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Mardi Gras, TCS Lore, and No Refunds for Paranormal Activity
46 Plays22 days ago
Happy Mardi Gras! We're back with reports from Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Universal Studios Florida Mardi Gras events. Plus, a Universal Orlando Informer event review, a visit to Legoland, and a weird and spooky trip in the southwest. Aliens, ghostly hotels, and closed Tobaggans, oh my!
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Transcript
Introduction and Return to Regular Schedule
00:00:11
Speaker
Welcome back to Thrills, Chills, and Spills, where we spill the tea on all things theme parks, special events, and especially spooky season. I'm Joey. I'm Kelly. I'm Tyler. And I'm Rafa.
00:00:22
Speaker
And this week we are ah back on our regular schedule. After last week we had our HHN catch-up episode with all of our speculation.
00:00:32
Speaker
um And some of us, not me, have been out there visiting some parks and doing some traveling and have some interesting reports from around the country. But first, per usual, we're doing our spills.
Six Flags Sale to EPR Properties
00:00:46
Speaker
um So we're not usually a news podcast necessarily about a theme parks and roller coasters, but I do feel like this Enchanted Parks sale is kind of a big deal. um I'm wondering how we're feeling about that. So I feel like everybody knows, but um Six Flags just announced that they are selling...
00:01:08
Speaker
seven of their theme parks to another company called EPR properties, which is basically a real estate company. And then that real estate company is having another company called enchanted parks operate six of the North American properties that they sold. And Laurent, they also sold sold in Canada and that is going to have a separate Canadian operator. um So we have a new chain coming to the U.S. after we just had some consolidation, which is very, very interesting.
00:01:42
Speaker
um i don't think that we're going to see too much change this year operationally. They said they're going to honor the passes and everything. But come 2027, feel we are going to see potentially an Enchanted Parks Platinum Pass of some kind, changes to ticket structures and all that stuff. I think it's going to be very, very interesting. um Any takeaways that you guys had from all of that?
00:02:05
Speaker
I think my biggest takeaway was how little money they got for those parks. Yes. Yeah. i was That was wild. They got $331 million dollars for this sale. And to put that into context, when they sold California's Great America, um obviously California real estate is more valuable, but still they got $330 million for that one park. Yeah.
00:02:28
Speaker
So, yeah, it's not a not a lot of money they got out of it. But I think that like part of it comes down to consolidating their CapEx spend because now they don't have to spend any money on any of those parks, like on maintaining them on. you know kind of larger expenditures that might be coming, especially when you think about the parks that were on that list, which I don't have it in front of me right now, but the biggest one is like Six Flags, St. Louis, ah Valley Fair, Worlds of Fun.
00:02:58
Speaker
what am I missing? La Ronde, Six Flags. skin Oh, Michigan's Adventure. Yeah. yeah Schlitterbahn. Schlitterbahn. Yeah, I think Darien Lake was not. Darien Lake, not yet.
00:03:14
Speaker
Yeah. Which that surprises me. They've put recent investment into a Great Escape and I think that's a much better park. but I do like Great Escape. It's cute. Yeah. But I feel like it was just kind of on its own out there and it was considered non-core to Six Flags. and I just don't want to spend any more money on it. Yeah.
00:03:31
Speaker
There you go. we Historically, EPR Properties has operated on some smaller other regional parks like Magic Springs, Kelly's Favorite Place. And they don't exactly have a track record of large investments in their properties. um So I don't anticipate we're suddenly going to get like, oh my gosh, they're you know buying new roller coasters for all these parks.
00:03:54
Speaker
But I could see them potentially maybe investing a little bit more in maintaining them like cleaning some things up, doing some paintings, stuff like that. It'll be, it'll be interesting to see how Enchanted Parks operates because they are a fairly new park operator. They operated like Diggerland, which is that construction equipment theme park. and is that in Jersey or Pennsylvania? Sure is. And I've been there. and you have Have you ridden the front loader spinning around?
00:04:24
Speaker
Yeah, I had a two-year-old boy obsessed with all things diggers. Of course went. Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. He also had massive diarrhea there. He was sick. That's all I remember. Oh that's terrible. Still diapered at that time. So, you know, was really special. It was like before turned two or around that age. Anyways, moving on. Is that Hopefully that doesn't sum up Enchanted Parks. Just massive diarrhea everywhere. Massive diarrhea. Right, right. Poor Benny.
00:04:54
Speaker
Well... um I will say I am pleasantly surprised that Dorney Park made the
Exclusion of Dorney Park from Sale
00:05:00
Speaker
cut. Right. I mean, I think it's really on par with, like, Worlds of Fun and Valley Fair, so I'm a little bit surprised, but I'm happy yeah about it. Yeah.
00:05:09
Speaker
that's I wonder if it's just because they kind of wanted to keep a little competition with Hershey there going. And it is like, I mean, i think I always hear that, like, especially the water park does well there. So I'm i'm wondering if it's just is doing well enough and they just invested in Iron Menace and stuff like maybe that's the reason to it around. I mean, that being said, they just put a new ride in Worlds of Fun, too. And they're like, nope, get out of here. know, get out of here. yeah They do um draw a pretty big crowd for their haunt event, too, I would say. like i'm I'm surprised how much they put into that every year still. And that's been going on since I was like young. Yeah.
00:05:43
Speaker
Yeah, it it was really primarily the Midwest like lost a whole bunch of yeah the chain. So if you got your gold pass or whatever this year, go out and get to them before they're not on your pass anymore, I suppose. Yeah, if you haven't been to them.
00:05:57
Speaker
um Cool. All right.
Nostalgic Theme Park Memories
00:05:59
Speaker
Moving on to Kelly. So we'll talk more about Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, Mardi Gras, Tyler and I went this past weekend. But I just wanted to give a shout out to Apollo's Chariot. I feel like it gets so much hate as like the worst B&M hyper. But I have fun every time I ride it. I hadn't ridden it since...
00:06:19
Speaker
2022, think, and rode it this weekend. And it was just fun and nice and graceful like a B&M hyper should be. And it has the pre-drop like Raging Bull and that sets up the first drop just so nice. I have really great nostalgia on this ride. It was like my first...
