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You packed a lot into three days and gave me memories of my visit to the Grand Canyon and various visits to Vegas. One of my favorite family trips growing up was when we spent a couple of weeks in the summer of 1996 going through Southern Utah, Northern Arizona, and ending off with a couple of nights in Vegas before going home. We camped at two different KOAs in Utah and at this weird, run down Flintstones campground just south of the Grand Canyon South Rim entrance in AZ, so staying a Best Western off the Strip at the end of the trip felt like a luxury. I really loved all the red rocks of the Grand Canyon (both rims), Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Arches, but my favorite part of my trip was going to Slide Rock State Park between Flagstaff and Sedona and destroying a swim suit on nature's waterslides (if you every go back to AZ in the summer or when its warmer I highly recommend this place). I'd love to go back that region someday and will have to check out Glen Canyon (wasn't familiar with it before). I'll also have to actually check out Hoover Dam for real and do the tour as my only experience with the Hoover Dam was crossing over it in the family minivan on our way to Vegas when it was 117F according to our thermometer and getting out for a minute to get a quick picture/look of it. When we went to Vegas I was able to convince my dad to go up the Stratosphere at night but couldn't convince him to pay for a ride on the High Roller or other rides there (the cost for going up for 5 people was enough for him) and I didn't go up it again until 2009 when the rides were different.

 

The only time I rode The Rollercoaster at NYNY (as it was called then) was in 2009, but I really enjoyed my front row night ride with a friend. Maybe it was because I was in a rollercoaster drought at the time or maybe because I was pretty drunk or maybe it was the thrill of watching my friend film the ride on his Flip camera and hoping he didn't drop it (note I was not a TPR member at the time and would advise against friends or anyone doing this today), but for whatever reason I enjoyed my one ride on the NYNY Togo. For anyone that's never ridden the NYNY Togo, if you do ride it wait for the front row and ride it at night as the views and Vegas skyline all lit up are awesome and you won't notice the ugly rooftops or backstage areas - also try to find a coupon or discount online or in one of those Vegas magazines (I printed a $4 off coupon I found online and only paid $10 in 2009 ). Doing both NYNY and the Stratosphere on that 2009 trip, I decided to hold off on Speed at the Sahara and save it for the next Vegas trip not thinking it was going to be taken down soon. My next trip to Vegas wasn't until February of last year, so I finally got to experience Adventuredome them. Circus Circus has shown its age but it could be worse, at least its not in Primm. The Adventuredome part is really nice though - I really liked the rock theming inside and the 90s Bio-Dome vibe I got from it. Both Canyon Blaster and El Loco were really fun and I got 3 rides on each one plus I rode a flat (I don't think Chaos was running when I was there) that flipped upside down like a fly swatter and the drop ride which is small but really packs a punch (worth trying out if you have a wristband) - and did these all in two hours. I agree with you that I like Canyon Blaster slightly better than El Loco. I love that intial drop/pull into the first loop and how smooth it is for an Arrow. Arrows age well when they aren't exposed to the elements and it brings me back to how smooth Viper must have been the first time I rode it in 1992. Speaking of the new High Roller, I thought of doing it last year but dediced to save it for a future visit. I'll have to try to do it at sunset time next visit to Vegas and hopefully in the open bar car.

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Thanks guys!!!

 

If you want to gamble, why spend money on a flight and all that jazz. That being said, there are other great things about Vegas, one of my favorite meals I've ever had was in Vegas, and the theming is interesting... well, maybe once or twice. I don't know, I guess I don't really get it anymore. Then again I've been "sober" for a few years now. (and can now go on coaster trips all the time!)

 

Yeah I'll be honest... I don't think I'd ever view Vegas as a destination on it's own. It's fun and I see the appeal but it seems like such a waste to go out to such a cool part of the country and spend a majority of your time in a tourist trap city (even though I love tourist traps). I'm sure we'll be back but probably because Frontier flies there for peanuts and we can use it to visit the canyons or southern California since it's only a few hours away and when we do that we'll end up spending some time in Vegas on the day we fly out. I had a great time in Vegas but I still feel like I should be a bigger Vegas fan than I really am. There are just so many other, better things to do nearby.

 

You packed a lot into three days and gave me memories of my visit to the Grand Canyon and various visits to Vegas. One of my favorite family trips growing up was when we spent a couple of weeks in the summer of 1996 going through Southern Utah, Northern Arizona, and ending off with a couple of nights in Vegas before going home. We camped at two different KOAs in Utah and at this weird, run down Flintstones campground just south of the Grand Canyon South Rim entrance in AZ, so staying a Best Western off the Strip at the end of the trip felt like a luxury. I really loved all the red rocks of the Grand Canyon (both rims), Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Arches, but my favorite part of my trip was going to Slide Rock State Park between Flagstaff and Sedona and destroying a swim suit on nature's waterslides (if you every go back to AZ in the summer or when its warmer I highly recommend this place).

 

I'd love to check that out. This trip was heavily based on a family trip we took as kids too (with a lot of new things thrown in). I haven't been to Zion or Arches yet but I'd love to go. I've been to Bryce Canyon and it's insane. It's a shame we couldn't fit that into this trip. What an awesome place...

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I had a great time in Vegas but I still feel like I should be a bigger Vegas fan than I really am. There are just so many other, better things to do nearby.

I feel like this nails my thoughts on Vegas exactly. I love going out there and always have a good time, but after about 2 maybe 3 days I get that "OK, I've had my fill, on to other things..." feeling. While I really enjoy the resort hotels and all the great food in town, I'm not much of a gambler at all ($20 bucks in fun-themed slots here or there) and aside from having a few beers, I don't drink the volume of alcohol that Vegas implies I should be. And oddly enough, as much as I love Broadway musicals, Cirque just doesn't do it for me.

 

So yeah, I like Vegas, but I don't feel the need to go there very often.

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My second home growing up was Vegas so I grew up there back when the city was not the large, urban canyon that it is now.

 

My great Aunt and Uncle and Aunt and Uncle lived next door to each other on a dirt road that was less than 8 miles out of downtown. Now that property is in the center of a metropolis and their houses (which they no longer own) are surrounded by 8 lane highways, high rise condos and golf communities.

 

Our last visit left us with the same feeling as what you and Robb mentioned & I was ready to go somewhere else after a couple of days. And we did...we drove to California and went to Knotts.

 

Vegas is way too over-commercialized and over-crowded for my tastes now. I loved it back in the day when the casino's were more spread out and the city had more of a western town-like charm.

 

If we end up going out west in the near future, it's going to be to hit up the national parks in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, California, Oregon & Washington. We'll likely skip Vegas unless my Dad is out there snow-birding in the winter and we want to go hang out with him and wife for a few days.

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Wonderful report! I'll be going to Vegas for my first time when I fly out to Cali this July. Most definitely I'm going to Adventuredome, and I really enjoyed the pictures from the High Roller Ferris Wheel. I'll be sure to add that as well!

