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RailRider

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RailRider last won the day on April 10 2013

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    Male
  • Location
    Ohio
  • Interests
    Family, Amusement Parks, and Friends. Nothing better than a relaxing day at ye ol amusement park.

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  1. New Attractions and Rides are a mere band aid for the root problem that Kings Island and other CF parks face. Poor Customer Service, low quality dining and lacking entertainment continue to be major issues that are neglected every year. Especially at Kings Island.
  2. Disney knocked it out of the park at D23 with all of the new park additions coming over the next 5 years. EPCOT was the least talked about but is a huge winner with the revitalization it is receiving and making it more family friendly.
  3. More screen based rides coming. This will be an upgraded version of Gringotts. While fun it is no longer unique and is a tired concept at Universal. Sorry Im a bit jaded towards Universal. Was down there last Summer and so much of the attention has been focused on Harry Potter the rest of the parks have suffered. Especially IoA outside of Harry Potter. The park just felt tired and worn out for a big Orlando park. The only other new addition the park has seen since opening was Kong and it was randomly shoehorned in to Jurassic Park. Look at their last few rides and upcoming ride (Fast and Furious) All screen based or screens play a major role. It becomes very tiring after a few days and rides like Dragon Challenge were a much needed break from all of the screens.
  4. Development plans aside, this area is too stinking hot to draw huge summer tourist crowds. Families travel in the Summer and Summer temperatures in Casa Grande average well over 100 degrees starting at the end of May through September. Mmmm yes I would like to take my family vacation to the Desert in August when its 108 degrees and go walk around a theme park. There is a reason this market remains untapped and underdeveloped when it comes to large Amusement/Theme Parks - it is too stinking hot during prime Summer travel months.
  5. Yes I have heard about the issue with the toilet bowl slide and it being a water flow issue. Seems like that would be an easy fix, but you never know. We are doing the Easter route this May and I cannot wait to go back to Puerto Rico. One of my favorite ports.
  6. I know Right? I think we are holding off till Fall of 2019 so that Star Wars, Toy Story and Avatar are all open. But next year is tempting with Avatar opening.
  7. We have sailed on many of Royals ships and prior to sailing on the Oasis (which we have been on twice) Freedom was always our favorites. We never needed slides, but now with Harmony receiving them as well as them dry-docking the Freedom class with them, Royal has given us just one more reason not to leave. We always book dining and shows well in advance, because we hate waiting. Can't wait to experience Harmony this May, plus we get to go back to Puerto Rico.
  8. The almost Annual Traditional of our Family Trip to Disney World happened this past September. Once again it was myself, both daughters (9,2) and my wife. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside, visited every park and attended MNSSHP at the Magic Kingdom. As always we had a magical time at Disney and it always seems to be something different that we experience that makes it so much fun. Originally we planned on going to Animal Kingdom 2 days and not visiting Disney Studios, but with Rivers of Light being delayed we decided to spend our last day at Disney Studios and had so much fun with all of the new Star Wars interactions and night time show. This park is going to be insane once Toy Story and Star Wars open MNSSHP was a huge amount of fun and it may be a better after hours party than Mickey's Christmas party. Crowds were light since it was early in September and we scored the coveted Family photo with the 7 Dwarfs at the start of the party. Also the viewing we had for HalloWishes was spectacular. We sat in the expanded hub area on the green astro turf. We were able to sit down for the entire show and were never once crowded, really nice not having kids on shoulders blocking your view. Rather than post a bunch of photos I am posting the video I made from the trip. I think its a neat way to relive the memories. Everything was shot on my GoPro. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts. Our next trip will probably not be till Fall of 2019 once Start Wars is open.
  9. As many of you know I am an avid Disney fan, yet we always cruise with Royal. I find it really hard to pay twice the money for a Disney Cruise when we have always had an amazing time. Our last cruise my youngest wasn't even 2 and she had an amazing time. We cruised on Oasis of the Seas which is awesome for the whole family and in May we will be on Harmony of the Seas. Here is a video of our cruise from last year. Save the money and put it towards a trip to Disney World.
  10. I was of the same belief that there was not enough to do at DHS during our past trip that we didn't plan on visiting this past October. But as our trip was coming to an end we decided to go to DHS instead of a 2nd day at Animal Kingdom. We were quite surprised at how much fun we had with all of the new Star Wars shows and New Character Interactions. Ended up being one of our favorite days at Disney. Disney has done a good job at adding these new experiences while the rest of the park is under construction, DHS never had that many attractions to begin with. Honestly it was half a park when it opened. Very Exciting years ahead for Disney 2017 - AK - Pandora - which looks amazing 2018 - Toy Story Land 2019 - Star Wars Land Also during this time is the Refurb of Caribbean Beach with addition of Vacation Club Rumored Aerial Transport between EPCOT, Caribbean Beach, Pop Century, Art of Animation and the Studios