00:06:36
Speaker
I mean, I rode Steel Force because it was at Dorney, but it was like my first B&M hyper and like big coaster I rode when my family went on summer vacation to like Williamsburg and when I was, I think maybe 10. And my dad and I rode it together. So it's just and he always still talks about it. Like it's like one of the coolest rides he's been on because he hasn't been on a ton of rides since then.
00:06:56
Speaker
But um But yeah, I really enjoyed it. Also, for you guys and for no one else, maybe I'll put this in the Discord. I found my first ever ride picture from Apollo's Chariot.
00:07:08
Speaker
It is not with my dad. I think I must have ridden by myself first and then encouraged him to ride. Look at how excited I am. Hold on. That's not the right camera. Wrong camera. There you go.
00:07:20
Speaker
front row oh my gosh the hair living my best life the hair time that's i'm just lucky there's no goose in that shot that's all my dad talked about too he's like i'm so tall i'm just like my head's up there above everybody else's like i'm gonna get hit Yeah, that's a classic. It's a classic. is there Are there BNM hypers that you like less than that, though?
00:07:49
Speaker
Okay, that's fair. That's fair. It does have a really nice setting, I will say that. Yeah. Yeah. That's the best thing about All right. Yeah. Like along the water. and There's not a lot of hypers that do that. I don't think, can't really think of another one that does right now. i guess nitrous sort of kind really.
00:08:07
Speaker
Yeah. Like it goes over the rapids, but yeah it's not exactly over it in the same way. Yeah. um Okay. So Tyler, you went on at adventure.
00:08:18
Speaker
i did. Yeah. I took a little trip to um Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, that part of the country. um We'll talk about the rest of it later, but my spill is i found myself in El Paso, which El Paso is right across the border from Juarez, Mexico.
00:08:39
Speaker
So if you guys are in buzz bars, then you know about the Juarez toboggan that Nate and Bedholm talk about all the time.
00:08:50
Speaker
So I found myself a night that the park was open and I walked across the border and walked over a mile to this park. And I was so excited to post that I had this cred too, because Nate talks about it all the time. And I don't even think he listens to this podcast, but he does not shut up about the waters to block him. And I was so excited to tell him I wrote it.
00:09:13
Speaker
get into the park. It's completely closed. No life whatsoever on that ride. It looked like it was S B and O for days, if not weeks, but, um, tried some broken Spanish with the, one of the ride attendants and, um, she said it hadn't been open for a while and she had no idea when it would open. Um, so I did stay for like a half an hour, just kind of eyeing it, seeing if anybody was even walking back to that part of the park. But,
00:09:43
Speaker
No luck. Got the other two creds, but not the one I wanted. And I have gang no idea when I will ever be back to Juarez, Mexico. No bingo for you.
00:09:56
Speaker
and No bingo. Yeah. Oh, gosh. The freaking toboggans. Yeah. That's crazy. haven't ridden one. They are something.
00:10:07
Speaker
but Although the one I wrote had a lot of padding on the ceiling and I feel like the one Juarez doesn't. And that sounds so bad.
00:10:18
Speaker
Which one did you write, Joey? Little America. Yeah. Yeah. Same. I also wrote one that was in Ocean City, Maryland when I was a child and loved it then. But I was small.
00:10:29
Speaker
Yes. Kids probably have way more fun on that because you're not crumped, like crunched down trying to fit under the the roof that they hinge down on you. It's wild.
00:10:40
Speaker
Anyway, well, Rafa had ah another minor incident.
Mardi Gras Mishaps and Concert Experiences
00:10:45
Speaker
Very minor, very very minor. it's not going to be a whole spill, but um we were in Orlando for Orlando Informer over in Universal. and um And some of these people take throwing beads very seriously when it comes to those Mardi Gras floats and the parade. um This little girl, she like she pitched it right at our faces. And Shay had this whole mark from...
00:11:13
Speaker
the beads um for the rest of the night actually the whole mark was it didn't go away until like the next morning but they really threw that you know that's crazy i was like like what were you going for like did we say something could you hear us from there but it's just it was ridiculous but yeah just that like if you're on a mardi gras float don't don't throw it so damn hard we're gonna catch it Rafa's luck with flying objects continues to be horrendous. I know. This is worse this is worse than the ball. but Yeah, I would say so.
00:11:45
Speaker
yeah At least the ball wasn't thrown straight at your face. I think we're developing TCS lore. but We are. A little bit. We are. That's some lore for sure.
00:11:58
Speaker
for sure First was the beach balls, then the crowd surfers at Warped Tour, and then now this. Yeah, yeah. So, side note, how do you get on the float at Universal? Like, don't you have to be a PASS member or something? So, yeah, if you're a PASS member, you, um they have, like, a virtual queue on, like, that same day. I don't know what time. um The only way that I was able to do it was through the, like,
00:12:24
Speaker
the dine experience. They have like a Mardi Gras dining experience where it's, I forgot the price. It's like a hundred dollars, I think. Um, but you get a three course meal at one of like the listed restaurants that they have. Um, and then you have like a guaranteed spot on one of the floats.
00:12:42
Speaker
So interesting if you want if you want to secure a spot on a float without dealing with the virtual queue, which I've never had luck with before. um Yeah, definitely do the dining experience if you want a ah spot on there.
00:12:56
Speaker
Was the food good? sense. Yeah. Yeah. So the, well, okay. So the, I'll go in more into the food later. i mean, we had food during um the informer event, but um we weren't, we didn't try much of the Mardi Gras food, like just a few items that they had during the Orlando informer event. Yeah. Okay.
00:13:13
Speaker
Yeah. Cool. Cool. All right. Well, moving on to our thrills. So our adventures all around. um Let's start with the non-theme park stuff. So I'll keep mine quick.
00:13:25
Speaker
um We talked about it last episode, but I did go to Mayhem Ball at Lady Gaga concert last week um on a Thursday. Also, shout out to...
00:13:37
Speaker
Shout out to getting like club seats because they were in a an area of the arena where you got access to like a club that had unlimited buffet and then unlimited beer and wine access. So I may or may not have had five pina grigios.
00:13:54
Speaker
Before the concert even started. Heyo. um That made it more fun. ah So that was great. And then, yeah, it was really cool to see it. um The set is very neat. And she has some things that I hadn't seen on social media before um that I won't necessarily spoil. Not that there's that many concerts left for this tour. But yeah, there were some really cool visuals. And it's definitely something I could see.