 

Awesome! Seriously... keep a look out for coupons. Don't pay full price to do the high roller. Thanks for reading!

 

Wonderful report! I'll be going to Vegas for my first time when I fly out to Cali this July. Most definitely I'm going to Adventuredome, and I really enjoyed the pictures from the High Roller Ferris Wheel. I'll be sure to add that as well!

 

if you've never been? for sure stop to watch the Mirage Volcano (as well as the Belagio fountains).. . . and go down to Freemont to watch the Freemont Street Experience over the covered street -- if you time the evening correctly (and like seafood) you can even do the Golden Nugget's fantastic Seafood buffet they only offer once a week.. used to be on Fridays, but not sure).

 

and great trip report Bill! glad to see you finish it up. Next time you go, try the Wheel of Fortune slot machines. .those are brilliantly addictive too! (we pull the handle to spin every time, which makes it last longer). . LOL

 

Thanks! I still haven't been to Freemont street. Maybe on our next trip.

 

 

Looks fun! Always consult the experts. Compulsive gamblers are the experts at roulette, orcas are the experts at jet propulsion. That all checks out.

 

Absolutely!

 

Great report! The High Roller is one of the best attraction names out there and looks like a great way to take in the skyline. I'll definitely take your advice on boarding around sunset to save some money.

 

As for the casinos, I know I'll be tempted to play if I ever go to Vegas, but I remember just how addicting that old Colorama arcade game was. That thing ate up a ton of my tokens so I'm sort of horrified what a full on roulette wheel would do.

 

Yeah, you should be. Honestly, just bring however much cash you don't mind losing, chalk it up as an entertainment expense and then when you run out, leave. That's the only way to do it.

 

As always, lovely update. I gotta get out to Vegas.

 

Thanks! And yes... yes you do. It definitely seems like the type of place you'd love. Just don't make Dawn ride Manhattan Express. She may murder you.

 

Good stuff as always Bill. Always look forward to your installments

 

Awesome update! Seems like you two had a blast. One day, I'll get out there to Vegas.. Thanks for sharing it with us!

 

Thanks for reading and commenting guys!

 

The other fun memory Vegas, outside of earning free rooms and meals, was this awesome place:

 

http://www.pinballmuseum.org

 

Seriously, it's awesome.

 

Wow, that sounds awesome. I'm sure we'll be back since we sort of plan to use Vegas as a way to get to the southwest for next to nothing (thanks Frontier!). Maybe we'll pop in next time.

 

I had a great time in Vegas but I still feel like I should be a bigger Vegas fan than I really am. There are just so many other, better things to do nearby.

I feel like this nails my thoughts on Vegas exactly. I love going out there and always have a good time, but after about 2 maybe 3 days I get that "OK, I've had my fill, on to other things..." feeling. While I really enjoy the resort hotels and all the great food in town, I'm not much of a gambler at all ($20 bucks in fun-themed slots here or there) and aside from having a few beers, I don't drink the volume of alcohol that Vegas implies I should be. And oddly enough, as much as I love Broadway musicals, Cirque just doesn't do it for me.

 

So yeah, I like Vegas, but I don't feel the need to go there very often.

 

Our last visit left us with the same feeling as what you and Robb mentioned & I was ready to go somewhere else after a couple of days. And we did...we drove to California and went to Knotts.

 

Vegas is way too over-commercialized and over-crowded for my tastes now. I loved it back in the day when the casino's were more spread out and the city had more of a western town-like charm.

 

Yeah, I definitely feel like a few days is enough. It's cool but I always feel like there's something better that I should be doing, especially since it's within a few hours of tons of National Parks if you head east or Southern California if you head west. I'm glad it's not just me.

 

You packed a lot into three days and gave me memories of my visit to the Grand Canyon and various visits to Vegas. One of my favorite family trips growing up was when we spent a couple of weeks in the summer of 1996 going through Southern Utah, Northern Arizona, and ending off with a couple of nights in Vegas before going home. We camped at two different KOAs in Utah and at this weird, run down Flintstones campground just south of the Grand Canyon South Rim entrance in AZ, so staying a Best Western off the Strip at the end of the trip felt like a luxury. I really loved all the red rocks of the Grand Canyon (both rims), Bryce Canyon, Zion, and Arches, but my favorite part of my trip was going to Slide Rock State Park between Flagstaff and Sedona and destroying a swim suit on nature's waterslides (if you every go back to AZ in the summer or when its warmer I highly recommend this place). I'd love to go back that region someday and will have to check out Glen Canyon (wasn't familiar with it before). I'll also have to actually check out Hoover Dam for real and do the tour as my only experience with the Hoover Dam was crossing over it in the family minivan on our way to Vegas when it was 117F according to our thermometer and getting out for a minute to get a quick picture/look of it. When we went to Vegas I was able to convince my dad to go up the Stratosphere at night but couldn't convince him to pay for a ride on the High Roller or other rides there (the cost for going up for 5 people was enough for him) and I didn't go up it again until 2009 when the rides were different.

 

That sounds great! It's funny, I know I keep mentioning that trip across the country we took when we were kids but over the last few years I've finally been able to get back to those places 20 years later and it's great being able to share them with Brit. Glenn Canyon was a highlight for sure and it was just as great as I remembered, a few weeks ago we went to San Francisco and Muir Woods (more highlights from that trip) and later this year we're going to Yellowstone (which was probably the best thing on that trip period). It's awesome visiting places that you last visited as a kid. Sometimes you see them from an entirely new perspective and sometimes they're just as awesome as you remembered. Either way, it's a cool experience.

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Stay in Vegas after those 3 days and "the evil" quickly sets in. It is tough to describe "the evil", but basically the lights and glamour wears off and suddenly all you see is tragedy everywhere.

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I'm sure you would all agree that my trip reports are nothing if not timely. I take great pride in providing everyone with prompt, highly relevant trip reports. Lightning quick service with a smile. That said, spring is finally here. Flowers are in full bloom, the trees are turning green, birds chirping, bees buzzing, beautiful warm sunny days are here again! Spring has sprung!!!

 

So on that note, you know what would be awesome? A trip report from the frozen, barren wintry hellscape of Massachusetts. Bundle up, but first a little housekeeping.

 

If you go to the front page of this thread you'll notice that I linked to a few other reports from Holiday in the Park at Six Flags America and Six Flags Great Adventure. I knew that if I didn't post them when I did they wouldn't be posted until well... now, so I posted them in their respective park threads. That said, the entire world went to Six Flags New England on the same weekend and TPR had an official report as well as a few unofficial reports from the same weekend already so I didn't see the need to add another report to the pile. I put it on my "to do list" where trip reports go to die.

