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Have Your Tickets Ready...Our Park Entrances Deep Dive is Now Open!
76 Plays3 days ago
This episode, we tackle a deep dive on a very important but often overlooked aspect of theme parks...entrances and entry plazas! What makes a good park entrance—due to theming, ride interactions, or something else—or what parks are lacking a great entry? Our listeners are in pretty close agreement on the standouts! Hear about Jenn's recent Florida trip based on more vibes than coasters, and find out about Allison's (misplaced) issues with Dorney Park.
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Transcript
Introductions and Podcast Planning
00:00:00
Speaker
You are listening to the Inverted Creative Podcast. I'm Allison. I'm Brian. And I'm Jen.
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello, Jen. Hey, Allison. have a good question for you. oh boy. Have you ever walked up to a a park and have been completely taken aback?
00:00:29
Speaker
By your first glance at the park. Yes. Well, that's good because we're going to get into it. Yes. This is going to be... This is this episode idea kind of came up literally yesterday when we were like, oh, we record tomorrow and we have no clue what we're recording about.
00:00:47
Speaker
Yeah. And it's a really good one. We have like a list of ideas of things that we can do. um But this one came outside of that list. We have a list of possible topics that we never actually pull from.
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, we usually have we have a list that we could look at, but instead we panic. And then figure out what we're going to do outside.
00:01:11
Speaker
So if anybody has any additional topic ideas.
Personal Trips and Experiences
00:01:16
Speaker
We could use them at some point or, you know, sign up for the Patreon once we get that going and suggest them there because we will have a discussion post about that.
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah, because we clearly do not pull from our list. We're just waiting on ah Jen to record herself so I can make a video about Patreon. Oh my gosh. Call me out. Okay. nice Oh yeah.
00:01:38
Speaker
We'll get there. We'll get there. It's coming soon, guys. We've been saying that for a while, but I swear I've recorded video for it. I have gotten other footage for it.
00:01:51
Speaker
it's it's It's almost there. I am not yet, but it's coming. By the time this episode is released, she should have sent me video. Yes.
00:02:01
Speaker
See? And I am getting snowed in this weekend, which means I should have all the time in the world to edit a video. Heck yeah.
00:02:15
Speaker
Perfect. Woohoo. Yay. then Patreon is coming, guys.
00:02:22
Speaker
Um, yeah. You have a trip. Do you want to talk about it? Yeah, we can. I had nothing to report. So yeah. Off season, man. Oh, so tired of it.
00:02:36
Speaker
Yeah. I had a quick trip to Universal. Biggest shout out to k Christina. It was my bestie Christina's birthday birthday. Um, so we did a quick little Disney trip and we did mostly,
00:02:53
Speaker
um
00:02:56
Speaker
mostly Disney. But if I'm like looking back on the trip, I wrote almost nothing. Um, it was all about the vibes. It was all about the vibes. And also it's like, it's a holiday, holiday weekend. So the parks were all slammed.
00:03:13
Speaker
Um,
00:03:16
Speaker
The lines were really long. I get really overstimulated. So um I think all we rode were the first day I got there, I wanted to go for a walk. My friend, i got there earlier in the day and then my friend Nick got there later in the day and he he lives pretty close to Universal. So we just went to Universal to go for a walk um and ended our walk with Men in Black and mummy well i guess like not ended our walk it was right in the middle because we had to walk home but um yeah we got to go on mummy and men in black and then i think the rest of the trip the only things i really rode were um pirates of the caribbean
00:04:04
Speaker
is that the end of the list yeah
00:04:09
Speaker
Maybe. No, Tower Terror. And that is the end of the list. So, uh, no new creds for your, uh, No, no new creds for my X700. Um, yeah, I'm pretty sure those are the only two things we rode pretty much the entire weekend. We just hung out. We actually went to the new, um, Beacon Barrel.
00:04:34
Speaker
Um, yeah, we went there twice, actually. um And it was so cool. It's like the vibes in there are really cool. The effects throughout the room, it really gives some like Trader Sam's vibes.
00:04:46
Speaker
Um, that makes sense based on, uh, what I've seen of that. Yeah. Very cool experience. We really liked it. Um, the second time our, like pirate server, um, he was absolutely fantastic. Like fully just made the experience so great.
00:05:07
Speaker
Um, And yeah, the drinks were kind of crazy too. um They're a little expensive, like the Disney pricing, so they're a little expensive. They're like 19 to 21, I think, or maybe 17 to 21.
00:05:23
Speaker
um But the drinks are like pretty strong. I was a little surprised. i'm like, for Magic Kingdom, I'm a little surprised that your batch $20 margarita is this strong.
00:05:38
Speaker
um They also have a corn cake thing in there that was like to die for. There's one with peppers and corn. It's the vegetarian option. Oh my gosh. One of the best things I've eaten at Magic Kingdom.
00:05:50
Speaker
Wow. It's so good. i I also am. If there are no food haters at Magic Kingdom, then I'm not here anymore. Yeah.
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah. But yeah, outside of that, I rode nothing. My camera rode nothing. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait. One more.
Trip Reflections and Future Plans
00:06:13
Speaker
The Seas with Nemo's and Friends.
00:06:17
Speaker
And that was it. It's such like a funny trip because it's like we were just there to hang out and vibe and experience. Like it was so busy that we were just like, where we just want to walk around and hang out and experience the parks. And those can be fantastic park days.
00:06:30
Speaker
Yeah, my friend Laurel, um I've never been to Disney with her, neither has my friend Christina. So, um, we got, she had a Disney ticket, so we were able to just kind of, like, park hop and do things that she wanted to do, and one of them was, like, get a margarita at Epcot and walk around to Epcot, and then, um
00:06:57
Speaker
She wanted to see the fireworks. So I actually i have access to a place called Top of the World Lounge. It's for DVC members. And um it has a really cool view.
00:07:10
Speaker
It's on top of Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort. And it has a really cool view of the fireworks. So we watched the fireworks from there. yeah, I can imagine like closest hotel to the park. Yeah, and it's a little bit of a weird angle because it feels a little disjointed.
00:07:24
Speaker
um But are very cool angle nonetheless. So um we went there, we watched the fireworks there, then did Beacon Barrel and Pirates the Caribbean.
00:07:36
Speaker
Oh, she did Tron too. She did Tron for her first time, so she got the credit, um but I did not. So yeah, not much else to report. Hey, that's still more of a report than I have.
00:07:49
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah. It was a good, quick little trip. I also am like back in Orlando very, very soon for an extended period of time. So I was like, I don't want to overdo it this weekend. And yeah, I did see Fast and Furious construction. hey was able to see like I took some pictures on my camera.
00:08:11
Speaker
Like I could see the the footers and stuff. It looks so cool. Oh, dirt. Yay. Well, it's concrete now, too. Like, a lot of the footers are placed. It's kind of crazy.
00:08:26
Speaker
so Yeah, they their construction timeline is a quick.
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, but that's it. I don't have anything else. I think literally the most exciting thing that happened over the weekend for me was waking up i forget was saturday sunday i don't remember which day waking up um chilling at home and then remembering about 20 minutes before we had to leave oh we're meeting somebody for lunch today oh and i didn't think i had any plans oh man i totally forgot so james if you're listening to the podcast i don't remember if you said if you do or not but uh hi at least sorry we were almost late for lunch
00:09:12
Speaker
You made it. That's all that matters. I did. And it was good time. We got a beer. Very expensive beer. I don't know if I would want to go back to that place. um It was like eight bucks for the sour. And it was like three and a half percent or something. who It was a little much.
00:09:28
Speaker
Yeah, that's intense. But it was good to see him. Good to hang out. Yeah. I do also have to point out um if you're gluten sensitive and not celiac,
00:09:41
Speaker
I found out that the um
00:09:45
Speaker
Baseline Tap House at Hollywood Studios carries Stone Delicious IPA, which it's a little bit of a risky one. it's It's a really weird beer. it's So it's made with gluten, but then it's gluten removed.
00:10:01
Speaker
I don't know how they do it. They have this whole process that they patent. I think they patented. I don't know. There's this whole process on their website that they talk about, um, about how they remove the gluten from their beers. So I think it's still not safe for people with celiac because it, at one point there was gluten in the drink, but, um, if you can do some gluten cross-contamination, um, I don't have issues with it because it's so little traces of gluten.
00:10:29
Speaker
Um, But I was like the highlight of my trip. One of my friends was like, I, there's two IPAs. I don't know which one. And I was like, I don't remember why I can remember Stone Delicious, but Stone Delicious. I remember liking that. I can't remember why or like where I had it. And then after I asked about the gluten-free cider and he had already poured my cider, he's like, this one's actually gluten removed. And I was like, man, that's why I know that one. um It's still not like the best IPA for a gluten standard, but it is.
