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They were so comfy and it looked like it accommodated a good amount of larger people which is unusual for Intamin.

Ok yeah it’s the best I’ve ever been on. It’s everything I love about Maverick with Universal level theming and no head banging. It’s perfect. Lightning Rod has been moved to number 2 on my list.

Oh for sure. I’ve been trying to buy a cabin in the pigeon forge area to rent out on Airbnb for the past 6 months. I’m constantly outbid with all cash offers and the realtor says most of them are international. The market is WILD right now.

Sorry for the double post I thought of one more thing I would like to add. I think in the next 10 years you'll begin to see a dramatic shift in housing. Houses are getting bought up with all cash offers, usually much over the already astronomical asking price and with supply going down it'll only get much worse. I believe the big companies are going to begin building their own housing complexes to solve for this and make them stand out as employers. I've been pitching to Disney since I was brought on the need to offer housing AT COST to employees. This solves for so many issues and is another tactic at not only being able to fill open positions, but to fill them with top talent instead of just warm bodies. As it relates to KI, it is a much different business, but if I was in their HR department and desperate for people, I'd have to start thinking outside of the box with different benefits otherwise KI will continue to struggle with staffing.

I'd like to chime in on this. While prices do go up when rages rise, it's not nearly as much as some of you are making it seem. I did a study in college and worked directly with the CMO of White Castle to see if wages were raised to $15 per hour how much the price of products would increase. It was something like 15 cents per burger. Not a lot. For real world examples look at places like Buc-ee's, a popular gas station in the south (similar to WaWa). They have starting wages in the neighborhood of $15 per hour for front line positions. They match 401k contributions up to 4% (which is what I get as a ops manager at Disney ) and start off with 3 weeks PTO. Their prices are the same if not lower than competitors. Or look at Costco. Whatever side of the fence you're on, one thing is for sure: there is an overabundance of jobs requiring little skills, and a lack of potential workers to fill those spots. Looking at before the pandemic, I think we here in Florida were hovering around 4 to 7 % unemployed and we were struggling to fill positions. That's why you'll continue to see these pay increases, other unique benefits like tuition reimbursement, relaxed appearance guidelines (look at the disney look updates that happened last week) because companies are desperate to get people in the door.

I have my preview on Tuesday and I'm super excited. I don't think I've been excited for a coaster since Lightning Rod, so I have high expectations for this!

That’s the rumor, but for February? It’s not going to busy regardless.

It depends on the B&M. GateKeeper's was different than Griffon's which was different than Alpengeist.

Apocalypse at Six Flags America. Just an awful park in general.

The one thing about rapids rides is that they are EXPENSIVE to operate. The cost of running the pumps and filtration systems all day is absurd. I know when I worked at Cedar Point they said their raft ride was the most expensive ride in the park from a maintenance perspective and I can confirm similar things here at Animal Kingdom. Financially, parks generally spread the costs of operations over their ridership. If rapids ride X costs a million dollars a week to operate and 70,000 people ride it that week then the cost per guest is around 14 dollars. (these are made up numbers) The ridership for water rides are generally not high compared to your regular E ticket attractions. So what I am saying is the VALUE for most water rides is just not there, at least not for rapids rides. Log flumes may be different. I would like to see parks take a more innovative approach to cool down guests during those hot summer months (or all the time in Florida). More indoor queues, large misting fans that aren't moldy/disgusting scattered all over the park pathways, etc...

I can speak to this. When we reopened, all coasters were loading every other row. Rides like Soarin' and Flight of Passage were leaving empty seats between parties. Boat rides were one group per boat. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what the Omnimovers like Spaceship Earth were doing. We have now adjusted and the coasters *with high headrests* are loading every single row. This includes Slinky Dog Dash, Rock'n Roller Coaster, and us over here at Everest. 7 Dwarves Mine Train does not have a high seat back so last I heard they are loading every other row still. Flight of Passage is no longer leaving empty seats between parties. (The reason we can do it with coasters that have high head rests between rows is because it counts as a barrier between guests. Similar to the plexiglass between you and a cashier)

I believe passholder and employee previews will be going on during that week, so you might have a chance at a soft opening between those times.

Pandora had a media day today. While the land is obviously stunning and an engineering marvel, the river ride looks meh. http://attractionsmagazine.com/tour-the-rides-restaurants-and-shops-of-pandora-the-world-of-avatar-at-disneys-animal-kingdom/

If you think that account is ran by anyone other than Tony or his former intern Jordan, you're mistaken.

If we're talking ones that might actually be up for sale sometime soon, I'd put Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I wouldn't like to see it because I don't think Cedar Fair would handle the theming very well, but, then again, neither has SeaWorld as of late.