I speak with Leroy Kelly about roller coasters and theme parks in this episode. Leroy has visited over 44 theme parks and is what I would call a roller coaster aficionado. He even gives me tips on where to sit to help my motion sickness.

Are you ready? Let’s Roam!

Transcript

Here is a transcript of the podcast. Please keep in mind this was done via AI, so there are typos and mistakes. I tried to catch as much as I can, but it is definitely not perfect.

Beth  0:10  

Welcome to the roaming Yeti podcast where we share stories and tips to inspire you to roam your neighborhood and the world. I’m your host and head Yeti Beth Schillaci. Today I have a fun one I speak with Leroy Kelly about rollercoasters and theme parks. Leroy has visited over 44 theme parks and is what I would call a roller coaster aficionado. He even gives me some tips on where to sit to help my motion sickness. You ready? Let’s Roam. Welcome back, everyone to the roaming Yeti Podcast. Today. I’m really looking forward to geeking out with Leroy Kelly about amusement parks and theme parks. He is a roller coaster rider and if you know me, I am not much of one. I try. But motion sickness gets the best of me, but I do appreciate them. And everyone else in my family enjoys them as well. So I’m really happy to introduce Leroy And how’re you doing Leroy, thanks for joining us. I’m

Leroy  1:13  

doing great. You know, I cannot complain. Cold weather. So you know, you’re thinking about those nice Florida warm vibes where there are things that are open this time and you hear

Beth  1:25  

the idea of being outside on a ride right now up here in the North. No, thank you know exactly frostbitten. Yeah. So you visited a lot of amusement parks, like how many total? Is it?

Leroy  1:41  

Well, you know, I had to do the math, and then I suck myself. Because I have been to like 44 different parks. And this is like everything from like Six Flags. You know, the Cedar Fair parks to Disney universal. And I cannot speak to the power of the seasons pass. Because for many years, I had to travel for work. So having like a el cheapo Six Flags seasons past would get me into every Six Flags park, you know, in the US. So when I travel for work, I would make sure that I had some quality downtime to, you know, to get into one of the local parks there. So it was cool. Yeah. But the seasons pass can be a great deal.

Beth  2:23  

For sure. I didn’t realize the Season Pass would be for all they had one that hit all the parks, do they still get out? You know,

Leroy  2:29  

they still do that. But now they group them in different levels where you might have like, silver gold, platinum, Platinum one get you into all the parks, you know, so they do tear it now but yeah, you can if you want to spend definitely get into all the parks. Yeah, for sure.

Beth  2:48  

Let’s, let’s sounds like a, like a nice year challenge or something that, you know, take a year off and see how many you can hit.

Leroy  2:56  

Very good. Well, yeah, Paul, some people like in on Twitter and whatnot, that that’s the you know, there are definitely people that are, you know, bloggie, if you will, and in they are traveling the planet, so a few people can do that. But most people have to work for a living. So

Beth  3:14  

the rest of us can watch them on YouTube videos.

Leroy  3:19  

Like a VA, it works through a couple of like, third party kind of like buy.

Beth  3:27  

Um, so what is it? So 44 is a lot of parks. So what is it about amusement theme parks that that, you know, brings you in constantly, and you’re always checking out new ones?

Leroy  3:38  

Well, you know, essentially, because, as kids, my parents would always take us to our local park. And we would have, you know, a great time, they let us kind of room in a safe environment where they can keep an eye on us. And for like, maybe 20 years after, you know, graduating from school, I had never set foot in an amusement park. And then I got introduced to a club called ACE, which was American coaster enthusiast. And I was like, Ah, this is kind of cool. And they have events at different parks, where you know, they call er T but it’s like extended ride time. And basically, it’s like either like an hour before or an hour after the park closes. There’s quality time where it’s just the club and roller coasters. So that’s how I kind of got reintroduced back into music parts. And like over that 20 year period, that technology’s changed, you know, now we’re going upside down, you know, in other ways that you can’t count. We’re spinning in circles. So part of that was just like other technologies change, the quality has gotten better. And part of the you know, people sort of like counting the coasters they written kind of, you know, rock that me back into it. Never was fun. It was just an easy day out. You know, you don’t have to think you just go and have fun.

Beth  4:55  

Yeah, it is. It’s a true like sort of. It’s one of the places I think you can go and truly escape reality for the period of time you’re in there.

