Upstop's Florida Fest 2015 - also known as Nightmare in Buena Vista

[upstop]

Part 1

 

I determined that this year I would make the pilgrimage to foundation of every child's dream here in America (and apparently throughout every inch of earth known to man as a matter of fact).... that fun filled bastion of rides, character costumes, and squeaky clean environments with happy, happy employees....Central Florida's play land... The I4 corridor.

 

I started the trip by driving to SC to stay overnight at my sister's house and begin the following day on a six hour journey to Tampa. I must say on Sunday, I95 was nearly empty until I got to I4....then I got to try the Daytona 500 first hand....I4 traffic was driving at about 80mph and bumper to bumper. That was probably the most exciting attraction that I did during my vaca.

 

I arrived at Busch Gardens, Tampa at 10:15. At the toll, I used my BG Platinum Pass to park and got premium parking...good thing I did, because the park was at capacity within an hour. I ventured through the gates and began swimming upstream through the crowds and to the right heading to Cheetah Hunt. I was excited to finally be at the park when I arrived at the ride entrance my jaw hit the faux cobblestone pavement...Cheetah hunt was a two hour wait....so I went onward to Montu...It was an hour wait. Soooooo....I meandered through the crowds back to guest services to get a Quick Queue (why you ask since you can buy them through kiosks near the entrance of the coasters?  The one near Montu wasn't working and the one at Cheetah hunt had a mile of customers....I waited approximately 45 minutes and got my Quick Queue.

 

First coaster Cheetah Hunt....what a cool ride from the launch to the treetop twist and through the African Savannah it is an exciting ride. Next was Montu... Got to say, I like Banshee a lot - because it's fun and close, but I like Montu more. The tunnels and close calls to the ground are more exiting to me. Plus the final corkscrew and change of direction is the coolest optical/physical illusion on an inverted coaster.

 

Next I had a brief visit with the African Elephants.....such incredible creations they are!!! I continued onwards to Pantopia. You can see and hear Falcon's Fury from every inch of the park...It is the strangest sound...kind of like a very loud release of air....not quite a fart but close...hehehe...

Watching people ride was hilarious. The ride itself seems to begin breaking the instant it is released, but drops very fast. Many of you know that I'm terrified of heights, so I was working up my courage to ride...I decided that it would be the icing on the cake for the day...so I would do it later (a decision that I would regret). I decided to ride Sand Serpent (wild mouse ride...Kings Island really needs one of these...hint to those who might be reading).

 

I headed from there to ride Kumba....It was like meeting an old friend....and then getting beaten up by them.  Kumba is fast and furious and has many directional changes....Obviously the designers where trying to fit a lot into a little space...very effective little ride and FUN!!! Next I rode Congo River Rapids. To ride this, I decided to get a locker. I put in my money and twisted the key...the money fell and....no key. The darn thing took my change...I had to get more change and try another locker. I put my stuff in the locker and quickly went to the line. About ten seconds into the line I realized...I didn't memorize the locker number...oh well the number is on the key....except it wasn't on the key....LMAO....Anyways, I quick queued to the ride and quickly seated myself with 10 other people (luckily I had my own seat of two...more in a minute.....). We sat at the end of the conveyor for quite a while then we drifted slowly into the river. As we rounded the corner, I was listening to the conversations when I looked up to see a gigantic stream of water headed straight towards my head....I quickly ducked over into the empty seat and a man and woman to my left caught the entire stream...LOL!!! I figured that my turn would be coming soon as we bounced down the river we would start to turn to where I was sitting, then bounce off the wall to turn the other way....I didn't get too wet...but the couple to my left got EVERY dip and drench along the way...after the tunnel there is a waterfall and you guessed it, they caught that too. The most wet that I got was at the end where the get pushes the inner tube either left or right and that got me good. Now since my key did not have a number on the end, I had to "try" lockers...that was embarrassing...finally found my locker and retrieved my stuff.

 

Next I visited the tigers. The enclosure for the tigers is really neat...nothing like standing within a couple of feet of such a big kitty cat. They are just beautiful. I then continued into Stanleyville. I Quick Queued the Stanley Falls ride...that is one fast flowing flume ride and I got completely drenched. I was beginning to get hungry so I decided to eat at the Smokehouse....all I can say is wow....I had a Barbecued Pork sandwich with coleslaw and fries, with a slice of carrot cake with a soft drink and water. I sat near the Sheikra splashdown and was enjoying watching the sprays of water. About halfway through my meal, an announcement over the loudspeakers said that all attractions would be temporarily closing due to weather. I looked into the sky and all I could see was sun and clouds... It was quite puzzling....until....BOOM! Lightning...we were instructed to take cover. Those little "tent" shops do not hold that many people, and that is shoulder to shoulder.