00:14:19
Speaker
uh, HHN picking up some inspiration from in this opera house. And there was fire and, and the graphics, all the smoke. That was one of my favorite. Oh my gosh. There's this one part where the whole stage goes green and it's just billowing clouds of smoke everywhere. i was like, dang, they have some crazy fog machines. Can you imagine if HHN just, just did that, it would go everywhere. It kind of sounds like, uh, Hollywood does that more than Orlando does, but that would cool.
00:14:48
Speaker
um But yeah, it was it was really fun. i mean, i wouldn't even necessarily say there was a highlight. Like the whole thing was fun because I am so familiar with her music at this point because of my friend that, you know, it's it's all things that I recognize and I enjoyed her latest album. So it was it was a good time.
00:15:05
Speaker
So when you pick those club seating like spots, like is that always gar like is that always like? with those like food and drink options? Like, yes. So like, I feel different, you know, arenas around the country are going to have different things like this, but the only way to get this was through resale. So like the people who normally have tickets in that club, I guess we're reselling them. Um, if they weren't going to go to the concert, Right. So it was like noted on our ticket that this particular section called the terrace has a club attached to it. And there's like two or three other clubs in this arena, different ones.
00:15:43
Speaker
um But yeah. And so we were not the only resale people there for sure. Cause we sat down with some people from Boston who were talking about how excited they were to see her for the first time. And they were like excited about the club. It mostly came down to the fact that all of the tickets were,
00:15:57
Speaker
275 plus for like the upper nosebleeds even and so at that point once you're getting into that range we only spent like i don't know actually we we spent about the same that we would have for an equivalent view and then got all of the extras so it was like completely made sense to do it that way so yeah check check that out if you if you're having to do resale because you didn't get a ah blue dot ticket on ticket master like i didn't ah It might work out. It might work out.
00:16:26
Speaker
All right. And then other non theme park thing on Tyler's trip.
Arizona Adventures: Mines and Mysteries
00:16:32
Speaker
Have you guys heard of Bisbee, Arizona? The town?
00:16:36
Speaker
No. Never. Yeah, I hadn't either until I was researching literally the day before like a place to stay or something to do that's fun. Because I had like maybe like three quarters of a day to kill and on my way back to Phoenix. So I found this town called Bisbee, Arizona. I guess it's like popular in Arizona, but maybe if you don't live there, you might not know about it. But...
00:17:01
Speaker
It's an old mining town. um Actually, it used to be one of the biggest mining towns in the country, if not in the world. um But there's this old a mine there that closed in 1975 and they've since turned it into a tour.
00:17:17
Speaker
It's called the Queen Mine. It was one of the most productive copper mines in like the country at that time. So You go in they give you a hard hat and like a flashlight to put around your neck and you can like just move it around with a high vis vest. And then you get on like a retrofitted old mine cart with seats on it.
00:17:41
Speaker
And they literally take you over a thousand feet into the mine on this old mine cart. That now has like seats you can straddle on it. It's crazy. I heard it was super cool, but I didn't know that you like actually rode the cart into it until I got there.
00:17:59
Speaker
um But you just go like, I forget how much, 1300 feet, something like that into the mine. Then you get off and they show you different things. um They show you the exactly where the copper was and what the copper looked like. You know, just at that point, it's sort of a typical mine tour. But just the fact that you get to ride the old mine cart into the actual entrance of the mine from what, 50 years ago is just crazy to me. It was such a cool experience.
00:18:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's pretty wild. I'm looking at it on satellite view right now. It's kind of on the edge of the town, like going into the the hill around it. Very interesting. Yeah, so that that town, I think they said at one point had over 2,000 miles of tunnels in mines, which is crazy. is maybe la yeah There's maybe like a couple still active, but most of them have long been closed. And this is the only one they've turned into um A large scale tour like that.
00:18:57
Speaker
Yeah, the town itself really doesn't even look that big, but very interesting. Yeah, it's it's really not. Just cool little mountain town, sort of like hippie vibes, I would say.
00:19:11
Speaker
Classic. Mines and hippies. and yeah All right. So also, um he's already mentioned it, but Rafa, you did an Orlando Informer event.
00:19:22
Speaker
Tell us about how that went. Yeah, so this was actually my first time attending the event. um i The only thing I ever knew about it was just that apparently there were less crowds, you know lower wait times, um and I really enjoyed it. i mean, I didn't know before that the food was included.
00:19:42
Speaker
i only knew about the wait times, but I had no idea about the food. but that You were happy to pay $200 and didn't even know you get free food the whole night? I know. I was, i was okay, so I canceled my okay, so the reason why I didn't try any of the other Mardi Gras, like, food options is because i don't have an annual pass anymore.
00:20:00
Speaker
So I canceled that. So I was like, you know what? I was like, forget it. let's Let's try it. Like, let's see what this is all about. I was like, all right, let's just go for the low wait times. Let's see what they offer. But yeah, there's there's food.
00:20:13
Speaker
um And it was it was awesome. So when we got there, um we checked in in the soundstage where ah where Five Nights was queued up.
00:20:27
Speaker
ah So we went in there to check in. And then we got our wristbands. And then after that, um that starts at three o'clock and you go into this other soundstage like in this waiting area um to basically soundstage where Wyatt Six was. um So you go in there and you there's a whole waiting area. They just have like a bunch of nachos and popcorn and, you know, refreshments. um So you just wait there and they had like live music there, which that was my only thing where i was kind of like, what's going on? Cause they were playing like, they had like, it was nice. They had live entertainment, but they were playing like the saddest music.
00:21:07
Speaker
Like it just, it wasn't exciting. Like, like no offense, Tyler, I know you're a big Zach Bryan fan, but they were playing like a very slow Zach Bryan song. Yeah.
00:21:18
Speaker
Oh, I would love it. Oh, you would have had you would have loved it. But we were kind of like, what's going on here? Like, like this is kind of ruining the vibe. Whatever. We were just hanging out there, um you know, munching on the snacks that they had there. And then at five o'clock, they um they let you into the park, um which we went ahead and we just started waiting for the Mardi Gras parade.
00:21:40
Speaker
And then that's where we got hit in the face. But but that was fine. um So we did that. And then after that, ah where did we go? We rode, we went on ET because we still had some time to kill. And then eventually they started to, you know, do their whole sweep throughout the park to get everybody out.