00:11:00
Speaker
It's another option. For a gluten-free or gluten-sensitive person, um it's a fantastic beer option. So, very excited.
00:11:13
Speaker
and Cool. Yeah, so that was my weekend. That's it. Are we done with like the early stuff of the podcast? Only 11 minutes in Well, yeah. I don't think there was really much going on It's off-season. Yeah.
00:11:31
Speaker
Um, yeah, it's the off-season. What are yeah you gonna do? It's okay, I'll have more. You'll have more very soon. Yeah, very soon I'll have more. i'm I'm not even gonna know how to do a trip recap for the length of my trip.
00:11:46
Speaker
It's fine. To be fair, our next episode that we have planned will be a fun one. It will be. I'm very excited for that one. I also... have, i guess, it's more of a to-come update, but I'm actually going back to two parks, um...
00:12:04
Speaker
that I need redemptions at slash like one of them. I had a fantastic time at overall, but there is a coaster there that I rode in conditions that are not very, um, good for that coaster. So I need to go back and, and redemption for that coaster specifically.
00:12:23
Speaker
um which is fury. i have to go ride fury again. Ooh. Um, And then Dollywood, which I actually like... I went to that park and...
00:12:40
Speaker
Long story short is short, I thought my dog was recovered from her injuries. The same injuries that makes her not make her not work anymore. um And she was not recovered from her injuries. And that was like the start of figuring out that she can no longer work anymore. um And that all happened at Dollywood. So I did not really get... i got to ride a couple things because my friends were nice enough to wait in the car with the dog.
00:13:04
Speaker
um But I did not get to ride... um really much at all. So it's going to be a redemption trip for me. There's whole sections of that park that I'm missing. And we haven't talked to, like, I've never talked about Dollywood on this podcast, but like ever since I was a little girl, Dollywood was like the park I wanted to go to. i I've wanted to go there for years and years and years. um So I'm really excited for a redemption stay at Dollywood. hopefully that'll be a better visit for you.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah. I think so. And Big Bear will be open. So get to ride Big Bear. So I'm very excited. and we're going to stay at a Dollywood hotel. Ooh.
00:13:45
Speaker
Yeah. Not yet. So one of them wasn't very, like it wasn't too expensive. So I went ahead and booked it. May as well. Yeah. So very exciting. I'm very excited for that. yet
00:13:58
Speaker
We'll have some good updates coming up then. Yes, we will we will. I don't even think that my next park visit really is until like Kings Island opening weekend.
00:14:10
Speaker
Oh my gosh. I don't know if we're doing anything until then and that's so far away. Yeah, there's no way. You and Mike are going to wake up one day and Mike's going to say, Hey, this park's opening today. Do you want to go drive 16 hours?
00:14:27
Speaker
two We've never done 16 hours. All right, I'll give you eight. Do you want to go? Yeah, that's definitely a possibility.
00:14:37
Speaker
Yeah. That's how it's going to happen. We should be doing Carowinds. Does Cala... Well, no, we just did Carowinds last year. I don't think we're going this year. um We are planning to do Kalahari soon, if that's anything.
00:14:55
Speaker
I don't even... Isn't that a water park? Yeah, it's like indoor water park kind of thing. Okay. Okay. It doesn't really count, but it should be a good time But, I mean, you gotta do what you gotta do the off-season. Like, if that's how you get your... That's how you get the adrenaline rush, then, like... Yeah, we're kind of saving all, like, the time and pennies for a honeymoon.
00:15:20
Speaker
That makes sense. So maybe the last-minute trip yeah will not happen. Side note. I would like to... um complain briefly i was trying to think of a nicer way to say that um i'm gonna need these european parks that are planning coasters for 2027 to um rewind and do those in 2026 instead because we are now at two parks that have announced major additions for next year not when we're going to be there in a few months yeah that's the
00:15:51
Speaker
starting with um magic land doing a gravity group coaster and some like extensive theming apparently really is that the one that yes okay um and then uh grunland is doing a meclodon style coaster apparently i did know that I did know that.
00:16:17
Speaker
Crazy. Mirabilandia's park hours are going to throw off part of our itinerary. in Oh no. We had a feeling, like we knew it was a possibility that it was not going to be open on the day that we had originally had it planned for.
00:16:32
Speaker
so we got to swap a couple things around. And then Mike keeps finding ways to weasel F1 visits into our honeymoon. I mean, if it'll make them happy. It will. Yeah.
Park Design and Visitor Experience
00:16:45
Speaker
And I think you kind have. I'm like, you can go check out the F1 track. I'm going to go walk around and find coffee in this nice little Italian city. oh Yeah, I feel like that's a good compromise. That's a good compromise. Yeah.
00:17:00
Speaker
We've been doing a lot of planning and booking of things and I'm very excited. Yeah. Yeah. I can see that.
00:17:10
Speaker
going to double check our Instagram and make sure there was no other comments. Yeah. No, we're good for now. We have some good ones. There's some really... Yeah, I guess we can go ahead and dive into that.
00:17:23
Speaker
This is the one episode where I will complain about Phantasyland. And I am not the only one in this thinking. Yeah, it's... i remember like being so excited for fantasia land and like especially for me like i didn't know i was going to fantasia land until the day before like so my hype was so high and then i remember getting there and and joey had kept warning me but like i remember getting there and i was like where are we going like
00:17:59
Speaker
This? We're going here? And we did have to go into one of the, like, side entrances. But, like, even leaving out of the main entrance, like, the main entrance
00:18:14
Speaker
Nothing. Nothing. Like, there's literally, like, barely even a sign. Yeah, I think I've... Never gone through the main entrance. I've walked by it because we took the shuttle. We're just diving right into talking about Fantasia land's park entrance, by the way.
00:18:30
Speaker
um But like we got dropped off by the shuttle because we took that from the train station and we had to walk over to Matamba. And I'm pretty sure that it dropped us off right at the front entrance. And I still really didn't even know.
00:18:42
Speaker
Yeah, that it's.
00:18:48
Speaker
Jen is yawning, by the way. I started as a sneeze and then it turned into a yawn. It was really weird. I was just as confused. all i was like, i don't know what's happening right now, but I i think I'm going to sneeze. Yeah,
00:19:05
Speaker
yeah so i i don't... Yeah, like, it's just the most boring and, like...
00:19:17
Speaker
Which I guess it to an extent it does like add a little bit to the beauty of how wonderful that park is. But when it comes to the entrance itself, it's like it it kind of ruined it when I was walking in. It's wild that like that entrance is between like the ridiculous theming of Matamba and then the ridiculous theming of Charles Lindbergh, which are like on opposite sides of the entrance.
00:19:42
Speaker
And then it's just like this bus station looking thing. Yeah, it's crazy. i'm wondering if I even got a picture of it when I was there. I definitely did. I was like, this is boring. I don't want to share this with anyone.
00:19:57
Speaker
this That was like our very my first time in Europe. My very first park in Europe was Phantasy Land. Yeah, so like.
00:20:09
Speaker
Did I get a picture? I'm literally scrolling through my phone right now. No, you're all good. ah note because it goes from Random Castle at the train station to in front of Matamba. I did not. Unless I took a picture when we were going back to the shuttle.
00:20:30
Speaker
and Nope. I go right from Matamba to Charles Lindbergh to train. Yeah, because there's nothing to photograph at the entrance. There's like literally nothing. It's wild. wild. um A lot of people mentioned Phantasyland.
00:20:45
Speaker
um I will say like the questions that we posed on social media. posed a few just to get some a variety of things. And I'd ask like what the most iconic are yeah iconic entrance entrance plazas for you. What can make or break a park entrance entrance which parks have the logistics down to a science and how would you improve some entrances that maybe aren't as great.
00:21:06
Speaker
I wonder how many people actually mentioned Phantasyland. Yeah, I feel like it has to come to mind for some of them. um Yeah, Mikhail said Phantasyland needs a mention for how hilariously unassuming its main entrance is.
00:21:22
Speaker
Yeah, I see at least I see three of them. Four mentions of like, yeah, I see four mentions of Phantasyland.
00:21:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it's it's just so hilariously bad. um but like, that's the one park, it does not detract from it at all.
00:21:52
Speaker
No, it's like, after you get in and you notice how absolutely wonderful park that park is, it's, it just, for me, like, kind of killed my hype in a way that, like,
00:22:07
Speaker
I cry a lot and I feel like there's no reason that I shouldn't have been... There's no reason that I wasn't crying walking into that park and I feel like the entrance killed my excitement enough that like I didn't have an emotional reaction.
00:22:27
Speaker
Does that make sense? like Yeah. Yeah. Which is crazy because that's... i have an emotional reaction at every waking moment. Yeah. But it doesn't do like, like looking at that and then looking at Efteling.
