Just got home from a two-day trip. Things I noticed:
It seems as if the figures on American Plunge got painted; they looked vibrant and unworn, at least. And I can't remember if it did last year or not, but there was music playing in the long tunnel on the ride.
I didn't go into HDH, but it looks great, and I can't wait to bring my niece there.
And is that a new sign and drinking fountain along the fence near the train depot, the sign giving info on the engines?
I like that they're keeping with the whole "signs around the park" thing by doing facts about the world for World Fest.
LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Canadian Powerhouse. I hope they come back next year. Never watched before, but I loved Ecuador Manta and hope they return as well. Didn't make it to the Circus; every time we tried to get in line, we ended up a bit too far back to get in. If they're gonna keep with these huge shows, they really need to consider building a new, larger building, or at least rearranging things around Red Gold, because that line for the show was so insane; too much bottlenecking going on, with people in one line for the show, then another line for the food shacks near the Flooded Mine exit, and then the general traffic going to and from the Exposition.
Grandfather's Mansion seemed on top of its game; all the sounds were working great. Fire in the Hole's additions from last year are still great, but I really think the ride needs some work in terms of hiding the structure--it needs a bit more immersion; in fact, at one point in the ride, you can see through some doors or something into the main ride structure, and the lights were on. Totally takes you out of the ride.
Just after one year, with the help of the weather, RiverBlast looks sufficiently "weathered." Geyser Gulch, on the other hand, just looks... sad.
Haven't seen anyone mention it, but there's a big green fence between the ghost trap and the art gallery/shop behind Grandfather's Mansion that has holes you can look into and see models of Main Street as it looked in the '60s; it was made by an awesome 14-year-old boy, Gage, who I had the privilege of meeting a couple times last year. The models in the schoolhouse and Sullivan's Mill were also made by him. They're amazing!
Lost River's line was long, but the queue has been kept in great shape, and I love the theming around the vending machines. I think a couple benches out in that area, where all the wood chips are and the play area used to be, would be nice for those long waits.
Noticed the absence of the frog races over in Wilson's Farm. Also noticed that the smoothies are gone from the booth by the Saloon; my friend was extremely disappointed by that.
Speaking of the Saloon, the show... wow, it is really well-done this year. The entire cast of the showing we went to yesterday was amazing. The new guy playing Fabian was just... wow. All of us in our group were incredibly impressed by the range shown by him. One of my friends had never been to the show, and she loved it. The changes they made last year were good choices, and now I feel like the show is really well-balanced. As much as I liked the "Raining Men" bit, I do feel the show works better without it. And I LOVE Miss Tilly singing "Popular"; heck, the whole harmony of the girls at the end of it was top-notch. Seriously, this is the best the show has been in a while, and many of the faces are familiar and well-practiced.
I noticed most of the crew of Powderkeg were new (or if not, they were the ones last year who didn't make themselves noticed); one particular portion of the crew last year that many of us were noticing for all the wrong reasons was not there, at least not on Friday or yesterday. The music was back to the theme, as it should be. I did notice the theme was only in the front of the queue, with none in the station, which I can totally understand, as the song repeated over and over CAN get kinda annoying.
Wildfire's queue walls have been cleaned of graffiti; in fact, it was sanded, painted over, and now they have a fine mesh covering over them!
It seems as if a LOT of stuff we were pointing out last year has been taken care of for this season, so with any luck, maybe they'll take our complaints to heart for Moonlight Madness as well.
I think that's everything that I noticed. If I remember more, I'll post again.