 

Anyway when Six Flags New England announced that they were adding Holiday in the Park we were pretty much in disbelief. Obviously they've since lowered their dose of crazy pills even more and have now added it in Chicago, but at the time we figured that this was pretty much as far as they could possibly push this concept. We weren't really sure how it would go so we planned to visit on one of the "warmer" weekends of Holiday in the Park in early December. The high that day was a few degrees above 40 and the low by park close was still up in the high 20's. For December in New England that's a heat wave.

 

It felt surreal pulling into the Six Flags parking lot in December. It still feels weird doing that in New Jersey but it felt so stupid in New England that we couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

 

The park runs slightly shorter hours than Great Adventure and I think we pulled into the lot around 3:00. We were actually sort of wondering how we would fill an evening at Six Flags New England with the only operating coasters being Fireball, Batman, Mind Eraser, Joker, Thunderbolt and (maybe) Flashback so we took our time getting there but it actually turned out that we really underestimated this event.

 

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Who's ready to feel it all around? Well too bad because they don't have that show here. PS: Has anyone else noticed that Great Adventure's tree song is basically "Wishes" from Disney World on a budget?

It seemed like a strange way to start our day but while riding into the park on the shuttle I had pulled up Queue Times and saw that Flashback was operating. Flashback was never actually scheduled to run for the event and wasn't on the park map but early on in the event it had been operating on warmer days. We knew they might close it early so we decided to make that our first stop. Say what you want about Boomerangs. I agree that plenty of them are absolute trash but we always enjoy our rides on this one so we were happy to take it for a spin. Since it wasn't really advertised (and since it's Flashback) it was a complete walk-on and we were treated to another super fun and (somehow) relatively smooth ride on Flashback with no line at all. No pictures, but let's be real... none of you give a sh*t anyway.

 

Up next was Thunderbolt, the park's classic wood coaster. I absolutely adore this ride. While it doesn't really have any airtime or forces to speak of it's an absolute blast to ride. I've been riding this thing for the better part of 20 years and never once had a single ride on it that wasn't glass smooth and a ton of fun.

 

There was a lot of talk about this ride when it was announced for Holiday in the Park since apparently it's quite valley prone, so we were sure to ride it early as we knew the temperatures were going to plummet later on.

 

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Welcome to Thunderbolt. This is the strangest coaster on earth because this right here is the wait time. Fright Fest Saturday and Superman has a 2 hour line? This is how long the line for Thunderbolt is. Frigid Holiday in the Park night where every other ride is a walk on? This is how long the line for Thunderbolt is. It's queue length is always the same regardless of the time of year, crowd size or weather. I don't get it. It's like the "Old Faithful" of coasters.

After the customary 20 minute wait that Thunderbolt has all day every day we finally boarded the train. We were the second group allowed through, but the dumb people in front of us opted for row 2 so we hopped in front of them and grabbed the front. A few minutes later we got in, buckled our seat belts and were greeted with a (very welcome) blast of heat.

 

We were surprised at first but we quickly noticed that the park really went all out on this thing for Holiday in the Park. The park had actually gone out of their way to build an entire sheet metal duct system under the train with vents under the parking location of each wheel. The duct system was connected by a tube to a giant propane heater in the ride's infield so whenever it parked in the station they were absolutely blasting it with heat. Amazed, we sat down, buckled in, the ops checked the train but... we didn't go.

 

There were way more people in the operator booth than normal, and one of them was staring at a tablet which I can only assume was either tracking the heating system or the cycle times. He instructed the op to hold us for awhile and about 60 seconds later we were given the all clear and on our merry way. Damn, Six Flags put way more effort into this than I would have expected.

 

The ride was as awesome as always, made even better by the fact that we managed to get a front seat ride which is a bit like hitting the lottery on this thing. I've noticed that I seem to like this ride more than most in the community and that some crazy lunatics even consider it rough but whatever... I think it's great.

 

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Wheeeeee!!!

 

After Thunderbolt we decided to head to the "South End", "Coaster Alley", "Gotham City", whatever... area of the park and hit some more rides. It was still in the process of getting dark and we figured that once it did we would want to dedicate a little bit more time to the holiday decorations so we planned to get our fill of rides during the day. We both had our sights set on Batman, but along the way we were greeted with an all too familiar obnoxiously loud revving noise from Buzzsaw.

 

It had been rumored for awhile, but by then the park had confirmed that Holiday in the Park would be the last hurrah for this New England favorite. We had been coming to this park for years and on each and every visit we made time for this gem of a ride so we couldn't help but make our way over and take it for a spin.

 

As usual the ride had a bit of a wait so we hung out near the front of the queue and waited for them to load before we hopped in line, guaranteeing ourselves an end seat. I won't lie, it was definitely sad knowing that this would be the last time we ever rode Buzzsaw. It's just a small flat ride, but we always looked forward to it on our visits to the park as it packs a pretty insane punch. As always, the ride delivered some pretty great air and we got off laughing like idiots.

 

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Public Service Announcement: Friend's don't let friends put vertical Christmas light strings on pine trees. WTF? Go AROUND the tree. AROUND... AROUND...

Next on the agenda was Batman, arguably the star ride of the park with Wicked Cyclone and Superman closed. While it's a small floorless, we absolutely love this thing. The loop has excellent hang time and somehow the barrel roll is one of the better ones this side of Busch Gardens Tampa.

 

Batman was running one train with the other likely in offseason refurb but it's tough to complain about that during Holiday in the Park. It's important to keep these trains moving as much as possible and parked over the heaters whenever they're not moving so having a train sitting in the final brakes probably wouldn't have done anyone any favors anyway.

 

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More heaters...

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Brit's ready for Batman and it's boo-wooping goodness.

 

As usual, Batman delivered the goods. While this is a small little floorless, it packs a punch and we're thrilled to have it so close to home. It never lets up from start to finish and as crazy as it sounds we didn't really feel like we were "missing out" on anything during the event. Sure, we love Wicked Cyclone and Superman, but Batman picked up the slack quite nicely.

 

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Coasters in December in Massachusetts. What a time to be alive!

 

By the time we got off of Batman the sun was finally starting to set and the lights were really starting to take effect. As always, Oak Island Creative knocked this one out of the park and the park was almost unrecognizable.

 

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Is this really Six Flags??????

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Brit had noted that there was a tree lighting ceremony of sorts on our park guide, so after exiting Batman we slowly made our way over to the area in front of Goliath to check it out. I'm not really a "show person" at parks, especially Six Flags... but at Holiday in the Park it seems like the thing to do, so I was all in.

 

An impressive crowd had gathered for the show which actually made for a pretty cool atmosphere. New Englanders definitely seemed intent on making it 100% clear that they don't give a single sh*t about cold weather.

 

It turned out that the show was pretty cute. Santa came out to thunderous applause and some character who (as described in the park guide) lives at the north pole and fixes Christmas lights or whatever while (as described by me and NOT by the park guide) looking like her costume was made out of leftover Fright Fest decorations came out and lit the tree.