 

The locals were calming the crowd with "eh this is Florida weather...it'll be over in a few minutes and all the rides will start up again...about 45 minutes later...the rain stopped...so I queued up for Sheikra. I was loaded into the fourth train to dispatch. All seats were checked and all thumbs were up when....BOOM! Storms again....I went into the little shop next door and checked out the wares. Finally the rain stopped again...I rushed over to Sheikra. Finally I was strapped into the middle row and off we went...Such a fun ride!...So much fun that I rode it again from the back row. After I exited the ride it started raining again. I decided to head on around the loop towards the aviary. I walked up to the enclosure right at feeding time. The birds were so beautiful! I whistled a couple of times and a dozen or so beauties flew up to the net structure and perched....I actually got to lightly pet several of them...such bright colors.

 

I continued around past Sesame Street onwards. I stopped to view the flock of flamingos. They were all beginning to rest for the night and were resting on one leg. Now was the time to start all over.

 

I went back to Cheetah Hunt and rode Montu two more times. I then headed back to Pantopia. I rode Scorpion (fun ride!!)...then on to Falcon's Fury...BOOM lighting...park was ready to close...Oh well next visit.  Doesn't seem like I did much that day, but time flies when your having fun.

 

I left the park to my hotel, Travel Lodge which is right across the street and third world country clean...Yuck. However, it served it's purpose. I woke up the next morning and headed to the Magic Kingdom!!!

 

Part two to come tomorrow night...

[jcgoble3]

Interesting report so far.

 

"Nightmare in Buena Vista"? I'm wondering what that refers to.

[malem]

"Nightmare in Buena Vista"? I'm wondering what that refers to.

Perhaps he met Zach?

[malem]

(Restored post)

Upstop:

Part 2

I woke up and got ready to go on the next leg of the trip on Monday, May 25. Soon I was back in the Dayton 500 or I4. I was only slightly delayed as the inner lanes of the freeway were moving at 80 mph while the outer lanes were moving at 65 or so...there were several tense moments as traffic would surge and slow a bit, but I made it to the Magic Kingdom by 9:15 am. I managed to pick a lane where the attendant was on the passenger side of the car (incidentally the same thing happened at BGT, but I digress). The attendant was extremely nice and actually came out of the both so I wouldn't have to reach so far...at least that's how I'm looking at it...hehehe. I merged into the traffic and followed the crowd around the "Driving Experience track" and was immediately ushered into Mulan Row 23...As I parked my car, I could see brigades of strollers being unpacked and the immediate sound of uncomfortable children suddenly thrust into the searing heat that was flowing over the parking lot. From where I was parked, it seemed like 4 city blocks to the loading area. I merged into the crowd of people and waited for the tram. When the crowd was given the ok, the tram instantly filled to capacity...and there I was with a goofy surprised look on my face looking up and down the tram for an opening...I decided to wait for the next tram, which by the way was right there waiting. When told that I could enter I immediately took my seat and my stomach was jumbling with elementary school joy, ready to ride the rides and meet THE Mouse...As we started to move past the line of trees that divides my section, I made a note of the general direction and scenery to find my car...and off we went to ticketing and transportation.

After arriving at the ticketing kiosks, the tram virtually exploded in a rocking motion as the hoards of patrons flooded out onto the plaza. I had debated on what type and duration of tickets that I would need for weeks...in the end I figured that the best deal in the end would be the annual pass...so I took the plunge and passed the credit card. I decided to take the Ferry over to the park, rather than the monorail. What a relaxing ride....Upon arrival, I went through the bagless line and tapped my card to the mouse head and entered the park. For some reason, I always arrive at the park at the beginning or ending of a parade...today was no different. Parades tend to draw everyone within site to Main Street USA....I had to stand near Town Hall Until the parade had ended, and the crowds dispersed...but that didn't happen...Then I thought of where I parked. The parking lot was 2/3 full when I arrived at 9:15....that plus resort guests packed the park...I stepped around the corner from Town Hall to the center of Main Street and what I saw was an endless river of people all the way to the castle. My first thought... the sign outside said "Magic Kingdom - population 600,000,000"...and ever last one was in the park that day.