Leroy  5:04  

Exactly. Totally. Yes.

Beth  5:07  

So what is your favorite park?

Leroy  5:10  

Strangely enough, and is you’ll laugh at this because for many years, I was not a Disney fan. I was universal, you know, picking up a theme parks like universal Disney, obviously, universal guy. And I bought a season’s pass about a year and a half ago. And Epcot became my favorite part. And it doesn’t have really well it has, you know, one or two small scale coasters now, but it’s a park where you can just go through as we talked earlier, and have a great day, right now you can sample different foods, you know, get well drinks if you want to. It’s a low key park where you’re just not you know, you’re not pushed to do anything. But they do have rides there as well and things to keep you excited. And it’s going through a lot of changes now since when I was a kid. And I have to laugh because when we were a kid, it was our first big trip. We went to Florida, and we hit Epcot. And they took a picture of us on one of the rides. It was like you know, it was raining we had on our rain jackets. And at this point, we are like, in this one car, all four of us, like pushed to the sides. Like we hated each other. Like we were just having the worst time of our lives. But I look back on it now from like, at that photo tonight. I was like yeah, things have changed a lot. I know. Just really just relaxing. Yeah, it’s a relaxed day.

Beth  6:38  

Epcot. It’s a it’s a sorry, it was been our family sort of unwind from the day park like we usually. Now the park Hopkins back again, like Park Hopper, and sort of because it’s it’s darker, it’s not as much overload in the evening. Like it’s it’s definitely the the Homer of

Leroy  7:00  

the post. Exactly. You can actually feel that for like, like magic kingdom. You know, a lot of youngsters, everybody wants to go see Mickey and Minnie. And it can be it can be a very busy day. Yeah. Epcot, you can go and have a nice, great dinner. You know, just relax and enjoy the day that way. So it’s cool.

Beth  7:20  

Yeah. And those are there any other so that’s sort of a large scale Park. Is there like the next step down? I hate saying that because it’s not there. Not a lesser Park size wise, I guess?

Leroy  7:31  

Well, you’re size wise because you know, you have your more local parks. So being in the Maryland, Virginia DC area, you know, a Busch Gardens is one of my favorite parks. You know, because it’s sort of like you can still go have a great day, and I can get my thrill from my rollercoasters first thing in the morning. It just, you know, in turning into a good day. But yes, I like Busch Gardens fan, I’m gonna see rofan as well too. In quite honestly, if it has a roller coaster, I’m going to try it out at one point in time. It may be one and done. But you know, it’s like, okay, we did that. We don’t need to do it again. But yeah, but I tend to like the medium sized parts because you can get in very easily have a good time. And in just have the baby yours.

Beth  8:18  

Right. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s not as it’s a one day sort of commitments. Not Uh huh. All right. I know, I know. You think this is a controversial topic, but it’s actually not. Not for me. So do you have a least favorite part?

Leroy  8:36  

Yeah, yeah. Sadly, although I’ve gotten a better appreciation for it. Magic Kingdom. It’s a it has nothing to do with the park actually. It’s just sometimes how it can just be very busy. Yes. And I tend to attract other families, children, where I can be standing in line and I’ll never forget, it was a hot, you know, hot Orlando day. And everybody’s just, you know, they’re just tired. They’ve been sweating. Families are cranky. Because much like when I was a teenager, we were all sitting in different sides of the car. And I’ll never forget, I looked down on I didn’t even look down. I just held two little arms wrapped around my leg. And I’m like, Okay, what is this? And I looked down and it’s this little boy who was just so tired. He just stood up and grabbed my legs and we’re looking at each of them like, not the Papa. Yeah. You know, you could just tell that they had had a long day. And he’s, you know, these two little ladies that are standing next to me they’re just laughing at this. Like look at it. Yes. Has no idea do anybody has a kid. And sometimes that’s where it gets where you can see people just a little tire. It just happens also, like just normal local theme parks too, for people After a long day, and they just, you know, they’re just tired. So I see that Magic Kingdom a lot and that’s why I kind of like o’clock it’s just a little more blowing and chill if you will.