00:22:42
Speaker
Where it was like, I literally saw Efteling and was crying. Like,
00:22:49
Speaker
it's just a weird, I don't know, weird dynamic. Yeah. To be fair, you didn't even know you were going to Fantasieland and Joey could have literally parked right in front of the entrance and been like, we're here. And you would have been like, we're where? Yeah.
00:23:01
Speaker
Yeah, there's exits off the road, though, that say Fantasialand. So I definitely, he he's got me that far because all the signs were in German, but the Fantasialand signs are still called Fantasialand.
00:23:16
Speaker
Had the sign said Cologne, I would have known exactly where we were going. I don't know what Cologne is.
00:23:26
Speaker
But yeah, it's... It's like... It's such a weird one for that part. Yeah, I agree.
00:23:36
Speaker
But yeah. We can get to some of the more iconic ones. Do you have a favorite? Do I have a favorite? Yeah, do you have favorite? could not think of like... A favorite favorite. Because there's like two different tiers of good entrance. There's like really good theming. And then just really cool.
00:23:55
Speaker
With like. Riot interactions in particular. the Yeah. i So I know like we were kind of texting. Original thoughts about what to talk about on the episode. And I mentioned.
00:24:08
Speaker
Cedar Point and Carolines. Because they both have. Those like over the entrance roller coasters. That you know. I had to sit there and stare at them for a while. Yeah, i I'm not a huge fan of the over, like the roller coaster over the entrance. I love it. i when I'm getting a ride by the entrance, like give me the train. I love the train over the entrance. Like.
00:24:35
Speaker
What other parks do that besides like Magic Kingdom? Kind of Europa Park. um Yeah, I guess I never actually like went in the front entrance of Europa.
00:24:48
Speaker
Yeah, so... But okay, yeah, I remember now. like The monorail kind of goes through it, right? Yeah. So the weird thing with Europa, though, is that like their turnstiles are kind of in front of their main entrance. So it it is a little weird. But after you get through the the ticketing turnstiles, it's that classic Europa Park monorail station that you go under.
00:25:12
Speaker
um And then you literally go under it into their Germany section of the park. And um
00:25:21
Speaker
it's just, to me, like, I love ah a train, a monorail over a bit more than, like, the ride over. guess Epcot kind of does, too, with the monorail.
00:25:35
Speaker
Yeah, with it coming around. Then also, like, Spaceship Earth just, that's the entrance. Yeah, that's true.
00:25:45
Speaker
I'm trying to think of other they like iconic ones. Yeah. vent to ah Not
00:25:53
Speaker
No. Efteling I think is my favorite. Yeah. I figured that one would come up a lot. I have not seen it in person. Yeah. But you can tell just how beautiful and extravagant it is. with Yeah. And I know it got it got mentioned a few times as well.
00:26:07
Speaker
um Epic. I love. Oh, Epix 2 the Kronos is yeah so iconic. It's so pretty and colorful. yeah Yeah, that's a really good one.
00:26:20
Speaker
um i have one on here that I put as an underrated one. And I might end up using it for the episode art too. Lost Island has this gorgeous entry area and like super well-themed buildings going in with like a view directly onto the Ferris wheel. And it's so pretty. It's just not seen enough.
00:26:41
Speaker
Yeah, it's it really is, from what I've seen in pictures, gorgeous. It's so cute. Yeah. Doesn't it have, like, a lot going on on the concrete, too? Mm-hmm.
00:26:54
Speaker
Yeah. i I think it's a really well-done entryway. Yeah, like, i have a picture and like, it does, it, like, perfectly frames the pair the Ferris wheel and there was, like, sunset behind it and there's these, like, giant fake tiki torches and It's so pretty.
00:27:13
Speaker
Yeah. That park is underrated in like every sense. Like that park deserves so much recognition. I need to get back there again. I'm just not close to Iowa.
00:27:27
Speaker
Yeah. It's like a really middle of nowhere kind of place. Yeah. Like it's just really hard to get to should like look through my list of coasters and parks I've been to to like... Yeah, I'm like trying to think too. I really like um Disneyland Paris as well.
00:27:51
Speaker
um It's a little weird because it's like you you come into a train station and you have to go like around the train station in Springs, but when you go towards the hotel in Disneyland Paris, like not talking about Studios Park...
00:28:09
Speaker
After you get to the actual entrance of Disneyland Paris, not the resort, the park, um it's a really beautiful entrance. That hotel is stunning. Yeah. um I think that one's really pretty. It's a little bit weird. like Entry to that park is a little weird because of the hotel being in the middle of the entrance. Yeah, that makes sense. still think it's very pretty. Yeah.
00:28:37
Speaker
Canada's Wonderland is pretty cool. Is it? i It's you know got a big bold sign there. And then when you go in, it's like the midway and the ah the mountain and the waterfall and Alpenfury coming up out of the mountain and then Leviathan's going around you.
00:28:56
Speaker
oh okay. I do. i have seen pictures of this. I don't think I realized this was at the entrance. This is very pretty. I'm like, well I don't even remember when I went.
00:29:09
Speaker
We went at some point. and just don't remember when. You went, like, not that long ago. Yeah, there we go. like, because I've been on Alpenfury. Oh, was Labor Day weekend.
00:29:23
Speaker
Um, I also... one that I feel like people don't talk about nearly as much because it is a smaller park and international, so... um I feel like it's just not as mentioned, but Hansa Park.
00:29:39
Speaker
um Have you been to Hansa Park? Yeah, I'm trying remember. It's got that weird German castle kind of thing. feels It's very fancy for what it It does not feel like park entrance.
00:29:52
Speaker
It feels like it's very fancy for what it is it feels it does not feel like a park entrance like it feels so I don't know how to explain it, but um I think it's a very extravagant um entrance. And I think that it really like, i i think that the the theming in that park is really special. It feels like a lot of places when you go to themings of of different places, it feels like it can be a little cartoony to get the
00:30:28
Speaker
place like understood like to portray the story where hansa park other than their western area like their u.s area is wild that is like straight out of a western movie um the rest of that park the theming feels very authentic and not at all exaggerating like this so all of the buildings and the whole entrance area which again i think is their like German area.
00:30:55
Speaker
um yeah They just feel very close and and not like... They just feel very close to everything you would see in Germany and not like weird colors or like cartoon based or things like that. I don't know if that makes sense. Yeah, it does.
00:31:19
Speaker
I'm just scrolling through my list right now. I saw another one that I thought of. Oh, yeah. It's the art that I use for the Instagram. Kennywood. Oh, I like Kennywoods.
00:31:30
Speaker
Like, it had been redone since the last time I'd been there. And it was just so vibrant.
00:31:37
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like what I like about Kennywoods is that it... Kennywoods' entrance and entrance procedures set me up for just as weird of a day that I'm probably going to have at that park.
00:31:52
Speaker
In a good way, right? In a good way. Like, it's the oddest park in the world. it makes no sense to me. It's just such a weird park. And then to, like, go into this entrance that feels, like, very vibrant and cartoony, and then to go underground to get to the park, it's like this. What? Where did I just, like, show up to? It's a portal to another dimension. And then you get to a whole entire alley and section of the park, and then you're like...
00:32:22
Speaker
Yeah, i don't I still really don't know where anything is. Oh, and there's a football-themed coaster. Yeah, random football-themed coaster. Also, the Noah Ark ride. like That park is just... That entrance is so perfect for that park because it's just as weird as the rest of the park. like It's so cute.
00:32:42
Speaker
It is so cute. It's just... There is no part of that park that's normal. like Even the fact that they have... The Arrow Shuttle turned Morgan. Is that what it is? Something like that. It's like an Arrow Looper turned Morgan Hyper. Like who and no one else in the world has one of them, I don't think. Like everything about that park is just weird.
00:33:06
Speaker
And then Thunderbolt just makes me happy. Jackrabbit is just odd. Yeah. I want to go back to Kennywood now. I actually really want to go back to Kennywood too. That park is just so weird and fun.
00:33:20
Speaker
I really enjoyed I've gone to that park twice once in the winter so I didn't really ride it anything but just like vibed with the park um and then once in the summer and both like that park's just so fun yeah I just I love Pittsburgh yeah I have a special place in my heart for Pittsburgh so I feel like Pittsburgh is also a really weird city, which just like, all of it just adds to the character of Kennywood. Also, like I feel like talking about Kennywood entrance, we also have to experience, like to talk about...
00:33:58
Speaker
the like weird experiences getting to the park like you're on the weirdest parking lots you take the world's steepest escalator where you think you're going to just like die because it's like i don't know if i've ever been on an escal escalator that steep before and that long and then you finally recall that the escalator yeah am i just dumb If you have preferred parking, I think you're down in the little lot. But if you're up in the top lots.