00:22:01
Speaker
um Oh, so you went in before, like it was still publicly open. Right. So you go in, so they let you into the park at five o'clock. um And the park closed like at seven, I think. Okay. Yeah.
00:22:14
Speaker
So, yeah, and at 7 o'clock, they have a few restaurant options that open to the the informer, you know, attendants. So we went to – where did we go? We started off with Richter's. So we went to Richter's.
00:22:31
Speaker
We had burgers there. Well, we didn't have burgers. Well, I didn't have. Zach had some burgers, and everybody wanted to try the – they had, like, a cereal milkshake, like a Captain Crunch milkshake, which – I wasn't a fan of, but they all loved it. i mean, I'm not a big milkshake guy, so that's why probably why I didn't like it. um And then they also had um a couple of other dessert options. I can't remember, but the weights were pretty short as far as like the food goes, um even though like they would pile up because everybody wants those like early, you know, food options, you know, they would go through everybody pretty quickly. Like they had that line moving pretty quick.
00:23:13
Speaker
um But yeah, there were plenty of food options, which were great. um They had a few Mardi Gras options like the beignets. They had, um i believe they had jambalaya and a sausage like mac and cheese, um which was really good. um That I really enjoyed. That was probably my favorite offering from the whole event, actually.
00:23:38
Speaker
um and what else? And yeah, I mean, the event itself was great. I mean, the wait times were really short. Like I was kind of worried that like, I don't know, because feel like it's a really popular event. And I was like, it can't be that empty. But there were many parts of the parks of both parks that were completely dead. um The longest wait that we had was about 35 or 40 minutes on Hagrid's. Everything else was like under 20 minutes.
00:24:07
Speaker
So, yeah. So, honestly, I mean, I really enjoyed the event. I thought it was well worth it, especially with how much food you can get. And also, I didn't know that you get, i mean, obviously, I didn't know much, but they also have free, like, arcade play. So, like, any of the arcades, I know there's the one over by The Mummy, and then you have the one over by Doctor Doom.
00:24:31
Speaker
Those two, all games, most games were free play. So, yeah. You can enjoy the games, you can enjoy the food, the rides. um And yeah, as an event, i I thought it was great. Like, I think it's really worth it. I don't think it's an event that, i mean, we're kind of talking about this and I'm not sure where I stand with it. I'm not sure if this is the event for a first timer, like that is ever visiting the Universal Parks. Like, I feel like it's worth it if if that person doesn't care to ride everything.
00:25:05
Speaker
If they don't care to ride everything and they just like ah they have like a few rides that they want to ride and they want to try a couple of different food options. This is perfect for them because wait times are very minimal. um But if you're trying to hit up every single ride, you do not have enough time. um The event went from seven.
00:25:23
Speaker
Well, the food started at seven, but like the rides didn't open until eight. um So you had from eight to 1230, which is only like about four and a half hours.
00:25:35
Speaker
So it's, you know, if if you don't have like a heavy list of things to do, it's perfect for you because you get a little bit of everything. You get to try the food, you get the rides, you know, all of that.
00:25:46
Speaker
But overall, I think it's a great experience. And you don't have to deal with the Florida sun while you're at both parks. So that's that's a win. um But yeah, so that was Informer. And then we had a quick visit the following day. and We went to Legoland, Florida, which we really didn't get to do too much. We... Got there a little bit later than expected.
00:26:09
Speaker
And um two of the creds were closed. Coaster Saurus and which one's the other one? The great the Lego coaster one, the the wild mouse.
00:26:22
Speaker
Oh, the Technic one. Yeah. Yeah. So those were the two that we did not get to ride because they it was closed the entire day. But we did get to try out the new roller coaster, the new coaster.
00:26:34
Speaker
Galacticoaster. Galacticoaster. There we go. I was like, i don't know why I want to say Galactica. But yeah, Galacticoaster. Such a good ride. It's like a mini Cosmic Rewind. i loved it. It was so good. it was such a fun ride. Like, perfect for, like...
00:26:51
Speaker
the younger you know The younger kids, and but still thrilling enough for anybody to enjoy. um it was it was so cool. like I don't know. I i couldn't i was had a smile on my face the entire time. I loved it. It was such a good ride. And I didn't expect to enjoy anything that much there. So that was a pleasant surprise.
00:27:11
Speaker
And then we got to ride the other coaster, the Dragon one. And then we got Daddy Pig over in Peppa Pig theme park. Oh, that's right. Yeah. So we got those. The Pig upgrade.
00:27:24
Speaker
Yeah. So we, yeah, expensive. It was so expensive to go. Like it was, I think we paid about like one, like 10 or something like that.
00:27:34
Speaker
Like just to have both parks. That's crazy. And it sucked that two of the creds weren't even open. So it kind of sucked like that we missed out on some stuff, but yeah. Why were they closed? You know?
00:27:45
Speaker
So Coastersaurus has been closed for some time now. It just says that it's closed for maintenance. I think that's what it said on the website. That's what it said up front in the, in the entry.
00:27:56
Speaker
Um, and then the, the wild mouse, that one was that one, they kept saying that they were going to open and they never did like the whole day. Yeah. Earlier on they were like, oh come back. It's going to be open. We kept looking on the app. We kept, you know, checking and,
00:28:12
Speaker
We had no luck. They never ended up opening it. And apparently didn't open the day after either. So I don't know what was yeah i don't know what was going on there. It did open late the day what that I was there, but it did eventually open.
00:28:23
Speaker
But don't know who goes for that time either. were hoping that we would be it before we left, but yeah we had no luck with that. Yeah, that park is wildly expensive. It's it's so expensive. and And honestly, like, I thought, like, at first, like, i was like, damn, the drive is kind of long, but it's only long because you have to deal with that i four traffic, which is so bad.
00:28:43
Speaker
But besides that, like, once you're off the highway, like, you're you're good. Like, it does not take that long to get there. It just sucked that, you know. Legoland might be my epic replacement. So that's why I was curious. But if two creds are going to be closed.
00:29:00
Speaker
Two creds most likely will be closed. Shoppers pass it. That's what I did. So you go to the window, you pay for a full price ticket, and then you say you want to just shop and you'll be allowed in for one hour. And then you bring your receipt back proving that you were in there for less than hour and you get a refund for the full price of the ticket, which is like $135.