Beth  10:12  

Yes, Magic Kingdom. There is not a trip to Disney where at some point in time in Magic Kingdom I did not declare we’re never coming back here. It is just crowded and we used to spend it used to be a two day park for us because Julia was little, and we had to hit a lot more rides. It’s now become like a half day park for Okay. All right. So I totally agree with you. Disneyland is the OG I’d much rather be there than Magic Kingdom. But yeah, so that it’s not when people are like, Oh, I don’t like magic kingdom. I’m like, you have to go. You have to see the castle. And cry. I cry every time I see the castle. But I do.

Leroy  11:01  

It’s like, it’s like, it’s like a love hate relationship. Right? Like, stuff inside the park is incredible. And you have to go and you have to do it at least once in your life, you know. And I can’t wait to Toronto opens. Because that’s going to be another fabulous thing for me as well. Yeah. He’s from the coastal railway. And I even like oh, what’s the ride where you go? Oh, that’s have a different Park. Sorry, my bad. Learning Together well, after a while, but yeah, but it’s like, there’s just fabulous things to do in there. And it’s still a great part. This is sort of like, you know, I just strategically plan it where like, I get in, I have my list of things to do. And what it’s the ride, it’s the the the you ride it it goes through like Space Mountain, but it’s just like you’re just cruising on a track

Beth  11:51  

carousel progress. No, not carousel progress. I can’t believe I just said that. On the Peoplemover

Leroy  11:56  

Oh, yeah. I love that. It’s hilarious. You know, you could put me on something that goes 90 miles an hour. But on the other hand, I love the people mover and I can’t explain

Beth  12:06  

the people mover will always stop to like, it breaks down all the time. But I still love it. And as long as I don’t get stuck in the super dark area where you can’t see anything. Um, oh, there you go. Good. But yeah, and the addition of Tron that’s gonna make magic kingdom even even more interesting, because that’s a that’s quite a ride. I really wrote it in Shanghai. And that was probably one of the last roller coasters I’ve been on. I was nauseous for a good 30 minutes after. It was just a really it’s a it’s a very different. You don’t set up. So for me, it was the first time bending over kind of situation writing so yeah, it didn’t do it didn’t do my emotions. I wanted to try because I’m like, I’ll never, you know, never ride this again, because they hadn’t announced it. Okay. And I have

Leroy  13:13  

one of my friends. She’s not a roller coaster, friend, or fan, if you will, but she lives down there. So it’s a great excuse to go to visit Yulia in Orlando, but also see the parks. Hope was new and universal. We got her on that. We’ll just say at the end, her hands were just like, gripping the handle the safety harness so hard. I was like, Okay, we’re done. She’s like, I hate you. We want you to try. It’s always fun.

Beth  13:46  

I’m always afraid I sort of look like the hawk after that little green little pad. So that brings me to like, Do you have a favorite coaster style or a favorite coaster? You’ve been on a lot. So

Leroy  14:03  

yeah, well, you know, one of my favorites. is still to this day is like they call them verdict coaster. But it’s like one of those ones where you’re sitting like ski seats or whatnot underneath the track, and you’re gonna dangle and it’s just a totally different sensation for me. And I still love that style. You know, it’s been around for maybe 20 plus years. But when done right, it gives you a lot of forces not a lot of airtime sometimes. But you know, you get a lot of different sensations in the body that you normally wouldn’t from, like an old wooden roller coaster or whatnot. So yeah, I tend to like an inverted coaster a lot. But now you have a lot of new ones that are coming up from different manufacturers that give you a lot of out of the seat air time, which is another you know, coaster fanning kind of thing where it’s okay, yes, I’m out of my seat, you know? And so you know, there’s an art manufacture called RMC. Now, you know in and their claim to fame is they do things a little awkward. Where were you in return? You think you’re going to angle one way but your angle the opposite? It doesn’t. Mentally it doesn’t seem right to you. And actually, it probably isn’t. But you know what, they’re famous for a lot of what they call injector airtime where you’re basically thrown out a feature not floating, you know, you’re starting to see up into the harness. And, you know, a lot of people love that. That’s fun. Yeah, that can be a little stressful times, but

Beth  15:28  

yeah, I could feel my palms sweating just you’re describing that like, Oh.

Leroy  15:39  

Looks like she passed out a minute. Three. What are we gonna do?

Beth  15:43  

I know I yeah, I mean, even Slinky dog did it to me last time. It was embarrassing.

