Steph88

I feel like Adventure Express would look super neat in snow. As would The Beast. I'd love to ride a coaster in winter weather.

For me, my must-go-to parks this year are Kings Island and Dollywood. Haven't been to KI in four years. Far too long. And I've never been to Dollywood but I'd really like to go there. As excited as I am about Valravn at CP, I just went in August 2015. 2017 will probably be the next year I make it up there. I am also hoping to make Busch Gardens Tampa my home park, but that depends on if we get our house on the market this year. So much to do. Edit to add: Maybe stops at KK and Holiday World as well. I haven't been to Holiday World and Thunderbird looks incredible.

I love this idea, except I have the same worry as Magenta Lizard- head lice! X_X Still, I couldn't help but give that a try.

Anyone know what that coaster was in Delirium's spot? Edit: Missed PhantomTheater's post saying the helix on King Cobra occupied Delirium's spot. But what is that little helix-ey coaster on the map at 43?

That ride is most definitely on my bucket list!

La Quinta is awesome. There's still some dumpy ones out there (Elizabethtown KY for one!), but all the others I've stayed at have been fantastic. Garland Harbor outside of Dallas & Wolfchase outside of Memphis are the coolest. They don't have room service like a Marriott or Hilton, but the rooms are just as high of quality.

One thing I highly recommend is check the bedbug registry before you pick any hotel. They are a really difficult and supposedly expensive thing to get rid of if you get them, but they are pretty easily preventable if you look at the registries and give the room a quick check.] Country Inns are really nice. I dunno about that area in particular but I LOVE La Quinta hotels. We originally tried them out because they allowed pets without a deposit or any finicky restrictions, but we stay there now even when we don't have our pets with us. I've been so impressed by this hotel chain. Some are better than others, the reviews on tripadvisor are typically pretty accurate. Most of their rooms are on par with a Hilton or Marriott, but at a much lower price. Most of them have really nice indoor pools as well! Also, they serve a hot & cold complimentary breakfast buffet, and it's REALLY good. Usually they have eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal, juice, milk, fruit, oatmeal, bagels, muffins, etc. http://www.laquintarichmondkingsdominion.com/ This La Quinta has a shuttle service to Kings Dominion so you wouldn't have to pay for parking. I haven't stayed there but it looks pretty neat! And with rates from 69 dollars a night. Edit to add: That's winter rates though, it could go up once the park is reopened for the season.

For me, as always, Tomb Raider: The Ride. I'd even take the Crypt. Just to have one of them back would be awesome.

I find this funny, because it's nearly 2016 and SpongeBob is still extremely popular. I wonder what will happen in 2017? I think it would be neat if they made a new Peanuts TV show that aired on one of the major kids networks. That would be possibly the best thing Cedar Fair could hope for! If kids saw Snoopy on their TV every week I'm sure it would spur further interest in the parks. I haven't seen the movie yet but I'm excited to see if the movie affects next year's attendance numbers.

How was the food, Magenta Lizard? What kind of stuff did they have? How often is the International Restaurant open? Before I joined KIC I had no clue it even existed. I always knew there was SOMETHING up there but I never knew what it was.

Normally when I'm at a park, I'm with my husband. 80 percent of the time, we run out of things to talk about after a couple minutes and just stand there mostly silent. I always thought it would be fun to go to a park with friends or family but nobody we know likes rides quite as much as we do. So we definitely get bored waiting in lines. I can handle boredom, I daydream a lot. What bothers me about lines is standing still for so long and having my knees and ankles hurt. X_X Walking is no problem, but standing relatively still for an hour or more hurts. I've found the Fast Lane Plus passes to be totally worth the expense.