00:29:21
Speaker
No, I did because I felt I bought a little pin because I wanted a little pin. But technically, no, like if you didn't find what you were looking for when you were shopping, there's no minimum spend.
00:29:32
Speaker
So I ran in, i was able to get two coasters and then I ran back out. hey hopped in for the yeah cri yeah But you know what's fun about that? I can go back and do that again. But i guess what? I can't get Peppa Pig because it's completely separate admission. So there's no way to shoppers past that.
00:29:48
Speaker
The pricing for that is insane. Like the gate price is like 60 something dollars. Like that's crazy. And Pig is the 20th. And this young children. Yeah. Like what? It's crazy. Like I was like that is insane that you guys are charging that much for everybody to enter that park. Like it is so expensive.
00:30:10
Speaker
But whatever. We will probably never be back in pepper pi Peppa Pig. But and maybe not. Oh I'm sure I'll be a back at Legoland at some point. But yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, it was a very cute park. We enjoyed our visit while we were there. um It sucked that we miss out on two of the rides. and And honestly, the wait times for the dark rides were kind of long. And we didn't end up waiting on those either. So we didn't get to do much. It was just a lot of strolling and and checking out Galactic Coaster, which we loved. um We only waited about like 20 minutes to ride it. And we did it twice. And it was a lot of fun. Yeah.
00:30:47
Speaker
It was a good time, though. we We enjoyed it. I'm sure we'll be back at Legoland, but Peppa Pig, that's one and done. That's too expensive. Yeah. yeah They did that just to make money off the the credit whores.
00:31:00
Speaker
not For sure. They locked it behind a fence and said, you've got to pay to get in. Yeah. It's a cute park. I mean, the the kids, like all the kids that we saw around there were having a blast, so...
00:31:13
Speaker
Oh, yeah. and Yeah. Like, it's nice to walk. It was, you know, it's it's pleasant. It's got nice landscaping and water and all that stuff. When it used to be Cypress Gardens, I guess, you know, it used to be um a different park that had all that landscaping and they kind of retained a lot of that, which is nice. But yeah, it's it's it's a little pricey for what you get, I think. um Yeah.
00:31:33
Speaker
Anyway, okay, so our last little park segment, ah Tyler and Kelly, um as mentioned, were at Busch Gardens, but also during their Mardi Gras event.
Disappointment at Busch Gardens' Mardi Gras
00:31:44
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm going to try to not be a super negative Nancy, but I think they that... and Tyler, you can interject if you disagree, but I think overall, as an event, we were a little bit disappointed,
00:32:00
Speaker
um I love Busch Gardens. Like I just, I really enjoy the park, but I feel like other than Christmas town, when I've gone the past couple of times during like their other special events, I've been a little bit disappointed. First of all, this has nothing to do with the park, but when I walked out of Tyler's house and it was 70 degrees in Richmond, I was wearing shorts and like a tank top and i brought a sweatshirt. Thank God, because an hour away from,
00:32:29
Speaker
It was like 40 something degrees. Hell yeah, it was crazy. It went from like 75 and sunny to like 45 and cloudy. I have no idea how that happened. I've never seen That's so weird.
00:32:44
Speaker
Like we I was shivering before we even entered the park. I was like, what the heck? Um, but anyways, so we got into the park.
00:32:55
Speaker
We decided that we were going to get one of their lanyards or their little punch cards for the Mardi Gras event. So we got the five, there's a five and a 10 punch cards. We got the five and then Tyler had an extra,
00:33:09
Speaker
item as one of his passholder benefits. So technically we had six things to try. so we got that all set up. And then we, i guess we got our first item before we went to attempted to go to the show. We got, and I have to look back at my pictures. We got a po' boy. It was like a catfish po' boy. um The food, all of the food that we tried, i think you would agree was like pretty good. Like we were rating them. If you follow us on social media, we were on Instagram rating them and we, everything was like well above a six. I don't think even anything was really below a seven. Maybe you had one, but, um but all the food was good. um
00:33:47
Speaker
And the decor was great. It was just kind of how things were run. That was a little bit of a bummer. So we we got the po' boy, then we went to um the show, which is like, what? Back up little long did it take us to get the po' boy? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.
00:34:03
Speaker
So first of all, all um the park opened at 3 p.m. and was only open till 8. And we had somewhere else to be and we could only be at the park till 5. We thought it was open at noon originally. So we were like, oh, plenty of time to like go to the park, do whatever. No, we realized we had two hours. So we were on a time crunch.
00:34:22
Speaker
We get in line at this first food booth. And we're first in line. So it's like, oh, this is going be quick. We can get it, eat it and go to the show, which was at three thirty. So three three thirty. Like we thought we had plenty of time.
00:34:35
Speaker
Well, the lady first is like, sorry, guys, as the line is building, the computer system isn't working. It's giving me trouble. So we're like, OK, this will like get fixed, whatever. People are helping her. They get into the computer system. We purchased the five card thing because you you can get it at like one of the food stands. And she's we paid for it, whatever. And then she's trying to add the first item like onto the thing like that we because we wanted the po' boy to try. And she could not figure it out. And she kept saying like, sorry, the computer is just really not agreeing with me today. It's just like really not working.
00:35:12
Speaker
She would get up. limp into the the food place that was like next door to get a manager or somebody to help her come back out. The manager would be like, do, do, do, do something. And she'll be like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:35:26
Speaker
She'll try to keep going. And the same thing happened three times where she had to hobble over, get somebody to help her and kept blaming it on the computer. And we were like being very patient and i held it together till the end. And I started laughing. had to walk away because I was like, this just can't be real life right now. like How is it taking us 15 minutes to get our food or our to even purchase our card when we were first in line? It was insane. So I was like, okay, this is how today is going to go.
