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!

Theme Park Families

Episode 43- Six Flags Ride Announcements (Eight Months Later!)

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!

Episode 42- Exoticwood!

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!  

Episode 41- TPF Quest- Your Coaster Changes

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!

Episode 40-Don't Call it a Comeback!

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!

Episode 39- Clint and Shari Novak go North!

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!

Episode 38- An Exclusive Look at Galaxy's Edge Attractions and Carowinds with Coaster Crew

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. 

Episode 37- There be Gold in Them Thar Parks- Striking Coaster Gold with Yukon Striker

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!

Episode 36- These Enthusiasts Really Love Their Coaster(s), Part 3

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.

Episode 35- Theme Park Loop with Drew the Intern, Part II

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.

Episode 34- In the Families with Drew The Intern, Part I

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.

Episode 33- These Enthusiasts Really Love Their Coaster(s), Part 2

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!

Episode 32- Give Kids the World, Hope, and Love

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!  

Episode 31- These Enthusiasts REALLY Love Their Coaster(s), Part 1

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!

Episode 30- Would You Like to Swing Like a Star?

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 visits to Dorney Park, Cedar Point and Kings Island- that's a lot of houses and mazes! Our Ride of the Week looks at some monstrous fun and Tip of the Week gives a few good Halloween event tidbits. Connected is the lawsuit that a mother and teen filed against Cedar Fair with a Dorney injury. Our next visual video is up on our Youtube page where Andrew auditioned to be a LEGOLAND NY kids reporter.    

Episode 29- The Cryptkeeper Takeover, Tales from the Haunt

We are a podcast dedicated to theme parks and roller coaster focusing on fun for the entire family, from 1 to 100. We discuss our travels, tips for enjoying your day at the park, and the industry as a whole. Join us for some good, clean fun!

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Theme Park Families

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