 

After the show we continued to make the rounds and check out the lights. We made our way up into Crackaxle Canyon which had been re branded as "Jingle Bell Junction" and came across more great lights. We were sort of wandering around aimlessly, but at the same time as soon as we turned up that path we kind of knew exactly where we were headed (Does that make any sense? No? Ok ).

 

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Welcome to the land of kettle corn, horrible Vekomas and a frisbee that occasionally catches on fire.

You may remember that in Boldikus' report he noted that Tomohawk basically smelled like it was on fire and our ride abruptly came to an end halfway through the cycle as everyone on the ride found themselves coughing up smoke. That was an odd experience, but it's a great little ride so we were looking forward to riding again and having a more normal ride. We got into the queue right as it was stopping so we briskly made our way over, took our seats, started swinging and...

 

...yeah the same thing happened. Well, almost. This time the park clearly decided that they DNGAF so we completed our cycle and then exited with everyone coughing up smoke. Well that's... odd, but honestly, whatever. We love Tomohawk even if it does try to kill you from smoke inhalation.

 

We checked the time after our ride and saw that we a few minutes time to kill before the main street light show so we actually hit Rockin' Rodeo really quickly and ended up really enjoying it. We don't get to ride often and it's definitely a borderline kids ride but it's a lot more fun than it has any right to be. We approve! As an added bonus it ended right on time and we made our way over to the light show right as it was about to begin.

 

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The giant net of lights over the midway was a cool touch.

We shot a Facebook live video if anyone cares:

[fbvideonew]https://www.facebook.com/william.mahony.92/videos/10213618374568052/[/fbvideonew]

 

While I'm a fan of Great Adventure's "Holiday Magic (Wishes on a budget)" show, it's nice that each park does something a little different. This one was slightly less tasteful and more "OMFG LIGHTS!!!!!!!!!1111111111111111111111111111" but honestly, we really enjoyed it (despite the fact that I'm pretty sure it gave us both seizures). It was a great place to put it, and the crowd definitely seemed impressed.

 

As you probably assumed if you for some reason watched that entire thing, the seizures had really impacted our judgement and we decided that the best course of action would be to follow up our seizures with concussions and get our minds erased...

 

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No... not like that. Well... yeah, like that but also...

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... no a**hole, not that awesome Cinnamon rum thing. F*cking alcoholic I swear...

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Yeah... that kind of Mind Eraser. The sh*tty kind.

 

I've spent the better part of my life hating this ride, but after riding once with Bolidkus in this new train and somehow not hating it I was kind of excited to try it again. I was skeptical that the new trains would accomplish much, but our last ride was quite good and since only half of the coasters were open it seemed like as good a time as any to try again. I was apprehensive, but sort of excited. Could we have a Christmas miracle on our hands?

 

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Brit's ready for the mind erasing.

As was the case with the other coasters, Mind Eraser was only running one train and had wheel heaters to give it an extra boost. As an added bonus, these are actually set back a little further in the station so if you line up for one of the rows in front of heater you get nice and toasty warm while in line. Mind Eraser likes to make you comfortable before it kills you. I guess it's the same concept as giving death row inmates an amazing last meal before they face the electric chair.

 

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Around this time, Boldikus was living it up in Florida and texted me from the Montu station bragging. Not to be outdone, I snapped this picture to let him know that I too was in line for an invert and that he should be jealous AF. lol (note the heaters on the left).

The line was deceptively long since the ride was running one train, but nothing too awful and we couldn't complain one bit since we were living it up under the heaters. Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end and a few minutes later our train pulled up and we took our seats. Apprehensively we ascended the lift, made our way down the drop, hit the first element and...

 

... holy sh*t!

 

THIS IS AWESOME!!!!

 

It just feels wrong to even say this, but I love Mind Eraser (or whatever). I never realized this before since whenever I rode an SLC in the past I was either bracing for pain, getting the sh*t kicked out of me or (in the case of Wildwood when I was actually riding a good SLC for a change), way too obliterated to analyze much of anything but it turns out this layout is actually super forceful and kind of awesome when you can actually enjoy the thing. These new trains are amazing!

 

... I still don't think Boldikus was jealous though. I mean... you know, Montu.

 

Following our amazing Mind Eraser ride we decided to head over to the park's holiday show. According to the park map it was a cirque style show located in the Rockville theater. One unfortunate thing for Six Flags New England is that the Rockville theater is tiny so they had a giant queue set up outside and informed us that we most likely wouldn't get in for the next show. The greeter advised us to try the next one and show up 15-20 minutes early. We thanked him and trusted his judgement on our chances of getting in. This park could really benefit from a larger theater now that they do a Holiday event. They have a huge venue for outdoor shows, but Holiday in the Park really brought to light how inadequate their indoor event space really is. It didn't really impact our experience much, but I would imagine that there were some disappointed people who planned on catching that last show.

 

We left the theater area and I quickly made a right. Brit didn't really know why (because I knew she wasn't going to like where we were headed) but after awhile I decided to ruin her Christmas by mentioning that we had ridden all of the operating coasters except one (*which was an oversight on my part, sorry Fireball). I was shocked, but she actually decided against her better judgement to come along and give Joker another shot.

 

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Brit's always so serious around Joker clones. Not sure why.

Lucky for us (well... me), Joker didn't have a line so within no time we were directed to a side. Brit had been on this one once before, but no matter how often she rides these things she's never warmed up to them. Personally I think they're awesome so hopefully one day she comes around but I'm not holding my breath.

 

As was the case with Mind Eraser, Joker's station was also being assaulted by heat lamps and I wasn't complaining about that one bit. Unfortunately in this case we didn't have as much time to enjoy them, but I'm not about to complain about how short the wait was for such a great ride.

 

The ride went about the way I expected it to. Me cackling like an idiot, Brit hating her life and Brit saying after we got off that it wasn't that bad that time (even though she totally thought it was) followed by a resounding "no" at my suggestion to ride again before I could even finish asking the question. Sounds about right.

 

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So awesome...

As we were making our way back through Gotham City after our Joker ride, we both remarked about how impressed we were with the lights. This sounds weird, but in a way it was sort of cool that the DC area and the area by Wicked Cyclone were closed. At that point the park didn't feel like a Six Flags park. With the lights, small size and fun family atmosphere it honestly felt like a small, charming family park. I felt more like I was at Canobie Lake than Six Flags New England and at the time I was perfectly okay with that.

 

Great Adventure's Christmas event is amazing but it still feels like you're at Great Adventure. There's nothing wrong with that, but at Six Flags New England you feel like you're at a place that was designed specifically for a Christmas event. I'm aware that that sounds dumb, but we were absolutely loving it. This park really has a great holiday vibe.

 

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The giant ornament was great!