00:34:29
Speaker
I think the last the last time I was there was for golden ticket. So we got shuttled towards like the front of the park. Maybe the one we went before though. I forget. That was like. Oh, that was the trip where I met Matt for the first time.
00:34:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's so I think that it's in there like top lots. Um. April 24? No, 23.
00:34:56
Speaker
But I just remember them being, like, really long and really steep.
00:35:04
Speaker
See, now I'm, of course, rolling back through my phone, as I do for half of these episodes. Let's see, there's the Kennywoods part.
00:35:15
Speaker
Apparently they're, like, a big deal that they're Otis escalators. I looked up Kennywood escalators and there's a whole, there's like three YouTube videos that are like Otis escalators at Kennywood. Otis escalators at Kennywood. esal I'm going to feel stupid.
00:35:36
Speaker
and oh yeah, I see that. Otis escalator at Kennywood. Yeah, like it's so weird. But they're really, I remember them being really steep. It's so weird that I just straight up don't remember them.
00:35:48
Speaker
It's possible you weren't in the parking. The second time I went... The first time I went, I think that I was in the parking with them. The second time I went with Buzz Bars, I think. I think we all got preferred parking with our tickets. man. remember that, too.
00:36:04
Speaker
Yeah, so I think we were close.
00:36:08
Speaker
So, like, you wouldn't have taken them. They weren't... Yeah, we went back in, like, 23, and I feel like that would have been the year Yeah. Yeah. we do I don't know.
00:36:20
Speaker
Maybe they weren't there yet. I don't know when they put them in either, but I think I remember someone telling me they were like a semi-new addition to the parking lot. And then I just found this picture of the entrance too.
00:36:32
Speaker
Yeah, with that horse. It's so pretty. Yeah. Kennywood's a good one. Everything about that one. It sets you up for the day you're going to have it, Kennywood. Do do you have any other iconic ones you can think of?
00:36:48
Speaker
iconic ones
00:36:53
Speaker
um I feel like I had one more but I can't remember which one which you know kind of tracks yeah i know I feel like I'm gonna be like I'm gonna remember it when we get like part of the way through have one that is kind of more like logistically good logistically good well I mean that was one of the questions which parks have logistics down to a science Disney parks.
00:37:21
Speaker
Well. We'll get to some of those in a minute. Yeah. at Disney parks. um Thorpe was a cool one. kind of Like. um it was kind of weird. And that day was kind of a blur.
00:37:33
Speaker
But like. know you cross the bridge. And you can see Hyperia. But that's all I remember. Yeah. And like you have to go through this weird. like Dome thing. That has like a store in it. And bathrooms. I don't
00:37:47
Speaker
know.
00:37:51
Speaker
Yeah, I can't think of any other, like, offhand ones. Yeah, feel like we mentioned the big, like, iconic ones. Because I can't think of any ones that, like, strike me as iconic.
00:38:05
Speaker
um And obviously there's some that, like, we haven't been to yet. but Yeah. Of the ones we've been to and of the ones that... Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:20
Speaker
still i'm scrolling back up now hershey park's kind of cool oh yeah i think theirs is really cute theirs it's just kind of generic i do kind of miss the old version of their entrance um i understand why they had to do it um hershey park so a hershey park like for anyone who hasn't been to hershey park Pretty much, I think, since Candemonium. i think that... Yeah, I think the new entrance opened around then.
00:38:54
Speaker
Yeah, I think the new entrance and Candemonium were done at the same time. So the original entrance to Hershey Park had, like, the cutest, quaint little German village that you, like, walked through. So, like, you had Chocolate World on one side, and then you went through this whole entire, like, little tiny German cottages. um And then the entrance was this, like...
00:39:16
Speaker
German castle looking building. Um, because if anyone isn't familiar with like the, um like Pennsylvania history, um, the majority of that section of Pennsylvania is Dutch. No, Pennsylvania Dutch, which is German. Um,
00:39:35
Speaker
So we have a whole lot of German architecture, German like history in Pennsylvania. So it all was like old German cottages. And then the entrance was like this German castle looking thing. Yeah, Tudor castle.
00:39:49
Speaker
Yeah. And you would go under the castle and the different openings um and go in. And it just was like, so there is still, i I think when you go into the park, And you're walking through, there's a popcorn stand. And I believe that popcorn stand is still one of the original cottages. So the whole entire area was lined with those cottages.
00:40:13
Speaker
And it was like the most incredible entrance to any park. And all of that was like outside of the entrance. So that was the other thing. So...
00:40:24
Speaker
You used to, the entrance of the park, so yeah, all of that wasn't up in front of the entrance. So the entrance of the park used to be all the way back towards where Candemonium was, like towards the fountain. So the fountain used to be where the entrance of the park was.
00:40:41
Speaker
And all of the German villages were coming all the way out past Candemonium, past the now entrance. Okay. And in the change, they knocked down all of those buildings. They put in candemonium. of Obviously, they kept a few. um And then they also moved to the carousel. So the carousel used to be in the middle right after the entrance. like Because when you walk in, you see the fountain with Milton Hershey. like Do you know where I'm talking about? Yeah. yeah So you have the fountain with Milton Hershey. And then there's a clear giant circle in the middle of all those attractions.
00:41:15
Speaker
um And that's where the carousel used to be. So it's a very interesting change of a park and like i they definitely needed it to add in Candemonium. But I miss.
00:41:28
Speaker
Sorry, not to go on a rant about the old entrance. The old entrance was I never got to see the old entrance in person. The old entrance is like something that made my soul happy every time I went to that park.
00:41:41
Speaker
It had so much character.
00:41:47
Speaker
Yeah, so thanks for coming on my little nostalgia tour, guys. There also was a point in time where you used to be able to go to Hershey Park for Christmas and ride the rides and stuff, and you didn't even have to pay. it was free. I'll see.
00:42:05
Speaker
I'm looking through. comments we should probably go through some of the comments for iconic uh chris said most iconic i've been to has to be magic kingdom cedar point epic and europa park they all immerse you into the theme from first step yeah i could agree with that yeah paul cedar point for sure fantasia land could really use a big improvement the whole bus station look really doesn't work for them given how amazing the park is Yeah.
00:42:36
Speaker
That definitely is like a weird conjoined one. um I like Kelly's take here. She says entrance music is key. Epic kills it and Lake compounds who is using Soarin' music. I don't remember that. That's funny. Yeah, it's kind of funny. i remember someone telling me that when I first went there. So I was like looking out for it.
00:43:03
Speaker
Um... Then we have Nate. Nate says, Efteling has one of the most stunning entrances and tells a story on it on the stained glass inside. Yeah, that's the other thing that's so beautiful about Efteling's. It's like,
00:43:20
Speaker
It's super iconic, but then it also, like, when you get into the details, it goes even more into the immersion of that park, which... Yeah. I had no idea about the stained glass. Oh, my gosh. It has... So the whole... After in the park, the whole backside has a big, giant stained glass window.
00:43:37
Speaker
i am now searching Efteling stained glass.
00:43:41
Speaker
Oh, wow. Yeah. It's absolutely gorgeous. So it's on, like... Yeah, so you could see it... When you get, like, kind of under it, you could see it through, but it's, like, on the back side when you're inside the park. Okay.
00:43:59
Speaker
The House of the Five Senses is what it's called. Huh. Yeah, it's... It's really gorgeous. I just, like... need to go there.
00:44:13
Speaker
Oh, that's so cool. things Yeah, there's also...
00:44:20
Speaker
I'm looking it up.
00:44:33
Speaker
Well, while you're looking it up. Yeah. Anne also said, Efteling is my fave. It's so big and unique, but the new hotel next to it has broken the immersion, in my opinion. I could see that.
00:44:46
Speaker
Um...
00:44:49
Speaker
but i can The hotel looks so pretty in pictures, but I've never been there to see it how it would break the immersion. I feel like, in theory, it's really pretty, but like all of the prefab lines are shown in it, so you can see like how cheap it looks. like It looks kind of cheap. So to be next to one of the most stunning and extravagant entrances to a park and then have this prefab cheaply put together hotel um that to me kind of like it's like the quality of the buildings is so different that it made it made the hotel look like a cardboard box yeah I've only seen pictures of it yeah
00:45:43
Speaker
I'd still probably want to stay there just cause I love a good on site hotel I really need to get back to Lisa Berg and stay at Grand Curiosa.
00:45:54
Speaker
Yeah, i don't I don't know anything about that one. I really wanted to stay at Grand Hotel too because because like the rooms overlook the park during the night. Yeah. But we could not justify it this trip.
00:46:09
Speaker
Their other hotels also looked so cute and quaint. like I didn't know they had any others. Yeah, they have like three or four altogether. Yeah, Wondery is like towards the back of the park.