  11. Agreed the meal plan is a much better option for us. Honestly we like the Deluxe Dining Plan because we combined table service credits and will eat around 5-6 Signature Restaurants during our trip. We come out ahead in the end when you figure each Signature bill costs between $200 - $300 for a family of 4. Not to mention we will hit 3-4 character meals which are easily $150 each. There is a big difference between Disney Quick Service/Counter Service and Table Service. Folks that pay out of pocket are less likely to hit Table Service locations because of the cost, yet quality is so much better. That is why the DDP is the way for us.
  12. Just a few additional tips. Use the rider swap program at the bigger rides like Space Mountain, 7 Dwarfs and Big Thunder since you have a young child. This will give your older children multiple rides as the other parent returns to the FP+ line. If memory serves the returning parent is allowed to bring 2 guests with them for the Rider Swap Return. Also I would recommend using FP+ on PeterPan, 7 Dwarfs and SpaceMountain. Highly Recommend looking at easywdw.com for great in park touring cheat sheets and FP+ booking. Lastly on EMH evening days I would consider a Rope Drop morning with plans to leave the park by mid afternoon, because crowds will continue to build as the later extra hours approach. We have always avoided EMH days at parks. You might consider Animal Kingdom as a great park to visit instead of MK, especially with Pandora opening May 27th Most Importantly Have Fun
  13. I was one that took advantage of the Legacy Fast Pass system. One of the big secrets with the old system is there were rides not connected to the system so you could double up, plus you could ride standby all morning while continuously collecting paper tickets when your window opened again. Even though these tickets had printed return times, you could return at any point throughout the day. Basically the morning was used for standby rides and then you would use all of your paper tickets in the afternoon for much more popular rides. The new Magic Band system is awesome! Have used it multiple times and it is fantastic. I love going in to my Disney trip and already having multiple ride reservations. For example our last trip we went having 2 FP+ for the new Frozen Ride, when standby lines were around 2 hours. This new system sounds interesting and I hope it works, but the powered part is interesting. This sounds more like the Q-bot system to me. Also I doubt the device will have much of a screen to help navigate the system, rides, and such. Will you need to use their app on your phone to see whats going on in the park then make separate changes on your band? Where the Magic Band system integrates the two. Shall be interesting to see.
  14. Such a tragic accident that seems like it could have been prevented. Watched a few POV's of this ride and I don't see any proximity sensors on the lift, but there does appear to be a ride attendant platform at the top of the lift with what Im guess is an E-stop panel. Yet in all the videos I watched there was never a ride attendant stationed there. Should be very interesting to see what the investigation finds.
  15. I see validity in all the points raised in this discussion and there is one thing that hasn't been discussed to great length is how Disney is using pricing to limit crowds. Yes you read that correct, Disney can only handle so many people in the parks on a daily basis and crowds have exploded for the parks the last 5+ years. Heading in to this season Disney raised prices all around, plus they limited the discounts they offered. One example being Free Dining, it was still offered this year but it required either a park hopper ticket or an upgraded room from standard level. This is just one example of how Disney has worked to limit, even scale back attendance growth. Look at any Disney blog site that is frequently in the parks and they are all commenting that even days it should be packed the crowds haven't been as heavy as they were in years past. Something else to discuss is Disney is a huge expansion/transition phase right now and once they new lands open, Pandora, Star Wars and Toy Story, the effected parks will become more than just half day parks. They will become whole day if not 2 day parks, allowing Disney to spread their guests over more of the property instead of guests flocking back to Magic Kingdom or Epcot once they realize they are done with the other parks. Once these new areas go live Disney will begin reworking Epcot to increase its appeal with added attractions like Guardians of the Galaxy and character centered rides in the World Showcase, like Ratatoui (These are the rumors and they make sense). Also at some point Tomorrowland will be getting a fresh update with a Tron Light Cycle coaster and other attractions, this has already begun with paint work and the limiting of Stitch, which is a horrible ride. This expansion phase isn't new, but it is more evident right now. New Fantasyland was first, followed by the Magic Band system, which is amazing, and then the retiming of Downtown Disney to Disney Springs, which is very nicely done. Lastly I was one who didn't want to go to the Studios at all this trip because of all of the construction, but as our week progressed we realized there was no need to go back to the other 3 parks so we visited the Studios our last day. The new Star Wars offerings at the park are great and the nighttime Star Wars Spectacular was insane. Plus the new character meet n greets are fantastic, Olaf is in a league of his own, as are the shows they continue to run at the park. With the changes coming to this park it will easily be a 2 day park and potentially a 3 day park when you consider there is close to 20 acres of expansion coming.
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