Soooo.... I worked my way through the back route through Tomorrowland Terrace...I beelined to Space Mountain (all attractions had lines outside of their prospective buildings) and the mountain was no different...I looked around for the FastPass kiosks but could not find them...so I headed out of the area and into Fantasyland. I figured if I had to wait on anything it would be for the new Fantasyland attractions. The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train line was only 30 minutes...hey that's average right? Outside the attraction was an attendant with a sign in the air..."this is the end of the line for The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train"....Interesting because the area was uber congested. The line followed the edge of a wall and finally entered a covered area where an attendant classified each guest....standby this way, FastPass that way....in the heat of the day the line seemed to move slowly in small surges. I have to hand it to Disney...they surely know how to disguise queue lines. This line moved into a trench with absolutely no air flow. Fans would provide a brief and blessed breeze occasionally, however the line seemed never ending. When you get closer to the station, you are serenaded by songs from the movie and there are diversions to entertain the little ones from matching gems, and playing music by waving hands in front of streams of water, to spinning barrels to flash images on the ceiling of one of the seven dwarfs. I finally made it to the front of the line and was placed in the front seat...It's a fun and interesting concept, but kind of short in my opinion. The little ones seem to love it though and that's what counts. The new facial animation to bring a more cartoonlike image to the animatronics is really cool. The ending scene with Snow White dancing is fascinating. It looks real...that is what Disney does the best. Upon leaving the line, I checked my phone for time and it actually took an hour and a half....wow....

I then ventured to the Little Mermaid ride...The line for this ride was on the plaza at the entrance. There was a sign at the front stating that the attraction would take 30 minutes...the attendant said "this sign is wrong. This line is actually over an hour long"...I started to hesitate and though...nah...I'm going to do it now....so I jumped into line...It started off slowly but continued to move steadily...Just before the building, the person behind me said to whomever they were with "he just called and said it is storming in the parking lot". I looked up and there were black rain clouds over head. It started sprinkling and I thought "so close and so far". In five minutes we would be drenched (not bad since it was 90 degrees... but afterwards...). I made it into the building and found it entertaining to watch the people play with the animated crabs. If you point at an object in Ariel's treasure trove, they will pick it up and pile it away....must be some kind of spatial recognition, but it was pretty cool. I did see something rather heart warming. There was a little child super excited about getting to see the Little Mermaid and was totally bouncing off the walls with excitement. As it was 90 degrees outside and 70+ inside the building she calmed down. They were several people ahead and as they boarded the car the little girl leaned into her father and...she fell asleep in the cool air...more to the story in a minute. The attraction is really cool, from the flowing backwards to the bottom of the sea to all of the catchy tunes...the new flowing hair Ariel animatronic is amazing. Now to the heart warming stuff....upon exiting the ride I saw the father and child. She was sobbing about "missing the Little Mermaid". The father said "She's right here.", "But I missed her" and he said "Come on...lets ride it again". and off they went back into the line...brought a smile to my face. This line actually took 20 minutes to ride...Was I beginning to see a trend of stacking ride times to push crowds away? (It sure didn't seem that way on the mine ride for sure.)

Now it was close to noon. I wanted to see The Beast's Castle restaurant. In order to get in you have to "make a reservation" by accepting a menu and waiting in line. This by far was the most interesting restaurant concept that I've seen. You wait in a short line and then come to an attendant who asks two questions Are you a resort member and Cash or credit? Not being from a resort they gave me a plastic "rose" disk, then sent to a touch pad kiosk. You hold the rose to a "mouse head" and once it is acknowledged, you touch in your order, pay and look for seating. You get your fountain drink if you order one then wait. A server will appear with your order in a covered cart! If you have seen the movie, the dining set is spot on to the castle scenes. It was elegant for a quick service dining experience. The food was awesome as well. I had a shaved turkey sandwich and fries, water and soft drink, with "the masters cupcake" a super delicious strawberry cheesecake cupcake. After the meal I took a brief tour of the castle rooms and I love the "forbidden west wing" it was just incredible.

I left the castle and was slammed with 90 degree heat and now added humidity from the rain...yuck. The crowds in Fantasyland were unbelievable...it was shoulder to shoulder of people and quite alarming for me. I needed to use the restroom so I headed to the right of Peter Pan's Flight....oops they are not there anymore, they are across the walkway...and through the massive crowd...it took what seemed like several minutes to get across...I was floating in my shoes by the time I got there.