00:46:23
Speaker
um
00:46:27
Speaker
Well, that one looks different. Yeah. Yeah. so Well, man now I'm going to have to plan a whole weekend trip here. Yeah. That feeling deserves a whole weekend anyway because that's so beautiful. It's so beautiful. i don't know when I'm actually going to be able to make it happen. Cancel your honeymoon.
00:46:47
Speaker
Wait a minute. We're staying in some cool places. Cancel your honeymoon. We did actually like look at a few different honeymoon options like we booked our flights to we're going we're flying through stockholm and for a period of time we're like should we just fly to stockholm and stay in scandinavia oh scandinavia is so nice but like the parts of norway that i want to go to are nowhere near any coasters so yeah so it's like it would have been hard to kind of
00:47:25
Speaker
well Balance that trip. If you find yourself potentially able to go to Efteling. I know. It's only the best park ever. I will get there. Yeah. But I do. i see what Anne's saying. The the hotel.
00:47:41
Speaker
In pictures, I didn't think it looked that bad. But in person, I don't. It just doesn't match. um Yeah. And also when you're in the Sprochius bus, you can...
00:47:55
Speaker
See the fairy tale forest? You can see the... um Like, there's sections of the fairy tale forest where you're immersed in the fairy tales and then you look up and it's just a grand hotel. And it does not fit the vibes. um And I think that like their plan is to have trees grow back in And so maybe it'll be better. But it's like, you're literally going through a forest. Yeah.
00:48:21
Speaker
for I was in the forest for like hours and I get to this one little corner of the forest and it's just open trees staring at a hotel.
00:48:32
Speaker
It like really broke the experience.
00:48:37
Speaker
Not me trying to figure out what the heck you said in Dutch. I know you said fairytale forest, but like... Sprook is bus.
00:48:46
Speaker
Okay. I literally went to the Efteling website and translated it into Dutch. Ugh. Yeah, sprookjesbus. Okay. Yeah, it again goes back to the fact that you can tell that I only went to Efteling with a bunch of Dutch people.
00:49:01
Speaker
So I automatically are calling them their Dutch names. Makes sense. It's okay. um How do you pronounce the train name in Dutch? It looks like Stoomtrain.
00:49:17
Speaker
It's funny looking. Wait, i have to look it up because I don't know what it's called to be able to tell you. I could just try and say it It's a funny one. literally just called Steam Train. I didn't realize that. I thought it had a name. Just Storm Trine.
00:49:32
Speaker
and that that wo That word is funny. Anyway. Yeah, there are some good ones. There are some good ones. But I i really like saying Sprokyous Boss.
00:49:45
Speaker
Let's see. A couple other ones that people mention. Ethan said, I'd say the most iconic entrances I can think of are Cedar Point, Epic Universe, and DisneySea. Oh, DisneySea. I have not seen that one.
00:49:57
Speaker
I've seen a couple of vlogs about it, but that's about it. Yeah. I like his next point. I think the thing that makes or breaks a park at park entrance is feeling like you're being transported into a world that's distinctly different than what's inside the park. Yeah. Yeah.
00:50:14
Speaker
So I think that like it's it's hard because it doesn't necessarily um match what we're talking about for the episode. But I think that this is part of what makes Epic Universe so beautiful of a park because
00:50:31
Speaker
you feel like you're getting that park entrance five times. Yeah. um So it's like a very special thing with that park.
00:50:44
Speaker
right, I'm going to read out. Well, me I'll mention Brambos first. I said anything with coaster interactions at the entrance are cool. Cedar Point and Carolines. He mentioned that to me on a Snapchat. And then I literally sent him a screenshot of the text where I mentioned Cedar Point and Carolines to you.
00:50:58
Speaker
Yeah. Kind of funny. I'm like, well, okay, well, we have the same thoughts. um But Mikhail gave a good answer as expected. um and So my favorite park entrances are those that create a feeling of excitedly wondering what you're about to walk into. I know I talk about Silver Dollar City a lot, but when you walk up into that entrance closet,
00:51:17
Speaker
And sign. You can't physically see any of the park until you walk past the sign because it's all hidden by trees. Busch Gardens Williamsburg does this well too with how you venture into the forest first before reaching the bag check and entry gates.
00:51:28
Speaker
It creates an increased anticipation of not knowing what you're about to experience and how it's going to be revealed to you. And that is one of my favorite things to feel at the beginning of a park day, especially when the park experience that follows is of exceptionally high quality.
00:51:42
Speaker
That's a very... Mikhail is more well-spoken than I could ever be. I know, he really is. He's such a well-spoken person. Yeah, I really like that.
00:51:53
Speaker
I feel like theres ah there is a way to do it balanced really well that is really beautiful. um Like he mentions, like, yeah, Busch Gardens, Williamsburg. um I don't know, Silver Dollar City.
00:52:07
Speaker
But I do feel that. But I think that's part of the reason that I loved Hershey so much, because... you did this whole entire immersion into the experience before you even got to the entrance. So by the time you got there,
00:52:19
Speaker
um you were already and immersed into this experience. on
00:52:28
Speaker
I like that. Yeah. Ethan had a very similar comment. I think the Universal and Disney parks have entrances down the best because you can tell you're entering a land that isn't recognizable in the areas right outside the park.
00:52:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that feeling of being transported is... It makes a big difference. Yeah, especially when you're going for a themed experience versus like a Like amusement experience. Right.
00:52:58
Speaker
But it can still be done in an amusement-based experience as we can see with... Carowinds. And I know they're getting a little more themed and they're moving towards that theme park direction. But for years and years they were...
00:53:12
Speaker
amusement parks um like their main focus was number of rides and how many rides not theming um but you can even see that done not as much with transporting you into a land but like yeah for what their park is and what their park is working towards which was at the time records yeah we're kind of past that whole like coaster wars part of it and now they're kind of focusing their investments on
00:53:41
Speaker
more substantial areas i guess yeah because it's like that doesn't keep guests yeah yeah it doesn't keep guests you need to keep you ultimately in my opinion need to have immersive experiences in order to keep guests returning i agree yeah I think that's most of our... That's all the positives. Yeah, that's most of the positives. We're really going to end this. I guess um one other one, Brambo said, Bon Bon Land's entrance is weird AF, but so are a lot of European parks.
00:54:19
Speaker
Valid. I don't really... um would have to look at that. and I have not been to Bon Bon Land. I just know it's a weird park. Yeah, i I know everything about that park is weird, so it does not surprise me.
00:54:33
Speaker
um I mean, that's kind of cool looking. It's very, like, campy, but cool. Oh, I actually really like it.
00:54:43
Speaker
Again, this is one that's like, would it be nice for a theme park? Probably not. But is it nice for an amusement park? Yeah. It's really nice for an amusement park. Like, it's so creative.
00:54:57
Speaker
One other one I just thought of, and I did not get to actually see this in person because we didn't go in this entrance at all. But Alton Towers has the old corkscrews out in front. oh Oh, I forgot about that.
00:55:09
Speaker
so i have no clue what that entrance actually looks like because we went through one of the back entrances because we were staying on site.
00:55:19
Speaker
But I know course crew there. We really considered leaving the park to go see that and then coming back in the park. But we just ran out of time because it was such a busy day. Yeah. I also like completely forgot to mention, so we have another positive, um the Universal Parks.
00:55:38
Speaker
yeah oh All three of them that I know, Hollywood, Orlando, and IOA, think they have really nice entrances. um I definitely like IOA more than studios.
00:55:53
Speaker
i Yes. Yeah. I think that IOA is definitely the better one. And I also like Hollywood's a little bit more than Orlando's. ah I don't know what that one even looks like.
00:56:07
Speaker
It's the same arch, but it's just like one arch instead of all three. And it's like, it's a little more condensed and less like open. um And I think it makes it feel a little more extravagant.
00:56:24
Speaker
um Another one I thought of. It's kind of more of a logistical thing than anything. But yeah, Disneyland and California Adventure how their entrances are like steps apart from each other yeah that's how Paris is too and then I think we could say the same probably for the Universal Parks at least Iowa just to some degree like it's not quite as close by as like you can stand in one spot and look to your left and see Disneyland and look right and see yeah yeah
00:57:02
Speaker
California. They're next to each other instead of across from each other, which I think is the difference, but they're not super different. um You just kind of walk by a bunch of restaurants and get hungry on the way.
00:57:14
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. You have those two restaurants to walk by. but yeah, it's just that they're positioned different, but yeah very similar. i do really like that as well. If you have a two-park destination, like the walk between them is really good.
00:57:30
Speaker
I also think where it might not necessarily be a fantastic entrance for most people, um but for the IP that they're using, i think that...
00:57:45
Speaker
It's worth talking about. The Legoland parks. I think they do a really good. yeah trueences um For what they are.
00:57:55
Speaker
ah The one in London. Was not as good. Okay. um I think they were doing some construction. On part of it. But they had like a ah sign out front. and Something like adventurers waiting.