00:35:54
Speaker
But we made it to the show in time. And we watched the beginning of the... So this was like a Cirque type show. Watched the beginning of it, left in the middle. It was so bad. no. yeah Oh, yeah. It was so bad. So it started out with like a group dance number and i had told Tyler this when we left he didn't notice but one of the dancers was so bad I'm gonna sound really me and right now I'm sorry but I am a trained dancer so I like pick up on this stuff immediately not only was she just like worse than everybody else like this girl was put in this show with like no dance training there's no possible way
00:36:36
Speaker
Oh my gosh. No rhythm, no technique. I was like, and then I couldn't watch the rest of the talented people. Cause I was just looking at her. I'm like, how is this happening right now? How is this really happening? Like, so that, that happened. And then they had like a girl walking on glass jugs, which was kind of cool, but it went on for too long. Then they had I guess the, like, there was a guy like throwing plates, whatever. They brought out the same terrible dancing girl for her own little act.
00:37:07
Speaker
And she had a whip. Okay. And she was doing the whole whip the thing, the guy's holding trick. She like missed so many times. I'm like, who is this girl? How did she get in this show? And then Tyler and I looked at each other and we left. because Oh no, there was, the i lie. We missed, um there was an aerial artist like with the drapes. She was fine. Yeah.
00:37:31
Speaker
Yeah. She was fine. Well, was part of part of it, I think, was we were just kind of anxious because we knew we were on a time crunch and that was already like 30 minutes into our two hours and we had done nothing except for eat one of our six things, like hadn't even written anything yet.
00:37:47
Speaker
So partially we were, i think, just ready to go to something else, but mostly it was just not good. And I was saying, like, I consider Busch Gardens to be a like a premier park. Like it's on a level above like the regional parks and chains, in my opinion. And I've seen a lot of Dorney Park entertainment. And this was way worse. This was way, way worse. I just couldn't believe that it was happening at a Busch Gardens Park. I was like flabbergasted. And I enjoyed that show last time. I remember talking about it last year on the pod about how impressed I was. So i don't really know exactly what changed or what happened, but it was just not hitting the same this year.
00:38:33
Speaker
The real performers were on spring break or something. this was the This was the... You got all the swings. Yeah, all the swings were in. They swung in the the whip girl and she didn't know how to do it. or dance.
00:38:47
Speaker
Maybe she had something else later that she could actually She was in lighting booth and they said, hey, we need you. Yeah, come on, we need you. Oh boy. I hope, which I hope this doesn't get back to this poor girl, but you know, yikes.
00:39:01
Speaker
Um, also this is really nitpicky. She wasn't wearing stage makeup and everyone else was, i don't know. That lends even more credence to the pulled from the lighting. Yes. Like what? Yes. what Truly. but I was like, she looks like she's not even okay.
00:39:18
Speaker
Everything's fine. Yeah. But anyways, we left and we rode Dart Coaster. So on the map for Mardi Gras this year, the rides that were shown were Dart Coaster, Apollo's Chariot, and Alpengeist.
00:39:33
Speaker
And we first went to Alpengeist because I haven't ridden it in so long. It's my favorite invert of any invert. And it was closed. So I was annoyed. i was very annoyed.
00:39:44
Speaker
col Classic. So then we went to Dark Coaster. It said i had a 10 minute wait, which was probably accurate. We rode that. How exciting it was. And then got more food. We got chicken gumbo, which I thought was elite.
00:40:00
Speaker
Um... And then we got a like, fruit cake. It was, like, a pound cake with strawberry and blueberries in it, which was also very good, except the strawberry on top was, like, wilted and dead and looked like it was there for maybe three days, which was just really bothering But the rest was good.
00:40:16
Speaker
The cake was really good, though. That was my favorite item, but we did have to take that strawberry off. Yeah, it had to go. The leaves of it were black, so... It was like a whipped cream icing, which I love. i don't like like the fake, like thick icing. I like whipped cream or cream cheese icing. That's only two for me.
00:40:36
Speaker
Yeah, no, it was like, it was like shortcake. It was, it was good. Yeah. Then we got more food, I'm pretty sure, because we had to use our items.
00:40:50
Speaker
um We each got our own um like sausage and shrimp mac and cheese. And this is where Tyler doesn't like seafood like this. So he asked for his without shrimp. And the worker was like, it's pre-made. ah She was so rude. and i come on Tyler it's pre-made that's pre-made so you know no the two shrimps that Tyler had he gave to me and that was great because I had zero shrimps in mine um just it was interesting it was shrimp and sausage mac and cheese it was good it was okay it wasn't I liked the gumbo better but
00:41:30
Speaker
It was okay. And then we got beignets, which were not typical like puffy beignets. They were like flat, almost like funnel cake looking sheets that they put a bunch powdered sugar and then we got like raspberry drizzle on them.
00:41:43
Speaker
They like just didn't look normal. um They tasted fine. Like a funnel cake would. i don't know. Yeah. yeah um And then on our way out, we went to look at Apollo to see if it was open because it was on the map. And it didn't look like anything was happening. But as we got closer, we saw that not only was Apollo open, but...
00:42:08
Speaker
Um, their skyrocket, which one is there? Tempesto. Tempesto was running and so was Pantheon, surprisingly. So props to them, I guess, on opening rides that weren't supposed to be open if one of their rides that was supposed to be open wasn't open. Um...
00:42:27
Speaker
People may argue that that was a better choice of rides anyways, but um we had to choose one because we had to leave and we had ridden Pantheon just a couple of months ago. So we did Apollos and it was really fun. I liked it. And that was it. We left.
00:42:43
Speaker
So overall, it wasn't a bad time. It's just like people didn't seem super friendly. Like the level of customer service that I have come to expect at Busch Gardens was just not there. And then just kind of...
00:42:56
Speaker
Things being like unexpectedly subpar, but the food was great. Well, that is what I've come to expect with that park, unfortunately. And Joey and I have talked about this ad nauseum, I think, just how the park has gone so downhill. But and I'm not trying to hate on any like individual workers or anything there. I think it's more just the overall atmosphere is just sort of poor. And i don't know, I guess the lack of training, like the lady on the register at the first one, it wasn't her fault. She should not have been by herself on the register because she just did not know what she was doing.
00:43:34
Speaker
And I felt so bad because she could barely walk and she had to keep walking back in there to get her manager. But like, If she doesn't know how to do it, don't put her on the busiest register for your special event. like Give her another couple days of training.
00:43:49
Speaker
I don't know. She keeps going back, too. So it's like, why do you keep letting her go back by herself? like yeah Stand out with her for 10 minutes and watch She's doing what she's supposed to do. Because I guarantee you when it happened to the next customer, she still didn't know.
