Theme Park Families

You remember when Jim Reid Anderson donned a chef's cap and gave us the information for Six Flags' new 2020 ride additions? Maybe not, so we bring you our reactions to the announcements from the day the video came out. Locked in the Theme Park Families' vaults for all these months, we're happy to refresh your memories of what the parks are getting. What did we like and what did we find surprising? Lots! So let's take a trip down memory lane and see if these rides do open in 2020!

In this episode, we have a huge exclusive, as we are pleased to announce that a new celebrity is starting his own theme park-Joe Exotic with his Exoticwood! Find out what exciting rides his new park will have! We also discuss our epic trip to Arizona and California, culminating with our first ever trip to Magic Mountain. How does it fair against Cedar Point? Andrew's News looks at Knott's memberships, Dolly being Dolly, and Wild Water West's Raptor! Our Ride of the Day gives you a new vantage point and our Tip of the Day looks at future membership issues. Who likes to party? Joe does!

This was an episode recorded in July of 2019 and finally uploaded for your enjoyment! Our next TPF Quest looks at your suggestions for changes you'd make to make coasters better! We thank our participants who helped us with the Star Wars skit! Such talent! Andrew's News looks at new coaster openings and Great Adventure changes! We review Airtime from Holiwood Nights! Our Ride of the Day is a hopping good time and our Tip of the Day helps you to not miss out on that elusive credit. Enjoy!  

After a lengthy hiatus, we are back! Bored with the coronavirus isolation. We are back to help you through these tough times! We have our shortest Andrew's News in history. Andrew and I will explain what's been going on and why we haven't recorded in so long! Our Tip of the Day looks to relieve the boredom a bit! We've got numerous episodes coming very soon! Enjoy and thanks for sticking around!

On this episode, we welcome back friends from In the Loop, Clint and Shari Novak to discuss Funland of Fredericksburg news and his experience at Coney Island. Andrew's News looks at two theme park lawsuits and the Sea World teaser video. We discuss our trip to Fantasy Island in New York, a few attractions in the Niagara Falls entertainment center on the Canada side, and the Novaks' first trip to the wonderful park, Canada's Wonderland. Our Ride of the Day is one of the weirdest looking flat rides, and our Tip of the Day looks at Clint's park.  Enjoy!

We are so pleased to give our audience an exclusive look at the wonder that is Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland which opens next month. We start with Andrew's News which examines Hershey's possible new coaster name, Kennywood's progress with Steel Curtain, and continued King's Island coaster rumors.  As new Coaster Crew members, we share our experience at Carowinds for the club's event and review Copperhead Strike. We had a great time with great people and had lots of Fury rides, which makes any trip great! We play the exclusive audio that an important contact sent us revealing some of the new experiences at Galaxy's Edge, with never heard before footage. Our Ride of the Day gets a bit bumpy and our Tip of the Day examines helping nervous riders with a slow and steady pace. Enjoy and thanks for listening!

We start by discussing all of the new coasters that have opened so far. Andrew's News looks at Dolly's fast new car, Disney's bathroom break, and a Blue Streak tunnel! We spend plenty of time discussing our trip to Canada's Wonderland where we attended the media day for the opening of Yukon Striker, the world's tallest, fastest, longest dive coaster (we loved it). We play two interviews we conducted, one with new friend of the show, Grace Peacock, Director of Communications, and Sophie Bolliger, director of sales for Bolliger and Mabillard. For our Ride of the Day, our brains get scrambled and for our Tip of the Day, take a trip on the wild side. Join us next episode where we'll feature our trip to Carowinds with the Coaster Crew and play an exclusive from Galaxy's Edge. 

First we listen to a trip report to Carowinds sent from our show friend, Dave from Ohio, who has some hot takes about his time at opening weekend- don't get burned! We talk to Ryan Freund about his love for El Toro at Great Adventure. His reason for marathoning this beloved wooden coaster is very emotional. We chat about our recent experiences at Great Adventure, Carowinds with the Coaster Crew, and Kings Dominion with friends, which will talk about in our next few episodes We are excited about going to this week's media day coming at Canada's Wonderland for Yukon Striker! Report coming soon!

In Part II, we start by discussing the pure magic that is the Crayola Experience video that has skyrocketed to unprecedented levels on YouTube.  We discuss Drew's favorite ride (REALLY!), Magnum, and he gives some great advice on how to ride this without any pain. He also states why he loves it so much. We discuss Hershey, living in Orlando, 2019 memberships, and things to look forward to in the 2019 theme park season. Drew supplies his own Ride of the Day and Tip of the Day, where we learn about a ride in Indiana and a way to maximize your time at Sea World. Our sign off is an ode to Drew with a favorite pastime that he has had to cut down on since fatherhood started.

Adding to our list of theme park friends, we invite Drew the Intern from the In the Loop Podcast to join us a long discussion that we break up into two episodes. For Andrew's and Drew's News, we discuss Copperhead Strike, Drew's unique cup obsession, Green Lantern leaving Magic Mountain, and Sesame Street's big Orlando opening. We chat about ITL's big event FreeRT that's almost four years in the making. We start to discuss Drew's background about his childhood and how he got his love of coasters and theme parks. From there, we head to college and how he got involved with Disney and In the Loop.  Part 2, next episode, continues from there.

In Part 2 of our minisode series about coaster enthusiasts who marathon a particular coaster over time, we interview McLain Waddell about his coaster love in the Carolinas. His story is very inspirational as he uses his coaster riding as therapy involving music that he prepares specifically for this ride.