Leroy  15:49  

Oh, but you know, okay, Slinky Dog. Underrated. Okay, this is one of the ones where it’s just sort of like, okay, I ran through five, you know, like, like speed coasters and tents. But Slinky Dog is the opposite, where it’s just fun. You know, you’re at least for me, I look at you know, you got a dog on the front of the train. There’s a little, you know, a tail that wags back and forth on the back of the train. It’s just sort of like, it’s ridiculously fun.

Beth  16:19  

And it looks and it looks, you watch it, you’re like, oh, that doesn’t look bad. But there’s a few little bumps. Just small comes. Man your stomach just like goes, Ah, here I go again. It’s so bad. Um, so what other styles? Be on coasters? Are there other styles of ride you like to go on? Or, you know, typically, you

Leroy  16:45  

know, I will start my day I will say that. My focus typically is on the thrill ride side. So, you know, I’ll do my roller coasters. I like drop towers. I don’t know if you ever been to Busch Gardens in Tampa. They have one called Falcons fury. And it’s like you basically you’re in seats to rise up to the top of a tower and most drop rides you just drop down and then you stop at the bottom? Well, in Falcons theory, they twisted where they rotate the seats 90 degrees. So now you’re facing the ground as you’re dropping to it. Credible it’s just like, Oh, yes. It definitely pushes the limits there. But I love that stuff. You know, there’s some things I won’t do. Like you sometimes just see like the what is it? You’ll get in a little harness and they’ll pull you back with a rope. And someone’s just dropping just walking back and forth. That it’s always been like one of those. I’m not so sure about that hardest day on the road. So yeah, but yeah, put me in anything else, man. I’m pretty good.

Beth  17:53  

Man, I am definitely more of the Jungle Cruise. Spaceship Earth. You know, I’m the slow mover. Oh,

Leroy  18:11  

I love I love some Spaceship Earth too. And I don’t get why. But I think maybe it’s like, you know, Florida is August. It’s 90 degrees 100% humidity. It’s a great escape. But it’s also another relaxing kind of thing where you can just sit back, you know, and just enjoy it. You know,

Beth  18:32  

I think the thing I like about Spaceship Earth is you can just say the name and you can instantly smell parts of the park parts of the ride. Because not because there’s a bad smell but because the what is the Rome is burning part or it’s just like that fire part. And it just always say people just need to mention it. And it’s like, Oh, yeah. And then they talked about changing it.

Leroy  18:56  

Right, which they didn’t do yet. Yeah, they haven’t

Beth  18:59  

done and I really. I’m really conflicted about that. Like, I love that. Right. It’s not good. It’s not a great, right. Like, it’s not it’s but it’s just I think it was just

Leroy  19:12  

a time capsule went away. Right? You know, some of the things that were done when it was cutting edge was just like, wow, and now sometimes you might say, Oh, it’s a little hokey, but it’s just sort of like, yeah, it’s still interesting, though, you know, it’ll lose part of that charm. And there’s always a line for it to

Beth  19:31  

go there’s always a line. Yeah, I mean, it it and then it’s fun cuz Oh god, I forget where he is. i There’s they used an old John Wayne animatronic is somewhere on that ride. Oh, wow. Oh, my daughter’s gonna kill me for not remembering that. But you know, they they reuse some of those figures and there’s one and you go by and you’re like, wait a minute, that looks I’m so so it’s it’s there’s so much change in Epcot. I’m sort of hoping that one stays the stays the same for a little bit longer. That’s true. They already got everyone mad changing Malstrom to frozen, but

Leroy  20:20  

oh, okay, so, sidenote, because you know I also love the Disney had the races and whatnot. And you were talking. I remember back when you mentioned the castle because that’s one of the incredible thing to see during one of those Disney races is just running through the park when no one else is in there. And just the castle all lit up. It’s magical, but when they changed it over the frozen and frozen was first hub. I did I think it was like either five or 10k and we were running through Epcot. And that’s all they played from the beginning of the park to the end. Like it my friend Ilya the one that she just loves roller coasters as well. Yes, she she can tell you every lyric in frozen but by the end of that park when we got out for the five chaos I know more froze up frozen. Definitely, but still on the ride but it’s still good ride.

Beth  21:12  

It’s still gonna ride. Definitely a good ride. I do love the ratatouille ride is as well.

Leroy  21:19  

Which is cool. They did a good job. Yeah,

Beth  21:22  

I’m a fan of the trackless for sure. So been to so many parks. Do you have like a list of ones you haven’t hit that you want to hit sort of like bucket list theme park list?