00:58:08
Speaker
Something super cute. And cheesy that I took a bit a picture of. Yeah, I think that the Orlando one, or the Florida one, also has some really cheesy... thing. i can't remember remember what it said, but I do also remember taking a picture of theirs. It just says awesome awaits.
00:58:29
Speaker
Oh, cute. It's like just a cute font. I just thought it was cute. I think that they do a really good job like with the perfect amount of Lego stuff to like not be super...
00:58:41
Speaker
um Like it's not super tacky, but it's also like very clear that you're going into a Lego park. Oh, the best part about the one in London was not actually like the entrance itself where there was like, it was not particularly like cool, iconic Lego like Florida was.
00:59:01
Speaker
But when you walk into the park and then go down like that main pathway a little bit and you see Windsor Castle in the distance. Perfect feeling of Windsor Castle. That was the coolest part about that entrance.
00:59:13
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's also really something interesting to mention too. Like some parks, based on like where they're located, things like that, choose to forego a fancy entrance to give you a, like a fancier midway experience. Yeah. Which is kind of cool.
00:59:34
Speaker
Lisa Berg is one kind of like that. Like the entrance itself is very kind of unassuming. There's like a big gate, but then you go into the midway and it's just, Gorgeous. Yeah.
00:59:46
Speaker
The Midways also could be like, in some parks, they treat that as their entrance experience. Like, um I think that Disney World and Disneyland, they're all beautiful from entrance through. But to me, the most iconic part part of those isn't the entrance. I love the trains. The entrance will get me every time. But the most iconic part is is when you have to do that walk around of that first little baby hub.
01:00:15
Speaker
and the And then you hit the castle. um So it's like not necessarily the entrance itself, but that same like for me, that's part of the entrance experience. Yeah, no, i agree.
01:00:30
Speaker
um And you can't get better than that, except for at Disneyland where you turn around and you you hit that corner and you go to cry and you realize that the castle isn't there is literally like a doll, a kid's play castle. it's like barbie's dream house yeah literally barbie's dream house is in front of you and you and you're like it's so cute i remember starting to cry and hitting that corner and then just dying laughing i was like i can't believe i'm crying for this little baby castle
01:01:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's kind of a laughable castle. It's so funny. one It's fine. i know it being the first one is really cute. And it's really like, I love the charm of it for that reason. But when you're used to rounding that corner to Cinderella's castle and you round that corner to.
01:01:21
Speaker
To that. That it's was like so funny. like I was still glad I got to see it, but yeah. yeah from a disney world to disneyland it's like oh that's it yeah you're like oh my gosh it's so tiny
01:01:41
Speaker
baby castle yeah okay we said we were gonna get to the negatives let's complain know and then we went back to the positives oh no we have good things to say about parks that we love um okay For negatives, we've already talked about Phantasy Land. Let's go ahead pull out all of those. Anne said Phantasy Land has the worst main entrance. It does not represent the park at all.
01:02:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I'm marking these off as I go. Solar Coaster also said Phantasy Land, and they mentioned another one that I'm going to mention in a second.
01:02:18
Speaker
Yeah. Kyle mentioned it. Okay, so we got through the Phantasmilens. Yeah, most of them are just that it is laughable. Yes. Needs to be better, which valid. Agreed.
01:02:32
Speaker
So the other one that almost almost as many people, if not more people, complain about, and I can 100% vouch for this because I live here, is King's Island.
01:02:44
Speaker
It is... I mean, okay, when you go through the entrance, if we're talking like once you're into the park, International Street, love it, gorgeous. But outside is no.
01:02:56
Speaker
Like they take they take the building and then they they put the, um like they have the facade on it and they make it spooky for Halloween and then they use the same facade and then they make it Christmas.
01:03:08
Speaker
Yeah. I feel like. You have the restaurant that's on top of it and I don't know if they'll ever get rid of that. But yeah, I feel like that really makes it difficult.
01:03:24
Speaker
I don't like that entrance either. I remember when I went there, I was just kind of like not excited at all. a few people have mentioned, and I absolutely agree with this, doing something similar to Cedar Point or Carowinds.
01:03:40
Speaker
Literally two people mentioned it specifically. um Chris said, i want I would want better entrance entrances for both King's Island and King's Dominion as they have so much potential to do a Cedar Point or Carolyn-style coaster entrance.
01:03:53
Speaker
Yeah. King's Dominion is very similar as well. Yeah, King's Dominion also like does not... It's a very uneventful entrance. Yeah.
01:04:07
Speaker
I feel like the Cedar Fair parks all have a very... Especially the ones coming from Paramount have like the exact same vibe walking into the park and it's not fantastic. yeah like Exact same entranceway.
01:04:25
Speaker
um And for a park like Dorney, I like it because it's... It feels like it's fitting for the size of the park. But for a park like...
01:04:38
Speaker
King's Dominion, I feel like I need something more extravagant. Thorny is another one I need to complain about. Yeah. I mean, it's the same exact entrance, really, as King's Dominion. Like, it's all the same exact style, right?
01:04:51
Speaker
I have a different complaint, and it's more of a logistical thing, but I will get to that in a moment. Right. ah We'll go from ah my home park to yours. Perfect. Well, one your home parks.
01:05:03
Speaker
One of mine. that's not Your American home park. um Paul said KI really needs to do something with their entrance. That restaurant building isn't all that welcoming. Maybe remodel the outside of the building or do a Cedar Point or Carowinds type of upgrade like a new coaster if Invertigo is removed.
01:05:20
Speaker
um And then Nate had a similar thing and I absolutely love this idea and I think Kings Island should do it. Should replace Invertigo with a fly style coaster over the front entrance.
01:05:31
Speaker
That would be so cool. Please, please, please. I'm all for Vekoma's coming here. Yeah, i just I do feel like Invertigo needs to hurry up and go.
01:05:43
Speaker
i will not be sad when it's announced that it's going go. And that opens up just a lot of room to do something over the entrance. Yeah, if I'm going back to king's dominion or King's Island, though, I need to ride it. I need the credit.
01:05:56
Speaker
Well, you you did say you need to come visit this year. Well, I mean, i will be. oh that's true, too. In the area. Yes. I will be at the park.
01:06:07
Speaker
right Around a certain date. Yeah, around a certain date. i have obligations. so like And there's a a King's Island Day. but Exactly. So I will be there. I need it to be open and then I can close. Then I'm good.
01:06:20
Speaker
And then Solar Coaster also said King's Island needs a better entrance pause. Yeah, I feel like though that park Definitely needs a better one. But when it comes to the Cedar Fair parks, the the ones that really come to mind is needing better entrances are Kings Dominion and Kings Island.
01:06:37
Speaker
I agree.
01:06:40
Speaker
Honestly, kind of Cedar Point too. But I think that I mostly think that because I've only ever entered entered through the main gate once.
01:06:53
Speaker
So for me, like, I don't even, I'm like, the keyholes are so cool and gatekeeper is awesome. But like, I kind of don't even process that gate. usually go through the magnum gate.
01:07:06
Speaker
I do usually go through the magnum gate. Yes. I go through the magnum gate or the one by the wild mouse. Cause I like to. what The wind seeker. Yeah.
01:07:18
Speaker
I like to go park in the back and then walk on the beach and go see the Seeker Gate. Or even from the front lot, I like to go walk along the beach and go in that gate. Yeah, a lot of times I'll go in one Seeker Gate just because it's less crowded.
01:07:31
Speaker
Yeah. Early entry. Yeah, I just really like the walk on the water um before going into the park. So I usually go that way.
01:07:42
Speaker
oh um
01:07:46
Speaker
But that's, yeah. and don't know.
01:07:50
Speaker
I feel like most of my grapes come with the Six Flags part. So my complaints about Dorney. Oh yeah, get into those first. If I remember, like, the biggest complaint is that, and I don't know if they've changed it since I've been, I don't remember. But like, you walk in and it's basically just like a wall where there's a store and you like have to go around it and it just destroys the flow.
01:08:13
Speaker
If I'm remembering right. Oh, no.
01:08:19
Speaker
or maybe that when I was leaving or something. I don't know. I don't remember. No, you have this like, so their entrance is like a actual looking wall. so No, there isn't a store. i when you Yeah, a store enough to the decide that if you come up the one right, it makes the most sense to go through the store. Okay, I'm literally on Google Maps right now.
01:08:45
Speaker
Yeah, you literally, like, the entrance gate is like this. It looks kind of like King's Island and King's Dominions. I'm
01:08:57
Speaker
going to feel bad if I, like, talk crap about this and then... I also lied. It doesn't look like King's Island and in King's Dominion. Okay, maybe I'm thinking of Michigan's Adventure and my mya disdain for Dorney is misplaced. Yeah, it's kind of like a castle-y looking wall that has like openings through it, and it says Dorney Park, really cute. um And then you go through that for security, and then it has just like a standard awning for um entrance gates. And then there's the old haunted carousel from care from Cedar Points.
