u/iseedoubleu

I have fond memories of playing MLB: ‘06 The Show on my PSP, back when I was a teenager (I’m now in my mid-30s). I was an Xbox guy, though, and didn’t play the console version of this franchise until 2017.

I’m a perfectly average player, and made peace with never being a more elite player.

I think my biggest gripe with this game is how unsatisfying it can be. It’s difficult to consistently hit well, and the game doesn’t reward you for a good swing nearly as much as it should.

1. What is the point of having Red or P5 Diamonds + Supercharged cards if good swings lead to outs? The amount of times I’d square up a ball, only for it to hang in the air for a laughably long time or line drives being consistently caught.

2. I swear this game punishes you for swinging at the first pitch, even if you square up on it. I’m actually going to keep track for the coming week, because I genuinely don’t think this is a coincidence.

3. The computer’s defense is a joke. Everyone talks about outfielders making insane dives on balls into the gap, or infielders warping to the ball, but how about all the times a pitcher will nab a line driver behind their backs?

I don’t want to invest my time, money, and energy into a game that is doing everything it can to screw me.

Diamond Dynasty feels so cluttered and unfocused, like they’re trying to please too many masters. Diamond Quest tried to blend Moments with Showdown and Conquest, Mini Seasons are not fun to grind through (and part of that is their refusal to, you know, make them feel like actual seasons), and Events have been unimaginative and too infrequent.

They want you to grind two different, yet interconnected programs, too.

It just feels unfocused, sloppy, and lazy.

My fiance and I became Diamond members a couple of years prior to the pandemic, were upgraded to Diamond Elite during the pandemic, and went back to Diamond some time ago. We used to go quite often, but having a baby made those frequent trips stop.

We decided to take our baby to Great Adventure, and I wanted to share my experience. I haven’t followed the state of the parks post-merger, so forgive me if some of what I say sounds misinformed:

We arrived around 1 PM, and parked in the preferred parking lot. We found a spot almost right away, and it was a short walk to the gate. I think they changed the entrance for preferred parking, as we really flew through and drove in between a set of ropes separating preferred from general parking.

And that was the easiest part of our day.

We get to the gate, pass through security quickly, and see the Member entrance. This should be a simply process: they scan your pass, and you’re in. It’s never that simple, though, as two families had issues with their membership. We ended up just going through the normal entrance, which didn’t really matter. Nothing to get upset about.

I end up waiting on the guest services line to inquire about my season cup, and I should’ve taken the gentlemen in front of me as a sign of things to come. He was complaining that he was give a small paper cup instead of the season cup, and was demanding to get one. He didn’t have a receipt, but did have his membership. Guest services ended up sending him to another area.

It’s a Saturday afternoon, not a cloud in the sky, and a gorgeous day of weather. How the hell do you have one person working guest services? Someone ended up coming over to assist, but my God. Also, I was told to go to any food vendor for my cup. Great.

We rented a stroller for $15, which was clutch but the shade was totally broken.

We get to one of those drink refill stations, and it’s anarchy. There are people who want to buy a season pass, but so many were having great difficulty understanding the different packages. They also told us we need to scan our cups before going in for the refill, so there’s a bunch of us with cups in hand, at the mercy of other customers and the staff.

Finally get up there, and the worker had to scan my pass three times before it worked. My fiance has the membership that gives you the paper cut, and I found this to be so insulting because they don’t even give you a lid or straw. It’s just this chunky paper cup.

We decided to hit the carousel first, and it took forever to get the ride going. Then, we rode the Tea Cups and that went a little quicker, but we’re sitting for over 5 minutes on another kiddie ride because people do not follow instructions. A grown ass woman is sitting in a car with her bags out, drink spilled on her seat, and she had her phone on her. Then some manager came over to have a chat with the ride operator, and they spoke for several minutes before the manager realized we were waiting for this dumb ride to start.

Many of the refresh stations were closed. I went to one, and both soda fountains were out of ice. Shoutout to the woman in front of me who was going back and forth between machines in a desperate attempt to get ice that she clearly sees isn’t working.

Went to get a beer, and had to wait for two employees to finish a chat before I was given my beer.

Overall, it was fine. You’re going to deal with idiots and it’s hard to blame the staff because they’re all so young; that being said, these kids have to be better trained. There’s zero urgency, and their customer service skills are poor.

They have to figure out how to make these refill
Stations go quickly, and I implore anyone who’s reading this and on the fence about getting a membership to really make sure you understand what you’re getting per tier. Please don’t show up to the park, hop a line, and spend 5 minutes debating what tier to get.

I will say their merchandise and food discount are incredible. Chicken tenders and fries, two crispy chicken sandwiches, and a soda for less than $25, in this economy? Yes, please. We also got a shirt for our daughter ($10) and a pair of Lola Bunny ears ($9)

Also, they had some of the characters in Holiday attire. They see to really be pushing holiday in the park’s revival this coming November