Leroy  21:37  

Yeah, well, you know, I haven’t done a lot of parks internationally. So I mean, even thinking like UK there’s a parkour out in towers that has a lot of great it’s like from a coastal standpoint, fans, but but I wouldn’t mind even like doing like the universal or Disney parks as well and see what flavors they offer as well internationally. And that’s just one thing. Ironically, I have not done and I was so upset because I had I’ve had to remember what was the movie? Oh gosh, family travels. Walley world. I’ve had two Walley world experiences. And one was when I went to Denmark and they have a wonderful old time amusement park right in the middle of the city. And I was like really stay in three blocks from it. But it was certainly close like three weeks during the fall while they’re prepping for the winter season. Like no this is like Walley world I showed up to the park and it’s close. They close the whole park. Yeah, the whole park. And the other time was Six Flags. I went out to California and I went to Magic Mountain because I had some extra time on the weekend. And I drive up there and I’m like wow, there are no lines to get through the key and and there were a few of the cars with me and as we get closer to where the cars would drive through and pay we all kind of realized the park was closed so we’re all doing U turns but it’s just like oh no, it does happen you know parks do close and you just get randomly show up at one you know

Beth  23:06  

that’s to fight like you think about that movie. It’s like oh, that could never happen. No.

Leroy  23:12  

And there was no moose out front telling you that it was close by their

Beth  23:16  

biggest disappointment like someone should be I’m glad you didn’t like kidnap a security guard or anything.

Leroy  23:28  

Yes. While we broke up the life they would cancel by Six Flags. Jesus is passing media

Beth  23:41  

Yeah. I think the one place I definitely want to go to Japan. There’s so many cool, cool and beautiful looking parks there. I’m very excited we’re getting Nintendo World in universal Hollywood’s I think that’s opening in February.

Leroy  24:03  

Yeah, this looks like it’s like relatively soon. Yeah. Definitely be cool, too.

Beth  24:09  

Yeah. I’m a big fan. I like rides, but I think I get more into the theming of of things. So

Leroy  24:19  

it is amazing. What they go through, you know, it’s like, we have this thing at work either storytelling. The Disney does that well, universal is kind of like catching up to the Disney level. And it’s just amazing where even when they open up like Islands of Adventure in Florida, there’s a kids area that just has all strange, you know, not rectangular buildings. But it all has, like they carved out these shapes into the buildings. And it’s just like they spent so much time doing that. It’s just amazing that the plot and the time that goes into like the storytelling and the theming which makes it really sets them apart. Yeah, it was incredible. I don’t know if I had the patience to Do it here’s a rectangular building just like everything else.

Beth  25:06  

Yeah, people put a lot of I think that’s why Animal Kingdom is for me Animal Kingdom went from a half day Park to now a full day. Yes. And and the more I learned about the history and the theming and the under, you know why they did what they did, it’s, it gets really interesting and because of the Everest ride there that John and Julia love to ride so much, I’ve spent a lot of time walking the Asia area and noticing all the details. So definitely, it’s gonna experience to

Leroy  25:40  

that used to be the Everest park for me. So I would just go for Everest. I’d be done by noon, and I can go to a park hop to another one, right. As I, as I’ve gotten wiser, because of the season pass that I had, I say, you know, I need to learn more about the park because there were areas of the park I had not been to be quite honest. You get to the tree, you turn left to Everest. And then I started just like, oh, yeah, there’s a lot more that I have never experienced in the details and whatnot. It’s just great.

Beth  26:12  

Yeah, it’s it’s definitely a fun, fun place. So all these parks all they all have food that I love. Like, is there a is there a go to food when you’re in? In any of the parks?

Leroy  26:30  

Well, I have. Yeah. I have to admit that my doctor my doctor already knows like, Yeah, I’m a sucker for funnel cakes. i Yeah. It must be the powdered sugar stuff on top. But yeah, funnel cakes. What is it the candy apples? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, those? Yeah, those are rough on my teeth as I get older here. But yeah, give me a good funnel cake. And I’ll be happy. I’ll have powdered sugar all over the front of me trying to clean myself off later. But you know, yeah. Final cakes. Yeah. But it’s amazing to how over the years, the parks have adapted to where you can actually find salads. And so it’s like it’s helped me but then I really want the funnel.