01:09:31
Speaker
Like, literally, the midway is straight as you walk in, and there's this giant haunted carousel.
01:09:42
Speaker
Hold on. um'm What are we doing? like Street view of Michigan's Adventure right now? Yeah, we're trying to figure out where she has this gripe with. Yeah, I think it's Michigan's Adventure. like You go in and like there's just like a boutique right there and a wall of walkers and it just destroys the flow and it does not look good. and It was also like a weird off to the side entrance.
01:10:09
Speaker
don't know. I'm sorry, Dorney Park, I was wrong. I'm talking about michigan and Michigan's Adventure. Yeah, I'll defend Dorney Park here. oh and mean I need to go back to Dorney Park, I guess.
01:10:22
Speaker
And pay better attention. Yeah, it sounds like blue you're a little confused. um That's okay. It happens. A lot of the Cedar Fair parks look similar. The...
01:10:35
Speaker
the
01:10:39
Speaker
You talking about walking through the store does make me also think about Frontier City.
01:10:50
Speaker
um and Frontier City I'm like so conflicted by because like The entrance styles are like entrance styles. They're fine, but they're really tiny because it's a really tiny park. And then they make you walk into the store, but the store is themed really well and it is open in the middle, so it's just like a walkthrough. But then after you walk in, it's like, you get hit with some pretty good theming and you get hit with this cute little, like, entrance walkway. So it's like...
01:11:18
Speaker
That might be the only park where I'm like, am I annoyed that I was i had to enter through a store? or is it okay? Because when I left the store, it was so cute. Silverdower City is kind of the same way.
01:11:30
Speaker
Really? yeah you go like through like up a path and then you go through the store, which is where the entrance to the cave is. Like the cave tours. And then you get into the park.
01:11:44
Speaker
I forgot you haven't been there yet. No, I have not. Yeah, I don't know. i feel like I'm conflicted because part of me was like, I'm staring at Corgi's stuffed animals in a store right now.
01:11:55
Speaker
And then the other part of me was like, I walked out of the store and I was like, shut up. This is the cutest park ever. i'll get there at some point. Yeah, I love that park. It's so good.
01:12:09
Speaker
Let's see. The one other... I also never been in this park. Sorry. Sorry. I have to jump in. I have never... Actually, I've been there when I was little, but I haven't been there in years and years. um But Dutch Wonderland... i feel like we've got to call out Dutch Wonderland.
01:12:29
Speaker
I've been there, but I don't remember it terribly. It's like a I know it's like a castle thing. Yeah, it's like a big old castle. And then with their dragon coaster, there's um like you could see a dragon like overlooking on the one side. Just like a very like cartoony castle, but it's very extravagant. And like, i don't I haven't been there in years and years, but like i my whole entire childhood and like my adulthood, that castle is so engraved in my memory.
01:13:04
Speaker
I do remember the outside being very cute. Yeah, it's very, very cute. And it has a monorail that goes around the outside of the parking lot. So, like, also you have, like, this cute little monorail that's... Oh, I think I do remember seeing that.
01:13:16
Speaker
Yeah, it's very cute. It's a big castle and a very pretty monorail. Yeah. I don't remember when I went there to even look for pictures. Yeah, I have not been there in my Fousey life. I was there as a child. i might have been after the Kennewood wobble.
01:13:34
Speaker
I think we made a stop there on the way out. You made a stop at Dutch Wonderland? No, i I don't think. Dutch Wonderland is twenty like 30 minutes from my house.
01:13:49
Speaker
It's like four hours from Pittsburgh.
01:13:53
Speaker
When was that event? Kennywood? Yeah. I think two summers ago. I think you stopped at Isle Wild or something, right?
01:14:04
Speaker
I have... Other weird... I can't, like... Actually, let me look on my phone. Did you go to p a Like, did you go, like, to Jersey or something after Kennywood?
01:14:19
Speaker
the The trips all blend together. I really don't. Yeah. Because Kenny... The only reason I say it is because, like Kennywood is truly like four and a half hours from Kennywood. It was after the Dorney Park wobble that we went to. That makes sense.
01:14:33
Speaker
Because it's on the way home from Dorney Park. Okay. Yeah, and you were there because there was a video of you screaming about talent at Dorney Park that ah Gary used in his video about five times.
01:14:45
Speaker
Yeah, I was at the Dorney Park wobble. I did not realize you guys went to Dutch Wonderland. Man, I went right after I probably would have. Mike got a, he had a palace card or something that year. So he got in for free and got to bring a friend ticket.
01:14:59
Speaker
Oh man. I really want to go to that park. It's on my list. I hear that that little dragon coaster is top tier. It was fun.
01:15:11
Speaker
I enjoyed it. Yeah. The coaster was really good too. The wooden one? Yeah, I've heard that one's really good. I have apparently written that one as kid as a kid, but I don't count it because I don't remember. Yeah, so who else do we have here? um We have one other negative comment from Brambo.
01:15:36
Speaker
Oh, go for it. um He said, BGW is a bleep show entering on busy days. I copy and pasted. The copy and paste does not have the bleep, but I refuse to ah have to bleep myself on here.
01:15:51
Speaker
Yeah. I could see that because i like the entrance. It's just everything is narrow. Yeah, the lines get pretty atrocious on busy days. cause i Yeah. those lines And walking through that entrance plaza, like after the turnstiles, is just as awful.
01:16:11
Speaker
That park is, like, I feel like it's not built to have a lot of crowds. Yeah. It's tough park to navigate sometimes.
01:16:22
Speaker
A hard? Yeah, it's just, it's tough, like, with all the hills and stairs and Oh, yeah. And, like, none of the pathways, I feel like, make the most sense. Like, you have to know where you're going or go to a map. Yeah. is no There's no clear flow to that park.
01:16:39
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. You definitely miss something.
01:16:45
Speaker
um Next, we have Chris Leonard. He said, logistically, most parks have it down great except Universal Parks, which lack the newer security systems.
01:17:01
Speaker
Yeah, valid. Yeah. I like when parks don't have their ridiculous security stuff, though.
01:17:11
Speaker
Yeah, I honestly just in in this day and age, I don't think that there's any excuse for anyone to not have, like, the Disney and Six Flags. If Six Flags has the same security system as Disney, then everyone should have it.
01:17:24
Speaker
Yeah, like, once Six Flags started doing the, like, the Why can I not? The metal detectors. There we go. How did I forget that word? Once they started doing the ones where you just like walk through them during COVID and like it can differentiate things better.
01:17:43
Speaker
Like you can have bags go through and it just works a lot more seamlessly. It's like the one thing that Six Flags is doing really well. Yeah, I did. However, the last two times I was at Six Flags Great Adventure, they wouldn't let me go through it because I was carrying a bag.
01:17:59
Speaker
Hmm. And they made me go through, like, a bag section. It just seemed really silly. um i also think that that system is, like, especially stupid.
01:18:15
Speaker
Like, I'm trying to think which...
01:18:21
Speaker
I was at a Cedar, the multiple times, I was at a Cedar Fair Park, pre-Six Flags, and they have, like, the full, you have to take all the stuff out of your pockets.
01:18:38
Speaker
Right? do ed Does every park have that, or only some?
01:18:43
Speaker
I don't remember. I just remember that like my pockets of my jacket all went off and I was like, oh my gosh. Like i said, I need something to put my stuff in. I said, i I'm not carrying a bag I have so much stuff in my jacket. and He said, okay, take your jacket off. And then just have me go through security without my jacket on and let me go into the park with everything still in my jacket.
01:19:08
Speaker
They didn't even look. And I was carrying, like, cameras, I had a giant battery pack, a wallet. Like, they should not, they should have made me empty my pockets and put the jacket through.
01:19:22
Speaker
I just remember being like... yeahre like, yeah, that makes sense. This is why everyone should have the stupid six stupid Six Flags. I'm literally talking about how good it is. And I'm calling them stupid. This is why everyone should have that same Disney system and Six Flags system. Because, like...
01:19:40
Speaker
There's no excuse. That should not have been allowed to happen. And the worst part is that it happened on multiple occasions. Like, so scary. And the arm yeah, I just think everyone should have that super easy Six Flags slash. I think the Cedar Fair parks now that Six Flags took over are getting those. Yeah.
01:20:03
Speaker
Like, because I think Cedar Point had them this year. um Kings Island has them too. Yeah, I think they're just like slowly replacing them all, which they should. It's like it keeps the line flowing. It's cleaner.
01:20:17
Speaker
But I just like I will never forget. I wish I could remember what park I was at. I just can't remember. i feel like it wasn't long enough ago to be Carowinds, but I feel like that would have been one of the last parks I had my giant jacket at.
