directly into an inclined Immelmann. Mantis has an inclined loop currently that could easily become the inclined Immelmann followed by the inclined Dive Loop. Just some wild speculation since that is what they are hoping for.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/27/disney-files-patents-to-use-drones-in-park-shows/?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000591 Some very awesome sounding ideas if Disney is able to use drones as part of the in park shows. I wonder if this has to do with the new Avatar Land and Animal Kingdom nighttime show? There are some awesome patent drawings that accompany this article. Well worth the read.