Beth  27:14  

There’s this balance. Don’t the roller coasters then blow the powdered sugar off of you so that

Leroy  27:21  

I have used rides to dry off? I’m sure that’d be a good test of the futures like Yeah, but Okay, super.

Beth  27:32  

Yeah, I am. I’m a churro person but Disney land more so than Disney World. And then I’ll try some other places as well. Disneyland churros hit different than Disney World Heroes. Like a

Leroy  27:51  

local thing where maybe, you know, they just tweaked the recipe a little bit?

Beth  27:54  

Yeah, I don’t know if it’s that or they just sell more and you know, they rotate through. I don’t know. It’s it’s a really interesting. You know, I did it for science

Leroy  28:10  

being it’s a Disney experience on both coasts, that they really be identical. All right.

Beth  28:17  

I don’t I don’t know. It’s one of the things I cannot explain. But well,

Leroy  28:23  

they have cinnamon. All right. Another sugary kind of thing.

Beth  28:27  

Yeah. Yeah. cinnamon sugar on the outside. So yeah. They, they make good breakfast. Whenever there you go. Do you have a favorite kind of souvenir like do you go into parks? Like, do you have a souvenir that you pick up? Or, you know, what are you collect from these parks?

Leroy  28:50  

So there are a couple of things that I always would typically come. I’m a hat person, so I left. But one of the things that I loved about universal and a close there recently is they had like a prop store where like things from like, even like Park events to things that actually been on rides, they would actually resell and recently they actually reopened the park the prop store for like a couple of weeks. I have to go to Florida that I kind of said, You know what? No, you really don’t need to. But it’s just cool. It’s like is it like it’s like a big thing to bring home because what I brought him in here, I have things from like Six Flags where they rebranded a ride and they took like, the signage off of it. And I have like a, you know, a roller coaster sign from one of the six flags or you know, and I’ve gotten other things from props from the parks too. So I like that stuff because it’s a unique, it’s a unique kind of thing. And I remember when they were redoing the Terminator, and now I just kicked myself forward. There was like one of the props that they had, which was like one of the Terminator signs And I was like, oh, yeah, that’d be so cool to get. And then I’d say, You know what? No, I have to leave for the airport because I’m squeezing this trip in. And it’s like, it’s like I, you know, I just I just walked away from it. And then I got home. I was like, Darn, I should have got. But yeah, but I love this. Because that’s kind of unique, you know?

Beth  30:20  

Yeah. Yeah. That’s very cool. So I didn’t give you this question ahead of time. But it made me I just thought about it. Where do you come down on the 3d simulator rides? A universal fan? I’m just curious.

Leroy  30:37  

Yeah, cuz you need to find people that complained about will say screens, right. But no, actually, it’s a good experience. It’s totally different. You know, you can’t go in expecting, like, my background, roller coaster fan, it’s gonna be a different experience. So yeah, I do enjoy them. You know, I definitely like I like, you know, I like that movement of being in the air on a coaster, the different sensations, but like, what they don’t like Harry Potter, or even Oh, what was the mouse on? Ratatouille? Right? Yes. You know, they’ve done a really great job of integrating the screens and experience, so you actually feel like they’re part of it. So when done well, that can be great. The one thing is kind of screen related. They were doing the virtual reality for a while. So like a lot of the roller coasters that had, you know, been around for a while, that’s like, how can we kind of reinvent this ride? So they were wandering up putting goggles on your head, and showing you a projection of some like, animated thing that would go with the movements of the ride? And it just never seemed to work for me? Well, one, it was right before COVID. So it’s like, oh, yeah, let me take this device that may or may not be clean and put on my face, you know. And it just also seem to slow down the process, because now everybody had to get the devices mounted on their head, you know, and adjusted to what’s right. And we see that where those have been implemented, they have quietly gone away to a large degree, but like the full scale immersion thing, Star Wars is a great example. Perfect job with what’s Disney’s done with the screens. They are for sure.

Beth  32:11  

Yeah. Yeah, it’s definitely there’s some that I like and some that I Star Tours. I’m like, Yeah, take it or leave it. But it’s funny, they use their same ride system in Hong Kong. But it’s an Iron Man ride. Oh, wow. Okay. Uh huh. So it was interesting just to be on that same same ride vehicle but have a different experience.