We continued on enjoying the lights and walking by the fire pits where people huddled around keeping warm and/or making Smores. As we walked by, Brit mentioned to me that she's never actually had Smores.

 

... what?

 

I forget exactly where we were headed, but it suddenly seemed trivial. It was settled. We were getting some f*cking Smores.

 

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THAT's better...

Full disclosure: Yeah, Smores are kind of "ehhh". They should be amazing, but generally they're a mess and a combination of 3 things that should never be combined. That said, f*ck all that. We were at Holiday in the Park and we were having Smores. In the end I think Brit sort of had the same opinion that I did, but at the same time felt accomplished that something could be crossed off of the bucket list.

 

After eating that sticky mess and making a stop in the restroom to wash our hands because we suck at making Smores properly I grabbed another beer and we decided to get in the queue for the show. This time we made it in with ease and while the show had very little to do with the holidays I think we both agreed that the acrobatics were really pretty impressive. By Six Flags standards this was a really great show. I won't spend too much time reviewing it since the event is over and it'll be something else next year but we were impressed.

 

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You know what's not impressive? My phone's zoom feature.

As the show dumped we realized we were pretty short on time. Lucky for us we had already managed to ride basically everything we wanted to ride but there was one thing left to do and we eagerly made our way to the park's train ride.

 

Six Flags New England has a train ride?

 

No it doesn't, we come here all the time. there's no train.

 

What?

 

Oh sh*t... a train.

 

Yeah, so I never knew this before but apparently Six Flags has a train. It's up in the old Thomas Town area that I've never set foot in and apparently it's decorated for Christmas. Since I didn't know the thing existed my expectations were low, but I have to admit that it was quite cute. It sort of crosses over itself and it's objectively an atrocious train ride but they did an awesome job on the lights. While it was popular the capacity was great so I highly recommend taking this thing for a spin during Holiday in the Park. The rest of the year? F*ck no.

 

A train at Six Flags New England. Who knew?

 

By then we only had about 25 minutes left and while we expected to have a hard time filling an evening the exact opposite turned out to be the case. We were having a blast at Holiday in the Park and we didn't want it to end. While we hated to leave we wanted to end with a bang so we made our way back down to Gotham City for a 29 degree Batman ride (or at least that was the plan).

 

I'm rarely one to care that much about ride removals (except flumes, don't F*CK with my flumes ). We had the opportunity to go to Great Adventure for closing day of Rolling Thunder and didn't care to even go, we were actually at this park with JJLehto on Cyclone's last day and we all decided at the same time that we didn't give a sh*t about the big party with fireworks or whatever and we all rode Bizarro instead. Seriously, I almost never care. That said, on our way to Batman while looking at the lights we heard the familiar obnoxious revving from Buzzsaw and it sort of stopped us in our tracks.

 

We knew that if we rode it we might not get to Batman, but we sort of both decided that we didn't care. I never thought we'd be ending a day at Six Flags New England on f*cking Buzzsaw, but there we were.

 

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I get it and I'm not complaining. This ride was probably a mechanical nightmare. It's ridiculously forceful, it sounds like death and the cycle had been shortened like crazy because it was probably ripping itself apart. That said, it was more fun than it ever had any right to be.

 

We were lucky enough to get the back again and as usual the ride delivered a magnificent combination of airtime and aggressive gut punches depending on which direction you were swinging. We both loved it and while I'm thrilled with the replacement (the Frisbee, not the teacups) it's going to be a shame walking down that midway and not seeing Buzzsaw. We were definitely happy to get one last ride.

 

When we exited the ride we still had about 3 minutes before park close and while I would have been perfectly content ending our night on Buzzsaw we decided to go for it anyway because I'm greedy like that. We quickly walked over to Batman and (with one minute to spare), entered the queue. Score!

 

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B&Ms cant operate below 40 degrees™

Just for fun I pulled out my phone while waiting for what turned out to be the last train of the night and it was 29 degrees as the last train dispatched. I don't know if it's just me but there's something hilariously fun about riding coasters in such stupid temperatures. The ride was as awesome as always, but riding it while getting an arctic blast in the face with a bunch of other people who are somehow just as insane as you are is really just the best. God I love Holiday in the Park...

 

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Thanks for an awesome night, Six Flags!!!

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The loop has excellent hang time and somehow the barrel roll is one of the better ones this side of Busch Gardens Tampa.

Mmm, reference to my second favorite coaster.

 

Great report as always, Bill. SFNE looks like a blast.

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Awesome update! It's always so weird to see you w/o a hat. I totally forgot that I was texting you from BGT while you guys were @ SFNE lol. Love that pic of Brit in front of the Batman lift, great shot. Also, RIP Buzzsaw, that ride is awesome.

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Great report! I still can't believe Six Flags is open in December now, but it sure beats a visit to Santa's Village. There's nothing wrong with Santa's Village, but it is nice to go to a park with legit coasters and not be asked by other parents where your kids are.

 

Odd you've gotten those rides on Tomahawk. I don't ride it super often, but I can't recall it ever doing that for me. I think I rode it twice this past year, once during Holiday in the Park.

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Always worth the wait! It was 84° here today, so this was just what I needed. I hear good things about Six Flags New England. I'm especially impressed by their ability to make an SLC actually good. Less impressed by their ability to decorate a Christmas tree.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thanks for reading guys!!!

 

Bill I have a very serious question to ask... how long have you known and been dating Brit for, yet you never knew she hadn’t had a S’more until this point in time?!!

 

Almost 10 years now. I know, I know...

 

Anyway, time for another trip report!

 

Per usual it looks like I'm super backed up on these things so I guess now that it's almost June I should probably start writing a trip report for our Florida trip in January.

 

As everyone knows, we go to Florida all the time but we were never really "Disney people". We liked the Magic Kingdom but I hadn't been to Epcot since I was little and the Universe of Energy was all the rage and I had never been to Animal Kingdom period. I've still never been to Hollywood Studios (I know... I know...).

 

A few weeks before Christmas I was shoveling mountains of snow out of the driveway (which was starting to seem like a daily occurrence) and realized I was already at the point where I'd had enough of winter's bullsh*t. When I finally got back inside to defrost and I could finally feel my fingers again I hopped on the computer to check and see if Frontier had any good deals down to Florida. As luck would have it, they did (surprise... lol) so I scooped up a couple of $35 plane tickets for late January.

 

We weren't sure where we were headed yet... obviously SeaWorld and Busch Gardens are always a given and we knew we wanted to spend some time visiting friends in Tampa but we still had some extra days to play with. We had been to Universal about 6 months prior and they hadn't really added anything new, and we have no interest in Legoland so we figured it was the perfect opportunity to finally end the Disney drought and we agreed that (in lieu of traditional "surprise" Christmas gifts) we would drop about $500 on 2, 2 day park hoppers to Disney World.

 

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We were super excited, and so was Mickey...