01:20:33
Speaker
I don't know. But I just remember I was like, you're really just going to let me in like that? Yeah. Having a like seamless security experience can make a big difference in your day.
01:20:45
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Because like if you get frustrated before you're even in the park entrance, that's a problem. Yeah. That's not even including parking costs.
01:20:59
Speaker
Oh, yeah. It can, like, really ruin your day. Also, like, the pre-entrance experience can really just, like, make or break it. Like, and I know some people love this, and I feel like on my first visit, I didn't hate it, but, like,
01:21:14
Speaker
I get it. It's the vision of the park. But, like, Magic Kingdom, dude. That place drives me crazy. Like, I never want to go there because I feel like the entire experience, like, my entrance experience at Magic Kingdom would be ruined by that the getting there part. Yeah.
01:21:33
Speaker
Um, so like you're lucky if you're staying on resort in that sense, because you just show up and you're there. But to go the hype of like parking your car, like, you know what I mean? Like your hype, you park your car, you're like ready to go. And it's like, nope, nope, nope. You got to get on a tram. You got to go through security. You got to get on a monorail or a ph ferry. And then you get to go through the entrance plaza after waiting in a line that might take you five minutes. Like it just is so hard work. Yeah.
01:22:02
Speaker
Yeah, like sometimes it takes you like an hour plus to get into that park. Mm-hmm. By the time I'm in that park, I am like not set for the day. I'm angry. I'm ready to fight. Like... Yeah.
01:22:18
Speaker
Not necessarily for me. Yeah.
01:22:25
Speaker
yeah Okay, you got that one. We only have one more comment that we have not gone through yet. um Ethan said, my biggest tip to improve park entrances or if it's a thrill or amusement park, have a coaster or ride interact with the entrance to immerse guests into the thrilling aspect of those parks.
01:22:44
Speaker
Kind of like we talked about. But if it's a theme park, make the entrance something that encapsulates the themed land that you're entering very well, like Epic Universe Portals. Yeah, I feel like this is along the lines of things we have talked about.
01:22:56
Speaker
Yeah, the epic universe, like, entrance in portals is just, like, the epitome of transporting you to a new land. Yeah, and... They do that very well. They do that incredibly well. I do
01:23:10
Speaker
I think it's incredible it's incredible. I love the portal idea. I do think that it's a little bit easier to execute than, like say, a Disney park. um Because a Disney park is trying to cohesively make you forget that you're transporting into a different land and then you just show up there. Yeah, they they make the areas like blend into each other pretty well.
01:23:30
Speaker
Exactly. And they also like, they do this whole science of when they switch the types of music. So then your mind doesn't even like process that the music has changed all of a sudden you're encapsulated. So I feel like, i feel like universal took a little bit of the easy route out of being like, here is a portal. You are now in this land and just like throwing you into it.
01:23:54
Speaker
But I don't hate it. Like I do really enjoy that. I think it's a really well, but I also do really enjoy the Disney way where it's like, i don't even process. I entered a new land. All of a sudden it's like, I've been transported into a land without my knowledge. Yeah. You just kind of like happen upon another way and you're like, Oh, okay. And like from the hub, you can still see the very clear lands and you know that they're different and they're there.
01:24:23
Speaker
But when you're walking through them, they feel very cohesive. Mm-hmm. So it's very, very different ways to do entrances to different theming, but both of them are very fantastic.
01:24:41
Speaker
Yeah. That's the end of our listener questions. Yeah. Or Questions, comments, yes. I'm trying to think if I have anything else to add, but I'm honestly just tired and ready for bed.
01:24:53
Speaker
Yeah, and I feel like we hit like all the important points. um Also, like our listeners hit a lot of the important points. Our listeners kind of had a mind meld for this. And like there's very clear, these parks are doing it well. These parks could do better, <unk> etc. Yeah.
01:25:14
Speaker
Yeah, I almost feel like there isn't a middle ground for this. Like, either ah either you hit it or you don't. And I think that really came out in the listener comments because there were all, there were very clear lines between the parks who do it well and don't.
01:25:29
Speaker
Except for BGW. We had one. That's true, we had a couple different ones. Yeah, but Brambo hated it and Mikayo liked it. Yeah. yeah Other than that, though, there was a very clear line.
01:25:42
Speaker
Yeah. Between the two. So very interesting. There is one other one that really kind of bothers me. And that's Six Flags Over Georgia. oh and this is coming from ah someone who had it as their home park for 20 years.
01:25:57
Speaker
um it Like, they had this they have this gorgeous entrance, but it's like weirdly situated along the road. So there's not a lot of like space for lines there. So there gets a lot of backup. So they redid it some So now the entrance is like off to the side before where the tickets gates used to be. Because now they don't really use those much anymore. They might have like fully gotten rid of them for just like where all the security is.
01:26:25
Speaker
don't know. It's just it's they redid it to better help the flow. But it's just not as pretty. Yeah. It's very much lacking. Yeah.
01:26:36
Speaker
I feel like that is one of the the bad things about like a park that's not necessarily designed for crowding. um Because like I could very easily see that happening to BGW as well.
01:26:50
Speaker
And that's what happened, I think, to Hershey Park. They had to redo their complete entrance to accommodate what they had become. Yeah.
01:27:02
Speaker
And it's really unfortunate. But at the same time, i guess you don't really, i feel like no park goes into it thinking that they're going to grow to an extent that they have to redo their entrances.
01:27:15
Speaker
Yeah. Over Georgia definitely had to adapt. Especially with like, you know, as we get more modern security things and Yeah. I feel you though. If I didn't rant about Hershey enough this trip, but this episode.
01:27:31
Speaker
Bring back the old entrance. Knock down Candemonium. No, please don't. I love that hyper.
01:27:40
Speaker
I would die for Candemonium. if you ah If you're listening to this episode, or still listening to this episode, I guess, um and you can think of other ones that maybe we did not,
01:27:52
Speaker
think of because we're still working on getting to as many parks as possible I'm sure there's plenty more out there that are notable that we just haven't gotten to yet yeah or we haven't yeah or we haven't seen or been around but I'm sure i can't wait for Allison to come back and talk about Magic Land because I think the entrance maybe has a cat on it I'm not sure but I think I remember the entrance having cat I remember her just being pretty
01:28:23
Speaker
As we both Google. Oh, it does look just pretty. the The cat's further in the park, I guess.
01:28:34
Speaker
Oh, wow. Is that the entrance? Oh, that's a stunning entrance, actually. It has nothing to do with the cat. Still stunning, but it was I thought that the cat statue was at the entrance.
01:28:48
Speaker
Oh, There's a picture of the cat like leaning on a bench and like the bench is painted like a rainbow i love it i'm obsessed with the cat i know i'm gonna get you a plushie i love him love to of them so i can have one for myself yeah you need one for yourself too i just love that the only thing i know about this park is that there's a rainbow cat i love him I literally just Googled Magicland Italy plushie.
01:29:19
Speaker
Oh. But I don't, and I know they exist. because They have to exist.
01:29:28
Speaker
i will be sending you pictures from that park and being like, which one do you want? Yes. I need one. all of All of the merch for Jen. And it's early in our trip too. I'm like not going to have room for much. Sure.
01:29:40
Speaker
You're goingnna be like traveling with this plushie for me. i love it. I'm to have to like get something with like a clip on it and just clip it onto the outside of my bag. That's okay. Take pictures of that everywhere we go in Italy for you. Yes. On the little charmer... Or chamera. Chamera.
01:29:59
Speaker
Charmera. I don't know what you're supposed to call it. I don't know. I don't know.
Episode Conclusion and Teaser
01:30:06
Speaker
All right. Well... I think that brings us to the end of the episode. We said this was going to be a short one, right? Yeah. It's hour and a half short.
01:30:17
Speaker
I was thinking more like an hour. i think we went a little longer. that's we We had some rants. Yeah. I talked about Hershey Park for 30 minutes. Yeah, that's true.
01:30:28
Speaker
And we talked about Fantasicland. Yeah, like always for extended periods of time. Yeah. All right. Our next episode is going to be a long one. Exactly. going have a guest on.
01:30:43
Speaker
That's all I'm going to say. Yes, we will have a guest. The guest will be in person for one of us. Yes. If you've been listening to us enough, you should probably know who this guest is, but...
01:30:57
Speaker
Yeah. And we'll be doing a deep dive of a park that he really enjoys. yeah So, here's our hint, guys. If you made it this far, you get a hint for next episode. Yep.
01:31:12
Speaker
Alright, well. We will see in in two weeks. Yep. Hashtag keep thinking inverted, whatever. yeah keep thinking. We'll see y'all soon.
01:31:25
Speaker
Bye. Bye-bye.