Leroy  32:38  

It was a bit it was a better experience. Yeah, cuz

Beth  32:41  

it was a little smoother. I think the screen was a little smoother for for me. So I didn’t get as shocking, shaking, shaking, but it just depends where I sit in the simulator of how I do.

Leroy  32:57  

It was true with all rights to the remember Star Tours gave us Star Wars. Yeah. So you know, Star Tours back in his day was a thing, you know, and technologies evolved. And now we have Star Wars, which is just like, you know, a whole different experience on a whole nother level. But I do find there are places on rides where you sit next to different, you know, your roller coaster thing, where you middle of the train, okay? So you average out the forces. If you sit in the very front of the very back, you’re going to get extreme forces, you know, or, like, besides, some trains are like wider where you have four cross or maybe even 10 people cross on some of them. When you sit on the outside edges. More extreme forces, middle, middle of the road, middle frame, you get the average rock, literally, average of all no one

Beth  33:46  

else wants to sit there. I’ll be like, I’ll sit there.

Leroy  33:51  

Percy has Arroway called sky sky rush. Like a poor cross ride. And, and I will ride the ride once when I go to the park. But now I find I have to sit in the middle seat because just the forces on the outside when you’re switching between the turns. They’re just so dramatic. And I feel like I call my my ragdoll ride where I just been tossed around. And at the end, you know, it’s just like, Okay, it’s done. But if I sit in the middle seat, I have a much better experience. Anyway,

Beth  34:22  

I’ll have to try that. Do you have? Are you a front back? Like, do you have a person your back row person?

Leroy  34:29  

Oh, wait for it. You know, I don’t need to see where I’m going. So that takes up the front row person. But yeah, I like horses in the back row. I like being pool over here. A lot of be more pushed into things. Whereas the you know, where the trains accelerating, you know, you’re literally at different points. Yeah, yeah. But that gives you that more pool sensation where you’re going over the top of the hill, and now you’re just being pulled over the top of it. I kind of like it, you know, that’s

Beth  34:59  

very cool. Oh, well these are great. So now I have five questions that I did not send you ahead of time. So I asked everyone’s favorite road trip snack.

Leroy  35:14  

Ooh. Okay, this is the point at the airports when they you can find them. And I don’t know the actual name of them. It’s, it’s like these nuts that are like, again, much like the what is it the funnel cake. They are coated with like a, like a buttery, sugary kind of substance. Totally not healthy at all. You know, one bag is like 8000 calories. But I love those. And I am a sucker if I check into like a hotel, you know, the Doritos, or what are the orange things that leave your hands on? Cheetos? I will just have to have a bag of Cheetos that afterwards, you know, the hotel was like towels or the word white and other orange. Like yeah, but that that would be the thing that I snack on when I travel.

Beth  36:06  

Excellent. What is your next planned trip? For fun? Not for work.

Leroy  36:15  

So I was supposed to go to Disney for their marathon weekend. But Leroy’s not prepped for that. I haven’t run in two months. And it’s a 10k. And I got sick in like October. So I just kind of said you know what, I’m going to push back. So the next one actually is is montgomery four or 5k. So we’re gonna be Alabama because I’m trying to check off a race in all 50 states, okay. But my next amusement park thing was going to be in a week. But now it’s going to be in May. And it’s kind of like one of those things where I pushed it back because I was just not prepped. But hopefully Toronto will be open, or at least we’ll be fine for Toronto. And I still need to catch up with a couple of universal rides at the end of it that I haven’t gotten to yet. And it’s almost like a year ago, when I was getting to the Orlando, we should say Rolando, I got COVID. So it’s like, you know, it’s one of those Yaja Hmoob moments where it’s like, I went back to Orlando, it may get COVID. That’s my goal with the parks in May. Then I have a race coming up in in in March here in Montgomery, Alabama.

Beth  37:28  

Very cool. What is your dream trip? Like bucket list trip?

Leroy  37:34  

Well, let’s see here. Well,

Beth  37:38  

and it does not have to be themed. It can be any? Well, yeah. Yeah. It’s well,

Leroy  37:43  

like amusement parks, I’ve actually been to like 53 different countries. So I’ve traveled quite a bit. And I’ve been very fortunate and blessed to be able to do that. But I do have some things coming up. The first one is Israel, I want to go to Israel. But it’s due to cover fit and whatnot. It’s been pushed around for a couple of years. So I’m hoping to get that done in the next year. But I will say My plan is to go to Egypt this summer. It’s I like to do that. Explore. Maybe it’s just more than one I’m giving you more of Africa because I’ve been to Europe in Asia. Okay, my cousin and I this past year, we went to South Africa. So we’re trying to we’re trying to kind of like immerse yourself and figure out, oh, find out more about Africa. Maybe it’s also part like finding roots to you know, but it’s like, okay, that’s a continent, not necessarily specific country, but kind of like learning about the culture and whatnot that we haven’t been able to. So yeah, that’s awesome.