A few days later I mentioned our plans to mom and she was blown away by the airfare. She'd been hesitant to hop on the Frontier bandwagon for awhile but after much hesitation she kind of invited herself to tag along on the flight since she was as sick of winter as we were. She was headed down to visit some friends while we split off and went to Orlando but we did talk her into meeting up with us on the last day of the trip for a day at Busch Gardens Tampa.

 

After weeks of anticipation (and weeks of refreshing the mdx app hoping for the elusive "Flight of Passage" Fastpass to pop up with no luck), the day finally came, we went to pick up mom and we made the trek out to the miserable, traffic hellscape that is Long Island.

 

It was actually our first time flying out of ISP, but it's definitely my kind of airport... small terminal, reasonable economy parking within walking distance and a security line that probably never exceeds 10 minutes. I had no complaints and we've actually flown out of that airport a few times since and had the same good experience each time.

 

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Look at that little tray table on the plane... it's adorable. lol

 

The flight itself was uneventful and we landed early in Tampa. We had a great time hanging out with our friends down there but I'm fully aware that nobody here gives a sh*t so let's fast forward a few days. I'd say we should hop in the Delorean but this is a Disney report, not a Universal report. They don't play that sh*t. They just use pixie dust or whatever...

 

After a few days in Tampa we finally said our goodbyes and made our way east to Orlando. Robb and I had been messaging back and fourth for a few weeks prior to the trip and had planned to meet up for a drink that night. TPR had a crazy night with updates flowing in from the Harry Potter event at Universal and from the Dr. Phillips Center so I knew we'd have some time to kill. I-4 was (for some reason) moving great on a Friday from Tampa to Orlando and we found ourselves in the Orlando area in no time. This Disney trip was already off to a magical start .

 

As we breezed into the Orlando area right after sundown I knew we had tons of time to kill and I knew exactly where I planned to spend some of it. Brit was lost in her phone so she hardly noticed when I pulled off in Kissimmee for seemingly no reason. A few minutes later she caught on to me when some shady looking carnival rides covered in wonderfully gaudy lights came into view.

 

Since it was the dead of winter I hadn't been on a coaster in about a month and I definitely had the itch. Thankfully I also had the perfect way to scratch that itch.

 

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We didn't plan on staying long, but since we had time to kill anyway and some extra ride credits on a Fun Spot card that had been burning a hole in my wallet for months I couldn't say no to a night ride on Mine Blower. The park was bustling but after waiting in about a 15 minute line, we added a few extra credits to our card and made our way over to Mine Blower.

 

This wasn't a credit stop or anything, we had ridden the spinner a few years prior and we rode Mine Blower during our fall trip. This was just me wanting to ride an awesome, supremely underrated coaster on the way to dinner.

 

As is usually the case at this place there was a solid crowd but lines were totally manageable. The big draw really seems to be the Go Karts so we had no issue walking right into the Mine Blower station. Since we were paying per ride, we figured we might as well make it a good one and we waited an extra train for the front.

 

A few minutes later we were locked and loaded and were (once again) treated to a super smooth but totally insane and awesome ride. I've heard the complaints about this thing but I don't get them at all. This ride is aggressive for sure, but it's a blast (get it... get it). I can't believe how much track they managed to cram into such a small space. It feels like it goes on forever. Thumbs up for Mine Blower!

 

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... so good.

 

After getting our Minds (or... Mines) blown we decided to head out and grab something to eat. Robb had suggested Player 1 bar and I was down, but I knew that convincing Brit to go to a video game bar would be a tall order so we eventually settled on Bahama Breeze since I had a gift card anyway.

 

Backstory: Feel free to skip. This has nothing to do with anything...

 

I work with this older woman who's so sweet but... well... old. We live near route 52 in Fishkill, NY and there's a local shithole restaurant called "Seasons". We're talking stuck in the 80's... hanging lights over the tables that have those glass covers on them with floral designs and shit. Like... shithole. We could walk there but we've only been there once. Anyway, she's a snowbird so while down in Florida she found a gift card to some place called "Seasons 52". Not thinking about the fact that it's sort of weird that she could buy a gift card in Florida to a shit hole restaurant called "Seasons" on route 52 in a small town in central New York, she happily handed it to me for Christmas. It says "Seasons" and "52" after all. She's adorable, and I never had the heart to tell her but I was so confused. It was only after she started asking about Seasons in Fishkill (where I thankfully lied and told her it was great) that I put two and two together. I laughed all the way home...

 

So anyway, the good news is that this place is in the same chain as Bahama Breeze (which I have heard of) so we figured it was a good opportunity to finally use this thing. Truth be told I always thought Bahama Breeze sort of sucked, but it also has a fun tropical atmosphere which is fun if you're a tourist in Florida in January. They had plastic covers up on the deck, heaters and a fire pit because evidently 68 degrees in January is "cold" when you're in Florida and it's sort of located in a Golden Corral parking lot but whatever... it's "tropical" and it's free.

 

Dinner was... fine and they had Landshark on draft and a steel drum band so the atmosphere more than made up for the food and we were loving life. We hung out for a bit before we got a text from Robb suggesting we meet up at Disney Springs. I was up for whatever so I opened the map app and realized we were basically right there and that I should probably head for the orange garage. A few seconds later I got a text from Robb saying "park in the orange garage". Ooh... I'm proud of myself. I'm not as much of a Disneytard as I thought.

 

After parking the car we made our way over to the Splitsville bowling alley where we met up with Robb who promptly wagered the entire TPR empire on a single game.

 

... okay, that didn't happen and we didn't bowl (and if it did he might have aimed for the gutter on purpose depending on how the Youtube comment section was looking that day). We actually just went there for the upper level bar and it was a really neat place. If you want to bowl it's insanely cool looking inside, but even if you don't the second level bar is awesome and a great place to have a few drinks and hang out. We had a great time and it was nice to finally meet Robb. Honestly we could have stayed a lot longer but a little after 1 in the morning we finally decided to head out and back to the hotel on I Drive. We had a big day ahead.

 

Obviously we crashed pretty hard and seemingly in a flash we woke up to the sound of the alarm clock. Normally I hate that sound, but I happily welcomed it knowing that we were on our way to the "Happiest place on earth".

 

Our first stop of the day was Epcot. I've got to say it's weird that we were voluntarily headed to Epcot at the very beginning of our Disney vacation. When we were kids, Epcot was never really something to get excited about. I didn't go to Disney World to learn, there were very few characters and I spent most of my time at Epcot wishing I was at the Magic Kingdom instead.

 

That said, Epcot has totally blown up since then. Test Track, Soarin', Mission Space, Frozen Ever After... what a stacked collection of rides! This definitely wasn't the Epcot of my childhood and I was more than okay with that.

 

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Good Morning from Epcot!

After making our way to the front gate, going through security and pounding on the portable Purell dispensers (it was awesome of Disney to put these things EVERYWHERE during the height of flu season) we made our way straight to Test Track.