The past few years we've done a vegetarian Thanksgiving and sponsored a turkey at a rescue farm. I got really sick last week and ended up having to spend a ton of money at the doctor's and on prescriptions. So I'm planning to do the vegetarian Thanksgiving again since we already have the supplies for a made from scratch seitan "turkey" roast and we won't have to spend money or freezer space on a frozen turkey. Even though I'm not vegetarian anymore it's still one of my absolute favorite foods, and my husband's too. So it looks like we'll be unintentionally continuing the tradition. Also it's a heck of a lot easier to cook than turkey and tastes about the same. And it's easier to have all the food finished at once. I'm excited about it. Other than that, we typically spend Thanksgiving & Black Friday decorating for Christmas. I don't know if we'll get the outdoor stuff done this weekend, probably just the indoor, our weather is supposed to be oddly cold and rainy this weekend here.

I miss this ride so much. It's a HUGE part of the reason why my last two Cedar Fair park trips were to Cedar Point rather than Kings Island. If it were still around, Kings Island would have definitely been my priority. So many great ideas posted here that never came to pass.

Paddlewheel Excursions was one of my absolute favorites. I was so sad that it disappeared when we made our 2013 trip to Cedar Point (my husband's first trip). I love those sorts of calm rides that you can do between waiting in long lines and riding coasters. I wish they'd have USED the boat ride as part of Dinosaurs Alive if they just HAD to have it. A walking attraction can be done anywhere and there's plenty of similar dino attractions throughout the eastern US (maybe not animatronic, but from what I've heard most of these dinos are no longer moving either). A boat ride where you can see dinosaurs on the side of the water is pretty unique. Instead they decided to waste some pretty good real estate so that people can walk some more (as if you're not doing that enough in the park), climb on/trash expensive equipment, etc. *sigh* At least they still have the train, and the skeletons. I love the skeletons.

I feel bad for the people who have to do that job. It really isn't a needed service anymore. I despise having photos taken, but I try to be nice to them and I just do it anyway. (Not that I'm saying anyone else should have to- do what's best for you!) I've had to push credit cards when I was hired for two totally unrelated jobs in the past, and it is NOT fun dealing with mean people who can't think for a second and realize this is just someone being paid minimum wage to do a task. Cedar Fair should get rid of the photos, it's an outdated practice, but it's always good to be kind to the workers until they do.

Good for her for reporting it. I'm really glad she did. But still... This is a case with a minor. Her name wasn't released but people close to the situation, her coworkers mainly, can figure out who it is and spread rumors, form their own ridiculous opinions and speculations, etc. I'm sure not every woman/girl who is raped wants to inspire other victims, or be told by strangers or people outside the situation how brave they are. A lot of them really just want to get through what happened to them in their own time and have some privacy and anonymity, and just get back to normal life. And there's nothing wrong with that. Yes their story can help people but it's THEIR prerogative if they want to share that story with anyone but the authorities. I think in this case, it's unfortunate the media couldn't have left it alone. Reporting the rape to authorities protects herself and other women from that person. She has no further obligations to be a symbol or speak about her situation. I hope she gets that peace and time to heal. But people speculating things like this ^^ is one reason why so many people don't report it. It isn't helpful, it isn't productive, and it likely isn't true. It's not our job to determine what happened. (No offense, just trying to help.) All we can do is educate and protect our loved ones, and hope victims can find healing and peace.

Why do you think there will be a merger/sale? Because SIX is doing well financially? Or are there other factors? And if so do you think they'd buy Cedar Fair as a whole, or just certain parks? I'm scared to think what that would mean for many parks. They're doing well now but it seems when times get tough, they just close a bunch down. And times will be tough again someday. Also I'd be heartbroken to see most of our beloved rides get renames/rethemes to all Superman/Batman/etc. It's like a tornado. I'm scared of it, but I want to know more about it.

Interesting... Did they announce before filing for trademark of the name? Or did the other park not have a trademark on the name? Hm...

No, too many things that could go wrong. I'm not a risk taker.

That sounds really cool!

Thank God for Jahna Dyer. Nurses are heroes.

WinterFest... Kings ICE-land sounds catchier. What was the deal with WinterFest? I never heard much about it until now. Did they have rides operating or was it similar to the Winter Chill Out at CP where you walk around and see the rides in the snow?