Beth  38:41  

Do you have a favorite trip you’ve taken so far?

Leroy  38:44  

Ah, repeat places? Well, I will say, my, my favorite of probably the place I’ve gone most often, that I really did enjoy is kind of like Orlando because I can get my thrill on all times of the year. But internationally, you know, London’s an easy one because you know, the language is common, and it’s just easy to get around. Yeah, there are so many places to land and you know, and it’s just sitting back now coming back from Cape Town. That was just an incredible place. Just the mountains, the Rocky Mountains. It’s just it’s incredible. For sure.

Beth  39:26  

Do you have any favorite travel tip you can share?

Leroy  39:33  

Be calm. Never know what’s going to happen. Especially this week, we thought unmentioned airline. Yeah, but the favorite type of travel to. Yeah. If you’re new to a place, you know, there’s always something one of my friends that I went to school with. We always do the hop on hop off bus wherever you go. Because it gives you a great intro No one of you can actually use it to get around to see things. But it kind of gives you an overall intro of what that city’s like that you’re in. And, and then you can go back and figure out what you really wanted to, but at least do one lap on that. And you’ll figure out okay, this is what the city is, these are the highlights. And then go to your day. And also, one other thing. Have a day, this is yours. You know, we’re you’re not having to have to talk or you don’t feel pressure and doing anything. You know, you get up when you want to. I mean, like, I just got back, did a little cruise and I had the guys day where I did a tour of the ship. I got to save on the ship. I got a tattoo on the ship. Oh, me. Yeah, it was like incredible. So, you know, hop on, hop off, and just one calm day because you’re gonna need to recover at some point.

Beth  40:47  

Right? That’s a good that’s a good one. To try to build in mom day.

Leroy  40:54  

Exactly. But it’s a whole family day. We’re just like, alright, people do what we need to do. Yeah,

Beth  41:00  

exactly. Yeah, we’re we we go pretty hard on a lot.

Leroy  41:07  

back do you find you need to relax when you get back? Or take time off? Oh, I’m

Beth  41:11  

exhausted. Like, I need another vacation from our vacations. It’s yeah, so I’m gonna try to build in that, that day of rest on vacation. So survive it. Last question, who is on your travel playlist?

Leroy  41:29  

Oh, music wise.

Beth  41:31  

Well, you can be music as audio book, podcast, what? Whatever you like to listen to when you’re you’re either on the road or in a plane or,

Leroy  41:42  

you know? Well, you know what, for a while, what I was doing was like, before he retired and I can’t believe he retired. Trevor Noah. He had a podcast. So I will always listen to that while I’m traveling or running or doing something like that. I will. Sadly, food, some foodie kind of podcast as well. I used to do a lot of political that it just kind of wore me out. But now it’s kind of like between like food related stuff. I have one or two travel things, but things that are more lighthearted. Then, of course, if you see me, and I’m not responding, it’s probably because 80s music’s playing in my ears. And I’ve been like 1984 again. Okay. So, so it’s either gonna be music from the 80s 90s or whatnot. To you know, podcasts like Trevor’s, or, you know, our food related thing. So yeah.

Beth  42:42  

Very cool. I love that. Leroy, thank you so much for joining us today. This has been a lot of fun. And I’m going to try to find a middle seat on a roller coaster and give it another go.

Leroy  42:55  

Oh, there you go. Yes, definitely. middle row, middle of the train, you’ll be fine.

Beth  43:01  

Thanks. Thanks again to Leroy for geeking out with me on this one. It’s always fun to talk to others that share your enthusiasm for theme parks. And thank you for listening. I hope these episodes inspire you to get out there and roam even in your own neighborhood. Please subscribe so you don’t miss future episodes. And if you like what we’re doing here, please leave a review and rating. Also to help us help support us. Please head over to Yeti to shop.com to pick up some roaming Yeti merch. Talk to you soon and keep roaming.