 

We knew about the single rider line but we wanted to experience the park together so we decided to head to Test Track first and then make our way to Soarin' later. Since we got there early, the posted wait time was only about 10 minutes and we were dumped right into a pre-show room of sorts where we were tasked with designing a car.

 

Since I didn't know much about the ride we decided to do what any two morons would do and give the car the most insane power ratings imaginable with no consideration whatsoever into anything but speed. I think we succeeded.

 

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lol, our car sucks

I'm actually pretty surprised that it's efficiency rating isn't an even zero since I think we strapped rockets to it or something. PS: Chevy... call me.

 

I avoided watching any povs of this ride (as is usually the case with dark rides) so I really had no idea what to expect but this ride really blew me away. I knew about the final section but the indoor dark ride portions were actually really neat. I totally get why people rave about Test Track. It has a little bit of everything and it's surprisingly fast and thrilling for a Disney ride. Test track gets a huge thumbs up from us.

 

After Test Track, we made our way to Mission Space for our first Fastpass. You're only able to reserve one "Tier 1" Fastpass and I was sure to reserve Frozen Ever After 30 days out and we ended up with Nemo and Mission Space for our other two.

 

I haven't heard many good things about Mission Space to be honest, but I was open minded and the alternatives all seemed dumb. Everyone hates Journey to Imagination, Spaceship Earth would be a near walk-on by the time we left anyway, the Land wasn't really known for it's wait times and I didn't much care about "Turtle Talk with Crush" so Mission Space was really a pretty obvious choice.

 

Apparently there's an intense side and a tamer side, so obviously we picked the intense side even though we still had no idea what type of ride this was or what to expect. We boarded the super weird ride vehicles but honestly... I still didn't really know what the hell we were about to ride. They're very cramped and there's a screen in front of your face along with a few knobs. Those were really the only clues and they weren't much to go on.

 

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This ride building looks awesome. It's actually one of the coolest looking things in Future World.

The ride started and I spent the first few seconds trying to figure out what exactly I was riding. It's a super weird ride... I feel like it's sort of a combination of a Gravitron and a Motion Simulator but I don't know. After wondering about this for awhile I eventually decided to stop trying to figure it out and enjoy the ride and I have to say, I kind of loved it (and I should specify that this is coming from someone who would happily vote to dedicate an absurd amount of taxpayer money to round up every Gravitron on earth, send them into orbit like the spaceships they're supposed to be and have them crash land on the surface of the sun).

 

The effect is really convincing and the interactive elements are pretty cool too (though I don't think I was actually doing anything by pressing buttons or doing whatever they told me to do). I'd really only heard bad things about this ride but I'm putting myself out there and saying that I actually found Mission Space to be generally awesome. I feel like it probably makes a ton of people sick since it's a little on the intense side for Disney but it's still a fantastic attraction and I really don't get the hate. This ride blew our expectations away!

 

Up next was Soarin' which was on the other side of Future World in the Land pavilion. We didn't have a Fast Pass but the line wasn't too awful with the new theater. As crazy as it was, we got to talking with the people next to us in line and it turns out they live about 5 minutes away from us. For the first few hours of the trip I would always respond to people who asked where we were from with the standard "New York... about an hour north of the city" but eventually I just started giving ultra specific answers once I realized that the entire state of New York got sick of shoveling white bullsh*t at the same time and all of them were at Disney World. Seriously... the whole state.

 

Anyway, Soarin' was awesome. I feel like this is going to be a bad report since I pretty much liked everything over the course of two days but since everyone on here was so helpful in telling us what to ride and what to avoid we really didn't have many duds. Soarin though... yeah, that ride is phenomenal. I had never seen a theater with moving cars like that but it was a really awesome concept and overall just a stunning attraction. I definitely see why this ride gets so much praise.

 

After exiting the ride was opted to stay in the Land pavilion and ride "Living with the Land". Obviously this ride existed when we were kids but we somehow never rode it. I felt like I had reasonable expectations and I knew it was an "edutainment" ride but curiosity got the best of me and we hopped in line. The wait time was actually posting at 30 minutes but I pulled out the Disney app and after agreeing that neither of us really gave a sh*t about Nemo, we cancelled it, booked a Land Fastpass and walked right on. Score!

 

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The California parks need a version of this ride where they grow nothing but weed...

Living with the Land was actually a really neat ride and it was even cooler to learn that it was a fully functional lab. They basically took something that they might have had anyway and made a ride out of it which is truly a stroke of brilliance. Obviously this ride is what it is... a slow moving boat ride through a garden... but I liked it. It's unique and enjoyable.

 

By that point it was late morning / early afternoon and we were running short on time at Epcot. Our initial plan was to spend Saturday at Epcot and Magic Kingdom and Sunday at Animal Kingdom but since Sunday was now showing a chance of rain we decided to swing by Animal Kingdom on Saturday to make sure we rode Everest and Primeval Whirl in nice weather since while I know they run in the rain, I also knew they would be much more enjoyable otherwise. Unfortunately that meant we didn't have much time at Epcot, but we had enough time to hit all of the essentials.

 

We were both a bit hungry and since we could choose any type of food in the world and since it was early and we wanted pastries there wasn't much to think about. Go to France, go directly to France, do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

 

As an aside, please remember that we know jack sh*t about Disney World. We're getting better, but I can totally see some locals banging their head on the keyboard in response to our food choices or ride choices. Please, please try to remember that we don't know d*ck and it's nor our fault we're Disneytards.

 

That said: I actually really did enjoy the french pastries. That's not really a surprise... how can you screw up french pastries? We also really enjoyed sitting by the lake in the sun and eating them. World Showcase actually gives me some SeaWorld vibes. My favorite thing about the place is the relaxed atmosphere, large central lake and ample amount of places to sit, eat, drink and enjoy the fact that all of your friends back home are freezing their nuts off at the gas station getting gas for their snowblowers.

 

After enjoying our pastries, we looked at the time and realized we had better make our way back over to the other side of World Showcase. I could have sat there all day, but we had a date with an awesome, awesome boat ride. That's right... the Gran Fiesta Tour Starring The Three Caballeros!

 

I knew that this ride would probably be garbage, but I'd never ridden it and wanted to try it out. You pretty much have to walk through a Mexican restaurant to get to it, and I guess it never has a line since there's not even an option to use Fastpass on it.

 

In my head, I had played this up to be the ultimate drunk ride. While I was totally sober at that point, I had aspirations of loving this ride, coming back in the fall, drinking around the world, and riding the Mexico boat ride when I was about 10 drinks in. Luckily, the ride was so ridiculous that I feel like it lived up to those expectations quite well. At this point I'm convinced that the only reason this ride even exists is to entertain drunk people who've spent the day drinking themselves stupid in World Showcase. This ride also exists to give Universal fans a counter-point when Disney fans complain about how many unnecessary screens you'll find at Universal. The The Three Caballeros must have heard that complaint and said, "Hold my Dos Equis".