The next ride is my all time favorite dark ride.... The Haunted Mansion!!! I love, love, love, love that ride...did I say I love that ride?....Surprise 1hour 30 minutes....for the second time that week my jaw hit the pavement. I bit the bullet and got in line...grumpy as all get out for this CRAZY line. It amazes me though that even though the queue is essentially one long line 12 or so feet wide, that people will still try to stand single file...anyways it didn't take nearly as long as posted....maybe 20 minutes at the most. I have the entire script for the ride memorized and of course I repeated them as I rode the ride...lol... I exited the ride at the end and guess what a parade was starting....no line in the Mansion...so I rode it again!!!

After this ride I headed to Big Thunder...closed for some reason but would be opening later....Splash Mountain 2 hours... Although I love both rides, the heat of the day was taking a toll on me...I headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean. The line was about 45 minutes in a blessedly cool interior queue line. This ride still performs well after all these years, although now it seems rather short to me.

I finally left the park to go to my motel room to check in. I stayed at the Best Western in Buena Vista. I was given a beautiful room on the 11th floor facing the parks. The Disney Springs area is very much under construction and believe me... right now the traffic flow in that area is really bad. I left the Magic Kingdom around 5 and got to the motel around 6:30! (might have just been because of the holiday...can't be for sure).

I decided to "hop" over to Disney's Hollywood to catch Fantasmic. I decided to ride TOT....Line was super long but I waited that has to be one of the coolest, most immersive rides ever designed. I then went to Rockin Rollercoaster. Based on timing, I apparently arrived after the ride "reopened". The line started just outside of the studio door. It still took a while to get on this ride for some reason....loved the ride though! I saw something heartwarming earlier in the day, but this time I saw something heart breaking. After riding RRC, as I was exiting there was a young boy in a wheelchair. His friends were just ahead of me as they approached him, he said, holding back tears and in a sad voice "was it fun?" and his friends shook their heads yes....I would have given my spine for him to have had the experience...it just broke my heart.

Now it was time for Fantasmic's first showing. I approached the entrance... they now have FastPass for the show. I was of course standby. When I got to the top of the walkway, they announced the show was standing room only...it was an hour before the show... jeesh! I talked to an attendant who said, "we have a second show in an hour and a half"...great I'd check out the park and come back later. I decided to ride "midway mania"...2 hour wait so back over towards Fantasmic...I decided to have dinner and I had pizza and a salad. soon Fantasmic ended and the people were released....I got into the standby line and was near the front. Just before the showing, they opened the Fast Pass and if you think line cutting is crazy...I watched 500,000 FastPass holders enter before standby could enter..lol....When we were released, I sat near the front...(not too bad at first) as the show progressed, the mist got heavier and heavier. I ended up drenched by the end of the show!

Well that wraps up day two.

[malem]

jcgoble3:
Sounds like it wasn't too bad of a day.

What did you think of Fantasmic? The week I was there, I was so tired by the end of the day that I never did catch any of the big nighttime shows except for one showing of Wishes from the California Grill observation deck.

upstop:
Crowds were humongous...i cant function well in wall to wall people. So there's that plus it was extremely hot and humid.... Fantasmic is great as usual, but having not been in the parks for about 7 years, it looks quite dated and old. The story and show needs to be updated.... but why make these changes when the show is still pulling capacity crowds, right?

RailRider:
I do not envy you visiting Disney during the Summertime rush. I have been in August and July and will never do that again. We are off season travelers for sure.

upstop:
^^ Point taken for sure! I have never seen such huge crowds anywhere....wait until you hear about day four...it was a spectacular cluster of people and events. Coming soon....

Voicetek:
I've been down to Disney World 3 times in the past 4 years. First in August of 2011, next in November of 2013, and finally in October of last year (2014). Of all the 3 visits, the November visit was by far the best!

The August visit was hot, humid, rainy, and EXTREMELY crowded. The day we went to Animal Kingdom that year, it was so hot and humid that you could barely function. I've got pictures of myself after just 10-15 minutes in the park and my face is already red and sweaty. Horrible!