00:44:05
Speaker
Yeah, probably. More than likely. Yeah, how many manager visits to the next one, Gary? I don't know. Cause we were long gone. and Well, you know, at least the food was decent, but cause that's yeah from back when I was there, I like the special event food was always better than like the regular stuff that they served. Yeah. It was very good.
00:44:27
Speaker
it was very good. And i comparing it to Mardi Gras BGT, which we were all out last year as part of sunshine stumble. Like I think, Overall, I would probably choose BGT as a Mardi Gras event just from what I experienced, like the parade was really good. i kind of actually liked how all of their food booths were kind of in a in a similar area. I know that that's just how the geography of the park kind of works to their yeah advantage or disadvantage, respectively. But um quality of food was probably equivalent and disappointment with ride closers was probably equivalent.
00:45:03
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Well, there you have it. ah you have it Some disappointments at Busch Gardens. ah But some decent food. Why not? Yeah. Good food. All right. So the last bit of Tyler's trip we've got to cover is the chills section.
Roswell UFO Exploration and Alien Culture
00:45:20
Speaker
So some of the spooky and offbeat stuff that you made it out to.
00:45:24
Speaker
Yeah, this was really just kind of a weird trip. I did so many different things. It was mainly centered around national parks, which I won't really talk about that on here. It doesn't really fit in with our themes. But if you want to talk about national parks, DM me. I'd love to talk national parks with people. But um obviously i had to throw in some spooky things along the way. So...
00:45:46
Speaker
um One thing I did was I went to the National UFO Museum and Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico, which have you guys heard of the Roswell incident?
00:45:58
Speaker
So it's where that UFO crashed. and They say it's Roswell. I learned it was actually like 50 miles northwest. it was like a crash landing of a UFO.
00:46:10
Speaker
Apparently the government tried to cover it up and everything. People said they saw real aliens there. There's lot of lore to that. But anyways, it's that's what Roswell is. So that's why they chose to put the UFO Center here.
00:46:26
Speaker
So I was kind of expecting like just a really cheesy, touristy thing. And there it was a little bit of that. But you walk in and I paid my admission, which admission was $7. That's super reasonable for a museum. And yeah the guy like gave me the the spiel about the place. And he's like, you might want to start your tour over in our research center. That's what most people do.
00:46:51
Speaker
So I'm like, oh, okay. And I go into the research center and there's like, a lady at a desk, like looking like the librarian basically. And then there's just hundreds, if not thousands of books on UFOs and just like files of, i don't even know, like quotes and encounters that have been documented. Like they do actual research and in this place. I thought it was just, we were going to look at some figurine aliens or something and it was going to be like very silly and cheesy, but they're really researching. Um, the rest of the place it's,
00:47:33
Speaker
basically documenting different UFO and alien encounters that have been ah reported across the country and across the world. So they document the Roswell incident very well.
00:47:45
Speaker
There's some in like Massachusetts, Arizona. um i think there was one in the UK. So basically, and they have quotes from like hundreds of different people the what they remember encountering on those nights, which is crazy, real people. So and they had some interactive exhibits as well.
00:48:07
Speaker
It was a little cheesy. They had like a UFO with figurine aliens. And then the every like 30 minutes, the UFO would give off like smoke and it would spin and stuff and make alien noises. So they did have some of that, but.
00:48:20
Speaker
um Overall, I actually learned some stuff. And I think if you don't believe in aliens, you might come out of there a little bit more of a believer, honestly, because that's kind of how I am.
00:48:34
Speaker
I don't think I believe in those sorts of aliens like the way that they've been depicted in popular media. But I don't know. I walked out of there scratching my head a little bit for sure.
00:48:46
Speaker
Some weird stuff out there. to Yeah. I love aliens. I feel like I'm on an alien kick right now and your trip was just like right in the middle of it. I'm like, yes.
00:49:01
Speaker
Yeah, and there's like, they have a scale of four different encounters. I forget if it's like levels or what, but basically, like, the first one is you saw something in the sky.
00:49:12
Speaker
The second one is like they, um they interacted with something else. So you saw them and then you saw them interact with whatever, like beam up a cow or something. I don't know.
00:49:28
Speaker
And then the third one is they interact with you in some way or they like interfere with your. um So like an example would be like your radio goes off or something when the aliens are close by something like that. I think that's the third level.
00:49:44
Speaker
And then the fourth level is like they take you up into the UFO. So they i didn't know there was like an official scale to measure alien encounters. I definitely learned that.
00:49:56
Speaker
But yeah, for seven dollars, if for whatever reason you find yourself in Roswell, New Mexico, absolutely check it out. And the whole downtown was like alien themed. They had different um gift shops with all sorts of alien stuff. The McDonald's was shaped as a UFO.
00:50:15
Speaker
The Dunkin' Donuts had like a 15 foot alien like holding the donut like symbol. Yeah, it was crazy. That's awesome.
00:50:27
Speaker
Aliens are making a comeback. They're coming to HHN. They were at my race even this weekend. They were there. They were there. There was the best cheering squad area I've ever seen on this back road in front of a house. And they had a sign that said $2 to be abducted from the race by the aliens. And they had a fake spaceship cardboard thing and they were all dressed as aliens and they weren't moving. They were just standing there as we ran past. I was like, this is the coolest thing ever. I tried so hard to get a picture or video of it, but my fingers were too sweaty.
00:51:03
Speaker
Like, tag me to Roswell. I did see a TikTok of that. Didn't one of them have a sign that said, like, want to be probed or something? Yes. yeah ah Special kinds of aliens there.
00:51:18
Speaker
Yes, it did. Yeah. That's so funny that you saw it. um What else did I do that was spooky? I went to... So, also in Juarez, they had this haunted house thing, Mansion del Mansion del Terror, however you want to say it. Was that in the park? or Yeah, it's in the park. I didn't know anything about it. I just saw it as I was walking past.
00:51:43
Speaker
And I posted a photo on our Instagram. i don't know if you guys saw it or not, but um it looked... It was in the stories, but it was, um it looked super legit and it had like um the nun on the outside and everything. And then I walked past and it had like a character there and she was just like staring and like a scary mask. i was like, Oh, this is like, this seems pretty cool.