 

I didn't take any pictures, and honestly that's probably all for the best.

 

While I was really looking forward to that dumb ride more than I should have been, the real reason that we rode the stupid boat ride was to kill time until it was time to use our Fast Pass on the not-stupid boat ride nextdoor.

 

I remember riding Maelstrom once as a kid. It was... "fine". I was surprised to see the absurd amount of fanboy rage that happened when Disney announced that they were putting Disney characters in a Disney park (especially since I didn't remember Maelstrom being anything special). I guess I get it though, it's "Norway" and the rides are supposed to be "edutainment". I've heard from multiple sources that Maelstrom was a very educational and authentic experience. It's well documented fact that most Norwegians begin their day with a cup of coffee, then read the paper, then get in their cars and go to work, then encounter a 3 headed troll on the way to work who's pissed off that they're there, then they have a spell cast on them, then they almost fall down a waterfall and then they run from polar bears and fall into the ocean or some sh*t.

 

... education

 

So yeah, I know I'm late to that discussion but I was super excited to ride the attraction that caused the Disnerds to lose their collective sh*t.

 

Anyway, we entered the ride building and the first thing we noticed was how awesome the queue was. We didn't actually have to stand in it, but I'm glad we had the chance to see a bit of it because they really did a spectacular job.

 

I feel like I don't really need to give a play by play of the ride since I'm probably the last person on this site to ride this thing but I really, really liked it. The animatronics were some of the best at the resort and the whole ride has a really fun, whimsical vibe to it. As is the case with any Disney boat ride, it's not going to blow you away with any big, specific holy sh*t moments like a Universal ride would, but it's loaded with details and it really immerses you in another world and hits you with an endless amount of small, subtle details that probably makes it very re-rideable.

 

For the first time in forever, Maelstrom doesn't suck.

 

I do think this is my favorite of the Disney World slow moving boat rides (oh shut up, Disney "purists", Pirates is great but give me a break). Pirates has more going on and Navi River Journey is more visually appealing (and the Mexico boat ride, Living with the Land and Small World are... well... boat rides), but this ride combines nice visuals with a LOT of great animatronics (including that insane Olaf one), a slow drop and fun music. It's a brilliant, "Disney style" attraction. It's amazing that they managed to turn Maelstrom into something so awesome.

 

We exited Frozen and saw that it was early to mid afternoon so we decided it was just about time to head out. We were tempted to spend more time in Epcot and have a sit down meal (since I mean... it's Epcot) but with the next day's forecast being questionable we opted to hurry over to Animal Kingdom instead to make sure we got a ride on Everest when it wasn't pouring outside. There was still one more ride we needed to hit though so we made our way back up to the front (reserving Primeval Whirl on the way since Everest wasn't available).

 

Obviously the icon of Epcot is Spacehip Earth. I remember riding it as a kid and liking it, but I remembered from our recent trip to Magic Kingdom that certain Disney attractions didn't age all that well and I sort of felt like this "futuristic" one might fall into that category. It seemed worthy of a ride though since it was now afternoon and the hour long line had shrunk down to 10 minutes. I wasn't expecting much, but how could you go to Epcot and not ride Spaceship Earth?

 

The line absolutely flew (probably because I spent it refreshing the app over and over again until I snagged Expedition Everest and cancelled Primeval Whirl), and a few minutes later we were up inside the giant golf ball from outer space and headed on a journey through time (or... something). I have to say, I actually really, really like this ride. I expected it to be dated, but I didn't really feel that it was. Could they brighten up a few scenes and update some small things? Sure... but does it "need" it? No.

 

The ride has a TON of animatronics and some really cool scenes. It's a really long ride which was also pretty neat. Maybe it was a case of low expectations, but we both left with favorable opinions of Spaceship Earth and it seemed like a fitting way to end our time at Epcot.

 

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Bye Epcot! It's been real...

When I was a kid, I really didn't care for Epcot. Sure, there were one or two good rides but it seemed like a huge waste of time when we could have been at Magic Kingdom. I don't know if it's a case of me getting older, a case of Disney adding tons of awesome attractions to this park or what but I feel much differently about this park now.

 

If I had to critique anything at Epcot I guess it would be that I DO feel like Future World is a bit dated and basically every building there aside from Spaceship Earth, Mission Space and a few others looks like they're stuck in the 80's but I feel like Disney will update that over time. Plus, does it really matter when the rides themselves all kick so much ass? Oh, and more importantly... World Showcase is stunning. Disney is doing a great job with Epcot. My opinion of that place has changed dramatically for the better.

 

Epcot was awesome, but as we hopped in our obnoxiously ugly Kia Soul rental car I was over the moon excited for Animal Kingdom. I've been hearing great things about the park for years and recently I'd heard about how great Pandora was almost nonstop so after almost a decade of anticipation I was definitely pretty hyped.

 

Unfortunately I did have to make a quick pit stop on the way though... I recently brought some new sneakers that sucked balls, and while I planned to bring them to Disney to "break them in" I realized at that point that they were pure trash and that was never going to happen so we decided to leave the bubble real quick and hit up a CVS on 192 so I could grab some of those gel things and be "gellin like a felon" so we figured we'd just grab some fast food while we were out there and save a buck.

 

We grabbed the gel things and (not wanting to waste much time) we decided to hit up a nearby Burger King. As we pulled up to the drive thru, I pulled my phone out and started messing with the app again. The first few times I didn't see anything that made me want to change my reservation, but eventually my persistence paid off and "Navi River Journey" popped up. Holy sh*t! An Avatar ride? Same day??? God, once you get the hang of this app it's really quite awesome.

 

I didn't think it was possible going in, but somehow we were now even more excited for our afternoon at Animal Kingdom than we were before.

 

Up next: Animal Kingdom

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Nice update! I am now excited for the Animal Kingdom part especially since I have not been to WDW in over two decades. I better start paying attention to these TR's because whether I like it or not I assume they will pull me in for a visit once they open up the Star Wars part. Damn you Mickey!

 

The California parks need a version of this ride where they grow nothing but weed...

 

Meal plan sales would probably go up at these parks. And if there was ever a power outage where the ride just stopped....no one would care. Just reach out and 'relax'.

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Great report!

 

Test Track really is one of the best rides at the resort. I really wonder how many people try and make an energy efficient vehicle on Test Track. Every single person I talk to tries to get their efficiency rating down to zero.

 

Also you summed up the Gran Fiesta Tour perfectly. I think the big difference is that Disney's (until Avatar) major dark rides weren't as dependent on screens as Universal. I consider Gran Fiesta Tour more of a supporting ride, though it's my mom's favorite ride in the entire park thanks to her love of Donald Duck.

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