The November visit was awesome! This was during my wife's and my honeymoon and we decided to drive down to Magic Kingdom from Hilton Head for a day. The weather was nice, about 80 and low humidity, and the crowds were super light. We rode pretty much everything we wanted with no FastPass and little wait. I think the longest line that day might have been a half hour tops. We walked around the park at our own pace and would jump on a ride whenever we wanted to with no hassle. It was quite a lovely day!

Now last October was similar to the August visit. It was hot, humid, and crowded. There were wall to wall people including about a half a million kids. I couldn't believe so many kids were there considering it was a random weekday in October and not a holiday. Why were so many kids there, we thought? Why aren't they in school? Who knows, but it seemed like the entire world's population of children were in the Magic Kingdom that day. It was crazy!

Of all the times I've visited Disney world, I've been in March, August, twice in October, November, and December. The best visits I've had by far were the November and December trips. The weather was great and the crowds were low. If I don't have to, I don't think I'll ever take another Disney trip in the Spring/Summer time. It's just too hot and too crowded. It's hardly worth all the fuss!

Gabe:
A few notes:

1. You arrived at the "Welcome to Main Street" parade. Its more of gathering of the 'citizens' populating MSUSA as they hop a horse drawn trolley and sing their way towards the castle.

2. The closest FP+ kiosks to Space are next to Philharmagic in FL. It would be nice if the MK had more.

3. Thunder is notoriously finicky, The two sides have very short blocks and if not done in the right order, the ride e-stops.

4. As for Aerosmith-did you see the Single Rider Line? Never more than 10-15 min wait.

5. Rumor has it World of Color would migrate over..still waiting..same with Main Street Electrical Parade.

RailRider:
My daughter absolutely loves Fantasmic!, mainly because Pocahontas is her favorite Disney character and she has a cool part in Fantasmic!

We have visited in May(early) July, August, September and December. Never going in the Summer again its just so stinking hot. We planned to visit the parks on their least crowded days during our Summer visits and the lines and crowds weren't bad, but that just speaks to the importance of planning.


Dieseltech20:
What day of the week did you visit BGT? I have yet to encounter a massive crowd at the park.

upstop:
I visited BGT on the Sunday before Memorial day....lots of schools and military personnel and their families. Even the Quick Queue lines were long. I waited about 25 minutes in the Cheetah Hunt Quick Queue line, including a protein spill cleanup of one train.

[malem]

upstop:

Part 3

On Tuesday, I decided to spend the day at Universal Studios and IOA. I had had plenty of time on the freeway so I decided to take Sand Lake rd. to Universal. I entered through the back of the parks between Jurassic Park and Cabana Bay ( there was a huge mound of sand near Cabana....I'm guessing that was the beginning of the new waterpark volcano...but I digress.) I decided that since I was that early, that premium parking would not be necessary. I ended up on top of the parking garage facing due west...I was hoping the car wouldn't melt in the heat....lol.

I headed towards IOA first. I followed the hoards and went towards the park. I had bought my annual pass in advance and used the Will Call kiosk. It was a very quick, and easy process and within minutes I was in the park. Within minutes, I realized that my feet were beginning to hurt from the last two days worth of walking, but I pressed onwards. I knew there was a locker/ride policy but didn't know how much, if anything they would cost, so I checked out the prices. Believe it or not the were rather reasonable. I don't remember the exact prices, but I was certainly considering renting one, however, I decided to check out the rides lockers.

My first stop was Hulk. I checked out the lockers and they stated a free rental would be for 1hour 40 minutes... so I tested the process...again another super easy process of fingerprinting and placing stuff in the locker. I tested myself in the test seat and entered the line. I decided I needed the big boy seat. The line actually started at the ramp to the ride. I asked for the large seat and had plenty of room. This is a very aggressive ride. I loved it!!! It was wonderful to ride this again, because on my last visit I didn't fit.

Next I decided to go to HP and the Forbidden Journey. As I rounded the back of the park into Potterverse, I noticed the line was at max. I walked up to the test seat. I watched a large couple get into the seat and the attendant pushed the overheads down. The attendant explained something to them and they looked at each other and discussed something then got in line. My turn!!!....I sat down and a different attendant pushed down..."I'm sorry, you don't fit....at least you didn't wait through all this line to find that out!". Grrrrrrrr.....I immediately walked over to Hogwarts Express. I knew my fat butt would fit on a train...LOL. I'm not going to spoil anything, but the train ride is very immersive and has lots of surprises for those riding the train. It was quite enjoyable and entertaining.