00:52:09
Speaker
And so couple people went in I'm like, okay, I'm going to go with them. I don't really want to do this alone. Yeah. And so went in with them and basically we're like walking towards the creepy lady. We're like, Oh, this is going to be so good. I'm excited for this. And then she like takes her masks off and she's like, Oh, how many, how many?
00:52:30
Speaker
Okay. Just wait in here. so She's holding her mask in her hand. the Yeah. Giving the whole safety spiel and everything.
00:52:42
Speaker
and then she, We're just like waiting in this room and then it's over. i don't know what they're saying. It's in Spanish, but, um and then she puts her mask back on and then like starts to lead us through the house.
00:52:54
Speaker
But she would just like randomly take her mask off at times and just like say, okay, go this way, go this way with her mask off. And then we get like halfway through, there have been no actors yet.
00:53:08
Speaker
And We, are it's like a generic Halloween type of thing. There's no real cohesive theme, just whatever scary Halloween theme stuff you can think of. That's what was in this house. um But there's no actors halfway through. We see an actor walking towards us. She was like in prison garb.
00:53:29
Speaker
um And we're like, oh, okay, actors are coming. And she just like walks right past us and talks to the other lady who has her mask off still at this point. So, yeah, there were no actors in the entire house. It was just a couple animatronics.
00:53:46
Speaker
Felt like you were walking through a Costco with some props.
00:53:53
Speaker
Oh, God. I don't get it. Because obviously they're dressed like as scare actors, unless that lady just wears like a black and white jumpsuit around normally. I don't know, but...
00:54:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's disappointing. I just saw the picture of the facade. It looks so cool. And then you go in. Yeah, the facade looks great. Yeah, but no, not good. Not good at all. That's disappointing.
00:54:18
Speaker
Yeah, it was disappointing, but I mean... It looked cool, at least from the outside. So also one more thing that I did that was kind of spooky. Actually, this was supposed to be very spooky. um Back in Bisbee, Arizona, I was looking for a place to stay. And I came across Hotel Amour at Labisbee Inn.
Haunted Hotel Stay in Bisbee, Arizona
00:54:42
Speaker
And I came across That sounds like a place that somebody killed their lover. Probably. Probably. Yeah, I would believe it. um Mainly it was just cheap. That's what drew me to it. I just needed a cheap place to stay for the night before I drove to the airport the next day.
00:54:59
Speaker
But I was looking into it more. And I found that um on there, the description on their website, it says there will be absolutely no refunds for paranormal activities that take place in your room or on the premises.
00:55:13
Speaker
This includes apparitions, poltergeist, spectral possessions and bumps in the night. What the hell? I was like, oh, I absolutely need to stay here.
00:55:25
Speaker
um So apparently it's the second oldest hotel in Bisbee. So i I don't know how old that is. Probably not super old, but um they definitely market themselves as like spooky, haunted, very old type of thing.
00:55:40
Speaker
And then um it's one of those hotels where you pick your specific room and each one is kind of themed differently. So the description for mine Euro style double and a tired soul.
00:55:53
Speaker
There are two shared bathrooms and showers across the hall. More importantly, this room also comes with a very tired soul. This spirit must be near their end on earth. They have, they no longer have a body, but their presence can still be felt.
00:56:07
Speaker
The soul will often lie next to you in bed, but usually falls asleep in the chair. Again, we must stress there will be no refunds for paranormal events. The spirit was here first.
00:56:19
Speaker
no year Before we own the place, treat all anomalies with respect. So I was like, I absolutely have to stay in this room. It was only like 80 bucks or something.
00:56:30
Speaker
um It was very, I posted it on my Instagram. i don't know if you guys saw, but just very like creepy antique decor. It had these like bizarre photos on the wall.
00:56:44
Speaker
um And then they had like an antique desk in the corner with a chair. yeah, I did look out for any spirits. I don't think any were with me that night. Maybe she was um off in the mine or something. I don't really know. but Too tired.
00:57:02
Speaker
She did not make herself known that night, which was unfortunate. But i it it was a cool place to stay, especially for the price point. I love that you went for it because I would not have done it. it is a little creepy i'm done i'm out here gonna go find another spot yeah it it was a little creepy by yourself like i feel like it'd be more fun with friends but by yourself i was definitely lay there like i tired i was definitely laying there in the dark before i fell asleep like okay this is a little unsettling right now
00:57:36
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if I could have done that. And I i am i am i welcome all spooky things. But I think if I was went with one of you guys, then I would have been fine. But by myself, yeah I don't know about that.
00:57:48
Speaker
i don't know about that at all. Yeah. yeah Just oh spooky stuff. Not that real stuff. i don't know about that. Yeah, that just goes to show you like how well they can like set you up to be in a certain state of mind. Because there's probably lots of places that like give off a creepy vibe, but you don't think about it. And this place is like, it's spooky, no refunds. And you walk in, you're like, ugh. They were like saying, like it might be bad, no no refund. They were trying to psych you out.
00:58:16
Speaker
It was actually advertised throughout town. They have a little flyer, and the headline on the flyer is, do not stay at this hotel. okay you're gonna see that and you're gonna read more about it and the reverse psychology is gonna get you which is what happened but i mean it was yeah it it was fine even if it didn't have that i probably would have stayed there just because it was in a great location and cheap enough for my needs so yeah there you go for everybody traveling through bisbee
00:58:51
Speaker
Yes. Which all of us definitely heard of before this started. ah There you go. There's your spot to stay. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Well, does anybody have any other closing thoughts?
00:59:04
Speaker
No. Well, yeah, we'll see everybody in two weeks. And hopefully we'll have some more things to talk about from parks.
00:59:16
Speaker
I know that my Six Flags is reopening, so I'll have a opening weekend report. Hopefully nothing stupid happens. because sometimes it does. So we shall see on that one. But yeah, we'll see you soon. Give us a follow um on your preferred podcast platform if you don't already.
00:59:34
Speaker
Instagram's thrills, chills, and spills. um Leave a comment somewhere. you know Tell us what you think about the episodes or anything you've seen out there. Have you ever stayed in a spooky hotel? Let us know. Have you seen an actual spirit?
00:59:48
Speaker
What level was it? Level one, two, three, four? I hope not four. That sounds like a lot. um But yeah, thanks so much for listening and stay spooky. Bye. Bye. That's tea, actually.