Rivertown Rider

I got to ride it for the first time this year (after three rides last year). It rides much better with a full train than it did last year. Fury is still my favorite of the gigas, but I would encourage anybody who wrote it off last year to re-ride it.

It ended up being about 40 minutes for Orion.

I think there are a few things at play. 1. Isn't CP the park that depends on international visas the most? All of the other major CP parks are within 20 to 30 minutes of metro areas so they have a bigger domestic workforce population to pull from). 2. Operationally they struggle for whatever reason. It isn't just the Intamins either. Valravn and Raptor seem to have a lot of issues. KI, Wonderland, and Carowinds don't seem to have this issue. 3. I have joked that CP is the park you date and KI is the one you marry.

I waited about 20 minutes at Coney BBQ and 15 at AE. In line for Orion now so I'll keep you all posted.

Avalanche is an absolute gem of a ride. Hopefully it is just because of construction and not because of a worse reason.

A couple things, Cedar Fair has mentioned that they had put a lot of their projects on hold so that could be the weird start of now for construction. In addition to working with Gerstlauer, Ride Entertainment also installs the Skycoaster (i.e. Xtreme Skyflyer). Cedar Point had relocated theirs within the park but it would seem strange to do that when there is seemingly no land clearing anywhere. If you look at the areas of the park that haven't really been improved since Mike Koontz has been GM you have Action Zone, Oktoberfest (ride wise), Planet Snoopy, and Soak City. Is it possible Cedar Fair did a 2 for 1 deal with Gerstlauer where CP gets the coaster and we are getting a flat of some kind? Clearly there is some reason for the crane but it will be interesting to see what happens.

Harmony Hall is the best place to eat. It has enough variety that everyone should be able to find something.

I do think putting temporary staging in the parking lot similar to how Cedar Point does their concerts would be the answer. I would love to see Action Zone spruced up as it still has a lot of the latter day Paramount vibe in some parts.

So out of curiosity how does it ride now that it is running with full trains?

@King Ding Dong must be at the park today.

I voted Carowinds. Fury is my favorite coaster of the 250 I have been on. Afterburn is my favorite of the inverts other than Banshee. I do like Great Adventure's variety but I would say that Nitro and Bizarro are head and shoulders above the rest of the B&Ms there.

The Silver Dollar City announcement yesterday was about the Harlem Globetrotters coming this summer. The area where they are doing the clearing is more of a kid friendly area of the park. I could see them doing something like Firechaser Express there (also a Gerstlauer) but I couldn't see any intense records unless it was something to do with launches on a family coaster.

Cross threading a bit but if Cedar Point gets the Gerstlauer ride it makes me think that we probably wouldn't be getting a Gerstlauer for our next coaster. That leads me more to a Mack multilaunch or a B&M dive. My pick would be a Mack because you could have the lower height requirement and I think a modern multilaunch would be great for the park.

I agree that it is probably Cedar Point. An inversion breaking (even if just North America) makes sense there. An outside chance for California's Great America since they never got their hyper. Carowinds and Wonderland just got coasters in 19, we got Orion last year, and Dominion is getting the FreeFly. WOF wouldn't make sense to put a record breaker in and Dorney had those plans for the Gravity Group woodie. The Dollywood clearing area is fairly level where the presumed next coaster would be and I think you'll see Dollywood go with something high capacity and relatively family friendly after the problems they have had with Lightning Rod. I do think Dollywood will add a coaster next year but I think it will either be a B&M hyper or giga or a Mack spinner like Time Traveler.

Flight Deck at Canada's Wonderland is worse than T3.

^ Correct, Mountain Gliders which is the original KI Flying Eagles.

You should be able to get everything easily done at Carowinds on a Monday. If you are wanting to do Nighthawk, I'd recommend hitting it early or first thing because it seems slower to load than Firehawk did. Carowinds has good ops on Fury and Intimidator so you can do those whenever thru the day as you wish. Copperhead is a little slower to load with less capacity so I'd probably try to hit it early as well. Of course you'll want to do the Eagles. Carolina Skytower also gives great views of the park if you choose to do it. One thing that is unique about Carowinds is one of the states has a higher tax rate than the other so ask about that if you have merch you want to buy.

As far as Carowinds hotels we have stayed at the Comfort Inn right across the street (it is on the South Carolina side). It is nothing fancy but it is pretty affordable. With the Dollywood question, Wednesday would be the best day by far unless the weather didn't cooperate. I forget, have you been there since Lightning Rod has been there?

Mine would be the park should invest in more flats before they build the next coaster.

I would agree with this to a point. I know I have been someone who has talked about the importance of capacity but CF has done a good of adding capacity to the park. The three B&Ms, The Beast, Racer, and AE are all great at eating thru a line and Mystic does decent as well. Orion (when things get back to normal) more than makes up whatever capacity that Firehawk and half empty Vortex trains were getting. I don't think they need a one train ride (ala the Tempestos of the world) but the park could certainly handle a Gerstlauer, Mack, or RMC to bring some variety (and inversions) back to the park.

I'm looking forward to reading it, I pre-ordered my copy yesterday.

It will be interesting to see what happens. The park does need a lot of work to come up to Dollywood/SDC standards.

So a few thoughts if this is what we think it is (Herschend buying the park): 1. I am a Dollywood passholder but Herschend doesn't do a Platinum-type pass. Is this something they introduce now with the added benefit of getting into the aquariums as well. 2. Dollywood and SDC have a daily ticket at a cost of $79. It would be a financial disaster for them to do that at KK. I realize Wild Adventures cost is similar to KK current cost but it is interesting to think about. 3. Competition can only be a good thing. I would think CF will be looking to continue to add/improve KI in the next decade. I believe others have said Face Off, Drop Zone, and SOB were in large part a result of Six buying KK the first time. Obviously that was a different era but generally competition is good.

I haven't noticed Time Traveler or Copperhead Strike tightening up. The worst restraints as far as tightening are the B&M vest restraints. I haven't ridden any of the recent Intamins. The youngest of the Intamins I have ridden was Skyrush.

A modern multi launch like Copperhead would be great for KI. It would be something different than CP has. Also Mack probably has the most comfortable restraints of any of the steel manufacturers. With FOF being 25 years old realistically how many more years does it have in it as well.