After exiting the express, I came to London...I walked around for a few minutes and had to follow people to find out where Gringott's Bank was located. After entering a split in a brick wall, you are in Diagon Alley....a VERY congested area with shoulder to shoulder people all wandering around. They had what appeared to be a magic show, a stage show/concert and a talking "sprite/fairy" statue that occasionally spit water...but enough of that I wanted a roller coaster...So I had to look for the bank. After finding the bank there was a Bank Guard directing people through the door....I followed in and there was a single line going into the main lobby of the bank. Yay this line must be short. Everyone was directed to follow the line. Soon we were going to reach the end right...suddenly we went out the door and to the left and down a ramp then to the right and there it was a huge hidden queue...and it was completely full. Being used to long lines now I took a deep breath and fell into line. As long as a line moves, I'm happy, standing in hot stagnant lines is a pain in the rump. This line moved fairly nicely. Eventually we back tracked into the bank lobby....WOW...they must have spent millions on the queue line alone...just incredible. Before long we were headed into the bank chambers for an obligatory ride snapshot/bank id and headed into a preshow room. The next room was an "elevator" that took us deep into the subterranean vaults. From here you pick up your 3d glasses and climb the stairs to your transport. In there you board rollercoaster cars that look like the cars on the Mummy ride. I won't give away too much, but so you are not disappointed if you want to ride...it is NOT a rollercoaster by my standards. The car is only a conveyance for the ride. It's fast and the trains rotate to some degree and it's aggressive....but not a coaster at all. It was enjoyable, but I won't wait an hour for it again.

After I left the ride I decided to head over to Transformers. I waited in the standby line for this one and got to enjoy the Blues Brothers concert while waiting...that was fun. The queue line moves fairly quickly and I really wanted to see the set up. The ride is very similar to Spiderman in IOA, however it is more elaborate. The scenes contain sprays of water and fire and is very Michael Bay loud. The simulators are very aggressive, but I highly recommend riding this one...fun fun fun!

By now my feet were ready to fall off from walking, so I decided to go to Universal's AMC theater to rest from the heat. I decided to see Poltergeist. If you haven't seen it....don't. It was a totally useless remake. The best part was I was alone so I took off my shoes and propped my feet on the railing in front of me....after an hour and a half rest, I hobbled back into IOA.

I rode Hulk again and headed back to Cartoon Lagoon. The line for Ripsaw Falls was really short so I decided to get drenched.....and you do get drenched but it felt wonderful!!....I headed past the new construction of the Kong ride and it is moving along nicely. The main entrance is HUGE with the skull drawbridge...looking forwards to that attraction for sure....Since I was already wet, I headed to Jurassic River Adventure. Something is slightly different about it...it seemed that some of the dinos are now missing, but the attraction is very effective. Unfortunately as we were approaching the drop the T-rex stopped roaring and started yelling "please put away the cell phone...please put away the cell phone...thank you"...and then we dropped. Freakin idiots....

As I rounded the corner I saw the HP FJ ride queue was empty...I said to my self..."Self....even if you don't fit you can at least say you tried...". So I held my chins high and got in line. This line was just as extravagant as Gringott's Bank and just as visually entertaining. Soon you come to a boarding platform with cars that looks like little open door confessionals with an overhead restraint. The way you are sitting, you actually feel like you are sitting on a broom...lol... Soon Hermione casts a spell and off you fly......O.....M....G what an incredible ride!!! I am so glad I got to ride this because this was the highlight of my trip. The 3d is dizzying and the scenery is phenomenal. The "arm" you are riding on swings fluidly in every direction from straight at the ceiling to flying sideways....also as a small warning, if you have arachnophobia, you may want to reconsider riding...hint hint..... I loved it and would wait an hour to ride next time for sure!

From here I decided to check out Dragon Challenge...It's required to put all loose items in the lockers to ride...this was later in the day and a total walk on!!! I decided to ride both sides. I like the old "fire" side the best... In fact the second ride was the final ride and now it was park closure time....

I decided to leave and have dinner. My favorite pizza place is Pastamore.....What? Its gone replaced with Red Oven Pizza Bakery...big difference...only pizza and only a whole pizza. Shoot, I couldn't eat a whole pizza.... so I ate next door at Vino. I had pasta Bolognese and a beet salad with water. It was supremo!!! After eating, I took my leftovers and went back to the hotel.

And thus ends part 3.

Be sure to check our part four tomorrow night!