On this special episode, we discuss our hour long Facebook live video with Clint Novak, where we helped him to raise an incredible amount of money for such a wonderful charity in Give Kids the World. A number of good friends helped us to smash Clint's goal for the night. Andrew states which new coasters he's most looking forward to this year. Andrew's News looks at two troubled water rides at Over Texas, a troubled coaster in Europe that experienced some wind issues, and the Columbus Zoo adding more attractions. We have a delightful discussion with Steven Amos from Give Kids the World who chats about fundraisers, the Orlando location, and memorable moments. The Ride of the Day looks at Windseekers and the the Tip of the Day examines great spring deals to hop on now. Enjoy!

We take a break from our traditional format to present a series that we will be exploring throughout our podcast. We've always been interested in the concept of people like Mean Streak Henry, who love to marathon a particular coaster. We decided to interview some of these people to discover why they do it and what the experience is like for them. Part 1 of a multi part series has us interviewing a friend from Baltimore, Brianna Simkins, who lets us know about her coaster love. She has some great reasons for marathoning her favorite coaster as you'll hear!  

Alex joins us on this episode as we talk with Matt Morgan from GoSwing LLC to discuss his swing which can make trips for theme park families a lot more fun! We discuss a Pennsylvania critter and some duct work heading to New Jersey. Andrew's News looks at some Busch Gardens Tampa coasters, Rye Playland getting something new after a decade, and Darien Lake's addition and subtraction. Alex picks his Forceful Ride of the Day and inspires our Tip of the Day. Thanks for listening!

People who listen to numerous theme park podcast grow tired of haunt talk in October, so we give you haunt talk in February! Horror icon, The Cryptkeeper, infiltrated our podcast to demand some goulish talk about frights and fears! Shout out to Brian from the Civil Gore Podcast for voicing our evil infil-traitor who starts and finishes the episode. Shout as well to Lucy Larson, of the theme park Larsons, who was excited to hear on the previous episode that we were talking about her family! Andrew's News discusses Sea World's second Mako, Disney's Rise of the Flat Ride, World's of Fun viral advertising, sad Volcano news, BGW's exciting news, KI job advertising, and Universal's Hagrid coaster. We start our October visits with a short trip to Darien Lake (where they did have an event!) and a return to Knoebels for their Phoenix Phall Phunfest to chill with our buddies from In the Loop, Clint and Shari, where we tried a few new rides! We also discuss our Cedar Fair trio of Haunt parks with full house lineup visit

After our Holiday Break, we are back with a long promised TPF Quest where our listeners give their controversial takes involving the theme park industry. First, we welcome the two new theme park babies, Mike from Coasterradio had a daughter, and Drew from In the Loop had a baby Hollenblitz! We take a look at a few more iTunes reviews that we were happy to read! Thanks all. Andrew and I discuss the future of the show and different things we want to try.   Andrew's News looks at Six Flags surveys, Tayto Park's big addition, and American Dream becoming a reality with more coasters than expected. We read everyone's controversial blazing hot takes in the theme park industry- some very cool ideas! Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman from ESPN actually recorded their show "First Take" with a theme park addition! Crazy stuff! Our Ride of the Day looks at the traditional swings and our Tip of the Day involves a physical activity from the holiday season at the parks.

We complete the second half where we left off from the last episode. We discuss Minnesota Mother's call, the rest of our great summer southern and midwest trip. Slater gives us his unique Tip of the Day and Ride of the Day combined. Find his podcast at all places you find podcasts including his website ridethisone.com. Caution!!! Only for those who like adult material.   Thanks Slater for joining us on your fun family adventure!!!

After I've been a guest multiple times on Slater's "adult" theme park podcast, Ride this One, Andrew and I have the pleasure to welcome him and his family friendly views to our show! The episode starts with a surprise call from one of our favorite fans, "Minnesota Mother" who updates us on her family's theme park season. Andrew's News looks at IAPPA's highlights, Knott's Berry Farm's water ride change, and Disney's Rock 'N' Roller Coaster Rumors.   We start to discuss Slater's history with theme parks and how he got into this wonderful hobby including his participation as Executive Producer with Coasterradio.com Episode 27 continues the conversation with Slater since he has so much personality, we couldn't fit in just one episode!

We have the pleasure of talking to our new friend, Kelly, who loved her experience during Haunt at Fiesta Texas. She'll take us through the whole experience from beginning to end! Andrew's News looks at Hershey Park's biggest addition ever, Disney Imagineering's stunt bots that will take over the world, and Silver Dollar City's announcement for next year's additions. Our Tip of the Day critiques the "No Boo" necklaces that one can buy at Halloween Theme Park Events.   Our Ride of the Day looks at a thrilling circular sensation not found at too many parks.   We repeat our call for our next TPF Quest for your ideas about controversial theme park opinions. Be on our next episode!

On this episode, we discuss our first trip to the flagship park in the Six Flags chain, Fiesta Texas in San Antonio. We start with Andrew's News which looks at the progress of a couple of Cedar Fair coasters, Holiday World's 2019 additions, and Kentucky Kingdom's new Gravity Group Coaster. We discuss our two days spent at Fiesta Texas reviewing the sections and the rides. Plenty of highlights and surprises here! Andrew supplies the Tip of the Day with a sleepy suggestion! Our Ride of the Day asks you to hop aboard! We've included our next TPF Quest which asks what is your controversial hot take in the theme park industry?